Chapter 81 - The Board Is Set

Meanwhile... 

Dolivar - deep inside the Duchy of Tinley - the Castle of the Viscount Sitena

"Hold... Hold..."

Saint Edward raised his hand and repeated the words as he is watching the 20,000 cavalries rushing toward the 5,000 heavy infantry standing in front of the gate,

The look of the thousands of cavalries speeding makes it hard to breathe... but not one of the infantry took a step back.

they were all elites equipped with the best possible shields for their level, so they didn't panic, they started planting their shields in the ground... ready to die for their cause.

"HOOOLD..." The general waited until the cavalry troops were only seventy meters away from the heavy infantry, then lowered his hand and shouted, "RELEASE!"

A barrage of fifty explosive arrows was launched at the same time, not aimed at the cavalry themselves... but a few meters ahead of them!

*BOOOOM*

The talismans exploded, making a barrier of fire in front of the cavalries, aligned with a great noise from the explosions. 

This was nothing to the riders who were the elite under the knighthood, but to the horses...

*Nyiggyeee* 

The horses of the first row came to a halt in fright, causing a massive collision in the first few rows. 

The ordinary archers quickly took the advantage of this opportunity and thousands of arrows rained on the stopped, defenseless cavalry troops.

the first wave of arrows killed and seriously injured hundreds of cavaliers, when the leading Officer saw he shouted for everyone to raise their shields, and quickly managed to regroup and advance again towards the heavy infantry ...

but this time they had completely lost their momentum.

If they had reached the heavy infantry at their full speed, they would have swept them under the horses' feet and would have reached the gate quickly 

But now the front row cavalry is attacking the heavy infantry shields with their swords and halberd in a direct stand-off, 

they still have a huge advantage of level deference and attacking from above the horses, but instead of swiping through, they are now just trying to slowly make way.

"DAMN IT, is there no end to those arrows!!" Saint Edgar on the other side hit the ground with his foot, the scene he had hoped for ever happened,

The first clash ended with the cavalry halting and a few hundred of them dying, and With every passing second, hundreds upon hundreds of arrows would hit them and take some more lives

His aide quickly advanced, "General, if we leave them like this, all the cavalry may die under the archers' fierce attacks from the walls before they even reach the gate, we must do something."

Edgar was silent for a few seconds, of course he knew this.. but what should he do? 

Is he going to fight himself? even if he is the strongest man here, he is just a man. 

if he, Sitena, and his aide participated, so will the other side general and his closest comrades, what will this help?

it was an unspoken agreement that those at the very top of the army can't engage in combat themselves... not until the last minutes at least.

maybe he should allow his archers to advance? he quickly disregarded this idea.

Who would his archers aim for? the half-circle of heavy infantry in front of the gate had tower shields that covered them from head to toe, not in a thousand-year would some archers kill one of them

Then he glimpsed out of the corner of his eye the few thousand soldiers who disregarded the underground explosions and are still trying to slowly make their way towards the castle with an iron will, not caring about the explosions,

he sighed and shook his head when he saw this, " Draw all the standard infantry back and send the knights in the front row to attack the enemy infantry alone…"

"Excuse me?"

"Do it!" Saint Edgar shouted 

On the surface, this movement did not seem smart at all, although those infantry troops might not be strong enough to be elites, they are undoubtedly the bravest of them all!

Even not counting their importance for the overall morale by displaying their courage, their presence was dividing the enemy's concentration, and that is itself is a good thing even if they didn't actually reach the gate,

But Saint Edgar had another view... the problem is that those standard infantrymen were drawing part of their strength and bravery from the fact that the front row were all knights! 

And those knights often helped them against explosions by receiving some explosions completely on their body or saving someone from death by pushing them, and things like that...

Therefore, if the knights are separated from them, their resolve will weaken a lot, and there is a high possibility that they will flee for their lives as well, which will kill the last remaining morale of the army...

So, withdrawing them by himself wasn't just the best solution... but the only one.

After the orders were issued, the last part of Dolivar's army stopped and hurried back, but the front row of about a thousand knights remained standing in their place...

On the wall, Saint Edward Bradley watches what happened with narrowed eyes, "Humph, he's really going to do this trick," then looked behind him and shouted, "Where the hell are our cavalries?!"

"In response to the general, they have already exited the back gate a few minutes ago and are going around the castle now, they will arrive any time now."

just as the assistant general finished his words, everyone began to feel the ground shaking. 

Within a few seconds, 5,000 cavalries appeared from the left side of the castle and rushed towards the rear of the enemy cavalry legion.

"ATAAAAAACK"

The speed of the joint Bradley and Burton cavalry increased little by little until they swept the back of the oblivious cavalry of the enemies who were still giving them their backs, unaware of the danger coming from behind.

With a *BOOOM*, the Dolivarian horses and their riders flew through the air, the 5,000 cavaliers rushing a few tens of meters into Delivar's army, leaving countless dead and wounded.

After the commander of Dolivar's cavalry realized what was happening at the back, he ordered to divide the legion and make the rear half turn and fight the enemy cavalry while he focused on his original mission.

This was his only solution, but it was not a solution either... 

Although Dolivar's cavalry had broken through a few rows of Black Sun's heavy infantry, they still had a long way to go, and they were now trapped between the heavy infantry from the front and the cavalry from the back and the archers from the top. 

An unenviable position in any way you look at it...

After Edward was reassured about the stability of the left front, he returned to observe the enemy knights coming straight from the front at high speed,

he then issued his orders "Hand over all that is left of the vitality talismans to our knights and send them out to make a welcome party for those bastards, also send the Darkness Assassination Squad as well... they know what to do!"

*swaash shaaaa*

The knights jumped over the wall one by one, the originally 600 plus the new 100 knights that Galan sent, quickly advanced to stand in front of the heavy infantry and then advanced a few tens of feet. 

after a few seconds... more than 1000 knights from Dolivar collided with the 700 Black Sun knights.

*boom boom taaaaa*

The battle of the few hundred knights soon became the most agitated battle on the field, even more than the battle of the saints which is still raging in the sky.

The numbers of knights are considered few in comparison to the large scoop of the war, but all of them are above the tenth level... all of them had built their pillars of the heavenly laws and can use their heavenly laws freely!

The lightning attacks from the Knights of Dolivar and the fire shots from the Black Sun Knights were flying around, sometimes in coordination and sometimes in random shapes.

their battlefield soon turned into a sea of fire and lightning.

In the air, the battle of the saints was balanced to some extent ... 

The saints of Bradley and Burton families had with them a number of talismans of vitality and darkness before the start of the battle, and this contributed to balancing the scales somehow.

But even with that, two Saints have died on each side... 

that seems pretty good for The Black Sun side as they stood their ground and even got the same number of kills, but if this pace continues... the numerical disadvantage of The Black Sun Saints will soon be even more apparent.

Now... 

All the pieces have been put in their places... there is nothing left for the generals but to wait and see what happens next.