35 The Order to Retreat.

"I would forever regret the order to retreat that day."

"The order that cost me the battle."

"And how close I was to killing Lucius Aurellion, who I now know is a player."

"All while falling for his vicious scheme.

Éric Gigot, the player behind Wurgoth and the orcish general who fights against Reginald in the battle of Brunag.

….

The great force within the steel arrow that hit Lucius in the upper left side of his chest sent the Chavarian general flying off his destrier with his armour clanking when he hit the ground, letting out a groan of pain.

[25 damage taken from steel arrow]

[5 fall damage taken]

"FUCK!"

Reginald, who was controlling Lucius, cursed from the pain which shot through his body from his chest as unlike in the skirmish where he had his sensitivity at 50%, which lowered the pain from damage taken by 50%, but now that he had decided to set his sensitivity to 100% to help his reaction time, hearing and other senses it also meant that now when he gets hit by an arrow or hurt in the game, it feels like it would in real life a punch would be fine. But Reginald had not experienced being shot by an arrow before, so it shocked him a bit.

'War seems to only be for masochists who like getting hurt!'

The young 18-year-old gamer thought in awe again how realistically and brutal wars are reproduced in the game, wondering how long it would take for some legal action to be attempted against the company.

"General, are you ok?"

5 Chavarian knights ran over to their injured general worried about him.

"Help me up and back onto my horse. You five remount and protect me! If I don't show myself clearly to our army, they will rout! I can't afford for things like this to happen again!"

Lucius said, already having lost over half of his HP; he snapped the end off the arrow embedded into his flesh but did not remove it as the arrow helped prevent the wound from bleeding as he brought up his HP and MP stats.

HP: 15/45

MP: 0/60

When Lucius stood up, he felt dizzy and wobbled on his feet more than he expected. Two knights next to him having to hold the injured man up to prevent him from falling back down to the ground again, looking worried for their general's health. Noticing that his MP was empty and remembering that he felt a bit tired and mentally drained the last time he was low on MP, so it was not hard for Lucius to connect his mental exhaustion and his lack of MP. However, he still felt that the effects were worse than before for some reason.

After being steadied by the knights, Lucius remounted his horse with difficulty letting out a groan of pain while towering above the infantry on his horse. The soldiers relaxed after seeing their general okay and unaffected by his injury, their morale remaining unshakable.

….

"There! Fire there at the little orc who just fired at Lucius!"

Archtorius' young voice shouted orders excitedly at the Chavarian crossbows and archers who were manning the camp's defences that had previously been constructed using the elevation offered to provide cover for the infantry until now as they looked at the young vice general who pointed towards where the small orc was finding the usually stealthy orc with his excellent eyesight.

"General, what do you mean?"

One of the crossbowmen asked, unable to find the small orc as they did not possess Archtorius' unnaturally good eyesight.

"Just fire in that area!"

Archtorius sighed while shaking his head, motioning with his good arm at the area that Zugbu, the orc who had shot Lucius, was in.

'If only I could still fire my bow!'

The young Chavarian vice general complained internally, glancing with annoyance at his broken arm, which dangled limply from his side as he would fire at Zugbu himself if he could.

'At least this way, I can suppress Zugbu for Lucius and not allow that sneaky little shit another chance to attack him, for if the general dies who goes unconscious now, then the battle is over.'

Archtorius had glanced at his broken arm for only a second knowing the great skill that Zugbu possessed in the realm of stealth was a match for his own almost unmatched perception, as evidenced by being able to notice the small orc who was hiding at the back of the orcish army using his larger comrades to help hide himself something which only he in the entirety of the Chavarian army was able to do.

Archtorius was worried that he would lose sight of Zugbu, who liked to sulk in the shadows like a snake waiting for a chance to strike.

"Crossbows fire in groups of 1000! I want that entire area suppressed! The archers can continue to support our infantry where they can remember to keep the friendly fire to a minimum and aim for the back of their formation where the fresher troops are and away from our own.

Archtorius said, taking command of the Chavarain ranged units who were now at the top of the hill due to both sides having their anti-magic crystals activated, there was no way to use magic for healing, and because it was so convenient, it meant that more scientific non-magical means of recovery was highly underdeveloped in this world.

So instead of lying in his tent, the youthful Archtorius decided to do something useful and take command of the Chavarian ranged units.

Why would one take bitter medicine when they could cast a spell and cure their ailment within a few minutes?

….

'Fuck, since when were those damn Chavarian crossbowmen so good at tracking someone."

