Chapter 323 – Heavy Cavalry
The Rainrevelers cavalry had about 2000 people. Considering how these 2000 players had varied ability, in this kind of large-scale battle, sending them out to confront the enemy army head-on was basically sending them on a one-way trip.
Fortunately, before their annihilation, they cooperated with a portion of mages who also came out and successfully destroyed all of the siege equipment.
In big battles like this, mages always dealt the most damage. However, they were also the weakest, with low defense and slow escape speed. If the mages were to go destroy the opponent’s siege equipment alone, the enemies would have dashed over and finished them before they could get the targets into their attack range. That was why Rainrevelers had their cavalry and mages cooperate.
Qi Luoyu’s heart ached to watch the cavalry that her guild poured in resources and effort to raise all lose a level, but felt lucky at the destruction of the siege weapons, which alleviated the pressure on her side.
Seeing the front wall of the base already crumbled along with the towers, Chalete slightly waved his arm. The drums sounded more urgent as the undead army started to advance more quickly.
The first to attack the players were the undead archers who released their arrows in an arc. The rain of arrows was so dense to the point that it blotted out the sky.
“s.h.i.+elds up!”
The very front rows of players all raised their s.h.i.+elds high. Clinks and clanks resounded as the arrows struck large steel s.h.i.+elds. Aside from the knights at the front, others who could use s.h.i.+elds all held up their s.h.i.+elds above their heads.
Several hundred players died in this round of attacks. Many were pierced into hedgehogs while some were smashed dead by the rubble from buildings that were damaged by the arrows.
“Counter! Archers, fire!”
Following Qi Luoyu’s command, the archers quickly a.s.sembled into formation and fired arrows in retaliation.
During the advance of the undead army, the mages and archers of both sides exchanged rounds of attacks and suffered casualties, with the players being the suppressed side with very heavy losses.
“Tsk, this is a base siege? It’s simply a grand legion war, alright?” At the sight of the properly aligned teams on both sides, Fatty didn’t know what else to say.
The Rainrevelers kept dying and returning. Some had died twice, or even three or four times, but their fighting spirit was still boiling as they did their utmost to defend the base.
Don!
The drumbeat suddenly changed. The undead army neatly parted to two sides, making way for a troop of cavalry in heavy armor.
Heavy cavalry!
The players held their breath at this sight. Heavy cavalry had always been an effective weapon on the battlefield. Unless there were a mage legion or another heavy cavalry troop to counter them, hardly anything could stand in the way of heavy cavalry.
This ‘heavy cavalry’ didn’t refer to the 4th cla.s.s enhancement of Knight, but the specialized cavalry of the armed forces which cost enormous resources to train. Each heavy cavalry regiment demanded several times the resources as compared to a normal cavalry team.
The undead heavy cavalry had their heads fully covered under helmets that only revealed two eyes, thick and solid full-body armor, and mounts that were also wrapped in a heavy layer of defense. Aside from the small gaps at the joints, their defense was thorough. An average attack barely sapped a bit of their health.
About 2000 heavy cavalry marched to the drumbeats in a precisely uniform fas.h.i.+on. This dense dark ma.s.s imposed a great sense of pressure on whoever looked at it.
“Mages, attack!”
Following Qian Xiaoqian’s lead, a team of mages issued all kinds of magic that flew towards the heavy cavalry.
The heavy cavalry suddenly emitted a canopy of black. All of the magic that came into contact with this black glow instantly vanished without a trace.
“Forbidden magic!” a player exclaimed in shock.
Forbidden magic was a special kind of magic that could write off the majority of magic attacks, hence its rarity and difficulty to obtain. It was not on any cla.s.s skill list and few people were able to chance upon a forbidden magic scroll. But seeing that many undead cavalry cast it at once meant that it was obviously not a scroll’s work.
All magics were now rendered useless as all 2000 heavy cavalry were capable of forbidden magic. The faces of the Rainrevelers players all sank.
“Forbidden magic, forbidden magic!!” Qi Luoyu’s expression was ugly as she repeated those words between gritted her teeth
“Earth mages, Mire Trap, go!”
Qian Xiaoqian remained composed and continued to command the mages.
A mire over fifty meters long and ten-odd meters wide appeared in the heavy cavalry’s path. The ones in the front were caught off guard and immediately sank into it.
Those who were bogged down in the mire couldn’t move, while those behind were still charging forward. Unavoidably, they collided, creating a brief confusion.
Seizing this opportunity, Qi Luoyu ordered the archers to fire. They didn’t attack randomly this time but especially aimed at the opponents’ eyes.
