Rise of the Horde - Chapter 343:

At first while he was observing the proceedings of the battle, Khao’khen was already prepared to have the sound of retreat to be announced but when the chants broke out among his forces, he withheld the call. Although they are losing the real engagement with the number of casualties and wounded with the employed strategy of the enemy forces, the chants of his forces and their act of taunting the enemy was dealing another kind of damage.

Most armies needed to prevent their morale from falling in order to ensure that their combat capability remains at its peak. According to Khao’khen’s knowledge, there were instances of a powerful army being defeated by a weaker foe after taking a disastrous hit upon their morale and perhaps the current situation would allow them to replicate the same thing.

Seeing that their foes were still hardy in battle, the morale of the Camel Archers plummeted to an all-time low with some of them even refusing fire another single arrow stating that they were already exhausted and it was useless to do so with how their enemies were reacting to their assault.

“Move faster…” Duke Hanbal muttered after observing that his new units were now almost out of control. Although many refuse to fire another arrow, the riders still followed the direction where their commanders were leading them to which was some kind of relieved to the side of the duke which assured that they still had some control over their forces.

Although they didn’t know the actual effect of their actions and words upon the enemy forces, the orcish warriors kept up with they were doing. The initial effect of the chants was to uplift their mood and redirect their attention from not being able to retaliate at all against their foes. The taunts were just an extra that the orcs did because it just felt right for them to do so.

Not knowing that they were being lured into an ambush, the orcish vanguard kept following the swarm of missile riders while hoping that they will run out of arrows sooner which would force them to close combat.

Khao’khen’s ear perked up as he heard a distinct trumpeting call from behind the dunes where the enemy missile cavalry was headed to. Although he wasn’t a hundred percent certain, the bad feeling in his guts was telling him that the source of the sound was nothing good for his warriors.

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“Sound the retreat!” he hurriedly commanded after the recognizable sound became even more frequent. His warriors who were with him were confused upon hearing their chieftain asking for the sound of retreat to be played.

“Retreat chief?” Sakh’arran questioned with a face filled with confusion as like the others, he can’t figure why the chief would allow the sound of retreat to be declared since their foes aren’t dealing much damage against their forces. They knew that after the enemy cavalry runs out of arrows, they would have no choice but to fight in melee combat if they want to continue with the battle.

“Declare it now!” Khao’khen’s voice thundered which shocked those who were with him. The chieftain never sounded so hurried and raised his voice as much as he is now doing before. Even Cledus who was riding alongside him was surprised since the voice of the orc’s leader was filled with worry.

The missile cavalry that retreated in one massive swarm after joining together parted in the middle like they were avoiding something or making way for something. Before the sound of retreat could be announced on the side of the horde, the mysterious huge beasts of the enemy army finally made their debut.

Massive in size, the heavy cavalry of the enemy army barrelled forward and with each step they took, the sand under them noticeably sank a bit because of their sheer weight. Atop the head of the gigantic creatures was a person who seemed to be the one responsible of leading it while on its back was a tower-like contraption that had enemy soldiers on armed with bows.

Taken by surprise, the first response of the orcish vanguard was to stick together since that was the way that they were trained and that was their most effective way of fighting but they had no idea that their prized formation will do them more harm than good. The orcish warriors were densely packed together as they prepared to withstand the charge of their new foe.

“It’s too late…” Khao’khen cried out after seeing those enormous creatures barrelling their way towards his forces.

“Do we still sound the retreat?” an orc holding the battle horn questioned with worry. He was fearful of the chieftain who might just kill him on the spot after not executing his given command. Even Sakh’arran felt worry for his own well-being after questioning the decision of the chieftain and having doubts on his judgment.

“Haguk!” Khao’khen ignored those who were near him with faces of worry on what he might just do to them after failing in following his command.

“Yes chief!” the clan chief hurried towards him. He didn’t know what the chief plans to do but they can’t just leave their allies on their own.

“Gather every rider and every warg that you can! We will charge out and provide assistance to the frontlines!”

While he was still worried against the heavy rain of arrows from their foes, Haguk threw all worry away. If their frontline collapses then it would be their certain defeat and it would be a humiliation for the horde to have a taste of their first defeat against such a cowardly style of battle.

It didn’t take long for the Warghen Clan to be assembled and even Sakh’arran himself with his steed joined in the formation. He wanted to redeem himself from questioning the chief by joining in the very risky assault where heavy casualties were very likely.

The orcs and the massive war beasts of Duke Hanbal’s army collided which resulted in the densely tight formation of the Yurakks to be smash open. Orcish warriors were thrown in the air by the collision with some unfortunate ones being gored by the massive tusks of their new foe.

Releasing a trumpeting sound, the massive war beasts of their enemies wreak havoc among the orcs. Every path that a huge beast takes would have a trail of chaos behind it. Nobody knew if it was planned or it was a coincidence but most of their new foes evaded the Rakshas who were at the very center of their battle line opting to go for the Yurakks on the flanks.

Although they had problems during the initial collision, the Rakshas managed to overcome the initial advantage of their foes. Armed with their longer and more massive spears than their Drakhar allies, the Rakshas pierced the thick skin of their foes and earning them a cry of pain from the massive beast.

