Second Arc (His Art of War) – 15. Attacking Asteria I

Meanwhile, Gaia and his troops had marched ahead of Asteria's Southern Outpost, ready to attack them. While Gale had left for the Euphorion's Southern Outpost to ensure the Southern border was safe from the kingdom of Draconis' attack.

The Asterian archers and magic users lined up neatly on the outpost wall, while the swordsmen were already prepared inside the outpost. General Collett walked among the archers as he swept his gaze towards the Euphorion army which changed the green colour grass field to the black colour of the Euphorion uniform.

He had heard about General Helias and his troops' disappearance from the king. He and General Helias were good friends since they joined the Asterian military. Therefore, as soon as he and his troops were assigned to guard the Southern Outpost, he planned to search for General Helias' whereabouts secretly. If General Helias was dead at least he wanted to bury him properly. But after he arrived, the scouts sent the news that Euphorion's army was ready to attack them. So he cancelled his plan.

He stopped his steps and turned to face his enemy. His eyes stared intently at a muscular general holding a large axe in his hand.
'General Gaia of Euphorion.' He smirked.
'I have heard that the new king of Euphorion appointed four elemental spirits as his Generals. Now I will prove whether a spirit can command an army as good as a human or not.'

General Collett raised his two fingers, ordering the archers to get ready. While Gaia also raised his two fingers. General Collett was surprised to see Gaia's gesture since his troops' position was more advantageous because they had an outpost to take cover while the Euphorion troops could only take cover with the Magic Barrier.
'He wants to counter arrows with arrows? Hmph! I've never heard such a reckless strategy before. Let's see who will win this battle.'

General Collett waved his two fingers forward, thousands of arrows flew towards the Euphorion troops. While Gaia also waved his two fingers forward, but then he shouted.
"Barrier!"

After thousands of arrows fired towards the outpost, the light came out from the direction of the magic users who were ready to cast their spells from the backline, forming an invisible barrier in front of them.

"Barrier!" General Collett also ordered. The archers stopped their attack and an invisible barrier was formed, protecting the outpost. He had predicted this and instructed the magic users to prepare a Magic Barrier to counter the opponent's arrow.

After the arrows from Asteria's troops were blocked with the protective wall in front of them, Gaia gave another order.
"Charge!" he commanded while kicking the side of his horse to move forward.

Seeing the Euphorion army advancing, General Collett raised his two fingers, ordering the archers to get ready. Asteria's magic users cancelled their Magic Barrier and the archers raised their bows. As soon as their protective walls had disappeared, he had just realized that the Euphorion troops that were advancing were only swordsmen and magic users while the archers remained in their position with arrows ready to be fired. Gaia swung his two fingers forward and arrows were shot towards the outpost.

'A trap?!'
"Take cover!" General Collett commanded again.He could not order the magic users to create a barrier, since they had just cancelled the Magic Barrier so they needed time to cast their spells again.

The entire Asterian army ducked down to protect themselves from thousands of Euphorion troop's arrows. Meanwhile, the archers quickly spurred their horses after their arrows were fired to join the troops who had advanced first.

General Collett and his troops had just come out of their hiding place and just to give the order to respond to his attack. But Gaia gave orders once again.
"Spread out!"

The Euphorion army spread out and formed a smaller group with two magic users in the middle of the formation and eight swordsmen surrounded them.

General Collett waved his two fingers, ordering the archers to shoot their arrows again. Arrows flew towards Euphorion's army.

"Barrier!" ordered Gaia.

An invisible barrier formed in front of them, deflecting all the arrows that fired at them while they kept moving forward. Seeing the Euphorion army that was getting closer he ordered the swordsmen and magic users to get ready.
"Defend!"

The magic users quickly moved down and marched behind the swordsmen, then they cast Magic Barrier in front of the gate, while the archers ready to attack. Once the Euphorion army's Magic Barrier disappeared, the arrows would be fired at them. But strangely, they did not release their Magic Barrier, even after they arrived in front of the outpost, instead they lined up right under the outpost without attacking. And to make it even confusing, they also didn't carry any stairs to climb. General Collett could only look at them in confusion.
'What does all this mean?'