As Jack reached the inner area of the walls between the two castles, he could clearly see how dire the situation had become.
Cochi was fighting on the walls, every single trash troop he had left, valiantly fought against the superior numbers of reptilians that now occupied the north castle and most of the walls.
Only a few thousand troops still defended Cochi and parts of the walls, while reptilians still crept over the walls via the hundred of functioning ladders.
"William! New orders! Position 10.000 spearmen at the gates and areas here! Take 5000 spearmen and all the archers, take the south castle and hold it against the new army as long as you can!"
William immediately turned with the troops with 8.000 spearmen formed square shieldwall just behind the gate.
The 2000 other spearmen climbed the gate and walls, closing the gate and guarding it from above.
"Swordsmen! Follow me, we retake the north castle and help our friends on the walls!"
Jack dismounted Blackmane and left him inside the spearwall as 5000 swordsmen rushed into the still open castle gate in the north.
A couple hundred swordsmen veered off though, and ran up the ramparts to assist Cochi on the smaller walls.
'They are too many! I should have brought all 50.000 trash troops I still have garrisoned in my cities and town!'
Jack knew that the enemies total numbers reached half a million, while his own forces, though primarily consisted of commen rank troops with good equipment, still only numbered about 75.000.
And that was at the beginning.
Now he would be surprising half of that remained.
Sha'ri's army still numbered around 150.000 troops. Though they were primarily trash rank, Jack had seen the 200.000 reinforcements who would reach the south castle any minute.
On the North flank, the battle razed on.
Ruben had rallied most of his center spearmen.
5000 shields stood firm in a tightly knitted square, fending off a seemingly endless sea of reptilians.
Gunnar had won against the warbeasts, but the casualty to his riders and horses were devastating.
About 500 riders remained at his side while only a few scattered and wagonless tri-horns rampaged trough the field, trampling friends and foe alike.
The few scattered spearmen, swordsmen and archers still fought bravely in a messy battle that now stretched far an wide on the left flank fields.
'I will make you see me, my lord! The one to get a promotion after this battle will be me!' Gunnar kicked his horse hard, making it tap into its last reserves of power.
"Riders! Follow me! Make safe the ground troops! Tell them all to run for the walls while we cover them!"
Gunnar yelled high and loud, and all the riders understood that this was the last order they would receive in this fight.
Their mounts simply couldn't keep up running if they had to do more than this. It was that simple.
Gunnar and his riders rushed into the messy fighting over the fields, and everywhere they went, scattered ground troops ran to the north castle walls, forming a new defensive front.
--
"I have have never seen anything like this before..."
Ramises stood next to Lee and the 9 other representatives of the trade alliance.
He couldn't believe his eyes, and judging by his fellow alliance members, they where in shock as well.
They had gathered 2000 common troops each, to help Lord Jack.
This amount was the absolute peak of their power, and combined, none of them had seen 20.000 common ranked troops march together.
It was an army without equal in the lands of the trade alliance.
They have marched here proudly, expecting to save the famous lord that Ramises had praised so often.
To claim the promised gold for their help, and return home with a new wealthy trade partner.
But the scale of the battle before them, shocked them deeply.
Tens of thousands they could understand. Jack was a very strong lord after all.
But hundreds of thousand? Warbeasts and huge castles?
They did not expect this.
The sheer amount of gold coins combined in this battle alone...
It was unfathomable.
"Should we turn back?" A quiet voice sounded.
Ramises and Lee both noticed a couple more of the Lords who's body language indicated that they wouldn't object to this.
"No. See there, another army is coming. If we don't intervene now, every single warrior who is still outside the walls will die."
Ramises spoke and pointed towards Ang'ril's army.
"Lord Jack is inside the castle. I saw his mount carry him through the gate. Find your courage. If the reptilians wins, they will claim Jack's territory. It will just be a matter of time before endless waves will pour out into our lands from this peninsula."
Lee had hit the nail with this.
The 10 lords all realised this now.
This army and battle would be nothing compared to what would be unleashed if Jack lost this battle.
"That settles it! We absolutely cannot afford to loose! Now let us show Jack and his troops that we are a worthy alliance! Are you with me?"
Ramises cheered, but his words didn't carry the weight of a commander. He excelled in trade and sneaky profits. Not war.
Yet both Lee's true words and Remises poor morale speech had moved them just enough.
