Right, so this chapter, and the parts that continue on with it will obviously revolve around fighting, and as well as the Tribes of the Archipelago finally clashing against the main antagonist on their own turf. But if anyone is confused about the start of this chapter as in how they ended up where they were, go back to the previous chapter and read it if you haven't already! Or, reread it if you'd like! :P
Now, how about we see what happens next. Hm?
"Toothless! Plasma blast 'em!" Hiccup commanded, clearly showing his aggression to the enemy.
The Night Fury gladly obliged and charged up a fiery blast of purple fire, all before releasing it onto the enemy as they began to form their ranks to engage the Tribes… or well, at most they tried to form their ranks.
The first blast from Toothless sent a dozen warriors flying back, charred or covered in flames, easily taking care of them, but not before a chain reaction of blasts would follow as Stormfly, Hookfang, Meatlug, and Barf and Belch would too begin to fire, attempting to provoke the enemy.
But it seemed that the enemy was trying to provoke them more as well. They roared and cheered, taunting the Vikings of the Archipelago to charge, and more barrages of Devastator fire followed from the deadly iron cannons, but that did not stop the fleet from reaching the shore.
When the longships did manage to reach them however, the warriors and maidens of the Tribes all readied to lodge themselves off the boats, preparing to charge the army in full force that laid before them.
Stoick was the first out of them to jump off his ship along with Hiccup and the Riders, all while shouting loudly to his warriors; "RALLY UP, MEN! VALHALLA AWAITS!"
One by one, warriors and maidens jumped off their longships, rallying up as one massive legion of angry Vikings, with Hiccup, Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Heather, the Twins, Magnus, Eira, Sigurd, the Dragons, and the Chieftains at the front; all of them ready to give them everything they had.
More Devastator fire came hurling at them, though the most they did was hit the back lines and take out two dozen warriors, and that still did not stop them. Eventually, this caused a moment of silence to break throughout the ranks on both sides of the field.
From amidst the Great Army's numbers, a general on horseback slowly rode out towards the front of the battle line, revealing himself to the Tribes in full view, and from this the Vikings of the Archipelago lightly gasped. They hadn't seen a horse before after all.
"INFIDELS!" he called out. "You are given one choice! Lay down your arms, surrender your poor example of an army, and kneel before the unstoppable might of King Ivar the Boneless! Or, we can slaughter you all and be done with this!"
The cold wind blew in their faces. They all stood in silence as the sun shined lightly on them from behind the clouds, glaring at each other with deep hate and anger. Both sides still wanted battle as they had traveled far to reach where they were now.
...Especially the Tribes. After a month of planning along with traveling, they would not turn around now.
The only one to respond however, was Hiccup as he stepped out to meet face-to-face with the general, one on one. The man's arrogance reminded the scrawny Viking of Olaf, but he was nothing compared to the former Slavemaster.
The general easily noticed Hiccup as he walked to the front of his ranks, and his sword in hand gripped tightly upon seeing the one that he and many others, called "slave", approach him.
"Hiccup the Useless!" he spat out. "Hiccup the Traitor… Hiccup the SLAVE! Who knew it would be you alone who would lead this army to it's doom! Surrender now, bastard - you have nowhere to run!"
"Oh really?" Hiccup called out, questioning the general. "Well then… I guess there's only one thing left to do!"
The scrawny Viking took a step forward, slowly, making the general assume that Hiccup was about to surrender. He then took another step forward, and another, and another, until he was a fair, but not too far of a distance away from the Tribes.
He raised his left hand up high in the air, almost as if he was about to signify his surrender…
But then he quickly raised the other one up towards one of his hilts and unsheathed his main weapon, all before lowering his left hand and unsheathing the Dragon's Blade.
He turned his head around with his fiery blade raised. "Also, I am not alone! NOW!" he shouted to the Riders, and the young Vikings immediately looked towards their Dragons.
Toothless however knew what Hiccup was doing, and he reacted quickly with another plasma blast towards the front lines of the enemy ranks, taking out a dozen more warriors and forcing them down to the ground.
The Dragon Riders soon responded by ordering their Dragons to fire.
"Stormfly, fire!" Astrid ordered her Dragon.
"Meatlug, spew!" Fishlegs bellowed, and so forth down the line as the combined firepower of the Dragons took out multitudes of Vikings, Germanic Barbarians, and Rus' Varangians. But that alone was not enough against over two and half thousand.
