Blood Elf Monarch

Chapter 326 - War Tactic

The Uruks were truly the exact embodiment of a real and perfect soldier. At the moment, there were one thousand of such individuals assigned to him, and all of them were apparently hungry for battle as a savage and bloodthirsty look could clearly be seen on their faces.

One thousand grey-skinned creatures, twice the size of man, wearing heavy armor on their chest, shoulder and four limbs; the sight of such display would surely even send chills to veterans. And evidently, such a level of display was not enough as all of them were also equipped with a one and half meter blade.

While inspecting the resources given to him for this battle, Tristan realized that there were thirty of these Uruks who were not wearing armor and exuding a completely different aura compared to their comrades. These individuals were what the dark elves called the Berserker.

[Uruk - Berserker]

[Battle power - 85]

As Tristan inspected these special individuals, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows in question. These berserkers were only ten to twenty points higher in battle power than normal uruks, which honestly quite underwhelming when compared to the title given to them. However, this also made Tristan wonder what exactly were the capabilities they had that made them worthy of being called Berserker.

Seeing that they were not wearing any armor and their restless gesture, Tristan assumed that these berserkers would be having more advantage in the speed department than their peers. However, this was only a mere assumption of his.

Moreover, as there were only thirty of them, Tristan honestly felt he couldn't care much about such differences.

With the firework-like signal erupted in the air, the battle that would determine which party had the absolute command for the upcoming battle against invasion had officially begun.

Tristan knew that if he wanted to win the battle he would be having at the moment, he would require a good strategy. Furthermore, he was willing to bet his entire reserve of Blood Essence that Illiana would not use any usual means to achieve victory. Hence, he himself gave his best to come up with a worthy strategy to use. 

Further reinforced his determination to win, Tristan quickly reassessed the information that he had gathered before. There were three paths with equal distances and the main objective was to take the enemy's flag before the enemy took his.

For now, there were two strategies that Tristan could think of.

First, was to divide his resources equally throughout the paths. It meant that his one thousand Uruks would be split into three teams, with 350 Uruk and 10 Berserker in each team and Tristan would fill the one with the 300 Uruks to create three somewhat balanced groups.

This was the most feasible and the safest strategy, and probably had the highest chance of being successful. Unfortunately, this strategy didn't fit into Tristan's style.

The second strategy was to concentrate all his resources into one path, emphasizing his force to their rough capability. He would station 300 Uruk on the two paths, while the path he chose would have the remaining Uruks, numbered in 400, with himself as the commander. This was the real winning team to go and capture the flag.

This method would have more risk compared to the first one. But as long as he made sure he could reach the flag first than his opponent, this strategy would almost guarantee his win. 

However, Tristan was not any run-of-the-mill leader. As eccentric as he was, he would not choose either plan. He would find a more creative approach

Finally, the strategy he came up with was to equally divide his force into two groups with two different duties.

Half of the Uruks would go with him to grab the flag, while the other half would go on the defensive at where his own flag was without worrying about the two other paths at all. With this, Tristan was confident that if the other party decided to use the first two strategies against him,  no matter how the troops were arranged, he would win the battle.

As for the Berserkers, Tristan decided to not bring any of them on offensive and let them on the defensive with one absolute instruction of 'survive till the end'!

Confident with the plan he concocted, Tristan proceeded to commence his attack.

500 Uruks marched their way toward the middle path, with him at the forefront.

"Let's move!! Charge!!"

The grey creatures briskly moved in formation, causing the ground to tremble with their stomping advance. As he led this group of creatures on the conquest of snatching the flag, Tristan contemplated the battle he was having now.

He believed that the battle would not only be about making the right arrangement and choices for the paths, but also to execute the plan designed with speed. Of course, the Uruks couldn't just run quickly and haphazardly, hence he had instructed them to move in rows.

Brak, brak, brak; the sounds of the Uruks marching through the path echoed through the air.

After marching for about twenty minutes, Tristan's group of Uruks finally reached the halfway point of the field used for the battle. Tristan couldn't help but think that the path was a little too far than he thought. But then, it didn't really matter.

