A New World, an immersive game experience

Chapter 37: Bow-formation

"Right, so what are you two planning on doing?" Old Sword asked after the captains had left.

The captains had to sort out the soldiers under them. Giving them commands and explaining the position they were currently in. As well as what everyone should expect when they start fighting.

"That would depend on what the actual fight plan is going to be," Vivian replied before Eldrian could.

"Meaning?"

"You just said that we are going to try and find a nice spot to fight at. So, dad, what is your plan for this battle?"

"Oh, I see you were paying attention. Why don't you try and figure it out?" Old Sword grinned as he asked her this.

Vivian hearing the first part smiled, but the smile soon turned into a frown as she realized her dad did not want to give her the answer.

"Do you have a guess Haru?" Old Sword as he looked at Eldrian, who was waiting for them to finish.

Not expecting to be brought into the conversation Eldrian was silent for a while. Before answering he looked at the map again, checking if there were any good defensive positions. He believed that if the scouts can lead one pack, then leading two shouldn't be too difficult. Thus they could try and find an ideal place to defend themselves. As long as it was not too far from the first pack's expected path.

"Can you give me some descriptions of the surrounding areas?" Eldrian asked first, wanting to get a better grasp on what could be used.

"Mostly plains like we have been going through."

"Any water masses like dams or rivers?"

"A few, but not to the size I think you are asking about."

"Then I don't really know. Looking at the map I can see there is a small forest which you might be planning to use. But I have no idea how you would use it."

Hearing this Vivian looked at Eldrian in surprise. 'How did he find something useful so easily?' She asked herself as she still found no useful information from the map. 'I get what a river could be useful for, but a forest? Why would my dad want to go there?'

"Oh, you actually found it so quick." Old Sword said in surprise. 'Haru might be a born tactician.' He thought to himself. From the information he knew Eldrian knew off, it was clear that Eldrian should not be able to connect the usage of the forest as a defensive structure. Yet he had managed to do it.

Still, Old Sword felt confident that Eldrian was expecting a different use from the forest, compared to what they would use it for.

"So I was right, you want to use the forest just in front of the town. Why?"

"To block our back."

"How will a forest do that? The beasts can just run through it, no?"

"True, but you seem to have forgotten about our mages."

'I knew it would be something like that.' Eldrian thought before he asked, "You're not going to give me more information?"

"Too difficult to explain. You will see when we get there. Now let's set off, we need to make it in time to attract the first pack, else the scouts would be put under more pressure."

As Old Sword said this he started heading to the group of nobles. They did not want to listen to the captains, thus he or William had to command them to do stuff. Else they would just refuse. With William busy communicating with the scouts, the duty fell onto Old Sword.

'Dirt useless bastards.' Old Sword mumbled as he headed to them.

Seeing Old Sword leave, Eldrian turned to Vivian wanting to ask her where she wanted to stay, while traveling to the fighting ground. Seeing as they might encounter the beast pack anytime, he did not want to be separated and at the back again.

"Let's just stay behind the nobles," Vivian said as she saw Eldrian's questioning gaze.

"Wait what?"

"Not with them. But like, behind them. Inside the main part of the army. We can then easily move to where we want. Which we can decide on after seeing the plan my dad has."

"Oh, sounds good then. Hope they don't come and bother us."

"I don't expect it, they should all be scared by now."

"Why on earth would they be scared?"

"Cause my dad is obliged to tell them of the developments. Meaning they know we are going to be equal numbered halfway through the fight. That plus the fact that we suspect there to be stronger monsters than just plain Wolfbeasts in the packs."

As such Eldrian and Vivian followed behind the nobles. The nobles were centered in the formation the soldiers took when marching. As such Eldrian and Vivian were positioned just around the front of the back of the marching army.

The players on the other hand were lagging behind the soldiers again.

Another two hours later Eldrian saw, what he assumed to be the same forest. 'Goodness, next time I am not leaving without a horse.' He thought to himself as he came to the realization that this world was massive. They had probably walked around 50 kilometers by now. Yet Eldrian had seen no settlements while they had made their way here.

Eldrian could now make out the walls of the town on the horizon. He was astonished that the first human settlement from the city was so far away. He was more surprised due to how nice the climate and area were.

