NOVEL NEXT Chapter 415: Oblique Attack Tactics
The swirling winds tore through the grey mist, the smoke entwined around these black-armored knights, as if devils were breathing.
The black flood smashed through the smoke-made wall, the warhorses let out resounding neighs, and the emblems of Armand and Prince Kongdai flapped fiercely on the battle flags.
Nearly in the blink of an eye, they charged up to the militia's front.
"Imperial command! Long spears, long spears!" Kollen shouted out a jumbled command incoherently.
Though the city militia was exhausted, faced with the threat of life and death, they performed with unprecedented efficiency.
The robust militia rushed to the front, raising heavy oak shields, while the second and third rows were long spear soldiers, two rows of spears slantingly pointed at these terrifying Extraordinary Knights.
Beside them, two new recruits from the Black Hat Army, under the officers' leadership, formed a 10x10 phalanx.
At the officers' curses, the recruits held their 3.5-meter-long spears, actually tilting their bodies to aim at the charging knights.
They placed their right foot forward, left foot back, using their right hand as a pivot, gripping the spear's butt with the left, in a labor-saving lever stance pointing the tips at the charging knights.
In such a tense scene, these recruits still muttered to themselves:
"Sincerely thank Saint Son Horn for granting charms to protect my body, endless gratitude, blessings to the Saint Master and Saint Son!"
All of them wore charms around their necks, said to be consecrated by Horn; before setting out, Armand told them at mass that with these charms, they would be invulnerable to swords and spears.
But if you're not devout, deceiving the Holy Father and Saint Master and Saint Son, then the charm would be useless.
This forest of spears couldn't strike any fear into the Extraordinary Knights; on the contrary, they laughed heartily.
They had seen such scenes too many times.
The outcome for every resistance was utter death!
The warm wind blew the hanging tassel feathers on the helmet tightly against its top as Armand lay prone on the horse's back, the knight's longsword cutting through the air with a sharp explosive sound.
Having fed beans and forage containing potions, under the blessing of divine art, a faint red glow emanated from the eyes within the gaps of the horse's armor, and each step of the hoof caused light and shadow to flicker.
"Stand firm, don't move!" Brune's roar sounded numb and mechanical.
But compared to Kollen beside him, shrieking piercingly, such performance could be considered rather good.
At the moment of collision, it was as if there was a bright light; everyone closed their eyes, though many lost the chance to open them again.
When the hard horse armor struck their bodies, the overwhelming force turned into tangible pain, oak shields splintered, and spear shafts exploded like shattering.
In a series of screams, seven or eight militia were knocked flying in the air.
Even mid-air, you could see their heads tilted, eyes rounded, necks, and ribs all broken, grim white bones even piercing through the skin.
They rolled across the ground, stopping only after crashing into rocks and trees, twitching and falling silent.
A fortunately not dead armored soldier supported himself on the ground, trying to stand, but as he raised his head, a heavy hoof stomped down onto him.
His head caved in under the pressure, thick blood spewed from his mouth and nose simultaneously, and the blue veins at his temple spouted fine streams of blood like water guns.
"Saint Master's protection! All you devil's believers, go to Fire Prison." Armand's knight sword waltzed, drawing arc after arc, with blood forming rings that danced outward.
The longsword slashed left and right; the city militia, on contact, could only watch the incoming longsword in horror, the next moment, beneath the blood-red sky.
Dozens of iron horses cleaved through the formation of a thousand militia like waves, under iron hooves, torrents of blood rushed out in a V-shape.
Heads and white bones were scattered to the sides, with Armand and the Imperial Knights frantically hacking.
Until Armand felt the resistance from his warhorse suddenly lightened, he realized he had slaughtered through these militia.
"Hahahahaha—This is more like it, this is more like it!" Armand laughed ferociously, this is what a knight should be, this is the way a knight should act.
Sitting there dumbly, being beaten down, never belonged to noble knights.
"Do you know what a Titled Knight is?" Armand laughed madly, raising his knight sword, "The Imperial command is the directive of the Saint Master, originating from the Saint Knights of the Saint Master's era issuing commands.
A Titled Knight is a Saint Knight with a name, our names engraved on the Saint Master's eyelids, we are the Saint Master's blade and War God."
Raising his hand, he shaved off half the head of a fleeing militiaman, Armand poured a potion into his mouth, steam rising from his cheeks.
"Pass it on, I've broken the enemy's right wing, the supply wagons shouldn't be too far in the center army, everyone advance, use slanting tactics!"
......
"Your Eminence, should we send someone to support?" The miserable screams rising behind made Qianqian couldn't help but ask in a low voice.
"No need." Horn rode on horseback, his gaze firmly fixed on the mist, "Don't stop."
In the smoke that obscured vision, the swirling air currents twisted and turned, muddling the battlefield's atmosphere, sometimes clear, sometimes blurry.
Beyond the grey mist, black shadows swayed back and forth, yet clearer than before, flashes of lightning representing white light lit up the mist now and then.
Horses' legs crisscrossed in the mist, the raised dust again muddled the entire battlefield a bit more.
Besides Horn, the Salvation Army infantry who had been advancing with charging steps had somehow switched to fast-paced marching.
From the start of the march until now, within five minutes, they had first moved over 200 meters west, then 100 meters northeast.
Too fast, this speed was quite fast even for the Empire's infantry, they could only maintain such speed when charging.
Most importantly, they even managed to maintain formation and orderly ranks!
In these five minutes, even the opponent's light cavalry hadn't reacted; otherwise, given the knights' nature, they should have chased by now.
Horn even wanted to thank this mist, initially meant to obscure his fireball crossbow's firing vision, yet now it became a helper concealing his moves.
But correspondingly, even with a spyglass, Horn couldn't determine the opponent's whereabouts, only sure that the opponent was slowly moving southward.
That's why Horn suddenly changed direction, marching northeast.
The previously diamond-shaped battle formation now turned into two-man columns, long spears and the armed swords at their waists clashing into each other, making crisp sounds.
The smell of burnt stubble filled the air along with the grey daylight, causing many war monks to cover their noses and squint their eyes.
This was actually a very risky action, but to ensure an orderly march, it had to be done.
Riding the horse, Horn entered the state of war, his entire face seemed like it was paralyzed, giving the first impression of being tired and weary, no expressions at all.
After all, in such tense moments, life and death crucial moments, everyone's tense, everyone's fighting with all their might, should Horn smile?
"How's Jeanne's side?"
"I haven't heard any gunshots since just now, probably the two short guns are out of ammo." Hakuto rode on horseback, "But the sacred power shouldn't be exhausted yet."
"Almost." Putting away the spyglass, Horn drew Blood Covering Cloud, "Tell Jeanne to come back, rewind the holy guns, the entire army switch to normal step, ready to engage enemy knights at any time."
"Do we really not need to reinforce Xiaochi City's militia?" Qianqian lowered her voice to ask, "Your two new recruits' corps are still there."
"No need."
"But..."
"You heard me, don't waste time."
Unlike usual, in war, Horn's heart was as hard as ice, even his closest veteran subordinates like Qianqian felt a chill in their hearts.