Lieutenant Colonel Aaron led his troops stealthily along the fringes of the forest till they were in position to attack their designated city gate. Even though he could be considered a veteran with several years of experience serving in the Army, Aaron was just as nervous as the men under him, since it was his very first real battle as well.
Yes, he had led men to deal with skirmishes and insurgents, but none of them could compare to the scale of a full-blown war like this. He can only pray that his years of experience and lessons on tactics can serve him well now.
Aaron used his binoculars to observe what was going on at the main gate. Once he was confident that the enemy had committed enough resources to defend the front gate, he gave the signal for his men to charge.
Even though he had around 800 men in his disposal, he didn't want to put all his eggs into one basket, opting to lead a vanguard of approximately 200 soldiers, all cavalrymen, instead. This way, he could achieve the element of surprise with the speed of his vanguard while avoiding the disastrous consequences of an ambush if there was any.
Furthermore, he kept his magicians and archers well-concealed within the forest, tasking them to counter-fire at will should the enemy rain arrows upon them. This allowed him to better protect his ranged combatants while effectively providing cover for his vanguard.
The battle quickly unfolded and as expected, the enemy first opted to thwart their advance with arrows. On cue, the magicians and archers hidden within the forest launched counter fires, effectively providing cover for their frontline troops while mowing down the defences of the enemy.
The 2 armies engaged within seconds and all hell broke loose from then. Initially, Aaron's army had the advantage of greater mobility since they were pitting cavalry against infantry. This meant that with their blistering pace and rushing power, they could launch their enemies into disarray, breaking apart any pre-planned formations. Once the enemy was disoriented, they could easily take them out slowly in the midst of the confusion.
Aaron's troops were also of excellent quality, their results of training clearly demonstrated in battle. Aaron was pleased with the performance of his troops, as everybody united into one seamless force that overwhelmed their enemies. If one were to observe from afar, the sight would be akin to witnessing a giant spear surging forward, tearing the Miran defence into two.
However, Aaron was stumped when he realised that his troops' charge was suddenly halted. His men at the front started dying mysteriously, as they were impaled by some unseen weapon. This caused his men to panic, giving the Miran troops time to reorganise and mount a fierce counterattack.
The battle evolved into a stalemate and a bloody struggle for survival, as the death toll on both sides increased gradually. Aaron knew he had to tilt the battle to his favour fast before more men wastefully threw their lives. He had to attack the root of the problem, fast.
Aaron drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes, as he immersed himself in his inner world, enhancing his detection abilities. He swiftly caught a trace of bloodlust in the air as his eyes flickered open and dashed towards that direction. Drawing his sword from his left hip, he swung it mid-air at no clear target, much to the confusion of his men.
However, the sound of clashing metal that followed soon after dispelled their confusion. Subsequently, more clashing sounds were heard between Aaron and the invisible force. One Nirvanian soldier cried, "What's going on? Is that invisible foe the one cutting us down all this time?"
Aaron rallied, "Nirvanians! Do not fear, I'll take care of this particular enemy! Get back to the formation, relive your training and achieve victory!" A voice appeared out of nowhere, "This is the first time someone saw through my [Light Mirage] spell on top of my [Silent Body] technique. Tell me, how did you detect my presence when I've practically protected myself from all 6 senses, including mana detection?"
Aaron replied matter-of-factly, "Yes, you did conceal yourself well when it came to sight, sound and mana emission. However, only years of battle experience would allow you to hone a 7th sense. It's really indescribable, I should say. The best way to describe it would be the ability to sense hostility in the air. It's really gut feel at the end of the day."
Suddenly, a young man dressed in light armour armed with a halberd materialised out of nowhere. The young man chuckled, "Gut feel? I'm surprised something terribly unreliable as gut feel could fend off several of my attacks. You're interesting, old timer. State your name. I'm Ren, one of Lord Neptune's aides."
