Chapter 10: Six-Star Combat Power
The fat man suddenly raised his right hand high, performing a series of lightning-fast movements that were almost too quick for the eye to follow. Orders, the fat man had issued as many as seven or eight secret commands in the blink of an eye, and the orders did not end there. His left hand remained raised, his eyes coldly staring ahead at the battlefield, taking in everything. Watching all directions and listening to all sounds, no one could do it better than the fat man.
As soon as the fat man gave his orders, the spearhead formation began to change in the blink of an eye. The entire formation operated like a precise machine, accelerating rapidly, and the speed of movement of all the soldiers was astonishing. And a series of incredible events unfolded.
A foot soldier, one who had just thrust out his spear, the gleaming spearhead clearly touching the enemy's clothing, ready to pierce through and create a bloody hole in an instant, yet he abandoned the attack and ran to the left. Another soldier, who was slightly further back from the front line, sprinted forward with all his might, only to be greeted by a powerful arrow. Even more remarkable were the archers standing in the center of the spearhead formation, drawing their bows. Archers should be positioned at the rear, but under the fat man's orders, some of them rushed to the forefront of the formation, wielding daggers to engage in close combat with the spear-wielding, shield-bearing infantry...
Incredible things kept happening on the battlefield, but the speed of the spearhead formation only increased.
Indeed, it was incredible, not only in the fat man's spearhead formation but also on the other side. With the fat man's orders, the left-wing army that tightly surrounded him was also adjusting the order of its soldiers.
And this was not a matter of individual combat but the result of the entire formation. No matter how sharp the spearhead formation's point had been initially, after breaking through more than half the distance, it had become bogged down in Instructor Hall's left-wing army. To prevent the fat man's escape, all the soldiers had desperately converged on the spearhead's point, creating a thick, sticky mess that immobilized the fat man. But now, as the spearhead formation accelerated, it became apparent that fewer and fewer enemy soldiers were gathering in front of it, either being diverted to the fat man's flanks or being eliminated. All the results indicated that such a spearhead formation could indeed break through.
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Outside the war table, both Qingyin and Instructor Cangfeng were stunned. Although the speed of the spearhead formation's movement was almost imperceptible, its sheer fluency made even the most intricate and complex magic arrays pale in comparison.
More importantly, as the spearhead formation accelerated in its unexpected manner, the once-thick enemy forces in front of it, resembling a muddy swamp, were disappearing layer by layer.
On the war table, these disappearing layers seemed as thin as paper, but in the actual battlefield, they represented a dramatic reversal.
Instructor Cangfeng, deeply perplexed, refrained from asking Qingyin any more questions, for the results on the war table spoke for themselves. Strategies and orders could be taught, but the command of battle formations could not.
Commanding battle formations required adapting to local conditions and circumstances, so unless Qingyin was by the fat man's side, mere mechanical memorization would never suffice.
Even more crucially, the combat power unleashed by the spearhead formation under the fat man's command far exceeded the level of five stars.
Adapting to local conditions, adapting to circumstances, grasping the overall situation, analyzing the battlefield, anticipating sudden changes, utilizing different troop types... All these elements combined determined the level of a commander's ability to unleash the full potential of a battle formation.
And now, if one judged solely based on the fat man's strategy of "escaping," the spearhead formation, with the obese figure at its heart, was capable of reaching the level of five, perhaps even six stars.
"How... is this possible?" Instructor Cangfeng's brow furrowed even deeper. What amazed him was not just the star level of combat power the fat man had unleashed with the spearhead formation but also the fact that, if he had such mastery over it, he could have broken through Instructor Hall's central army with his remaining 10,000 troops from the very beginning. Though he still wouldn't have been able to defeat the 50,000-strong army, it would have been a miracle, one that would have earned the fat man the title of a rising star among generals.
But the fat man gave up, which was simply an incomprehensible thing. If we say the fat man is an idiot, the explosion of combat effectiveness on the battlefield is clearly unfolding right now. If we say he's a genius, he's giving up a huge credit and using his "genius" command artistry to escape.
At this moment, Instructor Cangfeng, who was skilled in calculations, felt for the first time that his brain was not enough. You know, even when he calculated the tactics, strategies, and a series of plans for hundreds of thousands of troops, he had never felt so strained.
On one side, Qingyin's delicate hands unconsciously clutched her floral skirt, and the gloss in her eyes shone like the bright moon. Qingyin, whose love for military affairs even surpassed her fascination with dazzling magic, immediately calculated the star rating of the spearhead formation in the war chess.
Six-star combat effectiveness, that's already surpassed her. If the Duke had said that she could someday rank among the top 100 famous generals on the continent based on this, then what about the fat man now?
How should she calculate it?
Unlike Instructor Cangfeng, who was mostly confused and at a loss, Qingyin was mostly overjoyed.
She still remembered that when she was seven years old, it was the fat man who saved her. A wooden stick that should have hit her head landed on the fat man's instead.
If the fat man hadn't desperately protected her at that time, she might not even be alive now. And it was because of that blow that the fat man, once hailed as the "child prodigy" of the capital, was reduced to an idiot.
"Is the fat man's illness cured?" The joy in Qingyin's eyes was still there, but at this moment, she saw crystal clear tears swirling in her eyes.
For seven years, she had been by the fat man's side, constantly studying magic and military strategies, and even giving up her noble identity as the adopted daughter of a count. Qingyin's goal was to protect the fat man well for the rest of her life. But more than that, she hoped to be the first one to see the fat man regain his intelligence from seven years ago.
And when this day finally arrived, the excitement was indescribable. Giving simple commands like "shoot the horse" can be easily thought of, but commanding battle formations is not something that can be done easily.
So until this moment, Qingyin was completely sure that the fat man had truly begun to recover.
The Alchemy Space fell silent, with both Instructor Cangfeng and Qingyin focusing their attention entirely on the war chess.
Even the old mage who was presiding over the magic array, with his eyes originally closed, now had them fixed on the war chess, his sharp gaze flickering constantly.