Soul of the Warrior

The sun had set long before the last remnants of the army stumbled across the bridge. In that time, Reivyn had employed some of the soldiers who had higher Skill Levels and experience with building fortifications to make their little fort sturdier. His mercenary company would one day be able to rival any regular army soldier in the ancillary tasks that came along with soldier life, but they had only been soldiers for several months as opposed to years of training.

The modifications to make the walls more sturdy had been completed almost an hour before the last company of soldiers arrived. Reivyn nodded his head in approval when he saw Prince Allik cross the threshold last.

Leading from the front didn't necessarily mean for the officer in charge to be the first in line to meet the enemy, and Reivyn suspected Prince Allik wasn't at the forefront of the skirmishes that hounded the army's retreat. He was being specially targeted, after all. That being said, being the last one to cross made a statement. He was ensuring all of his men made it to safety, and he was willing to put himself at risk to make it so.

The gates went down behind the Prince, but he didn't let his soldiers stop to rest right at the entrance. He made sure the officers directed the men further into the fortification. They would be allowed to rest during the first encounter with the enemy if it was as close behind them as everyone speculated.

The night was dark. There were no visible stars in the sky as the clouds obscured all celestial light. Bonfires lined the roads, though, as well as the edges of the river and the palisade walls.

The soldiers that had already recovered their Stamina were standing on a little shelf designed to allow them the ability to launch attacks across the river. They waited with baited breath as they peered into the darkness. There was no chatter among the men, and only their breathing could be heard by those standing guard along the walls.

The river wasn't gigantic, but it was decently sized at approximately fifty yards across. Most of the soldiers were hand-to-hand experts, but they were all capable of drawing a bow.

The Mages didn't group up this time, either. The size of the fort was big enough that it wasn't too cramped, but there wasn't a lot of extra space. It's size was only a fraction of the line they had to cover in the city.

The biggest obstacle the defenders would have to face was a flanking maneuver from upstream. If a sizeable enough force crossed the river to threaten envelopment, that would be the sign to continue the retreat. Reivyn didn't know if the enemy would employ such a tactic based on their previous strategy, but considering their spies had been rooted out and killed, he assumed it was only a matter of time.

Reivyn heard the footsteps in the distance long before he saw anyone. It wasn't just his enhanced Perception that allowed him to pick up the noise, either. The legions were Marching in step, and the sound of thousands upon thousands of feet striking the ground in unison carried for miles. There was something about the night that enhanced the effect of sound carrying. Add that to the dark atmosphere with intermittent flickering lights, the effect was spooky and threatened to drain the morale of the soldiers.

Even though the army had been pushed out of the city, it was an expected outcome that they knew was coming. Their job was to bleed the enemy as much as they could while they waited for the true heavy hitters to get back to the Region from their expeditions in the higher-Tier Regions. To that end, morale was still relatively high.

Reivyn identified the location of the Prince in his command center. He wasn't hiding behind the walls and operating off of what others could tell him. He was up front with the rest of them, eyes front and peeled for the emergence of the legions out of the darkness.

Reivyn created a Mana tether between himself and the Prince.

"The soldiers are getting a bit antsy," Reivyn subvocalized through the tether.

The Prince jerked his head and looked around for a second before settling down. He nodded his head as if to nobody before drawing in a deep breath.

"Men! I am proud to stand among you as we defend our homeland from these vile intruders," he orated. "They threw everything they had at us before, and we killed hundreds more of them than they did of us. They would be nothing without their endless numbers!

"We stand here not to stop their advance, but to bleed them dry as they encroach on our heartland. Will we let them waltz in uninvited?"

"No!" A chorus of yells answered.

"The grass will turn red with the blood of our enemies. We all knew we would be pressed from our previous position. That doesn't mean our strategy isn't working! We'll make them shed their mortal bodies by the hundreds for every inch of land they take, and by the time they can see the shining walls of our capital in the distance, they'll be nothing more than a desiccated corpse shambling along!

"That will be our time to strike back! For now, teach them a lesson in blood and grief that our lands are not theirs to walk upon without paying a price!"

"Yeeeaahhh!"

The soldiers perked up, lifting their weapons above their heads as they cheered. The men standing below thrust their spears into the air, and the soldiers along the wall stabbed the sky with their arrows. The sound of their rallying cheers drowned out the sound of the footsteps for a moment.

The men weren't able to keep their cheers up forever, however, and once silence prevailed again, the sound of marching continued to beat in their ears. Reivyn noticed that the anxious looks on their faces didn't return, however. They were pumped up and ready to defend their land and their people.

