Seeing this, Luke understood that once one phalanx was destroyed, the entire defensive system would be rendered meaningless. Although he was new to battle, he was unusually excited and clear-headed. He recalled the warriors in the books who had demonstrated their strength when their formations crumbled. He suddenly shouted, "Warriors of the Paz family! The enemy can't hold on any longer! Charge!"
That was a fictional plot from a novel, quite unrealistic. But Luke was lucky; he shouted those words the instant Lothar's formation collapsed. The surrounding soldiers, unable to see the situation clearly, heard their commander say the enemy couldn't hold on, and their morale soared. The spearmen and shield bearers spread out in a line, suddenly circling towards Lothar's forces. This not only defused the attack on their formation but also greatly boosted morale.
Aisha wasn't aware of the overall situation of the battle, but he heard Luke's shout. So he broke up his own formation, arranged himself in the same formation as Luke, and circled around to the enemy from another direction.
The Lothar phalanx, which should have collapsed, hesitated for a moment when they saw their brethren launching an excited attack, but they fought back desperately.
Lorain never dreamed that his breakthrough of one of the enemy's formations would instead boost their morale. But on the battlefield, there's no time for hesitation. Lorain led from the front, commanding his formation to withstand the enemy's charge.
A bloody battle then ensued within the camp. The camp was small, so Ars's infantry were quickly pushed to a corner. Lorain organized several charges, but none could break through the enemy lines, and he grew increasingly anxious. His soldiers were already considering retreat, and Lorain knew that if they retreated now, they would be lambs to the slaughter, easily wiped out.
"Shieldbearers, shieldbearers, form ranks and move forward!"
The shield bearers of the Ars family were also organized, with spears at the back and shields at the front, and they rammed into the Andrew family's line with perfect precision.
This tactic proved effective, successfully reversing the retreat.
Once a stalemate was established, the numerical advantage of the Ars family became apparent. The two sides clashed fiercely, and after several exchanges, the Andrew family's lines finally gave way and began to slowly retreat. However, they retreated in an orderly fashion, preventing the Ars family from opening a significant breach.
But the initiative in the situation finally shifted to the Ars family.
Just as Lorain was confident of victory, the scroll on his chest emitted a bright light. He opened the scroll and saw two words written on it: "Withdraw!"
Lorain paused, then looked back towards the direction of Jialai City, where everything was quiet and there was no fighting.
Lorain glanced again at the collapsing Andrew family's army lines. He suddenly wanted to pretend he hadn't seen the message. But then, the sound of the Ars family's retreat signal rang out from the woods, startling the soldiers who immediately halted their advance. Lorain clenched his fists in frustration, took a deep breath, and painfully gave the order to retreat.
A strange horn sounded from the woods, and then the Ars family abruptly ceased their attack, surprising Luke and bringing him a secret sigh of relief. He had just personally killed his third enemy in this battle, but when he looked around, it was clear that everyone had lost their will to fight. The other two knights were also wounded, and Aisie's entire head was stained red, making it impossible to tell whose blood it was. He knew he was truly grateful to the gods for forcing the enemy to retreat; otherwise, he might have been the next to die.
But should we just let them leave? Should we chase after them and fight our way out?
The three knights exchanged glances, smiled bitterly, and abandoned their pursuit. They silently watched as the soldiers of the Ars family cautiously left the camp.
Of course, one crucial point is that, at this stage of the battle, they haven't seen any Ars cavalry. A hasty attack could lead to an ambush by enemy cavalry, resulting in utter annihilation. Luke felt that he was probably the only one who had considered this possibility, and he inwardly praised himself.
Unbeknownst to Luke, his two companions, and Lorain, the cavalrymen lying in ambush in the woods—Ars's prized elite cavalry—were unexpectedly routed by the Nightfire mercenary group's cavalry. Ars, with his last dozen or so personal guards, abandoning a third of his wounded and horses, along with an equal number of cavalry corpses, fled in disarray back to his territory. If there was one thing Baron Ars did right in this cavalry skirmish, it was that he ordered Lorain to retreat when things began to turn against him, instead of waiting until his own desperate escape gave the enemy cavalry an opportunity to ambush his infantry rear. Fortunately, Lorain carried out his order in time. Faced with the orderly retreat of Ars's infantry, the Nightfire cavalry did not attack, thus preserving the main force of Ars's infantry.
“Opportunistic and self-important,” Sind coldly uttered these eight words, quickly walking down the city wall. He didn't think Ars was a troublesome opponent, especially after Ars gained control of the Nightfire mercenaries. He had a more troublesome opponent waiting for him to deal with: his brother, the brother who had managed to shelter refugees without any problems.
The thought of his brother suddenly having so many men made Sind feel a tightness in his chest, and he could hardly breathe.
As night deepened, the meeting in Perth City continued, but the meeting room door suddenly opened, and two people entered: Yun Zhe and Ellie.
Yun Zhe was wearing a large linen robe, through which layers of white cloth, the kind commonly used to wrap wounds, could be vaguely seen. A strong medicinal scent wafted out, instantly filling the entire conference room. His complexion was relatively normal, though he needed Ellie's support to barely manage to walk to a chair and sit down.
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