by John Nest
At once, Igniz flew to the bandits without hesitation. Smoke, Igniz, Laernea and Gandiva assaulted them with their ranged attacks, while his black and silver golems blocked some of the incoming Brandals.
With the Brandals unceasing catapult attacks, Ledur was now the only one left blocking the flaming boulders from destroying the walls.
* * * * * *
The Brandals on the foot of the mountain turned around to see the loud war-cries coming from behind them. The ones directly in front of the three charging war elephants were instantly demoralized. These massive mounts were leading the Vigilantez's wedge formation.
The rest of Smoke's core members all rode on aardwolves while the surviving Arcus had to squeeze themselves as five of them rode on the war chariots supposedly built for three. The mounted units did not run at full speed as the Ranseurs and Avendre Mercenaries could not keep up with them.
Sierra's normal form allowed her to easily ride together with Weise. Whereas, Rasant and Adelige shared a war elephant, while Stark, the largest Maneator, rode alone.
Adder's team of Condortlian Warriors on the back of Centaur Rangers were joined by one thousand of Jeter's Avendre Mercenaries on the right side immediately after Sierra.
Sharur's and Jinggu's teams banded with two more Avendre Commanders. The twin OrkElves were on Sierra's immediate left.
Meanwhile, Ichaival, Sharanga and Guro were spread out to the left wing of their wedge formation. Each of their teams were bolstered with two-thousand Avendre Mercenaries. A total of six-thousand new members altogether.
On the other side, Thyrsus and Vijaya were on the far right wing. Between both their teams, they were only given four-thousand Mercenaries. However, Phen, Rear, Ardu and Vrai were on this division as well as they took command of all the Tikbalangs and Werewolves.
Mamelon's Elemental Knights and Shamans stayed in the middle of their sporadic formation, and acted as backup to any of the teams. She was given only a thousand Avendre Mercenaries. Her unit was the smallest, but it was designed to be the most agile.
With the aid of the war elephants' massive strength, Sierra and the Maneators smashed their way into the throng of bandits.
The mounted Brandal Captains threw their knives at them, but Sierra's tanking prowess drastically improved after she equipped Smoke's Armored Armadillo Shield. She blocked most of the projectile attacks coming their way, but only received 150 damage points on the knives that got past her shield.
Stark, on top of his war elephant, received several of the knife attacks as his war hammer called Gorilla Fist served as a poor shield. He had almost leapt off his mount to face the bandit captains, but Weise noticed this.
"Calm down, Stark. Remember our objective," said the gray Maneator. Weise pointed to the numerous catapults still farther ahead of them.
A warm feeling suddenly overcame Stark, and his agitation faded as Sierra's healing ability took the pain of the knives away.
After seeing Sierra in action, Adelige took out her heavy Oxen Edge. With her double-edged axe, she parried all of the attacks aimed at her and Rasant.
"Thanks, Adelige," said Rasant gratefully as he concentrated on driving their war elephant straight for the siege weapons.
Adder's, Jeter's, Sharur's and Jinggu's teams hurriedly followed her lead. They didn't stop to fight the bandits, but made sure to steadily move forward instead.
Yet, the Brandals quickly regrouped and cut off Sierra's leading forces from the rest of the Vigilantez. Only three-thousand Avendre Mercenaries were able to join them in the front.
In exchange for being separated from their main forces, Sierra and her men were now within an arm's reach of the catapults.
Sierra would have wanted to go to where Smoke was, but she knew that he could take care of himself. What they needed to do now was to acquire these catapults.
"Adder, Jeter, we need to make sure that Sharur and Jinggu take command of at least two catapults," Sierra ordered quickly.
Together, all of them rushed for the nearest two catapults. Each siege weapon only had one Brandal Captain guarding it and a handful of bandits operating the siege device.
Adder riding on the back of the Centaur named Tragar, aimed for one of the Captains. Tragar's arrows hit the Captain's torso and distracted him fro them leaping Condortlian overhead. Adder's BlitzSturm cleanly severed off the bandit's dominant hand equipped with a whip. He then sliced his double-bladed sword across the Captain's body.
The other Condortlian Warriors went to face the bandits handling the catapult, while the Avendre Mercenaries protected them from the other bandits who were coming in to stop them.
Jeter's Mercenaries broke off for the catapult next to the one recently captured. On foot, Jeter ordered his men to swarm the Captain.
The Brandal leader lashed out his whip and cracked it at the Avendre Commander. Jeter got hit in the shoulders and his life bar was reduced by 25%. He raised his shield and blocked the next coming attacks as he charged forward.
Steadily, Jeter got closer to the bandit leader. The Brandal Captain switched weapons and took out a short sword. However, Jeter threw his kite shield at him, distracting the bandit from his next move.
The Avendre Mercenary scrambled to climb on top of the black ctenosaur. Holding his saber with both hands, he swiftly knocked the bandit's sword out of his grip.
