Rise of the Horde

Chapter 39

Upon sunrise, Xiao Chen struggled up on his own two feet despite feeling weak, his steps a little bit unsteady, swaying side to side like a drunk person.

“Don’t force yourself, chief”

Drae’ghanna worriedly helped the chieftain to be steady on his feet by leaning him on her shoulders, supporting his weight as they walked slowly towards the tent’s entrance.

“Ugh...I need to make the warriors know that I am still alive and kicking. Their morale should be at an all-time low right now because of what happened to me. They require my presence albeit just a weak one. I need to boost their morale and let them know that their chieftain still hasn’t kicked the bucket yet”

Xiao Chen grimaced in pain as he spoke due to some of his scabbed wounds being torn by his movements. Helplessly, the female orc gave up on the idea of convincing the chief to remain bound on his bed.

“Gur’kan! I know your there, help me with supporting the chief”

Drae’ghanna shouted towards the outside and right on cue, Gur’kan raised the tent’s flaps and revealed his face, an excited smile upon his face.

“Chief!”

.....

Gur’kan excitedly approached Xiao Chen and proceeded to support him on the chieftain’s left side while Drae’ghanna was on the chieftain’s right.

Slowly the two supported their chief towards the central part of the camp where there was a raised platform made of dirt and wooden slabs. Steadying himself upon the raised platform with a spear that he grabbed from a weapon rack that they passed by, he basks upon the warmth rays of the rising sun.

The warriors of Yohan just came back from their daily run and are jogging in formation towards the center of the camp where they did their daily physical conditioning.

“Look! It’s the chief!”

“Over there! The chief!”

“It’s the chieftain”

The warriors of Yohan who spotted Xiao Chen started murmuring and the others glanced towards where their chieftain was at after hearing the murmurs of their peers.

There they saw him, standing majestically as the early rays of the rising sun shined upon his back, like a god that just descended announcing his arrival.

Xiao Chen glanced over his warriors with pride. Despite his absence they still continued on with their daily routine of physical conditioning.

“Ready! Salute!”

Sakh’arran bellowed loudly and in an almost perfect synchronized movement, the warriors of Yohan thumped their closed fist towards the chief, the sound of their fist hitting their chest echoed through the camp.

Turning around towards Xiao Chen, Sakh’arran performed a salute towards the chieftain before turning around and giving command to the warriors of Yohan to be at attention.

“Apologies for making you all worry...but as you see...your chieftain is still well and alive!!! Prepare yourselves for we will be assaulting the goblin’s nest after three days...And I will personally lead you to battle... Warriors of Yohan...Awooh!??”

“Awooh!!! Awooh!!! Awooh!!!”

The warriors of Yohan enthusiastically replied to their chieftain as they are all excited for battle once again and excited because the chieftain will be personally leading them. The warriors belonging to the White Tiger group had a knowing smile upon their faces since they already experienced the honor of being personally witnessing the chieftain’s battle prowess up close and personal.

Turning around and proceeding towards his tent, Xiao Chen walked with a steady composure but his body was screaming in pain, gritting his teeth he endured it and after almost reaching his tent, he almost collapsed but luckily Gur’kan and Drae’ghanna quickly supported him.

*****

After three days of rest, Xiao Chen’s wounds finally healed and allowed him to move freely, his strength had all returned to him now. Donning on his battle equipment Xiao Chen walked towards the assembled Yohan First Battalion who were all ready and eager for another exciting battle.

Nodding towards Sakh’arran to begin the march, the Yohan First Battalion started their journey towards the forest. They were all on high alert and glanced left and right from time to time. Their hands itching to unsheathe their blades and their eager smile upon their lips, excitedly waiting for the goblins to ambush them.

A few hours into the woods, the noisy shrieking battle cries of the goblins reverberated through the air as they poured out from the tree lines waving their weapons in the air as they charge forward.

“Battle Formations!”

Xiao Chen bellowed and the battle band quickly relayed his command. Tightly gripping their shields and their swords drawn out, the Yohan First Battalion quickly formed a tight box formation per platoon.

With the momentum of their charge, the goblins heavily crashed against the towering wall of shields, the unlucky ones directly went out cold as they weren’t able to stop their momentum after the shields were placed towards their path.

“Is that all you got!”

An orc yelled towards the goblins as they try to push him backwards and pry his shield away from him, skidding on the muddy ground while his muscles bulged as he pushed back the pesky goblins who were trying to overpower him with their car combined strength.

“Establish a line! Hold! Hold!”

Sakh’arran and the other commanders bellowed as they repelled the initial charge of the goblins with their shields. Slowly their formation became tighter as they were pushed back and overpowered by the combined strength of the goblins. With the help of those behind them, pushing back the orcs finally were able to stable their formation.

“Now!”

The commanders shouted and the shields were rammed towards the excited goblins who thought that they could finally overrun the formation of the orcs. With the sudden counter-attack, the goblins stumbled backwards, some even soared through the air and collided with their brethren, the others heavily crashed on the ground before being unluckily trampled by their kin to death who were still frantically charging forward.

Steadily the orcs moved forward and expanding their tightened formation a bit, slaughtering any goblin that came within their weapons reach. The goblins scaled the tree branches and swung themselves towards the formation of the orcs only to be met with the pointed end of a sword or a spear, the lucky ones successfully arrived at the formation of the orcs without being killed outright, began to wreak havoc only to be squashed quickly by the orc closest to them.

Xiao Chen had prepared his men for such kind of sneak attacks since they were going through the woods and luckily the dumb goblins are only employing such tactics now.

The huge numbers of the goblins thinned quickly as they recklessly charged forward towards the orcs who were like a meat grinder, tearing them apart. Excitement was etched upon the face of the orcs as they killed the goblins, some orcs even started throwing goblin corpses towards their enemies who were hesitant in approaching them in their formation.

Taking a glimpse at the still hesitant goblins, Xiao Chen smiled victoriously, the battle was theirs for the taking, just a little bit more.

“Awooh!”

He roared towards the sky as loud as he can, his deep voice echoing upon the woods and caught the attention of his warriors and their enemies.

“Awooh!!! Awooh!!! Awooh!!!”

The Yohan First Battalion excitedly replied to their chieftain’s roar as they bang their weapons upon their shields and patiently inched forward towards the hesitating goblins before piercing them quickly with their weapons as they were in their weapon’s range.

Like a tidal wave that arrived the goblins also receded as such, scampering away in great numbers after being subjected to Xiao Chen’s psychological tactic.