Riches and Bitches: I have a gate to an isekai and leveling-up system!-Chapter 174: Soldier’s fate (part 5)

'THIS IS WAR!'

Ophar felt strangely overjoyed.

In spite of what all of his soldiers likely discussed about him, he never enjoyed the war. It was nothing more but a ladder for him to climb to greater heights. A dire necessity he made his own and used to the best of his ability.

Ophar never really liked to fight, to kill. But after being subjected to the paralyzing fear of the strange spell that culled his men left and right while giving them no chance at retaliation…

After going through that hellish experience, just like after the imperial legions managed to breach Lunagar's gate… all hell broke loose.

The victims of the spell finally found a way to strike back at those who kept killing them. And for once, the world returned to how it should be.

'We are killing them, they are killing us.' Ophar thought, jumping down from his force and using the momentum of his drop to drive his expensive yet extremely simplistic saber down the body of a well-built and strangely shiny enemy.

And between his strength, the momentum of his drop, and the perfect aim of his strike, even the strangely powerful body of the enemy couldn't hold, allowing Major to split his opponent cleanly in half.

"KEEP GOING!" Ophar no longer cared about his throat.

As long as he kept shouting orders, he could keep the battle under his control.

"MAJOR!" Someone shouted from Ophar's left.

Turning to the voice, Ophar raised his saber and blocked a strike of a sword before jumping to the side, dodging a strike of a massive, oversized mallet.

'Who are those guys?!' he thought, baffled yet perfectly fine, comfortable even in this uneven fight.

Their enemies were stronger. Stronger than the elites of the elites of the imperial army. But that was only on an individual level. When it came to the numbers, organization, or even small-scale tactics, Ophar's unit reigned supreme.

And soon enough, the situation on the battlefield started to reflect this favorable state of things.

To Ophar's near right, the weaker wing of his battalion managed to hold the line, engaging the enemies on the line of the barricade and hardly ever attempting to cross it and advance.

To Ophar's far left, the more numerous and experienced soldiers on the battalion's left-wing engaged the enemy and even pushed them in, while more and more soldiers rushing flank the enemy wing forced them to spread their line thinner and thinner in a bid to compensate for Ophar's men doing the same.

The difference between the two was that while Ophar concentrated the bulk of his forces on the left wing, the enemy appeared to keep their line generally uniform.

The center of their ranks was the most problematic one, given how whoever culled them from the distance has now rampaged around in that area.

'At the very least, they don't appear to be holding out there either,' Ophar thought as he took a glance to his left before focusing back on the task at hand.

After all, how could he command his units if he allowed a random enemy to strike him down? And as useful as his personal strength would be amidst the battling soldiers…

Ophar still decided to stand back, focusing more on commanding his troops than actually fighting.

Boom.

The devil's spell returned… but after looking all along his line, Ophar failed to notice any unusual gap in the rank.

'It's as if…'

Led by nothing more but a gut feeling, Ophar looked to the back, to where two soldiers had just crested the hill and fallen down from their horses, no longer able to hold their own with the multitude of small yet extremely grave injuries they were covered with.

BOOM!

'Wait, again? That quick?'

The thunderous voice of the spell spoke way sooner than ever before. And that led to only two questions appearing in Ophar's mind.

'Were they holding back before?' he thought, gritting his teeth at the mere idea. 'Or is there more than just one mage?'

Major didn't get the time he needed to process his information and seek the answer, not when three enemies out of which only two looked like humans suddenly rushed to his side.

"Major!"

A spear flew through the air, penetrating deep into the hind thigh of a massive bull-like beast.

"RAAAAAWR!" Charging ahead and carving the path for others with its massive body, the bull ignored the attack and continued ahead, clearly aiming for where Ophar stood.

BOOM!

The voice of thunder spoke again. And for but a second…

For but a second, Ophar could swear he felt a warm… no, hot current of air caress his face.

But right now, he had other things to worry about.

"PROTECT THE MAJOR!"

One of Ophar's captains screamed out before desperately launching himself at the charging bull. In the heat of the battle and amidst all the noise of people screaming and wailing and the metal colliding with metal… Ophar couldn't even tell which one of his captains proved his great loyalty and dedication to the cause.

And when the massive bull simply trampled the man before, while still running towards Ophar, stopping down and crushing the poor officer's head with its hooves, Ophar lost his last chance to identify the brave man.

'Shit!'

Cursing under his breath, Ophar waited for just one more second… Only to dive to the side while simultaneously slashing away at where he expected the bull to pass.

But attacking mid-air came with the drawback of lacking footing. And without proper support of a stable posture, there was only so much strength Ophar could infuse in his slash.

Thump.

The officer's body fell down, rolled, and then jumped back up… Only to instantly ward off two quick attacks executed by the two that followed the bull.

'They are good,' Ophar gritted his teeth, changing the hold over his saber and taking a step back, assuming a more stable, defense-oriented stance.

The two shiny men that attacked him… were clearly and without a doubt, stronger than him.

'That is if we are only talking about strength or speed!'

Calmed down by his discovery, Ophar didn't seem to mind clashing against two, even when either of them turned out to be far beyond his level.

Because he discovered one more thing in the short clash that just concluded.

BOOM!

'They have no experience fighting at all!'