Shining Hill, west of Fort Gol in the Kingdom of Belm, human territory

“General, our scouts have reported that a large force of the elven army has left Fort Gol and are marching on our way. The scouts estimate the numbers to be twelve to thirteen thousand!”

“What? Why would they leave the fortifications of the fort?”

“…”

“Assemble the rest of the officers for an emergency meeting!”

“Right away!”

The human army, numbering ten thousand men, are camping on Shining Hill under the orders from King Garom to retake Fort Gol. It has now been three days since the start of the campaign.

“If what the scouts’ reports are true, then that’s got to be the main force of them long-eared.”

A bearded old man in red armor says. Although he looks past his prime, he’s still as physically built as any soldier you’d find around.

“If they’re marching overnight, they should reach us before dawn breaks tomorrow. We need to be prepared. Let’s have the soldiers sleep early so they’re not sleep deprived tomorrow morning. Tighten the security. We don’t know what those bastards are plotting…”

A young man clad in shining black armor comments.

“They’re most probably going to march overnight, and we’d have to rely on the sound of their advance since they won’t be needing torches to see. In contrast, our campfires give away our position pretty easily…”

Another man, presumably also an officer, says.

“Curse that darkvision…”

The man in red armor retorts.

“We’ll move the camps of the battlemages towards the rear end and the camps of the vanguards at the foot of the hill.”

The general said while he’s looking at the map of the area.

“Fortunately for us, the main road to the kingdom is just beneath the hill, making retreat easier…”

“If you’re already thinking of retreat even before the battle begins, then you have no place in this council, kid.”

The red armored man says as he leers at the young knight.

“Huuh? Isn’t it more incompetent to not be prepared on any eventual outcome?”

“No, it’s not. But concerning yourself with retreat before formulating the battle plan is just plain cowardice.”

“This is what I hate about old men. Your time has passed gramps. The battlefield is evolving and I can assure you that you won’t be able to catch up.”

“WHAT DID YOU SAY!?”

Angered, the old man draws his blade and points it towards the young knight.

“ENOUGH!!”

The general shouts as he slams his fist on the table.

Hearing him, the two quieted themselves down and returned to their respective chairs.

“As long as we could maintain control of this hill, we’ll have the higher ground, making the spells of our battlemages reach further.”

“I doubt they’d come to us… Those long-eared vermin would probably just position themselves within our vision but outside of the range of our spells. They’d try to—“

“—lure us out…”

The young knight finished the old man’s sentence.

“Yes, exactly.”

“And we will take the bait.”

The general nonchalantly said. The three others who were present were surprised at what he said.

“What do you mean? If we advance towards them not only would we discard the advantage of a higher ground, we would also make ourselves vulnerable to flanking! And besides, we would risk our battlemages to their arrows when they could easily cast their spells from atop this hill without being counter attacked!”

“Calm down gentlemen. There’s a reason why I had the vanguards camp down the foot of the hill.”

Eight hours later, before the break of dawn, the horns signifying the appearance of the enemy sounded, waking the whole camp.

Immediately, everyone began falling on to their respective positions extremely coordinated, as if they’ve been practicing it their entire lives. The young knight with black armor rolls a piece of paper and ties them unto the feet of a pigeon before realeasing it to fly south.

At a distance, the army of the elves and their hosts can be seen flaunting their banners to the air. They’re not moving. They were right. The elves were trying to lure them closer into a trap, a trap that they’d be willing to fall into this time.

The vanguard, comprising of five thousand men wielding shields and spears and lead by the old man wearing red armor stands unmoving at the foot of the Shining Hill.

Behind them, at the slope of the hill between the foot and the peak lie the archers, numbering in two thousand, led by the young knight in black armor.

Finally, at the peak of the hill, the one thousand battlemages ready their wands and staves, helmed by the other commander. All of the soldiers, except for their commanders, averages at about levels 20-30.

“Sir, it’s about time.”

One soldier says to the old man.

“Very well. Sound the horn!”

*Dooooooooooooooooo!!*

With the loud cry of the horn, the vanguard began slowly advancing.

“I don’t know why them long-eared left the fort, but it’s a good thing we won’t have to use our siege engines!”

The old man laughed as he watches the vanguard uniformly march towards the enemy from atop his horse.

