Rise of the Horde

Chapter 98

Prince Gyassi watched as the Royal Cavalry was wrecking havoc on the battlefield. Those smelly steeds of theirs really are powerful after being equipped with heavy armor. The Royal Cavalry kept on charging forward before retreating, then charge back again. They had repeated this many times already, and it is a really effective strategy.

The prince glanced around the battlefield and his smile turned to a frown after seeing the bulk of the peasant soldiers retreating through the right flank of the monsters. There were probably over seven thousand of them, or maybe more. His army was mostly composed of the peasant soldiers that he recruited through the settlements that they had passed through either voluntarily or forcefully.

The number of the peasant soldiers makes up nearly half of his entire army. His entire army is comprised of the Ereian Royal Army numbering five thousand strong, the Royal Cavalry which was a thousand and five hundred, the Sandstorm Cavalry which was two thousand strong, a part of the Ereian Royal Army which was ten thousand strong, the personal army of the nobles which numbered around five thousand and the rest were all the peasants.

An almost had passed after the start of the battle and the monsters still continued to flood in and join the fray behind the dune. The peasant soldiers started to break away from the battle and deserted en masse.

“Damn lowlives! Get back into battle!” Baron Masud shouted his lungs out as he guided his steed to sprint towards the retreating soldiers. “Get back here or I’ll have all your heads on a pike!” he threatened, which earned him many spears thrown his way. The spears screamed death as they soared through the air and fell down in an arc towards Lord Masud.

Many spears found their mark as they hit the horse of the Baron but almost all of them got deflected by the heavy armor that was draped over the body of the steed. The clanking sound of spearheads impacting the armor on the horse made Lord Masud nervous and pulled on the reins of his horse to halt its advance. He had second thoughts about charging in since those that he considered lowlifes were out of their mind as they threatened him with their spears.

“This is treason! You’re all going to be executed for it!” Lord Masud continued to threaten, which then resulted in more spears thrown his way. His steed raised its front legs up in the air. Lord Masud wasn’t prepared for the action of his steed as he fell off its back and landed on his back. He grunted in pain as his back made contact with the sands as the weight of his armor made his fall even more heavy.

Spears were landing all around him, being impaled on the sands. His steed neighed in pain as it fall to the ground on its side. Two spears made it through the armor and pierced its body. The horse thrashed around as it struggled to get back on its legs, but to no avail. Blood was leaking from its wounds as it thrashed around. The storm of spears didn’t stop as they threw more and more spears towards Lord Masud.

“Stinking lowlifes! I am a noble! You’ll suffer the most gruesome death for raising your hands against me!” Lord Masud screamed to threaten the rebelling soldiers, but it seemed that he made them angrier than before.

“Archers!” Commander Barika bellowed and pointed towards the rebelling soldiers attacking the Baron. The archers didn’t let loose of their arrows when the command to shoot was given, as the thought of killing those who they fought with before burdened their hearts. Sure, they killed a few before by mistake because of how mixed up they are with the monsters, but now, there are no monsters around them and they can see clearly who they are going to shoot at.

“Let loose! Didn’t you hear me! Shoot! I command you to shoot!” Commander Barika angrily bellowed as he stormed towards the archers with heavy steps and slashed the nearest archers to him. The angry commander killed five archers in his anger.

Most of the archers closed their eyes before releasing their fingers that were holding the bowstring. They were unwilling to shoot their arrows, but the threat of dying under the blade of the angry Commander Barika made them do so. Closing their eyes was their way of showing their dissatisfaction with the given command, as they didn’t want to witness the effect of their attacks.

Commander Barika watched as the arrows whistled through the air before falling down in an arc towards the rebelling soldiers. “Arrows! Raised your shields!” the young man bellowed as he raised his new shield that he picked up, which belonged to one of his fallen peers. The thudding sounds of the arrows embedding themselves upon their shields shook the nerves of the rebelling soldiers. A few screams of pain sounded as the arrows managed to hit those who weren’t properly protected by their shields or those who no longer have shields.

“Ha! Serves you right!… You stinking bastards!” Lord Masud mocked the rebelling soldiers as he heaved a sigh of relief as the rain of spears finally halted.

“Retreat! Retreat!”

“Let’s get out of here!”

The young man shouted and started distancing themselves away from the range of the archers. A few of the peasant soldiers threw their spears towards the Baron, who was mocking them in retaliation, which forced the noble to hide behind the corpse of his now dead steed.

“Let’s go! We will have our chance eventually…” the young man shouted at his peers as they began heading north, far away from their initial destination, which was the Town of Gilban which was to the south.

*****

While the Royal Cavalry was having their much needed rest after many repeated charges, the Sandstorm Cavalry finally showed up and stormed the monsters from the rear. The wave of monsters finally halted as the Sandstorm Cavalry joined the fray. But something was wrong with them. They looked battered, exhausted, and their armors covered in darkened blood. The long lances that they should have been equipped with were no longer there as they slashed left and right with their big curved swords.

*****

An hour before the Sandstorm Cavalry joined the battle, they rode as far away as possible toward the northwest while the Royal Cavalry rode to the southeast. Commander Ishaq commanded his soldiers to slow down the pace to a simple trot as he felt that they were far away enough from the main army to be spotted by the prince. From where they are they could catch a glimpse of the innumerable monsters climbing their up the dune before storming their allies.

He changed directions a lot of times as he observed the movements of their foes. They even halted a few times while he inspected their enemies. He and those with him initially headed northwest to flank their foes on the left flank, but he had another plan.

He commanded the Sandstorm Cavalry to swing directly west before swinging southwest. He and the Sandstorm Cavalry slipped behind the enemy lines and slowly moved towards them from their rear.

“Commander! The monsters! They are splitting into two groups!” a rider beside Commander Ishaq shouted as he pointed a finger towards their innumerable enemies that were indeed splitting into two groups. The other group of monsters made use of the dune to cover their advance while the other group engaged the prince’s army and had their attention all over them.

A frown slowly made its way towards Commander Ishaq’s lips as he observed their enemies, who were stealthily making their way pass through the army of the prince behind the cover of the dune. “Prepare for combat! We’ll try to cut them off!” he shouted as he raised his lance higher into the air.

The Sandstorm Cavalry approached the rear of the monsters in a fast-paced trot. After, they were only about more or less a thousand meters away from their target. The monsters finally noticed their presence as they swarmed together band formed another group to repel the attack of the Sandstorm Cavalry.

“Charge!” Commander Ishaq bellowed as he lowered his lance pointing forward as they were less than a hundred meters away from their foes. The massive army of monsters broke into three groups, one engaging the main army of the prince, one to delay the advance of the Sandstorm Cavalry while the other group continued to slip away and headed for south towards the Town of Gilban.

Commander Ishaq and the Sandstorm Cavalry sent many of the monsters flying while some of them got skewered by their lances, which snapped after piercing through many enemies. The battle continued as the Commander Ishaq and his men unsheathed their swords to attack.

“Turn around! Turn around!” Commander Ishaq bellowed as his the one holding the banner of the Sandstorm Cavalry waved it around to convey the command. They quickly disengaged from combat and distanced themselves from the monsters who were hellbent on chasing them. “Return! Return!” Commander Ishaq shouted as the Guidon Bearer, who waved the banner again, passed his command on.

“Charge!”

“After the commander!”

“Don’t fall behind!”

“No mercy!”

“Go through them!”

“For Ereia!”

“Glory to Ereia!”

They shouted warcries as the Sandstorm Cavalry turned around and charge again towards the monsters who were chasing them.