Keldric heard Sir Lothar, riding beside him, grunt with effort. Unaccustomed to battle, such sudden maneuvers were far from easy.
“Sir Lothar!”
Keldric’s rough hand seized Lothar just in time, pulling him upright as he nearly toppled from his saddle.
“Th-Thank you!” Lothar gasped. There was no time for further words.
The moment after the knights sharply turned their horses, a dozen bolts struck the ground where they had just been charging.
Bolts embedded uselessly in the dirt a disaster that backfired on the Griffin Mercenaries.
Even with loading aids, crossbows were inherently slow to reload.
That meant the crossbowmen hiding behind their shields couldn’t stop the knights’ charge.
“Uh, ugh—!”
At the moment of impact, Keldric saw the wide-eyed mercenary.
Without hesitation, he thrust his lance. A brutal sound, a throat was pierced.
“Drive them back!”
“These lowborn scum!”
“Kill them all! For Baron Yaven!”
Crash! Crunch!
Once the warhorses crashed in, it was over.
No matter how deadly crossbows were at close range, knights rampaging right in front of you were no fools.
Lances lowered, the knights drew their weapons and began slaughtering mercenaries indiscriminately.
“No prisoners!”
Sir Lothar roared savagely. It was a command to leave none alive.
In battle, mercenaries weren’t worth taking as prisoners. They were just soldiers working under contract.
“N-no!”
“Reload! Reload!”
“Fall back slowly! Drop the shields!”
Crossbowmen scattered across the plains began collapsing one by one as they tried to stall with a delaying action.
Their panic turned into shrieks and screams, echoing relentlessly through the air.
About forty soldiers rushed in to act as shields, but it was useless.
Their desperate effort crumbled in an instant under a single charge from the knights.
But the knights’ goal wasn’t just to strike the Gryphon Mercenary Company.
When the knights ignored them and started cutting down the crossbowmen first, the Lysian mounted archers, now desperate, returned and began firing signal arrows.
Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
The whistling of the signal arrows only added to the battlefield’s chaos.
The once-pristine snow was now stained with red blood and churned earth.
“Now! Push through!”
Sir Rutger, who had been swinging his weapon with calm precision, shouted.
The knights, who had been handling the mercenaries, quickly turned their horses and re-formed their ranks.
By now, the archers who had lingered awkwardly instead of fleeing outright realized their fatal mistake.
“Urgh—!”
“Fall back slowly! Slowly!”
“Cover the cavalry!”
The battlefield had turned into a complete mess.
The Gryphon Mercenary Company, which was supposed to hold the rear, now faced being taken down piecemeal by the cavalry.
The other soldiers who were supposed to protect the crossbowmen had already fallen or lost their will to fight after being overwhelmed by the knights.
It was the perfect moment to drive the mounted archers into a corner.
Make the battle as chaotic as possible, force clashes by mixing up positions all over the field!
Of course, even that wasn’t easy. To gain something, one always had to pay a price.
“The soldiers…!”
This time, the price was the soldiers who had broken formation and come charging in from the semi-circle.
Sir Lothar came up beside Keldric, grinding his teeth as he muttered.
Several soldiers had fallen, struck down by arrows.
Even so, Sir Lothar’s men somehow managed to keep formation. They played the role of the anvil admirably.
“Charge! Chaarge!”
The knights, having hastily regrouped, began another charge this time from the opposite direction.
Soldiers in a semi-circular formation, and knights charging in, radiating murderous intent.
Caught between them was a group of mounted archers who now fell into a panic.
Even Keldric could see the confusion in their flailing movements.
“You bastard scum!”
“Wipe them out!”
In the end, the knights crashed into the archers who had been wildly firing arrows in desperation.
It was too late to flee.
The knights swung their weapons with a deadly will to spill Lysian blood.
Some of the Lysians hurriedly drew their swords, but lightly armored as they were, they stood no chance in close combat against heavily armored knights.
Fwoosh!
“Aaargh!”
“Fire! Everyone, fall back for now!”
On top of that, Alyssa’s magic hit at just the right moment.
Some of the mounted archers were engulfed in flames, falling from their horses, blackened and charred.
“Surround them! Don’t let a single one escape!”