The waiting continued. The soldiers gripped their weapons with sweaty palms, but their hearts didn't waiver. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as they waited for the enemy.

The first body came into view like a spectre emerging from the shadows. He was quickly followed by men Marching alongside him and behind him. The rows of soldiers continued to pour forth from the unknown shrouding the road.

Reivyn gathered his Mana in his hands as he felt hundreds of Mages along the wall do the same. He threw his hands up and gathered the Mana into his signature fiery ball above his head. Different colored shapes of Mana accompanied his own all along the wall, but the same phenomenon mirrored them from the enemy forces.

Behind the curtain of darkness, hundreds of different Spells formed and waited to be released. The soldiers never stopped Marching forward, and the men with bows and arrows waited for the order to loose their ammunition.

"Ready!" Prince Allik yelled. Everyone tensed up. "Mages! Fire!"

Countless Spells shot into the air in a parabola before coming down to rain destruction among the Marching legions. Reivyn's ball of plasma halted in midair before churning out lance after lance into the ranks of the enemies. The enemy Mages answered the call with their own Spells.

The defenders weren't just placing their hope in the sturdiness of the quickly assembled palisade. Sure it was made from logs harvested from a Tier 4 Region. They were incredibly sturdy and dense with their own Mana. That didn't mean they weren't much more vulnerable than a stone wall made from materials sourced from the same Region.

A contingent of Mages threw their Mana into the walls instead of at the enemy soldiers. The walls lit up in Reivyn's vision as the interior Mana worked with the external stimulation to form a much more formidable barrier.

The enemy spells rained down on the defenders. Most of them exploded against the walls, leaving scorch marks and splinters behind, but the wall held. Only a few of the Spells flew over the walls to crash among the defenders. They used their group-shield Skills as well as Mana Shields from Mages to mitigate the damage.

"Archers! Loose!" Prince Allik Commanded.

The waiting bowmen loosed their arrows and more death and destruction rained down on the advancing soldiers. It was harder to see the effectiveness of the Spells and arrows in the dark, but there were enough soldiers falling down in the light of the bonfires to let the defenders know their efforts weren't in vain.

Reivyn ignored everything else as he continued to Cast the same Spell. He could use other Spells to disrupt the ground, but being on this side of the river made it prohibitively difficult. He couldn't summon enough ambient Mana to his will in the distance to affect a large enough Spell to do much damage, either. His area-of-effect plasma lance Spell worked just fine in the situation.

He threw another ball of plasma over the heads of the enemy soldiers before his first one had dispersed. Two flaming orbs rained down fiery death upon the Marching enemies at once, and Reivyn conjured yet another to add to the maelstrom.

The sight of the Spells, arrows, and soldiers Marching in the dark was surreal. Most of the invaders were shrouded in darkness, but more and more emerged every second. Flashes of light illuminated the battlefield to give the defenders a brief view of what was threatening them. It reminded Reivyn of an ant colony flooding out of the ground after being disturbed.

Arrows from the enemy forces soon joined the rest of the deadly projectiles filling the air. Spells zipped through the air in both directions. They crashed into the ground, flinging bodies every which way as still others smashed into the palisade walls, chipping away at the durability of the fort.

The invaders made it to the bridge and didn't hesitate to step onto it to continue their advance. A group of poorly armed and armored soldiers came sprinting from the rear, though, and they launched themselves directly into the water. They began to frantically swim across the river, long lines held in their hands leading back to the shore.

Reivyn tossed one of his plasma balls over the water to lance into the swimming men who were obviously from lower Tiered Regions than the heavily armed legions. They didn't balk in the face of drowning, Spells, or arrows. More and more of them emerged from the darkness and dove straight into the water.

The defenders couldn't concentrate their fire on one group of soldiers. If they focused everything on the legions Marching across the bridge, then the enemy in the water would be able to cross easily and attach their lines to the palisade walls. If they concentrated on the swimmers, there wouldn't be enough pressure on the lead legionnaires.

Prince Allik didn't order the men to focus their fire. The Mages and archers attacked those that were in front of them, slowing both groups down. They were never going to stop the enemy advance, and they all knew it.

Bodies began floating with the current as swimmers were decimated by the Spells and arrows pelting them. Most of the lines lost from the lead swimmers were picked up by those following behind, but a few got snagged enough that they were abandoned.

