World Conquest Online

The Wudang Archers under Dom began launching more arrows back towards the enemies gathered on the beach, their advantage of the high ground and better bows showing instantly. The Legionaries of the First Century under Percennius gave them cover with their shields from the weakened arrows that came back at them. This, combined with those arrows from the three Trireme under Gan Ning, caused chaos in the loose ranks of the enemy that stayed on the beach. Many seemed to be looking behind them for support, support that didn’t seem to be coming. Those that weren’t looking behind were either launching volleys back or bleeding the white sand red.

Qin Ming’s men on the opposite side had made more progress than Dom’s unit who were currently taking the brunt of the enemies attack. Dom could see the sun reflecting of Qin Ming’s men’s armour as they began the descent in to the Cove itself. Dom wasn’t aware of how many enemies Qin Ming would have to face and worried they would be exposed by the enemy infantry if Tomoe didn’t arrive soon. He urged his own men to keep pace, wanting to give his General some support.

"Qin Ming is going to beat us!" Dom declared loudly, with Septimius beside him laughing at the comment.

"We can’t let General Qin Ming beat Lord Lazarus can we men!" Septimius bellowed, his voice loud enough that those in the Cove could probably hear it on the echo. Percennius’s Optio at the front of the column seemed to have heard it and began increasing the pace over the dangerous cliffs. Dom was impressed how the sandal wearing Legionaries, wearing their armour, seemed to traverse the cliffs much easier than he expected.

Dom looked down at the clear water below, where the Galatea at the front of Gan Ning’s Navy beached itself, with his Hoplite Marines jumping down with their shields and charging with their spears up the beach, the Calypso close behind doing the same thing, whilst the Enyo kept reloading and loosing more of it’s large Ballista bolts in to the enemies at the beach as it made it’s slower approach.

"They are going to run before we get there!" Actumerus grumbled from behind them. Dom could see that the enemies were thinning under the arrow storm they had been under, whilst reinforcements hadn’t seemed to have arrived. Most of them had already began backing up to the line of buildings on the lowest level of the Cove. A towering maze of buildings that ran up the side of the cliff face, before disappearing in to the the inside of the cliff beyond. The paths were crafted from the cliff itself, with small stone walls that lined them so that people wouldn’t slip off the edge.

Some Archers were using the walls as cover, whilst they launched at the Hoplite Marines of Gan Ning’s that had now stormed the beach and were clashing with the first line of the enemies armed infantry. They seemed to hold a mixture of swords and spear, but professional training seemed to not be their strength.

The Wudang Archers were aiming towards the enemy Archers behind the walls, or those that were fleeing up the maze like paths that zig zagged up the cliff face, whilst the Legionaries of Percennius began their approach in to the housing area itself. Dom was close behind them with the Praetorians and his Batavi Guards, the sounds of swords clashing echoing inside the Cove.

"Where are Tomoe and Subutai?" Septimius asked Dom from the side, more of a rhetorical than an actual question, the Centurion looking up to the cliffs above.

Qin Ming’s men had now made the descent on to one of the middle floors of the Cove and were causing chaos as they blocked the path of those trying to retreat up them, his Legionaries fanning out and using their shields to block the enemies approach, whilst stabbing forwards with their swords. Qin Ming’s men seemed to have made a good hold and Dom was keen to do the same thing with his own men.

"Throw your Pilum!" Dom heard Percennius shout from in front of him, the sharp tipped spears launching in to a large selection of enemies that were trying to block them from climbing down. The range was close but the throwing angles were tight, so whilst they caused a lot of injury, it was less so than on an open field.

Dom watched as Percennius made a daring jump in his armour, landing crouched and using his shield to block an unimpressive swing from an enemy Warrior. Two Legionaries dropped beside him, protecting his sides and creating a similar block to what Qin Ming had done on the floor higher.

"There must be over one hundred of them trapped between us and Qin Ming." Dom stated to Septimius as he climbed down and pushed himself behind the First Century. The enemies sandwiched between the two small detachments of Legionaries.

"Easily, with more running towards us, we should have this part cleared up soon." Septimius agreed, before shouting forwards to Percennius. "Percennius, you take your lads upwards and support General Qin Ming. I’ll face downwards towards the beach and support General Gan Ning."

"I was thinking the same thing!" Percennius bellowed backwards, before turning to his men beside him. "You heard him, they are giving us the fun job, get on with it. I want to be beside General Qin Ming soon and there seems to be some enemies in my way!"

Percennius’s men laughed at his comment, his commanding tone relaxing his Legionaries easily. They got to the gruesome business and began pushing with their shields, before following with a stab of their swords. Dom looked at the enemies, most wearing ragged clothing, with only a small percentage of them wearing mixed armour. Dom could see that some of the armour was much larger than the people wearing it, either taken from an others body or stolen.

