The next morning the entire unit woke up early. We moved together and headed to set up our ambush. It could have been argued that our tactic of using the horse trained commands and an amplification spell to get the cavalry to stop and run into each other was an unfair move, but the commands could have been picked up by a spy so it was only toeing the line.

The biggest hope of the battle fought today was to even out the numbers on both sides. It seems that the opponents conscripted four cities to our three. This meant that they not only had a big number advantage when it came to the conscripts but also when it came to the guard units. They could be big turning points. With the information gathered from the bug we hope to swing the number advantage to our side. Especially since troops that surrender are just allowed to go back home, meaning there will be no fighting to the last breath.

For our work in setting up the hunters were taking the lead in scouting to make sure there were no enemy scouts to spot our ambush. Surprisingly since getting Fluffy, name chosen by Katie and Fluffy herself as she simply refused to respond to anything else once she heard it, Tom was also assigned to spotting as he could see through the darkness before the sun came up better than anyone.

Fluffy was left back at the healer camp as taking part will most likely mean she would be killed with her low level three power and that none of our opponents had any incentive to let her live. There she enjoyed her lavish lifestyle of eating and being fawned over by healers until the first casualties would come in.

Once getting into position we waited. The enemy came a bit faster than we were expecting but well within our margin of error. The riders outnumbered us three to one, but we weren’t looking to take them out in an open battle, hell we weren’t looking to even win. All we were trying to do was to delay them and take out as many as we could safely.

As I drew my first arrow and pulled it back waiting for the loud yell I knew was coming I was scanning the troops for anyone who looked to be in command. The confusion we were about to throw them into was our biggest advantage so taking out the leadership would prolong that for a while longer.

The odd shout came and a lot more than half the horses did a full stop in the next few steps. Many horses sent their inexperienced riders out of the saddle into the ass of the horse in front. Around three quarters of the horses stopped with many of the remaining crashing into the others causing a pileup the likes of which I had never seen back on Earth. Thankfully I knew that these people and even horses, were a lot more resilient so it shouldn’t have resulted in any deaths.

Unsurprisingly the people I was aiming for didn’t stop or run into their own comarads, these were experienced fighters who had built up a connection with their horses. I loosed my first arrow and saw it hit the belly of the man I was aiming for. Sadly it seems like he was wearing quite a bit of under armour as the arrow hardly penetrated despite hitting the gap in the plate. Thankfully the shot had enough power that combined with the element of surprise it knocked him off his horse and left him dodging the incoming traffic, unable to take control of the situation. So I drew another arrow and looked for my next target.

I knew that at this range I had no chance of doing much damage to them without using my mana but I was only looking to distract them and be a nuisance. I managed to almost empty my entire quiver by the time they regained a semblance of order and having lost almost a tenth of their forces in the initial ambush, they proceeded to chase after us.

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We on the other hand had no intention staying to fight, the longer they chased after us the better it would be so I started setting up a delay tacting. A slippery smelly substance, I still don’t know the name of, was sitting in barrels at the top of the small hill we ambushed them from. I proceed to start poking holes in barrels and rolling them down the hill. All the while waiting for the order to retreat.

“Pull back” the commander's right hand man started calling out.

This was the first surprise our side had that day. It was supposed to be the commander who would give the call for starting the retreat. My own position as an archer allowed me some time to look around and see what was going on before I had to take off.

Looking in the direction the commander was supposed to be I noticed he was locked in combat with a man that seemed even older than him. Both were moving a lot faster than I could even with full use of my mana. Not only that their glancing blows were almost enough to cut apart the trees we had hid among.

Suffice it to say that I now knew why the commander had let his right hand man take over leadership. Thankfully it seemed that everyone from both sides agreed that getting involved with that fight was a good way to get yourself taken out so we all gave them a wide breadth.

With the order to retreat the chase was on. Since it would be a waste of time to try getting the horses up the side of the slippery hill they chased after us on foot. For the first time I started to feel the fact that I was only level twenty-four. With everyone else being close to level thirty, exceptions being Spencer and Tom who were nowhere close so as to not present a weak point in the formation, I ran along and watched as soldier after soldier outran me. It wasn’t even that their skills were higher than mine as I had asked and running was a bitch to level up, it was all down to pure stats.

Fifteen minutes into the chase we started reaching the small canyon that had formed in the rocks. During this time I had fallen further and further behind almost being relegated to the last layer. The faster people had already started setting up a defensive position just inside the mouth of the canyon. We all knew it was a dead end and that they could just sit there and wait us out if they wanted, but that was time they didn’t have. Our small force would be taking up the time of one three times larger, and at least two of the enemy guard units if I was judging from the people I saw chasing after us.

As we closed ranks into the choke point I ended up in the third row of the ranks. The first row, having locked their shields, took a knee and allowed the second row to cover them. I was handed a spear and expected to use it to keep the enemy away more than deal any damage. Our instructions during training were very similar to the ones Kate gave me about shooting, we were to aim for the limbs and belly, but a lot more leeway was given to melee combat about people aiming correctly.

It was then that I saw the enemy troops part in a scene reminiscent of the old cartoon about Moses. A few seconds later the two commanders were seen coming through that space and it instantly made a lot of sense as to why nobody wanted to be there. Commander Grievous seemed to have taken the original upper hand from the wounds that marked the other’s feet and arms but was now focused on just retreating.

Just as I was wondering why wouldn’t he just stand and fight I sensed mana. In the next moment I saw spells heading for the battling duo. It all made sense, our own mages were focused on giving us as much of an advantage in retreating and were most likely already out of mana but we had seen very little spells coming from the enemy.

This was most likely because having mages firing into clumps of army was regulated against so they were relegated to manipulating the environment or taking their chances at the big shots. The enemy probably used quite some mana undoing our own side's work but now they were pressuring the commander but it didn’t seem like it would be enough.

My prediction ended up being right and the two broke away once they reached the halfway line between the two front lines that had formed. We were left with a stare down that lasted all of two seconds before the enemy started to make their way back to their horses.

I could see the annoyance on the face of the commander and even heard his voice as he swore loudly after giving the order to retreat. I got together with Tom and we started carrying the wounded over to the healer. It was a good day as we suffered no fatalities and only about three major injuries with a dozen medium ones.

“There is going to be quite a few arguments at their camp later today. I recognized the voice of that commander of theirs. He was one of the ones who thought going for multiple flanks was a bad idea.” he said while chuckling.