Chapter 119 - Later

The enemy army began to move after half an hour. They certainly didn't have time to plan any type of fancy strategy… They wanted to overwhelm Rustburg with superior numbers. In response to that, the cavalry left the town and assumed formation outside the walls. If they were to be attacked by catapults or ballistae, they could react fast with the horses' speed.

Zaos had no idea the effective range of such siege weapons. It changes from the country they come from since their technologies are different. Regardless, even though the cavalry showed itself, they weren't attacked… It looked like the range of the siege weapons was somewhat limited. Unfortunately, Zaos didn't hear about their range in old documents.

The enemy infantry began to march faster than the others, and Zaos realized things would start with another huge melee. While the mercenaries already showed once that they were willing to sacrifice their friends, they probably won't do that again when they have such an overwhelming advantage in numbers.

"Let's get going," Verkan said. 

Verkan's company and the other infantrymen finally began to cross the Eastern gate, and before they could assume any real formation, the enemies started to dash toward them. The whole forty hundred infantrymen… Despite that, the cavalry on his side didn't move an inch.

"With me, men!" Verkan shouted. "Let's help those fuckers reach the otherworld again!"

Verkan charged toward the enemy without telling anyone his real goal, but even the other companies followed him. There was no point in moving one only hundred men against so many enemies, after all. As Zaos dashed, he understood why his cavalry was just watching the enemies approaching. They couldn't join the fight, or the enemies' cavalry would also join it and make things even more complicated for the foot soldiers.

When Zaos saw the enemies pointing their spears at him, he immediately used earth magic two times in a row on his sword, and the weapon increased in length. He knocked down five enemy soldiers with a single swing, he could have made his swing longer and hit more enemies, but Verkan also would get hit by his attack. Regardless, Verkan made sure to compensate for that by beheading three soldiers with a single swing of his sword.

Zaos could tell that he was using less energy than usual, but he didn't let that get on his head. In such a battle where winning was close to impossible due to the difference in numbers, they had to make up with quality and not only once but whenever possible.

Zaos managed to knock down several enemies with his enhanced sword, but the soldiers this time were different from the others. Even while they were being killed, they still kept their spears pointed at him. While they didn't have much piercing power thanks to the fact that their wielders were being killed, they still hurt Zaos a lot more than he had in the first battle.

Although he tried to ignore the pain, the wounds were piling up too fast, and while he was opening a clear path inside the enemy information, he wouldn't last long that way. When Zaos's magic was over, he didn't use earth magic again. Instead of that, he used wind and then fire magic. The flames that appeared were a lot weaker compared to the one he showed in the previous day, but that much was fine. Zaos moved his sword to his right side and then swung with all his might to the left. The weapon created an arc of fire, and the arc expanded, engulfing several of the enemy soldiers. They began to burn, and their armors began to melt. Fifteen or so soldiers began to die to the flames slowly. However, Zaos sword was back to normal.

"Just after a single attack, huh…" Zaos muttered. "I suppose it can't be helped."

"Hehe, you never stop surprising me, kid," Verkan tapped on Zaos's soldiers as they watched several foot soldiers moving away from them. "Let's move to the right side."

"Why, sir?" Zaos asked. "Shouldn't we pierce the enemies' formation and destroy the siege weapons?"

"That can be done later. With their formation, we won't be able to reach those," Verkan said. "The cavalry is right behind the infantry, and passing through thousands of them will be hard, and there are the archers as well. Let's wait for a while longer."

There were no allies on their right side, so Verkan's company will have the chance to cause a lot more destruction if they move to the sides. However, when they turned to face them, they saw the infantrymen retreating… that had been too fast for a reaction in the chain of command.

Verkan's company followed them, but in the end, they only reached a single group. After decimating more than one hundred soldiers, they felt satisfied and returned since they were getting too close to the cavalry.

After returning near the walls, Verkan confirmed that they lost twenty more men in just a few minutes. As expected, the difference was clear if compared to the battle of the previous day. Regardless, his company had been the one that suffered fewer losses and caused more destruction. Despite that, he felt that something was off.

"Something smells fishy here," Verkan said.

"It looks like they sacrificed a good number of soldiers to find us, sir," Zaos said as he was drinking a mana potion and watching the enemies moving. "A few companies of foot soldiers moved away from the front lines and gave space to some riders… they are in front of us."

Verkan clicked his tongue when he noticed that as well. Based on the previous day's reports, the chain of command in the enemy's line realized that they had to deal with the group that caused a lot of trouble for them. They used the first moment of the battle to find them, and now they would use all the resources they could use to kill Verkan and his soldiers.