"Quick! Rush! Run into the woods!"
General Kent ran at the rear of the column, waving his arms and shouting at the top of his lungs.
The sound of horse hooves came from behind, like raging waves, threatening to drown him at any time—he was born in a coastal city, and this feeling was no stranger to him.
Looking back, he could see the elite cavalry of the Horli Kingdom, just a few hundred meters behind him. Those men were wearing armor, roaring, and wielding swords. They had defeated their army just a few hours ago.
There was a priest flying in the sky, and from time to time a holy light bomb would hit from behind. Fortunately, they were still far away, and their accuracy was poor.
Looking forward, the woods under the night were dark and quiet, and there was no movement in sight. Everyone was rushing in with all their strength, just like famine victims rushing towards the relief truck.
They know that the mage is ambushing inside, and as long as they lure the enemy to rush over, they can fight back with their swords. But when the enemy's army approaches, no one is confident. They can only sprint with the will to survive. All baits and ambushes are forgotten, leaving only the thought of "I want to live."
Perhaps only General Kent retained some sanity.
To be honest, he didn't think this ambush idea was perfect. The retreating army suddenly fled into a forest. No matter who it was, such a scene seemed a bit suspicious, and the pursuers might not be fooled. And if you want to ensure that the enemy is not suspicious, the distance between the bait and the pursuer must be kept very close.
- A group of remnant soldiers who were about to be overtaken fled into the woods in a panic. This may appear more reasonable in the eyes of the enemy.
Kent could not fathom the thoughts of those priests. He could only fulfill the duties of a "bait", slowing down to allow the enemy to approach, and walking at the back of the team.
The pursuers could always spot him. How can any military commander run in the back row and act as bait? He felt that doing so might increase the success rate of this imperfect ambush plan.
What else can they do
From the moment he evacuated from the border, he was filled with despair. The Horli Kingdom's cavalry destroyed everything he was proud of. The army was vulnerable to the enemy. After a brief battle, they had no choice but to retreat, but... they couldn't retreat.
Kent knew in his heart that even if someone cut off the rear, the enemy army could still separate its troops and clean up their dejected remnant army. In the end, of these 50,000 people, not even 10,000 people were able to return to the capital alive.
He didn't know what was going on in the capital, and he didn't dare to think about it. The border was lost, and he felt ashamed to fulfill the Prime Minister's expectations of him, and even more ashamed of the promise he made in front of the palace. At that moment, he even vaguely didn't want to go back alive and didn't have the courage to face everyone in Regina's palace.
However, he must live for the sake of the soldiers in front of him.
Suffering from despair and contradiction, the appearance of Benjamin suddenly gave Kent a glimmer of hope.
The dean of the Magic Academy and the most powerful mage on this continent. Kent doesn't understand how powerful Benjamin is, but he understands what a powerful mage can do on the battlefield.
More importantly, his appearance boosted the morale of the depressed army and gave them hope again.
Therefore, even though the ambush plan proposed by him had many loopholes in Kent's view, Kent still nodded and agreed without hesitation.
This was their only way to successfully retreat.
"General! General! Save me!"
Some cries for help came from the ears. In the process of fleeing, the wounded became an unbearable burden for the army. The soldiers were still trying their best to carry the stretcher, but it was inevitable that someone would be thrown off.
Kent turned around and took a look. It was a very familiar soldier. He might have been punished for talking back to him for three days, but he couldn't remember his name.
He was cruel and wanted to turn his head and continue running forward, but somehow he ran to the soldier by accident.
"General...save me, don't leave me here..."
The opponent's left leg was broken and he could not move forward. Kent could only carry him on his back and continue running forward with the team. At the same time, the pursuers behind him were getting closer and closer. He even saw a holy light bomb falling three meters away to his left, almost blowing him to pieces.
Carrying this soldier, both of them may die together.
Kent knew about it, but somehow he just didn't want to think about it. The woods were close at hand, and the large troops in front had already rushed in. He felt that he only needed to run a few more steps to rush in.
boom!
Another holy light bomb fell, but this time he was not so lucky. The holy light bloomed about two meters away to his right, and the strong shock wave knocked him down, almost throwing away the wounded on his back.
"General! Are you okay? General!"
The soldier on his back had fallen into a coma, while several people on the side quickly came over, supported Kent, and rushed into the woods at one go.
"We're in... We're in!" A noisy voice rang in his ears, calling Kent, who was a little distracted, back to reality.
In the dark woods, he couldn't see where Benjamin and the mage were ambush. However, along the pre-arranged direction, the large army continued to rush deep into the woods, waiting for the horn of counterattack to sound.
The pursuers behind him rushed into the woods without hesitation a few seconds later.
Seeing this scene, Kent felt relieved.
"Kill!"
However, the shouts of killing were already deafening, and the nearest cavalry was about to catch up with him. Looking back, he could even clearly see the patterns on the opponent's armor and smell the stench emanating from the horse.
—The enemy is coming.
Kent is well aware of this.
So, he turned around, threw the wounded man on his back to the soldiers in front, and then drew his sword.
"Kill!"
All the blood in his body seemed to be boiling at this moment.
As he shouted, he swung his sword and slashed at the cavalryman closest to him. The opponent probably didn't expect that his counterattack would be so sudden. He tried to rein in his horse, but Kent leaned over and charged straight at him.
With a muffled sound, the long sword was inserted from under the horse's belly, and due to the effect of inertia, it passed through the cavalry's belly. Blood spattered everywhere, and Kent's entire arm was buried in the horse's body, and he fell to the ground.
"General!"
A call from a soldier came over, and Kent immediately turned around and shouted viciously: "Run! Don't stop! Run!"
Maybe it was his blood-soaked ferocious look that scared the soldiers, or maybe it was due to years of obedience habits. After a brief moment of daze, the soldiers turned around and continued running deeper into the woods with the wounded.
Kent kept looking at the soldiers until their figures disappeared into the dark woods and could no longer be seen.
At that moment, the overlapping sound of horse hooves came from behind, like ocean waves.
It felt very familiar to him.