However, just as Harald believed victory was in his grasp and the eastern villages were about to fall entirely into his hands, something he had not anticipated—or rather, the very thing he least wanted to see—happened.
The heart of the struggle lay not only in the eastern villages, but also in Abandoned Village No. 1 on the far western edge of the battlefield, near the Franklin Army's direction. The fighting there was just as fierce, yet the Sauron Army's offensive had always seemed like thunder without rain.
Tasked with the main assault in that area was the Horse Corps, one of Sauron's "Eight Great Corps." This corps was rather special: its troops mainly came from the tribes of the conquered Skarn Grassland, rather than Sauron's own people. Its Corps Commander, Domenic, was a typical Skarn nobleman—brave and fierce, but even more concerned with the interests of his own tribe.
At the pre-battle meeting, Domenic had sworn solemnly that he would seize the western villages at all costs and open the gateway for the army to attack the Franklin Army. Yet once the battle truly began, while Harald's White Wolf Guard fought a bloody battle in the east and pressed the western side to intensify its attack, Domenic's movements were conspicuously slow and restrained.
The attacking troops he sent out would often only test the waters. The moment they encountered Carnford's stubborn resistance and concentrated firepower, they swiftly pulled back, prettily calling it "regrouping" and "seeking an opportunity."
His elite cavalry spent more time circling the outskirts of the battlefield, engaging the enemy's roaming horsemen in harmless pursuits while avoiding any head-on collision with Carnford's main cavalry force or solid infantry positions.
"Bastard! What is Domenic doing?! Are his cavalry just decorations?!" A Sauron general supervising the battle at the front