As the sun rose, it showed that it had done its best to bring forth a beautiful day. The tension on the ground was another matter. So dense was it one could almost reach out and cut it with a razer.
All along the wall, soldiers, and adventurers, fully geared in dark grey armor stood. Just outside the gate, 30,000 heavily armored warriors held their shields high ready for the signal. On the walls and strategic watchtowers on Tristan's side stood several archers holding their arrows.
The first five rows consisted of 1,000 vanguards on horseback per row. Like the men, the horses were also heavily armored. It was a testament to their strength that they could bear the weight of the armor and the armored human riding them, but they did. They would lead the charge. They had lances to break through the barricade.
Behind them were the melee battlers wielding all manner of weaponry. They made up the bulk of the force consisting of 20,000 warriors armed to the tooth and ready for maximum destruction.
Holding up the rear were the archers. They would support the frontlines by whittling down the number of enemies they would have to face and slowing them down. With proper cooperation, this was a deadly force set upon destroying the invaders.
Right across the field from them was the enemy's base of operations. The first line of defense. Their barrier was back up, and the soldiers were gathered. One could see war machines at the ready. The stage was set.
The blast of the horn. It came out loud, bold and domineering, quickening the hearts of all who heard it. With a loud shout, the vanguard forces rushed forward with fury. It was a spectacular sight to see tens of thousands of soldiers running forward.
Swish!
A giant catapult let loose a boulder into the sky, hurtling at the oncoming enemies. 4 others fired moments after.
Arching with thunder magic, the massive boulders struck hard at the charging forces. With momentum carrying it, the huge rock was unstoppable as it cleaved its way through bodies. The impact on the ground caused earthquakes that threw off the attacking soldier's stability, creating weaknesses in their lines. Finally, the arching thunder magic had an AOE effect, stunning and killing anyone within 3 meters of where the boulder had fallen.
Watching from the wall, the King gritted his teeth as he saw his people fall, knowing there was little he could do. The war was in motion. By his side were the various commanders of the adventurer teams and commanders of armies. Each one wore complicated emotions as they watched their people push on in this struggle.
Swing after swing the boulders fell until the soldiers were within the range of the enemy archers. Down came the arrows like heavy rains, blocking out the sun as they began their descent.
This was the true test. The boulders may have been effective, but their downside was that they took too long to reload. By the time they had fired 3 or 4 from the same catapult, the enemies would have crossed the distance. They were also in limited supply. Thus far there were only 5 catapults on the battlefield.
The commanders and the King had been waiting for this moment. If they could survive the onslaught of the arrows, then the battle was as good as won. However, if they couldn't, the losses would be catastrophic.
As the arrows descended, the warriors braced themselves by raising their shields high like an umbrella. Down came the torrential rain of metal and wood upon steel. The force in the arrows was enough to slow down the charging team's momentum, but only barely.
Lady Maara, who was seated at the right-hand side of her father on the city wall cast a glance at Barda, to see how he was faring. Unlike them, he was perched at the bottom of the wall, with a group of archers. Like them, he held a bow. He seemed like any other ordinary archer among them, not even the one commanding. Yet all this was because of him...
The first wave of arrows crashed hard against the warriors, and yes some lives were lost. Between the gaps left after the boulder attacks, some had been too late to respond to the arrow attack. However, just looking at the numbers, it could have been so much worse.
Nada, who was among the vanguards on horses, pushed his steed faster. He had been through this rodeo before. Unlike others, the blacksmiths that made his men's equipment were the same ones that made for the others. More importantly, his equipment had been specially made by the genius that created the steel, making his the best armor out there. What was there to be afraid of?
A second wave, followed by a 3rd wave hit them, but it did little more than slow down the war machine coming at them.
500 meters ...
400 meters ...
300 meters ...
Lances were lowered. The sound of hooves smacking hard against the ground. The dust flying high. The line formed, and then...
Devastation. Utter devastation brought about by an unstoppable momentum as the horses broke through the barrier, obliterating anything that was in their way.
Horses, shields, warriors and war machines, nothing was spared as the vanguard tore through the base like a hot knife through butter. No matter what they threw at the attacking force, nothing could stop them. The horses just ran and ran and kept on running.
"Pull them back!" Commander Dana shouted from her perch. She could see the invaders gaining ground, and instead of sitting there watching her people get slaughtered, she ordered a retreat. It hurt her a lot especially since every inch of the ground in the continent had been won by blood and tears of her men. Now watching it all slip through her finger, she could feel her detractors jeering behind her back.
"Sir, you sure we made the right call?" Behind her, one of the intelligence grunts asked his superiors. The superior eyed his superior, the head of intelligence. He ran the spies. A day before the young man asking him had received important information, something their commander had been desperate for.
Their senior had made a judgment call not to inform anyone they had this information. Everyone knew the disdain and contempt their senior had over the commander, so they couldn't help wondering if his decision was based purely on tacts and intelligence gathering.
The senior had claimed that they couldn't risk others knowing they had this information, given how sensitive it was. At face value, his answer was okay but watching their fellow soldiers die, the 2 couldn't help wondering if all these lives were dying for vanity.
The Tristan side was beyond overjoyed. They had destroyed the entire frontline base with just the vanguards on horses. By the time the soldiers on foot had caught up, the forwarding base was mostly destroyed and the enemies were on the run.
Nada was removing his steed's armor when Barda found him. The beast had performed extraordinary, carrying the giant of a man and his armor, and it's heavy armor to boot.
"Pretty fine work, eh?" Nada asked as he swung his massive hand on Barda in an attempt to pat him. Barda was not disturbed, but few would take that 'pat'. As he walked, he noticed the look of reverence among the soldiers and adventurers. Everyone present knew he was the cause of all this success. They knew he had won the war for them.
There was one more thing they needed to destroy, and then they would cripple Gumina before the war even officially began. The base they had just destroyed was for forwarding operations. The real base was set up at the harbor where they came in.
It had taken some doing, but they had had to take down an entire town to gain their base. All this had been so sudden since Tristan wasn't aware of the shock troops. It had been well-laid out to keep from leaking. The attack had gone off as planned, but mostly since the village was not so well developed in terms of defenses. Many of the locals took off running towards Tristan. Since the town was one of Tristan's vassals, they were citizens of Tristan, so they were going back home.
That was the base Barda attacked late in the night, where his teammates had been captured and where he had stolen that all-important document. The base of operations, the port to meet the bulk of the force.
This is where Tristan had set their sights now. Now that they had taken the initiative in this war, it was about time to reclaim their town.