21 Mad Men of Knightsend (1/2)

On top of the castle, Marvin saw everything. The sudden rush of Castonians truly caught the Tulosans unprepared. But they were starting to lose the element of surprise. The Tulosans at the rear were quick to arm themselves.

The main problem though, were the horses. The horses were being grazed at the back so the Castonians failed to capture them. Now, the Tulosan Cavalrymen had begun to mobilize. They formed into two big units. Both groups targeted the left flank of the Castonians which had the least number of soldiers. The Castonians had made a great gamble. By charging in like this, they disregarded formation and any semblance of tactics. It was great at first, but it put them into a vulnerable position. Their attack was neither idiotic nor genius. They simply made a gamble because it was the only way to catch the Tulosans off guard.

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John was charging forward. He was angry. These Tulosans suddenly invaded his Kingdom and they expected him to do nothing? He will show them how wrong they were. His halberd had already struck down two Tulosans and most of the enemy infantry had already fled. As for the cavalry, a huge number of them were currently charging towards them.

If it was any other army, this charge would have broken their spirits. But the men of knightsend stood strong. They were not afraid. They formed a solid wall of defense and raised their halberd towards the charging cavalry.

The cavalry charge's strength was half true and half false. Yes the momentum of the charge was deadly, horses were powerful beasts after all. A person hit by a horse at full speed could die just because of the impact. If we also take into consideration the rider, then we can surely say that a cavalry charge was a very frightening thing. But for a cavalry unit to fully utilize the effect of its charge, the enemy should be afraid of them. The most successful cavalry charges were those times when the infantry had already routed before the impact of the charge. This way, the cavalrymen could just harass them from behind.

But horses were not stupid. They wouldn't charge into pikes and a large group of people standing still. Charging the infantry from the front had always been a gamble for the cavalry. If the infantry were not afraid of the charge, then they wouldn't run away. If they presented a solid line of defense to the horses, then the animals would terminate the charge. This was the reason why the charge's strength was half true and half false. It was half physical and half psychological.

If it was a year ago, the men of Knightsend should have already routed by now. Unfortunately for the Tulosans, Timothy came to Knightsend. Just as expected, the cavalry charging towards them suddenly halted and retreated. The horses must have seen the line of halberds pointing towards them.

But before the Castonians could rejoice, a second group of cavalry hit the them from behind. Charging into the rear of the infantry was a hundred times more effective than charging into the front.

Apparently, a second cavalry unit of about 500 encircled them from behind. The Castonians at the left flank didn't notice the second cavalry unit and were caught by surprise. To further exacerbate things, this particular group of cavalry were the feared Tulosan knights.

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Marvin saw the whole thing. A second cavalry unit struck the left flank in the rear. He recognized them as the Tulosan Knights. It was bad enough that the infantry got charged from the rear, but the Tulosan Knights specialized in this. Charging at the rear of an army is what they were trained to do. Their long lances can penetrate Castonian armor, skewering the unlucky person from behind. Their horses were strong and muscular so anyone hit by the impact of their charge would surely suffer heavy injuries. The Tulosan Knights folded the left flank like a carpet. Many people were skewered by the lances, others lost consciousness from the impact. Seeing this, the other group of cavalrymen charged back. Now, not only did the left flank suffered two successful charges from the front and the back, they were also outnumbered.

The center of the Castonian army rushed to help their brothers. But they were still far away. The earlier crazed charge of the Castonian infantry had put a huge gap between the left flank and the center.

Any other armies would have routed after this, but Marvin saw that the soldiers on left flank were fighting to the death. Those who were downed earlier by the charge stood up again. The fighting on the left had become a free-for-all brawl.

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