Zugbu complained, hiding behind yet another orc, using it as a human shield to protect himself from the Chavarian ranged attacks that seemed to follow him wherever he went, angering the small orc who could not take another shot due to the risk of being pierced by an errant crossbow bolt they even made sure to take turns firing ensuring that there was always another cloud of bolts coming his way which began to cut down all of the orcs around him.

This allowed Archtorius to suppress Zugbu and deliver a bit of support to the Chavarian heavy infantry, who needed it, allowing them to hold out for longer.

By now, the 5000 orcish light infantry had long arrived and put even more pressure on the stretched Chavarian front line, who stubbornly held on due to Lucius' skill; otherwise, they would have long fled from the battlefield allowing the Plurian, Otruian allied army to claim victory.

Zugbu managed to find a small opening and fired another arrow at Lucius, trying to kill the Chavarian general in hopes of making his army collapse, but the small orc was disappointed as the arrow was blocked by two knights of the five knights who were protecting Lucius as they used their shields to stop the small orcs arrow being especially vigilant of ranged attacks after one nearly killed their general.

'Shame I got these Plurian steel arrows for nothing.'

Zugbus thought to himself, having asked for a few steel arrows from Bardornus so he could kill high-value targets like Lucius as the steel arrows were much better at piercing the Chavarian's steel armour compared to his iron ones which had the habit of bouncing off if he did not use skills while dodging another cloud of bolts.

He then heard a rumbling from the left and saw a cloud of dust barrelling towards where the orcs and Chavarians were fighting. Squinting his eyes, he saw the faint glint of a Chavarian banner amongst the dust cloud and immediately decided to retreat, knowing that this part of the battle was lost. But with around 10,000 Plurain heavy infantry and archers being unhurt by the day's events, Zugbu knew that tomorrow they would have a chance to strike back, leaving with a regretful smile.

'If only I had a bow with a longer range, or we deactivated these damn antimagic crystals! Though with those knights around him, even a longbow would not do much, but if I had my magic, then I could roast them. I wonder if my comrades would have apricated the free meal, especially if we consider our rather dire supply situation.'

Zugbu thought while zigzagging to avoid the bolts that followed him until he retreated from the battlefield before the crossbows went back to supporting the heavy infantry who were struggling under the onslaught of the orcs.

….

Behind the main battlefield, the duel between Sorrell and Mulush, the large orc whose large battleaxe nearly sliced Archtorius in half, continued both of them of similar skill, with both sides leaving only superficial scars and cuts on the other. However, as the battle got longer, Sorrells age began to catch up to him, as even if he were in the prime of his life, the physical prowess of the orc in front of him would have overwhelmed not to mention when he was starting to enter his twilight years the vigour of his youth long lost to the ravages of time.

As the old man's movements slowed, Mulush was able to push him more and more until a gap appeared in Sorrells defence that Mulush ruthlessly exploited, taking advantage of the opening to cut through the old man's armour cutting into Sorrells's stomach with a horizontal cut making blood spurt out of his body.

"Sorrell!"

Archtorius called out in alarm, worried about his mentor and seeing that Zugbu had retreated, he directed 1000 archers to immediately fire upon the large orc, a mini cloud of arrows streaking towards the orc whose battle-axe was clashing with Sorrells sword, the old man kneeling while using two hands to block the orcs axe his arms straining visibly as he brought out every ounce of strength he could.

While basking in victory and just as Mulush could feel Sorrells strength being sapped with each passing second when the big orc suddenly sensed danger jumping forward and zigzagging to avoid a cloud of arrows that was aimed right at the large orc while Sorell jumped backwards, raising to his feet quickly using the last of his strength to avoid the arrow storm groaning from the pain that emanated from his the bleeding wound he suffered to his stomach as he stumbled up the hill clenching his teeth.

'Damn archers! I was just about to kill that annoying old man.'

Mulush thought in anger, his rage only lasting for a few seconds before cooling. Then he looked upon the battlefield with fresh eyes, no longer putting his entire focus on killing Sorrell and noticed the flag of the main enemy general amongst the soldiers fighting on the front line, a vicious smile appearing on the large orc's face.

'Time to hunt a bird before it flies away.'

Mulush thought, making his way towards the Chavarian general, correctly deducing that the some 3,000-odd remaining heavy infantry was only still holding on thanks to him and rushed to kill the last thing keeping the Chavarians together.

….

"What do you mean the Plurians retreated!"

