Unfortunately, fate had once more proven to be a fickle mistress in that Gideon's orders had gone out too late. Before their army could properly get away, they had already been encircled by the massive mountain troll that everyone had been avoiding due to his prior orders.
"Now this is literally a massive problem," Gideon nervously chuckled, his wolf strafing around the troll blocking their retreat. "These things shouldn't even be this coordinated."
"This is Helion we're talking about," Freya scoffed, her own nerves starting to show against the overwhelming force of the enemy. "If they're anybody that can make these monsters work together somehow, it's them."
Gideon let out a breath as he quickly told his men to stay put and defend themselves. Going through his men and sentries, it swiftly became apparent that there was no avenue of escape left for them to take. Somehow, during the carnage, these monsters had effectively wrapped themselves their entire army, taking them by surprise by positioning mountain trolls of all things to stop them from leaving.
"We have to push through somehow," Gideon remarked with gritted teeth. "Even just as small opening will give us an out right now."
"That would mean leaving a significant portion of our army to die, Gideon," Freya glared at him in defiance. "How can you even think about such a thing?!"
"Freya, there's no way that we can leave without any casualties, especially now that we found ourselves stuck in this situation!" he snapped, the tension in the air reaching a fever pitch. "It's either some of us escape, or none at all!"
That was simply the truth of the matter. While he would take full responsibility for this failure, he wouldn't allow the mission to be a complete failure. If he would have to lead the charge to break through the encirclement himself, then he would do so, especially if it meant that Freya would live.
"Absolutely not!" Freya refused. "Surely, there's still a way to get out of this! The western contingent can still come to our aid!"
Gideon blinked. Of course, but that was only if they were fast enough to come to their aid after he had called off their search. Judging by how much time had passed, they probably had around an hour before they returned, which would mean they would have to hold out until reinforcements would arrive… and he didn't think that they'd last that long without a proper plan.
"You're right," he smiled at Freya. "Thanks for reminding me."
"So we're all getting out of here alive then?" she hopefully asked.
"We will," Gideon nodded. "We just have to hold out until they arrive."
With a goal now clear in view, Gideon barked out the next orders that would hopefully keep them all alive until help arrived. From there, it was all a matter of masterfully keeping themselves coordinated enough to fight back.
That was, until the enemy started adapting.
Still, Gideon never gave up. Switching up his strategies, he did his best to keep up with the changing tides of battle. Soon, he managed to get them all into a stalemate, one that they were currently losing, but it was a stabilizing state that would help them last till the other half of their army came to their rescue.
"Commander! A black witch has been spotted!"
"A black witch?!"
Gideon's eyes widened at the new development. Coming to his side, Freya had already voiced out her disbelief at the news, her breath ragged from all of the fighting she had done so far.
"So she's the one coordinating their efforts," Gideon remarked, his hopes already starting to rise the moment he heard the news.
"So we just have to kill her to break the encirclement?" Freya asked.
"If we can do so, these monsters would lose the only thing keeping them coordinated," Gideon explained. "We might not even need the reinforcements, but having them will most certainly help."
Asking the scout in question as to where the black witch was last located, Gideon began to plan, and he was already thinking of spearheading the attack as he gave out his orders.
"All of you, cover my approach! Form a corridor between me and the witch!" Gideon barked out towards a considerable number of his men. Once he saw them doing as he told them, he then turned to Freya and said, "Freya, you'll act as my rear guard. I don't need you to kill everything, I just need you to stall everything that approaches us until I've killed the bjtch."
"Got it," she determinedly nodded.
"Alright, tell me once you're ready."
Crouching down on the ground, Gideon began to shift into his wolf form for added speed. Freya then climbed on top of him, acting as his rider and sentry for possible stray attacks.
"Ready," she told him.
And just like that, Gideon sprinted forward, making full use of the small window of opportunity that his men had given him. His eyes trained on his prey, a black witch was a soft target, which meant that one bite could possibly kill her if he timed it right.
"There she is!"
Gideon perked up at Freya's words. She then jumped off him, her sword at the ready as she cut a path for his attack. With his path clear, he then lunged at the black witch making their lives miserable, his teeth finding their mark as he took a bite out of the witch's stomach.
'Got her!' he inwardly cheered. His feet skidded across the bloody grass, his eyes meeting the witch's as he spat out the chunk of flesh he just bit off.
"Y-You!" the witch growled, her hand clutching at her open wound. "Die!"
With a wave of her hand, tendrils erupted from underneath the earth, Gideon quickly sidestepped away from the oncoming attack, inwardly hoping that the witch would just bleed to death already.
'Come on… Die already!'
Keeping his distance, Gideon let his patience do his job, and sure enough, the witch inevitably succumbed to her wounds. Bleeding out on the ground, he stepped towards her and bit off her neck, making sure that she would never recover even if she somehow miraculously healed.
'It's over…'
Shifting back to his human form, Gideon quickly made his way back to Freya's side, ignoring his current state of undress as he promptly barked out orders. And with the witch dead, the entirety of Helion's seemingly endless army disperesed like they were nothing.
"We… We did it," Freya chuckled in relief.
"That, we did," Gideon smiled.
Judging from the amount of blood spilled, he reckoned that they've effectively wiped out just under half of Helion's total army. Funnily enough, the enemy had indeed overextended themselves as he had hoped.
'All's well that ends well, I guess,' he inwardly laughed in relief.
With his army exhausted, they would just have to wait until the western contingent arrived. Until then, they could rest and recuperate until their next inevitable battle.
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