199 130. Drums of War.

****

Jim was heading towards the direction of John when he encountered his men coming his way one by one,

He asked the panicked men, "Hey! what's happening? Why are you guys running away in panic? What happened over there. Did someone else act?"

One of the guys spoke, "Boss, it is bad. Our plan didn't work according to our expectations. That General is very ruthless, He shot those ballistas at us without hesitation even when we had the Hostages. And that General, he is a monster. He is clearly a monster. We can't fight him. They are heading our way, we need to run and change our direction. Even Commander is dead. He died in one attack of that General even with that runic armor. This is very dangerous."Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please clickfor visiting.

Jim was shocked after hearing the report from his men. He never thought that Anak was this powerful.

He thought, 'Damn these guys are quite scared. From the looks of it, they faced a brutal response from that guy.'

The very scared faces of his men clearly indicated their fear and the ruthlessness they experienced against Anak. He gnashed his teeth as he clearly didn't want to run but he accepted the reality and current situation. He knew that he can't win against such a powerful General and he had to take the help of other parties to get his revenge for such humiliation. Jim looked back towards Marsh and his men as he ordered his men to kill those hostages and ran in full pace towards their base inside their borders as they were clearly in danger against Anak and his men.

Jim murmured as he headed towards South-West towards Dolores, he frustratingly murmured, "Where the fuck did they find such a guy, why have I never heard about such a guy over the years? He should have been famous if that was the case. Even I can't fight against my men without getting a scratch and being surrounded by them. That guy clearly is from the Ghost division. Is he Vlad of the Dark in a disguise and leading their men? Only that guy was able to create such horror among the armies of demons and humans alike."

He murmured as he continued to go past the forest, "Even after such schemes, we weren't even able to kill a handful of his men with 4000 men. Those armors shouldn't make this much of a big difference. Such a big humiliation can't be washed away unless that guy dies or faces the same humiliation which our men did."

****

Soon Jim and his men were just 2.5 km are away from the borders of Dolores.

Jim gave a signal from here for the guards to open the border which the guards complied. They also started loading the Ballistas as they saw General Anak and his army from the sides.

As Jim continued to rush with his men, he saw that an army lead by Anak was coming to attack them from their sides. Soon Jim's men faced the attacks of Mini-ballistas from the sides. It was a total massacre as Arrows rained down on the mercenaries. 

Jim saw that Anak was giving out a cruel smiling as he charged towards him with a powerful war cry that shook the heavens. John's men chased them from the sides while Marsh and his men were surprised to find Anak and his team attacking their enemies from the sides and creating such an ambush. During this first clash, Jim lost 600+ of his men however he and 300 of his colleagues managed to run near the borders. The border gate was open as Jim entered there with 300 his men.

During this time the Guards Shot their Ballistas towards John and their men as they seemed to chase inside.

Jim roared to the guards as he entered, "Close the frigin gate and fire at them already. He would kill me if not done now."

The guards were pretty much scared after looking at the ruthless attack of Anak to his enemies in the previous clash they attacked John's men on the orders of their captains. On Jim's order, they soon fired their ballistas with more fervor however they didn't even reach John and his men when the projectiles reached them.

John had raised his hand and stopped his men from charging as he had spotted the ballistas earlier. Soon Both the Armies, led by John and Marsh Stopped around 1.2 km away from the gates.

As John and Marsh stopped,

Marsh, with a grave face, came near Anak, with his head and knees lowered, he spoke, "I am sorry General, I failed at the mission to protect the nearby village. Jim and his men were able to kill 125 villagers when they took them hostage. It was all my fault."

John furrowed his brows as he heard about the casualties but he didn't bicker as he immediately ordered, "Remember this, you need to be ruthless on a battlefield and clearly distinguish between allies and enemies. This was your first biggest battle and from this, you experienced some intricacies of war. If you don't want to be hurt in the future. Be prepared next time in the future for such situations. Meanwhile, I don't want any of you defying my orders in this operation. Is it clear to everyone?"

Everyone replied immediately, "Yes Sir."

John nodded and continued, He looked at the Big walls with cold ruthless eyes which reflected his desire to burn it all down. Some guards on the walls were immediately scared after watching those eyes.

He ordered his men "Go and prepare the ballistas. We are downing those watchtowers behind the walls. Since they dared to attack us and give shelter to mercenaries openly while we were exercising our right to punish them. They too must be punished for their crime."

One of the scouts from Dolores shivered as he looked straight into John's eyes.

"Man, that guy is scary. This situation doesn't look good. We need to inform the captain immediately."

Marsh and others were surprised at the order and Marsh immediately asked, "Lord, you mean we are invading Dolores already?"

John smiled as he spoke with a mischevious and angry tone, "No, we are simply giving them a simple lesson for collaborating with the Mercenaries and attacking us. We will kill all those mercenaries and collaborators and leave. We are simply burning down a mercenary base, nothing more, nothing less."

A lot of people were shocked at this proclamation while some smiled after listening to the justification Anak.

One of the Veterans laughed as he heard John from the front, "Hahaha, Good, General is very good at Sophistry. He should be a lawyer."

