As the minutes wore on, a solution to the crowding problem began to present itself. The orcs were dropping like flies.

Once the orcs were packed together, the humans slowed their advance. Instead of taking losses to compress the orcs further, they put up their shields and poked at the orcs from behind them. Wound after wound appeared on the orcs while the humans suffered a couple of deformed shields.

The weaker warrior orcs were starting to fall. Each death meant a bit more space for the remaining orcs - assuming that they could maneuver around their dead comrade.

“We have to try something!” Adam shouted from behind his shield. There were only a handful of orc warriors left. The others did their best to acknowledge Adam's words but there was little they could do under the pressure. Adam batted away a few humans with his shield and kept yelling, hoping to gather his team, “We're using the formation!”

The others paused only a moment before moving to join him. Dax threw several quick stabs at the humans. They were all were dodged, but between that and a horizontal swing shied from Max they bought enough room to retreat backwards a few steps. Adam bashed his shield diagonally at the humans threatening Sam, who shot him a thankful look and retreated.

Luke didn’t need help to get back, but waited a split second longer than the others. Facing away from Adam, his mouth tightened into a thin line.

In seconds, they were formed up. Max and Adam at the front, Dax and Luke behind and reliving pressure from the wings, and Sam behind already using his newfound space to fling arrows at the enemy.

“Max! Plant! We have to stop giving up ground!”

Their first job was to hold the line. The orcs fighting with them were already cramped enough, and with the disappearance of the young orcs from the front line, the humans were beginning to press inward again. Max and Adam pushed forward with their shields, only to be met with dozens of blows and shoves from the humans.

The formation was meant to move. It wasn’t designed to be a stationary target for dozens of humans. At first, there was little that Adam and Max could do besides desperately move their shields to intercept blows and dig up tracks of dirt to stay in place. Adam looked over and saw Max beginning to turn red from the effort.

But then Dax’s spear found its rhythm and started to dart out unpredictably between the two orcs. Now able to plan his shots, almost every thrust paid out in spilled human blood. The relief from the constant attacks gave him a second wind.

“Luke! Left!”

When the humans tried to wrap around the formation, Luke was there with his sword. Following Adam's cues, he'd cut down anyone brave enough to venture beyond the shields.

Slowly, the tide of battle started changing. Now that the humans were making less progress, the orcs became bolder in their attacks. And instead of pressing forward, the humans were becoming more cautious. In a duel, caution is a good trait. In a battle, caution meant fear. Enough of it, and the human line would break.

Adam heard a roar behind him and saw Greenbough's three orcs working with a few other survivors to mimic Adam's formation. It wasn't perfect since the new additions had only the barest idea of how formations worked. But it was enough to stop the slaughter and push back the humans on a second front.

—

In the distance, the chiefs had stopped trying to get back to their forces. Partially this was because they were getting tired after slaughtering the soldiers. The knights had arrived, and they needed to save their energy.

Heavily armored knights were a challenge. Normal human soldiers couldn't stop an ancient orc's attacks even if they wanted to. Most of them didn't try. Instead, they'd squirm and run. So the chiefs could make wide attacks that flowed into each other. The knights were a different story. Not only could they stand up against blows, they also had the battle experience to make them effective. When the chiefs turned away from the knights to swat away the soldiers, the knights would dart forward with a swift stab or rush.

The other part was that there was no longer a point to reuniting with their force. The support orcs were all dead or dying. The knights had finished their slaughter and returned to fight the chiefs. Joining the warrior orcs would also bring the knights, which could overwhelm the delicate balance of the two sides in the wrong direction. It was better to face them alone.

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But that still meant facing half of the human army alone. Two groups, with almost all of the knights, were in front of them. They were in for a long fight.

—

Two of the knights split off from the fight against the chiefs to join the other human line.

Adam watched as they came closer and gritted his teeth. His formation would hold up against the knights, but the added pressure would lock down the mobility of the formation. They'd be back to their original situation, losing space and becoming a target for the humans.