The general was shocked as one of the blasts which came from Toothless nearly struck him. However, it only managed to strike those who were near him. The Viking rose his warblade and roared:
"SLAUGHTER THEM ALL!"
The charge from the Great Army began, and immediately the ranks dispersed and spread out as they ran towards their foe with haste, screaming with bloodlust, though Hiccup would too respond with the same action as his voice rose to the ranks behind him.
"CHARGE!"
The Chieftains ran first with the Riders, Dragons, and commanders at their side before the rest of the army followed behind. War cries and roars filled the shore as each side got closer and closer to each other, and it wasn't until Toothless got with Hiccup that the young lad began running.
They all ran as fast as the wind in their lungs could allow them. The twelve Devastators up the slope towards the opened plains all the meanwhile fired barrages of iron and fire over their foes, though luckily, some of them had missed.
As both sides eventually reached other, the Dragons responded by firing once more - but this time at point blank range, taking out dozens more from the enemy. And then, both sides clashed with one another.
The intensity of the charge was great however. A battle line was never formed in between the two large forces as a result of the strong clash, and instead there was fighting going on all over the beach.
It was one warrior or maiden against another, two against two, three against one or two, the battlefield in general became chaos.
Hiccup and the Riders however stuck together.
The six Vikings fought as one with their Dragons against the multitudes of Vikings, Barbarians, and Varangians that approached them, and their combined effort alone made a small but elite battle-line against the enemy which circled to face towards all sides.
Hiccup relied more on his skill with a sword, and the side amount of his strength, to aid him as he fought. Being adjusted with wielding a sword, it was no difficulty at all to wield two of them in both of his hands. He would use both his blades as an advantage to out maneuver any enemy that approached him. At one point he would even catch the opponent's weapon with one blade before proceeding to slice and dice at them with the other.
He even went as far as to grabbing the attention of three or five foes, before covering behind Toothless and letting the Dragon either swipe them with his tail, or blast them into flames.
Astrid fought dirty, but with precision and skill as Hiccup did. She fought duo with Stormfly who acted as her shield and spare blade for her. If any arrows were fired upon the young lass, if any axes were thrown, or if any attempts at striking Astrid were made, the Dragon would simply respond by covering the shield maiden with a wing and striking back with a spine shot or with her magnesium blast.
Astrid's strikes, though slow with a two handed axe, were indeed heavy and impactful. Not even a Viking's helmet would stand strong against her blows as they would simply find their skulls crushed, but not before being cut limb from limb.
Fishlegs fought with the reliance of his body strength. In one hand he wielded a sword, and in the other he wielded a shield which he'd use not just for protection, but as well as for ramming the enemy. Seeing as how Meatlug had the ability to use her tail as a bludger and ram, Fishlegs would at times run into his enemies shield first so that he could knock them over onto their backs, all before finishing them with a quick strike to their hearts or throats.
He would even use his shield to reflect an enemy's strike away, only to respond by striking them where it was vulnerable and would hurt the most - just as how Meatlug hurling flaming boulders towards her enemies felt like more than just a headache.
Snotlout took on his enemy with deadly efficiency. Being the temporal but still-heir to Berk, he had learned much from Stoick in the past, as well as buff up. His fighting style was similar to a Hooligan, but his way of executing it was creative. He would find where the enemy was weak as they were about to swing their weapon, and then stab them where it would hurt.
With the axe that his father gave him, and the shield he wielded in hand, he would analyze his foe with how they were. Heavy or light, fast or slow, and then he would slice them in the areas that were most revealing and vulnerable, giving them a quick death.
As for his Dragon Hookfang, the large stoker reptile would use his fire not just as a weapon, but also as a tool for intimidating the enemy. Any Viking or Barbarian or Varangian that approach the beast would be put in a state of fear as they would run back, only to have themselves be met by a fiery death.
Ruffnut and Tuffnut, along with Barf and Belch, fought as one. Rather than separating from each other, the Twins used the Zippleback like a horse as an advantage for them to fight their enemies. They would use the two long necks of the Dragon to reach down for their opponents, before beating them to a pulp as they clobbered the enemy Vikings with their maces.
If multitudes of enemies approached the Twins and their Dragon, Barf would release a quick amount of Zippleback gas, and Belch would immediately light it ablaze, causing an explosion and sending their foes running away in pain as they burnt.
