Smoke and dust obscured their vision as the mercenary soldiers descended the wide steps from the top of the wall. Spells, arrows, and explosions continued to fly overhead in both directions. Sometimes their group-shield Skill would light up as it dispersed the energy of a stray strand of Mana striking them. Their group-shield Skill, however, only interfered with Mana, and more than one soldier stumbled as an errant arrow descended and struck them in the shoulder or other unarmored part of their body.
Getting struck by an arrow would shave off a chunk of someone's Health and cause a bleeding effect. As long as the piercing wound wasn't messed with, the bleeding effect was fairly muted, but once the obstructing object was removed, the numbers would immediately intensify. Unless one was struck in an artery, though, one bleeding effect from an arrow wound wouldn't be fatal before one's natural regeneration could take care of it.
Suffering strong blows that were deflected with armor or shields would still remove points from one's Health pool, but it was never anything serious. It was theoretically possible for a fully armored individual to be pummeled to death, but it would take literal weeks to shave that amount of Health off against one's natural regeneration.
Blows that caused external bleeding, though, did a percentage of one's Health in damage. A simple nick that barely bled would do less than a percent of damage, but "death by a thousand cuts" was a real thing. An arrow piercing into someone's shoulder would typically do around five percent points of damage, and the bleeding effect, over time, could extend it up to twenty-five percent if left untended.
The soldiers just had to deal with the pain and nuisance of having an arrow sticking out of them as they moved, but as soon as they got a moment to rest, the soldiers would help each other remove the projectiles and treat the wounds. Balms made from alchemical substances would bee applied to any open wounds, and it would immediately not only stop the bleeding effect, but it would restore a small percentage of Health points lost to.
Simple bandaging could stop the bleeding effects, but it wouldn't restore Health immediately. Depending on the appliers First Aid Skill, though, it could drastically increase the local regeneration speed of the wound, and that would also affect the Health points.
Refix calmly watched the soldiers descend the steps in good order. The lowest Leveled officer led the troops forward while Refix and the rest of the officers stayed in the rear to cover their retreat. One of the platoons was still engaged in combat with the invaders, though, and the officers wouldn't have to step forward personally until the last moment.
Refix could have thrown his might around and created window for everyone to simply flee from the wall in peace, but just having the intention to do so caused his Danger Sense to flare. There was someone in the enemy ranks watching to make sure there were no high-Level individuals who would decimate their numbers. It was the same for their side, as well. Refix himself was a hidden card to make sure the enemy didn't employ the same tactic.
There was no agreed upon stipulation beforehand. There were no treaties or laws governing war between nations, but it naturally happened just based on how the world worked. Conflicts between supposedly allied nations in the same empire operated under their own rules, and it wasn't necessarily considered warfare when they engaged in combat. One of the main tenants of such battles was to reduce fatal casualties as much as possible, but no such rule existed against the invaders.
If the enemy army consisted entirely of high-Leveled people, it wouldn't have been an issue. They could have simply steam-rolled any obstacles. Such a situation might exist somewhere in the Realm, but it was not something subordinate nations would ever experience.
It could be argued that the current invader army, compared to a Tier 1 kingdom, would be considered an army entirely of high-Leveled people, but there had been no news of the invaders targeting any Regions below Tier 4 aside from the one exception that Reivyn had been involved with. That hadn't been as much of an invasion as a military action, though. The enemy had come, subjugated local populations, accomplished their goal, and left. That didn't seem to be the situation with the current wars erupting across multiple Regions, now, though.
The platoon bringing up the rear slowly backed away until it was their turn to turn and descend the steps one squad at a time. The enemy soldiers continued to press hard against them, but they were unable to route the mercenary soldiers. Morale was still high among the soldiers as everyone knew there were multiple other fortifications ready for them to retreat to, and they weren't being overwhelmed by the quality of the enemy. It was only the endless numbers that forced them to retreat.
Refix looked up into the distance and noticed yet another line of armored legions stepping out of the tree-line. The enemy forces seemed endless. If he didn't know any better, he would think an entire Tier 5 empire and their subordinate forces had left their homes completely empty for all of them to participate in this conflict.
If Tier 5 empires were structured the same way as the Tier 4 empires, though, with multiple Tier 4 subordinate empires under them, it made sense that they had so many soldiers to throw at them. How could one Tier 4 empire hope to field the same numbers as a Tier 5 empire accompanied by four or more Tier 4 armies of their own?
The last squad of the covering platoon made it to the stairs, and Refix and the other officers drew their swords and stepped forward. Refix reined in his abilities and fought with noting but his normal weapons Skill. He didn't even utilize his transcendent ability for fear that the hidden monster in the enemy ranks would zero in on their position.