The Marching men and the swimmers got closer and closer to the walls under a sky lit up with streaking lights. Close to the walls, there was enough light that it almost seemed like they were fighting in the daytime.

The first swimmers emerged from the water well before the legions made it across the bridge. They weren't Marching in a formation, and their Stats and Swimming Skills allowed them to traverse the waters quickly. More and more bodies were swept away in the current, and the waters were turning red, but there were still hundreds and hundreds who made it to shore.

The defenders below the platforms stepped forward and thrust their spears through the small gaps left behind for this purpose. Archers and Mages were firing almost straight down into the tide of men scrambling up the shore.

The low-numbered soldiers were relentless and fearless, though. They managed to stab implements into the walls to secure the ropes in place, and the Mana defending the walls from the enemy Spells became a double-edged sword as they enveloped the intruding tools and extended their protection. They weren't going to be easily dislodged.

Reivyn no longer summoned large orbs to launch over the heads of the enemy soldiers. He held his two hands together, one on top of the other, and formed a much smaller ball in the space between his two palms. He delegated drawing the Mana from his core to his left hand while he wove the Spell with his right.

He thrust his arms over the battlements, and dozens of plasma lances shot out every second in a concentrated ring that he swept across the line. The sight of the fiery lances kindled a memory of something similar being ejected out of a long, metal pipe from his Dreams. They both wrought similar destruction.

His plasma lances pierced right through the bodies of the low-numbered soldiers below. Sometimes they ran right through two or more. His Spell was enough to cause instant death to the weaker foes. The same couldn't be said for when they struck the armored legions.

His Spell was still deadly, but the armor and the group-Shield Spells, as well as the occasional Mana Shield, meant it usually took two or three lances per kill. It was the exact opposite with the swimmers.

Reivyn looked across the river as he continued to sweep the enemy line with his Spell. At some point, an entire fleet of rafts had been placed in the water, and legionnaires stood upon the rafts as they used the lines to drag themselves across the water.

"Prince Allik! Rafts!" Reivyn hadn't dismissed the Mana tether connecting him to the Prince. There was too much noise for his voice to be heard in the conventional way.

Prince Allik looked up from the frothing waters below to spy what Reivyn had warned him about. He bent his head down to a couple of the new runners and pointed across the river, giving him instructions.

They didn't hesitate as they dispersed across the line. They didn't go all the way to the end. They didn't even make it to Reivyn. They did instruct several of the Mages to abandon attacking the swimmers below them to instead target the rafts.

The low-numbered soldiers weren't just sitting still after accomplishing their primary mission, though. They began climbing the walls, sometimes over the corpses of their fellow low-numbered soldiers, and they threw themselves at the archers as soon as they scrambled to the top.

Reivyn did what he could to lessen the burden, but there was only so far he could reach and so much he could do. The archers and Mages around him, though, saw what some of the other Mages were attacking and launched their own Spells at the rafts in the distance. Reivyn's Spells were able to hold the enemy soldiers off enough that they had the breathing room to do so.

A loud crashing sound caught Reivyn's attention, and he looked up to see that the gate had been easily breached within moments of the legionnaires arrival. The defenders charged forward to engage in hand-to-hand combat, but the press of bodies from the enemy forced them to continue to back up.

Reivyn felt a vibration on his Mana tether, and he looked up to make eye contact with Prince Allik.

"Bridge," was all the prince said.

Reivyn nodded his head and stopped launching the lances from his small ball of fire. He gathered more and more Mana into like before, and he launched it out toward the bridge. He directed it to fall almost to the water, and then the fiery lances spat out and slammed into the supports holding the bridge up.

In only seconds, the bridge collapsed. Thousands of armored legionnaires fell into the water. Most of them didn't resurface, and many of them were swept away by the current along with the corpses of some of the swimmers.

The enemy forces never faltered, though, and more rafts were simply placed in the water where the bridge used to be. They were loaded up with soldiers, and they once more advanced on the fortified position with stoic faces.

A horn blared in the distance, and Reivyn looked up to see the cavalry take off from the backside of the fort. The enemy soldiers had crossed the river upstream, and they were moving to flank them.

The first of the rafts made landfall. They completely ignored those in the water still swimming across the river, bowling over them in their haste to reach the shore. Not all of the swimmers were killed by such callous actions, but more bodies than not emerged to float down the current from beneath the rafts.

The Spells pelting the wall stopped as soon as the armored soldiers reached it. They instead adjusted their trajectory to arc over the walls into the soldiers down below. Runners came by and shouted for the defenders to hop off the wall as the armored soldiers used axes and other bladed weapons to punch through it instead of climbing over.

