Rise of the Horde - Chapter 341:

Khao’khen himself knew that the Warghen Clan didn’t have anything in their arsenal that could combat against the chosen strategy of their foes. He knew that the enemy’s way of fighting of striking from a distance was not within his calculations. A missile battle was one of the obvious weaknesses of the horde.

The Warghen Cavalry is categorized as a melee light cavalry and the Rhakaddon Cavalry was categorized as a heavy cavalry. BY his own standards, Khao’khen wasn’t prepared the threat that was presented to them,

The Warghen Cavalry was too expose to combat against the enemy missile cavalry and he knew for sure that they would be easily dismantled by the enemy arrangements before they could do some real damage and the cavalry under the lead of Dhug’mhar would easily be outrun by the enemy forces.

Under heavy arrow fire, the Rakshas and the Yurakks didn’t have any other choice but to endure. Since they were under intense fire, their capabilities and strong point of being dominant in melee combat was rendered useless by their foes.

No matter how hungry the orcs were for a massive clash, they were left with no choice but to tolerate the way that their enemies were attacking them. At closer range, the Yurakks would somehow be able to retaliate with their two javelins to strike at their foes but the Rakshas had no way of retaliating in range combat. Although they can and should be able to throw their spears like their Yurakk allies, the Rakshas deemed it unworthy to throw their spears at their enemies although they were unlike their Drakhar allies fully capable of full close combat engagement.

Without their spears, the formation of the Rakshas would be greatly diminished since they would fight like any other close combat unit which was a free for all melees without their spears. Equipped with hacking swords that were devastating with well-trained warriors, the Rakshas had no fear of engaging in close combat even without their spears.

The current situation that they were in, only the Yurakks were able to greatly counter the enemy attacks with their formation. Moving like a fortress, the Yurakks endured without any casualties. The unique formation that they were trained to employed accompanied by their equipment and discipline. No Yurakk fell even under the heavy intense fire of their enemies.

“Won’t we run out of arrows if this continues and gets prolonged?” that was the question that General Trakaros directed towards the duke. He knew that they were absolutely at a disadvantage in frontal melee confrontation against their foes. The current encounter that they had with their foes finally proved that the current head of the Darkhariss family managed to enlist the aid of the orcs.

Truly at a great disadvantage in melee combat, the old commander finally got the gist of things of the duke only deploying fast moving units against their foes. Although they were considered rookies, the Camel Archers on their side were dealing significant damage against their foes. The heavy dense of arrow fire were truly slowing down the advance of the enemy vanguard.

The infantry that was sent out on the side of the duke had nothing to do but observe and watch their allies do damage against their intimidating foe. According to the plan of the duke, the infantry units that were sent out on their side had nothing to do with the initial engagement. They were just there to lure in the enemy forces who were expecting a real confrontation against them.

“Why do you think that I brought more arrows than necessary?” the duke threw a question back at the old general without answering the question that was directed at him. He was well aware that in close combat, only few could contest against the might of the orcs and with his new army, he doubt that anyone would be able to stand a chance against the warmongering creatures in one on one combat which is why he decided to engage them in a ranged confrontation.

‘Know your enemy better than how you know yourself’ that was the thought that came to the duke’s mind when he thought of the possibility of fighting against the orcs. He knew that the orc’s way of fighting was all about getting close and personal with their adversaries which were where their strength thoroughly relies.

Only few of the human race would be able to stand toe to toe against an orcish warrior even if it was the most basic grunt of their forces. The dwarves would contest them when it comes to durability in combat and strength although they were more than half the size. Although they were stout in body mass and small in height, the dwarves were well capable of wrestling against an orcish warrior when it comes to strength.

Tall and fragile by the first look, the elves themselves were capable of grappling against the orc although they are less durable than humans in taking hits. More than thousands of years had passed since the numerous races encountered each other. The humans hated all races with passion since it was their dominance over the world of Azgalor that was brought to ruins by the arrival of the other races. There was once a one and single empire that ruled most of the world which was called the Empyrean, its ruler had control of more than seventy percent of the world’s territories but the arrival of the new races brought their power to decline.

The first ones to arrive were the dwarves which devastated the humans with technology and innovation that they brought with them. Powerful and mighty against humans in close combat, the dwarves along with their gnome friends were able to carve out their own territories under the watch of the humans who weren’t able to do anything against them

After years of struggle and contest, the human race was finally able to unite. The Empyrean or “The First Empire” was formed but their dominance was first challenged by the dwarves. After losing a chunk of the world’s territories against the dwarves, the humans although unwilling with the result of the clash of races accepted the fact that they weren’t able to contest against their new neighbours who established their dominion near the north of the world which was by far not of such importance to the humans.