However, despite all of this combined effort, the numbers of the enemy still kept being reinforced. Every warrior or maiden they slaughtered would be replaced with two more, and the Tribe's numbers started to very slowly decrease as they couldn't take it.
Hiccup's eyes soon fell upon the slope that led into the opened plains. Though it did not provide as much high ground as the hill to the east did, the Devastators were able to rack up kill after kill with the hilly advantage.
"We need to take out those Devastators, NOW!" he shouted, right as another Viking came in to strike out at him, only to be sliced down. "Ruff, Tuff, deal with those siege weapons!"
"One of us, against twelve of those!? Are you insane, Hiccup!?" Ruffnut called out.
Tuffnut grunted, striking down an approaching Barbarian. "Listen, H! Unless this involves us doing something crazy and out of our mind, we ain't going up there alone to-"
"WALL OF FIRE, RUFF AND TUFF!" Hiccup bellowed.
The Twins opened their mouths in unison, smirking.
"Ohhh!" they replied, and they instantly flew off, heading towards the war machines that were still putting pressure onto them.
The engineers manning the Devastators, upon seeing the Dragon and the Twins flying towards them, began firing upon them, however with every shot they blasted forth, they just missed. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were at that point too focused with their attack.
However, as the two drew closer and closer, they began to notice a formation of what appeared to be bowmen lining up. And upon realizing that they were going to be fired upon, a volley of arrows was released onto them.
The archer commander from afar shouted; "LOOSE!" and arrows ran over them like Hel.
The Twins quickly got it together however as they flew lower towards the ranks, and increased Barf and Belch's speed. As a result, the arrows missed the two Vikings and their Dragon with 'effectively' poor accuracy. Not only that, but the arrows ended up hitting their own troops, giving the Tribes of the Archipelago a slight advantage.
"YOU FOOLS!" the commander shouted, raging. "OUR OWN MEN WERE HIT!"
But it didn't matter by that point. Atop the slope, the Vikings manning the Devastators attempted to re-aim their weapons, still trying to take down the Twins. But it wasn't until that a green gas rained over them did they realize that they were in serious trouble.
The engineers abandoned the war machines and attempted to flee from the gassed area. But it was far too late. The gas was soon lit, and the sparks bursted into a huge fiery explosion as nearly a hundred Scandinavian Vikings who stood in the crosshairs of it were incinerated, along with the Devastators being destroyed.
Down below the slope, the Vikings of the Archipelago cheered with confidence and inspiration as a push soon began. Though the numbers of the enemy kept being reinforced in an almost constant stream, the Tribes still would not give in.
From behind, Magnus came running forth with his Warsung following him, still healthy in number. "Hiccup, our forces are making a push! Now's your time! Make your move while you still can!"
At first, Hiccup wasn't sure if the time was right. It seemed that the twelve Devastators that were now in ruin were too easy of a target, and it was almost as if the Great Army didn't care about this loss - as if there was something… more.
...And indeed he was right.
From behind the slope, something large came into view. The ground shook as wheels rolled, and rubble was pushed out of the way as the base of a new weapon rammed through with a large spiked barricade attached at the front of it like a battering ram.
Long and behold, it came into view. Another, more destructive, Devastator.
"DEVASTATOR COMING OVER THE HORIZON!" called out Dagur. "THAT THING IS MASSIVE!"
The iron cannon laid still at first atop the slope. It was more than two times the size of an original Devastator, and the barrel was enough to show that it's shot size was indeed larger.
Quickly, engineers rushed behind the back of the humongous Devastator, opening the back latch to roll in a large clunk of iron, which was it's ammunition. Then the order was given, and Hel was unleashed.
"FIRE!"
A boom erupted, as loud as thunder itself, and from the weapon a big projectile of fire and metal flew overhead in the air, aimed right in the center of a cluster of Viking ranks belonging to the Archipelago Tribes. What then followed was a huge explosion that killed more than ten dozen Vikings in a raging inferno, and soon chaos unveiled itself.
Eira looked towards Magnus. "We need to take out that cannon! Otherwise we'll never get Hiccup through!"
Hiccup grunted, mounting Toothless. "I'll deal with the Devastator! You guys focus on the push!" he replied, before flying up in the air atop the winged reptile.
Magnus tried to intervene. "Hiccup WAIT! YOU'LL BE SPOTTED BY THAT TOWER!" he called out.
But it was far too late.
Hiccup flew up in the air with Toothless. The Dragon prepared to charge up a plasma blast, and then divebomb at the war machine with all he had. However, Hiccup's plans would not go entirely accordingly.
