Bear School Astartes

The longsword, as a battlefield weapon, requires much more in terms of application techniques and maintenance compared to war hammers and axes.

Therefore, by general battlefield standards, it isn’t really suitable to be a soldier’s main weapon.

Geralt now had a firsthand experience of this fact.

In the hurried clash with the enemy just now, he failed to maintain the proper angle, resulting in his Wolven School basic steel sword not only getting chipped, but also causing nearly a quarter of its blade to deviate in direction from the rest of the blade.

The accumulated damage had left the blade’s edge misaligned!

The edge is crucial for slash-type weapons to exert their lethality.

Simply put, it’s the ability to control the angle at which the blade strikes the target. An inexperienced swordsman might end up hitting an enemy with the flat of the blade or sword rather than cutting into them.

”Damn it!”

Geralt cursed in a mix of fear and rage, then extended his left hand forward with a ’boom’ that sent a cold white shockwave, pushing the enemy in front of him back by two steps and preventing injury to himself.

Without wasting any time, he discarded the now practically useless steel sword and drew his backup weapon from his waist.

A locally made Sintra longsword.

The craftsmanship and materials couldn’t compare to the Witcher’s longsword, more like village craft, but at least it was usable.

”Sorry, I messed up.”

Squeezed back to Ged’s side by the enemy, Geralt apologized with a strained voice.

According to his previous plan, he should have felled two enemies within two seconds, and been just a step away from that crossbowman.

Then use [Alder’s Rune] towards the opponent’s hand, making it impossible for them to fire the signal arrow into the sky, even if the stone crossbow remained intact.

At most, it would be fired reluctantly, but due to the angle, it would stick into the ground without a sound.

The ground was all sticky and muddy, making it a long task to clean the mud out of the internal canal of the arrowhead, even if they picked up the signal arrow again.

But now, no matter how well thought out, execution was off.

”No worries, it’s not that bad, we’ve killed quite a few already, getting ready to retreat isn’t too late.”

Ged swung his sword sideways, and a Niflgaard soldier’s neck emitted a sound like a large bundle of celery being snapped. The head wearing the signature winged helmet of Niflgaard flew into the air.

Then he raised his arm and blocked his side face.

Three sparks burst forth in the next moment.

”Ding ding ding!”

Three crossbow arrows were deflected off the vambrace of the high-grade Bear School Armor.

Apart from the crossbowman with special arrows, the other ranged soldiers of this Niflgaard reconnaissance team were also regaining their stance.

Ged and Geralt were only able to wreak havoc initially because they had the advantage of a ’surprise attack’.

And now the enemy, although fewer than ten, were fully armored and battle-hardened elite soldiers.

The initial panic from the surprise was already gone after the first wave of attacks.

Three Niflgaard soldiers picked up two large shields from their fallen companions on the ground.

Ged and Geralt had aimed for these cumbersome large shields to take out shield-bearers during the surprise attack.

But now, with the Niflgaard soldiers over their panic, they quickly regained their tactical skills, adjusting their strategic equipment.

The flickering firelight made the great Sun Wheel emblem with blood on the enemy shields shine brightly.

The three soldiers who picked up the large shields huddled behind them without even the desire to reach out and swing their swords, focusing solely on closing in on their two adversaries.

Compressing the space in which the two witchers could move.

This was a form of battle array coordination.

Shield-bearers advanced to compress space, spearmen thrust through gaps, and ranged archers and crossbowmen sought opportunities to shoot inside.

Unable to break through the shields, they’d be pressed and skewered like pincushions!

But witchers are different from ordinary warriors.

Even if they couldn’t smash the shields with their longswords, they still had other tricks up their sleeves.

”You just used the magic seal, this time I’ll do it, it’s [Yakxi].”

Calmly, Ged outlined the tactic to Geralt, and the experienced [White Wolf] stood back-to-back with him, understanding instantly, nodding inconspicuously.

Ged suddenly pointed his left hand at an approaching shield-bearer, a white magical glow enveloping the enemy’s eyes.

Causing temporary disorientation.

Without even glancing back, Geralt, feeling the necklace on his neck tremble with the chaos magic power of the [Yakxi Rune], surged forward behind him, towards Ged’s front!

”Shing!”

Geralt, unsure about the quality of the longsword he held, opted for a straight thrust instead of a slash!

With precise swordsmanship, taking advantage of the enemy’s brief daze and momentary lowering of the shield, the blade impaled through the enemy’s mouth!

Then the two quickly escaped through the opening in the encirclement.

Before Geralt could run a couple of steps, an arrow ’whooshed’ past, almost grazing his arm!

Makes him break out in a cold sweat.

He turned to see a Niflgaard soldier who had just lowered his longbow, clutching his armored arm, gritting his teeth.

In the mud at his feet, a stone that shouldn’t have been there had just landed.

It was Dandelion! He actually hit an enemy! And deflected the arrow!

It counted as saving Geralt this time.

But the White Wolf had no time to thank his poet friend; on the contrary...

He shouted urgently towards Dandelion, ”Run! Dandelion, run!”

This group of fully-armored Niflgaard soldiers couldn’t catch up to the witchers with just their legs, but by the time they mounted their horses, the witchers would have run off the clearing and into the woods.

Pursuing witchers on horseback in the woods was suicide.

A disorientation from the [Yakxi Rune] could lead to a broken neck during pursuit.

But Dandelion was different, he was just an ordinary person! And among ordinary people, one of the weak and frail kind!

In the distance, oblivious to the battlefield situation, thinking he was helping, only to find himself in peril, the poet was huddled behind a low slope, cheering himself on to throw more stones that might help his friend.

But from Geralt’s perspective, the archer who had just been hit by a stone checked the direction from which the stone came and had clearly pinpointed Dandelion’s location.

Though the visibility was poor, for the archer, judging position and distance based on thrown objects was basic skill.

So the archer drew a Niflgaard Short Sword from his waist, moving towards Dandelion.

A short sword was more than enough for an enemy who could only throw stones.

Geralt was still running with Ged, but it was more of a reflexive action.

In two steps, he suddenly reacted, abruptly changing direction, sprinting towards where Dandelion was.

While traveling with the poet, he often said casually, ’May the Divine Capital take this nuisance away.’

Yet when it seemed like he was truly losing this friend, his body acted on its own.

But bad news came one after another.

Shortly after the signal arrow was fired, the sound of approaching horse hooves came from the distant woods.

But... wait...

”Thud thud thud!”

Geralt’s previously wooden expression showed confusion.

Why amidst the sound of a group of horses’ hooves... did it seem like a particularly heavy buffalo was charging?