Aaron replied proudly, "Since you've offered your name before an honourable duel, I shall do likewise. I'm Aaron and I'll achieve victory today!" Ren smirked, "You sure are arrogant, Aaron. Now that I don't have to spend mana on stealth, I can go all out with my offensive abilities. Prepare yourself!" as he leapt forward towards Aaron.
Aaron drew another weapon slung on his back. It was his [Dragon Mace], a special weapon passed down through generations in his family. Though it wasn't a magic weapon, it was designed with a rotatable shaft that spun upon the streaming of mana, making it effective for breaking weapons.
Aaron quickly infused his mana into both weapons as he fended Ren's diagonal swing of his halberd. Aaron's [Dragon Mace] got to work quickly, as it started grinding Ren's halberd. Ren exclaimed, "A weapon breaker? Interesting! Let's see you try to break this!"
Ren quickly covered his entire halberd with Light magic, making his halberd as sharp as a lightsaber. The pair exchanged furious blows with each other, both not letting up. Ren was surprised that Aaron could keep up with his pace, reinforcing his belief that he had truly found a worthy opponent.
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In truth, Aaron was barely keeping up, as age had taken a toll on his body. He realised that he had to take control of the flow of the battle by slowing it down to his comfort level. Aaron increased the force of his swing at the last second with his [Dragon Mace], creating a shockwave that reverberated through Ren's halberd into his arms.
This was Aaron's [Dragon Attack] technique, a technique meant to immobilise the arms of an opponent. Ren was stunned as he instantly felt the effects of the technique. Aaron quickly followed up with a horizontal swing of his sword aimed at Ren's neck.
This time, Ren panicked, as he had never been pushed over his comfort zone by anyone other than his master, Lord Neptune. He quickly leapt backwards and cried, "Die!" as he aimed the tip of his halberd towards Aaron. From the tip, 6 beams of light shot forth. It was the Master tier spell [Converging Fangs of Light].
Aaron remained composed as he entered the posture preceding his next technique. He performed a downward diagonal swing with both weapons in a circular motion, one at a time, to conjure a vortex in front of him that shattered the approaching 6 beams of light. This was Aaron's [Dragon Storm] technique, his strongest ranged attack as a warrior.
The vortex slammed into Ren, pushing him all the way to the city wall and smashing him against it with a resounding crack. The tornado also cleared a path through the Miran Army, with many blown away from its power. Aaron quickly rushed forward through the gap as he intended to secure the kill.
Though he was injured pretty badly, Ren did not intend to die without a fight. After regaining some control of his arms, Ren swung his halberd ferociously at Aaron. They exchanged more intense blows until Aaron heard a unique sound from the clashing of their weapons.
The [Dragon Mace] had the ability to detect areas of weaknesses within an opposing weapon through sound. Remembering the exact point where he had heard the sound, Aaron swiftly swung his [Dragon Mace] towards that point, breaking Ren's halberd into two.
Ren was stunned but before he could respond, Aaron quickly slit his throat with his sword. Ren slumped to the ground, dead. Aaron muttered, "This is the reality of war, kid. I may be old, but I'm not rusty!" Aaron turned around quickly, his back facing a billowing city wall which defenders were already largely killed by Nirvanian magicians and archers.
Aaron shouted at the top of his voice, "The enemy commander is dead! The city's defences are down too! Let's seize back our city, for Nirvania!" His troops responded in kind, as the death of Ren served as an effective morale boost. Within minutes, the Miran Army was overwhelmed and the siege on the city by Aaron's army was a huge success.
Lieutenant Colonel Darius launched his attack on the city at roughly the same time his counterpart Aaron did. However, the difference in their tactics was that Darius called for his magicians and archers to soften the enemy defences on the city wall before charging forward with his men.
The enemies were forced to be sitting ducks, and the fortifications of the wall provided little cover against the Nirvanians' indirect fires. The Miranians could only regret not bringing sufficient magicians to defend their base as they were the best against such ranged attacks.
