36 36] Betrayal

On a plain dry land two parties were silently staring each other. It was the calm before the storm. A stand-off between 2000 men and 6000 men.

Boaz was a very witty man. He knew he was in a precarious situation. He was certain they could win. But he also knew that few words of motivation cannot grant these men of his a grand courage.

If the opponent was smart and witty and if their first attack was countered, his army will lose their will. And they will loose a lot of men if they fight head on. It will diminish their fighting power, which was already quite low in number. Their reduced numbers will push them into difficult situations against the future threats from their other enemies.

He has methods to prevent that and end the battle quickly, but he was unwilling. This is an opportunity and Boaz didn't wanna waste it.

He removed his focus from his thought and looked towards the enemy, as a scrawny middle age man, came forward from the group standing opposite to them. He looked like a skeleton with a thin lair of skin. 12 men followed behind him.

"I am the leader of the Mantis group, Samuel Mantis. One of the 'Big 5'. You have violated rules that we follow. If you surrender without resistance, I may let you live."

The scrawny man named Samuel shouted with a gaze filled with arrogance.

"If you refuse, we will trample over you and crush you like ants. Your body will rot without a burial." The scrawny man Samuel, shouted as he released his SSS Rank Aura.

Everyone from the defending group felt the pressure. The felt suffocated. As if the pressure from facing more men was not enough, The pressure added to their already down spirit . Some men even lost hope.

"I... I surrender" A man walked out from the group that was holding the fort at the base of the hill.

More men followed him. It was as if the man was the trigger to a chain reaction.

Morgan couldn't hold his anger. He spoke while greeting his teeth. "Good. Very good. If anyone else wanna leave... This is the time."

Almost 200 men left the group. Rest stayed behind. Boaz was shocked. The reason for his shock was not because of the sudden betrayal of those 200 men , but because he expected more people to leave.

Only in tough times can the loyalty of men be judged. If Boaz wanted, he or any other person left incharge of this place by Daren, could have countered the pressure from the scrawny man.

But they have discussed it before hand, and decided to use this opportunity to root out the weeds from their ranks.

As he expected, all the men that left were from the group that doesn't belong in any squad. But he expected around 500 to 600 to leave. He was shocked to see only 200 leave.

"See even your own men doesn't have confidence in you haha.. Join us." The scrawny man laughed and shouted again.

Since their plans have proceeded as planned, they didn't have to hold back anymore.

"A man, who can laugh in the face of death is indeed impressive. But you, are just an ignorant fool. A bandit talking about rules...don't make me laugh. Since you have delivered yourself at our doors, you save us the trouble of coming to your place and beating the shit out of you, before we rightfully claim what's yours. "

Morgan finally vented his rage through his words. He too let his SSS rank aura rampage violently.

Scrawny man Samuel's face turned ugly. The smile that was plastered on his face moments ago was no where to be seen.

' I never thought that this small group would host a SSS Rank expert. But he is just one man. I can hold him down long enough for my men to kill all his men.'

The crawny man Samuel thought.

"Charge! Kill them all!"

He wasted no more efforts to talk and ordered his men to charge.

"haaaaaaa"

With a shout, Samuel's men ran forward like a bull set free from his cage.

"Defend! Let no one pass!" Morgan shouted as he dashed through the rushing tide of men with a Saber in his hand.

He carved a path of blood as he charged towards the scrawny man Samuel. His men ran away from Morgan's path. Samuel, who was now at the rear of his army smirked as he saw Morgan rushing to him.

He ordered the 12 men beside him to get ready and strike Morgan when he is occupied. He draw two hilt-less blades from his sleeves and equipped them, one in each arm. The 12 men formed a semicircle behind samuel.

When Morgan was a meter away from him, he did a vertical slash towards Samuel's head. Samuel then moved his hands in front of him forming an X with his blades and defending against Morgan's frontal slash. After the clash both of them took few steps back. They both were probing each other.

As they were probing each other. They army reached near the defensive formation deployed by Daren's men. The gap created by the sudden betrayal of some men, was quickly covered by the reserve members in the formation. There was a reserve group in the formation to cope with such unexpected situations.

As Samuel's army entered the 200 meter range from their base, Boaz ordered the members of the Royal Knights and Judgement tower to release their arrows.

*swoosh*

*swoosh*

*swoosh*

550 arrows were fired at an alarming speed. Before the members of mantis group could notice the coming arrows, almost 550 men were hit. 400 hundred died instantly. 150 were injured. Only after some of their men died, did they registered what happened.

"Beware of the arrows. Use your shield while moving forward." A man shouted from an odd group of 100 men among the mantis members. They were the only ones , who were unscathed.

Boaz knew those were the 100 S rank experts. Another volley of arrows was fired. Boaz ordered them to avoid that place. Though this time the men were prepared. Only around 200 men were killed, and about the same were injured.

By this time, Samuel's men have reached the defense line.

*Bang*

They collided with the defense line, trying to break through it. Spears were thrust forwards from the gaps between 2 shields, as soon as men collided with the shields . Each spears impaled at least one man. Hundred more men lost their life.

Barely few minutes have passed, from the time the attack started, till now. But by this time, the Mantis group has lost about 700 men and have about 300 injured and Daren's men were still uninjured.

Another volley of arrow was fired at the incoming group, regulating the number of men that approach the defense line, giving the men at the defensive line enough time to attack back. More men died with each passing moment.

.

.

.

100 men were charging forward in an organised manner. They were easily evading or blocking the incoming arrows. As they were nearing the defense line hundreds of arrows were shot towards them.

*swoosh* *swoosh*

"Be careful. More arrows." a man shouted from among the group. Seeing the dense cluster of arrows coming their way, they all put up their defences. More then 500 arrows were successfully defended without any injury or casualty.

*thud* *thud*

As soon as the successfully defended against the arrows, more than 50 of the 100 men suddenly fell down to the ground lifelessly.