Royal Road of the Extra Scribe

87

The Western camp infiltrated the Calon Mountains.

Barrett, who was in command, looked towards the direction where the Caliper Army was.

“These mainlanders are nothing special. I miss the times when we fought among ourselves. Don’t you, Fisher?”

By his side was a burly man with a stern look. He was sharpening his spearhead with a simple grindstone.

“Hmph, don’t underestimate the enemy, Barrett. Caliper are the ones who killed that Lexite.”

“Hmm…”

“There must have been negligence behind his death. We can suffer greatly if we underestimate the enemy.”

“Indeed. That Lexite was an arrogant fellow. It seems fitting that he met that end due to his carelessness.”

“He was undoubtedly skilled. The one who killed him, Wade… that guy could be somewhere on this battlefield.”

“Even Lady Hanna mentioned him. If he’s of that caliber, how many do we have on our side?”

“Right. One of them is you, Barrett. How do you feel about meeting the Lord’s expectations?”

“Naturally. Whether it’s Wade or Juras Pamelion, they are not my match. I will prove it through this war.”

Barrett raised the corners of his mouth while waving a feather fan.

“…It’s almost time for the sun to rise.”

At that moment, a scout appeared before him and saluted.

“Reporting! The Caliper Army is preparing to advance! They seem about to move soon!”

“Good, let’s see how they’ll attack.”

Barret thought the Caliphe Army would launch an attack. Those blocked on the supply route must be feeling a sense of urgency.

By taking advantage of that urgency to inflict damage, they would fall into his strategy.

Therefore, Barret was preparing for defense by deploying ambush troops, but the report that came in was completely unexpected.

“Urgent news! The Caliphe Army is advancing towards Beccabia! They are trying to escape the mountains!”

“What!?”

It was surprising. To coolly abandon the motion of reclaiming the supply route without taking it even once.

‘Even if they make quick decisions, this is too fast! Could it be that they’ve caught on to my plan?’

He shook his head a moment later.

If they had caught on to the plan, they wouldn’t have gone towards Beccabia. Instead, they would have rushed to move towards Crossing in the east of Calon Mountains.

Of course, preparations had been made in case the Caliphe Army moved in that direction.

“What on earth is the intention behind this….”

Barret, bewildered. Fisher urged him.

“Why hesitate? Whatever happens, it’s according to our plan. Contact immediately and initiate the operation.”

“Ugh…!”

Barret suppressed his anxiety and shouted.

“Fine. Send the signal to start the operation to Randen Crow! We will chase after the Caliphe Army!”

The Western Army began to chase after the Caliphe Army.

The key to this operation was that the Caliphe Army had to appear to be pursued. This would increase the likelihood of deceiving Beccabia with false information.

After deploying a forced march, they were finally able to catch up with the rear of the Caliphe Army after an hour.

“Damn it, it’s taking longer than expected!”

Barret’s mistake was that the Caliphe Army chose to flee too swiftly.

As a result, a lot of time was spent capturing their rear.

‘We couldn’t even gain a numerical advantage in troops. If they realize and turn the tables, we might end up being trapped.’

Therefore, they couldn’t recklessly engage in pursuit.

Barret wanted to calmly form up and engage in combat, but that would only make the Caliphe Army run further away.

‘If the Caliphe Army goes up too fast, there’s a possibility the operation might fail…. I need to somehow catch them….’

Usually, they would use cavalry to catch them, but this time, there was an operation to infiltrate the mountains, so cavalry couldn’t be organized.

As a result, they lacked the necessary mobility.

That’s when Fisher stepped in.

“Give me 500. I’ll find a way to hold them back.”

“…Seems like that’s the only option for now. I’ll leave it to you, Fisher.”

Fisher Partin.

He was one of the Five Dragons (오룡) that only Haneman boasted about, known as a master of spear-fighting in the West.

With 500 elite infantry, Fisher attacked the rear of the Caliphe Army.

* * *

500 special forces charging towards our side.

I felt a strange unease emanating from the one at the front.

“What’s with that guy.”

A chill ran down my spine.

‘Is he planning to forcibly hold his ground through sheer might.’

The situation was such that we couldn’t engage in a one-sided pursuit battle since we hadn’t suffered any losses in troops. Therefore, the Special Forces were to hold their ground, while the main force would form up and advance.

“Do you think they’ll just let us do as we please?”

Immediately, an order came from General Delvadova.

“1st and 2nd Archers, change direction!”

Clack! The archers swiftly turned around as if they had been waiting to load their bows.

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Dorothy, the commander of the 2nd Archers, took a deep breath and shouted, “Fire!”

Arrows flew.

But the enemy was no ordinary foe.

Realizing that stopping to block the arrows would make pursuit impossible, the enemy made a reckless choice to shield only their vital spots with their shields and continued to advance.

This was a choice only elite soldiers could make. Ordinary soldiers would have faltered in fear and failed to follow orders.

As a result, around a hundred soldiers fell to arrows hitting their thighs and calves, but the remaining 400 troops maintained their speed and pressed on.

“Just keep pushing through…! Archers, keep firing as soon as you’re reloaded!”

Despite the continuous barrage of arrows, another 150 soldiers fell, halving their numbers, but the enemy eventually succeeded in closing in.

“Aargh!”

Thud! Thud! Thud! The massive spear points pierced through the soldiers’ heads.

Leading the charge, the enemy swung their spear widely, cutting down the soldiers’ necks as if wielding a sword, taking out around five soldiers in one swift motion.

