THUD. THUD. THUD. THUD.
The sound of flaming arrows hitting tents echoed throughout the night, one that sparked chaos and disobedience in Rhyne’s ranks as the soldiers struggled to organize.
"Snap out of it!"
A commander yelled out, struggling to control his men. They were strong and trained, but with weeks of stagnation and camping, they had grown weak and cowardly.
"I said-!"
SPLAT!
He was silenced immediately as an arrow pierced through the back of his head, the arrowhead coming out of his mouth as he fell limp on the grassy floor.
"The commander’s dead!"
A soldier yelled out, alerting the others. Most had already left the encampment, and the accuracy of the arrow fire alone signalled to them that they were outmatched.
"You bastards! Get in formation!"
The vice commander of the encampment yelled out, decapitating his fellow men as he forced cooperation.
"Listen to me! Or I’ll have you all killed!"
The stunt alone did wonders; the enemy was a threat, sure, but their psychopath of a new commander was more terrifying.
They couldn’t risk a full-on civil war against the commander’s loyalists and the defectors.
"Dammit!"
The soldiers barked in reluctance, following the commander’s lead as they formed a shield wall in the middle of the encampment.
They were surrounded by fire, but it wasn’t a full-on disadvantage; it meant that whatever army was outside would have a hard time approaching.
But Justinian already planned for that.
"Do they think staying there would do them any good?"
He raised his arm. "Fire!"
More volleys were unleashed, taking out the soldiers in the shield wall formation one by one.
"Retreat!"
The commander ordered, maintaining the formation as they used the back door, leaving their encampment and hopefully fooling the enemy into thinking they were still inside.
SLASH.
Another unsuccessful attempt, as Lucan and his entire personal guard awaited them, already planned as Lucan smiled in grim satisfaction.
"Take them out!"
Lucan barked on horseback as he took more of a commanding position than a fighting one, making sure his men led the opponents to a wider field.
"The Marshal is doing wonders."
Justinian waited, in hiding behind another hill with the rest of the army; they couldn’t risk their entire force charging into the encampment.
Cavalry was most effective in open fields.
"It is time!"
Cassia tugged on the reins of her horse, already sending her own force to join in on the fighting.
"What about us, my lord?" A knight asked behind Justinian.
"Wait, we’re not needed yet."
Justinian waited for the right time, and there he saw it, the encampment at Herdrin’s pass already arriving to reinforce the enemy.
"Go!"
He didn’t know where and when exactly they would arrive, but he did know it would happen.
After their victory at Herdrin itself, the encampment should have been warned about its neighboring, underdefended ones.
Which was Bridgeton.
This was a reinforcement force of fifty men, meant to increase defenses; they didn’t at all expect to already fight just after arriving.
With Cassia and Lucan handling the main force, and Justinian taking out the reinforcements, the entire battle was already as good as won. Rhyne’s averagely trained men can’t even dream of scratching against Justinian’s system-empowered ones.
SLASH.
SLASH.
The entire fields were filled with screams and blood as the battle turned into a one-sided slaughter.
With Justinian’s army not even experiencing a single casualty, the heavily armored nature of his men ensured that.
"Now!"
Justinian shouted, ordering two knights to retreat from the battle and use the distraction to head to Vesuvian’s city to ask for backup.
While Justinian was now winning in quality, he was still heavily outnumbered.
And Vesuvian was the answer to it all.
SLASH.
Justinian killed another soldier as he continued to order his men, ensuring no one would die.
While he was at an all-time high due to the killing, he was still very, and I mean very, worried about losing even one horse or soldier.
His men’s new elite status also increased their value, making even a single death take years to recover, and he couldn’t risk that, ordering retreats and safe attacks despite their advantage.
"Don’t get confident! Fight them like you’re fighting legends!"