Sir Rutger’s swift command also shone brilliantly. The knights and cavalry began to quickly surround the mounted archers.
However, there were far too few cavalry. To encircle the twenty mounted archers, they needed at least ten more horsemen.
“They’re escaping!”
In the end, the mounted archers, who had begun to be cut down by the knights, hurriedly found gaps and started to flee.
The situation quickly spun out of control. Keldric’s bloodshot eyes rolled frantically, chasing after the fleeing mounted archers.
“Sir Rutger! Pursue them!”
An excited Sir Lothar shouted, gasping for breath. But Sir Rutger hesitated for a moment.
Keldric couldn’t understand. They finally had the upper hand why hesitate now?
“Sir Rutger!”
“If not now, we’ll lose the chance! Go, now!”
The other knights were equally anxious.
Before Sir Rutger could make a decision, they formed ranks while watching the mounted archers frantically breaking out of the encirclement.
“Pursue them! Chase them down!”
“Don’t let a single one return alive!”
Eventually, Sir Rutger also joined the charge. As he galloped beside Keldric, he gave the order to pursue but also shouted urgently to him.
“Sir Keldric! I have a bad feeling about this!”
Keldric was bewildered. This battle was already won what on earth was he so afraid of?
But he couldn’t ignore Sir Rutger’s experience. Keldric, calming his excited mind, asked:
“Sir! What’s the matter?”
“Their losses are minimal! And there are too few mounted archers!”
“That’s…”
Suddenly, Keldric remembered what he had forgotten.
When the enemy attacked a second time, the mounted archers had already split into two groups.
The group Keldric, the knights, and the soldiers behind them were chasing was only one group.
Then where was the other one?
“Their other cavalry aren’t in sight either! Something’s not right!”
Cavalry. The Risen don’t just have mounted archers.
Out of their hundred cavalry, if forty were archers… the remaining sixty were a large unit of medium and light cavalry.
And yet, during the entire battle, there had been no sign of them.
The mounted archers were retreating, but their losses were minimal.
The other group of archers had disappeared without a trace after splitting off earlier, along with the rest of their cavalry.
Almost half of the enemy’s forces were nowhere to be seen. That meant…
‘No… it can’t be…!’
At that moment, a sharp, chilling dread raced down Keldric’s spine.
His keen instincts screamed in alarm.
Something something had gone terribly wrong.
As goosebumps rose all over him, only one thought flashed through Keldric’s mind like lightning.
‘They’re luring us!’
The mounted archers being chased continued to fire arrows even as they retreated.
Occasionally, they would slow down slightly, keeping the knights just close enough to almost catch them.
As if to say, ‘Don’t give up the chase!’
“Sir Lothaaar!!”
Keldric shouted loudly. However, Sir Lothar, wildly galloping ahead, was already consumed by extreme excitement and couldn’t look back.
With no other choice, Keldric turned to Sir Rutger and yelled.
“Sir Rutger! You must stop the pursuit immediately……………!”
And then, a tremendous roar shook the earth, loud enough to drown out Keldric’s shout.
Waaaah!!
Whoooosh! Whoosh!
Arrows flew in. Keldric’s head snapped in that direction.
A different group of mounted archers, unlike those they had been pursuing, came charging in and began to surround them on all sides.
Along with that, dozens of cavalry units appeared from the enemy’s camp and could be seen charging toward them.
Keldric hastily took in the situation. But it was already too late.
The knights and cavalry, as if bewitched, had pursued the mounted archers deep into enemy territory.
The foot soldiers, who had been running with them, were still far behind. Their advance had been delayed by the remaining forces of the Griffin Mercenaries.
This meant the knights were isolated. Surrounded by over a hundred enemy cavalry.
“Damn it……!”
Keldric ground his teeth with a harsh grit.
Loud shouts and the sharp cries of the Lysians’ language poured down like rain. Keldric’s navy-blue eyes, now filled with panic, scanned all around.
“Arrows incoming!”
“Arrows! Arrows!”
“Stop! Stop the pursuit immediately! Stop the—!”
Just moments ago, the enemy mounted archers had been retreating in a desperate flight, but now they were closing in once again, as if that had never happened.
The trap for the bear hunt had been set.