When the main force of the 1st Company flooded into the small town, the pace of the battle instantly changed.
Line formations and charges on open ground were replaced by close-quarters combat and house-to-house fighting in narrow streets.
“Second Squad, go to the house on the left! First Squad, follow me, clear the right side! Third and Fourth Squads, position your rifles to blockade this street!”
“Messenger, have the heavy machine gun team leapfrog forward and set up at an intersection!”
1st Platoon Leader Kahn, after charging into the town with his platoon, quickly observed the distribution of the buildings and began issuing orders to his soldiers.
This was his first time commanding in real combat, and it started with street fighting, which veterans called ‘a living hell.’
In the beginning, he was truly nervous, his mind a blank.
After emerging from the assault trench, he was commanding almost instinctively, relying on his military academy training and the content of the past half-month’s drills, along with the reminders from Sergeant Bowman.
But as the battle progressed, when he saw the tactics he had trained truly working on the battlefield.
An unprecedented sense of confidence and accomplishment surged from his heart.
He realized that the squad bounding overwatch and fire suppression, which seemed ineffective on the training ground, were incredibly crucial in actual combat.
“Platoon Leader! There are enemies in the house on the right!” a soldier retreated from the corner and reported loudly.
“How many?” Kahn asked.
“I don’t know! We were shot back by fire from inside!”
“Throw grenades!” Kahn roared without hesitation.
Several soldiers immediately had a moment of ‘sudden enlightenment.’
They immediately unclipped grenades from their waist, rushed around the corner again, pulled the pins, and threw them toward the windows of the house.
“Boom! Boom!”
In the midst of the fierce explosions, Kahn waved his hand, and several soldiers immediately rushed forward with rifles leveled.
Soon, the gunfire from the house ceased.
The 1st Platoon, besides being reinforced with two heavy machine guns, was also allocated a large number of grenades. In addition to the grenadiers in each squad, every other soldier carried two clipped to their belt.
After seeing that grenades were more effective for clearing houses than a direct charge, they all realized this and began to rely on grenades to push forward.
He turned his head to look at Sergeant Bowman beside him. The veteran had just finished firing blanks and was now fully withdrawn behind cover.
He then smoothly cycled the bolt, pressed a new clip of ammunition in, his face showing no change in expression.
After reloading, the Platoon Sergeant first looked around, then waved and called two soldiers to serve as a human ladder. He scaled the roof of a nearby single-story building in a few quick movements.
“Platoon Leader, you continue to command the advance. I’ll take a few men up to provide crossfire support!”
Bowman said to Kahn while pulling the other soldiers onto the roof.
“Uh, just me?”
“Don’t worry, Platoon Leader! You can do it! The intensity here is much lower than in Seville!”
On the other side, the attacks by the 2nd and 3rd Platoons were also proceeding in an orderly fashion.
2nd Platoon Leader Barrack was also a newcomer to the battlefield. With the assistance of his Platoon Sergeant, he gradually adapted to the rhythm of street fighting.
Although he did not have the flashy performance of Kahn, his command was steady and competent, and he made no major mistakes.
The soldiers of the entire first echelon dispersed and steadily advanced toward the town center, flowing like mercury across the streets.
Company Sergeant Major Klaus, leading the 3rd Platoon as the Company Reserve, followed unhurriedly behind.
His mission this time was not to lead the charge, but to act as the company’s ‘ballast,’ ready to handle any sudden situation and gather any soldiers who became scattered during the fighting.
Although he somehow missed the excitement of charging with Morin, he showed a look of relief as he watched the vigorous offensive ahead.
These new recruits and new officers, though still green, were growing at a visible rate.
“These lads are starting to look like soldiers.”
3rd Platoon Leader Lahm, standing next to him, seemed somewhat ‘eager for action.’
“Sergeant Major, shouldn’t we advance now?”
“Don’t rush. Remember we are the reserve, here to handle unexpected situations…”
Simultaneously, dense gunfire and explosions rang out from the front and right flanks of the town.
That was the 2nd and 3rd Companies, which were conducting the feint attack, also breaking through the Kingdom Army’s line and entering the town.
The Kingdom Army troops originally tasked with blocking them, seeing that their flank defense had been completely torn open and the enemy had breached the town from other directions, instantly collapsed in morale.
They abandoned their positions and began to flee toward the interior of the town, only to run directly into the 1st Company advancing from the flank.
Klaus, hearing the sudden intensification of gunfire ahead, immediately realized they might have encountered a large enemy force.
“3rd Platoon Leader…”
“I understand, Sergeant Major! 3rd Platoon, push forward and support the first echelon! Prepare for combat!”
In an instant, the entire town of San Lorenzo de la Parrilla plunged into a full-scale melee.
Major Thomas stood on a small hill outside the town, observing the entire battle situation through binoculars.
