"Arrows!!" one of the Danes warriors shouted, as his eyes looked upon the rain of projectiles heading in their way. "Raise your shield!!"
The mesmerizing yet murderous rain of arrows once again permeated the azure sky, but this time the Danes were ready to reciprocate the reception. They raised their shield and covered their upper body with it, as they walked in the infamous shieldwall formation.
Each group had around one hundred men, where one third would position their shield to the front while the other two third would put their shield on top of their head.
This arrangement of shields allowed the Danes to have total protection against attacks coming from the front and above.
Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap! Dull, yet strangely rhythmic sounds were heard as the arrows landed upon the shields. Of course, there were still gaps between the shields that would kill or hurt the Danes hiding behind, but this arrangement was incredibly effective when utilized against attacks such as this.
Because of the nature of such formation, the Danes had to advance slowly in groups. At the moment, there were one hundred such groups that gradually made their way through the white smoke obscuring the surroundings.
Even though that was the case, the Danes could only march forward in a straight line through the smoke across the wide plains because they would not be able to see the other group at their side if they went separate ways and acted independently like they usually did.
"Advance! Advance!" A muscular, burly man with an eye-catching beard and a massive axe in his hand could be seen shouting vigorously to those in his group.
This particular group of Danes wore different attires than their counterparts. Uniformed armor and grey-colored capes, with a striking symbol etched on both gear. They were those known as the Jomsviking, led by a famous Danes warrior named Torstein.
The large man focused his attention on the sky and shouted his orders whenever he saw the arrows coming.
"Arrows! Raise your shields!!"
Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!
"Torstein!!" A shout destroyed the rhythmic melody the arrows manifested. "How much longer do we have to walk through this smoke?!"
"Zip your mouth and just keep moving!" Torstein answered to his subordinate harshly.
Ever since entering the smoke, Torstein's heart had become restless. He was anxious.
His instincts had been telling him there was definitely something waiting for them inside the smoke, but they just didn't know who or what it was. When the other groups only fixated their attention at the sky and their surroundings veiled by the smoke, Torstein kept his eyes at the front side and, most importantly, on the ground.
There, he found it! Several steps away from them, just right before the limit of visibility, a pit trap!
It was evident the enemy was cunning. The smoke and arrows were merely a diversion. It was these pits that were covered by a blanket of leaves, the real problem. There should be enough wooden spikes to kill a dozen people inside of those pits.
Looking at the barely noticeable pit trap, Torstein couldn't help but inhale a cold breath. He had to admit the enemy was crafty. He could hear the pained and pitiful screams of the other groups coming from near as well as far away. Those people must have fallen to this trick due to their leader's incompetence, but not for a veteran fighter such as him.
"Break the formation!!"
His group quickly split up, went past the area where the pit trap was, converging back into one complete group. This maneuver was done smoothly and flawlessly, without any hiccups along the way.
Torstein also instructed one of his men to trigger the pit trap, so it couldn't implicate the other group that could possibly be trailing behind his group.
Seeing the pit trap was completely exposed, Torstein nodded his head and turned his attention back to the front. "Continue to advance!"
Once again, Torstein's group of 100 men charged ahead.
As they once again waited for the rain of arrows, Torstein started to hear more screams from his surroundings. Apparently, the other groups had fallen victim into something, presumably, the pit traps. He was about to curse on how stupid his felow Danes were when he realized there was faint sound of a fight.
Perking his ears closely, Torstein was sure it was certainly the sounds of metal clashing against each other. The enemy had finally launched their frontal assault!
This immediately put Torstein on guard, as he swiftly told his men to be prepared. He was sure that it wouldn't be long before they were hit by the other party's assailant.
"Men, prepare yourself and give careful attention to your surroundings!! The enemy is nigh upon us!"
Step by step, Torstein's group slowly walked their way through the smoke in front of them, traversing one to two meters every dozen seconds, as their visibility was limited to such distance.
Torstein knew they were only halfway through the plains, hence the enemy's ambush may have been ready and could come at any time. Sounds of screaming continuously being heard by them as they forged ahead.
Unfortunately, the smoke around them made it hard to know what was happening in great detail. It was unknown how many or where the enemy would be coming, they could only infer a few minor clues from how clear the noises were.
Suddenly, a scream was heard from the group supposedly next to his, which was soon followed by the sound of metal clashing. The commotion was extremely obvious, therefore, Torstein quickly decided to give assistance.
"Men, advance to the right!"
