"Th-they're coming this way!"
"What?"
"They're charging straight at us!"
In the next instant, Colin lifted his head, his eyes widening in shock. Justin's group wasn't running—they were sprinting toward them.
As confusion spread among Victor's forces, Justin's voice rang out from the hill, his words chilling.
"Kill them all! Don't leave a single one alive!"
"…!"
The killing intent in Justin's shout sent a wave of fear through Colin's body.
The sound of Nathan's whistle pierced the air.
His summoned Pegasus unfurled its wings and soared into the sky, the majestic sight only adding to the eerie atmosphere. But what followed was far more terrifying—an onslaught of arrows rained down.
Thud!
"Gah!"
One of Victor's pioneers, still gazing up at the Pegasus, was hit by an arrow. His body convulsed before collapsing to the ground. The person next to him turned pale, the sight of their fallen comrade freezing them in place.
"This is insane…!"
"A-attack! Fight back!"
But despite their leader's frantic orders, Victor's forces were in disarray. And by then, Justin's group had already closed in, their mages and archers within striking range.
Justin, standing with his mages, stopped, calmly issuing commands. "Black Missile."
"Energy Bolt!"
Boom! Boom!
"Aagh!"
Justin fired first, his spell striking down one of the pioneers instantly. Another fell to the combined attacks of his mages. Before the lee had even begun, three enemies had already fallen.
Now, Derek and the other front-liners charged in, bloodlust in their eyes.
At the front of the charge, cutting down pioneers left and right, was Derek. His overwhelming presence shattered the morale of their enemies, and soon the opposing group began to scatter in all directions.
"Aaaah! Noooo!"
"Don't run! Fight them!"
"Shut up! You fight them by yourself!"
It seed the leader's orders no longer reached his subordinates. Instead, his own pioneers hurled curses back at him. As the leader stood there, stunned, Derek closed in.
"Hey, there," Derek greeted, a nacing grin on his face.
"You bastard!" the leader spat, raising his black shield just in ti.
BOOM!
"Aaaargh!"
The leader managed to block Derek's thunderous hamr with his shield, which seed to be a dungeon reward, as it didn't break. But the damage was far worse—the sheer force of the impact shattered both of his arms.
"Spare …!" he begged, but before he could finish, Rachel's flail struck him down. His pleas silenced.
The only ones left now were the pioneers who had lost all will to fight. Normally, Justin's group might have let them go, but not this ti.
"Chase them! Kill every last one of them!"
"Nooo! Stay away!"
Tears streaming down their faces, the remaining pioneers ran, but they didn't get far before they were caught. The mages were the first to fall, followed by the warriors. The few who managed to run faster than the others found themselves targets for Nathan's arrows. No matter how fast they ran, none were faster than an airborne archer.
Fifteen corpses were left scattered across the field.
"They dared to approach us slowly, thinking we'd be an easy target?" Justin sneered.
"Exactly. And to think they ca alone, without any backup," Ethan added, shrugging his shoulders.
Justin turned away from his grumbling companions and surveyed the scene behind him.
'Not bad at all,' he thought, pleased. For their first real combat, his team had shown very little sign of breaking. A few of them looked uneasy at the sight of corpses, but that was to be expected. No one was vomiting or collapsing in shock.
They had clearly prepared themselves for this.
"Gather the bodies! Drag them over here if you have to, just get them all in one place!"
"Ugh, so of these guys are falling apart."
"If you're scared, just step back!" another responded sarcastically.
"What? I'm level 18, man."
The pioneers exchanged banter as they collected the bodies, so of which were in pretty bad shape after being crushed by Derek and the others. It was a grueso sight, but for what Justin had planned, it was exactly what he needed.
He recalled his earlier conversation with Zachary.
"Crush them all? Are you planning to take on every single leader?" Zachary had asked, eyes wide.
"Of course not. Even I can't handle all of them. Just the first two or three groups."
Zachary had sighed in relief. Attacking every single leader would have been suicide. But soon, he looked at Justin, confused.
"Is there a strategy behind this? Why target just two or three?"
"If we wipe out two or three of them, the rest won't dare attack us."
"...?"
Zachary tilted his head, clearly not understanding. Why would taking down only two or three groups stop the rest from attacking?
Justin chuckled, amused by his companion's confusion.
"Have you ever read
Records of the Grand Historian
or
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
?"
"Huh? I've read
Three Kingdoms
, but I've only heard of
Records of the Grand Historian
."
"Then you know of Xiang Yu, right?"
"Of course! The famous warlord who could lift mountains with his strength and overwhelm entire armies with his presence."
Xiang Yu, the legendary warlord with a reputation for performing impossible feats in battle—most notably, defeating an army nineteen tis the size of his own. His feats were the stuff of legends.
"Now here's sothing interesting.
Records of the Grand Historian
and
Three Kingdoms
are separated by several hundred years. Both eras were full of warlords and renowned generals, but there's one key difference."
"Difference?"
"In
Three Kingdoms
, you don't see the sa kind of battles where soone like Xiang Yu single-handedly overcos impossible odds. Even though there were many famous generals, none of them pulled off what he did. Do you know why?"
"Because Xiang Yu was just that great?"
"That's part of it. But many historians now believe it's because the training of soldiers changed."
In Xiang Yu's ti, it wasn't uncommon for an army's morale to collapse the mont one man started cutting down soldiers in the frontlines. Soldiers would flee in fear, and the entire army would break apart.
But in the era of the
Three Kingdoms
, that changed. Soldiers were trained to hold their ground no matter what, to keep fighting chanically, even when a powerful enemy appeared. That's why, even if a great general perford incredible feats, they'd eventually get exhausted and surrounded.
"In
Records of the Grand Historian
, when an army lost, it often disintegrated entirely. But in
Three Kingdoms
, even after a defeat, the soldiers would regroup and fight again, no matter how heroic the opponent."
As ti went on, the era of heroes—where one man could turn the tide of battle—faded away. Generals who had once relied on their own strength to win battles were forced to change tactics.
"That's fascinating," Zachary said. "But why bring it up now?"
"Think about it. Are these pioneers like the disciplined soldiers from
Three Kingdoms
? Or are they more like the easily broken troops from Xiang Yu's era?"
"Ah!"
"It's simple. Show them the reality of death right in front of their eyes, and they'll lose the will to fight. Once they realize they could die at any mont, they won't be able to fight properly."
That fear didn't even need to co from a direct attack. If they ca across a field full of freshly killed bodies—bodies that outnumbered them—it would be enough to make them hesitate.
They'd look at Justin's group and think, 'If they killed all these people, we don't stand a chance.'
"That's when the ga is over," Justin concluded. "Any smart leader will realize the situation and retreat. Even if they do decide to fight, they'll be too scared to fight at their full strength."
And with only two or three targets, they could use everything at their disposal to make an example of them. His Cursed Lightning, Nathans Pegasu's, and Rachel's shield would hold out for at least three battles.
By the ti they were done, the field would be littered with bodies, creating the perfect atmosphere of fear.
"Anyone who sees the aftermath won't know whether we picked them off one by one or wiped them out all at once."
Justin snapped back to the present, looking around. The pioneers had gathered most of the bodies.
"Good work. Now spread them out, leave a trail of bloodstains—"
"Lord Justin! Enemies spotted!"
Justin lifted his head at the shout. Sure enough, a group of pioneers had appeared on the nearby hill. It looked like they hadn't seen Justin's group until they were nearly upon them.
They wore smug smiles at first, but as soon as they saw the pile of corpses and bloodstains, their faces turned deathly pale.
Justin smirked, raising his staff.
"Attack! Leave no survivors!"
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