“Monster…!”

“Save me!”

Chaos erupted among the soldiers.

Unfortunately, there was no time to save them.

Once the decision was made to proceed with this strategy, the risk had to be accepted.

Fully committed to taking on this risk, General Delvadova urged for a retreat.

“Don’t worry about the incoming enemy! Keep moving forward without stopping!”

However, at that moment, an unexpected turn of events unfolded.

“Attack the enemy!”

“Reinforcements, seek them out!”

“We’re here!”

Three groups suddenly rushed towards the enemy.

Caspar, Joshua, and Danyan. They were officer commanders leading 500 troops each, a total of 1,500 troops sent to seek reinforcements.

At first glance, it seemed like a reasonable choice. If they could swiftly eliminate the infiltrating enemy and retreat, theoretically, it was a sound plan.

The issue was that the enemy wasn’t as disorganized as they appeared.

“They’ve walked right into our trap…!”

To me, it sounded like the enemy was saying just that.

As all eyes focused on the enemy, the commander gave a command.

“Charge! Follow me!”

With only 70 of his elite troops, the enemy leader began to wreak havoc on the battlefield.

As a result, the rear unit’s foot was completely entangled.

Initially, they attempted to retreat by cutting off the tail, but due to the sudden actions of the cadets, the link between the tail and the main force expanded, causing the overall formation to become entangled, with the ankles being caught.

“This is bad!”

The enemy’s main force, already in formation, was approaching. At this rate, the rear unit might face total annihilation.

“We can’t afford to just take losses!”

I immediately sent a messenger to General Delbadova, demanding a reversal of our forces.

It seemed General Delbadova had the same idea as he shouted to the soldiers.

“Senjin, fall back! The entire army, we will strike back at the enemy!”

The soldiers turned the tide one by one. And so, a full-scale battle between the Western army of 20,000 and our Caliper army of 20,000 had begun.

***

Chaos erupted in the rear unit. With the army reversing, Casper, now in Senjin where they had become, bit his lip tightly.

“Ruan…! This brat…!”

In response to Casper’s signal, Denian and Joshua followed suit, but they were not part of Ruan’s unit.

As a result, the encirclement was not properly formed, providing Fisher with an opportunity to break through.

“It’s all that guy’s fault!”

In reality, even if Ruan had been there, they probably couldn’t have stopped Fisher, but Casper believed that the failure of this operation was solely Ruan’s fault.

“Casper! What do we do now!?”

Joshua asked in contemplation, to which Casper bit down firmly.

“Darn it, we’re definitely going to get blamed for this.”

In the end, it was all about the results.

If the operation had succeeded in rescuing the rear unit and assassinating the enemy’s commander, they would have been praised, but in failure, they could only face censure.

“We need to make up for it!”

The target Casper was looking at was Fisher Partin, who was advancing with a fierce onslaught.

“We just need to take him down! Everything will be resolved once we get him!”

Then it happened.

Rushing! A unit heading towards where Fisher was. It was Ruan Chase’s unit.

“Ruan! That vile guy!”

It was evident they were aiming to intercept Fisher.

“We’re going too! We can’t let Ruan steal the show!”

Casper and the cadets’ unit charged towards Fisher. Sensing their intentions, Fisher muttered softly.

“Looks like all eyes are on me. Excellent.”

Barrett, who was advancing, wouldn’t miss this opportunity.

Fisher quickly searched for an escape route. No matter what, it was time to get out.

Ruan Chase charged towards him. His sword was surrounded by an orange aura.

“I’ll take that neck of yours!”

“Hah, you little brat.”

The two engaged in a duel.

Whoosh! Swift thrusts that seemed to tear through the air.

“…!?”

Ruan had no choice but to focus on evading the attacks.

Fisher, who didn’t want to prolong the fight, immediately thrust the spear into the vital spot.

“Krk! Agh!”

Bang! Ruan struck the spear with all his might. Admiration filled Fisher’s face.

“Your strength is considerable, but if you thought that alone could withstand my body, you were mistaken!”

The wriggling aura. When a golden aura wrapped around his massive spear, it seemed as if a dragon was writhing.

The Western mercenaries described him as follows:

Golden Dragon Fisher Partin.

Among the Five Dragons, he is the most powerful and formidable.

“Die!”

The spear tip aimed at Ruan’s heart. It wasn’t Ruan who blocked the spear filled with determination to pierce through anything, but the sudden entry of the Casper troop.

“Kill the author!”

“…!”

Caught off guard, Ruan rolled on the ground to dodge the spear.

“Enemies are swarming from all sides…!”

Casper’s sudden move took them by surprise.

In the current situation where the enemy’s main force was approaching, such actions, viewed from a strategic perspective, were a double-edged sword, but from the standpoint of decisively killing Fisher, it was a calculated move.

‘This is getting too dangerous.’

At that moment,

Thud! Barrett’s special forces entered to open an escape route.

“You came…! Good, retreat!”

Fisher began to withdraw.

Casper and Ruan tried to pursue him, but clank! They could only back off after receiving Fisher’s spear attacks.

Fisher, who had driven away the officers, was on the verge of escaping from the Caliper Army camp.

Fisher felt a chill down his spine.

“…!”

A spear tip flew in from the side.

“There was another mosquito…!”

Fisher swung his spear to deflect the spear tip, but Alz took another step forward, drew the sword he had carried on his back with his left hand, and swung it towards Fisher’s neck.