Chapter 545 – The Radiant Church’s Hope
The next day, the Beastman attack on the Wall had suddenly become violent. The Beast King understood that if the Beastmen were to continue on with its half-hearted attack, the Humans would start to look down on them. Therefore, he made the army increase the intensity of their a.s.sault. This motion can also s.h.i.+eld the other group much more effectively.
Sure enough, the continent began to focus their attention towards Iron Wall Fortress. The Humans were very familiar with the Beastman Race, they knew that the Beastmen had combat capabilities not lower compared to the Humans. At the same time, the Beastmen weren’t mindless fighters as well. Then can also do advanced movements such as carrying out reconnaissance missions, especially the Hawk Tribe. With their flying abilities, their scouts were vastly better than the Humans.
Because of this, the Radiant Church had placed a large amount of their army in the Iksa Territory while leaving the Purcell Family to face the Beastmen alone. This way, when the Beastmen see the heavily armored soldiers in the Iksa Territory, they would think twice in attacking there and would instead opt to attack the Purcell Duchy. This was the script that the Radiant Church had written for the Beastmen.
And so, the Beastmen were fully cooperating in this play. They launched a frantic attack at Iron Wall Fortress, making the Purcell Family suffer huge losses. The Beastmen’s losses weren’t small either, but they were used to it, this was the Beastmen’s way of attack, frantic, and without a shred of holding back.
This crazy attacking method of the Beastmen was something that only few humans can withstand. Therefore, ordinary human armies wouldn’t go to field battles with the Beastmen. This was because they were aware that the Beastmen Cavalry would have its greatest strength in the field.
Although the Heavy Armored Infantry of the continent can cope with the Beastman Cavalry, that consideration was only made against general Beastman Cavalry. When it comes to the Big Warring Races, those Heavy Armored Infantry would become totally powerless.
Naturally, the Humans also had a way of dealing with these Beastman Cavalries. Most Beastmen didn’t have any armor, but Humans have Heavy Armor Cavalry. The charge of these Heavy Armor Cavalry can be lethal against the Beastmen. However, creating Heavy Armor Cavalry was extremely expensive. Even a powerful empire such as the Aksu Empire only had a few of these cavalries on hand.
Also, Beastmen weren’t very good at siege warfare. Beastman wars generally happen on the flat fields of the Prairie, with both cavalries going head to head with each other. Because of this, the Beastmen didn’t have much experience when it came to attacking a city.
On the other hand, Humans were experts in siege warfare. In the entire human history, most of its battles were siege battles. So they were knowledgeable about attacking and defending a city. Therefore, in a war between Beastmen and Humans, the most important thing that Humans could do was barricade a city and establish a line of defense. Stacking them layer by layer in order to stop the Beastman attacks.
The people wanted to see when the Beastmen can break through Iron Wall Fortress. One must know that Iron Wall Fortress was very famous in the Continent. This was because the Fortress was able to block a Beastman attack in the past. Now, the people want to see if the Purcell Family can make a miracle this time.
The Beastmen attacked Iron Wall Fortress for seven days. Although these these seven days weren’t long, they weren’t short either. One must know that the Beastmen had sent an army that exceeded 1 million soldiers. While at the same time, the defenders were numbering less than 100 thousand.
And these 100 thousand people were all the soldiers that the Purcell Family can send out. All of them were already convinced of their deaths, this made the battle even more fierce.
In seven days, the Purcell Family had lost nearly 50 thousand people, but the Beastmen had lost close to 100 thousand. The battle loss ratio numbered 1 to 2. This was something rare for a battle between Humans and Beastmen. Because of the innate disadvantage in strength by the Humans, their losses should be higher than that of the Beastmen. For the Beastmen to lose more than the Humans was something that was very abnormal.
However, only the Purcell troops knew that the army that was attacking the Fortress wasn’t the main force of the Beastman race. With their main force not partic.i.p.ating, it was natural that the battle loss ratio would be like this. If the Main force of the Beastmen would attack right now, then they’re afraid that they would not be able to defend.
Evan and the others knew about the Beastmen from their past battles. In the past, the Beastmen would send their Main Force 2 or 3 days after the initial skirmish. But this time, 7 days had already pa.s.sed, but the Warring Tribes were still not in sight. What was happening?
And at this moment, a shocking news spread out to the Continent. On the seventh evening after the attack on the Purcell Duchy, the Iksa Family was suddenly attacked by a large group of Warriors from Big Beastman Warring Tribes. Although the Radiant Church had stationed a large army in the Iksa Domain, they were still caught off guard by the Beastman a.s.sault. The Beastmen Cavalry quickly pierced through their defense line and ravaged through their formation. This led to the three hundred thousand army inside the Iksa Domain to throw their helmets down and abandon their armor in order to escape, they were completely routed!
