Chapter 215: Battle Of Southeast Tod (Part 1)
Raptu Fareza's perspective
24th Tiger Regiment and 9th Wing Platoon joint operation
Freedom Beastmen Army
2nd-afternoon bell (2:00 AM) - Day 13 of the second Winter, 1173 (December 13, 1173)
Tod forest - Border between Warsaw and Attenta
Southeast of Tod forest front
30 minutes before the incident
Now I was with my regiment on the southeast side of the Tod forest, waiting for the enemy to come to get rid of them. This regiment was under my uncle - Rakyara Fareza's command, but now he was not here with me. Instead, he was now on the far north. In No Man Zone's border, where the Wing Platoon was jointly operating with us. My uncle was observing us from afar, by staying in the rear line.
Those Eagle soldiers were garrisoning on that side, would air support us when we have a need. They'd use things like chopped wooden logs or huge stones we brought with them when the Army was on its way to get to Warsaw. The objects I named earlier would be used for air support by throwing directly at the below enemy. That kind of tactic was called "bombing" according to Gen. Rigen. Honestly... our FBA (Freedom Beastmen Army) was either hardly used to this tactic or never used it before. The "bombing" named strategy seemed to be very... creative and interesting to us.
In front of me was now a field... a wide plain of the southeast side of the woods would be more right to say - according to me. An Attenta regiment (recently confirmed to have one more battalion alongside them, total of 3.200) was told to be moving here. According to the plan, we'd take care of the enemy from the southeast. While Ms. Reimi Frieden's regiment would take care of the hostiles from the southwest.
"Drinks... drinks... drinks...". - Thinking for a while, I temporarily stopped and started drinking wine again, by drinking the wooden jar I was holding
I lost Erissen so I was sad, depressed and also... mad, felt like revenge for her and her parents. Those Attenta people were so ruthless... they sent spies into this country by disguising them as civilians. Later killed innocent children, used women, children and the weak to cause chaos in the country. Luckily, we managed to stop it... but Eris would never be returned to her family anymore. Ms. Milch must be very depressed when her husband and her daughter passed away, she'd be alone for the rest of her life.
"Drinks... drinks... drinks...". "Hahhhhhh... sigh...". - The wine jar was drained out all, my mouth sighed sadly and I grabbed another jar - which was placed on the right side of my seat
I was sitting on a bunch of green crates, which stocked inside were the snakes, scorpions, roaches and... various insects of my Kingdom. Those insects were used by the Army to assist in combat, to scare the enemy and also to create diseases. 'Cause I was sitting behind the Army's formation so I could see my entire regiment while sitting here to drink. We had about 1.700 troops forward, honestly we were strongly outnumbered by the enemy but we could manage ourselves with our small troops, no need to be worried.
By the way. I was ordered to return to my country, not to avoid the Warsaw Corps Army basic training in the school. The purpose came from my father - Ratapatu Fareza, who summoned me back to my homeland to join the Freedom Beastmen Army. According to him, war would come in the future so I was called back to join the Army, trained to be an officer. Because of that reason, I didn't have time to be with Eris anymore, even though I had feelings for her... ummm... well, shit that!
During the Army officer basic training, I defected several times to return to Warsaw to see Eris. Turned out I wasn't courageous enough to confess to her that I love her... since loving the one who had the same gender was... something very odd right?
It never happened to my family's past generations... not even to my parents. But I had it, I oddly love the girl who was the same gender as me. But according to my country's laws, the way I did was heavily unacceptable, very much. Loving the one who had the same gender was considered unacceptable, but loving the one who had the different race was heavier.
Especially if it involved humans. Our beastmen used to be human's slaves for centuries, for many generations till we got out independent from those men. Our beastmen's relationship with humans was quite difficult. The alliance with this Kingdom was just an exception... and King Shiva - my uncle-in-law, strangely became open with the humans after centuries.
Before that, no previous Kings of ours did that... when I heard my regiment would be the first unit to come to Warsaw, I was very glad. Because we were sent here first to observe the situation before the war. During that time, I defected from my unit to return to the Kingdom to meet Eris... turned out that was the last time I saw her alive... Attenta attacked the country ever since then, tch!
