Chapter 281 279: Seizing The South Part 1

T'kar was completely unaware of the plot being made against her, Komi were never the type to strategize heavily in the first place. Sure, they had tactics, some quite clever in fact. But they lacked flexibility and often used the same tactics over and over again, changing them very little depending on the enemy.

In the valley Rodes case, their tactics relied heavily on long distance combat.

Compared to average Komi, they were physically lacking and would lose if made to fight at close range. Because of this they largely depended on spears and bows to fight.

These were perfected even more once they got hold of the many resources left behind in the city when they first discovered it. For Komi they were incredibly developed and were thus able to maintain their settlement and thrive through many generations.

Even now as the Drakar were attacking, T'kardidn't think she would lose. Her goal was only to defend the settlement until other southern races received word of the Drakar's invasion and retaliated. To accomplish that though, some casualties would surely exist and that was hard for her to accept as a leader.

But like any good leader, she steeled herself and continued to organize her people as best she could. Meanwhile, the cloud of Drakar got even closer.

However, if one were to look closer and focus on their faces, they would notice displeasure, fear and worry in the eyes of many of them. This included the leading figures Amarr, Mikaaand Greile.

"He's using us as bait! Attacking like this will only cause many our kind to die!" Mikaa was right in his comment.

Hypocritical but right. The only real reason he had qualms with this strategy was because he would be among the first to attack, thereby increasing his chance to die.

Amarr considered him a coward ever since his attempt to escape back at the central dwelling so she naturally went against his words. "They are worse fates, especially for a coward like you Mikaa. Don't pretend like you care if a few of our lowborn are lost."

Greile didn't even as the two exchanged harsh words. They were still stronger than her, so she wouldn't push her luck. Her best bet at survival was to carry out the tasks given to her dutifully and hope for the best from her new overlord.

The bickering of Amarr and Mikaa was soon brought to an end when an arrow past right between them, causing both to become alert and turn their gazes down to the ground.

There on the wall of the ruined city, stood many valley Rodes with bows in hand, their eyes fixated on the incoming Drakar.

"They are in range, fire!"

One suddenly gave this order after seeing the arrow he had shot nearly take out a Drakar.

Many others followed his words and took out their bows while arrows were being passed to them by other valley Rodes wielding spears. The Drakar were not yet within spear range so they could be of help in this way.

Back in the skies, Griele, Amarr and Mikaawere now aware that they were within shooting distance of their opponents.

"We're easy targets like this. Everyone, scatter! Attack high, wide and low!" Amarr could see they were easy targets if they remained compact and all attacked from high above.

If they were to actually stand any chance of surviving, they needed to take this battle seriously. Greile was actually surprised that Amarr could think of such a clever tactic, Mikaatoo was surprised.

As naïve, carefree and lazy as she was, her lineage was still that of a gray scaled Drakar, known for being the smartest and most agile of their kind.

Neither Greile nor Mikaar argued with her suggestion, so she continued on by adding.

"I will lead the group flying wide left, Greile shall take right, the fire breathers shall take high and begin firing once in range and Mikaa whilltake low with those bearing thick scales. Scatter now!"

Her voice was sharp and fear inducing to normal Drakar, they didn't hesitate to follow her orders.

At that time, Aron and his group were still lurking in the forest, waiting for the battle to get somewhat heated.

When they observed the strategy being employed, Aron and Rose were impressed, having thought the Drakar would fight head on and without tactic.

"Well, isn't that a pleasant surprise? If we leave them to fight without intervening, they still be victorious in the end." Rose had a very poor impression of the Drakar, to her they were no better than primitive beings.

She regarded herself highly and loathed creatures of low intellect and thus so this battle as pointless, caring only for her role.

Aron had similar thoughts in regards to Komi in general, being able to fool them with a well thought out plan was generally easy to accomplish.

He hadn't given them any major tactic to follow when attacking because he just needed them to be bait. Them using a tactic he would suggesthimself was indeed a pleasant surprise, it raised their value ever so slightly to him.

"If we leave them to fight then it will still take quite some time for them to win. Time in which the other southern races could appear and provide support. We cannot allow that to happen."

Jagu merely observed the two speaking and took in whatever knowledge he could from their conversation.

If following Aron had taught Jagu one thing, it was that to truly be powerful, one needed to be both intelligent and strong. He began to see the sense in acting logically in some instances rather than just depending on instinct and muscle.

In his eyes, Aron was the perfect warrior. An opponent that simply couldn't be matched.

Why? Because he was yet to see Aron suffer defeat. The few times he had thought the odds were against him still turned out favorably for him.

Although he wasn't the smartest, even he wouldn't follow Aron just for the sake of it. His reason for doing it was already known to be growing stronger.

Once the time came for his mother to step down as the head of his race, he needed to take the mantle and not only become a great leader, but one that would protect and lead his kind to greater heights.

Aron was aware that Jagu followed him for the sake of gaining strength, but even he couldn't predict Jagu had much greater goals.

The only true simple being in his group was Evanora. Quiet, simple minded and with no ulterior motives for following Aron, besides the fact he was the first person to not leave or die from staying with her.

Through him she found a new and exciting life, one where she wasn't alone. And that was enough for her.

The entire group watched together as the sides finally clashed.

On the valley Rodes's side, Amarr's tactic caused major problems for them. Because of it, the valley Rodes needed to shoot towards four different directions, each with their own complications.

The Drakar to the sides were fast and agile, making it almost impossible to hit them. Those moving at a lower altitude were easier to pinpoint but they had thick scales that needed multiple hits just to penetrate. The lastly were those at a high attitude. Firing towards them was practically pointless as the arrows would lose much of their power by the time, they reached the target.

The front wall of the ruined city was long enough to house hundreds of valley Rode's, but that number was far too little to go against the thousands of Drakar. Especially if one put into account the number of arrows that would miss.

T'kar was visibly worried with how things were going. She knew the end result would be her loss. But what could she do?

The south was largely peaceful and so they lacked experience against such a situation, facing such a ruthless and strong opponent.

An already hopeless situation only got worse for her though. Once the red scale Drakar were close enough, they began to launch balls of fire towards the outer wall.

Once this fiery rain began to fall, the Valley Rodes had no choice but to abandon the wall and seek shelter under the solid material of the city.

But by leaving the wall and thereby stopping their attack via arrows, the Drakar could now invade the city.

T'kar watched with helpless eyes from the front of the main building as the fiery rain forced her people into retreat and allowed her enemies to come forward.

"The others won't come in time, we must retreat! There's no other way, but then for us to do so, some must cover our escape…"

A heavy option was now all that was left for her. She could either call back troops and choose to bunker in the main building, hoping reinforcements would arrive quick enough or retreat and leave many of her own to die while covering the escape of some.

Whatever choice she made, in reality wouldn't matter. Because at that very moment, Aron chose to act.

"The way things are going; their options are now very limited, desperation will kick in soon. You three cover the east, west and south exteriors of the city. Do not allow a single soul to escape. It's time we end this pitiful display of resistance."