Refix didn't fear for his own life or worry that the enemy ace would be able to overpower him, but it would create an unnecessary headache that would interfere with their good-order retreat if such a fight broke out. The shockwaves alone would potentially knock his subordinates down and prevent them from fleeing, putting them in perfectly avoidable danger.
The fight was quick and painless as the officers employed their superior Stats and Skills to ward off the enemy soldiers for their fleeing troops. The officers broke off one by one to follow in their foot steps until Refix was the last one on the wall.
He looked off to the side where the Mages were still engaged in a Magical struggle with the enemy before turning and jumping down from the wall. The height of the wall was high enough that most of the soldiers on both sides who were in mid-Tier 3 would suffer significant damage from the impact, but it wasn't much to a high-Tier 5 like Refix. He landed and absorbed the impact with his Stats and Acrobatics Skill. He managed to arrive at the bottom before the last of the officers had arrived down the steps.
"Double-time through the street," Refix pointed toward one of the side roads that had been established as the retreat path beforehand.
The first officer down had made sure there was enough room for everyone to form up, but he had waited for the order from the Vice Captain before ordering further retreat.
The mercenary company immediately broke into a jog through the street. Refix stood to the side observing the battle as it continued to rage all around. The enemy had broken through across the entirety of the walls spanning the city, and the main gate had been breached as well. The enemy soldiers engaging the forces on the ground around the gate were now between the mercenary company and the commanders of the army, but Refix wasn't worried.
As the mercenaries ran into the streets, Refix watched the battle with a critical eye. The enemy forces were careful to not kill as many people as they could, he noticed, only delivering fatal blows in the midst of heated combat. Once they began to overwhelm the defenders, though, they stopped delivering killing strikes and quickly disarmed and secured prisoners.
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Refix didn't stick around to witness the fate of the prisoners, but base on the fact that they were avoiding killing to begin with, he guessed they had other plans aside from mass slaughter.
Once most of the mercenary company was through the side street, Refix turned and joined them in their flight. The sounds of combat became muted as the buildings surrounding them blocked the sounds, but the occasional flaming Spell was still visible overhead. The corner of a building exploded in the distance ahead as a Spell struck it, and more dust filled the street.
Refix's Perception Stat allowed him to easily see through the obscuring dust, but it still made it harder to see, even for him. The regular soldiers had to trust their comrades that they weren't going to be led into the side of a wall as they ran through the floating dust.
Fire began to spread from where the building had been struck, but the heat was rising and Refix wasn't worried about the few bits of fire that fell down to the street. With nothing to feed them, the falling bits of flaming debris sputtered and winked out.
The dust cloud wasn't huge, and the mercenary company quickly passed through into the clear air once again. They had chosen this side street as their retreat path because it was a straight shot through the city. It wasn't a main thoroughfare, but the city was mostly well-planned. They crossed larger streets in their flight, and in those brief moments Refix was able to see other streams of soldiers from the other companies also running to the their next position.
They weren't immediately fleeing the city upon losing the walls. There were other fortifications inside the city for them to fall behind, and after only a minute or so of running, the mercenary company arrived at the first barricade.
A simple palisade had been constructed in the street, and there was even fortifications constructed on top of the roofs of the nearby buildings. They once more set up to defend against the enemy invaders. In the brief moment of respite, the mercenary soldiers set about tending to their wounds.
Grunts and moans accompanied the low conversations among the soldiers as they removed arrows and patched up lacerations. Nobody in the mercenary company had died as of yet, and Refix was intent on keeping it that way. Unless they got into a real pinch, the most wounded of the soldiers would remain as a reserve force.
"Make sure the men resupply from the prepared stockpiles," Refix ordered the officers who had congregated around him. "There should be barrels of arrows, bandages, and other necessities stored behind the palisade. Get those with archery Skills up on the buildings and ready to engage the enemy forces as they make their way down the streets."
"Yes, sir!" The officers chorused.
Refix watched the officers get to it, particularly paying attention to Jeckle. He was the most trusted subordinate of his son Refix, and he was given the most responsibilities. He had removed the rudimentary skin-mask he had worn earlier, and Refix nodded his head at the man's professionalism.
There wasn't much time to prepare further before a line of invaders Marched into view through the dust obstructing the street. Arrows from the soldiers atop the buildings to to either side began to rain down on them, and they raised their shields to defend against the projectiles. The soldiers in the front row maintained their shields in front of themselves, though, trusting their comrades to cover them from behind.
The arrows were more a nuisance than an actual deterrent against the attackers, but more than one enemy soldier fell to a well-placed shot. The invaders quickly arrived at the palisade and the mercenaries once more engaged in melee combat with them with their spears. There were gaps in the walls where they could thrust their spears through, and the front row stood on a little platform to attack from a higher angle.
