Herald of Steel

Seeing how easily the first few waves of their men were repulsed by Scorpyo's men, the Heeat officers lightly groaned with a pained heart.

These first few engagements clearly told them that taking the place without proper siege machinery would incur significant bodies.

However Lord Macht had made his decision clear- they were to take the camp today and now, regardless of their current loadout.

And having received the order, the Heeat officers had no choice but to obey, lest they be court martiale

Thus only thing they could do in the face of this ludicrous order was to try and reduce their casualties to the best of their abilities.

The first few attacks on the fort consisted of men being sent only in short bursts, each wave consisting of no more than forty to fifty in number.

The thought behind this was that rather than rashly commit to large scale deployment of the troops, it would be far better to first prob the enemy for weaknesses, and hopefully locate an overlooked point in their defenses.

This slow, low intensity, methodical approach was both a boon and bane for Scorpyo.

A boon because they were able to use their good position to repel the handful of attackers with relative ease, proving the futility of the attack.

But also a bane because such a tactic ate up their already tenuous supply of arrows at an even more horrendous rate. The smaller number of the attacking men meant they could be spread out even wilder, and since the defending legionaries had to try and hit moving targets, many missed despite being good shots.

It even reached the point that after a few such waves of missed attacks, the legionaries stopped firing arrows altogether, and resorted to stones and some in their desperation even metal pots and pans, all to try and conserve as much ammo as possible in anticipation for the 'main push' that was sure to come.

While the usage of such improvised weapons definitely cheered the attacking Heeat officers' hearts, for they quickly determined that the defense of this camp, as impressive as it was, only ran skin deep.

"That's it! Keep attacking! These poor sods are not that well supplied! They are soon gonna break!"

And since they could sense it, Lord Macht certainly could too. So he quickly shouted out this order, his voice suddenly sounding much more energetic than usual.

The revelation of this great chance was enough to even break this stoic character's facade.

Just like before, the officers were quick and eager to follow their commander.

So the next time, instead of meeting the usual paltry scattered force, the legionaries were met with a full fledged charge with proper armored formations!

"Aghhhhhhh!"

"With me brothers! With me!"

"Let's knock this bastard of a wall down! Ughhhhh!"

"We are gonna slaughter every last one of you scums once we get there! You hear us fucking cowards! Just you wait!"

*Shoo*, *Shoo*, *Shoo*

However, despite the bravado on display before their attack, when they truly launched it, the Heeat soldiers quickly found their attack to be easily repulsed, to the point the whole thing appeared almost like a nail hitting a solid slab of steel- the tip being brutally and almost instantly blunted.

The pathetic way these 'brave' warriors screamed and shouted while turning their

The courtesy of such an easy victory was to be attributed to the last few bits of arrow bolts that the legionaries had, who decided to use now.

This was Scorpyo's plan, who ordered his men, "Use the rest of the arrows we have now! Make them think we are simply baiting them to attack! Confuse the enemy!"

And true to his intentions, the sudden burst of fire did indeed cause the Heeat officers and even some of the soldiers to curse while retreating,

"Fucking swine! Cheats! To think they would lure us in like that!"

"Aghhh… Craven cowards! Not an ounce of honor in any of them! I will grill every single one of the bastards the moment I get my hands on them!"

"Dammit! Brother died in such a way! Being tricked into attacking by those worms! He even fought to be in the vanguard for glory… Uwuuwww what will I tell mother?"

The pathetic way these 'brave' warriors screamed and shouted brought some much needed joy to the legionaries. And in this way, Scorpyo managed to buy himself some more time.

After that, the attackers switched to their prior tactic, making attacks in scattered waves.

"Ignore the lot! They can't get to us!"

And seeing the enemy adapt, Scorpyo too decided to change his tactic.

He called their bluff and simply ordered his men to stop attacking them with bolts, instead being satisfied to let them close in.

After all, even if the men could close to the camp, with their small numbers, the wide ditch and the sturdy perimeter walls proved too steep an obstacle to break.

Scorpyo was happy to let the enemy tire himself out.

It was also around that time that he received a second piece of good news, as a new scout quickly rushed to him.

"Commader Scorpyo, I was sent by Commander Remus! He is landing men on the island and has asked me to inquire about your current situation," Eschewing most of the military pleasantries, this energetic young man quickly stated his main point.

"Great! We were starting to get worried!" And the excited way the usually reserved Scorpyo reacted to the man's appearance clearly showed that this was the best piece of news for him for quite some time.

Following that, the man wasted very little time in filling the herald in, stating his current number of men as well as the estimated time he could hold out.

Scorpyo then at last finished by urging, "Remember to tell Remus that the enemy outnumbers us too greatly. We have also run out of arrows and javelins to throw, so he better come as soon as he can."

The scout left with a understanding nod, promising Scorpyo to make his leader provide relief as soon as possible.

"Hmmmm!" Remus however upon receiving the news reacted quite differently, content to first put his hands on his chin and trace it in thoughtful rumination.

He figured that given the enemy's current lackluster show of attack, Scorpyo could hold on for with his 500 men for some time.

Thus instead of rushing to the garrison's rescue, Remus decided to first get his formation in order.

Then once his men were in proper fighting formation, he sent orders to Scorpyo, asking him to do the following,

"Slowly abandon the camp and meet up with my men. We will defeat the enemy in open combat!"

"Wha.. what?"

The bold order naturally produced a bout of incredulation in Scorpyo, who turned to look at the messenger with shocked eyes. Some part of him even wondered whether the man before him was actually a turncoat and the letter had been actually forged.

According to Scorpyo, the best course of action would have been of course to use the camp walls to stall the enemy, either until they became tired and gave up, or it the worst case scenario, until darkness set in, whereupon, they would be forced to seek the safety of their camp lest they wanted to spend the cold, wintery night under the open sky with no food, water or shelter.

With the thousand men that Remus had, Scorpyo thought this was the easiest and safest way to defend the island.

He was confident Lord Macht would not be able to break the camp with fifteen hundred men actively defending it.

Thus unwilling to obey Remus's risky order, the elder man sent the scout back, hoping to make the young man see it his way.

But Remus was insistent, sending back the same orders, now with the reminder cum subtle threat,

"Commader Scorpyo, the ruler of Zanzan, your lord and mine, put me in charge of the army, not you. You are oathsworn to follow me!"

And the argument ended with that.

Although Scorpyo wanted to tear that small letter and then go strangle Remus with his bare two hands after receiving it, but true to him being a military men, he at last chose to abide by his swear over his willfulness.

Since Remus had decided to pull this ultimate trump card, Scorpyo would obey despite his own judgment.

And if the man could pull a victory despite the greatly stacked odds, he would heartily congratulate him.

'However if you fail brat, then I will personally teach you why flowers are dyed red.' Scorpyo then also swore to himself, setting his heart to heavily punish Remus if he found that he was doing all this for glory and just wanted to show off.

It was with these thoughts that Scorpyo finally gave the order to evacuate the camp, having the men resting inside the camp act as the rear guard while those on the wall tops slowly retreated.

Given the sturdiness of the walls and the scant number of attackers, this proved a relatively easy manuver, and thus soon the entire camp was abandoned, and the five hundred men as well as the two hundred servants quickly joined Remus's formation.

And the Heeat officers cheered seeing this.

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