In the wide and vast grasslands of Arcadia, there is a host of riders, numbered around a few hundred people chasing a much smaller group. The larger group is people wearing simple hide armor and clothes made from animals' furs while the smaller group is armored soldiers carrying the banner of a white lotus.
The two hosts soon move into an area surrounded by mountain ranges. One of the riders shouts to the leading cavalryman:
-Chieftain Ulf, they could lay an ambush for us in this terrain. We should retreat and report to the Khan.
The man who was spoken to is a man with a fierce-looking face. There is a tattoo of a black raven crossed over his face. In Grassland, Chieftain Ulf of the Raven Clan is known for his boldness in battle. However, this man is a prestigious man who has never lost a battle. The Grasslanders are still rumoring about how he charged against a goblin camp inhabited by hundreds of goblins with a handful of riders and still come back alive.
Following the host of Icelanders into the valley, they do not know that there are hundreds of couples of eyes looking upon them, waiting for the horde of riders to fully get into the trap that they have set for days. And the figure leading the men on the tops of the mountains is no strange man but Minoru Tatsuya, Takahiro's sword, spear, and shield.
Looking at the enemies following his men into the valley, a light smile appears on the face of Tatsuya. During the last year, after growing from the wounds of fighting with Umber, his martial skills have reached a new level where he has mastered the spear arts of the Minoru family, the most famous Samurai in Iceland for their martial arts.
- '' Let's begin '' Tatsuya speaks as he mounts his horse. Behind his back are 20 mounted Samurai and 100 mounted Ashigaru, ready to fight at any moment. In normal circumstances, ashigarus are just a footman force; however, after several victories over the Grasslanders, Akira Takahiro has gained a significant number of horses. Thus, he decides to train the Ashigarus to fight on horseback.
Two large rocks are put down the valley, crushing many Grasslanders on the last lines of the calvary's host. Then, from the mountain ranges, the archers appear, knock their arrows, and release their fury at the host of Grasslanders, delivering heavy casualties to the light armor horse archers.
- '' Chieftain Ulf, we are trapped. '' The rider who spoke to chieftain Ulf earlier speaks out loud before an arrow pierces his head, sending him toward the ground.
- '' Gather together, raise your shields. Dismount your horses and use them as cover.'' Ulf shouts loudly. Even though he is in a life-and-death situation, the chieftain of the Raven Clan does not show any hesitation or fear. He calmly observes the surroundings, organizing his men so that none of them can be harmed by arrows.
- '' Moon riders, follow me. '' The chieftain shouts, around 100 detach from the host of Grasslanders and follow their leader in a direction. Then, the group of moon riders finds a suitable spot where their horses can climb up the mountain ranges. The Icelanders have predicted this and deployed 100 spearmen long with barricades on this way. The Icelanders suppose that attacking spearmen with the advantages of the upper ground and fortifications with cavalrymen is simply suicide. They have underestimated the strength of the Moon riders, the finest warriors on the vast plains of Grassland.
With a war cry, Ulf charges forward with his glaive, blowing up the barricades that the Icelanders have set up before, creating a gap wide enough for horses to charge through.
- '' KILL THEM ALL'' Ulf shouts. The Moon Riders follow him to charge into the lines of the yari ashigarus, whose formations have been disbanded out of fear. Every time the Moon Riders lower their lances, an ashigaru is killed and like a thundershock, the Moon Riders rout the yari ashigaru and continue their advance toward the archers on the mountain ranges.
Takamechi, a captain of the archers, notices that the strength of the Moon Riders mostly comes from their chieftain's recklessness. He draws his long bow and aims at the chieftain, who is just around 50 yards from his position. The arrow fired by one of the finest archers of Iceland makes its way through the air and pierces into the chest of the Grasslander chieftain.
Surprising everyone, the Grasslander chieftain does not stop. Pausing a few seconds to look at the arrow on his chest like looking at a stick, he pulls his out and continues to wield his glaive, continuing to harvest the lives of the Icelander archers.
Takamechi knocks another arrow into his bow and fire again. Unlucky for him, when an experienced warrior has known the position of an archer targeting him, no arrow's going to touch him again. Ulf blocks arrow after arrow loosed by Takemechi. It doesn't even take 3 minutes for the Grasslander Chieftain to reach the location of the Icelander archer captain. The captain draws his sword and tries to resist the incoming glaive.
The sword steel forged by the blacksmiths of Iceland was broken in half facing the tremendous strength of Ulf. Heavily wounded, Takemechi falls to the ground. The moment before he lets go of his last breath, he still raises his sword toward Ulf.
- '' A worthy opponent '' Ulf speaks out. In his eyes, we can see the respect he has for an opponent who has managed to harm him.
- '' My chieftain, our main forces are being attacked. '' A terrified voice arises from one of the Moon Riders.
There were around 600 Grasslanders made their way into this valley, and around 100 followed Ulf to attack the archers on the mountains; however, during that time, the archers from the other mountains still have enough time to wreak havoc on the ranks of the remaining Grasslanders. The location where the Grasslanders gathered together to avoid the arrows is now full of their corpses and half of Ulf's kinsmen have been massacred. Ulf's blood boils as he sees the Icelanders stepping on the corpses of his kinsmen.
Looking around, Ulf realizes that the Moon Riders' number who chose to follow him is reduced to only 50 men. Half of them have been dead in the assault up the mountain. Also, they have managed to kill nearly 200 Icelanders, their remaining forces have completely been destroyed. As they are hesitating about whether they should charge downhill toward the army that attacking their main forces, Minoru Tatsuya and his cavalrymen have appeared behind the ranks of the Moon Riders.
- '' CHARGE '' Tatsuya shouts. The host of Icelander cavalrymen charges at the Moon Riders from behind. Even the finest cavalrymen can be in a panic and cannot fight with their best strengths when being suddenly attacked from behind. The Icelander cavalrymen with the advantages of number and surprise elements are like wolves in a pack of sheep, killing the Moon Riders like cutting grasses on the field.
- ' Tszz '' Ulf signs, he realizes that this battle is lost and he needs to do something. Noticing that the most dangerous man on the Icelander side is a Samurai wearing red armor and wielding a long spear longer than usual. '' I need to kill this man'' he thinks. Ulf raises his glaive high into the air and charges against Minoru. Strength versus skills, recklessness versus caution. The length of duel between the two does not last for more than a minute, but hundreds of moves have been delivered against each other.
Even though from outer vision, we can think of the duel between them as a tie; however, if we observe carefully, we can see that the wounds on Ulf's body increase as the fight continues. Blood from the wound earlier caused by the archer captain keeps dripping. What comes must come, Tatsuya's spear successfully breaks through the defense of the Grasslanders' chieftain, piercing his chest from front to back.
And with that, the victory belongs to the Icelander. This victory combined with many other victories, the Icelanders have done a thing that no one has ever achieved before: defeating the Grasslanders in their own territory with smaller number.