“The enemy has made their move! They want to use their numbers to surround us!” After a brief report to Al, Brusch immediately rode off to the other direction.
“Thanks, Brusch!” Al raised his voice and waved at her to catch her attention.
She heard his words and waved back, shouting, “You’re welcome! I’ll go and get more intel!”
“All right, here we go. Feena! Wreak havoc on them! Cecilia! Charge in once the enemy has faltered!”
“Roger.”
“Understood.”
The wind spell they used to communicate was working like a charm.
“Kanon, are you ready?”
“Of course!” Kanon raised her sword, and began her speech in a manner not unlike a certain crimson-haired girl. “Listen here! The time to repay their favor has come! Show these Freiyan bastards the strength of Eshantel!”
“Hooah!” The warriors imitated Kanon and pointed their swords to the sky.
Bwooooom!
The ground roared beneath them. Everyone looked toward the source of the impact—a gigantic flame pillar blasting countless Freiyan soldiers away. The battle had begun.
“Attack!” Carrying his scythe, Al charged forward.
“Fireball. Frost Ball. Lightning Ball.”
The blue-haired Diva dispatched countless spells from inside a protective phalanx of heavy infantry soldiers. She’d managed to put a stop to the incoming cavalry by freezing, shocking, and burning the vanguard, with the soldiers behind them simply tripping over their fallen comrades. However, that didn’t stop the enemy from quickly locating Feena and sending countless spells and arrows her way.
“Shields up! Don’t let anything reach Lady Feena!” the commander ordered his troops.
“Sir, yes, sir!” the entire heavy infantry unit shouted.
“Oh my, Absolute Magic Barrier!”
The soldiers raised their shields and Cecilia cast a magic barrier, but a couple of arrows and spells slipped through their defenses, hitting the shields and finding their way into the small gaps of the soldiers’ armor.
“Fireball! Are you okay?” Feena asked the weary soldiers while keeping up her barrage of spells.
“Worry not, Lady Lesfina! We of the heavy infantry will protect you to our dying breath!” He answered with a hearty smile while pulling an arrow out of his elbow.
“Thanks, but don’t die. I want you to keep supporting Althos for a long time to come,” the blue-haired Diva from Subdera said before letting out a small chuckle.
“Whoa...” The soldiers gazed at Feena in awe, forgetting the chaos around them.
“U-Understood! Then I’ll be at your service until the time comes for me to part from this mortal world!”
“But you’re Althos’s—”
“Raaaaah! Listen up, you bastards! Protect that wonderful smile at all costs! Should you meet your maker in battle, flip him off and get your ass back here! No lives will be lost today!”
Feena’s words seemed to have fired up the troops.
“I’m Al’s wife, so I suppose it’ll work out somehow.” With that, she got back to blasting the enemy with countless spells from behind the cover of the wall of soldiers.
“Oh my, let me know if you get injured and I will get you back on your feet immediately. But I will punish you if you come to me with mere scratches!” A calm, collected voice boomed through the tense battlefield.
“Listen up, you bastards! I understand that getting punished is a fantasy for some of you, but this isn’t the time for that! Do your best to protect Lady Cecilia’s bright smile!”
“Hooah!”
Their enthusiasm wasn’t just for show; they fought for the girls with everything they had. The heavy infantry alongside Feena continued their advance through the hellish battlefield, and before the Freiyan army could react, they’d made their way into the heart of the enemy troops, splitting their forces in two.
Their phalanx might have made it into the thick of the battle, but the enemy headquarters was still a ways away, and the wave of Freiyan soldiers only grew as they inched closer to their goal.
✦ ✦ ✦
“What the hell is that man doing, trapping his own forces!?” Ranbolg viewed their efforts as nothing more than a desperate struggle, but the simple fact that they didn’t throw in the towel drove him mad.
“What are you fumbling around for!? Crush them already! The first unit to break their defenses will be rewarded!” His orders gave each individual unit an incentive to work toward, but it also decreased the unity between his troops.