Extraordinary in Reality Through Magic Games

219: Chapter 217: The Silent Forest Siege Begins, Zhang Mu’s Trump CardThe undulating mountain range stretched toward the horizon, its lush forest blocking the rays of the setting sun.

Amidst the dim woods, the Kingdom Soldiers, having finally briefly escaped the pursuit, leaned against trees or found clearings with sparse bushes to sit down, gasping for breath.

”Officer!”

The Professional vanguard commander, wearing half-plate armor, stood by a tree, lost in deep thought, when a Soldier jogged over to salute.

”The headcount is complete; approximately 800 Soldiers remain.”

The commander told himself to stay calm, but his composed expression still turned grim.

The pursuit had lasted from noon until dusk; his entire vanguard of ten thousand men had been reduced to less than a tenth of its original strength.

Although he understood that the straggling Soldiers were not necessarily all killed and might have simply become separated from the main force, given the enemy’s combat effectiveness, they had no chance of escaping the subsequent mopping-up operations.

”Those bastards sitting in their offices! Can’t they even verify the authenticity of the intelligence?!”

Every Soldier had been trained by him personally; seeing such heavy casualties, the commander’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

Why did the Kingdom royalty allow a group of incompetent freeloaders to be responsible for processing all the Kingdom’s enemy intelligence!

The information he received before setting out stated that the Gur Soldiers had terrible combat morale, almost no different from the old Soldiers guarding the city gates.

The officers’ military capabilities were also essentially atrophied, posing no threat whatsoever.

Although they were equipped with a strange, unseen weapon, research and testing showed its power was limited.

The commander had even personally operated the actual item; the pointed projectile it fired couldn’t even penetrate thick wooden boards, let alone armor forged from steel.

Yet the reality was that after marching at high alert the entire way, the moment they were about to step out of the Silent Forest and relaxed their tense nerves, they were ambushed by the enemy.

This was a meticulously set trap!

Ordering his Soldiers to take time to eat, the commander cursed furiously in his mind.

Soldiers with poor combat morale? Officers with atrophied military capabilities?

Combined with the terrifying attack he had witnessed earlier that sheared a thick tree in half, the commander realized the Kingdom had been played.

They had foreseen the Kingdom’s sneak attack plan, accurately predicted their marching route, and chosen an absolutely perfect location for the ambush.

They even abandoned hiding their new weapons, boldly utilizing the enemy’s WD, exposing weakened versions of the new weapons to lower the enemy’s vigilance.

If anyone dared to say the officer who planned this combination of tactics was incompetent, the commander would absolutely chop off their head with a single sword stroke.

”Idiots!”

Venting his fury at the intelligence department again, the commander called over his personal Guard to inform the main force of their location.

At the same time, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief.

The Kingdom had not originally intended to split its forces.

Later, when they marched to about twenty kilometers from the edge of the Silent Forest, the commander had proactively suggested that he lead ten thousand Soldiers ahead while the main force waited in place.

Once he exited the forest and reached the plains with good visibility, he would notify the main force to move out.

The Legion Commander had initially felt it was completely unnecessary.

With Lord Brando scouting ahead, how could they possibly be ambushed?

But after the commander insisted repeatedly, the annoyed Legion Commander finally agreed.

It was this seemingly superfluous action that saved the Kingdom’s main force and avoided the tragedy of total annihilation.

And Domit, who was sitting in the rear, only refrained from ordering the brigade outside the forest to flank them because he realized the Kingdom’s main force had not yet arrived.

Otherwise, the Kingdom’s ten thousand vanguard Soldiers would have undoubtedly died.

The commander’s war instincts were also very sharp.

Although he had no evidence, he subconsciously felt that the ambushing forces of Lake were definitely more than what they had seen.

Therefore, the direction he retreated was not the way they came, but to the rear-right.