"I have to admit I was careless that day."
"Lured in by Duke Ancel's honeyed words, I failed to comprehend the forces in the background."
"Looking back on it, his want to help seemed too eager even a quest was given to me warning me about him."
"But like everyone else who gets a quest and only sees it at face value, I was tricked."
"For your own beliefs in the truth can affect what a quest says to do."
"Quests are known as a compass for the players of Dynasties Online, providing a direction in a sandbox world of infinite possibilities."
"But one must not forget that quests are a faulty compass at best."
Otto Dannecker, Head of House Vask in Dynasties Online, a noble house situated in the Chavarian Empire.
….
"SHEILDWALL!"
A captain of Vice Count Vask's spearmen shouted as Nathos charged at the spearwall, protecting the vice count from the Aurellion soldiers.
However, the Aurellion Vice Commander, seeing the wall of spears, activated a skill as he and his men fearlessly charged at them.
[Firestorm]
Fireballs fell from the sky, and the once blue skies turned red for the spearmen stricken with fear and felt an ominous premonition in their hearts, the fireballs crashing into the spear wall like a stone shot from a catapult it crashed through their lines, breaking their formation and allowing Nathos and his men to charge through the Vask line and towards the vice count. The men were unskilled in magic and, without the discipline of a veteran soldier, broke ranks as they fled from the fiery hell that engulfed the land.
The flames burnt bright as fire raged across the land, their friary orange licks blackening the Vask men's skin as they screamed in pain as fire consumed their bodies and the 50 Pelican Guards charged through the flames. Unlike the knights of Chavaria, these Vask soldiers had no means to defend themselves from magic as their lord was unfamiliar with war or the use of magic in battle, which is a rarity in the current times, for most major conflicts involve the use of anti-magic crystals making it redundant in the games current form of warfare. While anti-magic crystals are not rare, they can be expensive and require a magician to activate.
Vice Count Tyre didn't expect others in Railius' service to be able to use magic except for the renowned flaming spear, Leon Mantelon was currently occupied fighting the duke's men as the Pelican Guard were not like the imperial guard, who were known for their magical protective abilities instead it was their unflinching almost fanatical loyalty and martial skill that were sung in the songs of their brave exploits, not anything to do with magic whatsoever.
While the regular Pelican Guards had no magical abilities, the same cannot be said for their officers, who were meticulously trained by Leon and Lucius and hardened in the fires of war. Even though their magical abilities are limited, it is still enough to provide a breakthrough for them, allowing them to crush any tight formation, especially one filled with soldiers with little experience and discipline. If the vice count had magic users of his own, they could have blocked this spell, but as long as he could hold out for around 10-20 minutes, then reinforcements from the imperial army would come, and they have plenty of mages and anti-magic crystals that can be used to turn the tide.
One must remember that many of those in the Pelican Guard originally came from the imperial army and, unlike the armies of various lords, it is supported by the entire empire, helped in part by the taxes that each lord pays to the crown yearly. As a result, their training and equipment are far superior to many armies controlled by the empire's nobles. Only those who are dukes or higher are likely to have access to such veteran and well-trained troops; however, this also meant that if a noble ever controlled one of these armies and could gain its loyalty, then in a stroke, they would become one of the most powerful men in the empire especially if one is a duke as you could combine your territories forces of 40,000+ with the imperial army to create a powerful force that could potentially topple an empire especially if other nobles combine their strength with yours.
Hewald, the vice count's loyal master fighter, shot fiercely at these charging Pelican Guards who followed their commander and protected themselves with their stout shields while a few arrows found the weakness of the armour around the armpits. He was nowhere near as efficient in killing them as he was in the other Pelican Guards, who were busy fighting his lord's knights and so could not focus on defending from his stealthy arrows.
