"They're here!" Krista shouted out to the prepared defenders, the army had arrived at their gates at that point. As she stared through her cupped hands, she took note of how well trained their opponents were. Her anxiety spiked upon her realization, but her resolve held firm. The collar that still tightly bound her neck was a grim reminder of what happened when others ruled your fate. She rubbed her scarred arms with opened palms before clenching them into fists. It was time to prove that all her—no, her people's suffering wasn't in vain. That they could fight just as gloriously as anyone else.
"Formations, guys! Ya all know the plan, start chucking spears at the opposition!" The intense cries came from Lat, who had conceived a scheme in the brief time the conjoined tribes had to prepare. The plan of action was as follows:
The cyclopses regarded height as their utmost pride, the defining feature that made them strong and hearty. As such, all of their weapons were unnaturally large for the comparatively small gheckla, and they came in surplus too. All of the cyclopses were armed to the teeth and yet more than half of their armaments were laying about.
Seeing this, Lat proposed to the robust gheckla take up their spears, long swords, whatever huge weapon they could find...and send them hurling at their adversaries. That wasn't the only idea he had shared, as he had also suggested to the cyclops a more effective way to utilize their hulking frames. The cyclopses would jump above their own gates in groups of three before spreading out and attacking the side formation of the procession. They would then approach each other in the center after clearing a path for their fellow cyclopses to join them.
The gheckla were grouped up into trios, each heaving a gargantuan tool of destruction more than two times their size. The legion of monsters that were supposed to be on the offense were forced onto the defense. The monsters that held shields rushed for the back line, protecting the more frail spell casters in the back. Because of this, they were unable to stop the fierce onslaught that rained down upon them.
Lat howled the signal for the cyclopses to leap out of Hettur, a triangular formation of cyclopses soon took to the battlefield. They avoided the very front of the army and ran to the sides...but only two made it to the opposing positions. A poor cyclops wasn't able to escape from the supposedly defending enemy, as an axe wildly cleaved into their legs. Falling down onto the cold snow, their gargantuan eye looked up to see a fiery red head of hair before getting kicked onto their back.
Seeing this, the astute ghecklas knew who the real threat was. Lat singled to 5 groups to aim at the copper clad woman before anything else. The fifteen ghecklas quickly responded to his order and switched targets, and a moment later five giant weapons were on their way to impaling the minotauress. They did not stop with only that, however, as they kept on outpouring myriads of equipments at her.
A thundering moo bellowed throughout the battlefield as the fierce woman swung her mighty axe in an attempt to deflect the items hurtling towards her. Lat, seeing how the menacing virago was now preoccupied made his bowls known to the cyclopses once more, who fearlessly leapt out of Hettur and into the sphere of contention they same way their fellows had.
Luckily, they moved unhindered through the barrages and arrived at the rightmost and leftmost sides of the enemy. Their targets were stuck in between a rock and a hard place as a hail of metal snowed down upon them while colossal monsters cleaved at their blind spots. They despaired at the disparaging situation, each and every monster wondering how they were supposed to win without killing any of them. It seemed a herculean task awaited them, it was going to be a long day.
Krista smiled as she witnessed the monsters cowering behind their shields. She was the reason why the ghecklas were able to throw their various projectiles with reckless abandon, her scouting skills allowed them to aim for their enemy and avoid their allies. The cyclopses kept pouring out of Hettur in what appeared to be droves as casualties stated to mar the combat zone.
'This can't go on.' The minotauress thought. A yellow aura enveloped her form, thunderous sounds ringing around her immediate area. She directed the yellow aura to expand towards the savage weapons hurtling towards her form, parrying them all in that moment. Taking the brief reprieve that she attained, she dashed to the rear of the struggling formation of monsters.
Smacking away all weapons that attempted to obstruct her from her destination, she effectively freed up a good chunk of defending monsters. The well trained monsters who did not get a chance to expedite their skills quickly separated from one another, cutting down the efficiency of the air raid that had befell them. The minotauress arrived at the back end of the army she was in charge of. She bore a contented smile upon her countenance, though her brows were creased together in a contradicting frustration. Her eyes were aglow with an air of contention as she produced her next set of orders.
"Mages, cast a spell to protect the our heads against our enemy! Half of you will have a different duty, you will be in charge of producing a spell to take down the walls our targets are hiding behind. We can't sit around here like a bunch of helpless ducks, do you understand!" A mousy boy scurried up to her in the midst of her decree, urgently tugging at the commanding woman's armor. The minotauress, her orders now finished, looked down upon the boy with rodent ears.
"Commander Milia! The enemy is stronger than what was predicted, shouldn't we allow the troops to fight and kill?"
"No, Houren. Our instruction was to subdue the two tribes, not kill them. We still have Valentine if anything goes wrong, but this much can be expected."
"Expected? How can this situation be predicted by anyone? These monsters are way too coordinated for a bunch of bumpkins who wouldn't be able to even READ our tactical books." The woman chuckled before setting her axe down, preparing for another mad dash at the enemy's defense. Her stern tone found it's way into Houren's ears once again, causing the astounded mouse to become engrossed in consternation.
"I expected it. When you corner a wild animal, they become much more dangerous than before. It's only reasonable to consider that."
"Then why didn't we just capture them one by one instead?" The mousy boy rubbed the sides of his forehead, muddled by Milia's answer. The next thing she said really set him off though.
"Why would you want to taint such a holy activity with cowardice? It's much better to face them at their strongest...to take them all out in once fell swoop." The minotauress charged faster than lightning as chants filled the place she had just left.
"Ugh, that woman is always like this. Mages, aim for the front of the troop. That's where most of the weapons are aimed at, and they have the responsibility to climb up their ramparts." The tactician further delegated the magic proficient monsters, deepening the vague orders Milia had given. It was now time for their attack to finally start in earnest.