While Regulus was defeating the first boss of the labyrinth, the human fleet finally reached the Skarnash Tribelands. Weirdly enough, they reached the port town that Regulus had visited a few days prior.
“Get ready, we will invade as soon as they give us the order and we will be at the frontline.”
Remi declared that as he watched the cannons being fired at the port town with his arms crossed and a serious expression on his face for a change. Ulric nodded while holding tightly to the handle of his sword.
The buildings that were hit by the cannonballs exploded into countless pieces since they had been enchanted with the flames’ enchantment, so if there was anyone inside them, they wouldn’t leave unscathed.
The sun had just appeared in the horizon, so the people in the town and those in the nearby ships were mostly sleeping… The orcs, goblins, and ogres on the ships soon woke up and tried to face the human fleet, but they were surprised to see countless Aquarian warriors landing on their deck and then attacking them with their magic.
At the same time, some others were underwater and using their magic to damage the keels of the pirate ships. Usually, they were reinforced to resist all kinds of underwater attack, but not when dozens of Aquarian warriors were attacking them at the same time and when they weren’t moving at all.
It didn’t take long for the first few ships to begin to sink. Some of the people managed to jump to the port, but others soon fell on the water and then they were immediately sent to the depths thanks to the Aquarian’s magic.
“Father wasn’t joking when he said that it is impossible to win against the Aquarians underwater.”
Ulric gulped when he heard that from Remi and then saw some goblins agonizing underwater. It was a pretty nasty way of dying. Ulric didn’t want to die anytime soon, but if he had to die, then a heroic death would be a better option.
People began to run away while the tougher looking orcs, goblins and ogres began to get ready for the next confrontation after the cannons stop. It wouldn’t take long since after just a couple of minutes, half of the port town was already on fire or became trash.
“They are quite big…”
Ulric saw the ogres and couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to get hit by those massive fists.
“They will be equally slow, so who cares? They are good at one-on-one battle, but they aren’t properly trained, so be cautious and use simple tactics and you won’t have to worry about anything.”
“Prepare to deploy!”
The captain of the ship declared and then those moved alongside the knights that were on the ship. Before long, the knights of the other ships began to jump to the port and then the cannonballs stopped. Thanks to that, the warriors that decided to stay behind left their cover to receive the invaders.
The people of the port town knew that they had no reason to be angry or pissed at the invaders, they did that countless times to other nations. At the same time, they suffered some attacks too. Still, they could at least receive them with enough vigor and welcome them with their style of greeting… with a lot of blood.
Remi smiled and then followed the others when he had the chance. He landed and then began to spin his spear while grinning. Ulric followed him, not feeling as much excitement as his brother.
“Kill them all, leave none behind and don’t waste time! We have a lot more of them to kill!”
When the defenders heard that, they realized the meaning of those words… Half-assed attacks against the people of the Skarnash Tribelands were a waste of time. If they were going to do something, they had to start and only stop when they reach a point where the entire land can no longer recover, or until all of them were completely decimated.
The knights began to charge at the enemies since it was a terrible idea to face them with their backs so close to the water. Fighting with their backs to the water was a disastrous position for the attackers because it left them exposed. Moreover, the attackers had no room for retreat; being pushed into the water would result in chaos and heavy casualties, even with the support of the Aquarians.
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This positioning also restricted their ability to maneuver or regroup, allowing the defenders to dictate the pace of the battle. The psychological pressure of being trapped between the enemy and the water further eroded the defenders’ morale, making mistakes and chances of panic take place a lot more likely.
By creating distance from the water, they could maneuver more and give room for their allies to leave the ocean. Securing more ground would allow the attackers to reorganize and utilize terrain features, such as buildings or natural barriers, to fortify their positions. This strategic depth would also provide breathing room to mount counter attacks. Additionally, gaining ground would give the attackers an opportunity to exploit the weakness of the ogres and other large fighters in closer, more controlled encounters where sheer power could compensate for their lack of coordination.
