Colliding with the hue of devouring Niröhès, archers and mages unleashed arrays of spells from back line. Tankers took the big shields barging, banging directly into the rushing horde. The whole horde came to a momentous stop as if a big wide chasm had separated the two sides. Advantaging the moment, spearmen activated their piercing strike shaving and slaying as many as they could.
Niröhès true to their hungry nature billowed and continued their relentless attack stepping over others. Pierced, opened, crimson black ooze spilling, arrows digging into their shadowy bodies; Niröhès kept pushing on the frontline.
Commanders barked orders to each of their units….
HOoooLDddd….'
But situation was getting worse for the shields. They were trying to buy time for the array masters of the house to work their magic just behind the frontline.
As soon as they finished, Kaine and other commanders voiced to:-
SPLIT…. Take formations.
Holding the line steady and shields ready; front liners split from the middle giving way to Niröhès from the middle. Forming pathways for Niröhès while simultaneously surrounding the the spearmen, close combatants, mages into various triangular groups as following:-
20-Shields- (outermost layer)
20- Spears-(in between the shields)
23- Close Combatants -(behind the shield and spearmen)
12- Mages (forming triad with the combatants)
03- Healers (at the centre surrounding the tactician and buffer or formation)
01- Desfors (mind of the formation)- (at centre of formation as buffer and supplier)
Tip of triangle pointed to enemy, facing the onslaught. While base of it served as cover for the back of warriors and replacements after regular intervals while spearmen and close combatants hold off the horde.
This formation required extreme practice, precision, trust, sync and an ample amount of awareness of space with perception. It was hard to master but house of Sakura had ingrained this into their soldiers.
Everybody was working as a one efficient unit and still they were getting overwhelmed. That was the extent of threat Niröhès posed.
From the areas that opened, few Niröhès attacked the said formations, many from the horde ran directly into the array masters' traps setting ablaze to the a chain reaction of sonic booms and explosions.
This gave few moments of respite to the soldiers and every body rushed to the backline while fending of the subsequent attacks. In a moment's notice the next wave was upon them; more fierce, more devastating, mOo..re volatile.
New soldiers replaced the old and the cycle repeated once more. Every body was coordinating well till now, there were no casualties but injuries and fatigue had started to pile up leading to more frequent mistakes.
Kaine looked at the battlefield and he knew that it was time.Time for the commanders to step in, buy time for superiors to show up and time for the soldiers to retreat. This was done to minimise the casualties and discordance that was brought about to bystanders as Niröhès consumed somebody. They had been lucky till now, though they couldn't count on it anymore.
Jumping from the wall, commanders- Kaine from estate of autumn, Pazel from estate of summer, Nashiya from estate of winter, Yami from estate of spring and Dior from estate of desfor; struck the incoming Niröhès with their class skills. Holding the hording buying time for the soldiers to retreat. Forming a spearhead formation they bundled together giving way to a spectacle of abilities. It was a rare sight for lower ranked warriors to see their commanders at their best.
Soldiers running for their lives with Niröhès hot on their tail, inspite of commanders holding things at front line it wasn't possible to restrain all of them.
Unable to continue facing the Niröhès tailing them, some turned around bravely to buy time time for others. This lead to their first causality on battle field.
He was a brave soldier with 15 years of service under his belt. He had lost a lot to Niröhès and now he was going to lose his life to them. Niröhè pounced at Gibbs, to which he responded by staking it on his spear. He continued being a menace to Niröhès for while, untill when suddenly from behind, one of them bit on his neck and pulled the arteries out of his neck. Then he was struck by claws at his ribs, punchering his lung and pulling two lower ribs and spleen out with them. The mass dissipated into the smoke of Niröhè. Gibbs tried to still fight it to take it down with him but he was a bit slow due to injuries. Hence, was then digged at lumbar part of his spine; effectively severing the connection to his lower legs. As his body crumbled to ground a look of despair, hate, unwillingness reflected from his eyes for a moment before he released a silent sigh of resignation. Then closed his eyes as he resigned himself to pain and death.
From afar, his companions watched with mix of emotions; horror, guilt, thankfulness, pity, some smug about their survival. But some feelings were common to all of them, hostility to Niröhès and dread of meeting the same end.
These feelings grew more firm as they looked at the scene of how slowly Gibbs's flesh was devoured and dissipated from a gory spill of flesh, blood and organs to crimson black smog effectively strengthening their enemies.
Commanders continued to push, punish and protect with all their might. Some soldiers died, some survived, some tainted and some partly devoured. All were waiting for the moment when horde would end and guardian would show up.
Why did they not search for guardian actively, you ask?
So tell me, what would you prefer to do; fight the unknown at home ground or search for it and then under variable circumstances fight at an unknown location?
The answer is pretty obvious and that's what they did. There was no benefit in fighting guardian earlier anyways. Niröhès were already released and there were always a certain amount that poured out in such situations.
Commanders battered and exhausted held on till the end. There was not a single Niröhè in sight now. They hoped that they wouldn't encounter guardian today. They hoped that the guardian would travel to some other Qutb. Alas~~
A deep killing aura, pressure pressed all over the battlefield. Commanders had their breath caught in throat unable to move. Finally:-
THE GUARDIAN WAS HERE.