Homesteading in a fantasy world

As soon as the Western army took its first step, it was like a signal for everything else to start. The legion and mercenaries also started to advance, but they only did so for about 10 metres until they set up their battle lines and prepared for the ranged attacks.

The western army frontline was the first to come into active range of the legion archers. "Nock, draw, loose!" was heard from multiple commanders speaking in unison. The already loud battlefield from all the movement of soldiers and armour instantly got deafening with the snap of bows and the sounds of hundreds of arrows flying and colliding with each other.

When the arrows were at their maximum height and starting to come downwards, another battle started. As the arrows flew the mages started to fight with each other, disrupting spells or trying to cast ones for attack or defence.

Right now, there was no clear winner, so while there were a few disturbances and some arrows broke or hit small barriers that soon disappeared, over 70% of the arrows still reached their destination. Yet, before that happened, another volley was released by the legion archers.

The Western army soldiers had their shields upward, and they had their own defence buffs, so most of the arrows barely penetrated the shields. Yet, some that had the telltale sign of ability use acted like normal arrows or even penetrated deeper.

Unfortunately for the Western army soldiers, not all of them had this kind of protection, and while they had decent armour, it was not plate mail, so many took wounds and a few even died.

Towards the west, where the leaders of both armies and their strongest fighters were positioned, after the second volley of arrows landed on the western army, both started to move towards each other but in a shallow diagonal towards the forest, away from the rest of the army.

Mimicking this behaviour, the eastern side of the battlefield's elites rushed through the forest, trying to flank each other's armies and prevent the other side from doing so. Soon, flashes of abilities and spells were seen, yet barely anyone had time to focus on other people's fights.

The legion's archers were able to get off seven volleys before return fire from the western army archers started. It was less disciplined, yet the amount of arrows was almost double simply because there were so many more of them. Even from the start, they were slower to fire, but not by much.

The legion and the mercenaries were a lot better armored and had better defensive boosts. Most of it was supplied by Rich, but his command ability there allowed others to add their boosts as well, which meant that even ability-enhanced arrows barely did anything.

Over 95% of arrows fired were destroyed on impact or on the flight over to their targets. That was also the reason why there were any injuries at all for the United Freeholds army, as the high-speed splinters did manage to find a few gaps, but none of those were lethal.

It was when the leaders had reached about 500 metres from each other that something changed. Rich held up his fist, stopping the forward movement of the fighters around him. "Something's wrong," he said, but then went quiet.

The person most unnerved by this change was, of course, the God's Chosen. Up until this point, the battle had gone exactly as he had seen it, so immediately he was unnerved. He had seen Rich watch him as soon as they were able to see each other, and it unnerved him more than he wanted to admit.

It was like he was slowly peeling away his defenses and seeing what was truly beneath his skin. Then, to his absolute bewilderment, the situation changed once again, but he was not certain if it was for the better, though everything logically told him that it was.

The closer Rich walked to the enemy, the more his skin started to crawl. He knew that his troubled senses were trying to tell him something, but what that was the question. Rich almost slapped his own forehead, but he was able to stop himself.

He immediately glanced at the other people around the enemy leader. It took a little bit, but he was now used to piercing through the obfuscation the holy power gave, he finally saw the trap they were about to walk into.

They were supposed to face one rank 2 powerhouse and almost 30 rank one fighters. The inner core, the followers of the enemy leader, however were also rank 2, and some of them were not at the beginning of the rank.

Scenarios immediately ran through his head, but one thing was clear: by the end of the fight, he was going to be the only one left standing from their side, and while the enemy would take casualties, it would not be enough. Rich cursed in his head but continued to try to find a solution.

Only 30 seconds later, he found one—a terrible one that would cost a lot, but he was used to sacrifice and pain. Through his command ability, he quickly reassigned everyone around him to back up and support the main army.

This was something that would allow them to bleed the enemy even more while keeping more of their soldiers alive. He didn't communicate out loud, yet everyone received the command. "This is madness," one of the other second-rank fighters said, who was next to Rich.

"Those are your orders," came a cold voice that was almost unrecognisable, yet everyone knew that Rich had said those words. They, of course, hesitated, but Rich didn't admonish them for that. In fact, he was proud of them, but he was even prouder that everyone did what they were told and started to move back, leaving him alone against odds that should guarantee his death.