The fight started and the elites among the knights soon made blood rain in the area. Limbs of orcs, goblins and ogres began to be chopped left and right.
Remi soon found his first enemy and the goblin actually tried to reach him with only a pair of daggers in his hands. Remi trusted his spear forward, and the goblin blocked the attack. He wasn’t pushed backward and that showed his strength.
Still, in a fluid motion that it only took the blink of an eye, Remi took a step forward and then spun his spear. The butt of the weapon hit the chin of the goblin and then, in the next moment while he was stunned, Remi pierced his heart without any hesitation.
You received 1212 experience points.
Remi smirked thanks to the alert and then soon looked for the next target. He was going to get a lot stronger facing enemies like this instead of monsters.
Ulric wasn’t falling behind either… despite his lack of confidence, his sword slashes cut through the enemy’s weapons and their torsos as well. He stepped backward and confirmed that the light had left the enemy’s eyes and sighed in relief.
Ulric had a hard time taking his first life that didn’t belong to a monster, but recruits like him are forced to execute some prisoners and invaders after some battles in order for them to become less green. Doing that was a lot harder than killing their first enemy in a battle. After doing that a bunch of times, the feeling bothered him a lot less than before.
“Form a perimeter around the port and don’t leave your positions!”
Few defenders were left behind, so they didn’t last long against hundreds of knights of all kinds of levels and backgrounds. It looked like they had realized the scale of this attack and decided to alert the other clans and let the women and kids escape instead of trying to defend the port. That would work much better than trying to resist. Still, soon they will come to realize that four other ports were being attacked at this moment.
“Heh, too easy. I got ten of them. How many did you get, Ulric?”
Remi was cleaning his spear and checking that it didn’t suffer any damage. Although he mostly aim for the vitals, he tends to make his spear to get a lot of blood. He also prefers to block instead of dodging.
Blocking is often a better defensive strategy than dodging in combat for several practical reasons, particularly when it comes to maintaining control and minimizing risk. It allows a fighter to remain in place, preserving their footing and balance. This is crucial for counter attacking or maintaining control of the battlefield. Blocking generally requires less energy than dodging, especially against rapid or repeated attacks. It’s often more efficient to absorb or deflect the force of a blow rather than constantly repositioning oneself.
Meanwhile, dodging, while useful for avoiding damage, often requires the fighter to move away from their current position, potentially exposing them to follow-up attacks or losing their advantageous spot. Dodging often requires resetting one’s stance before launching a counterattack, which can slow down response time.
“... Six.”
“Hahahaha, you are strong, but overthink too much. At this rate, you will always be the weakest of the Dawnshield brothers.”
Ulric didn’t care about that, he was more worried if his brother who was only a year older was a nutcase or was that normal to feel that relaxed in the enemy’s territory. He looked around and then noticed that the other knights didn’t look as worried as him.
The young ones looked proud since they survived the first battle unscathed. Still, that was going to be a very long campaign, so perhaps aiming for that will let them fight more and gain more merits in the campaign. A lot of them looked at him, annoyed and at his brother as well, since if they don’t try as hard, they won’t become as famous.
“Hehehe, I didn’t consider that, but perhaps I can get more famous than those two. Let’s see, killing some chieftains of those clans will do the trick. Are you going to try to surpass those slowpokes as well, Ulric? You might fall behind if you don’t try hard enough.”
Ulric didn’t think that it was possible… surpassing Remi was difficult enough. Jacques was getting more famous every year since he had already hunted down a bunch of necromancers. It was said that he was even welcome in the Aeloria Dominion after defeating a certain dark elf necromancer there.
As for Gerald, he had heard that he was working as a squire for the commander of the Golden Shield Order…. An elite group that creates a lot of royal guards. While he was lost in thought, the commander of their fleet approached.
“We secured the area, but we will proceed a bit faster than planned to catch up with those that escaped. Follow me.”