Chapter 18: Komit’s Teaching

Chapter 18: Komit’s Teaching

With the retreat order sent down, the human army, battling on the city walls, began to fall back under the officers’ direction.

“Maintain formation, back down slowly!”

Even though some were itching to escape the battlefield, military discipline compelled them to follow their officers’ commands.

Thus, while the humans withdrew, their formation remained intact.

The orcs and dark elves certainly weren’t about to let the humans escape so easily.

“Kill—!”

A few orcs charged after the humans without waiting for orders.

However, these lone orcs didn’t gain anything from their reckless assault.

The human formation didn’t break; instead, it became even tighter and harder to combat.

“Step aside!”

As the orcs charged in, a human officer shouted.

The soldiers facing the orcs stepped aside, allowing the frenzied orcs to charge right into the human formation.

What awaited them was a flurry of human attacks.

Before they could strike, the human soldiers cut them down with wild swings of their swords.

“Maintain formation, continue the retreat!”

After dealing with those foolish orcs, the human soldiers continued to fall back under their officer’s guidance.

Watching the swiftly dispatched orcs, both the dark elves and orcs hesitated for a moment in their pursuit.

Especially the dark elves, who needed only to help hold off the human attacks without pushing themselves too hard.

Now that the humans had retreated, they had completed their mission.

There was no need to charge in and engage the humans in a reckless fight.

If they ended up like those orcs, facing death for nothing, it would be a hard loss.

Though the orcs wanted to chase, seeing the dark elves unresponsive and recalling their fallen comrade’s fate, they hesitated as well.

Thus, the humans slowly withdrew from the city walls.

The Beast King said nothing, allowing the human soldiers to escape.

He could tell that although the human soldiers were retreating, their formation remained stable and showed no signs of panic.

Under such circumstances, even if they chased, they wouldn’t gain anything.

Komit was quite pleased with this situation.

This was why he chose to retreat while the human army still had some strength left.

If they exhausted everything and then retreated, or were directly forced down, the situation would become uncontrollable.

Seeing his soldiers fleeing in disarray would be the least of his worries.

“Fili, did you understand what just happened?”

Komit asked the officer beside him, his tone serious.

Though his last piece of advice wasn’t the best, the mere act of suggesting showed the other had ambition and ideas, so he was happy to provide guidance.

“General, I don’t understand.”

Fili replied honestly when questioned.

“Do you see our army retreating in a fluster?”

“No, not at all!”

Fili shook his head.

“Did the orcs or dark elves pursue us?”

“No!”

Fili shook his head again, a flicker of realization dawning on him.

“If we had waited a bit longer, it might have turned out quite differently—worse even.”

Glancing at the contemplative Fili, Komit sighed.

At that, Fili immediately grasped his meaning.

His face flushed with embarrassment.

“General—!”

“No need for more words. Holding your ground is good, but sometimes you must learn to be flexible. And attacking this fortress won’t be done in a day or two; we need to conserve our strength and not waste our forces here. There are plenty of battles ahead for us.”

At the end, Komit’s expression turned slightly off.

He looked somewhat negative and confused.

As one of the big shots of the Machia Republic, he was well aware of the current world situation.

Without a doubt, a chaotic era loomed ahead. In such a time, not even he, let alone a country or a race, was safe from annihilation.

The future was filled with uncertainty, leaving everyone in suspense over what would come next.

“General?”

Komit’s demeanor affected Fili’s mood, although he felt more puzzled.

What caused the general to turn into this?

“Fili, did you remember everything I just said?”

Komit, snapping back to attention, asked with a stern face.

“I remembered!”

Fili quickly responded, his voice firm, as if to bury the past incident.

Then they turned their gazes back to the front.

The human soldiers were still retreating.

However, even as the human army began to descend from the city walls, the battle on Arthur and his side hadn’t ended yet.

Their situation was quite unique.

The fighting amongst the three parties around them had come to a halt.

Most importantly, the battle between them and Mork had to resolve, as that would determine the outcome for the nearby factions.

But to reach a conclusion would take some time.

From then until now, the fight had been ongoing for a while.

Although Arthur and his companions had successfully suppressed Mork, he hadn’t suffered significant damage amidst their joint assault.

The purple-black material surrounding him provided solid protection.

Not to mention, he wore armor for added defense.

If there was an inner layer of armor too, that would be even harder to deal with.

Focused on defeating Mork, they weren’t quite aware of the overall situation.

They instinctively overlooked the horn signaling retreat that had just sounded.

However, those beside them hadn’t ignored it.

While Arthur and Cain struggled to reach each other, Airael and Andrew, positioned in the rear, easily connected.

Almost simultaneously, those around them urged, “Milady, General Komit has ordered a retreat.”

Upon hearing this, Airael and Andrew exchanged glances.

In an instant, they reached a silent agreement.

Then Andrew initiated a spell.

First, a weaken spell struck Mork, diminishing his strength.

Then, a stone golem raised its iron fist, shimmering with silver magical light.

Noticing this, Arthur and Cain quickly retreated.

Getting too close would put them at risk too.

It was no big deal for Mork to take a hit, but that didn’t mean the same for them.

“Ax, Cain, we need to get out of here.”

As they were pulling back, Airael yelled while casting her magic.

She formed several sturdy ice walls to trap Mork in place.

Under normal circumstances, Mork could easily break through those ice walls.

But the situation was quite different now.

Mork had been weakened.

In this state, even if he managed to break free from the ice walls, he couldn’t dodge the stone golem’s iron fist.