Chapter 23
Signs of [twenty three]
Luuk moved his fighting force south and west to meet up with the group that was harrying the human army. He sent another group to the south the find the other groups that had split from the group he had just defeated. They were only a few thousand paces south by then but the larger army of humans needed to be destroyed first.
He also left twenty undead soldiers to watch over the dead humans. He wanted them to gather up any new recruits and bring them south as well. He expected to get twenty or thirty or more. For some reason soldiers reanimated more often that others. Luuk was still working out why that was too.
He arrived at the next battle site and was amazed. Who ever was in charge of this group of humans was not a battle leader. The forces were split in to small sub groups too far apart to help each other. This would an excellent formation against Reavers from the corrupted lands. This was a bad formation against a larger undead army. The undead only needed to attack one group at a time and slowly make its way from group to group.
He immediately sent a group against the nearest group. The battle was fierce. The humand knew they would be reinforced so they fought like men possessed. They struck the undead with all their strength. Massive blows caused massive damage to the undead. Bone shards and body parts flew from the battle as the undead were destroyed. The undead barely scratched the unit before they were destroyed. Luuk was fascinated by the movement of the other human units. Instead of moving in to support the attacked group they all move closer to each other but further south, away form the attacked group. The formation was not set up to defend each other but maximize the chances one group would survive the attacks.
Luuk considered his options and sent several units out at once. Each engaged a separate human unit. Again the humans fought like men possessed and the other units move further south. The other units moved south faster. The undead started to inflict some of their own damage. The air was filled with the screams of the dying men. The humans knew that they were lost. The undead might not feel pain but when the humans tore through the spinal cord, or smashed in the skull of a once human warrior the undead creature was destroyed.
Luuk had to block the humans from fleeing but he did not have the numbers to attack all the groups at once. He decided to again use his massive numerical superiority destroy this army. He sent down several groups again but this time they all attacked a single group. The humans fought well but they just didn't have the numbers. Even if they were to destroy at a ratio of ten undead destroyed for each human killed they would still be defeated.
Luuk continued with this strategy watching as more of the groups escaped to the south. He was pleased though that his losses here were far fewer than they had been fighting the last group of humans. As the number of humans decreased the desperation of their attacks increased. They were far less effective though the undead started to inflict more and more wounds on the remaining humans. As the humans died screaming the morale of the remaining men dropped. The smaller units without reinforcements were far easier to destroy. Near the end the last few humans lost even the will to fight the undead as they came at the humans again and again and again. Soon enough Luuk was moving to the south again. He knew the human units would be able to out run him and his troops for a short time but with his own forces concentrating in the fleeing army the numerical advantage he had would only improve the farther he had to chase them south.
It took his undead troops the better part of the day to catch the human army again. This time they set up a wide front line with a one hundred pace gap between the front line and the reserves. Luuk figured out the human strategy before he sent a single undead against them. As soon as Luuk's forces struck the font line the reserves turned and again fled to the south. This strategy was far less effective than the previous one. The undead silently smashed the line. The humans screamed battle cries and hacked at the undead but they were to spread out. The undead felt no pain, they did not slow when a limb was cut from their body. The humans did fell pain. And when the undead scored a hit it just meant that the undead were more likely to land the next hit as well. As the humans quickly succumbed to the massive assault of Luuks undead the battle field went from silent, to filled with screams and battle cries to silent again.
Luuk sent out some mental commands and again started tracking the fleeing humans to the south. It was nearly dawn the next morning when Luuk caught the humans and had everything in place. Luuk sent a small group to attack. The humans rallied to the group and quickly dispatched the undead. Luuk watched for groups that would flee once the main assault began. He was not certain but he thought he knew which groups it would be.
He focused he attack away from the groups he thought would flee. He was right. As the undead hit the humans with a large assault about half the humans turned a retreated to the south. The men who stood and fought fought well. They smashed skulls and cut off limbs. They had learned somewhere to cut at the legs. Undead fell up and down the line with a leg severed at the knee. Then the humans would retreat a few paces. To far out of the maimed undead reach. They screamed defiance at the undead. Luuk pushed the attack slightly. The humans must have felt that they had the upper hand they were defending against a superior foe and seemed to be winning. Luuk held back the main thrust of his attack. Waiting for his plans to fall into place.
The humans who had fled came screaming back into the defending formations as Luuks other forces came into the battle from the south.
Throats that had only as moment before screamed defiance now ripped the air with terror. Luuk pressed the attack now. Watching as the humans were torn up by the undead. The humans still fought back, but the battle was short and decisive. The humans screamed as Luuk's undead tore into their chests. Screams were silenced as throats were torn out. As more of the human voices were silenced the remained men tried to make up for what was lost by making more furious screams and attacks.
It had been a few days but Luuk had destroyed two human armies. He knew there was still another force to the south but he knew that his army would grow in strength the farther south he pressed. The next humans that faced this force would die just as the last one had.
The undead moved south. Some where to the south was the army that eluded them. Some where to the south lay the city they would destroy. Luuk felt a presence with him and was glad he could show his new master the destruction he had wrought that day. Luuk sent out commands that the legion should move south to the human lands, move south to victory.
The legion did just that, they silently formed up and started marching south. Splitting up into smaller groups and scouring the land for the living, scouting the land for the doomed.
