บท 16: Ambush
"None of us wants to be here. I know. However, behind this hill stands an army of 5,000 strong, ready to march on our land to pillage and slaughter our innocent young and old.
"They don't value honor as much as they don't value lives. They sealed our path to retreat, cut off our supplies, and sneak attacked us at our lowest points! These people are inhumane; they look human, but they're animals! I don't know how many of us will walk out of this death trap alive, just know they will make sure there are no survivors left!
"Dead men tell no stories they say, and so their only means of washing this stain off their records is by wiping us off to the last man."
Somber air emphasized Jean's words as she stood tall before rows of soldiers young, inexperienced, and scared. She needn't remind them of what lay behind these hills of hell on earth, slaughter, death, and dismay.
They know it too in their hearts. Some knees were about to buckle— had she not reminded them of that one sentence; dead men tell no tales, some might have already surrendered.
"The sun is about to strike midday. I wonder, how many of us brothers and sisters will live past that and witness the dawn of tomorrow. No matter, those who made it made it, and those who didn't, may your brave souls accompany me, them, and us in our future endeavors."
No one responded to Jean's words.
They were too occupied.
Breathing. Panting. Shaking. Grieving. Lamenting. Secound-guessing.
It was a mess of all the negative emotions. Heartbreaking.
Jean sighed, unsheathed her sword, and waved it reluctantly.
"Charge…" she exhorted, spurring on the calvary to round past the hills and break into the open where a makeshift military base was under construction.
"Charge!"
"Charge!"
"Charge!"
At least the men on horses had some moral. Fervent as they were, hurtling down the snowy slope and out the darkness they went, high torches in their hands accompanied by long steel; swords and spears.
Almost immediately, the Solace military caught onto the anomaly. Yeah, they were baffled; who was commencing a sneak attack exactly?
"What's going on? For the love of gods, I thought this was a sneak attack, yeah?"
"Gods forbid, who knows! Drop the logistics! Switch the exhausted men for those in the back! Set up defensive lines! Archers, take positions and retreat beyond the borders! Calvary, take charge!"
Boom!
"Explosives! A sneak attack! They cut off our retreat lines!"
Boom!
Boom!
"Bastards! What is the meaning of this?! They must have had other hidden spies on board!"
Chaos ensued as the base split into three factions. The first faction wanted to hurry to retaliate and charge forward, the second faction wanted to retreat into the safe haven of the borders, and the third faction wanted to anchor down and protect a supply chain for a prolonged battle of attrition.
However, this all changed when explosions began to shake the military formation from behind.
Image the noise, the beautiful rhythm, when 5,000 men suddenly went quiet and snapped their necks to look back. There, they were greeted by the sight of bridges on collapse, fire-spewing forth tens of meters, and a merciless river washing all these traces away amidst cold water and shards of ice.
Despair didn't come close to describing their feelings at the moment.
Then, the sky suddenly went darker than dark.
A hail of arrows descended from high above.
"Prop your shields!"
Whoosh!
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Arrows penetrated armor and flesh alike, blood ran from warm to cold on the slippery grounds. Then, two armies collapsed into one another as the dauntless calvary men with no expectations of a bright tomorrow whatsoever rushed into the heart of an enemy formation.
Half of their numbers fell on the first line of defense with silly smiles on their faces as they embraced a man or two with them to their deaths.
It was morbid, to say the least.
On the far hill, Jean closed her eyes tightly as whatever warmth left in her soul descended her cheeks in a string of sparkling tears, Cold wind blew from the north, dissipating them feels away. She opened her beautiful eyes, the resolve to die fueling within.
"May the gods be with us," she muttered softly. Then, she yelled, "charge!"
"Gods! Charge!"
She was the first to plunge down the hill with an army hot on her heels. On the other side, the Solace soldiers felt chilled to the bone.
"Suicidals! Absolute Lunatics! This is no longer a war of wits, this is madness!"
"You have the time to worry about this? The formation is in absolute chaos! Split the troops and flank the cavalry with long spears, make quick work of them, and regroup with the front lines! The terrain is too unfavorable for archers, have them join the foot soldiers instead!"
These were the two high officers from earlier still bickering. As for the commander, he was silent, thoughts known only to himself.
He was a veteran of many battles and he knew too well that a cornered enemy desperately struggling to witness the light of tomorrow was a dangerous enemy.
He didn't wish for things to come to this point, but it couldn't be helped. If possible, he would challenge the enemy commander for a fair duel but he knew that it was wishful thinking…
'I guess it started,' deep in the river, stuck to the riverbed, Kevin ruminated silently as he felt the tremors going through the earth. He needed to wait for a few minutes before joining the battlefield, and that was for the best.
Kicking the floor, Kevin rose up to the surface slowly and carefully so as to not get stabbed by the rushing ice shards. That wouldn't feel too good.
Splash!
Kevin burst out of the water and crawled on shore, positioning himself in the rear of the Solace people's formation. The sight was candy to the eye of someone who spent his life on the lines of life and death.
One thing was confirmed, his third eye would passively absorb the souls of those he killed personally. If he were to be in the vicinity of someone dying out of any other natural or unnatural cause, he would not benefit.
However, it was yet to be tested whether or not using the <Concentration> spell would have any effect on that. He has one use of <Concentration> for today and he thought to use it at the end of the battle.
Lmanetable, but it is what it is. If he could grow simply by passing by a dying group of people, that would have been ridiculous; even for Kevin.
Through the gaps in the formation of these immature soldiers, the truly powerful, veteran, seasoned warriors easily stood out.
On the Onyx side, only two people stood out.
Wherehas on the Solace side, a dozen veterans were like beasts unleashed on a flock of sheep. The disparity was immense, borderline hideous.
"What bullies," Kevin licked his lips, a wicked grin surfacing on his face as he reached into his high boots for two long daggers. Too bad he didn't have the time to test his new spell <Sinful Flame> or get accustomed to it.
Whatever, having some hidden aces up his sleeve for a rainy day would work just as fine…
Up to five people on the Solace side suddenly sensed immense danger, prompting them to gaze north; only to find a furious river silently running like it always had.
Was it an illusion?
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