194 Rapid Fire (1/2)
So we started the fire, and it was blazing!
While half of Redbull's left army and more than half of Amon's right army clashed northeast of our position — each one looking to press the advantage over the other — Amon's own personal guard of five thousand remained at his side in a square formation that had him squarely in the middle of it.
Ahead of his square formation, another twenty thousand troops stood by in a standard line formation and waited for their opportunity to be called forward.
They were a fair distance away from Amon's guard — perhaps a hundred to a hundred-and-fifty yards away. This was standard practice in armies with such large numbers.
Now, here's where you'd see my brilliant plan at work.
These twenty thousand troops were separate from the forty thousand soldiers that were in battle with our left army by about two-hundred and two-hundred-and-fifty yards.
That wide gap between them was empty space that normally would be filled, but thanks to Redbull and my strategy, that gap that shouldn't be there was there now, and it was just waiting to be filled — by us, of course.
This was stage one of my plan which was basically lighting a fire under the enemy's plump behind.
The earth quaked beneath my feet as the sound of thousands of boots ran across the desert just east of our current position.
”Here they come,” I whispered. ”Make sure we don't fall behind, Edo!”
”Maybe you should stop spectating and lead, Dean,” Edo grumbled.
I couldn't agree to Edo's suggestion as I couldn't miss the moment for the fire starters.
Over the sand dunes to our east, they marched, a ten thousand strong force led by April Valentine, Adjutant to General Redbull. Marching with her, and representing the Foolhardies, was a three-hundred-man unit under the command of my own adjutant, Aura, the Flame Bringer.
I know, I know, it was a cool nickname that I thought of myself recently. Sadly, I seemed to be the only one using it — for now. I expected this battle might make Aura more famous than Aurana.
The first stage of my plan was simple. Create a split at the front of Amon's forces that we could use to insert a small force into. This small force was larger than initially planned as Redbull decided he didn't just want to lend me more troops but invest in my strategy completely.
Thus, the ten thousand troops that split off from our rear before we got close enough for the enemy to notice the disappearing act.
Well, the enemy noticed us now, although they were slow to react. It went something like this.
Seeing April's troops rushing to fill the gap, Amon's twenty thousand reserve troops had no choice but to march forward in a southeast direction to attempt to block them from flanking the forty thousand already in the midst of their battle with Redbull.
As these two forces met in battle, just before their frontlines would clash, a violent pillar of flame and ice exploded from our side onto theirs in what I could only describe as a fantastic display of combining area-of-effect spells.
Of course, these two spells had no doubt come from Aura and Ty who'd been practicing this type of combination magic for months now. This type of feat was standard for Ty, but Aura would have had to borrow power from her efreet to cast such a wide attack spell. It would no doubt drain her mana quicker, but the gains were too big to ignore.
That initial attack was enough to shake up the enemy and made it easier for April's frontline to engage and overwhelm their frontline.
I watched from the skies as shadowblades clashed against each other in between a backdrop of broken ice and burning sands. It was a scene I would have thought worthy of an epic movie.
In the middle of that chaos, I saw the floating efreet — who I'd already dubbed as Flamethrower in case anyone forgot — act true to his name and lob fireballs over the heads of Amon's soldiers.
I knew for a fact that Aura was right below Flamethrower and commanding it while guiding her unit to work together as one.
Ashley's shield wall was in front of her and ensuring no enemy would make it past to break Aura's concentration.
A giant golem rampaging to the right of the frontline caught my eye as well, and it told me Varda and her new dwarven squad were nearby and causing as much trouble for the enemy as they could.
Then I watched as a combination of flame arrows and ice spikes soared over the battlefield and landed at the rear of the enemy's formations. These attacks hit dozens of enemy archers just before they could let loose their arrows.
”Looks like Donar and Ty are doing well,” I noted.
”How about you look at our position now, Commander,” Shanks suggested. ”You know, so we don't suddenly run into enemy scouts.”
”We're fine as long as we stay low for now… and that means you, Shanks,” I responded.
”It would be easier to crouch down if I wasn't carrying you, boss,” he countered.