Translator: Cinder Translations
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Watching the smoke rising ahead, the New Faith Alliance army quickly realized that the real battle was about to begin.
Andrew was somewhat worried whether the armies of nations like Eaton could withstand the oncoming charge. He ordered the third regiment of the Marine Corps, which was on reserve, to quickly move to the left flank to support the allied forces there.
Led by Fedotov, the cavalry moved quickly and soon approached the left flank of the New Faith army. The skilled knights of the church fought with chain maces and long swords against the infantry arranged in formations.
Boom, boom, boom! The continuous explosions echoed, and a large amount of smoke soon covered the left flank of the battle formation.
At a critical moment, the third regiment of the Marine Corps arrived and joined the battle. A barrage of muskets sent the church knights flying in all directions.
"Dark magic!" Fedotov believed that his suspicion had been confirmed—those strange attacks that spewed both fire and smoke were undoubtedly magic.
He was filled with an emotion of fearlessness, leading his men to bravely charge at the Marine Corps.
The soldiers from Alden quickly changed their formation from a horizontal line to a hollow square formation.
Fedotov's cavalry launched repeated attacks, but the seemingly weak square formation remained unshaken. No matter which direction the church's cavalry attacked from, they were always met with bullets flying and bayonets like a dense forest.
They were shocked. When charging against other weaker infantry, the enemy would either scatter in fear or desperately try to hide behind others.
But this strange army managed to hold its ground, with each soldier either squatting or standing as though their feet were rooted to the ground.
What was even more frustrating was that the warhorses, having never seen such booming and smoky attacks, became panicked and difficult to control.
"Shoot the horses! Shoot the horses!" The regiment commander of the third regiment of the Marine Corps screamed, reminding the rookie soldiers of the priority targets.
Due to their larger size, horses were easier to hit with muskets. Once injured or killed, they would obstruct the cavalry's charge. The surviving horses, seeing the fate of their comrades and frightened by the gunshots and flames, went wild, making it harder for the church's cavalry to press forward.
Fedotov, driven by rage, disregarded all of this and frantically urged his mount to run. Then, an unexpected event occurred. A cavalryman in front of him was suddenly attacked, and his horse fell, spewing a horrifying splash of blood. Fedotov's mount was unable to stop in time and tripped, throwing him off.
Fedotov felt the world spin before he fell to the ground. He quickly got up, assessing his body.
Luckily, nothing seemed broken.
"General!" His adjutant hurriedly stopped beside him, jumped off his horse to help him up, and offered his own horse for Fedotov to ride.
"Commander Webster has given us new orders," the adjutant relayed the message from the messenger he had just seen. "We must hold the enemy's left flank! He will lead the main force to break the enemy's right and then come to support you!"
"Send word back. We will definitely succeed!"
Fedotov nodded heavily and continued to command his cavalry to attack the New Faith army's left flank.
The continuous artillery bombardment created huge clouds of smoke, obstructing the vision of both sides. The church's right flank and the New Faith army's left were already in fierce combat. The infantry formations from Eaton and other countries, with the Marine Corps at their core, desperately held their ground against the enemy's charge.
Amidst this chaotic situation, the church's commander, Webster, keenly spotted an opportunity. The army on the New Faith army's right was the Horns Bay Alliance, which had only recently formed after escaping from the collapse of its nation.
A newly-formed army usually faces many issues, and Webster quickly devised a strategy.
Since Fedotov's reckless cavalry was already attacking the enemy's left, he decided to use this as an advantage and ordered his forces to hold the enemy at that location.
He decisively commanded a diagonal attack on the New Faith army's right flank.
Several infantry formations of the church began to move according to Webster's orders. Starting from the left, their lines gradually slanted, with the left wing moving closer to the enemy while the right wing moved farther away, forming a trapezoid as they advanced.
The diagonal attack was a tactic that Webster and his troops were skilled at, also known as the slanting tactic.
In battle, the wing closest to the enemy engaged first, while the farther wing restrained the enemy. Once the engaged wing shattered the enemy's opposite wing, it would quickly envelop the exposed enemy flank and launch a surprise attack on their rear. Meanwhile, the farther wing would attack the enemy's front, coordinating from multiple directions to destabilize the enemy's line, shatter their fighting spirit, and win with less cost compared to a direct confrontation. This was Webster's diagonal tactic.
It was clear that the success of this tactic depended on whether the first wing could break the enemy. The Horns Bay Alliance, newly formed and poorly trained, was the perfect target for this attack. They were positioned on the New Faith army's right flank and were the first target of the church's diagonal maneuver.
The church's cavalry outnumbered the enemy, and both wings were deployed. The left wing of the cavalry, in coordination with the diagonal attack, launched an assault on the Horns Bay Alliance's troops.
The sound of hooves overwhelmed the New Faith army's right flank, and the battlefield was filled with the sounds of battle.
"Don't panic! They won't dare charge!"
The commanders of the Horns Bay Alliance shouted, desperately trying to maintain discipline and keep the soldiers from scattering. They planted their spears in the ground, pointing outward.
The best they could do was not to break apart immediately. Seeing the large cavalry charging toward them, the soldiers—many of whom had little combat experience—trembled, their legs shaking uncontrollably, and their arms went numb, too weak to grip their spears.
The church's cavalry, composed of skilled knights who were fanatically loyal to the church, knew how to peel away the infantry formations—a strike and then retreat, never lingering in battle, gradually wearing down the enemy's confidence.
Just as the Horns Bay Alliance's infantry was being worn out by the cavalry's harassment, the church's left wing infantry arrived and immediately launched a full attack.
Under such an assault, it didn't take long for the Alliance's infantry formation to collapse.
(End of the Chapter)
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