He could see that the outcome of the battle was already decided.
The Kingdom Army units within the town had lost contact with each other and were forced to fight independently, being cut off, surrounded, and destroyed one by one by the Saxon Army.
“That boy Morin…” He lowered his binoculars, muttering to himself. “He actually pulled it off.”
This battle, from tactical planning to final execution, bore Morin’s indelible mark.
Whether it was the night earthwork or the assault team infiltration, it demonstrated a completely different mindset from traditional infantry tactics.
And the result proved that this new tactic was effective.
Major Thomas even wondered if more lives could have been saved in Seville if they had used such tactics back then.
The thought flashed through his mind and was immediately suppressed.
There were no ‘if onlys’ in war.
His current task was to win the battle at hand.
“Messenger! Inform the 4th Company to prepare to enter the town, clear the battlefield, and gather prisoners!”
“Yes, Major!”
With the commitment of the 4th Company, the entire 1st Battalion’s force entered the town.
The scales of victory had completely tipped in favor of the Saxons.
While the main force of the 1st Company was still steadily advancing through the town streets, the twenty-man assault team led by Morin had already traversed most of the town and reached the foot of the castle.
The castle, named Garcimuñoz, was built on a slightly elevated position in the northern part of the town, its walls overlooking the entire town.
“Damn it, this place is going to be tough to take.”
Morin ducked behind the corner of a civilian house, took one look through his binoculars, and felt his PTSD about to flare up.
The castle’s only entrance was a massive drawbridge and a thick oak gate.
At this moment, the drawbridge was down, but the large gate was slowly closing.
Groups of fleeing Kingdom Army soldiers were frantically rushing toward the gate, hoping to escape into the castle for sanctuary at the last moment.
On the walls, some defenders had taken advantageous positions and began firing indiscriminately toward Morin and his team.
Bullets struck the wall in front of Morin, kicking up bursts of dust and brick fragments.
“Company Commander, what should we do? The gate is closing fast!” an assault team member asked anxiously.
“We can’t let them close the gate!”
Morin lowered his binoculars and said in a deep voice: “Once it’s closed, the only way we can get in is to wait for the artillery to come up and blast that wall down with direct fire… No, it might not even collapse!”
He looked back at the seventeen members behind him.
Although their faces showed fatigue and tension, their eyes held an absolute trust in him.
“Same plan! Prepare to charge with me!”
“Yes, sir!”
Morin wasted no more time. He suddenly dashed out from behind the corner, charging toward the slowly closing gate, running directly into the hail of bullets from the castle wall.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
The gunfire from the castle wall instantly intensified, countless bullets pouring toward the suddenly exposed target.
But only bursts of blue sparks erupted around his body; the bullets consistently failed to kill him.
Looking at his system status, the icon for the second [Mage Armor] of the day still showed half its durability remaining.
He had roughly estimated in combat that the Mage Armor he cast at his current level could withstand about twenty or so rifle bullets.
While it couldn’t compare to the [Mage Armor] that Eldridge used to withstand hundreds of rifle shots, it was extremely ‘cheesy’ in the current street fighting.
Not to mention that beneath the [Mage Armor] durability icon, there was another shield bar.
The [Arcane Ward] Abjuration School feature also provided extra protection when Morin used an Abjuration spell.
Fifty meters, forty meters, thirty meters…
When the distance to the castle gate was less than twenty meters, Morin activated his second [Misty Step] of the day.
A dense cloud of white mist once again appeared out of thin air, completely engulfing his figure.
Immediately after, in the space of a single breath, the cloud of white mist instantly traversed the twenty meters, appearing directly at the castle gate.
A long, wall-like cloud of smoke trailed along his movement path, perfectly obscuring the vision of the defenders on the castle wall, stretching between the castle gate and the assault team behind him.
“Holy cow!”
“The Company Commander teleported again!”
“Charge! Follow the smoke wall and charge!”
The assault team members behind him first let out several gasps of surprise upon seeing the familiar scene…
Then, they immediately rushed out from behind cover without hesitation, charging toward the castle gate, following the smoke wall that had not yet dissipated.
At the castle gate, on the other side.
The Kingdom Army soldiers who were desperately trying to escape into the castle had no time to process what was happening before a cloud of white mist abruptly appeared in front of them.
Immediately after, a figure radiating blue arcane light burst out from the white mist.
Second time’s the charm!
The moment he appeared, Morin executed a clean slide tackle, dropping prone to the ground and minimizing his exposed area.
At the same time, the P08 pistol in his hand began rapid-fire. Several Kingdom Army soldiers blocking the entrance instantly screamed and collapsed.
“The enemy has reached the gate!”
“Close the gate quickly! Never mind the others!”
The remaining soldiers in the gateway shouted in panic. Some raised their rifles to return fire, while others simply rushed further inside without any regard for the fighting.
(End of this Chapter)