Louis raised his right hand, his gesture crisp and decisive. "Continue. Prepare for phase two."
"Yes!" The Signal Flag Bearer immediately raised his flag and swept both arms several times in brisk, precise movements.
The battle flag gave the signal to attack.
Below the high ground, the Fireline Squad, long concealed in ambush, sprang into action.
"Orders received! Advance the fireline!"
The knight captain roared under his breath, his armor clanking heavily in the night. He flicked his blade, and his warhorse leaped forward, leading the Elite Knights behind him in a sudden charge.
Heavy torches rose high. Then came a shower of specially prepared oil, heated almost to boiling.
Boom-!
Flames swallowed the front line in an instant. The wall of fire seemed alive, roaring and surging as it carved the entire position into sections.
The moment the flames licked their limbs, the insect corpses let out twisted, hoarse screams like beasts.
Yet even with half their bodies charred, they kept crawling, kept lunging and biting, as though burning were merely another force driving them forward.
The Elite Knight captain rode up, gray-black sparks staining his blue cloak, and shouted coldly, "Brel, take the left flank. Everyone else, follow me right. Don't let them crawl out through the fireline!"
"Yes, sir!"
The Elite Knights of the Northern Frontier moved out.
They were veterans who had crossed mountains of corpses and seas of blood, who had pierced Magical Beasts' throats amid ice and snow. Every one of them could fight three men at once.
But this time, their enemies were not human.
"Aaaah! Get off!"
A knight swung his sword and severed an insect corpse's head, but even its final strike before death carried a savage frenzy.
Its severed arm actually crawled up his leg armor and clamped onto him,