Riding through the flames, the heat slightly singeing the hair of both man and beast as Nathos led his contingent of Pelican Guards and charged towards the Vice Count. Seeing that their lord was in danger, other knights in Tyre's service charged to intercept Nathos and his small band of men, which lifted a considerable weight off Aldorus' shoulders, allowing him and the young lord to escape more easily. Nathos deflected one lance with his sword while dodging another. Using his shied arm, he grabbed at a thrusted lance, clutching it firmly under his armpit; he used his strength to hoist the charging knight into the air, who clutched it tightly and screamed in fear. The knight, unable to hold onto the lance, flew through the air, crashing to the ground behind the Aurellion vice commander before being trampled into meat paste by the charging Pelican Guards, who also cut through the other knights like butter the strength of a unique unit becoming more and more apparent to all present.
If Vice Count Tyre did not fear for his life, he would be jealous of these loyal soldiers of House Aurellion who could easily fight through armoured knights who were like the tanks of the medieval world.
Clad in plate and mail, these armoured tanks break through even the strongest of formations, but it was rare to see them be crushed like weeds under the hooves of the monstrously skilled Pelican Guards.
Tyre, not being a warrior and like Railius and Lucius, used his head more than brute force and began to retreat, riding swiftly away and letting Hewald take on the approaching veteran Aurellion soldiers, seeing as even his personal guards the most elite of his soldiers could only take down 10 of Nathos' number.
Aldorus used the time Nathos and his men had gained distracting Hewald to find another horse. Quickly finding a riderless horse to commandeer, he began once again to lead his men towards the border, this time becoming more wary of the master archer who dismounted him before, knowing that the few precious minutes of lost time could be the difference between survival and death.
"Up we go, little lord!"
Aldorus said softly as he used his arm to hoist Railius onto his new steed as the boy let out a groan when Aldorus' strong arms lifted him by his stomach, quickly mounting the new horse himself as the Aurellion death train continued rolling towards the border crushing anything in its wake.
'I swear to god I will never play a boy on the run again!'
Railius swore to himself, thoroughly annoyed at his current predicament as he was hoisted and grabbed in every direction by his loyal protectors, who did not care at all about his apparent discomfort compared to his safety, something which, in hindsight, the small boy would be thankful for. Unfortunately, the young player's mind was once again clouded by the emotions of youth as once again playing as a child took its toll on him as he struggled to maintain his calm in the raging battlefield around him.
With a few hundred of Vice Count Tyre's knights returning to defend their lord and many of his spearmen running lumps of charred flesh, it did not take long for Aldorus to break through them. The remaining Pelican Guards used their expert martial skills to easily break through their opponents. However, this would not be without sacrifice, for the closer the soldiers of Aurellion got to escaping, the more Nathos and his small contingent were surrounded and slaughtered, as not everyone had been taken down by his little magic show. There were still 500 spearmen attacking both him and Aldorus, as the Aurellion Vice Commander did not have the greatest range when it came to spells like Leon, who could have used fire to burn the whole 1000 men if he wished.
A horn then blasted throughout the small battlefield, making Aldorus have a sense of foreboding as 1,000 men of the imperial army charged towards Aldorus, the reinforcements called by the Vice Count finally arriving on the battlefield, though by now, his own military power had been cut in half. The Pelican Guard Commander quickly began to pick up the pace as he looked at some of his men, whose laboured breathing showed their exhaustion, each having killed multiple knights already wanting to use the gap between the two forces to his advantage, allowing them to remain one step ahead of their pursuers.
It was actually quite nice for the Pelican Guards to face opponents like these knights who, despite being professional soldiers, were nowhere near as problematic to face as the imperial guards and veteran armies of other kingdoms or the empire. It would be similar to the SAS going against regular soldiers. While both were professional soldiers, the SAS were far more skilled and could likely take on multiple regular infantry. Though veterans may pose some problems due to their experience, knights like the Vice Counts with little experience in war were similar to recruits wet behind the ears to the veteran and skilled Pelican Guards who quickly and easily dispatched them to the afterlife.
