Froststone Camp, five minutes before the start of the battle.
Todd looked at the group of barbarians of varying ages and genders before him and asked Ackerman, "Is this all the troops we can muster?"
The latter nodded helplessly: "I know the quantity is a bit low, but the key problem is that we don't have enough equipment. Look at these people, they don't have decent armor, and their weapons are just homemade hunting bows and wood-chopping axes..."
Todd turned to Rachel: "How long have Alfonso and the others been gone?"
“It’s been about thirty minutes.” Rachel silently calculated the distance and time in her mind: “According to the pre-determined tactics, the knights will set off first, in pairs, to eliminate all enemy sentries in the forest. The gladiators’ troops will then march directly toward the enemy camp.”
Todd nodded: "Then now, it's about time for the battle to begin..."
Before he could finish speaking, a sharp whistle rang out from afar.
Ackerman looked into the distance with surprise and disbelief: "What was that sound?!"
Rachel said to him, "The enemy is using signal arrows to notify the troops in the distance... Ackerman, tell the sentries around the camp to be on high alert!"
A few minutes later, a barbarian hunter came running into the camp, panting, and said to Todd, "Chief! A group of cavalry is heading towards the camp!"
How many people are there?
More than seventy people.
Todd gave orders to those around him: "Ackerman, have all those who can fight guard the camp entrance! Rachel, you organize the tribe's elderly and weak to take shelter in the bunkers we've prepared beforehand!"
Rachel opened her eyes wide and asked Todd, "And you?"
“I must stay here!” Todd gave her a reassuring look. “Besides, they’re just seventy cavalrymen. As long as we hold the camp and use the terrain, we can easily repel them.”
Rachel glanced at Todd, said nothing, simply nodded, and then left.
Todd glanced at Ackerman, who was staring blankly, and laughed: "First time on the battlefield?"
Ackerman shook his head.
Patting him on the shoulder, Todd picked up his sword and shield and strode toward the camp gate.
The barbarian warriors, armed with their weapons, were already waiting behind the camp's fence, and the sound of horses' hooves grew closer and more urgent in the distance.
Todd stood in the middle of the crowd, slowly drew his sword, pointed it straight ahead, and shouted: "Behind us stand our brothers and sisters, our parents and children! Think about it, if we are defeated, what will be their fate?! Death will become a luxury!"
"Take up your weapons and stand tall! Let us use our flesh and blood and our will to tell these sons of bitches of Ulster that this is our home!"
"roar!"
Encouraged by Todd, the barbarian warriors pounded on the fence with their weapons, letting out roars that grew louder and louder.
Just then, the enemy cavalry emerged from the forest and appeared in everyone's sight.
"Archers, prepare! Make sure not a single arrow is wasted!" Todd looked at the approaching cavalry, estimated the distance between them, and then shouted, "Attack!"
The barbarian warriors may not have received military training, but these people who made their living by hunting were all first-rate archers.
The arrow pierced through the gaps in the fence, its trembling fletching acting as a counterbalance. It traced an almost straight trajectory through the air, piercing directly into the eye socket of a cavalryman, the powerful force pulling him abruptly from his horse.
After two volleys of arrows, the enemy cavalry lost eleven men, but the distance between the two sides had been closed to the point of close combat.
"Shield Wall!" Todd raised his off-hand shield and took a step forward. "Prepare for melee!"
To To Todd's surprise, the expected collision did not occur. After approaching the perimeter of the camp, the Ulster light cavalry simply threw their packs behind the fence and scattered in panic.
The enemy retreated just like that?
Todd and Ackerman, who were on the front lines, exchanged a glance.
The latter walked to a torn package, carefully peeled back the outermost layer of oil paper, and the pungent stench almost made him lose his balance.
Looking at what was inside, Ackerman shouted, "It's full of rotting flesh and entrails, and damn it, it's infested with maggots!"
Todd was taken aback at first, then stood there pondering for a moment before suddenly shouting, "Everyone! Retreat to cover!"
This comes a little late.
The forest echoed with the howls of wild beasts and the rustling of trees rubbing against each other.
Just as everyone was filled with doubt and fear, a mutant giant wolf, over two meters long, leaped from a tree trunk and pounced into the crowd.
The war beast overturned a wooden shield with one claw, opened its blood-red maw, and bit down hard on the throat of a barbarian warrior. After repeated biting, it actually tore off the man's head.
Immediately afterwards, about a dozen more giant wolves leaped out of the forest and began attacking the camp.
Todd plunged his sword into the giant wolf's throat, kicked the corpse aside, and before he could even wipe the blood from his face, he saw a warrior beside him being bitten on the ankle by a giant wolf, dragged into the pack, and instantly torn apart. He banged his sword against his shield and shouted to the people around him, "Everyone, gather around! Gather around me and form a circle!"
The soldiers spontaneously formed a circular defensive formation with Todd at the center.
The giant wolves began running around the circle, searching for an opening to bite. Although some barbarian warriors were occasionally dragged out of formation due to carelessness, they managed to stand firm and withstand wave after wave of attacks from the war beasts.
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