Amber Sword

The distant sound of the horn echoed through the valley.

The Highland Infantry of the Finn Column began to detach from the main formation, thousands of infantry in gray uniforms flowing like a torrent over the riverbed at the bottom of the valley—Ahead of them, the light infantry of the Blei people had already ’paved’ a safe path for them—allowing them to advance unimpeded towards Vileco Mountain.

Unfortunately, the attack did not go as smoothly as expected.

The Highland Infantry Second Battalion of the Finn Column had just entered the Black Pine Forest when a hissing shout echoed through the forest: "Sarko——!" If they understood Naga language, they would certainly know what this meant.

"Throw——!"

Sani’er opened his mouth, the long howl piercing through the woods. The warriors of the Naga Clan, hidden in the pine forest, had already captured the silhouettes of humans in their jaundice eyes, and they uniformly raised their long spears, casting them downwards.

Screams echoed through the forest.

The seventh squad of the Highland Infantry Second Battalion of the Finn Column, which was at the forefront, was almost entirely covered by this wave of spear rain. Sir Raphael, the leading centurion, was killed on the spot, with only one third of the 150 infantry surviving.

"Airm!" Sani’er immediately ordered his kin to flatten their long spears, and the Naga Guard simultaneously set their spears, the foremost three rows immediately forming a forest of steel.

The third, fourth, and ninth squads of Highland Infantry had already crossed their comrades by this moment. Centurion Brode and his peers personally supervised the battle, and as soon as he saw the Moon-shaped Spear in the hands of the Grey Fin Naga in the forest, he sensed something was wrong—it was the Naga Guard! But by then it was too late to retreat, and everyone could only watch as the two different races collided.

A uniform thudding sound, like long spears tearing through chain armor. Brode instinctively raised his head, seeing the first row of soldiers from the Black Blade Legion flying up neatly, thrown back to crash into rocks or hang on tree trunks.

The Naga Guard continued advancing, the lines of three squads of Highland Infantry pierced through like thin paper, demonstrating overwhelming power as a third-tier army against a first-tier army. Brode saw the Naga Guard clearing the line of human soldiers in front of them almost instantly, while the Naga at the rear were uniformly taking a second Short Spear from their backs.

This was the last scene he saw in his life.

...

The forest was in chaos, with human soldiers’ corpses pinned to the ground everywhere.

Sani’er looked up, Brand had roughly told him about the composition of the Black Blade Legion, and the forces they had just defeated were roughly half a battalion of humans, but that was enough.

"Collect the bodies of our kinsmen, clean the battlefield, we retreat!" he immediately issued orders to all his subordinates in Naga language. Brand did not intend to entangle too much with the Black Blade Legion on these two hills. The officer cadets of the Royal Knight Academy had initially planned to turn this place into a meat grinder battlefield, but he thought fighting such a battle was truly a bad idea.

Yet leaving these two hills, can the central position really be defended...

A flicker of doubt also passed through the jaundice vertical pupils of Sani’er.

When Viscount Finn arrived at Vileco Mountain, he saw a hellish scene. In just a quarter of an hour, the Highland Infantry Second Battalion lost a full five squads and four centurions. He had never suffered such a devastating loss even when surrounded by the lion-men of Tuokui Ning in Toas.

And although that Knight Captain confidently assured him that they had defeated the enemy—those Grey Fin Naga—and seized the hill after an extraordinarily arduous battle, Finn was no fool. He could clearly see that the Naga retreated voluntarily; otherwise, would his troops not have recovered a single corpse?

Forget it.

The Viscount gritted his teeth, as long as the task was accomplished, he wouldn’t go to admit punishment to the Count Lord for these insignificant reasons, "Clean the battlefield immediately, report our victory to Count Vitokin!" Finn ordered fiercely.

He couldn’t help but look up at the center of the battlefield, feeling a vague unease—this battle was too strange. Why did those Naga voluntarily abandon the high ground?

Meanwhile, a similar scene was unfolding on the other side of the battlefield at Machinko Mountain, where Baron Constantin almost couldn’t believe his eyes as he watched the ’Pseudo White Lion Army’ and young officer cadets, who nearly crushed his column, leave with ease.

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