Chapter 77: White Horse Battle Array
2014-11-28
Author: Floating Tower (诸生浮屠)
Third Day. The army officially entered the wilderness area. The scouts that were sent out returned with much information, and the scattered adventurers had, more or less, made some gains. Recently, many merchant caravans had been attacked and looted, and their goods had ended up in the hands of the wilderness creatures. After some fighting, these became their spoils of war. Soren had taken out several enemies one after another, accumulating 3000 points of killing experience, but with the two of them dividing it, he ended up with very little Gind.
“There is a village ahead.” Soren looked at the gradually familiar road and said to the nearby elven ranger: “I passed through here some time ago, and it was attacked by lizardmen. I’m not sure if they have migrated, but it should have become a lizardman stronghold now.”
If they haven’t migrated, then the village might be completely deserted, right?
He signaled to Yas beside him, and the two of them crouched low, moving forward along the grass. Next to the village was a small river; lizardmen liked to stay close to water sources. When they could see the wooden fence of the village from afar, the half-elf ranger took out a cylindrical device from his pocket, spun it around, and put it to his eyes to observe ahead.
A monocular? Soren stopped to wait for the other to finish observing.
“It appears to have been occupied by lizardmen.” Yas handed the monocular to Soren, casually stating: “A little gadget made from alchemy, 10 Gind each.”
Glass is a fairly common substance, but making pure glass is quite troublesome.
The monocular is a minor alchemical product; without any enchanted spell runes, it’s worth about 10 Gind. If enhanced with special effects, its price could soar into the hundreds of Gind. Soren took the monocular and observed, easily spotting lizardman guards on the watchtower. The village was largely devastated, with many makeshift shelters built by lizardmen on the remains of burned houses.
“There are quite a few of them!” Soren lowered the monocular and returned it to Yas, saying in a deep voice: “The two of us probably can’t handle this. Let’s go back and report.”
The half-elf ranger nodded, stowed the monocular, and started to head back.
In wilderness adventures, having at least a 50% chance of victory is necessary to attempt action. Experienced adventurers like him wouldn’t easily attempt overly difficult challenges; after all, life is only one, and being killed or crippled wouldn’t make winning worthwhile. The more one travels the night roads, the more one will encounter ghosts; overly risky behaviors will sooner or later lead to one’s d*ath. Corpses cannot be run in this area; missing limbs during battles come at a steep price for recovery. The two of them soon returned to the rear and submitted their intelligence report.
Before long, a large man resembling an officer approached them. He wore a full suit of armor and held a steel shield, equipped with a refined longsword, leather gloves, steel bracers, and a hand crossbow. Behind him was a squad of about fifty guards from White Horse City, all uniformly equipped with iron-plated armor, iron shields, shortswords, and light crossbows. There are relatively fewer archers in White Horse City, but many crossbowmen; the light infantry can also serve as crossbowmen.
In addition, he had brought along a gray-robed wizard whose profession level couldn’t be discerned but was likely above second tier.
“Captain Hankus of the 37th Infantry Regiment of White Horse City.” The bearded man nodded at Soren and said in a deep voice: “I was sent here to clear out those lizardmen.”
Due to frequent combats, the army in this world generally lacks the possibility of slacking off.
Perhaps their discipline may become corrupt, and many may fall into the evil faction, but their combat power wouldn’t decline much.
Hankus was a man of decisive action; he gathered his soldiers and immediately instructed Soren to lead the way. Regular soldiers were generally advanced professionals, with most having a fighter level of three or higher. Hankus before them likely reached second tier, but wouldn’t exceed third tier. As a soldier within the army, his equipment was better than that of many adventurers. Although he lacked any extraordinary equipment, his full armor surpassed many low-tier extraordinary gear.
Approximately an hour or two later.
The group returned to the vicinity of the village. Hankus ordered the soldiers to rest for a moment and then asked Soren and the others: “Can you take out their sentries?”
Soren and Yas nodded and moved in from the sides.
The half-elf ranger took out his longbow, gestured to the right, and then quietly climbed a tree; he would primarily deal with the sentries. Soren then melded into the shadows, sneaking through the grass while drawing his crossbow to handle the two lizardmen at the entrance.
The army remained concealed in the woods several hundred meters away, everyone quietly waiting.
Swish, swish, swish!
A series of whizzing sounds followed as the half-elf ranger shot down the guard beside the bell tower, while Soren used his crossbow to pick off the sentry near the main gate.
“Advance!”
Upon seeing a lizardman fall from the watchtower, Hankus immediately donned his helmet, wrapping his whole body in armor, and said in a deep voice: “Wizard, break the door!”
The gray-robed wizard had an obviously displeased expression, seeming reluctant about the command.
But he quickly chanted incantations, and soon a stone golem weighing about half a ton appeared out of thin air. The stone golem advanced with heavy steps, and the White Horse City guards spread out, raising their iron shields in front, beginning to jog forward. The group moved quickly, and when they were about one hundred fifty meters from the gate, the White Horse City guards sheltered their upper bodies with shields that were one meter long and half a meter wide, simultaneously drawing their light crossbows.
