Herald of Steel

Sir, I have personally confirmed the Cantagenan left wing has been broken through. Our soldiers are now marching to attack the Cantagenan center but this fog has slowed down their advance." A previous runner he had met before reported to Manuk.

Manuk silently nodded and reasonably assumed that since the right wing's report was true, most likely the left's one is as well.

But as he was absorbing this good news, Kefka worriedly spoke up, "They won't be able to reinforce slingers in time."

What he meant by that was by the time the runner Manuk sent to Amenheratdt got there, received the king's permission, relayed the order to the heavy infantry and the heavy infantry actually pulled off the maneuver, the slingers will most likely have been defeated and the cauldron opened.

"Hmm, okay, order both our flanks to slow down their march and not lose cohesion. In this low visibility, it would be disastrous if they got separated and then attacked or got attacked by our own forces." Manuk prudently ordered.

"Sir!" The runner receiving the order frantically ran off.

Then Manuk pointed to a nearby herald and tasked, "You go tell the slingers to slowly open the cauldron by dividing themselves into two lines and then slowly start retreating."

This order seemed to reverse every previous order Manuk had issued and Kefka had an overwhelming urge to try and strangle Manuk.

But he held himself back and warned in a voice suppressing his deep anger, "Manuk, I will not question this tactic of yours. You have proved yourself to be Adhania's greatest general. But remember, although you have won this war for us, you will rapidly use up all that goodwill if the cauldron breaks."

"Haha, Kefka you thinking too hard about this. Do you think just opening the cauldron will cause the birds to fly away? What do you think the trapped Cantagenans will see when the cauldron is opened? A wall of spears charging towards them. Without the fog, they certainly could have recognized their allies. But now? In this fog, most of these stressed-out soldiers will see soldiers brandishing spears and think it's us! They might only not run but even attack them! Haha!" Manuk joyously chuckled.

"That's pretty wishy-washy thinking on your part. What if they can see through the fog and do recognize the Cantagenans? Are you going to just pray that they don't?" Kefka sneered back.

"Even if they do recognize, it's no big deal." Manuk shrugged. "These soldiers will then, feeling like being released from hell, will likely break rank and try to get out of the encirclement. They will then storm in front of the Cantagenan front lines, meaning the Cantagenans won't be able to attack as freely as they would like. The fog won't certainly help them in this. Th…"

"But the Cantagenans don't need to attack and defeat us. They just want to make us retreat far enough so all their soldiers can escape." Getting impatient with Manuk's long-winded explanation, Kefka interjected midway.

"Yes, that would have happened under normal circumstances, if they were only facing a frontal attack. But this fog was most likely hidden from them that both their wings are gone and a massive force of twelve thousand is about to clash into the flanks of their center. If they knew that they would have certainly run by now." Manuk postulated.

"So you are saying those escaping the encirclement will simply smash into our approaching wings?" Kefka seemed to understand Manuk's strategy.

"Yes, unless our wings lose their way in the fog. That's why I told them to slow their march and not stray too far by mistake in their haste." Manuk nodded with a smile. "We also have a thousand archers in each of our wings and even our slingers who although are now using swords can switch to their slings in a single command and thus chase down any escaping soldiers."

Manuk in his genius had created a trap using both the front and back exits!

Kefka simply shut his mouth and thanked in his heart that this fearsome general was on their side and not the Cantagenans

He also vowed to not pick any fights with him from now on.

Samaras felt like his whole world had collapsed.

Two devastating news saying both his wings had collapsed almost destroyed his will to fight.

Even until now, he chose not to accept this report, thinking there's no way a force of two thousand veteran mercenaries could ever be defeated in such a short time, and so he kept sending runner after runner again and again to authenticate the news,

He still believed the flanks existed and that these news reaching him were due to the commanders unable to properly judge the situation because of the fog.

But even if those wishful thinking were to come true, even his own central attack wasn't going to plan.

He had assumed that just gently tapping the slingers would cause them to collapse and run away, but these battle-hardened warriors, even with just a sword and no shield showed no sign of simply backing down.

The much more agile and nimble slingers rapidly closed the distance between them and the Cantagenans, got in between their spears, and attacked them at so close range that the Cantagenans could not freely move their spears, dealing large damage to the outnumbered Cantagenans.

This tactic was not anything new to the slingers.

After shooting their limited number of stones, all slingers were expected to get their swords out and go and join the melee.

Even then, currently, the ever-battle-tested combination of shield and spear was proving its mettle again and it seemed the Cantagenans were slowly gaining ground against the slingers.

But this progress was too slow for Samaras's liking and this fog was rapidly turning visibility to zero.

So he seriously contemplated on cutting his losses and running, not wanting to commit the same mistake as Agapios.

But at such a time, a piece of pleasant news greeted his ears.

A runner came to him with a smile on his face informing him that the slinger had been separated into two lines and the cauldron had been broken.

Success! They could finally rescue their fellow soldiers.

Samaras's heart ballooned in ecstasy and he immediately ordered his center to press the advantage and open the mouth even more.

But as the soldiers enthusiastically fought to enlarge the escape route, some of the more keen-eyed began to notice a weird little detail.

Some of the soldiers attacking seemed to have uniforms similar to theirs or at least they did wear Adhanian.

But in the fog, most only managed to catch a glance of the uniforms ad all of them chalked it up to their eyes playing tricks on them.

After all, there was no way their own brothers would be attacking them right?

But such a thing was indeed happening, exactly prophesied by Manuk.

The trapped soldiers in Cantagenan uniform and mercenaries in their own ones were mistaken because of the fog to be Adhanians and Samaras's center, which was supposed to rescue the trapped soldiers was now actually killing many of them.

Some managed to evade the incoming attacks from both Adhania and Cantagena and escape to the outside but many were killed.

It was only after quite some time did some observant Cantagenans notice the undoubtedly Adhanian slingers attacking both them and the soldiers in front of them and it was only then they realized to their horror that they had been massacring their own brothers!

As the Cantagenas tried to rectify this mistake and properly command and coordinated their trapped brother's escape, suddenly a horse galloped upto Samaras, its rider's voice booming in fear, "Samaras, order the retreat."

It was Damious, and when Samaras turned to look at him, he was horrified to find that the mercenary leader's right eye was gone, being replaced by a wooden stick that was sticking out!

A lucky arrow had managed to get through his helmet and pierce his eye,

Not only that, his entire face looked like a canvas had been painted red, the blood showering his eyes, nose, and mouth and slowly trickling down his chin onto his horse.

The fact that this man did not only lose simply consciousness but could still talk and ride proved just how strong he was.

"Damious! What happened to you? And how?" Samaras asked, looking horrified at the bloody giant.

"My troops got ambushed by the Adhanians and were completely decimated. And they are coming for your flanks now! Run!" Damious manically shouted.

"What? How many are coming? How did you lose so quickly?" Samaras tried to stay as calm as possible as he attempted to get all the useful information from Damious.

"Don't know. Couldn't see anything through the darn fog. They simply appeared in front of us like ghosts and snapped our flanks like a twig." Damious replied with a certain fear in his voice.

Samaras was stunned by the recount.

He never thought he would ever get to see the boisterous giant be afraid

But without giving Samaras the slightest chance to speak, Damious then announced in an absolute voice, I am ordering my soldiers to retreat. The rumor was right. The gods don't want us here. This damned fog is their curse!"

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