At Herculeâs command, the longbowmen let loose arrows towards the approaching vanguard of Dariosâs army.
Itâs said that, one longbowman could shoot five to six arrows a minute. But for the elves who had handled bows since time immemorial, shooting ten arrows a minute was childâs play.
There were 5,000 longbowmen present, so 50,000 arrows were raining down every minute. Not all arrows struck of course, and even among the ones that struck, only a few caused fatal wounds.
The longbows excelling in long range and rapid fire rate were vastly inferior to crossbows in terms of penetrating force. The arrows managed to pierce the mercenariesâ armors and shields, but were unable to deal lethal damage.
ButâŚ
Even if only 1% of those arrows managed to strike body parts that couldnât be concealed by armor, like the faceâŚ
Every minute, 500 soldiers would die.
500 in one minute. 1000 in two minutes. 1500 in three minutes.
In addition to that were the soldiers who were injured in the limbs and became unable to fight, as well as the ones demoralized from the incessant arrow rainâŚ
Even if it was 28,000 soldiers, they would forced to stop dead in their tracks.
âŚOr so Hercule thought.
âTheyâre unexpectedly tenacious.â
The mercenaries were steadily advancing forward while trying their best to evade the arrow storm. Hercule was puzzled by how the mercenaries who were only in it for the money could be fighting so desperatelyâŚ
âI see. Itâs because of their rear.â
He recalled that the rear was made up by Dariosâs elite subordinates. If the mercenaries tried to run away, Dariosâs crossbowmen would likely shoot them down.
Crossbows had very high power, anyone who got shot would die for sure. Pressing forward was still preferable to getting shot down by your own allies.
Dariosâs trick was to make use of the mercenariesâ mentality.
But it was nothing more than a trick.
Even if the mercenaries made it to the top of the hill⌠They would be impeded by the fences, stakes and ditches there. And before they could pass through those obstacles, the longspear unit would be there to welcome them. The mercenaries would die one after another from arrow fire and spears and break ranks.
âI guess itâs about time.â
Hercule called for Garphis.
âIs it my turn?â
âYeah, lead a cavalry charge through there.â
Hercule pointed at a portion of the fences, stakes and ditches where enemy troops were stuck in a deadlock. Of course, his cavalry werenât so skilled that they could just jump through obstacles.
HoweverâŚ
âI understand, Your Majesty. So itâs like that, eh?â
âIt is, yes⌠How close can you manage?â
â10 meters should be no problem.â
ďźâťThis world did not yet have a uniform system of measurement. Not only countries, different ethnic groups and regions also used different units. But that makes it too troublesomeâahem, too complicated for everyone, so I will strictly use meter, gram, etc. Please just think that itâs been conveniently translated to Japanese. Read with your mindâs eye) [TL: Authorâs note]
âYou sure?â
âYour Majesty knows who I am, yes?â
Hercule smirked and pat his chief vassalâs shoulder.
âIâm counting on you, Garphis Galeanos. Show them the power of the clibanarii.â
âYour wish is my command.â
Garphis walked away from Hercule, towards the clibanarii unit led by himself. Then he gave the order with a blaring voice.
âGentlemen, prepare to charge. That is all. Get on your horse!â
After receiving Garphisâs concise order, the soldiers climbed onto their horses. Their only job was to charge. There was no need to think about anything else.
âCarolina, you are to follow behind me⌠Just accompanying me is fine for today.â
âI understand, Father.â
Carolina also got on her horse and followed behind Garphis.
Having done extensive training, the clibanarii formed a triangle with Garphis as the vertex in a blink of eye.
ThenâŚ
âMOVING OUT!!!â
ââOOHHHH!!!!ââ
Following the path the infantry and archers created for him, Garphis headed straight ahead. Fences, stakes and ditches came into his view.
The mercenaries were dumbfounded upon seeing the clibanarii charging towards a fence.
The distance to the obstacles was gradually shrinking.
And thenâŚ
âShould be about time,â murmured Hercule as he observed Garphis from high up.
âAsmodeus, when Garphis comes within ten meters of the phantom obstacles, cancel the illusion.â
âUnderstood, Master.â
A lovely female voice rang out inside Herculeâs head.
The voice that only he could hear belonged to his contracted great spirit, Asmodeusâthe succubus who was one of the Seventy-Two Demons.
âPayment will be a dream one week later.â
âThanks⌠Iâll be looking forward to it.â
And thus the illusion vanishedâŚ
âCHARGEEE!!!â
When he got to the ten-meter mark and confirmed that the obstacles had disappeared, Garphis promptly accelerated with vigor.
Seeing the obstacles abruptly disappear and the clibanarii charge straight towards them, the mercenaries fell into panic. Because they were sure the clibanarii couldnât charge with obstacles in the way, it took them far too long to react.
Having confirmed that the mercenaries were in pandemonium, Garphis raised his lance straight above and shouted.
âAMON!!!â
One of the Seventy-Two Demons. Garphis summoned his contracted spirit, the great spirit of fire, Amon. A scorching snake of flame started to coil around his lance. He pointed that flaming lance towards the enemy and broke into a rush.
The flame flew off and burned the surrounding mercenaries black in an instant.
The flashy flame wasnât actually as destructive as it looked, but⌠just instilling terror into the soldiers and making them flee was more than enough.
Their battle formation had totally collapsed. The clibanarii, including Carolina, charged into the fray one by one.
âELIGOS!!!â
Carolina also summoned her spirit. One of the Seventy-Two Demons, the great spirit of armaments, Eligos.
A glittering silver lance appeared in her hand. The lance that was as light as feathers to their owner, yet felt as heavy as an anchor to the ones on the receiving end of her attacks, blew away the enemies and pulverized them.
The 28,000 strong vanguard of Dariosâs army was beginning to crumble.
âWell, itâs just what I expected.â
Even though the mercenaries were screaming and scrambling away, Darios was perfectly calm. The advance guard composed of the expendable mercenaries proved useless. They broke ranks because of arrow fire and were being annihilated by the clibanarii.
But that was all within his expectations.
He did hope to defeat Hercule with brute force, though, so he couldnât deny that the situation was a little dishearteningâŚ
Without revealing a hint of discouragement, Darios issued his second command.
âTell the commanding officers to move the mercenaries to the sides. Barbarian cavalry stay on standby. Crossbow and longspear units, move forward.â
Heedingâs Dariosâs directions, the mercenaries hurriedly moved to their left and right. Since they could neither defend against the frontal stampede nor escape to the back, their best hope of evading the cavalry charge was to flee aside.
The following development was thus.
The hole penetrated by the clibanarii was immediately closed up.
As a result, the clibanarii led by Garphis Galeanos was isolated from the main body of Herculeâs army.
ThenâŚ
âThe enemy cavalry exhausted from a long charge will become easy targets for the crossbow unit, and the longspear unit will restrain them from making further charge. Then the barbarian cavalry will annihilate them with a pincer attack from both sides.â
The Lemurian Empireâs strongest units, clibanarii and longbowmen, were both difficult to replenish with fresh troops. And they must be elvesâmembers of the ruling class as a requirement.
If Hercule lost this force, let alone continuing this war, it was easy to imagine the trouble he would have in future political management.
âShut down the enemyâs strength while capitalizing on your own and target the weak point of your enemy. These are the basics of warfare⌠Now then, this is my last move. How will you respond, Emperor Hercule?â