Rise of the Horde

"You ded mi mon!" Skorno muttered as he grinned towards the closest Ereian soldier that he found. He thrust his javelin forward and skewered the man through his torso and raised him with all his strength. The man grabbed the shaft of the javelin as he tried to take a few steps back to dislodge it from his body but he soon found his feet stepping on air as he was raised by the troll that showed his set of teeth at him.

"Catch!" Skorno shouted towards the other Ereians as he hurled his victim towards them with all his strength before rushing forward and releasing a fury of strikes at them. He thrust and slashed with some kicks and tackles incorporated in his attacks and sometimes he would even resort to biting his opponents as he went on a rampage.

Ereians fell one after the other as they were taken by surprise by the sudden engagement of their opponents in close combat as they never did fight them in such manner as they have been fighting them with range attacks. Never in their wildest dreams did they imagine that the trolls that they were fighting weren't just powerful ranged units but also strong and ferocious melee fighters.

"Form up!"

"Get into formation!"

"Regroup and fight back!"

A commander of the Ereians that was close by finally started rallying his men as he kept bellowing out commands while trying his best to fend off his attacker. He sidestepped to his left the thrust of his opponent and narrowly avoided being skewered by it and he was about to counter strike his opponent when he saw a blade heading for his waist which he evaded by jumping back to avoid being hit by it.

Even though he was wearing a metal chest plate, he had a hunch that that blade would have cleaved him into two or severely wounded him if he didn't react in time.

"Form your ranks!"

"Stay calm and fight back!"

He continued to shout as he retreated towards his soldiers who now have established a battle line albeit it was just a few meters long and three-man deep. It wasn't enough to fend off the wave of trolls but it would do for now since his priority was to instill some sort of order among his fellow Ereians who are scattered around and fending for their own lives.

The surprise attack by the trolls managed to push the Ereians on the eastern side for almost a hundred meters away from their initial positions in the peripheries of their camp. Skorno raised his head and took a look around at the pace of the battle and he spotted the established battle line of their enemies. He was sure that they could easily smash it to pieces and break them apart but the enemy formation was getting firmer by the second that passed by and their lines were getting deeper and deeper.

The sound of arrows soaring through the sky soon caught his attention as he raised his head and caught a glimpse of the few arrows headed for him and his kin. Many of the arrows missed but some found their marks. Skorno signaled for his kin to form up in a single line to which they quickly responded as their opponents no longer entertained them as they did their best to flee towards the established formation of their comrades.

And with a wave of his hand, Skorno and his kin released the last of their javelins as a reply to the arrows that were sent to them. After hurling the last of their missiles, the trolls turned around and retreated quicker than they came and disappeared into the distance.

The jaw of the Ereian commander who rallied his troops dropped down as he stared at the retreating backs of the trolls after they threw at them their javelins. He gnashed his teeth in anger and spouted some unsavory words to release his anger. It was the first time that the trolls engaged then in close combat and he thought that they could have some revenge against them this time around after suffering much harassment from them before.

The Ereians who encountered the trolls didn't know what to make of the situation. They were rained down with missiles then engaged in melee by their opponents who they thought only had ranged capabilities in combat but when they formed up in formations to counterattack, their enemies fled the battlefield leaving behind destruction and death.

*****

Dughmar wanted to lead his clansmen into the center of the enemy camp but he didn't act upon it as more and more missiles were being thrown at them as they get closer towards the middle of the enemy camp and they are encountering more resistance. If he and his clansmen were on open and flat ground, he wouldn't have any second thoughts about charging towards their enemies since they could run around with their steeds as much as they can unlike inside the enemy camp that had many obstacles around that hindered their movements.

"Let's go!"

He commanded and led his troops to the east to meet up with the trolls. The warriors of the Rumbling Clan were quick to disengage from combat as they steered their steeds towards their clan chief. Ereians formed up quickly into their formations and slowly advanced towards their opponents who were gathering together. There were thousands of them together now which boosted their morale as they are up against probably only around a hundred orcs. The Ereians started sealing the routes of the orcs and limited the space that they could maneuver their steeds which were deadly against any cavalry unit. A cavalry that had its maneuverability sealed is easier to deal with than one that is freely moving around since cavalry units are very deadly when they get into charging speed.

After gathering all his clansmen together, Dughmar brought something out that the Ereians would never forget in their lives as long as they lived. Dughmar flashed an evil grin as he pointed his weapon towards the ones who were to the east.

"Xiu!"

The sound of the bolt traveling through the air was all too familiar to the Ereians as they have been harassed by the Verakhs with this weapon repeatedly and some even experienced the pain that it brought and its effectiveness. Some of the Ereians flinched by the mere sound of the bolt flying through the air as they considered it the sound of death announcing that it's here again to reap lives. Mang of the Ereians considered it as such since every time that they would hear it, bolts would come flying which would result in many of them dead or groaning in pain with iron bolts embedded in their bodies.

The Ereians thought that it was only Dughmar who was equipped with such weapon as they steeled their hearts to tighten the encirclement but the actions of the rest of their foes broke their spirits as all of them brought out the same nightmarish weapons. Those at the eastern side had it worse as the weapons were clearly pointed at them.

A rain of iron bolts was shot and destroyed the front most of the enemy formation then followed by the next volley then the next until third. The Ereians on the other sides realized that the orcs were focusing on one side which emboldened them to charge forward. The encirclement became tighter but before the weapons of the Ereians could reach them, the Rhakaddon Cavalry rushed out towards the thinned line of their enemies and broke through easily as they continued to shower them with bolts of iron.

*****

Bakrah spotted something very familiar in the possession of one of the Ereian soldiers which prompted him to follow. He used the shadows of the tents and any other obstacle that he could find and crept closer towards his target. After some time, he finally managed to close the distance between him and his target to only a few feet and he soon saw the object that caught his attention clearly. There was no mistaking it, it was the blade of their chieftain. He decided to retrieve it and tiptoed towards the one who has it.

Slowly and carefully, he approached his target, and when the poor man was in his reach, he grabbed him by the neck and covered his mouth with his enormous hands before pulling him towards his chest and crushing the person's head against his torso. An audible crack sounded as Bakrah shattered the skull of the unfortunate soldier with all his strength. He dragged the body towards an obscure corner then left it there, after retrieving what he was after.

He was about to return to where the rest of his squad was when he saw the strange steeds of their opponents that had domes in their backs. Bakrah wondered if such creatures could carry someone like him or if its meat would taste good. Letting his curiosity take over him, he approached the location of the strange creatures and saw many of them around. The creatures were busy grazing in the fodder in front of them and didn't notice the towering figure that was eyeing them in the shadows.