326 Prisoner of War! - Part 2

Unlike the battle that occurred along the border of the Nehmor Territory, the stronghold to the north of it remained tranquil as the enemy troops only erected a camp at a distance of half a kilometer to keep themselves out of firing range of the soldiers stationed on the City walls.

General Jian, Niall, stood atop the city and watched over the Armen Soldiers busy building their camps. The whole night went with nothing major happening. Not even an arrow was shot at one another.

But to the south, past the forest, was an open ground with a massive lake in the middle and a river running through the plain, the situation there was tense.

Here, the two armies were holding the position on the western and eastern side of the lake. There was a narrow strip of land between the lake and the river to its north running from the west to the east.

Baron Regan had built a thick wall here to keep the Armen soldiers from using this strip of land as a way to invade. A battle has already started here with the Armen soldiers trying to take it from the soldiers defending the wall.

The river to the right was a kilometer wide, but numerous sharp rocks were jutting out of the running water, making it difficult for anyone to use boats or ships to cross over to the other side.

The water currents in that region were also quite strong, as many whirlpools formed due to the rocks. Swimming to just cross the wall was not an option here, and even if someone did come over, they would have to face the enemy soldiers that are keeping an eye on the shore all the time.

This was also the reason no one used this river for transportation purposes. The merchants mainly use the land routes and checkpoints to cross from Baron Regan's territory to the Armen Kingdom side and vice versa. 

The lake couldn't be used since both the army would need floating vessels such as boats in large quantities to transport their army to the other side. Anything smaller in number would be sunk by the enemy quickly. Even going around the wall would is challenging since there are barricades built in the lake.

Therefore, only the open ground, the grassland to the left of the lake, was a suitable place to invade into the territory of Baron Regan. Here was where the soldiers of the Armen Kingdom were reorganizing their troops away from the camp, which was at the edge of the lake.

"Adhere to the formation strictly. Anyone who dares to leave the group of their own accord will be decapitated!" a powerful voice boomed in the air. The Armen Kingdom, Commander Nexon raised his sword high in the air, and the cold gleam of his blade shimmered in the night.

He was another one of the Armen Kingdom's commanders with Middle stage Elemental gathering Realm as the cultivation base.

Otherwise, they would need to have a much higher number of soldiers to use human wave tactics on the enemy commander.

But this would incur large causalities. It was also why Captain Oslo, Lesley, Horf, and the other high-level cadres were sweating excessively. They did not have Viscount Bardrick or Baron Regan this time with them standing behind, nor were there any additional Generals like Tilio, Yasir, etc. to lead them into the battle.

The only one they had was the new General and Commander, Marco, but he too has not arrived yet. The subordinates of Marco were giving out orders in his place and preparing to face the enemy troops once the battle started.

Commander Nexon rode to the front of his army and stared in the far distance at the moving orange lights.

A distance behind him, a massive group of foot soldiers and to their flanks and behind them, cavalries were ordered in a neat formation.

This positioning was tactical, as well. The foot soldiers were positioned at the vanguard to cushion the enemy's charge and slow their momentum so that the cavalrymen could cut into the enemy's formation, scattering their troops.

For this purpose, the cavalrymen were deliberately left trailing behind the group to create ample space for them to generate momentum for a charge.

It was an example of one of the more popular infantry-cavalry tactics, one that was often used by the commanders in an open plain against the enemy troops. Commander Nexon also expected the enemies to use the same or similar formation.

Often, warfare is about how meticulous one is.

Regardless of whether it was the massive tower shields in the hands of the militia or the positioning of the troops, these showed that Commander Nexon wasn't an amateur to warfare.

With these measures in place and the information about the enemy not having enough men on the border, Commander Nexon was confident of winning the battle.

A Captain level officer was rushing toward him at full speed.

"Commander, bad news!"

"What's wrong?" Commander Nexon frowned in displeasure.

"Reporting to Commander, two hundred men that had gone south to check for weak defenses in the enemy line, are missing!" said the Captain hurriedly.

"What?!" The Armen Kingdom's Commander turned livid in rage. "You bastard, are you kidding me?"

For two hundred men to be missing at such a time was no joking affair!

Cold sweat seeped down the Captain's forehead.

He swiftly explained the matter, saying that he had only just noticed the disappearance of the two hundred men.

Because of the vast ground, apart from the main army, Commander Nexon has sent a thousand soldiers in five batches to carry reconnaissance along the border.

If there is a weak link in the enemy defenses, for example, if they do not have sufficient numbers to look after the wide border, Commander Nexon could make use of that weakness to quickly invade the enemy territory by sending an elite group of cavalry and then attack the enemy from behind, taking them out in one move.

This time, Commander Nexon had great hope to find such weakness because of the current situation that the five territories are facing.

They definitely wouldn't be able to station many soldiers at his border now.

This shortages in soldiers would make Baron Regan incapable of stopping him from his army alone.

But the news about one of the batches of the reconnaissance team suddenly losing contact with the other groups had put a dark cloud over Nexon's plans.

"They might have crossed the border since it dark and the border is too wide. If there were any clashes, another team near them should have sensed it first and gone to help them. Therefore, it might just be the good news since this entails that the enemy hasn't or couldn't place enough soldiers to defend its the vast border, which caused our men to make it into their territory easily." Commander Nexon encouraged himself as he hoped this would be the case.

But before he could think more on this matter, he saw a movement on the enemy side. The orange lights at the front separated from the middle as if to give someone a way.

Suddenly, a commotion occurred in the enemy lines. Nexon noticed the enemy soldiers lifting their torches high up in the air and screaming a name repeatedly.

"…arco! Marco! Marco!" the loud cheering sound could even be heard on their side, attracting the attention of the Armen soldiers.

"Marco?" Commander Nexon knitted his brow in thought. He doesn't remember anyone prominent on the enemy side having a name, Marco. 

"Commander, look," said one of his officers, bringing his attention to the cavalry riding to the front. To their surprise, these guys that the enemy soldiers were cheering did not stop but were heading in their direction, galloping on their horses.

When they crossed the distance halfway, Commander Nexon was finally able to see them clearly under the soft light of the torches some of the enemy soldiers were holding in their hands.

These cavalrymen, along with their steeds, were equipped with heavy armor from head to toe.

Even from afar, the Armen soldiers could clearly perceive the aura, and they couldn't help but feel a heavy pressure weighing down on them. Commander Nexon's face warped slightly in astonishment.

Without a doubt, these fellows were elite troops! An elite corps with many ninth stage Body Tempering Realm cultivators in their midst or maybe the group was wholly made by them, all three hundred of them. It was an astounding number. At the helm, a person wearing the same armor was riding with a big Warhammer on his shoulder. Nexon noticed that the unknown guy was wearing a mask, making it harder for the commander to tell who he was, but he had a guess in his mind. 

'Is that Marco?... He looks strong' Commander Nexon mumbled to himself but then shook head to clear his mind.

"Plant your shields on the ground diagonally!"

"Archers, draw your arrows!"

"Cavalrymen, prepare yourselves. Move at my command!"

Commander Nexon issued a series of commands seeing that enemy was coming towards them. Following his orders, the sound of heavy shields being planted in the ground and arrows being drawn on bowstrings echoed.

But unlike Nexon had thought, the group coming at them slowed down and stopped at a distance outside the firing range of the archers.

The guy wearing the mask moved with his steed walking a few steps forward, and shouted, "Commander Nexon, how you doing?"