Another horn sounded, and thundering just behind the imperial army was Leon with 400 men, having fought with Alfgier and the duke's men for around 20 minutes, the Grandmaster of Loyalty quickly injured Alfgier seriously enough to legitimise a retreat, but if one skilled in the medicinal arts looked at him, they would see that while it looked bad the wound was not life-threatening and allowing him to arrive in time to aid Aldorus in the escape and deal with the reinforcing Chavarians.
"Nathos fall back!"
Aldorus shouted, using magic to make his voice boom through the battlefield, ensuring everyone could hear him as he rode towards the border, Myrdin and the vanguard breaking through and making a hole for Aldorus and Railius to go through. Taking a moment to look over to where that Vice Count once was, he saw two figures fighting as the ringing of clashing steel resounded throughout the miniature battlefield. Around them, bodies of dead men were strewn about as 10 last Pelican Guards fought against impossible odds as a hundred knights loyal to Vice Count attacked them. The loyal Pelican Guards fell one by one, but not before taking many men with them on their way to God's judgement with them.
Nathos struggled against Hewald, his spear becoming heavier and heavier in his hands while blood streamed from a thousand tiny cuts. With his body and armour dyed in crimson blood, the determined man fought on; many of his brothers in arms had already fallen to the master-level fighter despite Nathos' best efforts. Even though Nathos was close to the master level, some would even go so far as to say he was a quasi-master. He, however, never managed to complete the final breakthrough, for the gap between expert and master was truly too great. As a result, Hewald alone would be able to deal with Nathos and his men even without the few hundred knights that went to help him, slowly slaughtering them all, his sword seamlessly breaking through their defences as he took them down one by one.
The clashing of steel and cries of death continued on as Leon cut through the imperial army, easily beheading their commander, a master-level fighter in his own right, in merely 20 seconds, prompting the imperial army to lose heart and begin to rout as Leon let out a mighty roar to commemorate his victory spreading yet more fear into the hearts of his beleaguered opponents. Then he mounted the man's head on his spear, and like a terrifying cursed banner, it warded off all others who thought to impede them as they quickly left, not daring to dally for too long; otherwise, more reinforcements would arrive, forcing them into yet another battle.
Despite the quick way Leon ended the battle with the imperial forces in the short time they spent fighting, many Pelican Guards died, falling to the swords of the elite imperial soldiers who managed to do substantial, if relatively limited, damage to the Aurellion forces.
The problem was that unlike the Chavarian Empire, which could call up hundreds of thousands of these soldiers, Leon barely had 1,000 under his command, now reduced to 600 if he combined the casualties from the various battles he fought over the last hour or so.
It was then that Leon realised how important it was to have the duke on his side; otherwise, if Alfgier had fought him seriously and the duke's men willing to give their lives to stop him, it was likely that with all the reinforcements, they could muster that both he and all of his men would be dead.
Looking at the situation, Vice Count Tyre decided to retreat, for he had not seen any of the duke's men, only those of the imperial army, which he found strange. If Leon was not here, then Hewald and the imperial army commander may be enough to turn the tide in his favour, but with the imperial commander's head now on a spike and the presence of a grandmaster, the Vice Count decided to pull his men out less he lose more men and even his master fighter that he had spent so much time to acquire.
'What the fuck is that old bastard thinking!?'
The Vice Count thought before reluctantly ordering a retreat, seeing that only the imperial army was coming to help.
"Sound the horn of retreat!"
The Vice Count ordered a knight beside him who blew three long blasts of the horn, and like and like a tide reseeding, the Vice Count's men disengaged as Nathos' body fell to the ground lifelessly with a thump as Hewald's sword stabbed into his chest, blood seeping from his cuts into the ground turning it crimson red as the blood formed a small stream with the rest of the dead flowing down a slight incline.
The 30-odd-year-old vice commander remembered how he and Darius, merely a captain then, were saved all those years ago at Brunag by Lucius as he recited the motto of the Pelican Guards in a quiet voice with the last of his lifeforce while choking on his own blood.
"For the Pelican banner, we stand!"
"So benevolence may be given to the people of the land!"