Luuk moved his fighting force south and west to meet up with the group that was harrying the human army. He sent another group to the south the find the other groups that had split from the group he had just defeated. They were only a few thousand paces south by then but the larger army of humans needed to be destroyed first.
He also left twenty undead soldiers to watch over the dead humans. He wanted them to gather up any new recruits and bring them south as well. He expected to get twenty or thirty or more. For some reason soldiers reanimated more often that others. Luuk was still working out why that was too.
He arrived at the next battle site and was amazed. Who ever was in charge of this group of humans was not a battle leader. The forces were split in to small sub groups too far apart to help each other. This would an excellent formation against Reavers from the corrupted lands. This was a bad formation against a larger undead army. The undead only needed to attack one group at a time and slowly make its way from group to group.
He immediately sent a group against the nearest group. The battle was fierce. The humand knew they would be reinforced so they fought like men possessed. They struck the undead with all their strength. Massive blows caused massive damage to the undead. Bone shards and body parts flew from the battle as the undead were destroyed. The undead barely scratched the unit before they were destroyed. Luuk was fascinated by the movement of the other human units. Instead of moving in to support the attacked group they all move closer to each other but further south, away form the attacked group. The formation was not set up to defend each other but maximize the chances one group would survive the attacks.
Luuk considered his options and sent several units out at once. Each engaged a separate human unit. Again the humans fought like men possessed and the other units move further south. The other units moved south faster. The undead started to inflict some of their own damage. The air was filled with the screams of the dying men. The humans knew that they were lost. The undead might not feel pain but when the humans tore through the spinal cord, or smashed in the skull of a once human warrior the undead creature was destroyed.
Luuk had to block the humans from fleeing but he did not have the numbers to attack all the groups at once. He decided to again use his massive numerical superiority destroy this army. He sent down several groups again but this time they all attacked a single group. The humans fought well but they just didn't have the numbers. Even if they were to destroy at a ratio of ten undead destroyed for each human killed they would still be defeated.
Luuk continued with this strategy watching as more of the groups escaped to the south. He was pleased though that his losses here were far fewer than they had been fighting the last group of humans. As the number of humans decreased the desperation of their attacks increased. They were far less effective though the undead started to inflict more and more wounds on the remaining humans. As the humans died screaming the morale of the remaining men dropped. The smaller units without reinforcements were far easier to destroy. Near the end the last few humans lost even the will to fight the undead as they came at the humans again and again and again. Soon enough Luuk was moving to the south again. He knew the human units would be able to out run him and his troops for a short time but with his own forces concentrating in the fleeing army the numerical advantage he had would only improve the farther he had to chase them south.
It took his undead troops the better part of the day to catch the human army again. This time they set up a wide front line with a one hundred pace gap between the front line and the reserves. Luuk figured out the human strategy before he sent a single undead against them. As soon as Luuk's forces struck the font line the reserves turned and again fled to the south. This strategy was far less effective than the previous one. The undead silently smashed the line. The humans screamed battle cries and hacked at the undead but they were to spread out. The undead felt no pain, they did not slow when a limb was cut from their body. The humans did fell pain. And when the undead scored a hit it just meant that the undead were more likely to land the next hit as well. As the humans quickly succumbed to the massive assault of Luuks undead the battle field went from silent, to filled with screams and battle cries to silent again.
Luuk sent out some mental commands and again started tracking the fleeing humans to the south. It was nearly dawn the next morning when Luuk caught the humans and had everything in place. Luuk sent a small group to attack. The humans rallied to the group and quickly dispatched the undead. Luuk watched for groups that would flee once the main assault began. He was not certain but he thought he knew which groups it would be.
He focused he attack away from the groups he thought would flee. He was right. As the undead hit the humans with a large assault about half the humans turned a retreated to the south. The men who stood and fought fought well. They smashed skulls and cut off limbs. They had learned somewhere to cut at the legs. Undead fell up and down the line with a leg severed at the knee. Then the humans would retreat a few paces. To far out of the maimed undead reach. They screamed defiance at the undead. Luuk pushed the attack slightly. The humans must have felt that they had the upper hand they were defending against a superior foe and seemed to be winning. Luuk held back the main thrust of his attack. Waiting for his plans to fall into place.
The humans who had fled came screaming back into the defending formations as Luuks other forces came into the battle from the south.
Throats that had only as moment before screamed defiance now ripped the air with terror. Luuk pressed the attack now. Watching as the humans were torn up by the undead. The humans still fought back, but the battle was short and decisive. The humans screamed as Luuk's undead tore into their chests. Screams were silenced as throats were torn out. As more of the human voices were silenced the remained men tried to make up for what was lost by making more furious screams and attacks.
It had been a few days but Luuk had destroyed two human armies. He knew there was still another force to the south but he knew that his army would grow in strength the farther south he pressed. The next humans that faced this force would die just as the last one had.
The undead moved south. Some where to the south was the army that eluded them. Some where to the south lay the city they would destroy. Luuk felt a presence with him and was glad he could show his new master the destruction he had wrought that day. Luuk sent out commands that the legion should move south to the human lands, move south to victory.
The legion did just that, they silently formed up and started marching south. Splitting up into smaller groups and scouring the land for the living, scouting the land for the doomed.
posted by shaneknysh at 03:23
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