Wurgoth asked the bloodied and shaking wolf rider who came to report to him the outcome of the cavalry battle on the left in anger, throwing his axe into the ground right next to the unfortunate orc who had to give his general the bad news.

"It's true! They retreated, and not just that but Bardornus and his vice general were injured after breaking through a line of Chavarian knights and killing the captain in charge of it."

"Is Leon so terrifying that he can fight both of them alone and still come out on top?"

Wurgoth asked, unable to conceal the worry in his voice as he felt a chill run down his spine at the thought of facing such an opponent as he fully well knew that Bardornus was likely the best fighter that their allied army had to offer.

'Though Mulush may be able to fight on a somewhat equal level to him.'

Wurgoth thought absent-mindedly while listening to the report coming from his wolf rider.

"I don't know, general all I know is that General Bardornus and his Vice General Alden charged through the Chavarian knights to duel the Chavarian Vice General together, one came back unconscious and the other severely injured before they left the battlefield with their men, and what is odder is that the Chavarian general allowed this despite their obvious bad condition sending some more men to attack us while taking the rest to come here and attack our flank!"

"Doesn't Bardornus know that we lose the moment he retreats? I only need an hour! No 30 minutes! Only 30 minutes, and we could rout these damn Chavarians!"

"What madness drove him to do such a stupid thing!"

Wurgoth continued his angry tirade before remembering and now seeing the incoming cavalry calming down, unaware that without the death of Lucius, the Chavarians could hold on for a few hours.

The orc wolf rider then remembered the words that he had heard while fighting the Chavarian cavalry.

"I also heard the enemy commander talk about working together with General Bardornus before the Plurian General got angry, and next thing I know, he came back injured and retreated with his men."

'That's slightly suspicious, as Bardornus would surely know that once Nadron falls, his kingdom will be next, so he should put his all into this battle!'

'He also knows that he has the important job of keeping the enemy cavalry occupied so we can take their camp and destroy their infantry and archers, winning the battle.'

'There's also that Chavarian vice general. If he had them in his hands, he would kill them first, then go to help the infantry massively weaken their enemy's army and state by killing one of their best generals.'

'So why would Bardornus leave prematurely knowing that it could potentially cost us a battle and Leon do something so stupid as to let two thorny enemies go when he could slaughter them like animals unless….'

'Unless he has made a deal for benefits for his kingdom come to their inevitable downfall, at which point he would set his glaive towards us!'

'Could they be putting on an act so they can surprise and annihilate us tomorrow?'

By now, Wurgoth, the orc player, has become confused by the actions of Bardornus and Leon, even coming to suspect his loyalty to the alliance. Any delve into the history of the two kingdoms would make it obvious that this could never happen, but Wurgoth, an Otruian orc unfamiliar with the deep conflict between the two kingdoms combined with his identity as a player, started to come to a terrifyingly wrong conclusion. The orcish general paying the price for the orc's neglection of affairs between the world's many nations.

The conclusion was that there was a good chance that Bardornus had betrayed the alliance; however, he was still unsure, needing confirmation from something other than just his own conjecture. He may make a huge mistake if he acts on conjecture alone.

'Let's wait for that spy to return. He has given good information so far, nearly leading to the collapse of the Chavarian army.'

Wurgoth thought all these thoughts happening in seconds before he gave an order he would later regret.

"Sound the horn of retreat!"

"General?"

An orc next to him asked, wondering why they would need to retreat now, as right now, it looked like they were going to win the battle if they only continued for a bit longer, not knowing that as long as Lucius was alive and conscious, then the Chavarains could last for a few more hours.

"I said to sound the horn of retreat! Are you deaf? Do you want our army to be flanked and destroyed by the Chavarian cavalry who can now roam free?"

"Just look at what 750 knights can do to our archers! They are in complete disarray that even their captain has lost his head under their sharp swords."

"And those horse archers, there only what like 2500, maybe 2000 left. Look at how we have lost all our pikemen and spearmen to them!"

"You do know that before we skirmished and engaged with the Chavarians, we had 10,000 of each, right?"

Wurgoth shouted, still angry from having to retreat because of his ally retreating and lamenting at having to withdraw from such a good position.

"What do you think will happen when 5000 more cavalry or so charge into our flanks if we struggle to deal with 4000?"

"It's simple a massacre! So sound the retreat before we lose the battle here!"

Wurgoth shouted at the wolf rider, who blew the horn of retreat then a system notification appeared, which made the orc general curse out loud.

[Bloodlust skill is still in effect. Some of your troops will refuse the order to retreat.]