“Charge!”
Knight’s loud voice made their group start sprinting forward with a wild roar. Adrenaline rushed through the body, as Robert was running on the front line among other hundred or so warriors. Gripping the handle of his axe as tight as possible, he tried to put the shield before him to protect himself from possible arrows. His breath was heavy with that entire load out onto him, but he pushed his body forward to overcome open space and quickly engage in melee. The wet ground after the rain made his left boot squish because of the poorly fixed hole. However, Rob discarded everything, fully focusing on the scene before him.
The village, that they were attacking, was deep in the enemy’s territory and couldn’t boast proper defense. It had some wooden palisade, but it was not very high and had too many gates and doors in it, made for convenience in exchange for safety measures. At the last moment, locals tried to strengthen them with carts, logs, and even furniture, but it didn’t look robust. Still, fortifications were not a threat on their own – defenders were. Militia, hunters, and even possible knights amounted to an unknown quantity under the protection of an improvised fort, while Rob’s own side under the order of Baron had to make a frontal assault without any preparation. Sebastian Highmoon wanted quick advances and was willing to pay the price with the lives of his soldiers. Moreover, Robert’s group was just a distraction and the main attack would be made from the opposite side of the village with knights, Baron on a drake himself, and almost all skilled guards.
Lucky bastard! As always, we are used as meat, while he is in the back with elite force. I bet he will…
An arrow, heading directly into his face, interrupted Robert’s thought about Williams’s fortune. After experiencing the past two months of slowly but steadily escalating war, during which he took part in around ten battles, Rob’s mind partly adapted to incoming danger, heightening his reflexes. It wasn’t about increasing them, but more likely he lost the stoppers, which slowed them down previously – instinct fear, hesitations, absence of knowing how to react, etc. Some motions already started to integrate into his muscle memory on a deeper level and each death experience on the battlefield further optimized its effectiveness. That’s why all it took for Robert to deflect an arrow was just a slight raise of his shield. Hunting arrowhead didn’t manage to penetrate the wood, bouncing off, but Rob was already searching for another possible threat.
“Archers, shields up!”
The voice of Sergeant Daniel resounded across the field. Still, knowing the danger didn’t mean an ability to avoid it completely. Another arrow was aimed at a soldier to the right of Robert. His squadmate managed to cover himself in the same manner, but it led to miss wet bump in front of his foot. He immediately stumbled and clumsily fell to the ground. The problem was that no one was going to stop their run. The first one, who was behind, managed to jump over, but others didn’t have time to react. Robert didn’t see the result, but he easily could see the real possibility of being trampled down by running soldiers each over two meters in height, clad in armor and with weapons in hands. However, he didn’t have any opportunities to help as the palisade with a single leaf gate was already nearing.
“Make the way!”
Under another shout, Robert stepped to the side, while guarding against an incoming arrow. This one managed to stuck in the wood because of the shorter distance, but it took one swing of the axe to cut it. By this moment, the knight was already near the gate. The longsword, glowing with mana, penetrated the obstacle with ease. That was the main reason for no preparations before the assault. With the existence of the knights, no wooden or even metal constructs could hold long enough to be regarded as a proper fortification. Just after less than ten swings the hole in defense appeared, in which soldiers immediately rushed in. However, they were met with a row of shields, axes, and spears.
Robert slightly slowed down again not being pushed forward to the front. Despite raging adrenaline, he tried to keep his head calm not to do suicidal deeds. His first battle experience of exchanging wounds was dumb and could only give him a fast-paced one-way ticket on a date with Death herself. Still, his wish and reality were not always the same. The movement of the attacking group turned out to be in real natural flow, which he couldn’t resist. He was squished from all sides and literally was brought forward, just behind the frontal row.
In the next moment, Rob hastily had to move his head to the side, avoiding the thrust of a spear from the enemy’s ranks. He heard a metal’s gnashing when the sharpened spear point left a mark on the helmet. His squad mate in front of Robert tried to hit the enemy but was stopped by another one with a shield. These exchanges continued for some time, leaving no opportunity for Rob to change anything. He was stuck between armored bodies, had almost no space to move and not enough weapon reach to hurt the damn spearman.
