“There are generally two types of generals out there. One type relied on their wits, and commanded from the safety of the back lines. These commanders usually managed to get a better understanding and control of the battlefield, at the cost of their troops’ morale, and despite their location on the backlines, were usually susceptible to headhunting strikes from the enemy.

On the other hand, those commanders who led from the frontlines and fought alongside their soldiers would boost morale by their sheer presence. They might have less awareness and control of the battlefield as a whole due to a worse vantage point, but these people often had instincts honed through battle that allowed them to exploit mistakes in a manner that those who commanded from the back could never match.

If you thought that a commander’s presence on the frontlines would make them even more susceptible to being taken down, you would be both right and wrong at the same time. Those who dared to lead the charge from the front naturally had the confidence and skills to do that in the first place, and to take them down would be far easier said than done.” - Liang Si-Zhu, Famed Tactician of the Huan Confederacy, circa 92 VA.

“Forward! Don’t stop until we reach that bastard in the back!” yelled Reinhardt as he charged ahead with Mischka and Grünhildr, as well as Lady Griselda beside him. The therian matron’s two children and their respective spouses led the left and right flanks of their formation alongside the best of the Company’s shieldbearers, as they charged forward to lead the way.

Their formation took on the shape of a blunted wedge, with the shieldbearers as the frontal flanks of the formation, where they simply utilized their bulk and momentum to shove the enemies away to allow for those behind them to pass through. The center of the wedge was where those who were best suited for carving a path through the enemy lines like Mischka and Grünhildr and their respective teams were positioned and they were the main driving force of the formation’s advance.

In the center of the formation, the Company’s lighter infantry, namely their scouts under Nicole and Fatimah’s leadership worked together with the light infantry of the Janissaries to keep the enemy at bay as they passed through, while the rest of the Janissaries - all their skirmishers - did what they specialized in and harassed the enemies with thrown spears and axes from behind the infantry lines.

At the rear, the remaining combat-capable members of the Spears of Ostvin fought off the enemies that tried to pursue them. The Spears were a mixed infantry company, who usually fought as line infantry to hold the lines, so they did fine in their role at the rear. The Free Lances were chosen as part of the spearhead along with the Algenverr elites because they had the best shock troops out of the forces gathered at Fort Kazka.

Despite being a noble lady, the Lady Griselda proved to be just as vicious a combatant as her counterpart from Dvergarder. She fought alongside the knights from Algenverr right at the frontlines, where she expertly caught and deflected blows with the bucklers built into her vambraces, while she smashed her foes with the pair of flanged maces she wielded skillfully.

The knights from Algenverr seemed to have more training as heavy infantry compared to the ones from Dvergarder, who were primarily cavalrymen, but that was likely due to the different terrain of their home regions. They advanced swiftly even while they smashed through the opposition before them, despite how their enemies faced them head-on fearlessly.

Even they were surprised with the practiced ease with which the Free Lances cut down the enemies before them, though. The soldiers with bloodshot eyes who charged forward heedless of their lives seemed to give the mercenaries not even the slightest pause as they simply tore them apart efficiently and moved on.

“These fuckers brings back some bad memories,” commented Grünhildr amidst the slaughter. The burly woman was at the forefront of the charge, as she led the way and cleaved through those that stood in her way with her void-clad weapons. All of the mercenaries who served during the Theodinaz campaign couldn’t help but recall the days when they were mobbed by fanatical zealots there, and juxtaposed that memory with the drugged-up soldiers they now faced.

“You can say that again,” said Mischka from her left. The massive therian matron swept past half a dozen soldiers in a single swing and sent them - or parts from their bodies - flying to pelt the ones behind them and disrupt the enemy formation. She couldn’t help but reminisce somewhat about her younger son, who was killed in the fighting on Fort Ascher. “Remind me to pour a cup for Ivan when we’re done with this mess.”

“Will do,” said Reinhardt from the other side as he smashed through the defenses of three soldiers at the same time. The drugged-up soldiers might not feel pain, and were fearless, but there was little they could do but to perish noisily when their bodies were broken to the point of dysfunction. The experience of dealing with similar people in the past helped the mercenaries deal with them more efficiently, unlike the knights who at times stumbled when they were attacked by a soldier they had thought out of the equation.

“You all seemed terribly used to dealing with people like these,” said Griselda as she finally caught up to the foremost edge of the formation with the aid of her knights. The young noblewoman panted a bit for breath as the mercenaries had kept up a hideously rapid pace when one considered that they were rushing through line after line of enemy troops, which caught many of the knights flatfooted. They had to put in some effort to catch up while being weighed down by their heavy armor.

“What can we say, Your Grace? Had some unpleasant experiences with religious zealots before. Many of us present here remembered those times all too well,” said Reinhardt as he casually parried a couple spears while he directed another to bounce against his chestplate fruitlessly, before he swept through all three spearmen with a wide swing of his polemace. “There’s not that much difference between those high on drugs and high on religion after all.”

Their detachment carved their path through the Central forces’ lines rapidly, and before too long, they had reached their destination, a raised command tower where the enemy commander gave his commands from by flags, to be relayed to the field commanders further ahead. The detachment then split into three sections.

Two sections, led by Mischka and Reinhardt, went to the sides and around the command tower as they encircled it to prevent their target from escaping. The third section, with Griselda and Grünhildr amongst them, brought Elfriede’s smaller detachment - who were specialized and skilled in headhunting - straight towards their target.