Chapter 1503 1343: Magical Orb: The Challenge 2
The two triangle formations collided heavily. The Cavalrymen crushed the troops below them with no difficulties and everything would end as soon as they punctured the opponents before them. But…
"Eh?"
Anne widened her eyes in astonishment. The crowd surrounding her also had a change of expression.
Johnson didn't gain the victory as the bystanders had expected. Instead, the Cavalrymen panicked and their inseparable formation stirred like a pot of hot soup. In order to maintain the speed of their assault, the Cavalrymen maintained a certain gap between them. But now, they had totally lost the 'safety distance'.
The Cavalrymen from the front and back crashed into one another. Some tried to avoid, but lost their balance and fell to the ground. The luckier Cavalrymen weren't any better. They lost their threat after losing their acceleration. In addition, the Cavalrymen couldn't even turn around among the chaos, during which the infantries took advantage of the situation and dragged the Cavalrymen down from their warhorses.
Simply speaking, it was like two triangular blocks crashing together and in the sound of a crash, the blocks mixed together as one.
In a short instance, the outcome of the battle was reversed.
The strong warhorses and heavy armor of the Cavalrymen were completely useless in this tight, chaotic warfare. On the other hand, the nimble infantry unleashed their biggest potential and dodged the attacks of the Cavalrymen.
"How did this…"
No one could decipher what had just happened. They couldn't understand why Johnson's Cavalrymen failed to exploit and penetrate through the defensive formation that was hurriedly arranged.
At this moment, Rhode extended his hand and gestured to Cecilia.
"Alright. That's the end."
A fireball flew into the air and exploded, capturing everyone's attention. The chaotic battlefield abruptly came to a stop.
Alex strode down the gentle slope while everyone followed closely and observed with confused looks.
Johnson was no longer as mighty as he was. On the contrary, he appeared perplexed. His helmet had been struck off during the battle and his hair had messed up into a bird's nest. Even though he was still riding on his warhorse, his expression showed that he had taken a huge blow.
'How did this happen?'
The bystanders might not understand why Johnson had lost, but he knew the reasons clearly. Indeed. He had similar thoughts as Marcus when he broke through the defensive line for the first time. Madeline's simple commands had no meaningful purpose in assault. But Johnson finally realized the true reason of her hiding in the back when she ordered the infantries to clash against his Cavalrymen.
On the surface, the strength of both sides were on a totally different level, but Madeline did something that left Johnson incomparably frightened.
'She broke my rhythm!'
Everyone knew that there was rhythm in the battlefield, That was a kind of aggression, an imperceptible and unexplainable presence. Just like Johnson's Cavalrymen, perhaps they were still a group of separate men when they began their assault. But slowly, they merged together as one. Breathing, galloping, and moving in unison. It was this rhythm that glued them together as a whole.
Even though Madeline's assault was gruff, she captured the timing to perfection. The instant both sides collided, Johnson sharply sensed that the cohesiveness and rhythm were instantly broken like how a dancer was in his zone and someone stepped in to interrupt his wonderful moves. This was what happened to Johnson's Cavalrymen.
The camaraderie between them and consistent rhythm were disrupted and replaced with complete chaos. Moreover, the glaring sun had caused them the chance to regroup instantly.
Not only that, but the sun also snatched Johnson's chance to observe his opponents' movements clearly, which led to them sinking into this sticky puddle of mud. The result had been determined a long time ago.
Johnson shivered at this thought. He gazed at Madeline blankly. He finally understood the meaning behind her strange commands. From the start, it wasn't due to her slow reactions that he could break through her defenses easily. Instead, she was using the chance to probe and analyze his attacking rhythm! Then, she ordered the troops to charge forward and turn around in order to use the glaring sun to her advantage in preventing his Cavalrymen from regrouping instantly. Moreover, it wasn't due to her incapable commanding skills that her troops regrouped so slowly. Come to think of it, for both times, her troops put up their formation just when he had arrived at their faces and it was too late for him to come up with any changes!
