199 Descent Into Darkness IV : Formations

The huge metal gates opened with a screeching sound. Beyond the gates, I could see barriers made of earth stacked upon each other to create a wall that the monsters couldn't get through or over. Since there were mages amongst this group, the responsibility of moving those barricades belonged to them.

"Rank up!"

I already planned a formation forthe soldiers to use in fighting the wolf monsters. Since the very pass we're hoping to go through, was fighting against us, then it would be in our best interest to plan our every move. The soldiers who were adept at using shields, and had classes that made them tanks were placed at the front. They would begin our march, and directly behind them were our long range attackers, causing damage and killing the monsters would be entirely up to them. The tanks in front, and the range fighters behind. It was a tried and truecombat tactic that had worked well for generals both on Shearath, and back on Earth. And since we're just going to be slaughtering dogs, this seemed like a little too overkill for them.

But the ranged attackers are not a fool proof plan, it's not guaranteed that they can get all the monsters even if they bombard the entire pass, which is where the final file of soldiers come in. I specially coined this particular group of people the Mavericks, and it's up to them to completely and thoroughly clean the battlefield after the ranged attackers have made their move. Them acting would give both the tanks and the ranged attackers time to rest, and to prepare for the next wave of monsters.

"Forward!" I shouted at them.

They moved forward, marching, well not marching exactly, that would be dumb. But the sound, their foot falls made, could be considered a march. The earth mages moved the earth barricades/walls aside, and the army marched forward, until we came to the next barricade. This was just a series of contingencies; they had come up with. And it was so that they wouldn't loose the ground that they had gained. It was quite Ingenious really, as they made the barricades taller than the wolves could reach.

We marched on for almost forty minutes before we came to the final barricade. Even from a distance I could smell their ash and dog like stench, hear their snarls and growls of animosity. We came to a stop in front of the barricade, the soldiers awaiting my orders.

"Shields!" There was cacophony of metallic sounds as each soldier in the front line pulled out their shield. They made for quite an imposing image, and if we were fighting against a more intelligent species, I'm sure they would have stuck terror in the hearts of the enemies.

"Link Up!"

Their shields banged together, as they drew closer to each other, shoulder to shoulder, with the edge of their shields touching each other. This was a shield wall, and it would stop the wolves assault, long enough for the ranged attackers behind to take action. We've only had a few hours to perfect the formations and the commands, but I'll have to say that the learning capabilities of vampires were amazing.

"Bring The Barrier down!"

Immediately I finished speaking, the earth wall in front of us slid back into the ground, almost like it was never there in the first place. It was then that I could see what we were up against, the wolves were ferocious and most definitely not normal. The rock hounds used by the guards to monitor vampires, lava wolves whose literal saliva was molten magma, wolves with their body composition made out of emerald crystals, and all of them were the size of a motorcycle.

They did not waste any time either as they charged at us, baring their fangs and claws, as they drew closer en masse. "Hold!" I gave the order, and watched my soldiers brace themselves. The wolves were ten meters away from us now, two seconds later they were five meters away, and just in time too. "Heave!"

BANG!

My soldiers moved forward one step and intercepted the incoming army of monsters. Their shields were huge, and it covered them from their neck all the way to their ankles, which means there was no exposed area for the wolves to find purchase and slip through. The shield wall was exactly as it's name said it was, a wall. When the monster army crashed into my soldiers they were not shaken, not even one bit. With their vampiric strength, I doubt those wolves would be able to make them take a step back, not unless they were bigger than this. "Push and Shell up!"

This was the final command I had to give the tanks. They pushed with all of their strength, blasting the wolves backwards into their counterparts and giving themselves a little breathing room. Then they planted their shields on the ground, and crouched behind it. The tanks in the line behind them placed their shields on their backs, and leaned on the ground, like Olympic runners about to run a marathon. "Fire!" the ranged attackers got on top of the back of the tanks, and shot out their skills, spells and attacks at the wolves.

It was rain of fire, rocks, blood and lightening. These wolves were not really strong, with their true power being their numbers. But eliminate that factor out of the equation, and you have a bunch of puppies whose bite is not that much worse than their bark. After the first group of ranged attackers got on top of the shield and shot their skills, they quickly got down, turned sideways and let the next line of ranged attackers take a shot at the wolves. There were three lines of ranged attackers, so they attacked in rotation.

They didn't need to aim, since the wolves were too clustered, their attacks only missed 1 out of every 5 tries. It was better than what I could have hoped for. Which brings us to the next step of the attack. "Earth Wall!" A barricade rose up fifteen to almost twenty meters away from us, cutting off part of the wolves from their remaining horde of un injured monsters. I did not need to give commands for the mavericks to teleport using the shadow realm, attacking and indiscriminately killing whatever was left of the monsters on the battlefield.

With that out of the way, the rest of the soldiers could catch their breath, as we prepared for the next wave. It didn't take long for the mavericks, most of which were Shadowers due to their ability to teleport, to finish cleaning up the battlefield of the remnant monsters. Then six BloodChild vampires, came forward, and began to move the residual blood on the field, moving it into six huge canister or tanks that we pulled along, right at the back of the army. As soon as those canisters were filled, a Shadower would transport it back to the outpost, and then send an empty canister back to the army. That way we can still keep true to our main objective and hunt for blood. Ten minutes later, everything was ready for round two.

"Advance!"

The army moved forward ten meters, and the tanks placed their shield in front of themselves, preparing for the next wave. "Bring down the Wall! Shields Up!" the wall slid back into the ground with a rumble, and a loud bang was all I need to tell me, that my soldiers had prepared their shields. "Link Up!" I didn't even get to complete the command before they carried it out. And from then on, they all just acted on their own. The next wave crashed into their ranks, and almost like a rewind, their previous actions replayed itself as the next wave was also taken care of, with the same amount of ease as the first.

I once read somewhere that no plan survives execution or the battlefield. And I've seen such scenarios happen to me before. But so far everything has been going according to plan, and we've sustained no casualties in the process. We fought through wave, after wave of monsters, it even got to a point where all of the canisters we had brought along were completely filled with blood, and all that was left was just the personal flasks of every vampire around. We had made a lot of headway, moving almost 4 kilometers in, I was feeling really positive that at the rate we're advancing, we'll get to the end of the pass without any problem.

RUMBLE!

The earth beneath our feet began to rumble as it slowly became elevated. The previous earth wall we had placed to stop the onslaught of monsters became practically useless as the high ground they've gained, eliminated the threat it posed to them. A hill was formed, and we were right at the bottom of that hill. Moving back was not an option as we would leave ourselves exposed for the beasts, and moving forward using our previous tactics won't work either.

Their high ground advantage means they can just as easily jump over our heads. But I was still as prepared for this scenario as I was for the other.

"Centipede on Two!Centipede On Two! Shields Link Up!"

BANG!

Oh this is going to be good.