Now I regretted it a lot. I wish I hadn't left the school at that time, but stayed in there to die with the girl I love... it was very painful. Otherwise, maybe I could've stopped the attack in the school if I was still there, I wish I could go back in time to fix it.
"Roars... roars... roars...". - All of sudden, I was drinking the new wine jar and some roars sounded out on the right side
Turned out that was Sibara - my pet, I meant... my tiger who would also join this open plain battle. He could be described to be well built, with light brown furs all over his body while dark brown stripes were all over my tiger. My tiger was armored by wearing black buffalo leather clothes - with buffalo horns strapped to his neck, those were the necklaces. Sibara's cheeks had black symbols of claws, which were the tattoos printed on his face.
"Roars... roars... roars...". - Maybe he wanted to be cuddled, I think so
"Hmmm...". "Drinks... drinks... drinks... drinks... drinks...". - I cuddled my tiger's face while drinking as usual
After cuddling my pet, I returned to drinking while glancing at the plain forward to me. That was a long and wide plain of the Tod forest, significantly opposite to the southwest side - which had only trees and rivers all around. As I could see by now, no enemy spotted yet but only my regiment forming their fighting formation to wait for the enemy to come to them. After a while of drinking and looking at the plain scenery, I found myself so full after drinking too much. Slowly I put down the wine jar and left the green crates, slowly standing up. Later I grabbed my primary weapon which I put on the left side of the crates, then I walked out.
My weapon was a very heavy sword (its weight was 30 kilograms as I could tell). That was a heavy big black sword, had a length of 2,2 meters and was very heavy, from its material to its weight. Despite being a heavy sword, I could lift it easily since I was a beast-human. Our beastmen's strength was times stronger than humans, so we could use our physical strength to take victory in the battles.
I tilted my heavy sword to my right shoulder and walked toward my fighting Regiment. Those FBA warriors were standing and speaking to each other, or just simply drinking to wait for the enemy. Drinking was a tradition in my country... so I wasn't surprised too much to see dropped jars on the ground. These Beastmen warriors were talking about their families or something, I could feel it. They were either worried about their families, their kids and their wives. Otherwise, some of them were asking each other, hoping to return home soon during wartime.
Shortly I looked away and pointed my attention to the tigermen - the first-line soldiers of our fighting formation. Those FBA warriors were mounting on their tigers, their pets all had black tattoos on their faces and wore leather clothes, some had horn necklaces. Those tigermen's equipment was quite simple to me. They were armed with long spears (made from very hard and old bamboo trees), alongside red, green or black leather or cloth armors which had no sleeves... some individuals even naked their upper bodies, very muscular with furs all around, densely.
These warriors' faces had black tattoos of various animal or insect forms on their cheeks, being printed with the belief of bringing hidden power to them. Their arms and their wrists had colorful bands strapped on them, while their forearms had black tattoos of animals and insects. These tigermen's heads also had colorful bands strapped in there too, they looked fierce and energetic. Dense furs were all over their bodies. Their pants and loincloths had belts made from snake material, they had barefoot, looked wild...
To say about the tattoos, printing them on our forearms was the kind of tradition in my homeland. In our beliefs, we believe that each animal has different powers, and each power would make us stronger when we have 'em. We'd choose a side of our forearm - most of our beastmen choose the right forearm to be the side the dark tattoos to be printed on.
We'd print various black tattoos about the animals and insects. The tattoos could be about their bodies' parts, like the claws, the horns, the feet or anything we assume to be powerful to be printed in. Even though those black tattoos only had the use to decorate the most. Our ancestors still believed that these tattoos could bring powers to them... so this kind of tradition remained till this day, passed down through our beastmen's generations.
Printing tattoos was mandatory for the Beastmen Army military service. So all the warriors had printed black tattoos on their forearms, the difference was how many tattoos a warrior had on their forearms. Many tattoos we have, many experiences we used to go through. According to our ancestors, when our entire forearm was covered with tattoos, that was the time we had become the strongest warrior of the Beastmen.
Except for the tattoos printed on the warriors' faces just for fun, the tattoos on their forearms would show how strong they were. Despite having powerful animal and insect figures on the tattoos, the progress of printing them on our bodies was very painful, terrible to the bones.