The force that attacked the Iksa Family was the Main Force of the Beastmen army. They were the elite of the elites, and they were highly experienced in battles. With them numbering 100 hundred thousand, they were able to swiftly deal with 300 thousand human soldiers. The battle can only be described as a textbook victory.
Both the Human forces and the Radiant Church didn’t expect the Beastmen to attack like this. The continent immediately went into an uproar. They didn’t think that all of these crazy Beastman attacks towards the Iron Wall Fortress were only a cover for their surprise attack on the Iksa Domain.
Even if they lost 100 thousand in attacking the Fortress, it was definitely worth it. They had managed to rout a 300 thousand Human army as well as occupy a very large Domain in the Human Territory.
One should know that even if the commoners of the Purcell Family withdrew, the commoners in the Iksa Domain didn’t. This was because there was an army stationed here, and they have gathered a lot of supplies. But now, all of these supplies fell into the hands of the Beastmen, aiding them in overcoming their food crisis.
The Radiant Church clearly didn’t expect the Beastman attack, they had been caught off-guard. All of their previous plans were starting to form cracks. Fortunately, they still had room for movement. The Church immediately withdrew some of their troops in the Purcell Duchy and prepared to lead them to encircle the Iksa Domain.
But just as the Radiant Church troops were being mobilized, the beastmen began to attack Iron Wall Fortress non-stop from day to night. Although the Purcell Family were doing their best to block the Beastmen offensive, they couldn’t block it in the end. At the last moment, Evan was forcibly carried away by some loyal subjects of the Purcell Family. The direction that they were retreating to was Stony Mountain.
This was a hidden move orchestrated by Zhao Hai. After he left Ruyen and the others at Golden Island, the requested Origin Sword Saint to act. Origin Sword Saint convened with some of the Purcell Family’s loyal 8th ranks secretly. Origin Sword Saint asked them that no matter what happens, they should protect some important members of the Purcell Duchy and had them retreat towards Stony Mountain. Once they retreat to Stony Mountain, their lives would certainly be protected.
Origin Sword Saint’s words were much more powerful compared to Evan, therefore, those 8th ranks didn’t disagree. So they immediately grabbed Evan and then rode some Magic Beasts that they prepared before. Carrying food and water with them, they immediately headed straight to Stony Mountain.
The Purcell Family members who escaped this time numbered less than 200 altogether. Majority of these people were Foreign Elders of the Family, in fact, most of them were 8th rank experts.
The Beastmen didn’t pursue them this time. They didn’t pay any attention to measly 200 people. What they were eyeing right now were those soldiers that were heading towards the Iksa Domain to encircle the 100 thousand Beastmen.
Once again, the Radiant Church didn’t expect that just as they transferred the troops, the Beastmen would suddenly break through Iron Wall Fortress. Now, the troops that the Radiant Church had sent over were in fear of being sandwiched by two Beastmen armies.
The Radiant Church expected the Beastmen army in Iron Wall Fortress to be just a normal decoy, their fighting strength shouldn’t be that strong. The Main Force should be the 100 thousand that just attacked the Iksa Domain. They didn’t expect that the decoy would become another attacking force and had broken through Iron Wall Fortress in one stroke, becoming a threat to the Church’s armies.
Pa.s.sive! The Radiant Church had turned pa.s.sive. One must know that the force that was currently occupying the Iksa Domain were the collective forces of various Warring Tribes, and were numbering 100 thousand. At the same time, the 1 million Beastman army that had just broken through Iron Wall Fortress were at their back. This made the Radiant Church army feel a sense of crisis.
But the Radiant Church didn’t give up, they were still hoping that their trump card would have some use. They still have the poison that they had prepared. Even if the Iron Wall Fortress was broken through, the experts sent to the Purcell Domain were still there, lying in ambush.
These people were waiting in the Purcell Duchy for the time when the Fortress falls. As long as the Beastmen enter the Duchy, they would immediately be poisoned, then the Radiant Church can deal with the Beastmen Army easily.
In the mind of the Radiant Church, even if their plans were somewhat derailed, they were still heading towards the right direction. The losses that they incurred in the Iksa Domain was nothing remarkable. Having a victory in the Iksa Domain might even make the Beastmen complacent, making the Radiant Church’s plan much easier to implement.
At the same time, the two-p.r.o.nged attack by the Beastmen still gave some losses to the Radiant Church. But this was what they exactly need, they wanted the Beastmen to enter the Aksu Empire before they start to clean them up in one swoop. That way, the Beastmen would have no opportunity to escape.