35 Battle of the black demon (2)
Some thanks to courage or others because of fear, members of the Force of Fate mercenary company are immobilized by watching the enemy army advance. The ground begins to shake when thousands of men start marching simultaneously towards the invaders.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The compact group, set on a length of almost five hundred meters, advances slowly. The round shields of the first row positioned frontally, the others above the heads.
The screams of the infantry officers impose discipline on the soldiers of the first rows while those in command of the archers continue, cyclically repeating the same phrase "Nock the arrows, aim and shoot!"
A continuous rain of arrows breaks down on Simon's men. Some collapse on the ground holding the arrows stuck in the flesh.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The distance continues to decrease. The soldiers, from their respective first rows, manage to see the sweat on their opponent's face.
Arrived less than twenty meters from the defensive line of Olmaria, the enemy commander urges his men to charge. Soldiers in compact formation give courage to themselves by giving shots with the sword on the shields. Then suddenly they start running.
Armed men run wildly toward the enemy line, waving swords and shields. Screams of terror, joy, fear, courage and madness echo amplified between the walls of the mountains.
Simon is recovered from paralysis due to terror. Slowly, as if in slow motion he starts to hear the voices of his friends calling him, asking for orders or just crying.
The young commander tries to scream but no noise comes out of his throat. He swallows, then pushed by deepest fear he screams until his lungs are burned "Run the 'cascade of lightning'! Now!"
Two dwarves, helped by Igor activate a very complicated sequence of runes.
In the front rows, George, his armored men and most of swordsmen and spearmen are engaged in direct confrontation with the Luberistan army.
Swords clash on each other, sometimes against a shield sometimes in the flesh followed by inhuman screams. The front is in chaos. Watching closely you see soldiers on both sides try to escape or wave their swords against opponents and comrades. The blood has formed a kind of reddish cloud above the fighters. Dozens of bodies fall to the ground from both sides.
The strange mushroom-shaped machine finally activates itself. A series of lightning strikes begin to spark from one side of the device to the other.
Simon heartened shouts "Down on the ground!"
Like during the exercises, all the survivors throw themselves on the ground while from the machine continuous discharges of energy flow like a cascade into the stakes positioned beyond the first row of soldiers. Lightning with large arches reach the stakes, run into the ground and then, thanks to the metal cable, they return to the machine.
The Luberistan army commander does not believe his eyes. A huge blue waterfall of lightning protects the invaders from the advance of his men. The soldiers left over are slaughtered. Those near the waterfall or nearby collapse on the ground. Each of these has his eyes empty as if the divinity of Dreams had torn his soul.
From the sides of the mountain two huge clouds of arrows hit the frightened soldiers. Taken aback they fall victim to the arrows.
One big scream of thousands of people. "Arghhhhhhh!"
The mountain trembles as Olmaria's main army attacks the opposing soldiers by hitting them on the flanks of the formation.
Simon watches his men finish their trapped enemies and assist their wounded comrades. Dozens of dead. But the young commander has no time to worry when he sees the Silent General advance with all the main force of the nation against the enemies.
Olmaria's platoons easily break through enemy lines from the sides of the formation, triggering a domino effect. Many infantry soldiers attempting to escape invest the allied archers.
The group that advances faster is the knightly order of the rose. Knights in splendid armor advance to wedge among the enemies like the blade of a knife through hot butter.
Small resistance groups are compacted under the order of the non-commissioned officers. These soldiers succeed in some way to block the incoming tide only to see it turn around, like a sea with the reef.
Simon and his companions exploit the confusion to assist their fallen comrades in the best possible way. For twenty-four of them there is nothing left to do for the other nineteen wounded, a small camp is improvised for treatment in the rear.
The blow cost the mercenaries more than a quarter of their forces. The terror in the eyes of Simon's soldiers is momentarily covered by fatigue. Simon thinks dejected "If the battle were to reach us again, none of my men would succeed in raising the sword. After the combat tension has been interrupted, a child would be enough to kill them. "
Outside the lightning protection the battle goes crazy. The screams of the officers who give orders are mixed with those of the wounded. The ground, now completely covered in blood, does not allow the fighters to run without slipping.
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Elza, standing behind Simon, a few steps away from the battle, assists in shock at the massacre. Men against men. Many of these do not even have a valid reason to kill but, overwhelmed by events, everyone loses the inhibitions trying to tear up more lives possible from this world.
The black spirit perched on the shoulder of the old strategist Jonas is still there, he also looks perplexed while a flock of his fellows takes care of the souls of the dead soldiers.
Elza can not see the sky so many are the black spirits flying over the battlefield. Fortunately, for the time being, few of these have targeted the area of the Force of Fate mercenary company.
A small flock comes off the main group to fly to the Luberistan camp of tents. Elza can not see well and has no intention of approaching the camp but it would seem that even there they are fighting.
After the clash, the same group of black spirits gets up in the air and accompanying the victor goes to the mountains where Simon and his men came from.
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While Drew, giving quick and precise orders, takes care to keep at bay the enemies who manage to overcome the 'cascade of lightning', Simon pulls out of his magic bag the device to observe in the distance. Start slowly making a panoramic tour of the entire battlefield.
On the right the two armies are facing in close encounters. The archers of both sides have become useless or are chased by the opposing troops. On the left the general Forb and his attendant, both at the head of the knights of the rose order, are advancing towards the enemy commanders. Both officers are endowed with unparalleled strength.
General Drevor takes down his enemies with a huge two-handed sword, trampling the corpses of his enemies during the advance. In a few situations in which the enemy he met had not fallen with a blow, the old knight brought him down with a single shrill cry of his mighty voice.
On the other hand, the commander of the enemies, holding two curved swords, moves at a crazy speed among the enemies. As if dancing, he dodges the opponents' blows and then cuts them with quick movements of the blades. His ability seems to be relative to the joints. His arms, shoulders and legs are able to bend in inhuman angles allowing unnatural and unpredictable movements.
The clash between the two, however, is resolved in two quick exchanges. The enemy tries to escape the first blow of Drevor's sword by bending almost to the ground. As he tries to get up to hit his opponent's legs, the silent general drops his sword and with his mighty armor-clad arms pulls a blow with all the weight of his body on his opponent's neck. The battle ends with the fast swordsman standing on the ground.
The outcome of the duel convinces the Luberistan survivors to attempt a hysterical escape.
Simon then observes the soldiers being chased and killed during the desperate flight. Then continue to search the surroundings. Small fights are ending throughout the battle area. Mercenaries and enemy soldiers escape in every direction. Olmaria's men cry kneeling on the ground or screaming with happiness.
Then in a corner the young commander notices a group of mercenary beastmen running towards the back of Olmaria. He thinks calmly "Well, in the back, the commander Eric still has a large number of soldiers, I do not think a small group of mercenaries can be a problem. Anyway, since it's all over here, it does not cost us anything to go and help. "
Simon orders his men to go back to help the rear. Once past the mountain ridge, the horrible spectacle they see leaves them petrified.
Mercenary beastmen, commander Eric and his most trusted men are slaughtering Olmaria's other soldiers like animals at the slaughterhouse.
