The Second Ore Scramble, Part 1

At this very moment, within the Mithril Ore camp, Velin, upon receiving the news, immediately began deploying his troops in preparation for battle.

According to the plan, Brian led his troops out of the camp, circling around to a position three kilometers to the flank, awaiting further word.

The sun hung high in the sky as the approaching enemy army appeared within sight, slowly advancing towards them.

Velin, mounted on his horse, gazed at the Three-Bow Ballistas hidden behind his soldiers, feeling confident in this battle.

On a tall warhorse, Violet advanced while observing the enemy's formation.

As a geomancer, Cesley utilized his specialty to cast reconnaissance spells, probing the wilderness ahead to avoid any ambushes and prevent a repeat of the trap Brandon had encountered.

"Cesley, how are things? Any traps?" Violet turned his head and shouted, his gruff voice making Cesley's ears protest.

"No traps, the path ahead is clear," Cesley replied, opening his eyes.

"Hahaha, that's good. I'll charge in and wipe out this few hundred-strong force myself." With the confirmation, Violet began to command his troops, ordering the Knights and Knight Squires to assemble at the front of the formation, ready for a charge to annihilate the enemy.

Barry, standing beside him, glanced at Brandon, who was two kilometers away, and said to Violet, "Brandon is still behind us. Should we wait a bit longer?"

"Heh, that coward is probably scared stiff by this brat," Violet said dismissively upon hearing this.

Cesley, seeing this, also nodded, a rare occurrence.

With that, Barry said nothing more. The enemy numbered only over three hundred, and the battle was already a foregone conclusion; Brandon's presence or absence would make no difference.

On the other side, Velin watched as the enemy cavalry gathered, clearly abandoning traditional warfare tactics and preparing for a direct cavalry charge to break his lines.

"Deserters will be executed without mercy."

Velin rode his horse past the front lines, shouting loudly at the terrified and uneasy slave soldiers.

Feeling the sharp sword at their backs, the slave soldiers at the very front stabilized their trembling legs, swallowing hard and praying to the gods for survival.

In an instant, the ground began to tremble as the enemy started their charge.

"Disperse formation."

The slave soldiers in the front ranks heard the command and, following their training, parted their formation, revealing the twenty hidden Three-Bow Ballistas.

"Prepare."

Two soldiers operating the Three-Bow Ballistas began to crank the winches at the rear, drawing the bows.

Seeing the bowstrings taut, a soldier standing behind them picked up a spear and placed it on the Three-Bow Ballista.

Velin raised his right hand, calculating the distance. When the enemy closed to within eight hundred meters, he lowered his hand and shouted the command: "Fire."

The soldiers holding hammers heard the command and struck the triggers.

With a whoosh, spears forged with Mithril were launched.

"Pfft—"

The Mid-Bronze Tier Knight at the forefront felt a sharp pain in his chest. He slowly lowered his head, looking at the bowl-sized hole in his chest, and fell from his horse.

The twenty spears, infused with Mithril, pierced through the Iron Armor and Leather Armor of the Knights and Knight Squires as if they were made of paper, with ease.

Violet, watching over thirty of his men fall while charging at the front, roared in anger, "Ah! I will kill you!"

Those were all his subordinates, a third of them lost in an instant; ten years of accumulation gone just like that.

Soon, the second volley arrived as expected.

Dozens more men toppled from their horses, their fates unknown.

"Charge! Charge forward and tear them apart!"

Violet's eyes were bloodshot, his grip tightening on his spear, his gaze fixed solely on Velin, that scoundrel.

After the third volley concluded, the enemy was less than four hundred meters from the front lines. The soldiers operating the Three-Bow Ballistas quickly retreated.

"Close formation."

At the rear of the formation, Velin issued a cold command, ordering the two hundred slave soldiers to close ranks and prepare to receive the first wave of impact.

These were the two hundred expendables he had selected a week prior, specifically for this moment.

Thanks to the grueling training and the pressure from the Knights behind them, the two hundred slave soldiers rearranged themselves into four ranks, raising their four-meter-long spears to meet the charge of the Knights.

Violet, his reason consumed by rage, channeled his Battle Qi and continuously issued commands: "Charge! Tear them apart!"

In an instant, the dozen or so slave soldiers in the front rank were reduced to minced meat, while dozens more behind them were flung into the air by the impact.

"Kill, kill, kill!"

Violet, having entered the fray, discarded his spear and brandished his Knight Longsword, cutting down the slave soldiers and continuously advancing towards the hill where Velin was located.

"Fire the signal."

"Yes, my lord."

Belder pulled out a magic signal flare and launched it into the sky.

Three kilometers away, Brian, fully prepared, saw the red magical light and loudly commanded, "Charge with me!"

Fifty Bronze Knights and two hundred Knight Squires spurred their horses forward, following their lord.

The Knight-Mage Adrian, standing to the side, commanded six hundred elite warriors who followed behind the main force, performing the mopping-up operations.

Meanwhile, Brandon, far behind the battlefield, saw the signal and felt a surge of alarm. He loudly ordered, "Everyone, halt your advance and retreat immediately."

The Knights in the formation were quite confused by this, but they chose to obey their lord's command.

The five-hundred-man unit turned their rear into their front and returned the way they came.

At the same time, Velin began to engage the maddened Violet, fighting fiercely.

With the arrival of a large contingent of serf soldiers on the battlefield, the situation began to tilt in favor of the enemy. The Knights and soldiers under Velin's command struggled to hold on, awaiting the arrival of reinforcements.

On the outskirts of the battlefield, Barry recalled the signal flare from earlier. Coupled with Brandon's sudden withdrawal, he felt that something was very wrong.

"Barry, there's someone to the south," Cesley, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them wide, a look of terror on his face as he spoke to his companion.

"What?"

Upon hearing this, Barry turned to look and saw Brian appearing on the horizon against the setting sun, heading towards their location.

"This is bad, it's an ambush."

At this moment, he hurriedly mobilized the infantry, forming a human wall to block the Knights' charge.

Cesley also didn't stand idle. He raised his staff, marshaled his magic, and created a low wall, one hundred meters long and one and a half meters high, in front of the infantry.

This single spell drained Cesley of all his magic, causing him to collapse onto the ground.

Two mage apprentices on the side stepped forward, helped their teacher up, and took out precious mana potions to administer to him.

Barry, seeing this, couldn't attend to it for the moment. He only had three hundred warriors with him, and only twenty of them had reached the Bronze Tier. Blocking the opponent's attack would be extremely difficult.

"Hold them back! We will defend the honor of the Barks Family to the death!"

The one hundred soldiers holding giant shields heard their lord's words. They looked resolutely at the charging Knights, channeled all the Battle Qi in their bodies, and prepared for a desperate fight.