Reivyn jumped down with his own soldiers. They ran to where their company was lined up and ready to engage in melee combat. Reivyn quickly checked his Status page and saw that his Mana pool was just over 40%. It was enough to cover their further retreat.

The wall had taken enough damage that the Mana reinforcement wasn't enough to sustain them anymore, and breach after breach appeared along the wall as enemy soldiers poured through.

The defenders hacked and slashed as they emerged from the holes in the walls, but there were just too many of them. More and more rafts were thrown into the water until there was practically a makeshift bridge erected on the water's surface. They were able to simply March across the water at this point.

"Hold the line!" Reivyn Commanded his men with Commanding Shout. His voice carried over to those nearby, as well, and his Heroic Aura inspired confidence in those that could see and hear him.

The invaders met a wall of spears and shields. Their advance came to a stop for a moment, but they were high enough Level and armored well enough that they weren't taken down right away. The press of their bodies eventually overwhelmed the defenders, and they were forced to take steps back as they continued their attack.

Reivyn had drilled such maneuvers into the men over and over again, but it was clear that the other soldiers didn't have as much training with this particular problem. Soldier's feet got tangled up, and as one tripped, more lost their balance.

"Push!" Reivyn Commanded.

His mercenary company took several quick steps back. The absence of resistance resulted in the invaders lurching forward unexpectedly, and then the mercenaries immediately followed it up with a heavy press forward. The temporary retreat resulted in them pressing the enemy soldiers back into their own ranks and it created a small disparity in the line.

"Extend!"

The squads from behind on the edges leaped forward and out, striking into the opened flank of the enemy soldiers. They caused a bit of confusion and discordance among the invaders. It was short lived, but it was enough.

"Reserves! Assist!"

The platoon in reserve split in two. They had been ready for the order as soon as Reivyn had Commanded the Push, and they darted forward to help their tangled allies regain their feet.

"Recover!"

Reivyn didn't let them get overextended or linger. The mercenary soldiers did their job and then rushed back into their proper formation. One of the lieutenants to Reivyn's left cast him a sheepish look.

"Thanks," he said.

"Have your men open their ranks if it's going to be a problem," Reivyn replied. He didn't have time for anything else. Even if he wasn't needed to command every action every second, he didn't want his attention to wander just to be a bit more polite.

The officer took his advice and ordered his men to create a bit more space between the rows. There was a bit less force to go against the pressure, but they were able to make up for it by not tripping over themselves.

"Retreat by numbers!" A runner ran by without stopping.

Reivyn didn't immediately do anything. They had already determined the order of the retreat, and the mercenary company was going to be one of the last. They weren't going to be the very last for the same reason they had been the first to leave initially, but they were the most well-rested company in the army at this point. The plan was to assist with the leap-frog retreat until they could break away.

The little fort they had constructed had been built in a triangle shape. The walls funneled from either side to the center in the rear, which would hopefully prevent the invaders from swarming around them as they retreated.

To alleviate the same downside from affecting their army, Prince Allik had already ordered the more tired companies to pass through before it was time to retreat. The small space allowed for fewer men to hold the line while they filed out in relative safety. Spells and arrows still came down deeper into the fort, but the Mages were on pure defensive duty at this point, and it didn't do too much damage.

The mercenary soldiers rotated their positions just like normal as the entire army was steadily pressed back. The companies used the funnel as their cue for when to peel off and depart. They hadn't engaged the enemy soldiers for too long in hand-to-hand combat, but there were still casualties. It wasn't enough to sap their Stamina like before, though, and morale was still high as they trickled out of the wooden fort.

One of the companies didn't immediately depart once they left. They Marched over and formed up to defend against any enemy soldiers reaching their flank. The cavalry was still out and about, though, doing their job to disrupt the advance of those on this side of the river.

The company to Reivyn's left eventually peeled off and made their way to the exit. They joined the long line of companies along the road. There was no other defensible position between the river and the next city, though. They were going to have to March through the night before they would be able to stop.

It was finally Reivyn's turn to order his men to disengage. They calmly filed away from the frontline with the palisade wall defending their flank. The sounds of combat were muted not only by the wall as they passed through, but also because fewer and fewer men were actively engaged in fighting.

"Perform a head count as we March," Reivyn ordered Jeckle. "Also, have the men eat their rations and drink their water. We still have a long night ahead of us."