Chapter 341 – Fight! Wipe them out!
People on the continent always knew that Beastmen Cavalry were the strongest cavalry. Although Zhao Hai was sure that his undead cavalry was better than actual beastmen cavalry, he still wanted to see how they fare in an actual cavalry battle.
At this time, Shue also spotted the other party, so he had the carriage stop. Ruyen’s carriage also halted, but her guards looked with despair at the enemy cavalry.
These guards were veterans who had fought in many battles. With their eyes, they could see that the cavalry on the hillsides number approximately 5,000 people. For 5,000 cavalry to deal with them was a huge respect, but this also meant that the chances of their escape had reached zero.
In the eyes of the guards, although Zhao Hai was fierce, he was only a single 7th rank mage. Believing that he could face these 5,000 cavalry would be an idiotic move.
Zhao Hai got out of his carriage and gazed towards Ruyen. He was a bit hesitant because Ruyen would be able to see his undead when he releases them. To let Ruyen see the undead would be the same as revealing his secret.
After thinking for a moment, Zhao Hai turned to Shue and said, “Shue, you go tell Ruyen’s guards to protect Ruyen. Tell them to not worry as long as they stay with the carriage”
Hearing Zhao Hai’s instructions, Shue understood what Zhao Hai was planning. He nodded then turned to inform Ruyen’s group. Ruyen’s group didn’t have any better ideas since the enemy was too strong, so they immediately followed along with Zhao Hai’s words.
Shun just joined the group, so he didn’t have any idea about Zhao Hai’s undead army. This made him completely clueless about Zhao Hai’s plan. At this time, seeing that Ruyen’s group had followed his orders, Zhao Hai immediately had them covered by his dark mist, making them unable to see or hear what’s happening outside.
Shun looked puzzled at Zhao Hai, he didn’t know what Zhao Hai wanted to do. But when he looked at Shue, Blockhead, and Rockhead’s antic.i.p.ating expressions, he didn’t say anything. He looked curiously at Zhao Hai, wondering what the young master intends to do.
Zhao Hai looked at Shue’s excited face, he smiled faintly and said, “Shue, what are you getting excited for? It still hadn’t begun.”
Shue smiled and said, “To be able to watch a cavalry battle at this distance is very exciting. Young master, hurry up. We need to deal with them quickly so we could be on the move soon.”
Zhao Hai laughed, then he turned to the other party and said very loudly, “All of you! What are you waiting for? Still not ready? Or are you waiting for lunch?”
Shue and Blockhead laughed. The cavalry knights were enraged, they didn’t attack because Zhao Hai didn’t reach their optimum attack distance. In their minds, since Zhao Hai couldn’t escape anyway, why not wait until he reached their best attacking spot? As long as Zhao Hai enters their attacking zone, they would smash him flat with their charge and immediately head back to the fortress.
Hearing what Zhao Hai said, the knights couldn’t wait any longer. Their leaders issued several loud cries, then they prepared to hoist their spears and get ready for their charge.
Zhao Hai smiled faintly, he waved his hand and 5,000 undead Fighting Bull cavalry immediately appeared in front of him. They were arranged in a neat square formation, with no unnecessary movements and no sound. They just stood there, dispersing death energy to the surroundings.
Shun was speechless when he saw the Fighting Bull Cavalry. The knights on the hillsides also stared blankly at the undead cavalry. Their heads couldn’t’ help but tilt.
Zhao Hai gave a smiled and said, “If you won’t charge, then I will.” He waved his hand, then the 5,000 undead Fighting Bull cavalry began to divide themselves into two square formations, one for each cavalry unit on each side of the road.
Zhao Hai used the formation management function to lead the undead cavalry. The two squares were finely formed, devoid of chaos. Seeing the two orderly square formations advancing, the knights on the hills couldn’t help but take a step back.
Shun was speechless when he saw the undead cavalry, but he was more speechless about Zhao Hai’s ability to lead the undead.
Shun had been wandering for many years, he also had contacts with numerous mercenaries. Large mercenary groups would have a cavalry unit under their employ. And their cavalries weren’t much worse than regular cavalry. One should know that training cavalry was very difficult, a qualified cavalry unit would need about 2 years worth of training. And even elite cavalry would still have troubles maintaining their formations during an a.s.sault. People could be trained to do so, but magic beasts cannot.
But Zhao Hai’s charging cavalry didn’t have any trouble with formation during their charge. This was definitely not the undead’s doing, it could only result on Zhao Hai’s control of the undead. Being able to control such number of undead with such precision, Shun had developed a new understanding of Zhao Hai’s might.
The cavalry on the hillsides were also startled, they saw that the unit charging at them were undead, but they couldn’t believe that they were all zombie undead.
They were well aware that Zombie undead were harder to deal with than other undead creatures. They also knew the difficulty of producing them.
They now understood that Zhao Hai wasn’t a tri-element mage at all. He was a quad-element mage, and was likely to have majored in dark element magic.
But they didn’t think too much of it. They were still confident that they would be able to beat those undead. So the leaders quickly stabilized their lines and like the undead Fighting Bull cavalry, also began their charge.
Shun looked at the Undead Cavalry with worry. In his mind, controlling these undead meticulously would be very difficult for Zhao Hai, and the level of undead couldn’t have been too high. In this case, these 5,000 undead cavalry wouldn’t be able to stop the a.s.sault of 5,000 heavy armored cavalry.
A heavy cavalry unit was in itself a very difficult unit to deal with. But their cost for upkeep was too high, so general forces couldn’t afford them. The cavalry on the hillsides were also charging downhill, giving their power a huge boost compared to the uphill charging undead. The heavy cavalry believed that they will win the engagement and completely flatten the enemy.
