A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor-Chapter 1041 Impatient Warriors - Part 1

1041: Impatient Warriors – Part 1

1041: Impatient Warriors – Part 1

It wasn’t as if throwing more men at the front would solve his problem either.

Amion was limited by the number of frontline men he could have at any one time, just as Oliver was.

He cautioned himself with that fact, making sure he didn’t fall into a reckless decision, just as General Phalem had cautioned his own Commandants against doing.

But even without orders, the battlefield naturally began to change by itself.

There were factors that ensued change that were hardly beyond the control of man.

Firyr kept to the front, as relentlessly as he had before.

Fuelled by his earlier victory, he was fighting with all his might, bashing his spear against their shields, trying to force an opening through sheer brutishness.

It was quite enough to crack the hard shell of the enemy defence, but it was enough to score one or two hits, and even resulted in the death of a couple of men.

He was all but fighting the front line himself.

Oliver hadn’t yet given the order for his men to fall out of their arrowhead formation.

There was still space to their left and right that they’d left open, as if believing that the Scribe Soldiers would once again fall for their trap.

It was more than a little odd to look at.

It ought to have been closed up a long time ago.

If not for Verdant, Karesh and Kaya just behind Verdant, keeping the pressure on behind Firyr, then Oliver would have been far swifter in closing up the seams left by his last trap, but seeing that between the four of them, they were keeping the wary foe in place, he didn’t opt to move quite yet.

“…Why do you remain still, Stormfronter?” Amion said aloud.

He could see gaps in the enemy’s defence everywhere.

It was as if the young Captain was taunting him.

He was quite sure it was a trap of a secondary sort.

There was no way he believed that the tip of their arrowhead would last against the Scribe Soldiers, even without orders.

And indeed, soon enough, the Scribe Soldiers began to move themselves.

They’d learned from their past mistakes .

They’d realized the damage that an excessively bowed centre would cause them, and so when they stepped forward, they did so from the centre, seeking to envelop Firyr and the men behind him.

With a few short but heavy steps, Firyr had nearly six men on all sides but his rear.

Those men were soon joined by others, as the Scribe Soldiers began to take more steps forward from themselves.

They were all but matching Oliver’s arrowhead formation with an arrowhead of their own.

Though, theirs differed at the very tip, in their aim to envelop Oliver’s men.

Across the slick blood left on the stone slopes they marched.

It was blood that Firyr was struggling to fight on, as lightly dressed as he was – it was even worse for those heavily armoured men.

The slightest little slip, and they were too heavy to control such a fall.

No man had managed to stumble yet, but with the nature of their footing, Oliver thought it to be a matter of time.

Both Captain and Rogue Commandant watched the developments of their men, both without uttering orders, and both unsure whether they wished to change the positioning of their troops.

Neither seemed altogether unhappy with the occurrences, but of course, their reasons were very different.

“…If you do not move, we will simply swallow you, piece by piece,” Amion said.

It would have been foolish to think that the Scribe Soldiers were not capable of attacking, and that their only strength was in their defensive might.

Though it was a Second Boundary man right at their front, Amion knew that with enough Scribe Soldiers on him, eventually, even he would have to fall.

All he needed was one final push.

“Send forward Violet Commandant Chang,” he said.

“Have him cut off the head of the snake, whilst he’s so firmly trapped in place.”

“Very well, Commdant!” Jericho said, moving to fulfil the order at speed.

“Now… what is it that you’re aiming for?” Amion said, eyeing Oliver from across the field.

He was sure he was moving carefully.

He’d left no further holes that could be exploited.

Tactics didn’t just spring into existence from nowhere.

There had to be conditions for them to be laid.

As far as Amion could, no such conditions were present.

Indeed, Oliver saw much the same.

Firyr’s position was unfavourable.

As a single man, he was the most isolated out of anyone.

Though the three trustworthy warriors behind him managed to lend a degree of assistance, now that the encirclement had begun, there wasn’t an awful lot that they could do.

Rightly, Oliver knew his response should have been to send more men forward himself.

The more time that went on, the more disadvantage his position would be.

Yet he didn’t give that order.

He felt a tingling of daring.

Ingolsol was cackling with a maliciousness.

Through his eyes, Oliver could see this was a move that would annoy the enemy, and for that reason alone he stood still, smiling quietly to himself, and daring to trust in a single bit of recklessness.

“Fitting,” Karstly said, acknowledging the manoeuvre.

“You see his intentions, my Lord?” Samuel asked.

“I might,” Karstly said cryptically.

“Why does he not move?” Gordry said, frowning.

“He’d already pried the way open.

Charge forward while morale is high.

That was enough… He already had it.

Why bother standing in place like a fool?”‘

“Ordinarily, perhaps that would be true,” Karstly said, leaving the rest of that sentence unsaid.

Only those that had listened in on Karstly’s earlier conversation with Oliver seemed to understand what that ordinarily meant.

‘Ordinarily,’ if Oliver had still been in possession of his strong sword hand, indeed, that slight bit of advantage would have been enough.

But today it wasn’t.

Chapter 23 – Impatient Warriors

Blackthorn found her want to go forward growing.

Her sword twitched by her side.

She’d fought under Oliver for years, and never had she been forced to wait for so long.

He’d always acknowledged her attacking might, and he’d always had a position for her in the vanguard because of it.

That was one reason – amongst many – why she’d sworn to fight by his side for as long as he could.

Yet here she was, so far near the back of their forces that she could hardly see the front.