"We have to move forward or we'll be destroyed!" An elder advised the princess. Her earlier command had stunned him. There was no way they could survive if they pulled back since the war machines were not quick enough to evade the enemy. Their only hope was to push forward, meet fire with fire.
"Alright, push through!" The princess relented gritting her teeth. She didn't want the enemy to take down so much of her people. She was still green in command, and being caught off guard had made her timid. She understood this was the smart play here, but she wasn't one to play chicken with her people's lives.
The catapults pushed forward despite the raining boulders all around them. The archers took shelter under the catapults as they moved forward in a bid to hide from the massive rocks coming at them.
Volleys few past each other in fury, the Gumina machines bearing an advantage. Thankfully, none of the Tristanite catapults fell, but 5 more ballistae were destroyed, and they still hadn't been put to good use.
FIRE!
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The Tristanites were finally in range of their enemy. Rock after rock flew at the enemy.
For a moment on the battlefield, everything seemed to be on standstill as everyone waited to see the effect of the next volley of boulders.
Boom!
Where the rocks landed, the ground shook with impact and the sound of men and catapults being squished could be heard.
"Good, we are away from their range," a Tristanite remarked when he saw the boulders overshoot them, landing where the archers had been. Luckily, there was no one there to be shot at, since the army was further back.
On the flip side, it was Gumina's turn to suffer loss. 3 of their catapults were taken down and a few other men squashed into pulp.
"Push forward boys, we need to take that wall down!" The Tristan commander of the war machines shouted. Natoa was a salty old man but an experienced engineer of the war machines.
"Fire the ballistae!" Lord Jamieson commanded as he saw his catapults had been rendered ineffective. The Tristanites had just escaped from the frying pan into the fire. The ballistae had better aim but shorter range. The Tristanites had just wandered off into their range.
What followed was a hectic exchange of ballistae bolts and catapult boulders lighting up the sky like fireworks in a furious exchange. Then came the arrows as either side's archers tried to fill in the holes for the war machines. For a moment, the battlefield became extremely lethal, with no one daring to step any inch further than they were.
"Keep firing!" Commander Dana shouted as she noticed something was off. Her people were not keeping up with their rivals both in aim and rate of fire, which was vexing her to no end.
"Pass the order down the lines, keep firing!" The order went down until the flanks, but after a few minutes, the rate of fire was dwindling at a visible rate. The ballistae could barely keep pace, but the catapults were unable to keep up, causing losses.
"D*mn it, what is going on down there? You, go and relay my order personally!" The commander exclaimed at one of the guards who ran off to fulfill his commander's orders. Just as he was about to disappear, another came up to the commander.
"My Lady, the front line is under severe arow attack, they can barely do a thing without arrows shooting them down!" Hearing this report, there was only one thing in Commander Dana's mind, the archer. Who else could cause havoc on such a noticeable scale in such a large scale war?
"You dare show yourself to me?" The commander exclaimed, making the guard wonder if she was talking to him. "Give the signal, get them to work!" the soldier beside his commander did not need to hear that again, he ran off to sound the signal as ordered. The Commander turned to the masked man to her left.
"Sir, your target is here,"
"I've been watching her for a while, she's good."
"Her?"
"Yes, the princess. She has quite the talent for leadership."
"Sir, need I remind you that your target is the archer wrecking havoc on the battlefield."
"I know, and I will take care of him, just as soon as I am done with her." The man said with a hint of excitement flashing across his face. How often do you get to claim that you have put down royalty as an assassin? This would go down as an epic kill, one he couldn't pass up the chance. Seeing the determination, the commander relented from further pushing her counterpart, especially since she couldn't control him.
A blare from a horn blast. This was the signal they had been waiting for. Things were about to get a little bit more interesting.
Barda was getting tired of this now. Every hot had resulted in a kill, and while his efforts were having some effect on the battlefield, he was reminded of the fact that he was one man. If only there were 5 others just as good as he was.
Shooting the cannon masters handing the catapult was no small matter. Firstly, the cannons were more than a kilometer away. The handlers were well-hidden from the arrows since the catapults were designed to be used in an environment such as this, chaotic and without order.
It had taken all the calculations for him to thread the needle, hitting them even in their concealment. All he needed was one opening, one careless stance on the part of the enemy and an arrow would be sticking in them. The range may have seemed punishing to any other archer, but under Barda, he didn't even need to use his modified arrows, with just the normal arrows he still found his mark.
When the blast was sounded, even he knew that some trouble was cooking. The war had been at a stalemate. The Tristan side might have seemed to be winning, but since they couldn't advance on account of the war machines, they were at a disadvantage since they were the attacking force in this case. They needed to figure out this defense and come up with an answer for it, but the answer was taken from them.
Barda had his radar and scanners up and working double-time. He had mapped out the entire battleground, including the whole town. From his display, he could see where the humans were concentrated. He also had them color-coded, Red for enemies, Green for friendlies and Grey for civilians and non-combatants. He also had Amber for those he wasn't sure since there wasn't exactly a uniform.
Suddenly, his internal 3D map showed a lot of new arrivals west of him. Judging by the numbers, this was a whole army consisting of 3,452 soldiers and counting. At the same time, behind the barrier that was mostly destroyed, the warriors of Gumina were amassing, ready for a charge.
Barda immediately understood what was happening. This was a coordinated assault from the west and the front. Worse still, his team was right in the kill box. As archers, catapult engineers and other ranged fighters, there was no way the team in the middle could survive this onslaught.
Before Barda could do anything about the situation, the sky above him blackened. Looking up, he saw arrows turning descending towards him with the fury of a hundred men. From the corner of his eyes, he saw ballistae bolts taking to the skies and catapults spitting out boulders. In one fell swoop, they were facing multiple attacks from all sides.
"ATTACK!"
Seeing the coordinated attack on the ranged unit, it didn't take a genius to understand what was happening. Watching the onslaught, the princess couldn't believe she was going to lose all her ranged units. She ordered the attack in a bid to rescue whatever she could among her people. One thought stuck with her, she couldn't lose him.
Seeing their people cornered and battered, and with the command given, the Tristan soldiers and the adventurers unleashed hate as they descended on the battlefield.
"ATTACK!"
in response to the princess's command, Commander Dana ordered the attack from her people. It was a long time coming, and she had the archer right where she wanted him. He may be good, but no one could survive this.
The barrier that was being bombarded by the catapults fell, not by their payloads but as a curtain, unveiling the massive army behind it. With a loud shout, they raised their weapons and charged at the enemy.
Suddenly, a group emerged from the forest due west of the archers. They seemed like fighters but they were not. They looked like sailors but still not quite. Seeing the group, the princess's face darkened as she exclaimed, "Damn pirates!"