A hundred years had passed and the humans were finally acceptable of the fact that they weren’t the only race that was capable of domination of others. They had domesticated the beasts of the wilds of their world even the most savage of them but the emergence of the dwarves who were able to repel them but remained satisfied with what they have now gave them a huge slap in the face, although powerful against creatures that had no real civilization of their own.

Although powerful, innovative, adaptable and other good qualities of the human race, they were still not able to gain dominion over their new neighbours who showered their armies to bits with their technology. Triumphant when it comes to strength, the Dwarven Armies easily triumphed against the humans especially with the accompaniment of the creation of the gnomes.

dα- |m

According to the history of the world, it was the Dwarven Race that gave the humans their first taste of defeat against any other foes beside their own. The humans were still using cold arms, ancient weapons or probably medieval by today’s standards but the dwarves were already equipped with firearms in the form of long tubes that creates a deafening roar and able to send out balls that had devastating effect against the human armies.

The first war of the humans against the dwarves resulted in a devastating defeat to the humans. The dwarven technology managed to triumph over the united numbers of the humans which resulted in the Empyrean no longer seeking bloodshed with their new neighbours. Although unwilling, the human overlords finally accepted the fact that they weren’t the most powerful with the presence of the dwarves.

Years and decades passed but the dwarves remained within their initial territory upon their arrival which relieved the human emperors since their visitors had no plans of gaining over the entirety of the world.

Relived that the dwarves had no desire for domination, the Empyrean remained in control and was still at the peak of its power until the beautiful and majestic creatures that had long ears arrived. Like their usual response to the unknown, the humans set out to destroy the new arrivals but found little success in doing so.

The first elves although weaker than their predecessors but against creatures of no magical capability, they easily devastated the humans. Armed with the knowledge of magic and the lack of such a thing from their foes, the elves devastated the humans.

The war between the elves and the humans lasted for more than a decade but they finally soon agreed upon peace which entailed that the elves were to teach the humans of magic while the Empyrean let them be and won’t disturb them as they build their civilization upon Azgalor.

The current ruler of the Empyrean sought out the aid of the elves when it comes to magic but that was without any ulterior motive. Although it was strange, the current ruler of the Empyrean that time sought out what would benefit them the most. The dwarves were too stingy with what they have and always denied the humans of any access to the knowledge and technology that they have which left them with no other choice but to accept the bitter fact that they can’t do anything against it since their armies would be easily dismantled by the dwarves and their weapons.

With the opportunity to learn something knew that they weren’t used to, the current monarch of the Empyrean that time granted the elves what they thoroughly wanted which was a stable environment to support their new beginning upon a new environment. The agreement contained that the elves would teach the human race with the ways of magic and they readily or adaptively learned from it. Although most at first failed the teaching of the elves but upon the ascension of the new ruler of the humans, magic finally flourished and some humans were even able to best their elvish teachers in magic combat.

Equipped with their new weapon and knowledge and with the words of the previous ruler after him, the newly ascended monarch of Empyrean quickly declared war upon the dwarves who were peacefully building their civilization, far from the reach and eyes of the humans.

Shocked and disappointed the main ruler of the elves recalled all of her kin and forbade them from teaching any other higher levels of magic to the humans. Although not as powerful as their elven teachers, the human race fought against the dwarves and found many successes against them.

The first clash of ancient against the advance was against the dwarves and the Empyrean, the first clash of magic against the ancient was between the elves and the empyrean but the first clash of magic against technology was between the empyrean and the first dwarves.

The war between the dwarves and the empyrean lasted for more than a hundred of years with the elves sitting on the fence and waiting for the right opportunity to choose and side with the winner. Patiently, the elves waited after hundreds of years, the two sides still had no definitive winner. That was until the arrival of the more menacing although primitive in both technology and magic creatures, that was the orc kind. Less powerful in magic than the elves but they had their own unlike the humans, even more primitive than the humans but had the strength to be able to do so. The arrival of the dwarves and the elves didn’t disturb much the rule of the empyrean but with arrival of the orcs or the warmongering creatures, the empyrean was thrown to chaos.

Although they weren’t really the ones that fragmented the once powerful and united human empire, they were the main cause which was why humans sovereigns hated the orcs with passion “those who were within the know of what actually happened in their history not some new blood who only recently became a monarch.”

Those of the old empyrean blood knew of the real history on why the old empire was fragmented and a selected few who had enough curiosity to find out about it. The current world was now divided into many races.