Chapter 103 Onset of battle 4

The settlement that was built by the expeditionary forces was quite massive in size. It was intended to be the foothold for which a crusade would be launched into the Steppes. This meant that it would need to hold an astounding amount of people in the future. Since this was only the initial stages of the crusade and considered more of an expedition, there weren't nearly enough people within to defend the entirety of the settlement.

The walls spanned a great distance around the settlement and since the expeditionary force was only around one hundred thousand strong, it was difficult to defend every direction. Nonetheless, their forces were quite powerful and even with smaller numbers they were able to hold back the daily attacks of the Barbarians. Of course, they knew this was only a temporary situation because the barbarians had not yet truly launched an attack with all their strength and were only testing their defenses.

In all four directions, the barbarians had completely surrounded the settlement. The chieftain of the Harkul, who was leading the siege, was encamped at the northern city walls. Their camp had over five hundred thousand barbarians and most of the elites were located here. As for the other directions, those camps were almost entirely made up of other tribes which had assembled and there was slightly over three hundred thousand barbarians in all three directions.

This made for a massive force which was only growing, but the other tribes were much weaker in strength than the Harkul. Most of these warriors were only Basic or Intermediate class and there were very few Advanced class warriors among them.

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Grobak was stationed at the southern wall and his tribe was the most powerful among all the mid-sized tribes assembled. Because he had formed his tribe initially through merging with many other tribes and the weaker members had mostly died in the chaos of the initial expedition. Most of his warriors were Intermediate class and he even had a sizeable force of Advanced class beings. His tribe had swelled to close to one hundred thousand members, but not all of these were warriors and those who were not considered warriors were not assembled here.

Out of that number, his warriors numbered close to fifty thousand. Most members of a tribe fought, so the number of warriors wasn't such a surprise compared to the total number. What was surprising was that out of his fifty thousand warriors, fifteen thousand were close to the peak of Basic class and he had an astounding thirty thousand Intermediate class beings. Most of those were lower level Intermediate class, but five thousand of them were either at the peak or close to it.

The core of Grobak's strength though, was his one thousand five hundred Advanced class warriors. These were the elite of the elites and two hundred of them were even at the peak of Advanced class. This strength made Grobak a force to be reckoned with among the tribes and earned him respect from the other tribes.

His own personal strength at the peak of Master class was even more of an intimidating factor. Not a single tribe had dared offend him or his tribe members and he had even enjoyed a period of great respect. Many other tribes had already attempted to build a greater relationship with Grobak and offered a variety of gifts to show their intentions.

This was the reason why Ravenous had been so respectful to Grobak despite him being from the powerful Harkul tribe. It was also the reason why Ravenous was hesitant to allow Grobak to attack the city walls. He wanted Grobak's force to be in reserve for when the Dragonmen finally arrived. They were to be the bulk of their strength in withstanding the fierce attack of the Dragonmen.

He still allowed Grobak to attack in the end because it wasn't certain when the Dragonmen would finally arrive and they hadn't heard anything from the scouts. Because of this, he relented and thought it would be fine to allow Grobak to gain some merits. He knew the fighting wouldn't be too intense and the experience might be good for them. Too much rest might dull their fighting instincts.

After musing over these matters, Grobak chuckled knowingly. He already knew today would be the day the Dragonmen finally arrived. He didn't feel anything for the other tribes and was instead excited. This was a great opportunity for him and he wasn't going to let it pass. The tribes would surely lose to the combined strength of the Dragonmen and the expeditionary army even if the tribal warriors outnumbered them. They had brought dragons and powerful ones at that.

Their chieftain would have difficulty dealing with them and Grobak had one further piece of information. His master had already devoured the Ancestral Spirits of the tribes. Without their protection, there was nothing stopping the Dragon King from acting. This would surely spell the end for the horde gathered here.

Grobak stood proudly in front of his warriors while holding his mighty axe in both hands. His armor was quite simple. It was an enchanted piece of hardened leather which only protected his chest and stomach, but did not cover his arms. He liked the sight of his muscular arms and didn't want to cover them up. It was quite a domineering sight and he enjoyed the feeling of intimidating others. His chiseled body and bulging muscles were imposing and he couldn't help but notice the looks of respect thrown his way from his tribe members. They only appreciated strength and Grobak had that in spades.

As he stood in front of his army, his breathing grew heavy with exhilaration and his bloodlust was continuously on the rise. He raised his enormous axe with one hand high above him and bellowed causing all his warriors to roar madly with excitement. Grobak turned to face the walls with a sinister smile and thrust his axe towards the walls viciously.

The thousands of warriors burst forward at incredible speeds and their mighty roars and the accumulated auras of tens of thousands of warriors rapidly expanded outwards, soon reaching the soldiers on the walls and leaving them with pensive expressions.