The hivemind is conquering for me? Chapter 904: Tunnel Vision

I felt the force of a Drakoshi slam into my Shield at full charge, With Nerissa supporting my back I didn’t budge.

The slight slope of the terrain also negated a great portion of their height advantage. The Drakoshi raised its large axe to bring down upon me, but I acted faster. With speedy thrust, the spear I was holding passed through its neck without resistance. Another stab then caught its eye as Nerissa followed up.

The ugly thing fell and another took its place immediately, I thrust out, catching it through the chest. Not enough to put it down. However another spear lodged itself deep within its head. A thrown spear, a spear I recognised. It disappeared a moment later, most likely to Skaja’s hand.

After that things turned into a blur for a while. My attention became transfixed on what was in front of me. Drakoshi after Drakoshi. Unarmoured, armoured, unarmoured. Over and over and over.

In the midst of the battle trance. There was a small gap in the line before the next Drakoshi ran into me and it gave me a moment to clock onto something. How had the bodies not piled up?

I thrusted out and the next Drakoshi went down. I watched it in my peripheral as it went down and noticed a series of vines had jutted out of the ground, dragging its body beneath the soil. I recalled in-between this kill and the next Marnes mentioning something about the auxiliary Nymphs and cleaning the dead and left the thought there as I resumed my thrusting on.

...

The walls of dirt were holding. Some Drakoshi did attempt to scale them, but the defenders on top, alongside occasional spikes protruding from the walls themselves deterred them for the most part. Leaving the vast majority of Drakoshi to charge at the gap in the walls. Where the constant flow of troops meant they must have broken through and were now fighting on the plateau above.

An Emoth Silver pauldron was stuck up against the wall, his body able to absorb the small arms fire of the humans above him. Slowly but surely he was squeezing his way towards the gap, pushing away other Drakoshi, crushing some when they wouldn’t budge.

If he was going to die. He would die in glorious combat, not by being shot. He would get onto the plateau, no matter what. He looked east, towards the fifteen foot human. Hundreds of Silver pauldrons were going for a good death against the human king, but this particular Silver pauldron wanted to inflict as much damage as he could before his end. The humans deserved it.

Finally after what felt like an eternity, he managed to slip into the gap and surprise came over him. There was no rush. In fact there was a wall of human warriors in armour, shield to shield slightly up the slope.

The Silver pauldron was enraged. This small number of warriors was keeping back the might of Drakoshi? Impudent. Was everyone a weakling? It would show them true despair it would-

A flash of pink suddenly encompassed the Silver pauldrons vision followed by an intense burning on its face as a powerful plasma shot blinded it. It attempted to roar in agony, but another shot followed the first mark.

The Silver pauldrons head splattered open, caking those nearby in a thick blood mist, Its body still visible over the Drakoshi as the denseness of the formation kept it aloft.

...

Alex Zeva reloaded her heavy plasma cannon her Knight was carrying. This battle was a goldmine! She was originally worried about her knights’ integrity being placed so close to the frontlines. She was usually positioned further back after all.

But with The Praetorians and the Sentinel stemming the tide with endless vigour and the Psionic elites maintaining some sort of one way physical barrier, she was killing, killing and killing some more.

As a member of a knight house and not a knight order, in order to gain accolades she had to record her kills in real time as evidence. And the amount of kills she was getting, on high value enemy targets no less...

She was going to be a very rich woman by the end of this battle. As a result she was carefully picking her targets, choosing the biggest and ugliest looking Drakoshi she could spot with her limited ammunition. As bigger prey means more accolades.

The fighting was so lax for her, she had time to think about just what she was going to spend her money on.

She raised her weapon and fired. Another shot into the distance as she saw another big bastard.

Upgrades to her weapon for sure. She had her eye on a better hydrogen storage drum for a while. That would make her shots more effective while using less plasma.

She took another shot. Another recorded death.

Of course better armour for her Chassis was a given. Although she was safe for the time being, she doubted she would have the honour of sharing a combat line with Praetorians again any time soon.

As she used her internal sights to aim her weapon, she had a thought. Her mothers side of the family had been having some issues. Her cousin had been sick for a long time, though it had been a few years since she heard anything. If her cousin was still sick, with the amount of accolades she was earning, she would donate some of her accolades, perhaps find a Psionic healer like Francesca? She had seen the woman heal people from the brink of death numerous times after all. But that was war, private healing cost and arm and a leg.

Fortunately, she was taking enough Drakoshi heads to more than cover that cost. So she focused back up and continued to take advantage of the gold mine before her.

...

Skaja had ascended to the sky with the dawn’s light shining over the battlefield, her eyes golden with her Psionic power, her golden armour glistening, her wings flapping behind her as she observed the state of the battle. The Drakoshi had gotten stuck in a quagmire of their own dead.

The battle was brutal and not for the usual reasons. The Phalanx were barely touched and reinforcements and artillery had been pouring in for hours. She had heard through her communicator, talk of envelopment due to the battle going so well. Though looking at the amount of Drakoshi left, she doubted it was needed. They were no longer pouring from over the horizon. They hadn’t for some time.

Suddenly her attention turned towards an explosion of power and the Drakoshi suddenly changed their tactics. They pulled back from the Praetorian shield wall slightly, attempting to perform a retreat while firing. Looking carefully at the Drakoshi, she recognised what it was.

Another warlord...

It must have been a notable Drakoshi Champion already on the verge of awakening. The scale of this battle forced its sudden growth of power.

Moments later, she watched as the fifteen foot Drakoshi suddenly toppled over, its head missing. King Sigismund had rushed it and decapitated it in a single stroke of his legendary blade.

The Drakoshi tactics changed once more. Back they went into the suicidal charge with the loss of yet another Warlord.

Many defenders realised what just happened and a wave of cheers erupted from the Phalanx as the battle continued to unfold.

...

Like usual, I had lost track of the amount of Drakoshi I had killed. The amount of Drakoshi the rest had killed. The tunnel vision was real. I solely focused on what was in front of me. Marnes and Aeteos protected my flanks, as they said they would while Nerissa helped kill whatever was in front of me. Over and over. The sun had been up for a while before I even registered the light in the surroundings.

It didn’t phase me, the aching of my arm didn’t phase me. What did phase me was the sudden change in battle tempo as I heard Thespius boom out. "Phalanx! Break!"

"AUO!"

Every Praetorian but myself suddenly pushed forward with their shield, followed by a brutal punch with their shield’s rim creating a gap in the Drakoshi front line. I was confused, but Nerissa grabbed my pauldron and gripped tight.

"Just wait a moment, let them make the gap." She stated before letting me go.

The Praetorians thrust their spears out once more, and then many dropped them. What followed next was a Psionic storm as the Praetorians in the shield wall, who had not been using Psionics for the duration of the night, suddenly began unleashing everything within them.

Fire, lightning, void, rainbows, spikes of earth, high pressure water and shearing jets of wind exterminated the Drakoshi with laughable triviality.

They pushed out beyond the slope in a semi circle pattern, a large gap between each Praetorian at which point Skaja appeared out of nowhere, planting down next to me. "I know what to do here. Apollo, order our men to close the gaps."

Heeding Skaja instantly, I jabbed my spears butt into the ground and materialised Zircon who had been displeased at me using another weapon for so long. I then raised her into the air and amplified my voice,

"Elites! Time to get up close with the enemy! Close the gaps! Aid the Praetorians!"