Thalius looked around him. Standing atop the battlements of Castle First Reach, he was with what remained of Veradan's military strength. It was nothing to boast about: men and women who were displaced from their units and hastily merged together with what was left. He could see members of the 33rd Siege Dogs (the only unit who made it out with only half of them dead after a failed attempt to attack an undead garrison), The 21st Highlanders (An archery unit lucky enough to mostly survive Veradan's fall), and even the 29th Frontiersmen (The recruits who had been tasked with refugee evacuation). The rest of the men gathered there were of other units, too many to identify. Thalius felt a short pang of sadness when he again remembered that none of the 12th Valkyries would be standing alongside him this time, but he shook it off and steeled himself for the upcoming battle.

The strange skull that broke the gate took them all by surprise. Thalius had not seen such a monstrosity when Veradan's gates were breached. Though he had recovered himself from the momentary shock, something told him that this battle might be worse and more brutal than any fight he had seen with these creatures yet. The first things to attack them however, were something he was more familiar with.

[i]"Line Breakers first... Typical strategy. Soften us up and divide our ranks to make us easy targets for the rest of their force"[/i] Thalius thought as he studied their enemy. Their massive size and weaponry were meant to intimidate and destroy. If it was the first time he had seen them, Thalius might have been scared. However, he had seen these brutes twice before, and he knew what they were capable of. He also knew they were very slow and dim-witted; anyone fast enough could bring one down so long as they had support distracting the Line Breaker. He and the other Rangers had prepared their longbows and were waiting for the order to fire. Eventually, the Guardian from Feer la Den, Fenris Laski had given the order and they prepared to launch their arrows.

[b]"Notch!”[/b]

With discipline honed from years of training, the Veradan Rangers all pulled back their bows in complete sync with one another, ready to fire on demand.

[b]“Loose!”[/b]

And with that, the arrows from their section all shot off at the same time, covering the enemy with projectiles, and bringing down a few of them. But it did not stop their advance. [i]"All we can do is weaken them and hope that the men on the ground can do the rest"[/i] Thalius thought as he remembered their role for this battle. The Line Breakers continued closing the distance to their footmen.

[b]“Free fire!”[/b]

Laski ordered. With that, the Rangers started aiming their shots at the weak points instead of just creating a large volley of arrows. Thalius pulled back on the string of his bow and chose a target among all the Line Breakers. He decided to go for one that was approaching Fenris. "Corporal Garret, assist me with this target!" Thalius commanded the Ranger to his left, gesturing at the Line Breaker heading towards The Guardian. "I'll stun him. And you put one straight through his head." He said, as he quickly launched a shot at the Line Breaker's neck, causing the foe to stagger, and Garret immediately launched his arrow straight through the eye, causing the creature to roar its signature scream. "Bullseye!" Garret shouted. "No time to celebrate, they're beginning their charge!" Another Ranger said.

The Line Breakers had already closed the distance between their lines, and fights were erupting everywhere. "They're too close to our men! Shots at them are too risky. Prioritize the ones behind their front lines, reduce their numbers and weaken them for the defenders." Thalius commanded. The other Rangers acknowledged it and focused their efforts on the Line Breakers just behind the front to give the troops on the ground an easier time.

Their arrows kept flying from their battlements as the brawl on the ground continued. However, there were just so many of them, and they could not launch arrows fast enough to reduce them by any significant number, leaving a majority of them to be taken care of by the rest of the army. By the end of it, their forces had taken heavy casualties despite the momentary victory. The cheers began erupting from the crowd.

"That's the first wave done..." A Ranger squad leader by the name of Brachen said. "If we keep up at this kill-casualty ratio, then it wont take long for this garrison to fall. This assault is far from over." Thalius remarked. The cheering was cut short when the horn began blowing and a new enemy began marching upon them. They were different, and Thalius didn't think he had seen these kind of undead spearmen before. "Thalius... Did I ever tell you I hate it when you're right?" Brachen said as he prepared his bow once more. Thalius did not respond, but began readying another arrow.

These enemies were different, they were unarmored unlike the Line Breakers, they carried shields and spears, and they marched in a neatly organized formation. [i]"I've never seen them display this kind of coordination before... This could be troublesome..."[/i] Thalius thought as he began considering how to deal with them. Fenris Laski raised his sword into the air from below them and gave them the command.

