Adrian had learned the hard way that the war mechanics in War Crown operated on two distinct fronts. It had taken several crushing defeats — and one particularly traumatic "death" — for him to understand the game's deeper layers.
The first time he'd lost, his heart had nearly punched a hole through his chest. The sensation of Kael's death — the screen fading to black, the agonizing feeling of steel piercing flesh — had been so disturbingly real that Adrian had sat frozen, breathless. He'd genuinely thought that death in the game might mean death in real life.
It didn't. Thankfully.
Once the initial fear wore off, Adrian had started analyzing the game's deeper mechanics. The first front was the strategic layer — troop positioning, unit types, supply lines, and terrain advantages. Every piece on the battlefield mattered. Cavalry flanking infantry. Archers on elevated ground. Heavy infantry in narrow passes. Small mistakes could spiral into catastrophic losses.
But the second front… that's where the game's true complexity emerged.
Whenever two armies clashed, the commanders themselves would engage in a duel — a high-stakes battle that could shift the tide of war. And Kael… Kael was a monster on the battlefield.
Adrian had figured it out quickly. Despite the poor state of his army, Kael's strength was leagues above any of the opposing commanders. Even when the rebel army overwhelmed his forces and the battlefield turned into a slaughterhouse, Kael stood tall. The duels were brutal and fast-paced — chains of attacks, counters, and devastating final blows — but Kael had never lost.
It created an odd balance. Even when Adrian's troops were battered and on the verge of collapse, Kael's dominance in direct combat gave him an edge.
"Carry the battle from the front…" Adrian muttered, recalling the words from one of the tutorial tooltips. It wasn't wrong — Kael was the linchpin. His strength could offset strategic disadvantages — but only to a point.
Because no matter how many enemy commanders Kael cut down… the war wasn't going to win itself.
That was when Adrian began to understand the importance of troop composition. His army had 500 men, meaning his roster of 10 cards was already half-filled.
Two of them were Swordsmen, basic Tier 0 units. Their purpose was simple — hold the line and die first. Cannon fodder, but necessary.
The third card was the Ironshots — a squad of gunslingers with devastating firepower. They could shred enemy ranks from a distance, but they were slow and prone to friendly fire if positioned poorly. Solid mid-tier for a Tier 0 unit.
The fourth was the Hell Company, a grittier kind of gunslinger. Armed with pistols and swords, they lacked the sheer damage of the Ironshots, but their superior mobility made them effective for flanking and cleaning up retreating enemies.
And then there were the Black Knights — the crown jewel of his roster. Shock cavalry at its finest. A clean charge from their lances into an enemy's rear line would leave nothing but broken bodies and shattered morale in their wake.
Adrian was beginning to see it — the deeper layer beneath the surface. The positioning, the strategic depth, the hidden patterns in the chaos of war. Slowly but surely, it was coming together.
With every retry, the casualty rate on the enemy's side grew higher while his own men survived longer. The losses were still there — but they were thinning out. Adrian could feel it, the subtle shift in momentum. Victory was no longer some vague idea; it was beginning to take shape in his mind.
The battle began. The enemy advanced.
Wrong move.
They had crossbowmen — fast rate of fire, but short range. His Ironshots, on the other hand, had long range and devastating impact. Charging into his line of fire was the kind of rookie mistake that a seasoned commander would never make.
And yet, they did it.
Adrian narrowed his eyes. He had seen this before. The desperation. The reckless aggression. It was as if the enemy commander wasn't playing to win — but to kill Kael, as if this was his last shot at redemption.
He shifted his Ironshots to the front, letting them take position while he directed the Black Knights into the cover of a small forest to the left. To the right, a hill rose gently upward. He had learned this trick through painful experience — position the Ironshots on an elevated line of sight, then hit them hard with cavalry from behind. It was brutal, and it worked.
The enemy closed in. Adrian let them.
The Ironshots fired, releasing a crisp volley of gunfire. The sound of iron and gunpowder crackled through the air, and bodies crumpled where they stood. A twisted satisfaction crept up Adrian's spine at the sight of them falling.
The enemy hesitated, but the crossbowmen were still too far back. The captain was still too strong to take down with bullets alone. That's why Adrian didn't bother.
The Ironshots began to pull back toward the hill. Like bait.
Several enemy detachments immediately followed, their lines unraveling as they chased. Adrian didn't even glance at them — his focus was already elsewhere. His two Swordsmen and the Hell Company surged forward, cutting into the exposed flanks.
The Hell Company thrived in this chaos. They shot while moving, weaving through the enemy formation and carving into the exposed side. The enemy had no choice but to engage them head-on.
And then, the battle settled into a fragile stalemate.
But Adrian knew better. He would lose if it dragged on. The enemy still had over 200 men, and even though the Ironshots had done their work, Kael was still locked in a duel with the enemy commander. A flicker of hope remained on their side.
Adrian crushed that hope.
From the woods came the thunder of hooves. Even through the screen, Adrian could feel the tremor of momentum building. A dark tide surged forward as the Black Knights burst from the trees, lances gleaming in the pale light. They struck the enemy's rear like a hammer to glass, obliterating an entire 100-man unit in a single charge. Bodies scattered, trampled under the force of the cavalry.
The battlefield collapsed. The cavalry circled back for another charge, the Ironshots rained down from above, and Kael struck down the enemy commander with brutal precision. The enemy's lines buckled and crumbled.
Victory was inevitable.
A bright banner unfurled across the screen.
[A Victory!][+3 Faction Points][+1 Skill Point][+1 Lifespan]
Adrian leaned back, heart pounding, a slow grin creeping across his face. He was getting the hang of this.