In the back of Adam's mind, he knew that the battle was already lost. It took two or three supporting orcs to maintain each fighting orc. They'd gather food, cook, and maintain the camp so the warrior could train and be in condition for battle. The camp had already suffered from the mass-trainings from the chief. If the support orcs were well and truly gone, the camp would start to degrade. They’d go from hungry to starving, and the camp would collapse within weeks.

Something clicked within Adam. His eyes flashed a dangerous glint. Yes, they’ve taken the camp. But that doesn’t they won't pay for it.

He looked over to Max and signaled for a big push. The next second, they plunged into the array of human weapons. The humans in the frontline braced to push them back and buy time for the knights to arrive, but a spear from Dax and an arrow from Sam knocked down the two nearest, giving Adam and Max an extra few steps to gain momentum. They moved at an angle to each other, slamming into the human line harder than they’d been able to since the start of the battle. And just like that, the human formation became chaos.

What should have been a few moments’ confusion became a disaster for the humans when Adam and Max fell back into formation with their group and charged again. The humans fell again, but this time Dax’s spear and Luke’s sword were in position to make sure the humans didn't get up once more. Sam didn’t even have to aim his arrows, the humans were too close together to miss.

The formation was working.

They'd run into the clumps of human resistance, crash, kill, and pull away. Sam's arrows kept the humans from pursuing and they'd gain space to hit again. It was like a series of stampedes against the human line. Each encounter would take a few lives and dent the remaining morale.

Adam saw the two knights try to move through their forces to block the formation. But they simply weren't fast enough. The heavy armor made them slow when trying to navigate the muddy battlefield and Adam's group would evaporate and materialize elsewhere after each attack.

The other warriors were making progress on their side as well. Now that the human line was broken, they could finally slash and club their way around the battlefield.

Adam's tactics had robbed the humans of their balance and stability.

—

In the distance, the two chiefs were able to smell the stink of new human blood. Pressing back their adversaries, they saw the shift in momentum with the warrior orcs.

“That Adam of yours. Do you understand now?” Greenbough huffed while swiping at the assembled wall of plate armor trying to cut him down. “He’s something more than muscle.”

Ironblood roared and swept his axe left to right, momentarily creating safety from the storm of blades angled at him.

“I didn’t ask, Greenbough.”

“No, you didn’t. And you wouldn’t listen. And you have dead to answer for. But watch him, Ironbood. Look at what he’s doing to them.”

—

One of the knights had finally found himself in the right place at the right time and stood between Adam’s formation and his forces. As Adam charged, he planted his shield, leveraging just enough between the blood-soaked soil and his legs to break the momentum of the charge and bring Adam’s team to a standstill.

It was a false victory. Another blow came from his left. Max had broken off from the charge and slipped to the knight's side. Instead of going for the head strike, he pushed into the knight's shoulders for more power.

The knight staggered back. He tried to use the momentum of the blow to move out of the way, taking a step back and closer to his people.

The barrage wasn't over. A spearhead jutted out from around Adam’s shield and caught the side of the knight's knee where his greaves didn’t completely cover the joint. In a desperate attempt, the knight tried to bring his shield down but instead felt a sharp, searing pain. His leg gave out, and he fell to his side. Along the way, the knight had the foresight to keep the shield close to his body. Unfortunately, it only covered his lower body.

The knight's head snapped back as he came into contact with the ground. Sam had notched an arrow earlier, and let it loose. His arrows were too broad to get through the visor of the knight’s helmet, but his shot managed to wedge just far enough in to impale one of the knight's eyes.

A scream came from the body of armor on the ground. It lasted only a moment. Luke's sword came down and cut off the knight's head.

Adam's body moved by instinct. Instead of taking the time to rebuild the formation, he reached down and scooped up the human head. The back of his mind was telling him that it was a stupid decision. It wasn't tactical, it wouldn't kill humans, and it wouldn't protect orcs. Yet, he held up the human head and roared.

Then, he threw the head at the humans and watched as the soldiers jumped up and down to avoid the harmless projectile.

Adam could see the fight drain out of humans. Adam's actions might not have been the most rational of decisions, but it achieved a greater effect than any of the orc charges.

The pace of battle was changing in orc favor. And Adam was loving every moment of it.