pappabearbooks Chapter 405 405: Advantage: Mine
Chapter 405 405: Advantage: Mine
The commander quickly ordered his men to prepare for battle, but a sharp-eyed knight next to him said, "My Lord, those look like our people."
The commander ordered the archers to nock their arrows. When the approaching figures entered the firelight's radius, the commander clearly saw that they were indeed his own men. Only then did he order the archers to stand down and the soldiers to open the camp gates.
The gates opened, and the routed soldiers poured in, nearly throwing the stability of the Northern Camp into chaos. The commander drew his sword, led several knights, and summarily cut down several fleeing soldiers. The fresh blood dripping from the swords, the sight of their fallen comrades, and the presence of the murderously furious commander and his surrounding knights finally began to calm the remaining broken men.
"What in the blazes happened? How did the Southern Camp fall? Who attacked you?"
"I can tell you, My Lord."
A steady, young voice rang out. Then, a figure completely wrapped in a dark cloak stepped forward.
"I did."
"Wh—"
A flash of bright sword light sliced through the two knights protecting the commander, cutting them and the commander clean in half at the waist.
Lynn then pulled out several Higher Dragon's Dream bombs and tossed them into the dense crowd. Soon, the toxic gas generated by the Dragon's Dream bombs spread throughout the entire camp.
"Run, fast—"
Someone screamed, and the entire camp erupted into chaos. Everyone wanted to flee. But in the pitch-black night, it was as if an unknown number of man-eating beasts lurked in the darkness. The soldiers fleeing the camp were swallowed up.
The screams were endless, ensuring that this army, whose morale had already hit rock bottom, had no chance of regrouping.
The two camps surrounding Ironwood City, North and South, were thus captured.
After the fighting, Lynn gathered the witchers back together. He took a count. As expected, none were missing. In fact, none were even injured. Meanwhile, the enemy had left behind over a thousand corpses. This low count was only because the small number of witchers couldn't effectively pursue the enemy soldiers who scattered and fled.
After gathering and burning all the corpses to prevent ghouls and necrophages, Lynn entered Ironwood City at dawn, holding up the signet ring to the awestruck defenders.
King Nedamir, who was in a tense standoff with the main force of the Kovir Restoration Army, nearly passed out when he learned from the retreating soldiers that the siege forces he had left behind to encircle Ironwood City had been crushed.
The lifting of the siege on Ironwood City meant the League Army's line of retreat was cut.
I cannot let my nobles find out, or else…
Nedamir had just entertained the thought of executing all the routiers when footsteps sounded outside his tent. His army's nobles had already learned that their retreat was compromised and had rushed over, demanding that King Nedamir immediately withdraw the army.
While the nobles had answered the call to arms with thoughts of earning glory, that was now impossible. The pressing concern was how to return to their lands quickly and safely. Before the Ironwood City garrison could sortie and join the enemy in a pincer attack, now was the time to flee.
But Nedamir had other ideas. Though he had built the Hengfors League in a few short years, many nobles within it still refused to obey him. His decision to go to war this time had been met with opposition from those very nobles. Had King Rhaed's temptations not been so overwhelming, Nedamir would not have forced the issue.
If he retreated now, though he could do so with minimal losses, the nobles within the League would never heed him again.
Since that was the case, he decided to launch a direct frontal attack on the enemy. He had scouted them earlier. The enemy force directly in front of him numbered no more than eight thousand. Given that the enemy had managed to crush his three thousand siege troops overnight, even accounting for the element of a night raid, they must have deployed at least four thousand men for the attack. That would leave the frontal enemy force with only about half of their original strength.
Meanwhile, he still commanded twelve thousand men.
No matter how one looked at it, twelve thousand against four thousand—the advantage was his.
As long as he crushed the enemy facing him, entering Targo City would only be a matter of time. Once he was inside Targo City and forced Lady Bénédicte to surrender... then Ironwood City could be taken easily and without bloodshed.
Besides, King Rhaed had promised that Redania would also send troops. If Nedamir retreated now and Redania entered Targo City first, the King of the Hengfors League had no faith that King Vizimir would honor the agreement to give him two-thirds of the Marquisate of Targo. After all, the truth was determined by strength.
Therefore, retreating was not an option.
"You mean… attack?"
The Hengfors League nobles exchanged glances. None of them had expected their liege to be so utterly reckless. At this moment, wasn't the correct course of action to retreat as quickly as possible?
However, the nobles were eventually persuaded by King Nedamir.
On one hand, King Nedamir presented the intelligence that Redanian troops were already on the move. On the other hand, he convinced the nobles that the enemy blocking their path numbered fewer than four thousand. Most importantly, King Nedamir offered a concession: upon conquering the Marquisate of Targo, he would grant the nobles significantly more land.
With such a promise, most of the nobles, after careful consideration (with only a few dissenting), agreed to "go for it." King Nedamir's analysis wasn't entirely wrong. The enemy must have deployed a large force to defeat the three thousand siege troops—although the returning routiers hadn't seen exactly how many enemies were in the dark, the number couldn't have been small.
They still had a mighty army of twelve thousand. Directly rushing (A-moving) them would surely crush the enemy easily.
Thus, the various nobles returned to their respective units. After an early breakfast, the order to attack was given.
On the side of the Kovir Restoration Army.
Although no messenger had yet arrived to report to Istrad, the future Wise King of Kovir had no doubt that Lynn's mission had succeeded. Therefore, he had also had his troops eat breakfast early and prepare to join the Ironwood City garrison in a pincer attack on the enemy at any moment.
To his surprise, the Ironwood City garrison hadn't arrived, but the enemy's main force was bearing down on them in a thick, dark mass. Even Istrad was slightly stunned. Was the King of the Hengfors League truly this reckless?
Fortunately, the Kovir Restoration Army had not lost a single man or spent a single ounce of energy. Their full eight thousand troops were present, and they were defending from an entrenched position. Therefore, even under attack from twelve thousand men, their formation remained steady.
"Listen for my command. Longbowmen, prepare."
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