Nonetheless, the Miranians put up a fierce resistance, as the troops under Jin, one of the aides of Lord Neptune, rushed forth to engage the Nirvanian vanguard. Unlike the left flank which fell easily due to the disorganisation of the Miran Army under Ren, Jin was much better at tactics, taking direct control over the movement of his troops who displayed discipline.
Hence, it became an even match between both armies, with both refusing to concede. It was only a matter of time before the 2 commanders met in battle. Darius stroked his beard, "Your troops are trained well, young man. You train them personally?"
Jin replied proudly, "This is my battalion and you won't pass us so easily! Glory to Miran!" Jin rushed forward on his horse and Darius did likewise. The clashing of their weapons was so loud that it could be heard throughout the battlefield.
It was Jin's spear against Darius' polearm, as the pair continued to exchange fearsome blows while on horseback. Jin attempted to achieve victory through deceit, as he faked a jab towards Darius' exposed chest. Darius instinctively turned his body to avoid the incoming jab. Using this momentary lapse, Jin swiped his spear at Darius' horse instead, decapitating the poor animal.
Darius was no fool, before he got pinned under the body of his mount, he leapt away to safety. Jin leapt after him as they continued exchanging fierce blows. Jin noticed that Darius' weapon was a little unique, with some sort of meter on its axe blade. The meter was slowly being filled with a red colouration which seemed to increase with every swing.
Jin didn't want to find out what will happen when the meter was full, so he quickly coated his weapon with Wind magic as he increased the intensity of his attacks. As age has caught up with Darius, he couldn't dodge or defend every single attack Jin threw, resulting in a few strikes bypassing his defence.
With one heavy swing, Darius forced Jin to back off. However, at this point, Darius could already be considered severely injured, with wounds all over his body as he panted in exhaustion. Jin, on the other hand, was relatively unscathed, though he did well to conceal the exhaustion of unleashing such a fierce barrage of consecutive attacks.
Jin exclaimed, "Old timer, there's no way you can beat me in your current state. Your greatest weakness is speed, and that is exactly my strength! If you can't even land a single scratch on me, how do you fancy your chances of victory?"
Darius grinned as he wheezed, "Young chap, as you can see, I'm an old stubborn mule. I won't give up till I'm dead, kid!" Jin noticed that the meter on Darius' polearm was about 95% full currently. He knew it was time to conclude the battle.
Jin focused his mana all onto his spear, as the wind started gathering around his spear, forming a miniature tornado that covered his spear completely, with the tornado narrowing at the tip of the spear. In a flash, Jin leapt forward and shouted, "Eat this! [Whirlwind Drill]!" as he plunged his Wind-enhanced spear forward, boring a deep hole through Darius' torso.
To Jin's surprise, Darius suddenly grabbed his shoulder while the spear remained lodged in his body. He coughed out blood while smirking, "I may be slow, but I definitely got you now! About damn time my weapon was ready! Arise from slumber, [Mooncleaver]!"
Darius' polearm transformed slightly to reveal an ornamented polearm oozing with magic power. Without hesitation, Darius swung [Mooncleaver] down on Jin with his other hand, cleanly slicing him in half and creating a powerful shockwave from the release of all the pent-up magic power.
The shockwave split both the Miran Army and the city wall into 2, a testament of Darius' power. Darius grimaced in pain as he pulled Jin's spear out of his body, his weapon reverting back to its original form after that one powerful attack. He would need medical attention soon if he wanted to live.
Fortunately, the combat medics quickly arrived at Darius' position, sheltering him from the war as they treated his injury. Without their commander, not to mention the loss of several men from the shockwave earlier, the Miran Army soon descended into chaos.
Within minutes, the city wall went up in flames as the Nirvanian Right Flank was also successful in its siege of the city. Darius commented, "Ah, today is my lucky day. If my opponent had went all out at the beginning, I wouldn't be here marching triumphantly into the city. Guess old is gold after all, mwahahaha!"
Now, all Darius could do is to pray for Baron Marcus to be successful against the enemy general, otherwise, all their effort would be for naught…