He closed his eyes and said a prayer he had said before every battle after his first true brush with death. When he opened his eyes, they were something from a nightmare that even made the leader of the enemy take half a step back.

Rich didn’t say a word, but he didn't let his enemies recover. The very next moment, his best bow was in his hand, and he was already drawing back an energy arrow. Soldiers that were still marching only saw the bow emerge, then it being halfway drawn back, and then the arrow releasing.

To the rank two enemies and even rank ones, his actions were not that fast, but they were still fast enough that the arrow was able to pierce through the weakest rank one member they had, killing him instantly.

Rich didn't stop; he was like a cold machine harvesting wheat. More and more energy gathered around him as he continued to fire. Three of the rank two enemies were actively defending against the arrows that were all aimed at the weakest of them, or the openings made by them moving to defend against the arrows fired.

They also started to return fire in the form of spells and arrows. Immediately around the armour of Rich, another armor appeared, thick and radiating concentrated energy. For spells that were the mana kind, he simply took a step to the left or right to dodge, but the arrows he didn't even bother to dodge as they barely did anything to him.

He worried even less about holy power, as energy was as effective against it as mana was against energy. This type of exchange continued on for a little bit until the enemy changed their tactics and started to use wide-range mana spells that would not be so easily dodged.

As soon as they hit, smiles came to the enemies' faces, yet they were instantly wiped away when they realized that they had barely done any damage.

Those attacks would have been devastating if Rich didn't have multiple traits and abilities that allowed him to better resist mana. To win against his defenses, the spells needed to be more concentrated, so while they took energy to defend against, even more than the arrows that were still constantly hitting him, with his reserves, he could do this all day.

Underneath his helmet, the already small smile became even wider as Rich stopped repressing his enjoyment. This scene was a heavy blow to the enemy morale, yet breaking zealots would be a lot harder.

Once again, movement started on both sides as the enemy began to move closer and split up into smaller units. Rich moved more towards the forest as he didn’t want any of the enemy rank 2 fighters to disengage and join the main army's battle.

He still continued to shoot even though he had not been able to do any more damage. However, he was depleting resources from his opponents, and fights at this level usually came down to who was able to outlast the other. Now, if they were fighting one-on-one, individual power would be more important, but this was not that kind of fight.

While the leaders continued to move away from the main battlefield, the Western army had reached close enough that firing arrows over the heads of friendly soldiers became too dangerous. Through the command ability of Rich, other commanders quickly changed some buffs which gave archers extra range, so they changed their target to the enemy archers. The Western army responded in kind as their archers quickly rushed forward so they would be in proper range to fire against the legion's archers.

The battle of mages never ended, but with the best fighters rejoining the United Freeholds army, they were able to defend better against the arrow fire than the western army. Yet, the death toll was immediately higher, even after the first volley, than died on the approach of the two armies. When arrow fire stopped against the legion; their shields opened up so they could throw their javelins.

The mercenaries also adopted the same tactic with their extra spears, so for a moment the space between the two armies was filled with arching wood with deadly tips. It all happened so fast that for a moment the Western army's lines became uneven as everyone reacted at different speeds.

Many died, yet even more dangerous were the now even more unwieldy shields that were already peppered with arrows. Screams of pain and the dying were heard when another command came, and another volley of javelins was thrown.

This time, they were not as effective at bringing death, as the Western army had trained for this situation; it was just that the commanders were not ready or expecting it to happen so early. Rich, as he continued to dodge attacks, chuckled a little bit.

Then came the final volley of javelins, after which the legion's shield wall was recombined, and spears poked through it. The enemy didn’t rush; they were more disciplined. There wouldn't be a huge collide of people rushing each other.

They would walk slowly, inching closer and closer until both were at spear range, so both could start pushing each other and so spears could find gaps in the enemy shield wall, and the toll of war could truly start.

The army lines didn’t touch simultaneously, but it was more like a wave touching a straight wall. It seemed unbelievable, but the noise of the battle exploded once again, and if not prepared, a person could collapse from just the noise alone.

Concentrated efforts of ability users trying to break through the shield walls on both sides were countered in turn. The Western army continued to push, but the legion hadn't buckled even a step. The mercenaries had, but not enough for anyone to worry, and soon they were able to stabilize and dig in for the hours of fighting ahead.