Somehow it was also pointed to be the way to know how warrior we were, by taking the pain while having the tattoos printed on us. An example was me, I hadn't had any tattoos, not until I was called to join the Beastmen Army. The tattoo printing progress was painful. Though... it was nothing compared to the incident I got through yesterday... that was the most painful moment I had ever experienced in my life...
"Sigh...". - Complaining would not make things change, so I stopped thinking while staring at the tigermen
These tigermen's primary weapons were the bamboo spears while their secondary weapons were the short curved swords. The thick wooden round shields were also equipped for the tigermen. Except for the weapons of different units, their armor looked the same to me. The FBA warrior spearmen were armed with bamboo spears and short curved swords like the tigermen. Though... the archers were different when they were armed with longbows (made from ancient trees). Despite the simple weapons and armors, our beastmen were still very fierce and powerful by using our extraordinary power in combat.
After glancing at the fighting regiment for a while, I returned to the green crates since I didn't see anything for me to do. Returning to the crates, I sat on them once again, thinking about being idle for a while to calm myself down... sigh... I'll kill 'em all...
"Drinks... drinks... drinks...". - Being sad, I dropped my heavy sword on the left side and grabbed a half-drink wine jar to drink again
"Tap!". "Hey, my little sister! It's been so long...". - All of sudden, when I was drinking, someone punched me lightly on my right shoulder, shortly he sat next to me
I stopped drinking and looked at the person. That was my older brother - Tapa Fareza, as I could remember... he was picked to take my uncle's place when he was away. When my uncle was observing the battle from afar, my brother would command the regiment here instead. By the way, the way he punched me was the way our beastmen used to greet each other, by punching lightly to one's upper body part.
"Taps!". "Oh, fuc-, juck!". "That's hurt! Be more gentle the next time, little cutie". - I also "greeted" my brother by punching his face, he was pissed off but shortly forgave me
Apparently, my older brother was very bulky and tall... he must be... 2 meters, I think so. He was a tiger breed, while I was just a fox breed. Could be saying I and him were the brother and sister of the same father but with different moms. Tapa's cheeks had dark tattoos of eagle claws, while his face was brown with furs all around. His head had a green band strapped on, he had sharp yellow tiger's eyes, looked very scary... hmmm.
He was armed with wooden plates strapped on his forearms, to protect his arms from attacks, I think so. His dried snake belt could be seen carrying a long green curved sword on the left side, while a strapped bamboo spear was on his back... looked good enough. Though... he wasn't armed with any shields at all.
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His clothes were just like mine and other Beastmen warriors. We wore leather or cloth armors which had no sleeves, our loincloths and pants were the same. We weren't wearing any shoes at all, just out barefoot on the ground.
"Hmmm... you look unwell". "What's wrong...? Tell me". - Tapa later sat next to me and took a wine jar beside him, my brother also joined to drink with me, huh?
"Hmmm... nothing to say". "Drinks... drinks... drinks". - After replying to my brother, I drank the wine once again
I kept drinking without caring about anything around me, just simply waiting for the enemy to come to eliminate them all. Seeing me drinking without caring about things around me, my brother found it strange so he got closer to me. He later drank like me too, but after a short drink, he stared at me. Later pointing to me his wine jar, as if to ask me to "cheer" or something.
"Dzo (cheer)". - He said the word, "dzo" means "cheer" when we drink together
"Drinks... drinks... drinks...". - Instead of cheering, I kept drinking without caring about my older brother
Drinking for a while, I put the wine jar on the left side once again since I saw myself full. After that, I looked forward, staring at a space, didn't know what I should do next after losing Eris. Maybe I should take a short walk before returning to drink again...
Even though those were repeat actions, I could feel a bit better by doing that, that was what I thought. However, I saw I was not in the mood to walk at all. Finally, I chose to lie on the crates while closing my eyes, trying to refresh, trying to find something peaceful, trying to forget what happened yesterday... hmmm.
"Hey, my little sister". "I know you're unwell, tell me what happened". "I'll help you".
