Bear School Astartes

The commanders present graduated from the Imperial Military Academy as elite students, earning battlefield achievements in Sintra worthy of their credentials.

They were promoted to command through their prowess on the battlefield.

Yet, even as they prided themselves on having witnessed the brutality of small skirmishes and the grandeur of major battles, this intelligence report instilled an inexorable sense of chill with its absurd and eerie defeats.

The information in this report surpassed their common knowledge.

Humans... can they really accomplish such feats?

Meanwhile, rumors that had recently begun to circulate in the camp unconsciously surfaced in many minds.

This guerrilla unit known as ’Embers’ was very young, emerging prominently only after the Ring Mountain fire.

It was said that during that fire at Ring Mountain, the esteemed Duke Adal’s mixed-force division was crushed, leaving no survivors... all supposedly by a single individual!

The Imperial Military’s Ministry of Internal Affairs tried hard to suppress this rumor, even executing the secretary of the first cavalry squad dispatched for reconnaissance.

Their official line was: Duke Adal sensed a potential threat to our forces and dispatched troops to engage, only to encounter the mountain fire and the treachery of Sintra’s guerrillas, resulting in his untimely demise.

Although everyone knew that what the officials denied was likely the truth, this matter seemed too far-fetched—defeating a division by oneself...

Thus, people believed the ’Embers’ unit actually had many members, otherwise, it was impossible to hold Duke Adal’s mixed division amid the fire.

Yet each battle only drew out a portion of the unit, thus achieving amazing victory ratios with fewer troops.

Today, they received extensive intelligence on this guerrilla unit for the first time.

And now, it seems... perhaps the rumors are... true?

The commanders in the tent exchanged glances, instantly understanding each other’s thoughts. That terrifying speculation was spreading in the depths of everyone’s mind.

Along with it, a fearsome and unmanageable pressure.

Everyone subconsciously gritted their teeth, their cheek muscles bulging high.

In ten minutes, they collapsed a five-hundred-strong temporary military station, and in the next ten minutes, annihilated those five hundred.

It was said to take twenty minutes, but the effective combat time was just the first ten.

These were five hundred soldiers of the Niflgaard Army, not those auxiliary, tributary, or slave troops, but five hundred regular soldiers of the Niflgaard Army!

A fully staffed division is only seven times these five hundred.

If it truly was one person... able to directly crush a mixed-force division... how could they confront such an enemy?!

They hadn’t even imagined there could be such a person!

In an eerie silence, Meno Kuhorn’s voice shattered the stillness.

”This is the enemy we face, gentlemen. One single person could...”

”Marshal! Watch your words!”

The adjutant’s eyes widened, rudely stepping forward to interrupt him.

Such speculation was better left unspoken, as the Ministry of Internal Affairs had already begun killing due to these rumors.

On the eve of battle, if the Marshal clashed with the Ministry of Internal Affairs which oversees the military through representing the Empire’s political power... would the battle even be fought?

”Ha, watch my words my ass.”

The Marshal casually patted the table, his tone not heated, but the content made many eyebrows twitch.

”Strong, mysterious, lacking intelligence... If such an enemy stands behind us, ready to strike at any time, they still expect us to devise a counter without acknowledging ’his’ existence?! And expect us to win this battle?!”

”Why don’t they simply pray for the Great Sun to deliver divine punishment, wiping out all of the Empire’s enemies directly?”

”I am the Empire’s General and Marshal. I swear to use my experience, wisdom, and courage to defeat all enemies the Empire expects me to defeat. But the prerequisite is: the Empire must acknowledge our enemy’s existence!”

”Let the official rhetoric of the Ministry of Internal Affairs be damned! Let those bureaucrats retreat to their tents and screw themselves! We are gathered here for war! For victory!”

In the stunned expressions of the gathered commanders, Meno Kuhorn tapped the table.

”His Majesty will understand me, gentlemen. Because His Majesty likewise wants to win, desperately wants to win.”

With the Marshal leading and backing, those present exchanged glances, all elite among elites, quickly resetting their focus.

”The North seems as though it’s still in the Barbaric Era, first overflowing with monsters, now this seemingly Mythical Era warrior.”

The officers began to state their opinions, yet the heavy atmosphere lingered.

Single-handedly crushing an entire division... who wouldn’t shudder at such a notion?

”We don’t know his limit in power, nor the source of his power, his attacks, the duration... essentially, we know nothing! The only known fact is: in a head-on confrontation with no retreat, an entire division is no match for him... this holds significant combat strength in a major battle.”

Niflgaard’s military structure ranks from large to small as: army group, corps, division, brigade, etc.

The Nausicca brigade where Lann cut down five hundred Knights was a precious cavalry brigade.

The weight of a division stands as a substantial core force at any scale of battle.

”Thus, to prevent him from disrupting our forthcoming large-scale battle with the Northern Alliance Army, we must swiftly eliminate him!”

Meno Kuhorn declared resolutely.

”Certainly, certainly, gentlemen. This Northern person is formidable like a hero sprung from myth, who wouldn’t be afraid? But ask: does fear help? Does fear mean we won’t fight?!”

”Can we avoid the battle? No! The situation forces us to this point! Can we delay? No! Our enemy won’t allow it! We have but one path, that is to win!”

”Does the Northern hero terrify you already?”

For the Niflgaard people, this line was sufficient to enflame their self-regard and pride into anger.

The Marshal watched the commanders before him, their eyes blazing with anger and their faces flushed.

He understood, fear had vanished, at least for the moment.

Now was the prime time to decide the plan.

Thus, Meno Kuhorn nodded at the map before him and summoned the noncommissioned officers over.