Encounter Battle

Pandero was a city-state devoted to the Druidic Faith. Its main races were orcs and Tigerfolk. They revered nature and believed in the power of savagery. They controlled the largest lands and forests on the Slovak Continent. Although they did not advocate aggression, their formidable military strength meant that few city-states on the Slovak Continent dared challenge them.

Seljuk was a city-state somewhat like Sparta from Ronan's previous life: patriarchal, slave-owning, and governed by a council. Every adult male citizen began training at the age of six and served until forty, when he left the front lines to become an instructor or councilman in the rear. Seljuk's men did no productive labor; all work was done by women and slaves seized in raids. Seljuk women could only gain citizenship after bearing a son, after which they no longer had to work. Seljuk was also the nation that launched wars most frequently.

The other relatively powerful force was the Iceborn Alliance in the far north, an alliance formed of many tribes. However, the harsh environment of the far north limited their development.

Then there were the Slovak people, Slovak's most infamous bandit nation and also its earliest indigenous people. The Slovak had no fixed strongholds. Led by several Horse Kings, they roamed the continent, living by plundering passing merchant caravans. Every Slovak was a born rider and archer, and their powerful mobility left the major city-states helpless against them.

At times, even some weak city-states would be breached and looted by the Slovak. They had many barbaric customs, the most famous being the Horse King's succession ritual. A new Horse King had to lead a small group of trusted followers on a raid and kill everyone involved. Then, after defeating every challenger in one-on-one duels, he had to bathe his entire body in blood at the altar and eat a horse's heart raw before he could take the throne.

"The enemies we will face this time are Valantis and Eredar. In terms of military strength, both are relatively weak among the five major city-states, but even together, they are more than Terra can handle.

Valantis mainly fought with slave legions. They had great numbers but were not particularly strong. Their trump card was the Harpy Cavalry Regiment, but it was not very useful in siege warfare.

Eredar excelled at schemes and tricks. Their most famous force was their archer units, and that will be troublesome for us."

After hearing Mario's explanation, Ronan could not help but sigh. Compared to the chaos and harsh conditions of Slovak, the people on the Asloth Continent were far luckier.

Ronan nodded, indicating that he roughly understood. This mission to support Terra was being carried out under Daisy's name, and its true purpose was to build Daisy's reputation. Therefore, Ronan and the others had to fight bravely and could not hide in the rear to protect themselves. However, that suited Ronan just fine, since it would also allow him to gain plenty of prestige and honor.

Every hundred points of prestige gave Ronan an additional troop slot. The various divine artifacts and high-tier units in the Honor Store had tempted him for a long time. If this battle went well, he might be able to achieve everything in one stroke.

The first stage of the expedition to the Slovak Continent was to arrive successfully, so Ronan had guessed that trouble might arise along the way. Sure enough, after the fleet had sailed for twenty days, trouble came.

That day, Ronan was leaning over the deck rail, looking out at the endless azure sea while occasionally popping an orange segment into his mouth. When they had first set sail, everything had felt novel, but even the most beautiful scenery became tiresome after a while, let alone this unchanging expanse of ocean.

The food aboard the ship was not particularly good either. Every day brought bread, sausages, and dried meat. The occasional change of pace was freshly caught fish. After twenty days of this, Ronan was nearly sick of it.

Ronan had just yawned and was about to return to his cabin to catch up on sleep when he spotted a small black dot on the distant sea. The lead flagship sounded the alarm, and horns blared. The ships immediately sprang into action as the fleet began changing formation. The flagship withdrew into the center of the fleet, while Ronan's ship moved to the outer perimeter.

Dense footsteps rang across the deck. The soldiers quickly donned their gear and assembled, while Ronan slipped into light armor and picked up the Starfall Katana.

He hurried over to Mario. Mario was holding a spyglass, observing the flagship's commands and the distant enemy.

"What are they?"

"A group of pirates."

"Huh? What pirates would dare attack a regular army?"

"Their flags are a mess. It should be an alliance of several pirate crews. I saw the Snake Worshipers' symbol at the front, so they are probably pirate crews raised by Eredar. But the intelligence said they should not have this many men. They must have hired other pirate crews as well. Those pirates probably only saw the generous rewards offered by Eredar and do not know who we really are.

There are around thirty ships on their side, but their ships are smaller than ours. Their numbers should be about equal to ours. We have professional soldiers, so our chances of victory are high. They are probably just trying to weaken us. Looking at it this way, Terra's situation does not look promising."

"But they are better at fighting at sea than we are," Ronan said to Mario.

Mario turned and gave Ronan a strange look. "Only your troops are bad at naval combat, right? The soldiers sent this time are all excellent sailors with extensive experience fighting at sea."

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Ronan smiled awkwardly and returned to his unit to prepare for battle.

There were no cannons in this world, so naval battles were all boarding actions. It came down to whose soldiers were better and whose ships were sturdier. Sinterland's warships were built from the finest timber, since trees were what Sinterland lacked least of all. Their prow rams were also reinforced with iron.

As soon as the two forces clashed, quite a few pirate ships were smashed in half by the skillful maneuvering of Sinterland's captains. Pirate ships and warships became entangled, and once both sides found their footing, the archers began exchanging fire. The pirates used ladders and grappling hooks to board the Sinterland warships, swarming aboard in a rush.

The violent shaking caused by the ships' collision made the inexperienced Ronan stumble, nearly sending him sprawling. Fortunately, a Nord beside him grabbed him in time and spared him the embarrassment.

The Silvermoon soldiers raised their tower shields along the edge of the deck, while the elven archers concealed among them steadily picked off pirates on the other side. The sparse arrows fired by the pirates were all blocked by the tower shields.

Ronan had nearly embarrassed himself, and anger surged within him. He drew Starfall and leaped forward, splitting the skull of a pirate who had just boarded.

He kicked the pirate into the sea, then twisted aside and caught an arrow fired by another pirate. That pirate's bow was poor, and the arrow was not very fast. With his high Agility, Ronan caught it effortlessly.

He hurled the arrow at a stunned pirate nearby. As the man dodged, Ronan dashed forward and drove his katana straight into the pirate's heart.

The pirates could not gain a foothold on this ship at all. The moment they landed, they were either surrounded and slaughtered by the soldiers or shoved into the sea with shields.