The undead mages behind acted as fast as possible to remove the mire trap. In this short period of time, however, at least a hundred heavy cavalry were killed by the arrows.
“Epic! Do you see that beauty who carries the big silver bow? That’s a hidden cla.s.s of Archer, Sharpshooter. She alone killed over a dozen heavy cavalry.”
“As expected of a hidden cla.s.s…”
The earth mages of Rainrevelers repeatedly cast Mire Trap to delay the heavy cavalry, while the undead mages kept working to dispel the mire traps. Caught in the struggle, the heavy cavalry advanced and stopped, stopped then advanced.
This hardly worked in the players’ favor. While the heavy cavalry was ‘slow,’ this was only when compared to the light cavalry. During the cooldowns to cast the next Mire Trap, the undead heavy cavalry would advance over ten meters, slowly nearing the base.
And this heavy cavalry wasn’t the only offensive group of the undead army. While they advanced, the light cavalry had already taken the round routes to attack the players from both sides.
The intention of the undead was simple: use the heavy cavalry to split up the players, then exterminate them bit by bit with the rest of the undead soldiers.
Had the walls still been standing, it would have been a fierce battle between the giants. But since the players had lost the protection of the walls, they were powerless to stop the heavy cavalry unless they filled that gap with the player’s lives.
“If Sky City can establish a heavy cavalry…” All sorts of ideas began to form in Fatty’s head. Those undead heavy cavalry used a type of lizard monster as their mounts, which are, of course, unable to rival the Holy Unicorns in any aspect. If I a.s.semble a heavy cavalry with the Holy Unicorns as their mounts, tsk… Thinking of this, Fatty couldn’t suppress a smile.
The eyes of the other guild masters present also lit up with similar ideas. In most games, the players often relied on their own strength to create their own path. Even wars between guilds were only pro players grouping up to attack together, nothing comparable with this kind of army born and raised for the battlefield.
“We must form a heavy cavalry.” This was the consensus that all guild masters arrived at.
Currently, all fights had been child’s play and unorganized PK even in a guild-level war. In the future large-scale wars between guilds or even nations, an official and professional army like this undead army would have a great advantage over the rest.
In the current modern world, heroism had long become a thing of the past.
Each of the 2000 heavy cavalry wasn’t particularly powerful by themselves, but as a team, they kept most of the players’ attention in check. Their defense was so high that they could still remain steadily on their mounts after over ten attacks and could even retaliate while advancing. Only a minority of the attacks. .h.i.t the parts that weren’t protected by armor to deal some decent damage.
The only dazzling scene in the field was where the beautiful girl with the silver bow stood. Living up to her hidden cla.s.s of Sharpshooter, every arrow from her accurately hit a mounted soldier’s eye. So far, she had killed nearly a hundred heavy cavalry all on her own.
No one doubted that she could kill the entire cavalry if she were given enough time. Too bad such a case was impossible. After the undead mages dispelled another round of mire traps, the heavy cavalry finally reached the remains of the wall.
Earth-shaking rumbles resounded as the three other sides of the base walls began to collapse at the damaged areas. The cavalry charged with the intent to pierce through their frontlines. Coupled with the thunderous sounds of their mounts galloping, they gave off a steadily rising momentum.
“Stop them!”
With no other choice, Qi Luoyu clenched her jaw and issued the order. Hearing her, the groups of knights who’d been impatiently waiting instantly braced their s.h.i.+elds and charged right towards the heavy cavalry.
Boooom!
Upon collision, over a dozen knights and their mounts were knocked to the ground before they were viciously trampled by under the heavy cavalry, turning into white lights that soared back to the city. As the front rows fell, the rear rushed forth to fill their spots, using their flesh and blood to block the enemy’s advance.
“Rogues, kill!”
Qi Luoyu virtually breathed out these words. Several hundred rogues all used Stealth at once and disappeared with the wind.
Thud! Thud! One undead cavalry after another fell from their mounts. With their cavalry restraining the undead cavalry’s movement, the rogues roamed amongst the enemy troops like ducks to water. At this moment, heavy armor became a hindrance instead. The undead cavalry’s attacks couldn’t pin down the nimble rogues and kept missing.
The knights and warriors fought with their lives on the line to create this opportunity for the rogues. The rogues didn’t fail their comrades either. After losing nearly two thousand lives, the players finally wiped out the heavy cavalry.
“After all, NPCs are NPCs, they simply can’t bring the full advantages of heavy cavalry into play.” Fatty shook his head.
The first advantage of heavy cavalry was a solid structure that enabled steady and powerful attacks. a well-trained heavy cavalry could be destructive even against large-scale regiments, unlike now when they only killed a corresponding number of players before all of them were taken down.