"Alright then! Forward men! Help out allies and create a safe way to the main gates! We need to gather everyone inside!"
One of the lords suddenly burst loudly.
Seeing this solidified the rest of the lord who all cried out;
"Attack!"
"Forward for humanity!"
20.000 varied common troops and Lee's 8500 trash troops began to move quickly over the fields.
--
Gunnar and Ruben were hard pressed. They had managed to gather 7.000 spearmen, 1500 swordsmen and 1000 archers near the walls. The rest of the troops were being slowly killed all over the field.
The common and trash ranked reptilians amassed before then, enclosing them against the wall.
Then they charged.
Spearmen formed a heavy shieldwall in a half circle, from castle wall to castle wall.
Inside the swordsmen surround Gunnar and Ruben while the archers fired their arrows over the spearmen.
Hundred of reptilians crashes and died against the shields, but they had already begun to throw themselves massively against the shieldwall, and cracks appeared everywhere.
The swordsmen did their best to close the cracks, but they all felt the inevitability of the situation.
But suddenly it wasn't a reptilian that reached the shieldwall.
Jack spearmen barely managed to twist their thrust as their eyes stared into another humans eyes.
A troop vastly undergeared compared to their fellow troops.
Certainly not one of their Lords reinforcements.
Then more of these troops began to show up and fight the reptilians.
"You there! Hurry, follow us to the gate! A new army is descending from the south, if you don't follow now, you'll be trapped!"
Ramises yelled over the heads towards Gunnar and Ruben.
They didn't doubt him for one second.
In this world, at this time it was humanity against the world.
There were absolutely no way that these humans could have ulterior motives.
"Break up! Follow these troops and relocate into the walls!"
The spearwall slowly began to move backwards while the new troops assisted them from the rear.
It took only 15 minutes to relocate the troops inside.
However those 15 minutes were extremely bloody and taxing for everyone.
To retreat while keeping pressure and resisting an army who continuesly threw themselves at you...
Thousands of troops where lost.
But in the end, they managed to get 15.000 common mercenaries, about 6000 total of Ruben and Gunnar's troops, together with almost 5000 of Lee's trash troops inside the gates, before the spearmen on the walls closed the gate behind them.
And just in time too!
As Gunnar, the last man outside, crossed the gate, he saw endless lines of fresh reptilian forces approaching along the walls, only 50 meters ahead.
While all this happened outside, Jack and Cochi had regained control of the north castle and were currently fighting hard to spot and tumble all the reappearing ladders.
In total, Jack now had about 35.000 common ranked troops. 10.000 trash rank troops and 40.000 civilians inside the walls and castles.
Although the bulk of the civilians had retreated into the south castle as the north had been overrun.
Jack gathered with Lee, his commanders and the 10 earth-human lords.
The 10 lords watched as Jack walked towards them.
His sword in his hand, a battle-chipped shield in the other.
A dreadful armour that shone its own dark-red light.
A thick bearcloak over his shoulders and a well made iron helmet on his head.
His aura instantly dominated the other lords.
His fortitude stat at almost 200, at least 10 times more than their own, his battle hardened appearance and the brutal gear.
It all made the lords acknowledge him as the absolute strongest among them.
"Hi Jack. I'm truly grateful to finally meet you in person!"
A middle-east looking man stepped forward and spoke.
He looked very handsome. Maybe 35 years old.
Tall and robust, with a steady voice.
"Ramises?" Jack replied while looking him over.
He has guessed as much from the way he spoke.
"Pleased to meet you! Though I wish it was under different circumstances..."
Ramises smiled and shone Jacks offered hand, in the old-earth way.
Lee took the chance to speak up.
"My lord. I'm sorry about the delay. But there will hopefully be time to explain later. Suffice to say that I am the one who recruited these lords and their troops."
Lee bowed to Jack after this.
"Better late than never. We will talk later. For now, I need you in command. I have conserved my own energy, and soon, I feel, will be the time to unleash it!"
Jack looked over every single of the earth-human lords.
4 women, 6 men.
One of the men seemed to be highly ranked amongst them, as the others kept glancing at him, trying to copy his posture.
"My lord! They have ceased the attack! Their leaders are calling for you!"
One of Jack's troops suddenly called.
And true enough.
While they had spoken, the battleclamour had suddenly decreased untill it disappeared entirely.
Except for the common sounds of deadly wounded, still clinging to life.