This time Marsh didn't hesitate and nodded immediately as he completely lost any pity he had for his enemies after watching the previous massacre and the death of that child who asked him to shoot previously.

Looking at the mask and the tone of Anak, a lot of people shivered and didn't voice their objections. They understood that their General was out for blood against his enemies even if it was prince Hector present himself.

John continued as he roared at his army and gave a warcry, "This time today, they will see the real power of the ballistas. Bring in the runic projectiles. This would bloody teach them a lesson. I have had enough of these games with these assholes, they really need a wake-up call on what it means to provoke this General. NO MERCY TO THOSE MERCENARIES AND THEIR COLLABORATORS."

All the soldiers roared in unison as they heard their General, "No mercy to those mercenaries and their collaborators. Burndown this base."

One of the soldiers excitedly roared along, "Damn I never thought we will be attacking those bloody mercenaries today. They have surely angered our General on a wrong day."

2nd soldier nodded and spoke, "Yes, General Anak quite understands the feelings of us soldiers. Previously I was always frustrated to keep myself in control at the borders when they attacked the trade caravans daily without any fear as they knew that we wouldn't patrol above a certain threshold. I guess this is also one of the reasons why General Anak is popular recently because of his aggressive actions. For the first time, we felt that those Mercenaries felt fear every time General moved with his army." 

The guards at Dolores were shaken after hearing the roar of John and his army which shook the heavens. The vibrations of the roar reached the enemy walls as they watched this scene stupor.

One of the officers came out of his quarters and asked, "Hey, hey, what is going on? What are they doing? Why aren't they leaving already? That roar feels so ominous on different levels. I simply shivered as soon as I heard it. Who is the leader of those men that can rouse such a war cry from a small group of 2500 soldiers?"

Another guard looked at John's army with a grave face and spoke, "It seems he is the rumored guy, Anak, the Everburning. No wonder those Mercenaries were in fear these days. Currently, I don't think this is good for us from the way they are moving currently. I think we shouldn't have provoked them previously by firing the ballistas."

The first guard looked at the walls and sighed with relief, "It's good that we have fortified our walls recently or it would have been a total massacre from the looks of it. They anyway can't target us since we are on high ground while both of the ballistas have the same range."

The other guy looked at the Ballistas of his enemies and their walls as he spoke, "I wonder, I think the walls were fortified because of the presence of Prince Hector. He had also fortified the castle. As for those Ballistas, we can't be sure yet as they could have hidden a lot of things."

Jim and his men sighed with relief as they entered their camps, Jim looked at Anak with eyes full of anger as he cursed him, "Damn it, this mission was a total failure. I will fuck that General and count up. They dare to humiliate my men in such way."

Looking at the commotion near the walls of Dolores, Joss immediately came out with his men as he saw Jim who was breathing heavily after the previous failure, He looked around and found that only 300+ men came with Jim while John came with his whole army of 2500 men. He had an ominous foreboding as he heard a big roar which belonged to John and his men, from inside the walls, a lot of people had a sense of danger as they heard the cries of war-drums from across the battlefield.

Joss asked Jim with a grave tone, "What happened? Where are others? didn't you say that you had a perfect plan to nullify those ballistas."

Jim's eyebrows creased as he heard Joss's investigating behavior, "What? You looking for a fight now that you see my miserable condition?"

Joss shook his head and asked seriously, "No, I want to know what happened. I already know that you guys lost from the condition of your men. Don't you see that guy is planning to invade us? Inform me quickly. I might have a chance to defeat them." Joss pointed at the direction of Anak as he spoke angrily

Jim irritatingly answered as he knew that enemies were at their door and infighting would be fatal for them right now if the enemy decides invades them, He answered, "All of them are dead, this general is far more ruthless than I imagined he was. He is just like Prince Lukavv who won't mind killing civilians if they come in his way, no, he is worse in a sense that he is capable of influencing people to his narrative. Meanwhile, their armors and weapons are really on another level, we just confirmed it in our last battle. It was still good that we were able to kill those villagers who will, in the end, blame that count. In regards to weapons, I think only the magic swords produced by Lorr family can be useful against them. However, only the Royal Guards own them or the officers possess them. They aren't even sold in the black market. What plan do you have currently because I don't think there is any need now that we are behind the walls? That General can't do anything to us behind there walls as the guards here too have the ballistas meanwhile we are under the protection of Prince Hector and Baron Antonio. All that guy can do is fluster and buster at our doors."

Joss understood the situation that they most probably tried their well-tested method of taking hostages that backfired on them this time around.

Joss nodded as he smiled after thinking about his plan and pointed at a direction, "See there, you might be surprised after watching this. Our wait is finally over. You should have waited previously before taking any actions, you got baited and see the results. Well, it's good that you came well and alive. We might still have a good chance to eat the whole of NF city alone."

He continued with a smile as he pointed towards Ballistas, "With Duke Fjord's men and Radiant Church's money, they were able to make these Ballistas. With this weapon, we can invade those castles. Currently, they have supplied a total of 35 ballistas. Even if that count manages to invade the walls, the only thing waiting for his small group of men is death.