Many of the surrounding Brandals tried to help their leader, but Jeter's men made sure to allow their leaders' a one-on-one fight.
Jeter rapidly moved to the bandit's back, and with his left hand, he trapped the Brandal Captain in an arm hold. His saber pierced through the side of bandit's leather armor as the Avendre Commander repeatedly stabbed him.
After Jeter finished off the bandit leader, he drove his saber into the black ctenosaur's head and killed it as well. He dismounted from the dead lizard and equipped his kite shield. He looked around and found that his men had did the same to their own opponents.
Then, a bright light engulfed him and his men as a red-haired HighElf began healing them.
"Well done, Jeter," said Sierra promptly while she continued replenishing the life bars of the mercenaries.
"Now, I need you and your men to do it all again," as she pointed to the next catapult.
"Right away," replied Jeter excitedly and headed for their next target.
With two catapults secured, Sierra called for Sharur and Jinggu to come over, but the twin OrkElves had already captured two of their own.
"Can you guys handle two more?" asked Sierra as the catapults were brought closer to them by the Mercenaries.
"No problem. We can handle all thirty of them," boasted Jinggu. "Make that all twenty-eight," he said as he pointed over to the Maneators.
Sierra was confused, and turned around. She found that Stark and Rasant had destroyed two of the siege weapons. She then heard Weise shouting.
"We are not suppose to break them, just clear them from the bandits," reprimanded the gray Maneator.
Sierra turned back to face them when he heard Sharur's voice. "Don't worry, Sierra, I've always got your back," he said meaningfully.
"Thanks, but I think they are the one who needs your help right now," she said as she pointed to the battalion closing in on Smoke, Ledur, Laernea and Gandiva on the mountainside.
Sharur nodded, and the two OrkElves proceeded to change the calibrations of all four catapults to aim for the Brrandals charging at Smoke instead of the capital's wall.
* * * * * *
A busty Aqua Knight, on top of the largest bronze jackal, glanced between the opposite wings. At first, she thought the Vigilantez formation looked like that of an eagle closing its wings on a rabbit before carrying it off to be devoured.
However, only their right wing remained dominant against the bandits. The ruthless Brandals appeared to be a fighting jackal instead of a rabbit.
Mamelon didn't know if it was because of the Werewolves and Tikbalangs strength, or because Thyrsus and Vijaya simply worked splendi
dly together. Yet, the only thing that was clear was that this was not the side she needed to help.
"Jackol, to the left wing!" she ordered her mount and the rest of her unit followed after her.
Ichaival, Sharanga and Guro were clearly suffering as their numbers were rapidly dropping. She further scrutinized their area and found that Guro's team were holding their own.
The Gladiatrix's Phalanx Aura and Battle Aura increased the capabilities of the Mercenaries around her. Guro was constantly on the move. This gave her men a high boost in morale, giving them the positive attitude to take on the bandits.
Unfortunately, it was Ichaival's and Sharanga's members that were being killed. Sharanga focused on hunting down the Brandal Captains, while Ichaival went after the Brandals' healers.
This time, the Brandals had Witch Doctors scattered among them. This made killing the bandits five times harder. Yet, as they went after their special targets, they neglected to take care of their greenhorn Mercenaries.
Mamelon's Shamans quickly began healing the Avendres near them. Apparently, Ichaival and Sharanga ordered their Acolytes to prioritize on healing the Vigilantez members, which made the Mercenaries be neglected.
The two Hunters quickly ordered their healers to focus on healing everyone, but they already suffered a heavy blow of a thousand dead Mercenaries on their hands.
Ichaival rode his mount closer to Sharanga. "Let's change our support team's precedence to healing the Avendre instead," he said abruptly. "They are clearly weaker than any of our Vigilantez members, and I think our Ranseurs and Arcus will still be able to survive on their own."
"I thought about that as well, but it would be too risky," Sharanga replied back apprehensively.
"So, what should we do?" asked Ichaival impatiently.
"I don't know!" shouted Sharanga as she let out her frustration.
Suddenly, an Aqueous Spike flew in between them and killed a bandit who was leaping towards them with his knife.
Mamelon arrived and intervened. "Focus on killing off the Captains and Witch Doctors as you were doing before. My Shamans will be healing the Mercenaries, while I and the rest of the Elemental Knights will support you from behind."
"Thank you," said Sharanga and Ichaival synchronously. The two Hunters swiftly rode off on different directions.
Sharanga's falcon released her five-trap system on one of the Brandal Captains and brought him down to the ground. The Ranseurs and Avendre Mercenaries in her team quickly rushed to the downed bandit leader and finished him off.
Meanwhile, Ichaival, the Banalite Archers and his Arcus members all targeted the Witch Doctors. Their first volley was blocked by the bandits defending their healers, but their ranged attacks would not be stopped. Their persistence penetrated through the Brandals, wiping out the Witch Doctors near them.
