Rise of the Horde

Chapter 272 - 272 Chapter 272

272 Chapter 27The blockade along the gateway was slowly crumbling apart and Captain Kertakk knew that his soldiers won’t be able to hold their enemies at bay for much longer, “Slowly pull pack! Maintain your formation! Pull back inside the gateway!”, he ordered as he knew that they won’t be able to hold back the entire of their enemies even with all their numbers. The rain of arrows upon the enemies seized the exist as the archers on the walls hurriedly ran down from the walls and scattered themselves on the houses close by.

“Pull back! Get it together men!” Captain Kertakk continued to shout trying to maintain their crumbling morale as he slid in the ranks of his soldiers and joined in the fray. His rank as captain wasn’t all just for show as his Fifth Realm of Power was enough to deter some of their foes from recklessly moving forward and causing them more casualties.

The sergeants were trying their best to maintain order even falling to the blades of their foes in attempting to do so. Captain Kertakk, pulled back one of his sergeants who was clearly handicapped in combat after losing one of his arms to their enemies but he still continued with his job, “Get the wounded who are still able to move to fall back to the castle… We will try to hold them here for as long as we can…” he ordered with urgency. After giving the command, he charged right back in into the fight and sent all those who stood in his path to the afterlife as his battle energy surged around him. Cheers broke out among his soldiers after they realized that their captain was with them and is working hard to repel their foes which invigorated them to fight harder and drive their foes back.

The presence of Captain Kertakk in the current battlefield served as an anchor for the soldiers of Baron Masud to solidify their defense and they were successful in doing so. Commander Lastam and his elite ninety nine soldiers who were with him the longest made quick work of their enemies at first but then the crumbling formation of their foes began to solidify once more which turned their advancement to almost a pace of a turtle. Their previous initial momentum was repelled by the surging momentum of their foes who were at first trying to run away from them but it all changed when they were almost through the gateway.

“Why you little…” Commander Lastam cursed as he drove the length of his blade through the torso of a foe who should have given up in fighting after suffering some serious wounds and almost losing both of his arms but he just had to try and dismount him with his body which infuriated him. “Trample them! Leave no one alive!” his voice filled with anger reached the ears of his men as they crazily charged forward while their foes desperately tried to deny them entry to the town ahead.

This was by far the most difficult battle that the hounds of the king had participated in after being officially recognized as one of the enforcers of the ruler’s will. The original number of the king’s hounds was just about two hundred but their number quickly swelled after receiving acknowledgement from the current ruler and even their master had no idea of their exact numbers as more and more people joined in the ranks of his hounds. Even Lishtal himself didn’t know their exact numbers but by his rough estimate, their numbers were more than two thousand in total as new bloods would always join them and their commander never set a standard in accepting new members which caused their numbers to quickly swell.

“Back to streets!” Captain Kertakk rallied his remaining soldiers to try and funnel their foes towards where most of their archers were positioned at. His remaining men were quick to follow his command as they had no better choice, either they ignore their commander’s order and die right there after being overwhelmed by their foes or choose to follow the cry of their captain and gamble with the slim possibility of them avoiding death.

The army of Commander Lastam finally were successful and driving the defenders away from the gateway after a hard-fought battle as he had to utilized the quality of his elite soldiers rather than their quality. He lose more than ten of his elite soldiers which pained him a bit but what else he can do but accept the fact that he had to make sacrifices in order to overpower their foes since he can’t count on the sheer number of the newbies who joined them to suppress their foes.

With the retreat of the defenders from the gateway, the hounds of the king slowly poured into town and spread out in order to begin their looting but little did they know of the danger of spreading out as danger lurks in almost every corner of the town. “Ugh…” a newbie hound groaned in pain as he fall to the ground while clutching the shaft of an arrow that pierced his chest and skewered through his lung, “Enemy archers! Take cover!” a voice of distress among the peers of the fallen man cried out as each of them hid behind whatever cover there was near them as to avoid being easy prey to their foes.

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The archers who Captain Kertakk ordered to take refuge among the houses in town gave the men of Commander Lastam a lot of trouble as they were sniped by arrows in places that they never expected. Arrows would come flying out from alleys, windows, corners, up above the top of buildings in the surroundings and other places that you wouldn’t expect. With the presence of the archers who were almost everywhere in town, the eager to seek riches hounds had to proceed with caution less they lose their lives to their foes who seemed to be everywhere.