The enemy didn’t seem to be from any particular race, with a mixture of skin tones and fighting styles. Their weapons also ranged from those holding wooden spears, to some wielding large swords or curved blades. Those with the curved blades seemed to be the most dangerous for the Legionaries, their blades able to reach an exposed head if Percennius hadn’t kept his men aware.

Dom followed Septimius downwards, hoping to support with clearing their rear towards the beach before helping push forwards in to the Cove itself. An enemy quickly approached, his mouth wide with rotting teeth and the smell of old alcohol on his breath. He swung his sword wildly towards Dom, who unsheathed his Zhan Lu in preparation to meet the blade. However an Arrow flew down from above and caught the enemy in the throat, before the Praetorians of Septimius pushed past and hit the charging line of enemies that attempted to run up the zig zag path towards them.

All three of the Trireme and now beached in the shallow waters, with around one hundred and twenty of the Hoplite Marines pushing forwards. Trireme’s normally held between ten and thirty marines, however Gan Ning had specifically crewed these ones with a land battle in mind and had moved some of his rowers to the others for the space.

Bloodied bodies littered the shore and the beach below as the enemies were crushed between Gan Ning’s men and those of Septimius’s that headed down towards them. The floor above that Percennius had claimed was in a similar situation with no options to escape between him and General Qin Ming. Dom was surprised that none of the enemy tried to surrender as they all fought until the last. The voices of Gan Ning and Qin Ming echoing throughout the Cove as they drew their men on to keep fighting.

Dom didn’t have much chance to fight in the enclosed space, Septimius’s Praetorians making sure to take the front line and use their large shields to block the path whilst they stabbed forwards. Septimius also had the second row use their Pilum as spears and stab at any faces that appeared above the first lines shields.

Behind the enemies, the Marine Hoplite also moved in to a similar rhythm, bent in a supported angle as they approach as a line of deadly sharp tips, their own shields barely being used as there was no gaps to climb through.

Dom watched as more of the wide variety of poorly dressed and wild eyed enemies tried to fight to the death, no thoughts on their minds to preserve their lives and surrender. Dom found them strange, they were clearly out numbered and out skilled but seemed to have no thoughts of trying to change the battle or try any different tactics.

It was clear to Dom that there was no commander within the ranks he was currently fighting, or a leader figure to rally a counter attack. Either their leaders had been killed on the beach by the arrows, or they were somewhere else within the Cove and hadn’t been discovered yet.

After a chaotic slaughter, Dom could finally see Gan Ning on the other side of the falling enemies. Gan Ning’s men were armoured less than the Legionaries, but they wielded their weapons with impressive skill and skewered the enemies between them.

"Good Morning Lord Lazarus!" Gan Ning bellowed across the bodies of the enemies that were falling. "It’s a great day for a battle."

"More like a slaughter." Dom replied as the two approached each other, with Septimius ordering his men to begin heading back to support Percennius whilst Gan Ning’s men began the deadly business of making sure that all of the enemies were actually dead.

"I wouldn’t disagree, but I haven’t seen Tomoe or Subutai yet?" Gan Ning stated as he looked up towards the cliffs that towered above them.

"We haven’t heard anything either." Dom agreed, "Qin Ming has claimed an upper layer so I’ll take my men to support him, they must have found something more interesting on the way."

"Genghis was sent, so Subutai was confident in our win regardless." Gan Ning agreed, before pausing and looking around. "I just want to know where they are all coming from, this was supposed to be a small and easy skirmish. It may be easy, but the numbers are a lot higher. I’m going to take the Echo back out and meet up with the rest of my navy and explore south of here. I am worried we have missed something with the scouts. I’ll leave the Galatea and Calypso here with the majority of the Marines to clear up the beach and then follow behind you."

"Good luck, there has been more enemies than we expected and they seemed to be looking for reinforcements." Dom replied as he clasped his Generals arm. The sound of fighting still echoing in the Cove from above. "I expected those above to have been cleared by now."

"Maybe it’s the reinforcements. If you do need a quick retreat, the Galatea and Calypso can squeeze everyone onboard if needs be if they leave their shields behind." Gan Ning put forwards, a look of worry on his face as he passed orders to his men, taking twenty marines with him to help unbeach the Echo and head out towards the entrance of the Cove where the rest of the fleet were in wait.

Dom turned to Actumerus, frustration clearly on his Guards face who wanted to get more involved with the fight. His guards would stay by his side and guard him if Dom decided to not do anything, however he knew it was a waste of their exceptional skill. He nodded towards Actumerus to follow him as he made his way up the Zig Zag path back towards Percennius and his Century. Dom hoped to discover where the large number of enemies had come from, why the scouts had missed them, and where the rest of his Army was.