"Nothing... let me sleep a bit". "When they come, tell me...". - After saying this to my brother, I closed my eyes and lay there, waiting for the enemy regiment to come to wipe out all of them
"Hey, don't do that!". "Taps!". - My brother suddenly punched my right chest lightly... I tried to ignore him
"Hmmm...". "Hmmph!". - Later he seemed to have given up, I could hear his footsteps walking away from me
"Licks! Licks! Licks! Licks!". - When I was closing my eyes, someone licked me so I opened my eyes once again to look at the person
"Ahhh... that's you?". - Turned out that was my pet - Sibara, he licked my fingers... maybe my tiger was hungry
Otherwise, he did this for another purpose. I slowly got up and shortly saw something floating in the sky, surrounded by the FBA warriors. Surrounded by my curiosity, I raised my hand to tell Sibara not to follow me, shortly I approached the thing the warriors were looking at. When I approached the thing, I slowly realized that was our ally, an individual whose breed was an eagle. Her body was surrounded by thick and hard white hides while her blue eyes were as sharp as a knife. A blonde long spiky-haired woman, who was wearing a green dress, sleeveless. Her black nails were sharp, her yellow feet were spiky and biggest compared to all of us here.
Her forearms showed me two panther's eyes tattoos on both sides. She floated thanks to her light yellow wings - which were huge and flapping when she was floating in the air, watching us from above. Without a doubt, this woman was Dollory Sampari - the Commander of the 9th Wing Platoon. The unit was jointly operating the battle alongside our Tiger Regiment. As she landed on the ground, Dollory gave my brother a scroll of fur papers. I was a bit surprised to see the Commander of a military unit had to do this job... because her soldiers could have done it instead, not her directly.
"Let me...". - I asked the FBA warriors before me to get out of their way to let me get through
"Understood, Blonde Eagle". "You can go now... when the battle comes, give us air support, from the beginning". - My brother Tapa ordered Dollory to bomb the Attenta fighting regiment in the first place when the battle breaks out
"Understood, Commander". "We cannot use the flight on the southwest, so the time for us to rearm will be a bit longer". "Blonde eagle out". - Commander Dollory slowly flew into the sky while staring at my brother
"What happened?". - I asked her
"Attenta's about to come". "Their troops are very large, but they won't see it coming". - Finished speaking to me, Dollory slowly floated farther in the sky
Not so long later, she flew away to the north, purposing to head to No Man Zone to order her platoon team to rearm. Seeing Dollory's disappearance, the FBA warriors shortly dismissed. They returned to form their fighting formation as usual. My brother didn't dismiss but kept standing there, opening the scroll to read the paragraphs in there. The explanation was fully and detailedly described in the scroll, I was a bit curious about its warfare content.
"You again?". - When my brother was about to read the scroll, he spotted me so he stopped doing that
"...". - I didn't say anything but looked away, shortly walked back to the green crates
After returning to the crates, I sat on them while thinking about Eris. My sadness was still there, continuing without stopping... I later felt like relieving myself after drinking too much. I went to a bush over there, slowly sat down and looked up at the sky... sigh!
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Later I returned to the green crates and sat down once again. But this time I didn't drink at all, just simply looked at the scenery beyond the plain... thought about the enemy, wondering how long until they would come.
The FBA warriors ahead seemed to be a bit bored since they hadn't seen the enemy from afar. The spearmen and archers started going idle. They sat on the ground and talked to each other, some even came to the wine jars to bring out some to drink. About my brother, he was still waiting for the enemy as usual. Hmmmm... maybe I should approach my brother.
Hearing my instinct, I got up from the crates and slowly approached my brother alongside Sibara. As we approached Tapa, he was gazing at the far sight of the plain, looking without blinking, not even once. Below him was his right hand, holding the read scroll. I took the scroll and skimmed it, later realized that the enemy was about to come by this time... just a bit slow.
Seeing the written words in the scroll, I closed it and returned to the green crates. Later put it down, grabbed my heavy sword and a wine jar to go with me. Finished taking those things, I approached my older brother, waiting for the enemy while standing along with him.
