“Arrows, arrows! Everyone, testudo!” Longines shouted, leaping off his horse and shoving Jacob and Craig behind the wagon. The soldiers quickly raised their shields and closed ranks, with the archers hurrying to dash into the safety that the shields offered.

As the arrows glanced off harmlessly, the Owl Cavalry turned around, facing the forests, their shields raised to protect their eye slits. The arrows simply bounced off the thick armour of the rider and the horses.

“Who the seven hells is attacking us!?” Jacob shouted, covering his head with his hands. Craig had moved to join the archers inside the relative safety of the testudo while Lawrence himself had taken cover as well, having pulled out his sword.

However, the same could not be same for Kaisenberg’s escort. The arrows plunged into the ranks of the surprised knights, the arrows piercing into the unarmoured horses. As the rain of arrows pelted the knights, those who were thrown off their horses were simply shot full of arrows or pinned under their dead horses.

As the rain of arrows faltered, a loud war horn blared and the knights from Kaisenberg’s escorts rallied, moving to position themselves beside the ranks of the Owl Guards.

“Protect the cargo!” Kaisenberg shouted, his horse among the few still standing tall as the arrows completely missed him and a few others.

As the enemy emerged from the woods, the first thing that Lawrence noticed was the blue war paint on their faces. The men charging out of the woods did not shout as well, but their expressions said much.

That of bloodlust and glee.

“Barbarians of Deep Vale! Knights, to arms!” Kaisenberg shouted, as his knights clumsily clashed against the front ranks. Mounted knights charged still atop their horses, while the knights who were unhorsed or not as seriously injured drew their swords or maces and charged into battle.

The barbarians wielded battle-axes and warhammers.

“Owl Guards, shields down, loose!” Longines shouted and the testudo formation immediately responded, with the soldiers who were shielding the top rescinding their shields, allowing the archers to release their arrows to the barbarians who were still charging down the hills.

Their arrows flew like locusts, guided by the magic of their bow and their hard training as they found their mark, easily puncturing the soft flesh of their enemies as these barbarians were poorly clothed and armoured.

The barbarians wore armour made of hide and Lawrence could spy a group of archers with longbows, dressed in a similar fashion. Lawrence’s Ring of Protection simply caused arrows to fly past him harmlessly as he stroked his horse to calm him down.

“Longines, help them!” Lawrence shouted, pointing at Kaisenberg’s knights that had entered a horrendous melee with the barbarians. What the barbarians lacked in equipment, they made up for in ferocity. They fought not just with their weapon in hand. Lawrence watched as one knight cleaved off one of the barbarian’s arms, causing him to drop his weapon. The barbarian, with his remaining arm, threw himself on the knight, attempting to bite the knight’s face off.

“Owl Cavalry, wedge formation!” Longines barked and the knights immediately rearranged themselves into a triangular formation, tightly packed together.

The wedge formation is a very old and very effective formation when employed correctly. Historically used with cavalry, the formation involves a mass of troops in a triangular wedge with the tip charging at the enemy. The ensuing charge would penetrate into the ranks of the enemy, usually infantry, and scatter the opposing force. When charging thinner lines, the wedge could completely separate a line into two groups, dividing a force and making them easier to defeat.

Alexander the Great personally led his cavalry in a flying wedge to great effect in many battles, most notably his resounding victory at Gaugamela as he faced off a numerically superior Achaemenid Empire.

The squad leader at the front of the cavalry shouted, “Onwards, for death and glory, charge!”

Moving as a whole, the triangle smashed into the side of the barbarians ranks, trampling them underneath the hooves of the horses as the thunderous roar of the charge of a cavalry drowned out the screams of pain.

“Archers, take down their archers!” Longines shouted and the Owl Bowmen turned their sights towards the group of archers hiding behind the ranks of their melee. As the barbarian archers attempted to pelt the cataphracts with arrows, the Owl Bowmen stopped their goal with a well-placed arrow to the chest or the neck.

“Get one of them alive!” Kaisenberg roared, his face covered with blood and sweat, a part of his plate armour with a particularly nasty looking dent.

As the barbarians were slowly pushed back, one of the barbarians broke rank and ran towards the gold.

“No!” Lawrence shouted, identifying the Level 8 Barbarian, who threw his entire weight against the wagon and started to try and push it towards the sea.

This is a chance for me to try fighting without the user interface, Lawrence thought to himself as he led the horse onwards.

Lawrence rode up beside him and swung his sword down, and with a grunt of pain, the barbarian collapsed.

“Victory!” one of Kaisenberg’s knights shouted, raising his mace as the men cheered. Lawrence turned to watch as one of the barbarians, barely alive, was dragged towards Longines.

“Lawrence, watch out!” Jacob shouted.

For a moment, Lawrence wondered something utterly useless, he has never heard Jacob shout so loudly before. The interface flashed red-

Surprise combat in 3 seconds, turn on auto combat?

Lawrence was shocked for a moment and hastily attempted to select yes.

Then, he felt a pain against his shoulder as the barbarian whom he thought dead, cleave his battleaxe into his shoulder.

“Argh!” Lawrence shouted in pain, and the barbarian, poised to take another swing at Lawrence, met his end as four arrows planted themselves into his chest.

Lawrence watched as his health bar dropped by 20.

The damage I take in this world is realistic, I am not a God.

That was Lawrence’s thoughts as the feeling of pain sent him reeling into darkness as he fell to the ground. The last thoughts he had was that of his comfortable brown office chair he had at home, for some odd reason. His eyes, heavy, slowly sealed shut as he saw men running towards him.