Surprisingly most of the area they had passed through had been uncultivated. Eldrian felt conflicted about this, as it seemed like the entire area was perfect for crops.

This uncultivated situation had been true from the get-go. From the start of setting out from the city. They had only walked on a road for the first two or three hours. After which they had left the nicely paved road to go the town, following a narrow dirt road.

They had then left this dirt road just an hour before they had reached the first forest, where they had taken a break and had lunch. From there they had simply walked over grassy fields. Which was went Eldrian had realized that none of the places was cultivated, simply left as grasslands instead.

'How do they manage to feed everyone?' He had asked himself when he realized this. He found no answer to this question on the entire journey.

"Form up, Soldiers get to action!" A voice suddenly shouted, to which the entire army suddenly picked up the pace and headed to the forest in the distance, at top speed.

This confused many of the players, Eldrian included. He turned to look at why they were rushing. Looking around he saw a grey moving mass at the horizon, seemingly heading for the town.

'Wow, we really just made it. What are we going to do with the forest now?' Eldrian asked himself. He had thought Old Sword might want to use magic to form makeshift battlements. But they would clearly not have enough time to accomplish that.

"Cohort 1, formation bow!" A shout was heard over the sound of clanking weapons and armor.

After this shout, the melee troops, those with metal armor, swords and shields split from the rest. They rushed to get past the forest, while the other soldiers stayed on course to the forest.

When they were just a few hundred meters from the forest another voice shouted out. "Mage squad, battle preparations, bowstring formation!

To which the mages now left the group, leaving the archers and players alone in heading to the forest.

"Archers setup backdoor fire." A voice was again heard, to which the archers rushed into the forest.

The players slowly stopped, halting to the side of the forest. The melee soldiers were forming up in what represented the form of a drawn bow. This formation was being set up at what was the back of the forest, from the players' perspective. While the city would then be a few kilometers to the left of this formation and the beast pack was to the right.

This placed the army in the middle of the two, granted to the side a bit. Seeing as the army was not intersecting a straight line between the pack and the town. But they were near enough to this line, that archers would be able to shoot the pack, if the pack ignored them.

The mages joined the soldier's formation, making a straight line from the two edges of the soldier's formation. Naturally, the mages did not form a complete line, unlike the melee soldiers. Even so, the formation represented a curved short bow very well.

As the players looked at this they grew confused, regretting not accepting to be ordered around. They felt so out of place now, luckily most of them had not spotted the pack advancing to the town yet. If they had, then panic would have started spreading.

Eldrian and Vivian had naturally not stood still when the commands had been issued. They had followed the mage group, as they did not want to get stuck in a firm formation. They had thought that the mage group would be the least strict and formed. Luckily their guess had been correct. They were now waiting in the middle of the bow formation.

In fact, a few player groups had realized what was going on after the first shout. They had subtly left the other players behind, joining the soldiers much as Eldrian and Vivian had.

Behind them, the mages started casting spells. Slowly the area they were standing on rose, forming ant hills first, which slowly turned into mounts and finally forming a complete risen line. from the one point of the 'bow-limb', formed by the melee soldiers, to the other limb.

'That is a clever usage of magic. I wonder how advanced it is.' Eldrian asked himself when he looked behind him. He had wanted to see what the players were doing, but the rising earth had pulled his attention.

By the end, this line ended up resembling a dam wall, if the surrounded area was to be taken as a dam. The wall was almost as tall as a person, with the inside slop being very gentle and the outside slop was quite steep. Reaching the max height in only a step or two.

The players came out of their amazement only after a long time. It had been the first time for most of them to see magic being used. It had certainly made them stare like the dumbstruck people they were.

Coming out of this stupor they realized that the soldiers were setting up for a fight, they thus wanted to rushed and try to enter the formation. Everyone realized by the point, that being alone or ungrouped would be a massive disadvantage.

At this time the archers rushed out of the forest, climbing onto the wall. The players wanted to join them and started rushing to the formation. Unfortunately for them, they did not have enough time to close the distance.

Wolf howls were soon heard, just as the players looked up. To their horror, they were just as far from the formation as the monsters were.

Following the howls was a sound similar to galloping horses, but much softer in volume. Yet just as daunting.