Chapter 604: Provocation
Even though it was much smaller than the underground border town that had tens of millions of Wizard Li warriors already gathered there, and the defense fortification that still had at least several millions of warriors also stretched out to thousands of kilometers across the vast hills.
Even by just standing on this wall that was similar to the Great Wall of China on Earth would give rise to a feeling of despair, let alone attacking it. It was no wonder that the lieutenant commander in the strong army could not help himself but remind the commander about this, something that he rarely did.
“As expected from the barbarian army formed by the new G.o.d. Just by strict military posture alone is already enough to elicit fear from Skull Crusher Libyas whose bravery is known to the world.” The thin short young commander riding on the unihorn said in a leisurely tone, “Since that’s the case, flag bearer, notify the army to come to a halt and get into formation.”
Upon hearing the command of the garrison commander, the knight holding the huge flag bowed and saluted. Like waving a weed in his hand, he waved the flag in his hand and at once, the magnificent army that was advancing gradually slowed down their pace within three steps before stopping directly. After that, with the central square as the core, they sprinted and changed into a fish scale-like orderly formations.
The st.u.r.dy man ridiculed by the commander and on the other hand, grumbled under his breath, “What is so remarkable about the strong army under the G.o.d’s command? It’s not like there’s no G.o.d that had not been killed by mortal heroes before in ancient times. Fear? I, Libyas, have never once tasted this word before…”
“Alright, Libyas, stop muttering. Commander Dubbine was just cracking a joke just now.” An old man, who had a white goatee on his square face that was filled with trace of hards.h.i.+p and was wearing an armor covered with marks of swords and axes hacks in front of his chest, urged his mount to move a few steps forward next to the young commander and interrupted the lieutenant commander’s words.
After that, he looked at Dubbine and said solemnly, “Commander, we can’t underestimate the enemy. We must be cautious.”
In the face of the old man, the garrison commander had an expression that was completely unlikely of the seemingly slacking but actually intimate expression that he put on while dealing with his lieutenant commander. His casual expression changed and he politely yet stiffly said, “Sir Kuchila, may I know the reason for your judgment?”
“I saw not only the h.e.l.lfire warriors but also the shadows of some mainland soldiers in the enemy’s fortifications.” the old man said with a low voice, “A G.o.d that can eradicate the blood enmity of tens of thousands of years between the civilized humans and barbarians in such a short time and let them fight side by side must have a temptation that is unimaginable. Thirty years ago, I led the unihorn imperial guard to follow the former king to a.s.sist the newly risen Atandin King in a battle before. When we pa.s.sed through the Wanz Plateau, we’ve fought with the northern border barbarian who believed in ancestor wors.h.i.+p and learned just how horrifying the barbarian warriors who have pious belief as their spiritual support can be. When 10 to 20% of an ordinary army is injured and killed in a fierce battle, it would be defeated. As for a b.l.o.o.d.y battle involving elite troops, the soldier’s will can still be maintained up to 40% casualty and death. For a strong army like our unihorn imperial guard, we can still continue to fight on when the troop is reduced by half in a battle. However, in that battle with the northern border barbarians that were surrounded and outnumbered by the army of three to one, none of them fled at all even down to the very last remaining warrior. In that battle, when the northern border barbarians whose stomachs were cut open tied their overflowing intestines at their waist as they held their stone axe to charge out again, I finally realized that superb combat skills, long training of formation changing, fine weapons and mounts could be completely compensated by a strong soul and a fighting spirit that was not afraid of death. The most powerful thing in a battlefield is not discipline but madness.”
The words of the imperial guard’s advisor were simple and unadorned but they sounded awfully b.l.o.o.d.y and caused the strong knights who had been on many battles before them to feel chills running down their spines at once.
These slight fear were concealed well by the others and only the straightforward rash lieutenant commander blurted out, “Are these barbarian warriors really that terrifying, Sir Kuchil? To the point where they would still hold their weapons tightly to kill even though their stomachs have been sliced open? Then does this mean that we cannot win against these barbarians? We don’t have any religion anyway.”
“Do you think we don’t have any religion, Libyas?” The old man turned around and looked at the distance. “Then think about the home you’re away from, your loved ones who are enjoying a wealthy life at the moment, the great Dignity King we vowed to dedicate our loyalty throughout our lives and all the things that are more important than our lives that will be lost if we’re defeated… Now tell me, do you still feel that we don’t have any religion?”
“Sir Kuchila, I understand now. It turns out that ‘guarding’ is also a kind of religion.” After being silent for a while, Libyas the rash fellow actually blurted out a philosophy-like sentence before clenching his long-handled axed, “In that case, I’ll let the h.e.l.lfire barbarians taste the might of my religion.”
“This is not a war between countries, but a battle between civilization and barbarism.” Sensing that the spotlight had been taken away by the old adviser, the young garrison commander’s expression gradually turned gloomy, with a slight agitation in his heart. After a moment of pondering, he suddenly took out the sharp sword from his waist with determination and pointed at the sky. Summoning the vindictive energy in his body, he roared, “Victory will only belong to the most heroic warrior! I order, all troops will make a long raid and the long-range attack troop will make three rounds of attack!”