Moreover, the push from behind hadn’t stopped in the slightest as more Highmoon’s soldiers tried to enter the breach in the gate. Ineffective hustle between front lines went on for a few minutes with only several getting wounded, but not dead. That gave the enemy’s hunter ideal targets to shoot, finally opening the count for kills. For Robert’s understanding, it was just a matter of time, before someone would fall, opening a new gap in ranks, which could be exploited by the opposite side. Therefore, when he saw such an opportunity by himself, he didn’t waste it.
The spearman got carried away in an attempt to hit Rob, and went into too long thrust, almost leaning on the front soldier. The latter even had to make a step forward so as not to trip, slightly turning his head back in annoyance. Robert immediately used all his strength to push forward his own mate, so both bodies crushed heavily into each other. However, the enemy’s distraction led him to lose his balance for a mere second. That critical time was quickly capitalized on by Rob and his ally. When the first threw his axe directly into the exposed spearman, the latter made a lucky swing, crushing the nose bridge of the shield wielder. On the other hand, Robert’s throw was not successful, nevertheless making an impact. Literally. As the spinning axe cut through the air, it turned to the side, hitting spearman’s neck with a handle. Still, that was enough for the enemy to fall backward, opening an even wider gap. Neighboring warriors hastily doubled their efforts to break through.
The more space was made, the faster the fighting went as new and new bodies fell on the ground dead. The lost axe was replaced by a spare mace with five flanges, which Rob prepared for such an occasion beforehand. He also had an extra knife with a long blade but never had the opportunity to use it for anything, except food. However, all unnecessary thoughts disappeared as he engaged in combat.
Firstly, he made a deep dent on spearman’s helmet after putting all his weight in the strike and finishing him off with a second hit. He barely avoided two swings after that, taking halberd on his shield, while sidestepping from thrust of another spear. Fortunately, he wasn’t alone. Before a new thrust was made, the owner got his arm severed. That allowed Robert to focus on halberdier. Shortening the distance before the next strike would follow, he bashed the enemy with his shield. The latter managed to stay on their feet but missed the swing of Rob’s mace. Metal flanges crushed the knee of the man despite protection, dropping him on the ground. Robert tried to follow with a killing blow, but the jumping kick from the side threw him backward. However, that enemy immediately had to defend itself from Rob’s allies. The lack of a shield together with limited space, while fighting versus two opponents, didn’t give him many chances. Still, the wounded halberdiers joined in a last moment, managing to injure one of them. The pointy blade of his weapon pierced the thigh, going between metal plates by sheer luck. That was the end for halberdier, as Rob’s mace crashed his jaw.
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The chaotic group battle continued as more and more Baron’s soldiers entered the village. As if not wanting to fall behind, the enemy’s ranks were strengthened by additional reinforcement. In Robert’s mind, everything started to be fragmented with only part of events imprinting in his consciousness. His hyper-focus helped a lot to react to lots of threats, but that didn’t make him invincible. His ability to restore from grave wounds or tiredness also couldn’t be triggered during the battle. Therefore, it soon left him with heaviness in his arms and out of breath. Still, any incoming swing or stab made him instinctively move to defend himself despite the exhaustion. The battle fully absorbed him, finally suppressing his calmness and pushing his instincts for survival on top.
Soon, he found himself during his push against the enemy’s ranks, while his shield edge was hitting the enemy’s bearded face, just to be followed with an overhead swing of a mace. The opponent managed to move out last moment, so a metal head crushed his shoulder instead of a head. Before Robert continued, the sword almost pierced his stomach, luckily hitting the metal plate underneath. However, the wave of pain distracted him for enough time to be targeted again. This time it was Rob, who was slightly late to avoid the thrust. The blade pierced his cheek, grinding some of his teeth, but stopping before the injury became fatal. Burst of rage from pain clouded his visio for some time before Robert woke up only to find himself stomping the neck of the enemy into the ground with a torn boot. The bloody mess, which appeared from his deeds, looked horrible, but he, himself, wasn’t better as another approaching soldier stopped for a moment with a shocked look. Rob just roared and jumped into the fight.
An unknown time later, he found himself with leftovers of his broken shield and without a weapon. Robert didn’t lose any memory, but there was almost nothing to remember. He struck. He was hit in return. It was all reactive in nature, where he couldn’t leave the fast-flowing river. Rob could only try to stay on the surface just not to drown under the chaotic events of the direct fight. Being in the front from the beginning didn’t help at all. Therefore, with a wound on his face, pain in the stomach, and bruises all over the body, he had limited choice to continue to struggle despite tiredness or just simply die. Because no one would give him a possibility to hide or to retreat.
