Kiiiiiing! Bang! The gates of the fortress swung open.
Through the thick clouds of dust, Lawrence's soldiers rushed forward like a tide.
"Charge!" "Kraaaah!" Hundreds of soldiers, their faces filled with fear.
Flames from the flare blazed atop the walls, and right before them, countless enemies charged towards the gates.
These soldiers were nothing more than a ragtag bunch, poorly trained and unorganized.
Yet, the thought that retreating could lead to Lawrence's downfall made them grit their teeth and charge headlong into the fray.
"Die!" Thud! "Kugh."
The armies clashed.
Soldiers at the front were pushed together, entangled in a fierce struggle, while Lawrence's soldier thrust his weapon, causing a Barco soldier to spit blood and tremble in pain.
The joy of victory was short-lived.
As Lawrence's soldiers tried to retrieve their weapons and attack another foe, a sudden strike from the side severed a neck.
Scrape! Thud.
The battle had begun.
Like the faces of soldiers who could not believe their own deaths, chaos erupted as they fought to kill one another.
In the early stages of the battle, Lawrence had the upper hand.
Supported by arrows raining down from the walls, they pushed back Barco's soldiers fiercely.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Barco's soldiers fell to the ground under the hail of arrows.
Stepping over their corpses, Lawrence's knights, clad in shining silver armor glistening in the sun, slaughtered the enemies before them.
Blood spurted like a fountain.
In an instant, the bodies piled up like a mountain, and following the knights, Lawrence's soldiers burrowed deeper into enemy territory.
At that moment, they believed victory was within their grasp.
Seeing their enemies fall to their weapons, they thought Barco's strength was not that formidable.
However, that was a delusion.
Initially, Barco was taken aback by the unexpected counterattack, but as time passed, the situation reversed.
"How dare you act so recklessly!" "Who do you think you are!" Scrape! Whoosh.
Among the soldiers, a group was wreaking havoc.
They were the Berge Mercenaries.
Making a living through battle, they stood out among the ordinary soldiers.
Even amidst the chaos, they supported each other and butchered Lawrence's soldiers, and the gap in their counterattacks began to widen.
It didn't matter if the opponent was a knight.
The knight's presence only became significant when one mastered the aura perfectly, and the knight at the forefront, caught off guard by the mercenaries' coordinated attacks, swung his sword wildly, only to be attacked from all sides.
Thud! Thud! "Kraaaah!" The pain pierced through him.
The knight screamed in agony and fell.
From that moment on, the atmosphere shifted.
Although Lawrence had hired mercenaries to bolster his forces, they did not display the remarkable prowess of the Berge Mercenaries.
At some point, they could no longer advance.
Having moved only 50 meters from the walls, Lawrence's soldiers, having lost their momentum, could only struggle to survive with panic-stricken faces.
One by one, people fell.
Fear spread like wildfire, and upon witnessing a comrade's death, one soldier panicked.
"W-We’re finished! We can never win!" The disparity in strength was beyond their expectations.
The soldiers began to retreat.
Faced with a pack of ferocious beasts, the ragtag soldiers could not maintain their resolve to fight to the death.
A variable emerged.
Lawrence.
They could not even fulfill their role as bait properly.
"Aim!" Arrows were fired.
After repeating the action several times, their arms trembled, but Flora, with a face filled with determination, prepared the next arrow.
It was then that the soldiers screamed.
They needed to buy more time, but they were being pushed back like sand swept away by the tide. 'We can't be pushed back already.' Her heart sank.
Roman's plan was a feint operation.
When the gates opened and Lawrence's soldiers launched a counterattack, Barco would naturally concentrate their forces, thinking it was an opportunity.
That was the moment Roman referred to as the opportunity.
In the battle at the gates, Barco would not have many troops in the rear, and Roman planned to seize that timing to crush the flare.
The flare was an expensive piece of equipment.
Its cost was beyond what could be easily replenished, so for Lawrence, securing the advantage of defense was crucial.
Therefore, "Do not retreat! Hold on until the end!" Flora shouted fiercely.
Yet, the enemies had not sent enough troops.
Many soldiers remained in Barco's rear, and at this rate, Roman's plan could not even be attempted.
However, despite Flora's cries, Lawrence's soldiers could not hold on.
They had already lost their fighting spirit, and the overwhelming momentum of Barco could not be stopped by mere will.
It was over.
Flora had studied military tactics through the night, but she faced a reality that the books did not prepare her for. 'I should have known our level.
Unlike the plundering Barco, we were not ready to fight.' Lawrence.
They were like herbivores.
They had lived peaceful lives, deriving wealth from fertile lands, but they had not put in much effort to protect it.
The problem arose from that.
Barco, having nothing, was a force that fought constantly to plunder, and from their perspective, Lawrence was an easy target.
The outcome of the battle was obvious.
Flora felt dizzy at the sight of two of Lawrence's soldiers facing one Barco soldier. 'We have no chance of winning.' Roman Dmitri.
