Chapter 574 - War Started (2)

"Advance forward!" Smite shouted.

With that one command, everyone on Gaia's side began to move. Since the path towards the outpost was narrow, there was no use to separate into smaller groups. Hence, all of them took the same path.

Because there was only one path, it would be easy for the enemies to concentrate their attacks on them. So, Smite had anticipated this by letting a tanker take most of the attacks and concentrate the cleric's heal on them.

Even though the terrain was detrimental for Gaia's side, they had the advantage of number. There were almost 150 soldiers on Gaia's side for this campaign. On the other hand, Regalia's side only had less than 100 soldiers.

Regalia's side's number was not that many, to begin with. They initially only amounted to around 100 soldiers, 108 soldiers to be exact. Out of that number, 30% of them were dispatched for the harassing strategy previously, resulting in harsh defeat for Regalia.

From 108 soldiers, the number went down to 78 soldiers. Then, from those 78 soldiers, the noble son died, and also the Sparrow Family's representatives were captured. This made the number of soldiers at Regalia's side 70 soldiers.

Although Gaia's enemy only had half of their number, battle against an outpost without any siege weapon was still difficult.

Gaia's side marches with caution. They moved one step at a time. Meanwhile, the Regalia's side didn't let the Gaia moved freely. They started to bombard Gaia's soldiers with attacks. 

Gaia's soldiers had already moved halfway. Smite's strategy seemed to work fine. There were no casualties yet from Gaia's side. Although there were several dangerous moments for the tankers, the clerics could pass it with great effort.

Regalia's soldiers didn't stay idle. They tried every way to at least caused a casualty towards the Gaia's side. From attacking the clerics directly until concentrated their attacks towards one target.

However, both strategies failed to cause casualties. When they aim towards the clerics directly, Smite had already anticipated this. He already assigned a group of 5 soldiers for each cleric to protect the clerics from the attacks. Meanwhile, the concentrated attacks were the ones that put Gaia's soldiers until the dangerous moment.

One of the tankers almost died because of the concentrated attacks. Fortunately, the Gaia's side's clerics, especially Spica, was proficient and hurriedly saved the tanker.

The outpost commander was racking his brain hard. With no casualties yet from Gaia's side would make the battle more difficult for him. Moreover, because of the harsh defeat from the harassing strategy, almost half of their current soldiers were a ranged and magic unit.

It would be difficult for these two types of units to engage in a close combat battle. Moreover, in a disadvantages number.

"Prepare the weapon!" The outpost commander shouted.

Although Gaia's side could reach halfway safely, it was still not enough to ensure their win. The real battle started right now. During a siege battle like this, the enemy's outpost would obviously have a siege weapon and act as a defense. Unfortunately, since it was just an outpost, the weapon would not be that high grade and expensive. Hence, there was a limit on their attack range.

In the current outpost, the siege weapon's attack range was shorter than the mages and archers' attack range. However, it could not be underestimated. Although the attack range was brief, its attack power was more powerful than any of the archers and mages attacks.

Before the battle, Smite had already received the intelligence report from the spies. Hence, he already knew about this siege weapon. The first time Smite received the information, he frowned. The siege weapon installed at this outpost was a powerful one and had a big area of effect.

The siege weapon would unleash a big mortar at high speed. The mortar was already heavy and powerful. Combined with the high speed, the force that resulted from it was so powerful. Smite had reckoned that the mortar could push back a tanker far away. If the tanker was not ready, the mortar could even blow the tanker away.

What was fortunate was their tanker were not sausages. Smite had calculated that one mortar alone would not be enough to kill the tanker. Moreover, they had clerics on their side. Sadly, this was a war. Nobody could predict correctly. Furthermore, besides the mortar, there were still the soldiers' attacks. 

But, there was still something to be appreciated of. There were only three such siege weapons at this place.

"Keep moving!" Smite said towards his soldiers.

BOOM... BOOM... BOOOOM... Three defeating sounds were heard, signaling the siege weapons had been fired simultaneously, and it was followed with a shout, "RELOAD!". 

Three mortar flew towards Gaia's side.

Smite immediately shouted, "Shield!!!"

Smite had known that there was a delay between each shot, and the ammunition would not be that much. Smite reckoned that 20 shots for each siege weapon would be the limit.

Smite's intention was clear. They would move carefully. The best case was for them to reach the outpost before the 20 shots. However, if they could not, then Smite would move carefully and wasted the enemy's ammunition.

Each of the three mortars landed on their targets. Three explosive sound was heard. The three tankers who received the attacks were pushed back, but it was still within the calculation. Smite smiled when he looked at this. Everything was going on as his plan. However, the smile didn't last for long.

A few seconds later, Smite ducked and covered his body. Not only Smite, but the other soldiers also did the same. 

When the mortar hit the targets, it exploded and launched many shrapnels towards the back army. This small shrapnel was sharp and created cut injuries on the soldiers' bodies.

The damage from these small shrapnels was not that big. However, it managed to distract Gaia's soldiers. All of them quickly got back up.

When Smite was about to give a follow-up command, he exclaimed, "Poison!"