Even though the sun shining on him was so warm, he felt as though he had fallen into a dreadful ice cave. If this was a true battle, perhaps he wouldn't even know how he died. Just some troops without special training and a few ordinary commands could actually lead to such achievements?
Moreover, even though it appeared simple, it was extremely difficult and almost impossible to perceive the opponent's attacking rhythm and search for an instantaneous gap to disrupt it. But this young lady actually did it so effortlessly…
"How was it, Johnson?"
Alex said and Johnson just realized that the former had arrived before him. He hurriedly flipped down from his warhorse and bowed respectfully. Then, he shot a glance at Madeline fearfully before lowering his head deeply.
"I've lost, Sir Rhode."
Apart from Johnson, no one knew exactly what happened except for Anvil and Marcus, who spotted the gateway to Madeline's victory. Their respect for Madeline grew deeply as they knew how difficult it was to achieve this. But the most important point was that they couldn't see her intention of interrupting Johnson's attacking rhythm at all. Her reckless assault blinded everyone from her true motive and just this reason was enough to leave them exclaiming in admiration.
Since Johnson had no more objections, the matter naturally came to a closure.
Alex was surprised by Madeline's tactic but he didn't let it show on his face.
Madeline was put in charge in terms of military. She was responsible for the recruitment of soldiers, training, and mobilizing, which could also be considered the busiest department in Alex's territory. Currently, Alex didn't have a specific military concept and he left Johnson in charge of administering it for the time being. As Johnson had to manage his Cavalrymen, he didn't have much time to put in enough attention on the Infantries. Therefore, even though Alex's subordinates appeared seemingly impressive, there weren't a lot of private soldiers under him. Moreover, Johnson had about a hundred Cavalrymen under him and fortunately, Alex only had to maintain the social order in the Fortress and the others were around to watch over things. If not, the small number of private soldiers under him would be in complete chaos.
But the situation took a huge turn after she took office. She only had one requirement for the soldiers under her: obedient. It didn't matter if they lacked an arm or leg; it would be sufficient if they fulfilled the requirements, could battle, and display their loyalty.
Under such 'loose' terms, the vigorous recruitment work began instantly. The Fortress was much livelier than before, with the massive migration from the people of nearby regions. Now that people had heard of the overlord's recruitment to his private army, there were a whole lot of people who signed up and most of them passed the interview. This was why Alex promoted a group of experienced mercenaries from his men, he could easily pick out those who were loyal and respectful toward him to manage and train the newcomers. Among the mercenaries, many of them were kicked out of the military and were extremely familiar with the military style. Besides, they were skilled at their jobs, which resolved a huge trouble for Alex. The mercenaries welcomed this decision with opened arms. The reason why they had joined his group earlier was because they hoped to be valued highly by Alex to eventually become his henchmen. And now, not only did they join Alex's army, but they also received various titles such as captains or instructors.
With the prestigious titles, statuses, and wealth, the other mercenaries were naturally envious. They also wished to perform outstandingly to capture Alex's attention and eventually become his henchmen. Moreover, many mercenaries had also joined the guild and hoped to develop themselves, which started private group in the orbit of a virtuous cycle. Within a few days, the strength of Alex's private soldiers had grown to about 2,000 men. Thereafter, Madeline had also temporarily stopped the recruitment works in order to keep the stability.
The management of all of this put pressure on Alex who was sitting behind a sandalwood desk, because it was his private quarter, Silveria could come out, not even Bahamut's clone could spy on them. Thanks to the sisters powerful concealing technique, they're some things he hides from the enemy.
''What are you thinking about?" Silveria asked as she sat from across him.
Alex took a deep breath before saying what he had on his mind.
''I feel like this Survival Game, this game is more complex, almost as if trying to make me lose myself playing various roles.''
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