"Wait... I see something". - All of sudden, Tapa spotted something from afar, he later pulled out a metal tube and looked through its glass to look the things farther than him
That metal tube could be said to be a thing that had a similar use to the belongings of Gen. John and his subordinates (binoculars). However, this metal tube was made in Ashura kingdom, the one in my brother's hand must be a gift from their King, I think so. Such a pity when modifying this metal tube's range was impossible to do, not like Gen. Rigen's binoculars, more convenient.
"They're coming...". "Everyone, line up! We're about to fight 'em, do it now!". - Seeing the enemy Regiment from afar, my brother yelled loudly to order the FBA warriors to form their fighting formation
I was curious so I snatched his metal tube, later looked through its glass. When my range was extended thanks to the metal tube, I looked at the far sight of the plain, seeing a bunch of armed people marching on the ground. These Attenta soldiers marched vertically, seeing them without the tube could make them look like a long line of snake if I looked at them from afar.
After a minute ever since we spotted the enemy regiment, they seemed to like to have spotted us as well. The Attenta soldiers, from each different unit were forming their formation while on the way approaching us from afar. According to my calculation, the enemy was away from us about 428 meters. My Tiger Regiment also formed our formation as well as the enemy, we were about to fight against them, on a wide plain.
"What are you doing, Rap?!". "Slaps!". "Return to your formation, we're going to head out, come on!". - Tapa suddenly snatched the metal tube and slapped me, asking me to return to the formation
"I'll stay...". - I ignored my brother's order and drank a little wine from the jar
"Sir! One is coming!". - When my brother was asking me to return to the formation, some warriors said loud to him
Turned out the enemy had suspicious movement... so the FBA warriors alerted my brother because of that reason. From the far sight of the plain, the Attenta soldiers could be seen finely forming their formation, but one on his horseback was approaching us swiftly. Seeing the unsettled situation, some FBA warrior archers stepped up, raising their bows toward the incoming enemy horseman, being cautious.
"Wait... let him pass". - Tapa slowly raised his hands, telling the archers to hold their shots
The enemy horseman just like that sprinted toward us without a struggle. I could see his horse had a stick strapped to a yellow flag (the neutral flag) on the horse's back. Shortly after that, the horseman had completely reached us and dismounted. He appeared to be an enemy General or something... or at least he must be a Lord from the hostiles. The enemy General, without any guard up but stepped toward us.
(It's an honor for me to have the chance to meet you beastmen in this war). (As I heard from... His Majesty, you people appeared here since when and we don't know anything about your existence till this time). (Hmmm...). - That man greeted us by using Englis - the human language, it was obvious since he couldn't speak Rap - our beastmen's language
"What is he saying, Rap?". "Tell me, spea-".
"Shut up...". - Could not believe that my brother wasn't knowing to speak human language at all
(What's your purpose...?). - I asked the General
(I'm looking for your leader...). (Is he here...?). - That General asked me and shortly looked around
(That's me...).
(Ohh, that's good...). (I came for a duel, Sir Beastman). (To think about having a duel with such a strong warrior in your Army, it's a big honor to me). - The General slowly approached me and bowed
"Drinks... drinks... drinks...". - While hearing his explanation, I also drank some wine from the jar
(Hmmm... I don't have much knowledge of your traditional fighting way). (Show me...).
(The leader of both sides will come into a duel). (The winner will have the right to ask the loser to do what they demand). (Honestly I won't escalate things here, Sir Beastman... just a small duel).
(Your demand, huh...?). (Drinks... drinks... drinks...).
"Yes, Sir Beastman). (It's simple... I and you have the duel, then if I win, all of you must withdraw and let us take over this territory).
(Honestly... making your King get angry at us... is not a really good idea to do...). (What's your idea, Sir Beastman?).
(I want you to withdraw your troops if I win the fight...).
(Of course, Sir Beastman...).
(Drinks... drinks... drinks...).
"Your name, warrior". "What the hell, Rap?!". - My brother suddenly asked the General so I pushed him away
(What's the matter?).
(Nothing... nothing...).
(Name yours, human warrior).
(My name is Khulau Varasa - the Lord of Miwala - Attenta Kingdom). (It's an honor to know your name too... tell me, warrior of the beasts...).
