Rise of the Horde

333 Chapter 33Back at the main battlefield, the two infantry lines finally clashed once again for the next round. The Drakhars finally felt the full weight of the bulk of the enemy infantry as their lines were being overwhelmed and their flanks were being threatened by their enemies.

“Send in the reserves!”

The commander of the Drakhars quickly sent out his remaining forces after seeing that their infantry won’t be able to hold out much longer against the number of their foes. Their infantry could fend off the attacks of their opponents from the front but the attacks coming from the sides were of another matter and an attack on their rear is especially dangerous.

For the first time since the battle began, the Drakhars were being pushed back by the enemy infantry not because they are losing against their foes in the slug fight but because of the threat on their flanks. If their foes could hit them on the flanks freely then their formation would be destroyed and they would be at their mercy which is why they kept on retreating.

“Hmm… I thought they were elites but they are just so-so.” General Trakaros took back his evaluation of the Drakhars being elite units after finding out their weakness.

The Drakhars who were in reserve finally joined the battle and they began securing the flanks of their allies, they matched the length of the enemy battle line to deny them from flanking them. And with the aid of the reserves, the Drakhars finally stopped retreating as they stabilized their lines.

The battle was noisy and chaotic especially at the very front of the two battle lines, shoving, pushing, stabbing and slashing were happening all over the place. War cries were let out to lift the morale, scream of pain of those who were unluckily wounded, groans of pain of those who were wounded, plead of mercy of those who were on the ground and still breathing that their allies and foes wouldn’t trample them to death and the commands of the officers.

Both sides were giving it their all especially the soldiers of General Trakaros since they learned their lesson, they have paid a heavy price to render the weapons of the enemy soldiers at the very front useless by keeping them within the reach of their hands. The fights that happened were not restricted to just using weapons but some grappling battles were also happening.

The two infantry lines were almost equal in terms of fighting prowess since the Drakhars were denied from making use of their formation’s advantage with their foes deep within their lines. They had foes mixed in with their battle lines and they also have allies inside the enemy lines.

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From the left flank of the Drakhars finally came their cavalry and they successfully eliminated the remaining enemy cavalry.

“Flank them on the other side.” Was the command given by the leading figure of the Drakhars and their remaining cavalry units galloped towards their right flank.

“We lost…” General Trakaros mumbled then ordered for the sound of retreat to be given as he headed away from the battlefield and back towards their camp. He was no longer interested in what was going to happen next since he was sure that his soldiers would absolutely be destroyed. The only thing that he was hoping for was for most of them to survive the slaughter.

Although far from the ideal tactic, the Drakhars and their allies managed to pull off a hammer and anvil tactic against their foes. With the riders crashing against the rear of the enemy infantry came the sound of retreat but that was the beginning of the real slaughter when the enemy broke from battle and flee. The riders chased after their fleeing opponents and hunted them down with no mercy. The more enemy they kill, the lesser number of foes that they have to encounter on the next battle.

It was two hours before night time came when the allied cavalry of the Drakhars finally returned to their camp from their hunt. If their steeds weren’t exhausted and hungry, they would have continued with hunt till midnight but their mounts weren’t machines and even machines have breaking points when used without rest except it just has higher durability.

Before their dinner, the leaders of the Drakhars were having a council inside the tent of Khao’khen. The orcish leader might be the overall commander of the entire army but he was just there to listen on how did the commander assigned by Adhalia and the army of hers fared against the enemy.

By the looks of it, the enemy commander wasn’t some hot-headed newbie like Ounephes who they encountered before who threw his army away. And there was also the mystery about the enormous creatures that their scouts reported that they have spotted during the march of the enemy army during their arrival.

He didn’t know about the identity of those giant creatures but he had a bad feeling about their existence on the side of the enemy army. It must be some kind of expensive trump card since the enemy commander didn’t field them during the first day but it’s not like they didn’t have a trump card of their own. The existence of the horde was still yet to be made known to the enemy.

Back inside the camp of General Trakaros, the mood was gloomy.

“Report!” the old general had no emotion on his voice as he asked for the reports from the commanders of his army.

“We lost half of our light cavalry and a thousand of the remaining riders are wounded in varying degrees with two hundred of them no longer able to join in combat and more than a hundred of them are missing.”

“Almost half of our infantry is gone with close to a thousand men still missing but the one that suffered the most is our archers, there is only a bit over four hundred of them left, not enough to create a unit.”

The old general nodded his head then dismissed them.

“I have underestimated our foes… I thought that they were just a bunch of peasants that banded together because someone rallied them to so. I didn’t expect for them to apply real military tactics against and I even fell for the oldest trick. Hahaha!” he laughed as he chugged down a mouthful of his wine.

“Nabeser, do you think that I have gone rusty after not participating in real battles the past five years?” the old general directed his gaze towards one of his adjutants.

“You are still you, commander. It’s just that we didn’t expect this kind of opposition but I know that you will be able to thoroughly crush them later on just like before.” Nabeser responded while staring at the ground.

The old general chuckled.

“No need to comfort this old man. I know the taste of defeat. It’s just… been a long time that I have tasted it.” He continued to chuckle but there was a dangerous glint on his eyes.