Fate: The Forged Arthur Pendragon

Upon hearing Su Ya's question,

Lucan pulled out a piece of cowhide paper from his satchel, covered in encrypted symbols.

He carefully compared it with the map for a while, then raised his hand to point at the map, at a location between the Plymouth and Golden Curtain defense lines, and began:

"Five days ago, on the fifth day of the war, the Conqueror King, after defeating Exeter, led her fifty thousand strong army to our second line of defense."

"She exploited the gap in our high-level combat power, and personally, along with the wise Aristotle, came to the foot of the iron wall, unleashing [Ionian Hetairoi] and a grand magic, [Lycaon's Corridor]. The two of them jointly wielded a power akin to a mental landscape."

"Under those rules that twisted causality, our soldiers could only offer their necks to the slaughter. The entire fortress city was engulfed by what was described as an 'unimaginable army'."

"In just ten minutes, the Conqueror King breached Plymouth, known as the Impenetrable Wall of Britain."

"After the second defensive line was shattered by the Conqueror King,"

"Of the eighty thousand troops who retreated from Exeter and the fifty thousand defenders, more than half were lost there. Then, the Conqueror King personally led ten thousand Companion Cavalry, rapidly galloping ahead to this location, this plain, cutting off the routed forces who were continuing to retreat. With the later arrival of the Macedonian phalanx legions, she dealt us another heavy blow with a 'hammer and anvil' tactic."

Su Ya listened to Lucan's serious recounting as if it were a myth.

He thought to himself, Isn't that cheating? How can the Conqueror King and Aristotle, this master-disciple duo, have combination attacks?

Two people, ten minutes, breaking through thirteen thousand people and a city?

No, gods!?

Even according to the anecdotes and legends of the Conqueror King in the Nasuverse, it wasn't this ridiculous. What in the hell kind of world is this?

Su Ya swallowed dryly, forced himself to continue asking:

"And then what?"

"How many people do we have left?"

Lucan took a deep breath and replied,

"Thirty thousand people."

"Among them are five thousand knights; not the beginner professionals Dagonet brought out who can only do odd jobs and cook, but five thousand actual knights, all of whom possess cavalry or lancer class skills!"

Lucan tapped the location he was pointing to on the map again.

Su Ya quickly recognized the place. It was further back from the hilly area where he first transmigrated, beyond a coastal mountainous and gorge region, extending northeast until it reached the Golden Curtain — a plain.

"Now, they are trapped here, constantly hiding by relying on the coastal mountainous terrain."

Then,

Lucan's finger tapped that location, drawing an arc to the left, his fingertip tracing from the surrounded point, through the gorge, to the hilly area where Su Ya first transmigrated, then past Bern territory,

Until it reached Pendragon Castle, where they were, completing a circle.

"These people should have been completely annihilated by the Conqueror King within a week."

"But just last night, after Solsbury and Bestock fell, the signals from the beacon fires showed—"

"The Conqueror King's army is tightening its encirclement."

"Now, they, these thirty thousand routed troops, are being driven like wild dogs by a hunter, forced to flee towards us."

At this point, Lucan was silent for a moment, then spoke with difficulty:

"But, as you can see, this is a dead end."

"And we, who chose to abandon them and escape earlier, have merely arrived ahead of time at the destination the Conqueror King arranged for us."

After hearing all this,

Su Ya took a deep breath, not responding immediately. Instead, he closed his eyes, rapidly building a rough topographical map in his mind, listing the positions, numbers, and combat power of both enemy and friendly forces, constantly simulating every possible scenario.

A somewhat oppressive atmosphere spread through the room.

Everyone's face carried a hint of solemnity.

No one spoke, all waiting for Su Ya to speak.

Lucan and Dagonet didn't believe Su Ya could come up with a way to escape. They were packing their bags, preparing to flee further back, towards Persia, which bordered the Cornwall region of this world.

Although they might encounter the terrifyingly large Macedonian logistics corps blocking that direction, and potentially more headhunters, fleeing in that direction was essentially a dead end.

But at least they could live for another moment.

If they were lucky enough to avoid detection and escape to Persia incognito, they might genuinely save their lives.

Although such an act, essentially surrendering to the enemy, would tarnish the King's name, there was, after all, a sliver of hope for a comeback.

After a long silence,

Lucan shook his head, looked at Dagonet, and exchanged glances with him.

They didn't try to dissuade Su Ya, but continued the actions they had paused, silently packing their bags.

And just then—

Su Ya opened his eyes.

He asked in a low voice,

"Lord Lucan, Lord Dagonet, I want to know, to what extent can a Hero-level combatant perform against a fully formed army?"

"One against a thousand."

"What about a Demi-Hero?"

"One against a hundred."

"And a Master?"

"They can only serve as basic non-commissioned officers within an army; their individual martial prowess is negligible against an army. For example, I, facing a squad of ten high-level professionals, can only flee in disarray."

"Then, the Hero currently in Cornwall, Seleucus, can he be directly considered as a thousand men? I mean, can a thousand men hold him back, preventing him from breaking through to decapitate us?"

Dagonet thought for a moment and replied, "No problem."

Su Ya pondered for a moment, then looked at the three and asked gravely, "Do we absolutely have no retreat left?"

Lucan's hands paused, and he slightly raised his head, somewhat not understanding Su Ya's meaning, but finally gritted his teeth and replied,

"Almost none."

"We have no assurance of getting you safely to Persia."

Su Ya scratched his head.

Persia, what Persia?

He quickly ignored this point and spoke in a deep voice to the three in front of him:

"We can still fight!"

"As long as—we don't encounter a Legendary-level combatant whose power cannot be estimated, that is, the Conqueror King you mentioned and her teacher, Aristotle."

Hearing this, the three were all startled, looking at Su Ya with some surprise.

Then, they heard him ask:

"Have you... heard of Spitamenes?"

Merlin and Dagonet repeated the name, their expressions somewhat bewildered.

Lucan, however, instinctively replied, "You mean, the Sogdian campaign? That Persian hero?"

"Exactly!"

Su Ya looked at the map, at the canyon by the sea, and said in a deep voice:

"The Sogdian campaign of 329 BC, where Spitamenes, with 28,000 troops, broke through the encirclement of 70,000 Macedonian troops."

"We have more cavalry than Spitamenes, terrain more suitable for guerrilla warfare, and a more desperate situation than him."

"As long as we gather the remnants, rally the people, and choose the right moment."

"In this place, we can certainly try to replicate that grand breakthrough!"