From the watchtower atop the cliff, ballistas that were manned and armed aimed at the two of them, and began to fire multiple shots of harpoons upon them, like arrows volleying on an army - but the harpoons flew towards them faster. Fast enough to where Hiccup hardly had time to react.
"LOOK OUT!" Hiccup gasped, and Toothless immediately spun, though hardly having enough time to react to Hiccup's command. Thankfully, the harpoons were dodged, but Toothless was slightly injured at the lower side of his body by one of them.
The Dragon growled upon seeing the wound, and he roared in response, implying; 'I have had ENOUGH!'
Toothless flew without command up into the air, and with his mouth opened and glowing. A roar suddenly escaped him as he turned around and screeched with a high pitched noise. He dive-bombed towards the large Devastator, aiming towards the inside of the barrel as it was about to fire again…
...And just in time, the plasma blast reached it's target, and with another large explosion the siege weapon was destroyed from the inside-out, blasting the engineers who were manning it back aflame.
"Down, Toothless, before they fire at us again!"
Hiccup landed back down on the ground with his friends who watched in amazement from what Toothless just did. They knew that the battle was beginning to shift once more. This time, it was towards their favor again.
But still, the numbers of the Great Army kept being reinforced.
"That's that handled." stated Hiccup as he dismounted Toothless, landing next to his friends. "Now, it's best that we move on with the plan."
"Agreed." Magnus replied, just before giving a loud whistle. A platoon of a hundred warriors and maidens ran up to Magnus after they heard the signal, consisting fifty Warsung, and fifty Berkians.
"Right, Hiccup. This all you'll need for the "detour" through the forest." he said, walking closer towards the young Viking until he stood on his right flank. "We'll assist you as you go, but you can also bring three others with you if you'd like."
Hiccup sighed. "Very well… Astrid, Fishlegs!" he called out. "You're coming with me!"
The two nodded at him, approaching him with their Dragons still at their side.
"And who's your third?" asked Astrid, looking at Snotlout and the Twins. Ruffnut and Tuffnut refused however as they were enjoying the action too much, and the others knew that Snotlout was needed more on the front lines. He was still the steward-heir after all.
"I'll come with you!" a voice said from the distance as Heather came running from the west with her axe in-hand, axing down a Barbarian as she ran.
She stopped before them, catching her breath. "I overheard what you guys were planning to do." she said, breathing for air until finally standing up straight. "And I will say; although you need to be quick, you still need as many of those willing to protect you as possible, and I am willing to go. I am quick enough to navigate with you guys, and stealth won't be a problem for me."
Hiccup smirked, bowing his head. "Very well, Heather. You can come with us."
"Then it's settled." Magnus responded in agreement. But just as he was about to speak again, a blast of fire and metal came hurling towards the ranks once more, taking out one or two dozen warriors. More Devastators had came in.
He sighed. "We don't have much time, we need to go. Sigurd, you're coming with us! Eira, you need to stay here and hold the line in my absence!"
Eira widened her eyes. "What!? But I- ...we need you here, Magnus! You're our Chief! I can't do this alone!"
"Yes you can. As a Chief, I must do my duty for our people, Eira!" he said to her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "But know that if I don't make it through this Hel of a mission, I want you to help lead our people to victory. I trust you the most to continue holding the line, Eira, because there's no one else better for the Warsung. Just believe in yourself, Eira!"
She sighed, grasping ahold of one of his hands with both her hands. "Gods-speed, Magnus." she told him.
Magnus raised his other hand up and grasped her hands as well. "And you too, lady Eira." he teased her, before patting her on the shoulder. However, the sudden actions of the battle going on around pulled them back into reality.
Immediately the two Vikings separated.
"We all have your orders!" Magnus called out. "Let's get moving!"
"WARSUNG, FOLLOW ME!" Eira shouted, as the majority of the Tribe followed Magnus' right hand lady into battle. Then, all eyes from the remaining warriors and maidens fell on Hiccup.
Astrid gripped her axe. "Lead the way, Hiccup."
Hiccup sighed. "Very well… there's no turning back. Let's push forward, into the jaws of the beast!"
Just a couple quick A/Ns.
Yup! More advancement in weapons for the Great Army, and quite alot of chaos going on! As the parts progress, the chaos of the battle will increase. Also, Heather is finally getting a spotlight!
Anyways though, I hope you've enjoyed this one!