*Doooooooooooooooo!!*

After marching for a short distance, a second horn blew, prompting the archers to begin climbing down and following the vanguard.

“Stay with the rhythm!”

The young knight says.

“Don’t walk too fast or too slow!”

The vanguard was subdivided into 5 blocks, each block consisting of a thousand men. They marched in unison, four blocks formed into a square behind the fifth block in front, acting as the spearhead.

⬛

⬛ ⬛

⬛ ⬛

About 50 meters behind them marched the archers, their lines extended to achieve the maximum amount of arrows that can be fired at once.

Steadily, the vanguard began to draw near the enemy’s frontlines, which are also lined up with shield and spears. Their banner, that of a yellow star with seven rays that symbolizes the seven city-states in the alliance, heavily sways with the wind. There are also other banners that can be seen within their ranks, presumably the banners of those specific city-states.

The kingdom’s banner stands erect at every block of the vanguard. A crown on top of a hammer and a sword crossed together, signifying the monarch as the head, and the workers and soldiers as co-equal and both important as pillars of the kingdom.

It was the alliance that made the first move. As soon as the kingdom’s vanguard marched at a certain distance, about 300 meters from their frontlines, they instantly fired all their longbows in a huge arc towards the advancing force.

Seeing this, the one in charge of the vanguard, a soldier situated at the spearhead block gave immediate orders.

“Blow the horns!! Assume Testudo formation!”

*Dooooo, dooooooooooo*

A different sound from the same horn rang throughout he battlefield.

Hearing this, all the blocks immediately raised their shields in unison, protecting their front, top and sides from the incoming rain of arrows.

The five blocks now look like a walking black cube, steadily advancing towards the elven forces. A cloud of arrows that had almost blocked the sun descended upon them, yet their sturdy shields took it all with no problems.

Seeing this, the elven commanders issued their battlemages to act. They started to conjure up spells in coordination and after a short while, they casted them. Several arcing balls of fire flung out from the elven army’s backlines, headed straight for the advancing vanguard.

“Meeeeeeen!”

The other commander, steadily watching atop the hill shouted.

Suddenly, the one thousand battlemages that were positioned at the peak of the hill casted their spells, firing off a line of blue, homing energy that targeted the elves’ lobbed fireballs, disintegrating those that it hits. Some fireballs did manage to fall down though, although unfortunately for the elves, and fortunately for the humans, they landed at the space between the blocks, ultimately hitting no one.

When the vanguard were about 100 meters away from the elven frontlines, they quickly withdrew their shields and waited for the horn.

“SOUND THE CHARGE!!”

The one in charge shouted.

*Doooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!*

His shout was immediately followed by a long horn that echoed throughout the battlefield.

Instantly, like rabid beasts that had just escaped from their confinements, the vanguard bursts out into action.

They began charging towards the elven frontlines as fast as humanly possible. While others may think that this charge was the perfect opportunity to use their momentum and break through their ranks, you cannot apply that this time, not to them. Though charging at full speed like a galloping horse, the human vanguard still miraculously held their formation tightly. One quick glance and it becomes apparent the amount of discipline and training that these soldiers has undergone.

This display of what could only be described as “organized berserk” immediately pierced through the elven frontliner’s hearts, casting fears and doubt within their men, lowering their overall morale. Their commanders desperately tried to quell the soldier’s unease, but only for naught. After all, this was the human’s vanguard they were facing, the ones famous for enduring against incredible odds. There was even a rumor that the human kingdom submits their soldiers under hellish torture as part of their training, which would explain their nigh-unbreakable will.

The sounds of the vanguard’s screams grow louder and louder as they get nearer to the elven frontlines.

“Ready your spears.”

An elven commander atop his horse says.

As he says this, all the elven soldiers at the very front pointed their spears forward and braced themselves for the ensuing impact.

And then, the two sides collided like a gigantic wave of water suddenly impacting the side of a rocky cliff. Both sides immediately sustained damage from the clash alone. When the battle lines have now been formally established, the human soldiers that were not at the front all began launching their spears forward, aiming them at the enemy’s back line to thin out their ranks. And then they drew their swords.

Another volley of elven arrows launched, also aimed at the vanguard’s back line. The ones in charge attempted to give out the order to raise shields but the battlefield is extremely chaotic and noisy. His commands reached no one’s ears.

