Chapter 67 The Battle Intensifies

Tyr was at an all-time high, his adrenaline was flowing as he cut through his foes like butter.

He was fast and nimble, using the trees and tight space to his advantage as enemies found it hard to strike him because he used the surrounding trees as shields.

Erik looked like a proud father, it was hard to believe this was the son of Ragnar because this was far from the proud behavior of Ragnar Lothbrok.

But he was having a bit too much fun because he soon ran out of stamina, this was the one thing he lacked in terms of battle prowess.

He was out of breath and evading attacks became a lot harder as he started incurring actual injuries, Erik saw this but had no intentions of helping him out.

He did not care much if Tyr died despite taking a liking to him, there was no preferential treatment as strength was what he valued the most.

Erik had multiple arrows sticking out of his body but he was still standing, this made his enemies even more cautious about what kind of man he was and Erik noticed that they had started retreating in numbers.

It was too easy, it felt like they were baiting them but Erik did not care for technicalities and ran towards them, he chased them without hesitation. Tyr noticed that their numbers have been cut down by more than half.

At this rate, they would not last for a day and they needed to keep them busy for as long as possible because there was no way they could win if King Asmund got wind of their plan.

"Stop! I have a plan," Tyr commanded the rest of the men and a few listened to him with the rest running behind Erik.

-

This same occurrence occurred when Signy was fighting, they retreated forcing them to be chased by Sven but unlike Erik, Sven was more cautious and did not give in to the illusion that they had the upper hand because he knew they did not. There was no way, not with the number of men he has lost so far.

Sven knew that they did not want to fight in an open field and from what he saw earlier, there were traps everywhere. This made it difficult for them to advance carelessly.

Sven thought about retreating but he could not, he suspected that King Asmund was waiting for them at the end of the forest.

"Sven! Let us go!" Oskar shouted and began to follow the foot depressions left by the retreating enemies, Sven cautiously followed behind them as they gave chase.

Things had heated up and they were nowhere close to their task.

King Asmund was a step ahead and Sven knew they would be dead at the end of the day if they continued at this pace.

-

Birger advanced through the rough terrains of the hills, it was difficult but with his mental map of the area. This made it possible for them not to get lost in their journey.

The destination was Vestfold, they were headed right at the heart of the Kingdom.

King Asmund was nowhere near there and there was no point in a war if there was no Kingdom to defend, this was the quickest way of ending this war and Asmund made a very costly miscalculation by thinking King Askild would be with his forces in this field.

Something that would have happened if not for the idea of Ulf and Hagen, this was the turning point of the war.

"How much longer?" Bjorn asked his commander but this was something that Asger did not know because this was unfamiliar territory to him, one he did not have the slightest clue how to navigate.

Asger boiled with anger he kept under control, it took everything in him not to kill Birger where he stood and Ragnar noticed how tensed Asger had become and he could not blame him.

"Birger, how much longer?" Ragnar asked the man with a helmet over his head.

"We should arrive by nightfall," Birger said but he took a second look at the men around him for a reevaluation and retracted his earlier statement.

"No, we should arrive there by morning," Birger said and Bjorn's mouth dropped upon hearing this. Morning? That was another 36 hours give or take and Bjorn did not have the mental strength to even think that far ahead.

"Morning!?" Bjorn could not hide his disdain and this prompted him to look in the child's direction, then look at Ragnar, who already had his eyes on Birger.

"You have a fine child, Ragnar," Birger complimented him, before flashing Asger a mocking glance.

They could not act out of order, not in front of their King but that was about it, the little banter between them was not important but they had to stop it or risk getting under the skin of their King.

"I hope you do not think the conquest of Vestfold would be easy even without my brother there?" Birger tossed the question in the air for anyone to answer.

"Shut up and move," Askild said and what followed was silence, this was the first time Askild had spoken in such a manner. The path was too smooth, everything was going too smoothly and Askild felt something was amiss. There was no way war would be waged and areas left unprotected.

"We are not in Vestfold yet, we are at a neighboring kingdom that did not get along well with them," Birger said but the moment he said this, an arrow whistled past them and right into the temple of a random warrior.

"What are you talking about, stranger?" A voice called out Birger in the distance.

Askild was not worried but he was curious who the man that spoke was, he was dressed in some sort of robe with a crest on it. It almost felt like he was a noble.

"Who decided that?" The man continued, raising his sword and an army appeared behind him.

"I am Earl Jan, and I welcome you to Vingulmark,"