A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor-Chapter 983 - The Chance to Break Through - Part 8
983: The Chance to Break Through – Part 8
983: The Chance to Break Through – Part 8
He could feel his men stirring without even looking at them.
His Command reached all those hearts that it can become so familiar with, and it amplified them.
They allowed in all that Captain Patrick was, and were stronger for it.
The might of the Patrick forces was palpable.
Disorganised as they were, there was a distinct pressure to them now.
Oliver too could feel his Command brushing against the likes of Yorick, and the likes of the Lasha’s Blackthorn underlings.
It was the first contact that he’d managed to make with any of them, and it came not a moment too soon.
KAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSHACKKKKKKKK!
General Karstly hit first, ploughing through the first of the heavy shields, sending them man flying backwards, despite all the weight equipment that he was carrying.
The outstretched spear missed his horse, and Karstly plunged in deeper, clearing the way for his officers.
They too – strong men that they were.
Oliver supposed that not a single one of them could have been below the Second Boundary – caused that gap to widen.
For all the shield infantry’s heavy equipment, the snaking charge of the arrow head Stormfront attack was unmatched.
The retreating bow infantry were forced to retreat even faster.
They started to run through the ranks of men, by necessity, allowing the other melee infantry to take their place, hoping against all hopes that they could somehow slow the momentum of the Stormfront charge.
Already, Karstly had managed to plunge in three ranks deep.
Speed alone had allowed him that – but there were still seven more rows for them to push through, and there were no plumed helmets in reach to lend his charge the extra weight of triumph that it needed. freewēbnoveℓ.com
“CALM YOURSELVES!” A man in a golden plumed helmet sang, in that musical tone that the Vern had.
“THEIR MOMENTUM WILL TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES!
OPEN THE GAP, MINE OFFICERS, AND LET THEM FALL INTO THE PIT!”
The man gave his instructions from a tall mobile tower, pulled by horses.
Only now that they were in so close did the Stormfront men pause to look at it.
It was made of wood, and pulled by six horses, as tall as five carriages stacked on top of each other.
It was every strategist’s dream post.
To be able to see the battlefield from above, as though it was a mere board – the Verna had made such a thing a reality.
The Verna soldiers did not begin to panic, even as Karstly’s charge hardly seemed want to slow.
There was a shifting in their ranks again.
The plumed men of different colours echoed the orders of the golden-plumed man – their General, Oliver supposed – and the whole army began to move with them.
“FORWARDDDD!” Gordry bellowed, following after General Karstly.
He wielded his mighty glaive from the back of his horse, and he sent heavy shield-bearing men flying, just as his General had before him.
He didn’t just take the ground to advance forward, he actively worked to widen the gap in a display of destructive brilliance.
Oliver was forced to watch as the Blackthorn men were allowed the glory before him.
They too hit the shield-wielding Verna infantry head-on.
They ran with spears extended, and put all their weight in the charge.
Some of them were stopped, as shields were raised, deflecting their points, but others – and far more at that – made their way through, their spear tips finding the slightest gaps, and the strength of their momentum filled charge overwhelming when precision did not find its home.
The young Captain Patrick was forced to grunt in grim acknowledgement at the display of the Blackthorn infantry.
They were good, he had to say.
Whether they were as good as the world would have him believe, he did not know, but they were at least far from incompetent.
“My Lord!” Verdant said, giving Oliver his usual signal.
Now Oliver pulled his way in front of Verdant’s mount, as Verdant himself drew back.
The two had worked their way as best they could to give Oliver as much exposure as possible.
A charge like this rarely came about twice, there was little point if Oliver didn’t manage to exert his full strength on a single pass-through.
With eyes glowing gold, he stared down his foe, feeling the rhythm of the horse beneath him, and working the timing in his head, as he readied the horse at his side.
“SCATTER!” He demanded of the enemy, the instant before he hit them, working Ingolsol’s will, feeling the slightest shreds of their fear, and twitching them into a whirlpool of despair.
The smallest of cracks appeared, as men’s legs moved against their will.
There wasn’t enough fear to take control of them entirely.
This was an army in its height of confidence, after all, but there was more than enough for Oliver to take advantage of it.
KASHACCKKKKKKKK!
When Oliver hit the shield wall, the whole enemy knew of it.
He blasted the Verna infantry backwards, in a display much like that of Karstly.
Purposely, at the very last second, he had angled his way away from the arrow formation, knowing that he needed not the exposure that the incut weaknesses of it offered.
Instead, he targeted where the shield wall was not already broken.
He thought it to be a better use of the might that the Patrick army offered.
It was almost like a small arrowhead formation in its own right.
Gordry caught sight of the manoeuvre out of the corner of his eye, and already his teeth were set to grinding.
If his face was not already covered in blood, as he mowed down foe after foe, then he would have met out martial discipline there and then.
After Oliver, the rest of the Patrick army began speeding.
Verdant hit, with all that force that his unusual strength allowed him, blasting enemies just as far as his Lord had, thoroughly making a mess of that shield wall, and carrying them three ranks deep, just to the left of what Karstly was already beginning to make his way.
Then, to Oliver’s pleasure, the Yorick cavalry came charging in.
They did so with a battle cry, showing their fury, prying open the wounds that Oliver and Verdant had already inflicted, and turning them into something more major.
It was like a true secondary incut by now.