The invaders were stopped in place as the contended with the mercenary soldiers, but it was only a matter of time before they would be able to press forward with the weight of their numbers. Soldiers scaled the walls of the buildings and formed up on the rooftops to engage the defenders above, too. The arrows stopped raining down as they were forced to wield their spears in melee combat.
Refix once more stood in the back as he observed the fighting. The platoon commanders and NCO's had everything well in hand, and the battle hadn't degenerated into a mess that he would need to try and fix. He only gave the general orders of what the company should be focused on, and he let the men carry out the strategy and tactics the best way they could without micromanaging them.
Killing the enemy soldiers advancing on their position was a double-edged sword. It lessened the number of enemies each time one of them fell, but a wall of bodies was being built under the feet of the invaders. They didn't flinch from the death all around them either, and they simply stepped on the bodies of their fallen comrades to continue pressing the defenders.
The mercenary soldiers fought methodically, reserving their strength for emergencies and calmly switching out with the other soldiers lined up behind them when their Stamina fell below a certain threshold. There wasn't much difference in the way the combat unfolded to the skirmishes between counties in land claims, but the results were completely different.
Blood began to flow along the ground in all directions. The advancing soldiers avoided the slippery mess by walking on top of the bodies of their allies, using their Balance Skill to keep steady, but the blood seeped through the gaps in the palisade and made the ground slick for the defenders.
Blood itself was pretty viscous, though, and it wasn't like they were fighting on ice. The real issue was the presence of the blood at all. It began to cake the boots and leggings of the defenders, and it could lead to demoralization if left unchecked.
Everyone understood that the blood belonged to the fallen enemy soldiers, but human death was human death. There was only so much that could be done to alleviate the psychological impact of so much killing, and the blood was a constant reminder. There was no Euphoria associated with killing another human. Thankfully there was no Misery associated with killing an enemy combatant, either.
"Sir, a runner from Command has relayed that all forces are engaged at the secondary defensive positions," Jeckle came up to Refix and reported. "They said get ready for the flare signal."
"Noted," Refix answered. Jeckle turned and jogged back to his platoon as Refix raised his voice: "Standby for the signal flare!"
Nobody made any movements or acknowledged the order, but the defense of the city had been laid out well in advance. Everyone knew what they were supposed to do.
The fighting continued for several more minutes. Refix assumed it was to ensure the runners were able to touch base with all of the soldiers at their secondary defensive locations, but time continued to tick.
Eventually, a large explosion of Mana designed simply to be visible and audible across the entire city lit up in the sky overhead. Spells were still raining down on the city from both sides, but the signal flare drowned out everything else high up in the sky.
"Defend!" Refix shouted as he squatted down and covered his head. All of the soldiers, even though engaged in combat on the front line performed the same maneuver. Refix Sensed the Mana pulse travel through the ground even with his eyes closed.
Loud explosions rang out all across the city as the buildings lining the streets the soldiers were demolished. The Mana pulse through the city had lit Magical fuses attached to explosive oil hidden in the foundations of the buildings.
They had used the minimum resources necessary to turn the buildings themselves into weapons, and the tons and tons of bricks and beams fell on the heads of the enemy soldiers lining the streets. The soldiers that had climbed up top to engage the defenders up above fell into the destruction as the buildings under foot collapsed beneath them.
For a moment, there was silence in the city as a huge swathe of the city crumbled and created a mini-dead zone. Enemy soldiers on the far side that hadn't been caught up in the trap continued to March forward, undeterred by the event, and the rubble shifted as survivors dug themselves out.
Spells no longer had to be lobbed overhead, though, now that there was a huge open space between the attackers and defenders, and Spells once more began to be flung at each line. Hundreds of lines of fire and ice and other Affinities were exchanged over the heads of the soldiers, and many of the Spells pelted the soldiers attempting to crawl out of the rubble.
Arrows once more accompanied the Spells as there was a moment of respite for the defenders. Arms, legs, helmets, and other pieces of gear could be seen sticking up all throughout the rubble, but more and more soldiers picked themselves up and once more formed up in lines to continue the attack.
It seemed like there was nothing that could be done to deter the attackers. None of the enemy soldiers had expressions of fear on their faces. The loss of so many allied soldiers did nothing to dissuade them from continuing the attack. More and more soldiers poured forth from the far side of the city, though, and Refix realized that only a tiny fraction of the enemy soldiers had been affected by the trap.
"Continue to fight!" Refix Commanded. "We haven't lost the city, yet. Make them pay for piece of rubble they're going to inherit once this is all done."