With their sights firmly resolved and the addition of Mamelon's troops, the left wing quickly picked up its pace. The Avendre Mercenaries were slowly getting stronger as each kill contributed to their experience bars and eventually led to them leveling up.
However, after thirty minutes into the battle, the Brandals sheer advantage in numbers was slowly getting to them. The Acolytes' and Shamans' mana could not keep up with the high demand of healing all of their members.
The Brandals closed rank on their Witch Doctors, and protected them with their lives, as more Brandal Captains huddled together around them.
* * * * * *
From the far off distance, Smoke zoomed in and observed the commotion on the foot of the mountain. He grinned when he saw Sierra bravely cutting through the swarm of Brandals.
Despite his army's arrival, he knew that no one was coming to his aid. Not even Sierra or his loyal Maneators. He understood that they would be more effective fighting below than trying to rescue him.
Smoke would have wanted to catch more boulders and roll them down the mountain, but he was saving his mana for something more efficient.
He aimed his torrential poison arrows at the Brandals in the back. Inflicting as many of the bandits with the 'Poisoned Status.'
With the Brandals only a few meters away from him and the Lioumereans, he switched to Aral's Lightning Rods and defended the front lines.
'I don't have to kill them, I just have to push them back,' he thought to himself.
He struck the bandits one by one with only a single hit, and they tumbled down bringing along two or three of their comrades with them.
Through Smoke's tenacity, he eventually reached the area were his magnetic underlings were fighting.
The Brandals soon realized that it was difficult to get past the monstrous DarkElf and his golems. Despite this, the bandits still moved forward as the capital's walls were still being destroyed by their catapults.
The bandits tried moving to the side, away from Smoke and his golems.
Smoke quickly realized what they were doing, but he was still lacking in mana. He hurriedly yelled out for help. "Ledur, funnel them towards me!"
The winged Tikbalang temporarily stopped his repairs on the walls and created a slanted, three-meter earth-wall that was going towards Smoke's location.
Blocked by the earth obstacle, the Brandals furiously rushed at Smoke and his two golems. Yet, unbeknownst to the bandits, Smoke was only biding his time.
As fifteen minutes had already passed, his mana recovered to the point where he could create two more golems. He swiftly took out two more electro stones and created more minions.
Smoke fought eight bandits at once, while his golems were mobbed by ten bandits. Fortunately for him, the Brandals' weapons could do little damage to his metallic minions. They were unreasonably slow, but extremely sturdy.
Yet the major factor as to why they were able to hold their position against the numerous Brandals was because they held the upper ground, and Smoke had every intention to abuse this tactical advantage.
Together with four metallic subordinates, Smoke defended the passageway from the waves of Brandals. Concurrently, Igniz, Laernea, Gandiva and their durcules beetles kept attacking from Afar.
The Lioumereans picked off the dying bandits with their arrows, while their two-meter durcules beetles stabbed the bandits with their black horns.
Not to be outdone, Smoke's dark ember sprite's unceasingly attacked with his fireballs. He steadily lowered the life bars of the bandits.
"Igniz, swallow them in flames!" shouted Smoke suddenly.
Not a second later, Igniz created multiple firewalls inside the slanted confinement and inflicted every bandit caught in its flames with the 'Burned Status'.
The poisoned bandits, in the back of their formation, stopped climbing and hurriedly retreated downward. They spread out and circled around the earth walls. There were still more than a thousand of them left.
Smoke was about to call out for Ledur's help, but he was taken aback when he saw four flaming boulders coming straight for the bandits.
He used his Telefax Vision and instantly recognized the source of the boulders. He found Jinggu and Sharur preparing to fire another round of boulders at them.
'Their effectiveness in using siege weapons coupled with their Far Sight ability really makes them formidable long range opponents,' he mused.
Looking at the OrkElves' sides, he found that Sierra and her troops had already captured half of the catapults. Yet, they were temporarily stalled as more Brandals began to swarm them.
Smoke was about to resume fighting the bandits on the mountainside when he suddenly saw two red flares go up at the same time. His eyes instantly went over to Ichaival and Sharanga, the Hunters who fired them.
Their troops were blocked off by the bandits and each of them were surrounded by several dead bodies of Avendre Mercenaries and a few of their Ranseurs and Arcus.
He scanned their area to search for the reason they shot out the flares. A few meters away from them, he saw twenty mounted Brandal Captains charging straight at them. They were all the remaining bandit leaders in their area
.
"Laernea, Gandiva, leave the mountainside, but avoid the bandits at all cost. I have to get down there now!" he said in a rattled voice.
Smoke abruptly leapt up and took to the skies. "Igniz, with me!" he yelled out and his dark ember sprite instantly stopped attacking the bandits.
He decided to leave the remaining Brandals on the mountainside as he knew that Sierra will capture the catapults, disabling them from entering any potential cracks in the city walls.
Also, with the end of the falling boulders, Ledur would be able to finish off the bandits by himself.