Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! A hail of arrows came from the sky. However, Thutmose’s guard unit was made up of elite soldiers that he himself had taken great pains to cultivate. They were well-prepared for such an attack, handily blocking the volley with their leather shields.
“Gah?!”
“Gyah?!”
Or at least, that’s what they had thought. Pained cries could be heard from one soldier after another. Unbelievably, the arrows had pierced through the leather and right into their chests.
“Impossible. From that distance?!” The distance between Thutmose’s army and Yuuto’s was roughly two khet, an ancient unit of measurement equivalent to approximately fifty meters each. At that distance, it wasn’t guaranteed an arrow would even reach its target, so how were they able to fire arrows with such force?!
“They must be using incredibly powerful bows. Hmph. Repel those arrows! Do not let them hit you! It shouldn’t be too hard; we heavily outnumber them. Do not be afraid—charge!” Coming to a swift and rational decision nonetheless, he issued one order after another. A future conqueror of the world had to be able to do that much.
Thutmose’s army began to charge up the hill, not letting up their momentum in the slightest. In response, Yuuto quickly leaped atop a horse-drawn carriage and turned tail, heading in the opposite direction. Had he scared him off? If so, that was awfully anticlimactic—or perhaps Yuuto simply had the sense to know when he’d been outmatched. Either way, Thutmose didn’t intend to let him escape.
“Radames! Take half the troops and circle around from the left! We’ll get him in a pincer attack!” Thutmose barked.
“Yes, Your Majesty!” After he’d given the order and divided his troops appropriately, he assumed command of the remaining soldiers and headed after Yuuto. Arrows occasionally rained down upon them, wounding some, but that was no concern of Thutmose’s. Finally, as if the enemy had exhausted their supply, the hail of arrows ceased. Before long, they could no longer see hide nor hair of the enemy army.
“Hmph, don’t think you can get away that easily!” Thutmose licked his lips, his tongue like that of a snake’s. Thutmose’s purpose in this land had been planning the invasion of the city of Megiddo, so naturally, he already had a good grasp on the geography of the area. If Yuuto was heading toward the Kishon River, they’d be able to get the jump on him if they circled around from the left, even considering the speed of the carriage. He’d be trapped like a rat.
Or so Thutmose had thought.
“Tch! Nothing?!” When they’d finally caught up to him, only the carriage that had been attached to the horse remained. Neither the horse nor Yuuto nor any of his men were anywhere to be found. It was as if he and his army had realized Thutmose would catch up and abandoned the horse carriage posthaste, choosing to ride on horseback instead. That was probably because they were out of options and had no other choice, but he was surprised at how comfortable Yuuto’s army seemed to be with riding horses. That was because, from Thutmose’s perspective, horseback riding was a remarkably high-level technique.
“Seems like I really can’t underestimate him. All the more reason why I have to kill him here.” With his resolve renewed, he advanced his army further.
“Huh?!” But when they got to their destination, it wasn’t Yuuto or any of his army that they found. It was the elite unit he’d just entrusted to Radames. Apparently, they hadn’t even seen Yuuto in the area. That was when he realized he’d screwed up. He belatedly remembered that the enemy had abandoned the carriage. It was true that this route was the only one horse-drawn carriages could pass through, but if they were on horseback, there were a number of other paths they could traverse. They’d probably used one of those to avoid a pincer maneuver.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! The all-too-familiar sound of whistling through the wind accompanied a hail of arrows, and from all directions, no less. At some point, Thutmose’s army had become surrounded. However, by his own count, there were still only fifteen or so enemies. That was far too few for an effective encirclement. He knew that, but...
“Rrgh, how frustrating!” Thutmose spat with hatred. Even though their own arrows couldn’t cover the distance, the enemies’ arrows were not only reaching their target, but they were quite deadly. The enemy had realized that and came to attack. “We won’t get anywhere at this rate. We need to get closer.”
He angrily urged his army forward, but each time he did, the enemy army pulled back an equal distance. All the while, arrows rained down upon his men. As he gave it more thought, he realized that a mere foot soldier was no match for the speed of one on horseback. The casualties on his side continued to rise.
“I was in the palm of the enemy’s hand the whole time?! Fortify your defenses! They’ve got to run out of arrows sometime! That’s when we’ll strike back!” Even if each of them had fifty arrows, that would still only be 750 arrows—far less manpower than Thutmose had at his disposal. What’s more, only one in five of those were likely to hit their mark, and even a direct hit didn’t guarantee a fatality. At some point, the enemy would have to let up.
“Huh?! Ha ha ha! They must’ve already run out, because now they’re charging at us. Perhaps they think we’re worn out from chasing them down? Sorry to disappoint, but we have plenty of stamina to spare. That’s why we’re going to win.” Convinced of his victory, Thutmose let out a loud cackle.