Everyone was fighting, spears hit shields, swords clashed with swords, and blood gushes out at any given moment. The four blocks behind the spearhead block has now fanned out in a line, serving as the right and the left wing of their formation. The battle line is now clear and defined.

“Nock!”

The young knight in black armor says.

In response, the human archers who were about 250 meters away from the battlefield began to nock their arrows into their longbows, waiting for the command.

“Aim!”

The young knight says once more.

They aimed their bows at an angle towards the sky, aiming for the elven archers at the rear.

“Fire!”

And then they released. The arrows flew into the sky, flying with great speed and piercing the winds. Then they began descending down as they reached the peak of their flight, landing straight at the enemy archers.

The elven commander only noticed the human archers’ dangerously close position when they fired at them, killing many of the elven archers. In retaliation, he ordered a counter attack to launch arrows at the human archers that were within their range.

While this was happening, the elven frontlines have started to push the vanguard back, leveraging their superior numbers.

What was once a straight battle formation of the vanguard has now become a “∩”, although the elves are still yet to break through the ranks. The only thing that they’ve done is compress and surround the vanguard with sheer force.

“Just hold it, men!”

The one in charge of the vanguard shouts as he pushes back with his shield.

Arrows fly over their heads, headed straight for the archers at their rear. Meanwhile, the elven battlemages fires another round of fireballs.

The kingdom’s battlemages reacted by once again casting the spell they used earlier to disintegrate the elven spells, however, the blue line of homing magic fizzled out of existence even before reaching the fireballs. The battle was now out of the range of their spells.

The human archers sustained heavy losses, as they have no shield to protect themselves. All they could do right now was to exchange arrows and casualties with the elven archers.

The fireballs landed towards the backend of the vanguards. The only hit that it gained was the projectiles caused by the fireballs hitting the ground and expelling rocks and dirt. Once again, the fireballs claimed no life.

That doesn’t matter though, as the battle seems to have been decided already. The elves are steadily compressing the vanguard onto themselves. They do this so as to not push them away towards the range of the human battlemages.

In the eyes of the elves, they have already won. Their superior frontline numbers are continuously weighing on the vanguard, and their archers, though trading equally with the opposition, also have the advantage of the numbers. Not to mention that their battlemages could cast spells while the humans cannot. Victory was assured… or so they thought.

Suddenly, faint sounds of galloping horses could be heard to their left side, which would be to the south as they’re currently facing west. The elven general immediately climbed the wooden command tower built to have a bird’s eye view of the entire battlefield, whereupon he saw a mass of horses bearing the banner of the kingdom. It was the cavalry, and at the forefront of them rides the human general, Kaest with his infamous lance, the [Deisen].

Eight hours ago, at the peak of Shining Hil.

"I'll take my two thousand heavy cavalry tonight. We will camp about a kilometer south of here. When the elves arrive, send me a pigeon and I will ride them north back here. I'll punch through their flanks from the side."

The general says as he place points to a flat ground at the map.

"So in the meantime, we'd just have to hold them off?"

"Correct."

The commanders were all deep in thought.

"Very well. We'd have to come up with a hell of a strategy to hold twelve thousand men with eight thousand..."

The elves had almost no time to react. Just as the vanguard crashed on to the frontlines like a massive wave hitting a cliff earlier, so did the cavalry crashed on to the archers and the battlemages at the rear, mowing them down in a flying wedge, or a “Ʌ” formation. The elven rear was, for the lack of a better word, massacred.

They swept through them like farmers culling the weed. The defenseless mages and archers fell down en masse, yet the cavalry didn’t stop. Soon as it swept across the ranks of the mages and archers, it maneuvered towards the elven frontlines, sweeping them also from their backs. This gave the vanguard the opportunity to push back. The elven frontliners were now stuck between an advancing vanguard in front of them, and the cavalry whipping past behind them. They were stuck in hell with nowhere to retreat to.

The two thousand heavy cavalry made multiple trips across the battlefield, running the enemy underfoot with horses galloping at full speed. It proved to be an effective shock tactics, ultimately making the elven commanders and those who still survived in the rear lines rout. However, those who were in the frontlines, who had nowhere to escape, were abandoned to die. Seeing their rear line retreat at full haste, they had no choice but to drop their weapons and surrender to the kingdom.

Thus, the Battle of Shining Hill ended. Yet the war has only just begun... or rather, restarted.