When the four units of cavalry clashed, the heavy cavalry immediately realized their mistake. They didn’t expect that each and every one of these undead were terrifyingly fierce. Their striking force surprisingly reached 7th rank. Adding on to the fact that they weren’t afraid of getting hurt or dying, these undead proved to be very difficult to deal with.
The charge managed to cut away 3,000 of the heavy cavalry, a loss of more than half of their number. For these heavy cavalry soldiers, this loss was unimaginable. But what made them more sullen was the fact that their undead opponents barely managed to lose as much as they had. Although the knight’s spears were inserted onto the undead’s bodies, they could still function, and thus continue on to wave their maces around.
What hit them the most was the fact that even though the undead’s heads were smashed, they still managed to recover. They didn’t imagine that fighting undead was this hard until they had fought with real undead today.
This almost made the cavalry line collapse, but they were experienced soldiers who cannot be easily defeated. After they exchanged positions with the undead cavalry, they saw that they weren’t too far away from Zhao Hai’s carriage. The leaders of the heavy cavalry immediately issued a few cries. They didnt’ stop their charge and continued on towards Zhao Hai’s carriage. They knew that as long as Zhao Hai gets eliminated, these undead would automatically disappear.
However, the moment they resumed their charge, another group of undead appeared in front of them. These group were the same as the previous group, 5,000 Fighting Bull cavalry. The heavy cavalrymen immediately collapsed, they didn’t imagine that another undead cavalry unit would arrive, when they saw the unit appear, they saw that their lives were in extreme peril.
And at this moment, the initial group of undead cavalry behind them turned around. Now they were sandwiched both at the back and at the front.
Looking dazed at the side of Zhao Hai, Shun didn’t know what to say. He recovered himself and then turned to Zhao Hai, “Young Master, how many undead do you have? You can control these many undead?”
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “Be a.s.sured, I can control as much. And how many? I didn’t count them but from what I think, I should probably have about seven hundred thousand undead.”
Shun stared at Zhao Hai, while stuttering, he said, “Young Master, yo-you, di-did you just say seven hundred thousand?”
Zhao Hai didn’t speak but only showed a faint smile. Shue patted Shun’s shoulder and said, “Shun, later as you stand by young master’s side, you’ll get to know that the young master has many secrets.”
Blockhead and Rockhead laughed, they were already used to the s.p.a.ce’s magical abilities. Only Shun who was a new addition would get surprised. At this time, the enemy cavalry were already eliminated. However, their mounts were kept alive at the orders of Zhao Hai. These heavy cavalry had a lot of Magic Beasts that Zhao Hai’s s.p.a.ce Ranch didn’t have.
These were horse type magic beasts, the lowest being 4th rank. Only 4th rank and above were the suitable mounts for heavy cavalry units. Because their armors were too heavy, lower ranked beasts like the flame horses couldn’t support their weight, and even if they could, they wouldn’t have the endurance to travel long distances.
So the magic beasts that heavy cavalry units generally select were either 4th or 5th rank magic beasts. And since horse type magic beasts were mostly docile, they were the most suited ones to become mounts. Moreover, their carrying capacity was also fairly high. Even though they couldn’t compare with bull type magic beasts in strength, their temperaments were much better. These qualities made it so that the majority of heavy cavalry units in the continent would use horse type magic beasts.
Zhao Hai took these magic beasts, upgrading his Ranch to level 9 making Zhao Hai very excited. Now he needs to find more beasts so that his Ranch would reach level 10, he wondered what changes the Ranch would undergo once it reaches that level.
Then, Zhao Hai turned the 5,000 heavy cavalry into undead and stored them inside the s.p.a.ce. After sweeping the battlefield, Zhao Hai undid the dark mist surrounding Ruyen’s convoy.
Ruyen was very anxious while inside the dark mist, they didn’t dare exit in fear of offending Zhao Hai. Moreover, they also knew that their fate was now closely tied with him. If Zhao Hai lives, they live, if he dies, then they die. They were very afraid that they wouldn’t survive inside Rosen Empire, so they chose to just stay put and wait.
Inside the dark mist, they felt that years had come by, every minute was extremely long. Zhao Hai’s fog wasn’t any ordinary fog, not only could it block vision, it could also block sounds from entering in. Now the group was completely blind and deaf to the outside, it made them even more anxious.
Just as Ruyen was about to completely lose her patience, the dark mist suddenly vanished. Now, the group could see the outside again. Completely out of their expectations, there was nothing there except from Zhao Hai’s convoy. Not even a drop of blood could be seen on the ground.
Zhao Hai wasn’t in the mood to explain everything, so he had Shue inform them that they could proceed. Then he went back to his carriage and took the lead. Ruyen, although confused and full of doubts, couldn’t do anything aside from following behind.
When evening came, they rested inside a small town. Zhao Hai’s group had their dinner and then rested inside the s.p.a.ce. On the other hand, Ruyen couldn’t fall asleep, she called Jill and Gonza, the head guard, over to her room. Now that she couldn’t sleep, she decided to have a discussion with the two.
Ruyen looked at the two and said, “What do you think about today’s matter?”
Gonza and Jill looked at each other, Jill opened his mouth first, “Your highness, I reckon that a battle had taken place outside the mist. Although the place was cleaned up, the heavy smell of blood was still present. What’s strange is that there was no trace of magic being used outside, very strange.”
Gonza also nodded, “Very strange indeed, moreover, the magic that covered us should be the dark element magic ‘Dark Mist’, and an advanced level at that. Wales is a fire, wind, and earth element mage. So how can he use dark magic?”