There was a commotion within the village, and the lizardmen quickly noticed the enemy’s attack, with archers climbing up the watchtower.
Bang, bang, bang!
A dozen arrows were shot out, but the advance of the White Horse City guards showed no signs of slowing. The shields effectively blocked the enemy’s attacks.
The sizable stone golem hardly cared about such minor damage; it directly went to the front and slammed heavily against the village gate. Accompanied by a rumbling sound, the wooden gate was smashed in under a minute by the stone golem.
“Battle formation.” Hankus raised his steel shield, slowing his pace a bit, and shouted: “White Horse Tactics.”
The fifty-strong guard division split into ten small squares, with three infantrymen raising their shields, drawing their shortswords to charge, while two soldiers behind continued loading their crossbow bolts, shooting at the lizardmen before them. Hankus raised his shield high, and with a loud roar, he launched into the charge. Even fully armored, he reached sprinting speeds of a hundred meters, crashing into the village, sending a lizardman warrior flying with his shield.
The wizard stayed back, showing no intent to act, not even the stone golem moved from its spot.
The White Horse guards quickly took down the village gate; after continuously killing three lizardmen, Hankus withdrew to the infantry formation and shouted: “Reform the formation.”
Lizardmen kept falling one after another, as the White Horse guards raised their shields and steadily advanced, the formation strictly maintaining a small square, not rushing to chase despite the enemy’s panic and retreat. The light infantrymen with shields provided cover on the flanks, blocking with their shields while coordinating stabbing with shortswords, and soldiers behind continuously shot crossbow bolts. Occasionally someone was struck by an arrow, but their comrades quickly dragged them to the rear. Hankus too was hit by a few arrows, but the damage had no effect due to his full armor; he fired back with his crossbow, quickly raising his shield to protect his head.
After the initial chaos, the lizardman warriors began to regroup.
The archers found their damage against these shield-equipped enemies reduced significantly. Advanced lizardman warriors charged with roars.
“Defensive formation!” Hankus raised his steel shield and roared: “Charge! Shield bash!”…
The White Horse guards gathered from all sides while the light infantry put down their crossbow bolts. They raised their shields and began to advance in a horizontal line formation. When they were within thirty meters, they all let out a furious roar and then charged forward violently. These warriors protected their fronts with shields and directly crashed into the charging lizardmen.
Bang, bang, bang!
A series of dull sounds echoed as the side-covering warriors began to shrink their formation into a shield wall of ten men, coordinating to block the lizardman’s attacks while stabbing at enemies with shortswords. The lizardmen fell in large numbers, like mowing down wheat; the shortsword damage was insufficient to be fatal, with many lizardmen merely being wounded or knocked down. The frontline shield warriors continued to slowly advance, while the light infantry behind began finishing off the enemies that were not yet dead.
The fifty-man square formation resembled a wall, blocking wave after wave of lizardman counterattacks.
On the ground, there were already dozens of lizardman corpses, yet the fifty-man square remained steadfast, although three or four were injured and retreated, the formation showed no signs of panic. They did not retreat under the enemy’s fierce attacks, nor did they pursue when the enemy retreated. They pushed the lizardmen inch by inch toward the dead corner of the village.
Soren’s figure circled around the side, and the half-elf ranger quickly regrouped with him. He drew out a bone kn*fe and glanced back: “The guards of White Horse City train from militia in shield blocking, coordinating stabbing with shortswords; the level of attack from the lizardmen cannot break their formation. Let’s maneuver around and figure out a way to take out the lizardmen’s leader.”
Shouting!
A great roar came from behind. The fifty-man warriors roared simultaneously, and for every thirty steps they advanced, they would pause for a moment. The numerical advantage was only one-third of the lizardmen, yet they forced hundreds of lizardmen to retreat slowly. Any attacker charging in was either stabbed from the front or shot down by crossbow bolts. After each attack, the shield formation remained unshaken, merely leaving dozens of lizardman corpses on the ground.
The number of archers dwindled, while the light infantry, fully clad in iron-plated armor with helmets and shields, obliterated the lizardman archers with their front shots.
“Hand axes!”
Perhaps driven mad by their dire situation, a very robust lizardman warrior roared, leading over ten of his kind to charge from the side, aiming to break through the infantry formation from the slightly thinner defensive side. Hankus let out a low growl, pulling out a small hand axe from his lower back, which was less than twelve centimeters long. He twirled it in his hand and directly threw it forward. Within the infantry formation, over twenty well-trained soldiers also pulled out hand axes and threw them.
Bang, bang, bang!
The charging lizardmen fell down in half, with the foremost lizardman warrior instantly struck by five throwing axes, not even making a sound before collapsing.
The lizardmen’s morale finally broke; some warriors began to flee in fear.
From the breach of the village gate to now wasn’t even fifteen minutes; the White Horse guards had advanced five hundred steps while killing over a hundred lizardmen, with less than seven of them injured, mostly from arrows. The frontal assault hadn’t let a single enemy break through their formation; some foolish lizardmen jumped into the formation, but before they landed, they were instantly stabbed to d*ath.
This was nothing short of a massacre!
A merciless slaughter of an organized army against a disorganized mob.
