The Klug were certainly not conventional fighters as their opponents estimated, but they were not clueless as to fighting more technologically advanced forces, as evidenced by the anti-cavalry stakes that lined the village.

The Zealots would quickly find that their armament increased their weight so significantly that another one of the Klug's anti-cavalry measures (as the tribesmen were incredibly afraid of such beasts and the warriors astride them, because they completely overran the Klug hit and run tactics) hit them hard. The Klug had spread thatch and similar materials all over their village and fields, and then got everything wet* with considerably more water than it seemed they would easily have access to**. This meant that while the Klug's unarmored and staggered formations could walk and fight atop the thatch, cavalry would plow straight through the thatch and into mud below, slowing, trapping, and tripping them. The Zealot's inhuman amounts of armor weighed them down so much that as they got closer, they would find themselves slowing, tripping, and generally being rendered an ineffective fighting force, not due to their lack of strength, but simply due to bad footing.

Meanwhile, the Klug, rather than attempting to engage terrifying steel warriors in close combat, did what they always did. Throw spears at the more advanced folk until they fall over in the mud. Each line of the Klug formation, at their champion's command, launched a volley of throwing spears, then retreated to become the next backline. This allowed the Klug to keep up a constant volley of spears on the Zealots while never bringing their forces remotely into range for retaliation and staying staggered so that an arrow volley would be less effective. With the Zealot's testudo rendered less effective by their poor footing, the Zealots would be forced to either suffer constant casualties as they approached, or attempt to hunker down in the mud, find footing, and reform their testudo. Unless the Zealots or their leaders had a trick up their sleeve, the Zealots had been put in check.

Likewise, the Mutig tribesmen, if they tried to advance now, would find their path full of churned up mud, the thatch no longer supporting their path, and lacking the strength of the Zealots, hindered severely. Unless they went around the Zealots, of course.

*see previous Klug description of defenses.

**Foreshadowing

~~

The problem with attempting to use Pain Elements as a surprise attack was thus. "Sepulchral wailing accompanied them wherever they went, and their titian orange glow easily gave away their presence." As soon as they left the treeline to attack the forces guarding the temple, they found themselves eating about two hundred flaming spears, lit on the fires nearby, and about fifty magically blessed spears. As they attempted to fly higher and overtake the temple, they would find themselves eating many many more, as the guardians chucked spears as fast as they could, the normal warriors taking slightly longer to throw flaming spears. If they chose to retreat, they'd find themselves still in the line of fire. Throwing spears from an elevated position at a force with no cover or armor was the ideal situation for the Klug.

Meanwhile, 375 soldiers and 50 mages were left to deal with Ifrit, Shaige, and his shadow beasts. While Ifrit would draw attention of most of the 200 soldiers on the ground level, Shaige and his shadow beasts would find themselves the sole targets of those guarding the terraced path, numbering 175 soldiers and 50 mages. He and his honor guard would be bombarded with a few hundred spears, on fire and blessed alternatively, if he continued his advance. Against Ifrit, the soldiers, at least those that retained their senses, adopted typical hit and run tactics. Whenever Ifrit faced them, flee and scatter, and whenever his back was turned, chuck spears. With the advantage of numbers, they would seek to never clump together and simply never face the beast head on. Of course, quite a few, without the rallying banner of their champion or the experienced mages, would simply be running away from him, but that simply added to the tactic.

Casualties: Whoever Ifrit kills. How deadly is he?