"Somebody! Blow! A! F*cking! Horn!" The commander hissed. She was frustrated. She too knew that every moment wasted cost them the initiative. She knew it had seemed dumb to insist on having to get into position, but she had her reasons. She had anticipated something like this, a counter-attack.
Her scouts had reported that there was a large force coming this way, but they were too far out. She feared that the commanding officer would have sent a group of elites to come join the fray before the real team arrives.
Her fears were collect, for right now her forces were being eyed by a battalion of 500 men. Each one an elite capable of making a difference in an intense battle. They were busy discussing the best course of action. To try and attack now was a fallacy that never once crossed their minds. It wasn't that they were afraid, but there was no way 500 men could face up against 10,000. They could see the enemy with crystal clarity.
Her attacker was miles away, far from the eye. His advantage was the distance that he was shooting from. By now, the commander had realized that she was in his kill box, and now she was desperately trying to get her people to move.
Arrow after arrow kept descending. Barda calculated his chances of success at 10.11%. Every shot was a source of data and a confirmation of previously collected data. Unfortunately, there was nothing as fickle as the weather, and wind directions changed in an instance. His success rate depended on his ability to predict wind direction based on the trajectory recorded previously.
Five more arrows later, he had hit 2 more soldiers. Each one held a horn in their hand. Horn blowing was hard work. Consider that and given how long the horn signal was, they had to find a place to hide before blasting the horn. Barda was doing his best to deny them that opportunity.
If Dana could get her hands on Barda at that moment, she'd kill him in the most despicable way possible. However, she had to shelf that desire since she didn't know where her attacker was.
Despite his best efforts, Barda was coming to learn just how limited he was. One man 8 miles out could not do much against an entire army. The ravine led to a jungle, and even though he had IR vision to help him track his targets, the thick foliage made it hard to see them properly. He'd fired 2 more arrows, 1 missing the other only managing to injure the target.
Captain Todd was getting impatient. This whole fiasco was getting dragged on so unnecessarily. He wanted to go into that jungle and beat the senses into that brat calling herself commander. His frustration was seeping to the men surrounding him. They too knew they should have attacked by now, but yet they hadn't.
On the other side, Captain Dunhill wondered if he should move out and try and make contact. Perhaps by doing that he could buy some time for his reinforcements on the way, but he quickly dismissed that idea. These kinds of attacks were meant to scare. There wasn't much talking in the early rounds.
Just as everyone was growing weary, a loud horn sounded from deep in the forest. It was so loud that even from so far, Barda and his people could still hear it. It was meant for intimidation. The soldiers realized their time had come. Re-energizing, they charged into the village.
When Barda heard the horn, he sighed heavily. He had done all he could. He hoped the few minutes he had bought them were enough for the village to muster some kind of defense. Hopefully, they could hold on until help arrives.
"Faster!"
The Princess could not wait any longer, She had already gathered a portion of the forces to act as the shock troops, the elites to break the defenses of the enemy. They were riding as fast as they could when they heard the blast of the horn.
Every mile seemed like a far away obstacle, and she couldn't wait. Hard riding was not easy on the horse or the rider, but when they got there, she'd jump off the horse and fight with the sword. Due to her haste, she hadn't bothered to send out scouts or check for any traps. Such thoughts didn't her mind.
Snap!
"Hahaha! she's caught something!" An old soldier with brown teeth and a missing eye shouted.
"Come, let's go check!" The other one said.
There were 3 soldiers in charge of putting up traps, one eye was the leader. He was once renown until he ended up snared by his trap, removing his eye and almost rendering him crippled. After survival, he still went back to trap setting, but now he was far removed from the public.
However, when it came to trapping, there was no one better. Drafted under the command of the 20th Battalion, One-Eye left behind his adventurer days and became a soldier, working for the Gumina Kingdom. These were some of the threats landing on the shore, unseen but extremely dangerous.
"What do we have here?" The brown smile was repelling as One-eye drew close to his prey, his knife glinting. He could feel his blood lust coming forth. He hadn't hunted in a while, he had forgotten just how good it felt. The look in their eyes when they realize they were under his thumb...
An arrow got stuck inside his head, almost completely coming through the other end. He didn't know what hit him. Before he landed on the ground, there were 3 more arrows fired, each stuck in every one of the trapper's eyes.
Maara, The Princess of Tristan, had realized her mistake too little too late. As she ran, she had forgotten that there might be potential threats along the way and thus doomed her men. What's more, she knew of One-Eye. He was a legend from ages ago but now had been classified as a credible threat. Someone to look out for. As a princess, she had access to all this information. She knew just how much trouble she was in.
To see them crumble and fall so effortlessly? A threat important enough that the princess knew about him was taken down so easily, and this was just the opening move. She wondered how powerful her people were.
2 figures emerged from the bush, one was Batoo, the other was a ranger from Eagle protectors. His name being Juila.
"My lady, are you alright?" Batoo asked as he got the princess and her men off the trap.
"We're fine, did you shoot these men?"
"No, we were just ordered to track the arrows where they went," Juila answered. Neither he nor Batoo had expected to find their employer bogged down in a trap, or the arrows pinned to the trappers' foreheads.
"Where is he?" She didn't need to ask who ordered them.
"Follow us," Batoo answered as he led the way.
The sound of swords clashing, men yelling while others were wailing, the ugly bashing of shields against shields, armor and all kind of weaponry rang far. The village was a river of blood and guts, bodies piled high. Barda had to compliment the army's abilities for they knew their stuff.
His few minutes had been barely enough for them to marshal their defenses. They had tower shields in their shield walls, making them seem like a small fortress. They were smaller in number, but with cooperation and discipline, captain Dunhill had managed to hold the line.
Their performance was exceptional, but the other side had the numbers. The captain was also not daft, he knew his stuff. The invading army was also highly disciplined and coordinated, gaining inch after inch on the counterparts.
No one had the time to worry about the dead. Taking a moment's pause meant instant death. Thoughts of victory were out of the question. Right now, all everyone cared for was survival. They had their orders and their training, and this had all kicked into place.
"So this is a gold-ranked adventurer?" The princess thought as she looked at the small force down there. She had seen the dire state of her people, but more importantly, she had seen that they were not as bad as they should be.
Barda had 5 rangers with him. Under Barda's command, they had attacked a squadron archers who were in the backline and looted the arrows, set up a nest and had joined the fray. A first glance, they didn't seem to be making a difference, but looking carefully, one would understand the princess' exclamation.
Barda seemed to make the right shot every time. Not only were his shots accurate, but they were where the army needed. When the captain was surrounded, Barda's one-hit pins would fly in to save the captain. In case the line was about to be overrun, Barda would lead his people to hold while the soldiers reorganized.
What they didn't know was that the IAA was running war game simulations and analysis of the most appropriate shot. A sniper on a battlefield is just one person, but if used correctly, they can turn the tide. He was applying the same algorithms here.