(Hmmm...). - I think that would be a waste of time if I introduce my name to him
When the General was still curious and was waiting for my answer, I casually threw the wine jar at him. Seeing the alcohol poured into his armor, this man was curious, staring at me as if he was asking me what I was doing.
"Ahhhhhh! Ahhhhhh! Ahhhh! Ahhhh!". "Ahhhh! Ahhhh!". - Before he could speak a word, I used my fire magic to create the fire in my palm, shortly it burned the man
"Ahhhh! Ahhhh! Ahhhh! Ahhh!". "Ahhh! Ahhh! Ahhh!". - The hostile General was burning in pain, he kept yelling while trying to stop the fire, but that was useless
"Slams!!!!!". - When he was struggling to turn off the fire, I squeezed as hard as I could and slammed down my black sword at him
As I opened my eyes after slamming the enemy General to the bones, his body had now been crushed by my sword. He was lying on the ground, his blood was draining out non-stop, wetting the ground with its stains. Due to my sword's damage, his body, especially his head could not be recognized since I broke his brain. His brain's cells were all around the place, his head was smashed and it was exposed to have the jaw part remain in his neck.
"Raptu, what the fuck have you done?!". - My brother scolded me since I had done something terrible to the enemy, but I didn't care
I looked away from the dead General's body and lifted my heavy sword up, tilting its blade to my right shoulder while looking at the enemy from afar. Glancing at them from afar, I could not say sure how was their reaction to their leader's death... maybe they were all terrified of me.
"Hold her! Hold her! Hold her!". "What's wrong with you?! You killed him!". - These warriors were all bewildered when they saw me kill the man, now they were stopping me by holding me back
The enemy General had died and the Attenta soldiers could be seen running around from afar. My brother was still very bewildered, didn't know what to do except for examining the dead body below him.
"Get out...". - I asked the warriors to let me get away, they were all scared of my previous behavior so they let me go completely
I walked casually to the green crates and shortly grabbed another wine jar, but hadn't drunk it yet. Seeing the crates hadn't been opened, I glared at a nearby warrior... he was scared of me so he started opening each green crate.
"Drinks... drinks... drinks...".
Opening the crates, inside them were the strapped white bags that were holding insects in there. Since my anger was large, I decided to drink all the wine inside of the jar, later dropped it on the ground and approached a green crate.
"Let's see... scorpions, eh?". - After a short time pointing my hand around each crate, I decided to grab the bag which stored scorpions
I lifted the bag and my sword on my shoulders. Later approached Sibara and mounted on my tiger, being the first tigerman to lead the road of the fighting regiment. Somehow the FBA warriors behind me were now also preparing their bags to join the battle. My brother looked at me and shook his head many times, he didn't know what to do except for mounting on his pet - Sira.
"The enemy is coming to us, Sir!". "Form your formation!". - Some FBA warrior archers yelled since they spotted the enemy horsemen were coming toward us
The archer group shortly formed a long horizontal line and raised their bows and arrows. They shortly pulled the bows' strings and dropped them, letting the arrows fly freely to the incoming Attenta armored fierce horsemen. Hitting the arrows, their horsemen fell down one to one another. Our FBA warrior spearmen later formed their horizontal line teams, moving to the left side, right side and middle side to stop the Attenta horsemen from coming toward our soldiers.
For a short time, dozens of the enemy horsemen had been eliminated from the battle. The enemy from afar was approaching us by using their footmen. They raised their shields while coming to us, seemed to be very careful and highly cautious about us. While observing the battle, I spotted something from the sky so I looked up, seeing that was our team.
The eaglemen warriors could be seen flying in the sky while having their fighting formation in a V line, horizontally. They were carrying big wooden logs and big stones in their spiky feet, slowly lowering down to "bomb" the targets. After coming down for a certain distance, the eaglemen's feet dropped those things on the enemy and eliminated 'em. After bombing the Attenta enemy soldiers, the eagle platoon flew up and turned to the north, getting there to rearm.
"Tigermen, on me!". "Roars!". - After seeing the bombing, I ordered the tigermen to follow me, Sibara roared loudly
"Push forward! Move move!". - Later I rode my tiger forward the enemy's formation from afar, my hand holding my sword tightly while the scorpion bag was ready to be thrown at 'em at any time