Surrounded on all sides, covered in wounds while releasing a cry of pain, the war beasts that decided to head for the Rakshas were halted in their tracks. Worried about the forest of spears that surrounded them, the huge beasts can’t move in any direction without being pierced by the weapons of the smaller creatures that were fighting against it.

Unable to move and make use of its size, weight and strength, the war beasts of the enemy forces that were within the ranks of the Rakshas were rendered useless. Like an army of ants, the orcs started climbing the massive creatures and took down its handler and the annoying bast*rds that were firing arrows at them during the chaos.

Making use of their numbers, the Rakshas overwhelmed their new foes and brought them down to the ground before raining down blow after blow on them. The poor creatures became the target of venting for the Rakshas for all the frustrations that they had against the cowardly allies of their new foes.

While the enormous creatures caused chaos among the ranks of the Yurakks, the enemy infantry that was watching from a distance during the beginning suddenly charged forward and joined in the fray. Isolated from their other allies, some Yurakks found themselves fighting against several enemy warriors.

“What are those creatures?” Haguk questioned their chieftain as his gaze remained upon the enormous creatures that were trampling and causing chaos upon their allies. It was the first time that he set his eyes upon such creatures.

“Elephants! War Elephants to be precise!” Khao’khen replied in a hurry as he urged the warg that was under him to go faster. Although the warg was still defiant in fully accepting him as its partner but after numerous times that the chieftain attempted to have it like and accept him, the warg finally allowed the chief to mount on it.

“What’s the difference?” Haguk was confused as he heard the new words that their chieftain was uttering.

“The first one is the normal version of the creatures which are out in the wilds while the second one is trained to participate in wars.”

“Then we should get some for ourselves and make use of them for the horde.” Haguk recommended as he witnessed the devastation that the giant beasts can cause in battles. He sees the size and strength of the elephants to be in line with the way of the orcs and those creatures seemed to be very well suited in fighting alongside them.

“We can and probably we should but I doubt that our allies at the frontline would leave any of them alive.” Khao’khen pointed out. Every single one of them knew that remaining alive was very unlikely for those creatures after colliding with their allies who were fuming with rage and eager for a bloody battle.

After dispatching the enemy forces that dared charge at them, the Rakshas were about to provide aid for their Yurakk allies when the heavy dense of arrows came once again. The shower of arrows was focused upon the Rakshas which prevented them from moving about to provide help for their allies whose formations was smash open and was engaged in isolated battles with the enemy infantry with some of those enormous creatures still continuing to create chaos among their lines.

Pinned on their places, the Rakshas can’t do anything but to endure and hope that their allies could repel the enemy forces on their own. The Camel Archers of the enemy forces seemed to have regained their morale as they rained down volley after volley of arrows upon the targets designated by their commander after receiving words from the overall commander of the army.

The Yurakks were able to stand their ground despite their formation being smash open against the enemy infantry that seemed to have grown guts and engaged them in a bloody melee but the massive creatures amidst their lines were devastating their numbers. Ramming grouped up orcs with their massive size, trampling them with their weight, goring them with their tusks and picking them up before hurling them away with their trunks, the enormous beasts had many methods of attacking while the soldiers on the tower-like contraption on its back provided another nuisance in the form of arrows.

The very front of the Yurakks’ formation was torn apart but a quarter of its rear still maintained their tight formation as they tried to halt the advance the massive creatures from fully destroying their formation.

“Head for the archers!” Khao’khen shouted and led the Warghen Cavalry towards the enemy missile cavalry which were focusing their fire upon the Rakshas. It was their chance since the enemy missile riders were yet to designate them as their targets.

The commanders of the enemy missile cavalry realized it too late that there were new enemy warriors joining in the battle. In a hurry, the commander of the missile riders ordered for their troops to fire at their newly arrive forces but their command wasn’t well heard by their troops as some still continued to fire upon their foes who had no way of retaliating.

Khao’khen and the Warghen Cavalry closed the distance and upon noticing the fast moving units heading for them, the enemy missile cavalry broke formation and tried to make a run for it but with a sudden burst of speed, the Warghen Cavalry reached their ranks and tore them apart. Claws and fangs tore both rider and steed alike while the riders atop the wargs dish out damage of their own.

Relieved from the heavy enemy fire, the Rakshas were finally able to move around without worrying for any enemy archer to land a lucky shot on them. The warband masters of the Rakshas hurriedly gave out commands for their warriors to head to the flanks and provide much needed help for their allies.

Since they can’t within striking distance of the enemy war beats, the Rakshas opted to hurl their spears towards the flanks of the giant creatures since they were walking giant targets for them and it would be hard for them to miss such a kind of target. Heavy spears pierced through the body of the massive creatures causing them to cry out in pain. After hurling their spears, the Rakshas unsheathed their hacking swords as they shoved their Yurakk allies aside and climbed the body of the war beasts.

It didn’t take long for all the massive creatures to be taken down and without their support, the enemy infantry crumbled and retreated while the Yurakks still hungry for more were in hot pursuit. Although they suffered some casualties chasing after the enemy missile cavalry to drive them away from the thick of the battle, the Warghen Cavalry was instrumental in their victory.