Some distance away from the cacophony of the battle, the hurried footsteps of a lone scout could be heard as he ran through the grasslands. The scout stopped in front of a knight wearing some light protective gear and holding a massive bow.
The knight nodded his head after listening to the scout's reports. He then ran towards the camp set up on top of a hill overlooking a massive forest.
"Master Merlin, the fight on the northern side has started!" Galahad, the Demetae golden knight reported. In response, Emery merely looked at him and nodded without saying anything. He was using his spirit reading the whole time, hence he already knew everything.
At around the same time, a white-haired girl approached him.
"Brother Emery, our opponents have also started to move from the forest."
Emery smiled, patting the girl's head. He had been training her in a bit of magic and was glad to discover Glita had started to grasp the basics of spirit reading. Even though she still needed to work on the range she could cover, her spirit reading was still strong enough to detect the movements of the enemy in the forest.
He proceeded to focus his spirit reading on the area indicated by Glita, sure enough, the enemies hiding within the forest had finally started to make their move.
Emery looked up towards the clear blue sky, closed his eyes as he felt the wind that gently caressed his face. He then said to the guards standing next to him. "Light it up."
One of the guards ran down the hill, while Emery looked down to see the many stacks of dried wood that had been piled in multiple places between the forest, as well as some area at the bottom of the hill he was currently on.
Each stack was made of wood collected in the forest, sprinkled with a little bit of burning reagent, and filled to the brim with leaves and other easily flammable substances they managed to find.
White smoke started to seep out and cover most of the area, giving the forest and the plains close by a shroud of mystery even beneath the blue sky.
Seeing the smoke slowly but surely gathering, Luna Quintins commented. "This is smart. This will make them think twice before blindly charging through the smoke. They will have absolutely no idea how many of us will face them behind the smoke screen." She nodded in approval. "You reckon this is enough to fool them and buy us time?"
"Probably not…" Emery said as he shook his head.
This strategy's main objective was to delay the enemy from attacking them head-on, but Emery would certainly not just risk everything on the assumption the enemy would hold back and wait until the smoke dissipated.
With both his spirit reading and enhanced senses, he saw the enemies were already starting to move out from the forest. One could consider this method similar to smoking bees to force them to come out from their nest.
"They are coming out, get ready."
With a simple command, each leader split into their respective groups. Meanwhile, with one word from Galahad, all the Demetae archers' eyes were trained towards the direction of the forest.
Meanwhile, Emery's eyes were also fixed on an area in the forest, where faint shadows of figures began to appear one by one. Taking a slow deep breath, he finally spoke the word that lifted the curtain of the act.
"Fire!!!"
--
All ten thousand Danes were charging out from the forest ferociously, screaming and shouting their lungs out.
That was when the whole plains were suddenly covered by smoke, successfully stopping their steps.
White smoke started to creep out from between the trees, making it almost impossible to see more than a few meters in front of them. Even when they tried to look to the front, the previously clear path was completely covered in white. They were at most able to see two meters before everything was obscured by the thick smoke.
A moment later a rain of arrows came from the sky, hitting many of them who were still unprepared because of the smoke. However, this went unnoticed as the smoke concealed everything from any prying eyes.
The strange development of the situation quickly forced the 5 Jarl that had gathered to call off the men and retreat back to their initial position. Their brows furrowed as they saw the white smoke around them.
"What are they planning?! What is this smoke for?!" Said one of the Jarl with a massive greatsword strapped on his back.
"We cannot see shit through this! Should we continue?!" Said the other Jarl, whose figure was plump. "You saw how many arrows were shot at us, right?! For all we know there might be ten thousand spears ready behind that smoke!"
"That is not possible!" Rebutted another Jarl, who wore grey leather armor and a helmet decorated with a pair of curved metal horns. "My scouts already confirmed they only have one thousand men, 2000 at most. They are trying to fool us!"
"So? What are we still doing here?!!" Said another Jarl, who was holding a spear in his hand. "This is an insult to our honor, we should charge and bring death to them all!"
"Why are you so quiet, Jarl Haraldson? What do you think we should do?"
The massive imposing Jarl with white beard and green eyes looked at the direction the smoke came from, his massive axe catching the little light from the sun and glinting menacingly.
"I know of their leader and I believe he has some tricks ready. We cannot afford to be careless-"
Jarl Haraldson was one of the most respected figures, with him saying sudh words, the others started being swayed to his opinion. The man was about to speak more when suddenly a few figures approached the group and shouted at them.
"Why are you all still here!!?"
The man wearing a luxurious fur-lined red and white cloak was the one who interrupted Jarl Haraldson's words. As he walked closer to the five Jarl, a group of silver knights along with a middle-aged man wrapped in equally colorful robes separated from the crowds and walked behind the man. The man who just spoke was the Iceni Prince.
"The northern tribe has started their fight in the north!" The Iceni Prince said, "This is the best time for us to attack, so why the hell are you all still here!?"
"Prince, we are still here to make sure there is no trick behind that smoke," said Jarl Haraldson. "We will definitely attack when we know for sure we won't be falling into a trap."
"Huh?!" The Iceni Prince said, as he turned to the Jarl. "They are only tricking you! There are no more than 2000 men waiting behind those smokes!"
Jarl Haraldson maintained his calm as he replied, "How can you be sure?" His eyes then abruptly turned sharp as he continued, "You will only lead us to our deaths if what you say is not true!"
The Iceni prince ignored the commotion, as the man with colorful robes who stood behind him approached the Jarl. The man pointed at the direction beyond the fog and said. "My Lord, I assure you there are no more than 2000 men behind those smokes."
The man's words made Jarl Haraldson turn to him, which he immediately responded with, "I know this because I am Frayne, Brittain's greatest magician."
Many of the Jarls had heard of this Frayne, who was known to be the youngest wizard of Brittania. Hence most of them quickly believe the other party. It was only Jarl Heraldson who was still hesitant. Creases were apparent on the man's face, as he considered his thoughts.
The Iceni Prince, however, added. "Even if there are 10.000 of them back there, why are you hesitsted? are you Danes afraid?"
Those words, as well as the condescending tone that accompanied them, effectively set the Danes' spirit on fire.
"HUH?! We are the Danes, how could we be afraid? We are even ready to die in a losing battle! We shall crush them with our might, no matter how many they are."
The 5 Jarl then ignored the Iceni group and quickly returned to their men. They proceeded to lead their respective groups of shield walls.
With their weapons and shields ready, they marched forward. Each step they took resounded through the earth, while their weapons made metallic echoes that could be equated to an intimidating roar.
Their advance was like that of a massive, rampaging bull willing to do anything to reach its destination. Only their steps and the sounds of banging shields could be heard. Every so often, the sound of dried leaves being stepped on broke the monotony.
"Attack!!"
It seemed Emery's plan was discovered by the other party. Fortunately, he was fully prepared.
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Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v..e.l,