The instant the commander gave out his order, the knights at the frontmost of the battlefield immediately put on the black iron helmet hung on the side of the neck of the mount. Taking out the javelin, they urged their mount beasts to charge towards the barbarian wall. In an instant, a loud noise of tens of thousands galloping at the vast low and high could be heard resonating in the clouds.
Looking at the army charging forward, Kuchila’s face that was covered with wrinkles that looked like they were carved by knife immediately changed his expression. “Commander, we are the vanguard troops. Our task is to eradicate the barbaric forces outside the fortifications and guard the auxiliary troops while they camp. We’re not supposed to fight!”
“Sir Advisor, the trouble is there’s no scattered patrols and barracks outside the h.e.l.lfire’s fortifications so we can’t demonstrate our force to them to intimidate them to guarantee that our auxiliary troops can camp here later on when they reach here.” The young commander said with a blank expression, “For this reason, I have no choice but to order a long-range attack on their walls, in order to complete the strategy you are also involved in.”
As the vanguard of the mainland coalition forces, the unihorn imperial guards had a plan to remove the sporadic troops other than the h.e.l.lfire fortifications. In order to ensure that the first batch of coalition forces would be able to finish building a camp before the first batch of the coalition forces arrives at the Gaoden Hill. Since the h.e.l.lfire did not arrange any troop outside the fortifications and they had even put up a defensive posture, of course, he should not take the initiative to provoke.
Knowing that Dubbine’s words were nothing but a groundless argument, anger flashed across Kuchila’s face. However, since half of the troops had already started to charge, there was nothing that he could do to stop them. With no other choices, he said coldly in a whisper, “Commander Dubbine Tangel, I hope you know what you’re doing. Even though His Highness Hoffe is wise and benevolent, he never forgives those who are defeated, particularly those losers who turn into a fool because of their arrogance.”
“Sir Kuchila Tanoves, the unihorn is no longer the army you’re commanding. Right now, I’m the commander and of course, I’m responsible for all its achievements.” The young imperial guard replied as he gritted his teeth in the same icy manner. When he was speaking, the knights under his command had already approached the h.e.l.lfire’s fortifications.
No matter how elite the mainland army was, it was still impossible for all of them to master vindictive qi to cast spells. However, at that instant when the unihorn warriors raised the javelins about to throw them out, one could see a faint l.u.s.ter appearing at the huge fists that were bulging with veins. They were at least proficient in the use of vindictive qi during combat.
Under the dual effects of superhuman power and the huge impact of riding on a beast, the sharp javelins rained down on the h.e.l.lfire tribesmen’s wall densely like rain, piercing through the several hundreds of defensive tower s.h.i.+elds placed on the large wall along with the warriors hiding behind.
“T-The s.h.i.+eld has shattered! Hide! Hide now…”
“There’s vindictive qi on these d.a.m.n heresy warriors’ javelins! They can turn the s.h.i.+eld to become as fragile as bread! don’t block it! Don’t block it by force…”
“Those are the unihorn army flag of the Ya.s.sen. Those despicable guys are not worthy of being called knights. To think that they actually start the battle without any declaration…”
The new and old Wizard Li believers who were being attacked howled in a chaotic tone together.
Upon seeing the terrible aftermath of the enemy’s fortifications, Dubbine had a smug smile on his deep, dark face. “Look, Kuchila, those h.e.l.lfire people are not as difficult to deal with as you said.”
Having said that, he did not send out even one spellcaster to exploit his victory.
“Most of those people that we’ve killed are mainland soldiers who have surrendered and the auxiliary soldiers in the h.e.l.lfire army, also known as the ch.o.r.esmen. I hope that the next battle will make you equally happy too, Commander Dubbine.” on the left side of the imperial guard’s commander, the old man patted the unihorn underneath him that looked as old as him and took out a monocular from the saddle. Looking into the distance, he said in a deep voice.
As he was speaking, he saw a puddle of body remnants lying in a pool of blood, followed by wounded casualties covered with blood, then without warning, a huge spider that had eight legs and fine hair swaying gently in the breeze like a lion’s mane appeared in Kuchila’s sight.
“Are they going to throw all scruples aside and ‘eat’ all unihorn imperial guard just because of this degree of provocation?” Kuchila worriedly lowered the monocular in his hand.
Just then, in the scene caused tens of thousands of unihorn knights, fully armored humanoid beasts riding all sorts of ferocious strange beasts and large words leaped up onto the wall, together with many heavily armored native warriors who had feathers on their heads who waved their hands to summon rapacious flames, lightnings, tree s.h.i.+eld and whirlwinds to block most of the javelin.
“Are there so many spellcasters among the h.e.l.lfire people? And they really have the armors turning the barbarian into a monster…” The lieutenant commander who had been silent since his two more respected people started to bicker could no help but say in a whisper as he stared into the distant battlefield
“It’s said that the new ‘Majesty’ has the ability to grant ordinary people the power of spellcasting, so of course there are many spellcasters among the h.e.l.lfire natives who are willing to enter the battlefield to fight to their deaths for him. As for the armors that can turn the barbarians into monsters, it’s said that they’re called G.o.d-bestowed Sh.e.l.l. They can grant different beast power to the wearer and from their appearance itself, one can roughly guess their offensive method.” Kuchila explained in an unchanged deep voice.