It was also at this point that Tristan finally caught the shadow of his enemy. Apparently, the enemy had waited for him as he could see about more than 300 Uruks. Based on this, he concluded that the enemy used the first tactic.

Seeing this, Tristan was sure the win was already in his hand. Still, time was still the essence as soon enough, in around twenty minutes, the other party's force of 700 Uruks would clash against his 500 Uruks stationed at his flag.

Even so, Tristan believed he would have at least thirty minutes of time to use before his flag would be taken by the other party.

"Chargee!!" shouted Tristan as his body shot forward.

But soon, Tristan noticed something odd happening. As soon as he and his force came closer, the enemy force would immediately retreat.

"What the hell?!"

He was dumbfounded.

It took Tristan seconds to process what he just witnessed before he decided to chase after the enemy. After all, he just had to grab the enemy's flag as soon as possible. It really didn't affect his plan that the enemy force was retreating.

His 500 Uruks and the other party's 300-ish Uruks then proceeded to go on a wild goose chase for a few minutes. Tristan thought this would continue until he reached the other party's flag when figures suddenly came out of nowhere and charged at his troops.

Tristan turned to these unknown figures and realized they were the 30 Berserkers assigned to the other side. Apparently, they all hid among the gaps within the rocks across the path.

As they came out and charged from the flanks, dozens of his Uruks died in a matter of seconds. This sight dumbfounded Tristan that he froze for a moment. 

Eventually, he woke up from his daze and shouted angrily.

"Kill!! Kill them all!!!"

Unfortunately, reality always went differently from expectation. When the thirty Berserkers were about to be surrounded by Tristan's Uruks, they quickly retreated by taking advantage of their superiority in speed. The Uruks could practically do nothing but watch the Berserkers get away scot-free.

In the brief contact with the other party's force, Tristan had suffered a loss of fifty Uruk while they didn't receive a single loss.

Realizing this, Tristan couldn't help but curse, "Urrgghh, those slimy bastards!!"

He was tempted to make his Uruks move at half their previous speed and gave more attention to their surroundings. He was about to do exactly that when he realized the other party must be hoping for this.

Hence, he decided to make his force march again at full speed.

Unfortunately, not even five minutes later, the same thing happened. The Berserkers who once again hid among the rocks launched an ambush at his force, which resulted in the loss of another fifty Uruk.

'How could these berserkers escape my senses?!" thought Tristan inwardly.

Tristan couldn't see or hear their presence at all, not even a hint of it. These Berserkers were really adept in hiding, as if they weren't there in the first place.

Thinking that he was only ten minutes away from his enemy's flag, Tristan decided to continue the march. But this time, to be completely safe, he decided to use a spell he never used before.

[Heat Detection]

As he activated the spell, Tristan never thought that the spell would be useful. The spell allowed him to scan the entirety of space in miles, and thanks to that, he knew that his enemy was almost at his hill.

Time to speed up!

A few minutes later, Tristan finally caught the sight of the other party's hill. There, the enemy had been waiting for him, right on the exit. What surprised him was that the 50 meters wide exit was filled with not 300, but 500 Uruks.

This sight once again made Tristan wonder what kind of tactic the enemy was using.

There, among the 500 Uruks, was the huge dark elf in a mask. 

The enemy was certainly prepared to greet his force, as they waited in a clear-cut defensive formation. It was now 500 against 400, there were also the 30 Berserkers hiding among them; it was clear that Tristan was at a disadvantage, unlike what he planned before.

Even so, Tristan was not discouraged by the unfavorable situation he had gotten himself into. If this was only a battle between Uruk forces, Tristan certainly would not win. But since he was allowed to enter the battlefield, the outcome was yet to be determined!

"ATTACK!!!" Tristan shouted loudly as he charged forward into the sea of ??enemies fearlessly.

The battle hadn't gone 10 minutes, Tristan suddenly heard rumbles coming from behind him. To his surprise, the enemy remaining 500 Uruks were attacking from behind him.

"What! How come they are here!"

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Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,