First Arc (King of Euphorion) – 58. A Failed Attack

General Helias and the Asterian army moved forward while fended off all the arrows and Magic Arrows that fired at them.

Angel stared at him with a cold gaze since he had predicted this. One of the most basic strategies was to start from a long-range attack to minimize casualties. When the long-range battle was no longer profitable, it was time to bring the troops to close combat.

He turned his gaze to Frost and Gaia in front of the gate.
"Frost, block them!"
"Gaia, take care of the rest!"

Frost and Gaia nodded in reply. Frost and his army quickly get on the horse, while Gaia brought some of the swordsmen through the small door on the other side of the gate and into the forest beside them.
"Open the gate!" ordered Frost.

The gate opened, Frost and the cavalry lined up outside the gate.

General Helias looked confused since the defenders usually remained inside and strengthened their defences, but they instead opened the gates and engaged them outside.

But in contrast to Angel, he never wanted to position his troops as a defender but as an attacker. For him, the best defence was a good offence.

In confusion, General Helias finally gave his order again.
"Formation!"

The Asterian troops quickly narrowed their distance from each other and formed a large triangle formation to break through the Euphorion army in front of the gate.

Angel smirked, he had been waiting for this formation all along.

"Explosion!" Flare commanded the magic users.
The magic users quickly replace the Magic Arrows with the Explosion Spell and throw explosions into the Asterian army's formation.

-BOOM! --BOOM! --BOOM!

Explosion after explosion threw off the Asterian troops from their horses, throwing their bodies in all directions. With tight formations like this, each explosion produced more casualties than if they were scattered.

'He is totally beyond expectations! At this rate I will lose before reaching them,' thought General Helias.
"Spread!" he ordered.

As Angel realized General Helias wanted to do something, he stretched out his hand and cast Hell Judgment. Dozens of large black fire pillars surrounded the Asterian army preventing them from spreading, making their horses terrified and hard to control. They were trapped in the middle, there was no other way but to advance towards the outpost gate.

When Asteria's horses were in a panic, Gale gave his order to the archers.
"Horse!"

The archers shot their arrows at the Asterian army's horses. Panicked by fire, explosion and arrows, finally made their horses run amok and dropped their riders before fleeing and disrupting their entire formation.

After all of the Asterian troops had fallen, Angel stopped his Hell Judgment, Flare and Gale raised their hands, ordering the magic users and archers to stop attacking. While Frost gave his orders to the cavalry.
"Charge!" he ordered, kicking the side of his horse.

Frost and the Euphorion's cavalry advanced to attack. In the chaos, General Helias gave his orders again.
"Defend!"

The remaining Asteria troops pulled back together to form a large pentagon formation with archers and magic users in the middle while the swordsmen surrounded them. The magic users quickly created a Magic Barrier to protect the formation from attacks on their five sides while moving forward.

The Euphorion army that reached them could only surround them, without being able to attack at all while the Asterian army could not attack because of the same thing.

As soon as Angel saw the Asterian troops make a defensive formation, he already knew who would win this battle. This was the best Asteria's formation but he knew that the formation had a weakness. It was in the middle of the formation which was not protected by the barrier.

He could have burned them to the ground with Hell Judgment but he let his troops take care of it. He wanted this battle's victory because of them, so they would be more confident to encounter the next battle and it would raise their morale. If he did it directly, even if they won easily but his troops would lose their confidence.

As the Asterian army approached the gate, Flare raised her three fingers, ordering the magic users to prepare their spells.
"Center! Explosion!"

The magic users prepared to cast an Explosion Spell to the middle of the Asterian army formation.

General Helias was shocked again. They were trapped! He had no choice but to release the Magic Barrier around them and focused it in the middle of the formation.
"Center! Barrier!" he ordered.

But it was too late... Flare waved her three fingers forward. The magic users threw the Explosion Spell at the same time, creating a large explosion in the middle of their formation.

--BOOM!

The big explosion threw the Asterian troops in all directions, breaking down their formation in an instant.

After their formation was destroyed and their Magic Barrier disappeared, the Euphorion army that had surrounded them stormed at them. The sword clashing sounds accompanied by screams of pain could be heard from all over directions, without horses and messy formations, it was easy for the Euphorion troops to finish off the remaining Asterian troops. Even though they had their weapons covered with deadly poison but their morale had dropped. Soon one by one the Asterian army fell.

General Helias swung his sword and dropped a Euphorion army from his horse. When the soldier had not been able to stand up yet, General Helias swung his sword again to kill him but suddenly the two swords who produced a piercing cold air brushed off his attack.

General Helias retreated, staring at his enemy and recognized him.
'General Frost, King of Euphorion's trusted General.' He glanced at the king who was watching them from the top of the wall. The king looked at them with a contemptuous look and an evil smirk on his face. As if this was in his calculations as if this was just a game played by him.

General Helias swept his gaze around him, his troops barely left, even though when they came, his army was more numerous than the Euphorion troops guarding the border. With the poison from Zephyrus, they should have won this battle easily! But once the king came, things turned around quickly as if they were nothing.
'Is this why His Majesty, King Gervis has never let Prince Angelus lead an army before?' thought General Helias.