The thought had ended with a hastily raised shield in an attempt to protect himself from an axe. Of course, it was futile as his protection gear was barely holding by this point. The wood cracked together with bone in his arm. Robert screamed but somehow managed to take the knife from his belt. Making a wild swing with his intact hand, so the enemy had to step backward, Rob jumped on him. The stab failed, but he managed to knock the opponent down to the ground. However, that appeared to be a bad idea, as the latter quickly got on top, pushing the blade of the axe to Robert’s face with all his weight. Moreover, Rob’s left hand was unusable.
Still, he didn’t want to give up. Feeling salty liquid in his mouth, he spat it directly into the eyes of the enemy. Not stopping on that, he swung his broken hand, using it as an improvised whip. The whip, with remnants of metal and wood on its end. Chips and blood flew around as they hit the enemy’s eye, immediately blinding him. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop him. His push only increased as if it was fueled by anger. Robert tried to resist the pressure, but the blade was approaching inevitably. He used all his strength to push it back or to the side, but everything was futile.
I guess additional push-ups earlier would not be redundant…
A dumb joke before the sure death made him smile, almost radiating the madness. The face of the enemy slightly twitched from such an image – bloodied teeth with a torn hole in his cheek could easily make an impression. Especially, considering the situation. That thought made Robert grin even wider. He didn’t stop resisting the pressure, but he somehow lost some part of fear of incoming death, while observing even not from the first row, but from the touch distance. And then the forceful push had disappeared. The single eye of the enemy lost its focus, and he just dropped down onto Rob, only to be replaced by Monk’s worrying expression.
“Are you alright, Robert? I saw your fall and tried to be quick,” with the same shy smile Paul pulled off the corpse from Rob.
“Oh, you were just in time, Paul, thank you,” Robert answered with strange inner calmness, smiling again.
“You can thank our God later as I am a mere follower of his will, but right now you better get up,” shook his head Monk, grabbing the spear and standing up.
Robert nodded before using all his will to push himself up. Trying not to be distracted by the pain, he fully focused on his surroundings in an attempt to grasp the situation as fast as possible. There was no time for talks or detailed observation. Fortunately, his mind was used to this. The time didn’t slow down, but it took him mere seconds to grasp everything. It looked better than he was expecting to.
Despite being a distraction force, they managed not only to breach the gate but also to create a safe zone inside, pushing defenders back. The front rows of the latter consisted of proper warriors, making it hard for the initial push. However, at the back were pure villagers, hastily armed with weapons, which they couldn’t properly wield. Moreover, some of his allies found a way to deal with archers, using broken spears as improvised javelins. Still, the cost of it was huge.
Tens of bodies lay motionless, and many more were wounded. The knight, that led them into attack, was hidden behind the palisade, definitely not willing to risk himself, while just having a role of bait. That didn’t change anything for Robert and his mates as they were accustomed to such treatment. The battle continued as defenders tried to repel the attack. The line two people thin was advancing versus the demoralized outnumbering enemy. It didn’t even manage to go far from Robert’s position as it was raging in less than five meters. Still, such a small distance helped Rob to catch something strange.
Why are they retreating? Because they have less experienced warriors. But why do they have less of them? If they are so outnumbered, why Baron was bothered to create a distraction in the first place? We could crush them in one sweep, using all force. No, it looks like they wanted to save their elites too…
The sounding horn from the other side of the village marked the attack of the main force. However, that appeared to be the signal for enemies too, as they unexpectedly moved aside before turning around to flee. No one from Robert’s side was happy to see it because all their attention was captured by a rushing figure, fully clad in armor, which was already cutting through the line. Their line. Moreover, it was going directly to the Rob’s position.
One thing was to observe the strength of the knight, being his ally, and it was completely different when you were the target of it in a direct confrontation. That was the reason that Robert’s mind stopped for a second to process what was happening. The same second that it took the knight to appear beside him, going into full swing with a longsword. The blade cut the air above Rob’s head, but the enemy’s knight didn’t pause at all, moving forward right to the Highmoon’s knight, which appeared from the hole in the gate, when he finally noticed someone equal.
“The knight,” mumbled Robert, before turning his head to Paul only to see the Monk’s body falling apart in two large pieces from diagonal cut, splashing the blood all over the place.