Chapter 6. Battle of Tilum (1/2)

 Before her I ride in the mist of the forgotten ones

 knowing that eternity awaits those cried for.

 I lament my pains, my unspoken thoughts,

 Knowing that the pain is far away from those tormented.

 I only weep with all my strength for all the unmentioned,

 far from the friendly mind, from history forgotten.

 Take her hand and smile, there will be no more tribulations,

 only the company of all your brothers.

 1st section of the Ode to Death: For Hel.

 (Author's Note: An attempt of Ode)

 At that moment, on earth, on that night, millions of homes had their televisions on, tuned to their respective LAZ news channels, all gathered with drinks and fast food.

 There was no house in which a child was in bed even late at night or perhaps it being early morning in their time zone and the reason was simple, war.

 Several major alliances had formed a coalition in order to take territory under the forces of one of the most powerful reincarnate factions.

 The second reincarnate: 

 {Tilum}

Thousands of beings of many shapes and sizes could be seen, all assembled in front of another large army of more or less the same magnitudes, obviously Tilum knew what was coming and with that he called his allies.

 The players took up formations, each with their respective alliance leaders…

 Although there was some chaos, everyone was excited and brimming with energy.

 The reincarnated camp was very different, if the players' troops were in their disarray, Tilum's coalition was completely silent, each one well placed without the slightest failure or indiscipline.

 Another difference was the type of units that comprised each army, while in the players' army there were all kinds of units: from giant monkeys armed with trees, minor orcs, humans and various factions...

 On the reincarnated side you could find only a few types: dwarves along with basic artillery, fundibulators and ballistas made of metal, The salamandrs, a mutated faction of the usual lizard men, with an innate resistance and talent in fire magic and last but not least the imps of Tilum, these imps had varied forms, red wolves, flaming bats and small humanoid beings with horns and rustic weapons.

 In LAZ, it was very difficult to build an army, first they would have to learn how to collect and learn the properties of minerals, beast hides and other various resources, then learn how to forge them and make them of decent quality.

Only these processes lead to the fact that after half a year since the birth of LAZ, only the reincarnated dwarves and the factions they trade with by selling their weapons and armor come to possess them.

 In other words, LAZ was like the real world, from nothing they would have to make everything.

 Players also had their blacksmiths, but these for now could make almost no weapons far from the most rustic and primitive weapons.

 The reason for the difference was very simple, time.

 A reincarnated had all the time in the world, while a player would end up leaving LAZ to eat or sleep, apart from taking it as just a game, something that obviously did not happen with most of the reincarnated, when some player leaves and is attacked, without their supervision they would surely lose all their resources or suffer many casualties.

 That left most players far behind technologically speaking.

 That and the immense amount of resources needed for experimentation and for the final creation of proper equipment.

 Giving the dwarves, mining and forging adepts as the best prepared armies and the most advanced factions, as well as rich.

The battle was about to begin, everyone in their homes could not take their faces away from the TV set from the tension generated, there were those who had red eyes from having forgotten to blink in minutes.

 With an order, the dwarven artillery began to attack, the fireballs rose over the skies giving start to the battle.

 The battles were situated on a plain of black volcanic rock, the units of both armies were arranged on two opposing hills, the reincarnated's being somewhat higher, giving them the advantage of field of view and firing range, plus they had the momentum to fight a defensive battle, with the artillery attacking and the territory behind them being allied, they could replenish food and ammunition without any impunity, while the players had behind them a large set of wagons with food and water, plus the basic resources for war, but like everything else, it runs out and they were too far from their respective territories to replenish them immediately.

 The players' units ran across the plain with all their might, while the reincarnated formed a closed polygonal shape, covering all their flanks and artillery, they waited on their hill without any fear of the enemy troops.

 Because many players had very hairy units, the fireballs were very effective against them, taking a dozen units by ball hit.

 Among the players, there were three factions of air units, two of harpies and one of storm crows, a faction that lost its intelligence in pure damage and being more beasts than conscious beings.

 These three quickly stood out and began marching against the hill, their main function was to stop the artillery at any cost using their superior maneuverability and speed.

 Both Tilum and the other reincarnated leaders in the defensive coalition were not fools and saw the enemy's hasty plan.

 Tilum ordered his bats to stand over the artillery and prepare to intercept the enemy, this would only hold them off for a few moments, but with it the dwarven crossbowmen and mages and archers salamander could attack them without them being able to fly away.

 The dwarven infantry was the defensive bulk of their formation, with full metal armor, a tower shield and a one-handed axe, crashing into them would be the same as throwing yourself against a metal pivot eager to dissect an arm or two, the salamanders infantry, consisted mostly of spearmen with rather little clothing, but their scales were tough enough to compare to several layers of leather of the finest quality. These two types of units synergized to create an impenetrable wall, which became insurmountable to player units that collided with it.

 The players' mages and archers were the biggest problem Tilum had at the time, from afar they caused a great deal of damage, being a great nuisance, one that had no quick solution, he just wished they would run out of ammunition or strength to cast any spells.

 Even with these annoyances the enemy assault was being repelled with some ease.

 Or so he thought until the giant apes finally arrived at the front of the battle.