He would not appear.
If Lawrence had played his role as bait as planned, it would be different, but now there was no reason for him to step in.
It would be a meaningless sacrifice.
Thus, Lawrence's choice became a self-defeating move.
Even if they had held on along the walls, they might have lasted a day or two longer, but after opening the gates, there was no way to stop Barco's forces.
What should they do? Reason sent countless messages to give up, but Flora's strengthened will over the past few days constantly sought answers.
Thud! An arrow sliced through the wind.
She fought back.
Even if the fortress crumbled and fell, Flora had no intention of surrendering to the enemy or begging for her life.
Just as she had told her maid.
Rather than becoming a concubine to scum like Anthony Barco, Flora chose to die as she was.
It was then. "……?!" In the distance, a group appeared.
Their target was clear.
The flare.
They were rushing towards the siege weapon.
Ten minutes earlier, Roman's soldiers waited with tense faces for orders.
"Hoo."
This plan.
There was no choice but to be nervous.
When supporting the soldiers, they had not expected to enter battle so quickly, let alone that it would be a mad plan to attack Barco's rear.
The time to risk their lives had come too soon.
Unlike Chris and Kevin, who accepted reality calmly, the soldiers who had just decided to follow Roman showed signs of anxiety.
Roman understood their feelings.
However, he believed there was no need to coddle them beyond understanding. 'From now on, they must face the reality themselves.
If they survive as my soldiers, I will grant them the life of a predator as promised at the beginning, but whether they survive or not ultimately depends on their own strength, not mine.' Over the past ten days, Roman's soldiers had begun training.
Under Chris's whip, they trained hard, but that alone was not enough to satisfy Roman's standards.
He ignored the soldiers' emotions.
This was not the time for empathy.
Before the operation, Roman said, "This operation aims to attack Barco's rear and destroy their siege weapons as the top priority. Lawrence will likely fail to play his role as bait. The disparity in strength between Lawrence and Barco is extreme, and as a result, there will be quite a few troops remaining in Barco's rear."
Lawrence's variable was anticipated.
Roman did not place much hope in them, and the worst that Flora had imagined was the reality that Roman had foreseen.
In the end, it meant that it was not a good sign logically.
The soldiers did not avert their gazes from Roman's.
Thirty soldiers.
They were risking their lives for this test.
They were fundamentally strong-hearted individuals, and even in the face of danger, they did not turn away from reality.
That was enough.
Roman had gathered the minimum number of people needed for the plan.
"I do not expect much from you in this operation. I will take the lead. As I charge forward, slaughtering the enemies and opening the way, you will follow behind and clean up the remnants. Remember, our top priority is to destroy the siege weapons. If anyone becomes intoxicated with blood and slaughter and loses their senses, I will not hesitate to abandon them in the face of danger."
Roman's words shook the soldiers' gazes.
At first glance, it seemed like a cruel statement, but Roman declared that he would take the lead even in this dangerous situation.
It was not an act of kindness.
He still did not trust the soldiers.
Therefore, Roman said he would take on the role of facing the enemy head-on.
Finally, "Now!" The time had come.
At Roman's command, the soldiers charged out in unison.
From a distance, Roman and his troops could be seen.
Barco quickly grasped the situation, but that did not mean they immediately recalled their front-line troops.
"What is that?" Baron Barco's expression twisted.
Perhaps he thought the enemy was preparing a decisive strike, but the crude tactic made him chuckle.
"Do they think they can do something with that few people? Those who know nothing about war hope for miracles from behind a desk. Prepare to welcome these crazy guests right now."
"Understood."
The soldiers moved swiftly.
They pressed their shields tightly against their bodies and readied their spears to greet the enemy.
The disparity in strength was clear.
The ambushing force consisted of only thirty men, but Barco's rear had three times that number.
Moreover, among them were elite soldiers, including the leader of the Berge Mercenaries and knights.
Baron Barco had no reason to be afraid, and he believed the enemy's reckless attempt would be quickly dealt with.
Before long, the enemies arrived.
The moment he confirmed that they were not from Lawrence, the man at the front stomped the ground.
Thud.
His eyes spun.
The man's movement was impossible to catch up to.
He had thought there was a bit of distance, but before he knew it, he reached the soldiers and leaped towards them.
It was an act of suicide.
The soldiers raised their shields high to prepare for the attack, while the second line of soldiers tried to stab their spears through the gaps in the shields to shred the man’s body.
The future was clear.
The man's body would become a rag.
The Baron, observing the situation, widened his eyes at the ensuing scene.
Scrape! Whoosh! Blood splattered.
He had thought they had blocked it with their shields, yet the man's sword severed the heads of the soldiers.
The ensuing massacre was swift.
In an instant, the defensive formation crumbled.
It was truly an unbelievable sight, one that defied common sense, even when witnessed with one's own eyes.