Only when they got close to the battlefield did they realize the fighting was extremely intense. The ground was littered with bodies, mostly of the artillery unit's rank-and-file soldiers, with a few members of the uniquely outfitted Wolf Faction among them.
War is about brutal slaughter, life and death, the collision of blood and fire. Shrieks, screams, and wails interwove over the battlefield—there was absolutely nothing beautiful about it.
It was an ambush. Lance saw instantly that the site had been chosen by the Barbarians because the clearing was flanked by dense forests on both sides—a classic ambush site. It was unclear why the artillery unit's sentries had failed.
Caught in an ambush in such an environment meant that after exchanging an initial volley of gunfire, both sides had already entered the phase of close-quarters combat. Evidently, the Barbarians did not intend to give the artillery unit a chance to leverage the power of their muskets.
