Chapter 87 - Surprise Attack

Zaos had no idea what Drannor was planning, but there was no point in arguing in the end. As far as he could tell, retreating faster was the only thing they could do. The mercenaries stopped focusing on Zaos and Drannor since that was a waste of time. Those kids weren't normal from their perspective. The recruits began to fall little by little, but then that speed increased as they grew tired, and the wave of enemies coming never stopped. Getting hurt in the middle of the battle was deadly since they wouldn't be able to fight properly, and there was no place to hide. Things were getting messy pretty quick...

Suddenly, Zaos bit his lips when he saw ten of the recruits falling dead on the ground. They reached the peak of exhaustion, and they barely could raise their shields. So, they became obvious targets. However, Zaos's anger disappeared when he saw an unknown force suddenly charging toward the enemies from behind.

"Those guys are…" Zaos frowned.

The wounded recruits decided to join the fray. Even though many of them barely could use a single hand and be limping, they decided to fight instead of just waiting for defeat and death. That was what Drannor had been planning… to make them get the enemies off guard. Dozens of mercenaries fell dead in a few seconds while they were being attacked by two sides. However, the wounded also began to be killed in droves.

Zaos got tired of watching so many kids die while he stays relatively safe in that formation. So he dashed toward the enemies' army and surprised two mercenaries by swinging his sword and beheading two of them.

"Attack with all you got!" Drannor shouted.

Zaos should have been the one who had to shout that, but he was too busy fighting and letting the rage control his body. Meanwhile, Drannor was calm enough to understand that they had to cause as much damage as possible while the enemies were confused.

It was a style that Zaos hadn't practiced much lately, but it felt right on Zaos's hands. When an enemy approached, Zaos's deflected his spear with his shield and then entered his range and sliced his throat. Then, before selecting another target, Zaos looked to the sides and confirmed that no one was targeting him. That was one of the things his father taught him: be aware of your surroundings, don't attack when you don't know if an enemy is approaching from any direction.

Things worked well for a while like that while the enemies were confused. Still, Zaos knew that the experience and their numbers would make the enemies gain the upper hand again. However, he changed his mind when he heard the sound of horses galloping in the distance. When Zaos looked to the side, he saw Elius leading the riders and cutting down the mercenary's horde. Their numbers decreased, and a rider was falling now and then, but they still managed to reach the recruits… only fifteen riders.

"Still alive and kicking, huh," Elius said as he looked around, and then he clenched his teeth. "It is do or die, rookies! If you don't want to die, even if you are wounded, grab a weapon and hold with your hands as firmly as possible. We can only save ourselves; we can survive if we try hard enough. If you want to see another sunrise, then take the heads of at least five enemies."

While Elius was giving his speech, the riders were attacking the mercenaries and scaring them with their horses. On an open field, the cavalry could pierce most of the formations made by foot soldiers. While they didn't have much mobility in the town's streets, the enemies also couldn't surround them.

"Zaos, Drannor, here," Elius said, and he tossed a longsword and silver spear toward both of them. "Those are some decent weapons those bastards took from somewhere; it should be useful on your hands. Your job now if to make sure that no one will get close to the archers."

Zaos grabbed the sword Elius tossed at him, and he felt quite comfortable while wielding a weapon that was almost as big as him. While he would be slower using that, it was fast enough to deal with mercenaries of that level. Not to mention, each strike of Zaos would break their weapons and even cut any flesh on the way. As for Drannor's spear, it was much longer than the ones he was used to. While that also would make him slower, it would make him more accurate and deadly.

While riders were buying time, Elius selected those who were too wounded to run and make them equip bows. As for those who could use a single-arm, he gave them the orders to use only shields. So while they weren't many, fifty rookies weren't wounded just like Zaos and Drannor, and despite the exhaustion, they still could fight with their shields and spears.

Elius managed to organize the rest of that sorry-looking army. Still, in the end, no one could see a solution for that situation. Elius and the riders protecting their back, while Zaos, Drannor, and the other recruits that still could fight were protecting the left and right sides, respectively.

Carrying an extra shield, sword, and spear was a waste of time, so Zaos threw them away to make himself lighter, and that worked splendidly. Unfortunately, the mercenaries had memorized Zaos's face, so some of them still focused their attacks on him. When three spears moved toward his chest, Zaos swung his long sword and stopped their advance by splitting them in half. A moment later, after reassuming his attack position, Zaos tried to cut their necks, but in the end, the tip of the sword only cut their chests. As expected, he would need to get used to the reach, speed, and weight before he can land any decent attack. Despite that, Zaos's made those three mercenaries bleed a lot.