[b]“Archers, fire at will!”[/b]

The Rangers did as they were told and launched their projectiles at the new enemy, trying to aim for the neck, legs, arms, and lower jaw, as they were the unarmored areas that weren't immediately covered by the shields. Upon launching however, they saw that their enemy began bunching up together and created an impenetrable wall of shields that caught their arrows. Only very few of them managed to sneak through the tiny gaps in the shield wall, and they did not even do anything visibly significant to the enemy advance. "What the blazes is this?!" Brachen exclaimed a he loaded another arrow and fired at them, trying to go for a gap, but it was quickly covered up, causing the shot to deflect off harmlessly. Thalius fired his own shot, trying to hit one of the spearmen in the middle, but again, the arrow was caught. "They react smartly and swiftly. This is behavior unlike any I've seen before..." Thalius remarked while the other archers kept trying to hit them. He was starting to think this was a waste of arrows when Laski told them to stop.

[b]“Cease fire, cease fire!”[/b]

They stopped their volley and began considering their options. "What are we supposed to do against that? None of our arrows get through!" Garret exclaimed. Suddenly however, the shield wall fell down and the spearmen held their weapons ready as they began pacing quickly to their lines. "These bastards are using actual tactics... And with reflexes faster than any normal army." Brachen observed.

[b]Don't take their bait, wait for your chance to strike! Archers, mages, pick your shots!”[/b] Fenris ordered before charging into the fray.

"What do we do?" Asked Wellington, an archer from the 29th Frontiersmen. "We do what we were told, pick our shots!" Brachen replied as he aimed for one of the creatures, and launched an arrow at them, which the target deflected. Thalius had thought about them for a while, and decided to treat the enemy as like living soldiers.

"They'll react if they see our shots coming, but not if they're distracted. They can only react to so much at the same time. Wait until they engage our men, and take them out one by one. Don't fire as volleys, but choose individual targets to avoid any friendly-fire. Prioritize enemies that are closest to our soldiers and commanding officers, and communicate your targets with each other." He told them. The Rangers nodded and began firing at individual enemies. Thalius himself chose targets and attempted picking them off.

Their reactions were fast, but not fast enough it seemed. Because while they could block them if they saw the arrow, they could be too preoccupied with a footsoldier to notice one being lodged into their body. With that said, they still had reflexes that were inhuman, as a simple glance around or a twist of their head seemed to be enough to tell them all they needed to know about their environment and what dangers were heading their way. Thalius and the other Rangers needed precise timing to fire their shots without it being spotted by the spearmen, and waiting for that opportunity made it so that they weren't as fast as firing as before, and the casualty count was starting to rise.

"We're not killing them fast enough!" Leonhard, another squad leader, said in anger. "We do what we can. If this is all we're capable of accomplishing then it's still better than nothing." Thalius responded. "Hey uhh... Does anyone else feel like the weather's acting strange?" A Ranger from the 29th asked, looking up to the unnatural swirling clouds in the sky. "Stop staring at clouds and shoot at the enemy!" Brachen shouted angrily at the recruit. Meanwhile, a pale and oddly pretty woman suddenly arrived at their battlements. Someone would have asked what she was doing there, but they were all too busy trying to land their shots. Suddenly the woman threw her knife down the wall, stabbing one of the spearmen who had trapped one of their soldiers. A few Rangers looked down to see what happened and saw the spearman suddenly begin clawing itself until it had died by its own hands.

"By the Gods.... I'm glad you're on our side." Leonhard said to the woman, who seemed to be some kind of Mage. "Leonhard, focus! You're missing opportunities to shoot" Thalius reminded him. "Right! Apologies." He said as he took aim once more.

Thalius could see how this fight was going, and it was not good. These Spearmen had tactics that reduced the effectiveness of archers, and also had a significant advantage in close combat from their heightened reflexes. Added to the fact that they were outnumbered by a large degree, and Thalius knew that they needed a more organized plan for their entire defense force to tackle them. He wasn't sure exactly what they could do to counter this new enemy, but they needed to do it fast.