Of course, a veteran warrior like him, knowing that danger was in front, maintained his calmness as the group advanced in the formation. After a few steps, his eyes finally caught the shadow of several figures.
"Raydon!! We are coming from your left!!" Torstein shouted, to make sure there would not be any friendly fire among their ranks.
There, he saw the Danes group led by another famous warrior, Raydon, fighting an unknown group. Those people seemed to be as fierce as the Danes, with conspicuous tattoos on their body. They, however, were not Danes for sure.
Without any hesitation, Torstein ordered his men to launch their assault. "Attack!! Men, attack!!"
The one hundred men of his group immediately broke from the formation and advanced forward, attacking the mysterious group who were certainly not Britannia's knights.
It did not take long for weapons clashed against each other and shields bashed into body parts.
As soon as they were clashing against the unknown adversary, Torstein was shocked to hear another shout coming from behind.
Exactly from where they previously had been, another group of dozens of fighters with similar tattoos with the ones before them appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Without further ado, they charged toward Torstein's group at breakneck speed.
Torstein and his men quickly found themselves being attacked from two different sides.
Clankk!! Clannk!!
"Arrrghh!!!"
"What are you?!!"
Countless shouts and screams began to pervade the area as Torstein's group clashed with the unknown group. It didn't take long for them to be pushed back by the latter. The enemy not only was strong, they were also extremely coordinated. The most surprising thing was they acted as if they could clearly see through the smoke.
Within the first clash, Torstein had lost a dozen of his men. They were either dead or incapitated and unable to keep fighting.
"Gather up the formation and defend our back!!"
In the blink of an eye, he decided the best course possible was to deal with those behind the group.
"Attack!!"
It took a few moments for the Danes to regroup into formation, but as soon as they recovered, they immediately charged toward the other party.
Torstein, the strongest among them, saw a man, a large man who seemed to be the leader. Hence, he immediately approached the other party to fight him.
"DIE!!" shouted Torstein, as he struck the large man with his massive axe.
In response, the large man also brought forward his own axe. Their axes met each other, created an impact that threw both of them a few steps back. The smoke surrounding them was also blown away by the wind gust generated by their brief yet extraordinary clash.
As their two eyes met, a massive grin graced upon Torstein's face as he said, "Finally, a worthy opponent!!"
Torstein was excited because he finally found someone who was comparable to him. He was about to dash at the latter again when he suddenly felt something glaring at him from the side. Goosebumps ran all over his body as he instinctively knew whoever it was, they could threaten his life.
Being a strong fighter and hunter, Torstein knew what he was currently feeling. A beast was watching him.
As expected, his hunch was correct. His men were sent packing like a headless chicken, as a large beast crashed upon their formation. A black fur wolf abruptly joined the fray, charging through and attacking the Danes - completely destroying the infallible formation.
'What?! What the hell is that?!!" Torstein shouted, as he watched the wolf wreak havoc among his men.
The large man who clashed with him before said calmly, "Go back to your land, Danes. This is ours."
Torstein quickly calmed himself down, beginning to shout orders to bring his men back into formation. "Formed up!! Back to back!!"
But once their formation took shape and they were ready for the second round, Torstein as well as the others were once again dumbfounded by the scene before them. The enemy was nowhere to be seen, only dozens of the Danes' corpses remained. They had disappeared without a trace, as if they had never been in this place in the first place.
"It's-!! They are ghosts!!" shouted one of the Danes. Horror was evident on his face after his brain registered what was in front of him. "This land is cursed!!"
They were frightened and Torstein knew he couldn't blame them for that. In just a few minutes, both his group and Raydon's group nearby had suffered so many casualties. After calculation, they discovered only half of their initial number left standing.
This wasn't even finished yet.
"Arrows!!" shouted Torstein, while taking cover himself. "Raise your shield!!"
Another set of arrows arrived upon the battered Danes. More people fell to the ground. Raydon even got pierced by them, with his heavily wounded condition, his whole group decided to retreat.
Looking at the pitiful sight of his men dying and being seriously injured, Torstein once again reminded how brutal war could be. He was tempted to bring his troop back and save the rest of his men, but his belief as a viking would simply not allow it.
"Forward!!" He shouted, albeit strugglingly.
Torstein and his men kept moving through the smoke until it started to turn thin. Seeing that, he wondered if they were finally out of there or the smoke had just dissipated.
All he knew was there was a figure standing in front of him, right where the smoke could no longer be seen. He was ready to fight the other party when he realized he recognized who the figure was.
"You..."
The figure was the mysterious man he met back in his village.
"Torstein, bring your wounded men back."