Chapter 402: 402
The allied army from the island states of the eastern sea was a regular force . When the death toll reached close to two-thousand people, a group of three brigades of soldiers had been convened . Each of them held onto a shield as they charged towards the Caucasus warriors . They knew that it was impossible for them to catch the guys on the magic wolves using their legs . They just needed to chase them out of the effective range .
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The low ranking commander formed his own team and gathered them towards the high ranking commander . Even though there was quite a huge number of casualties, he still had about ten-thousand men with him . As long as they could charge up the shore, the situation could be reversed .
As the Caucasus warriors noticed the six-hundred man team approaching them, their expressions remained serene as the metallic arrows were ejected . The archery skills of the Caucasus people were astounding . From a distance of eight-hundred meters, their accuracy was about thirty percent . With every ten metallic arrows fired, at least one person would be killed . If the other injured enemies were not treated, they would also quickly bleed to death .
The Caucasus people were forced by their circumstances to hone their archery skills . The production of metals in the Caucasus region was low, so the moment a Caucasus person learnt archery, they would be extremely meticulous and calculative . Now that Saleen had prepared their favorite metallic arrows and told them to fire at will, the Caucasus people were no longer burdened .
"Sir Saleen is so rich . These metallic arrows could be considered to be beginner alchemical arrows already, and yet they were fired like they were gravel . The Caucasus people were feeling the pinch . "
The shield-holding infantrymen were holding onto large wooden shields which could stop the metallic arrows effectively . The Caucasus people did not even give a hoot about them . In order to maintain their formation, the infantrymen advanced slowly . They would need to walk for quite some time to cover a distance of eight-hundred meters . All this while, the four magic beast swordsmen did not take any action . At this point in time, they then grabbed the alchemical crossbows which were suspended at the sides of their skeletal warhorses . After fitting the alchemical crossbows with magic nucleii, they took aim at the approaching infantrymen and fired an arrow .
The four magic beast swordsmen were wielding authentic alchemical crossbows . Usually, these devices were installed onto a frame or positioned in a fortress, in order to obstruct the enemy's charging iron cavaliers . As the infantrymen were holding onto wooden shields, these shields simply broke under the impact by the alchemical arrows . Three of the soldiers at the rear died . The only soldier who did not die was actually more unfortunate . His right arm was penetrated by the alchemical arrow, causing his shoulder bone to be smashed into smithereens .
In such a setting, no one would care about him . In fact, he would have to die a more painful way, and that was to wait for death .
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That being said, the allied army could not be blamed . It's not that they could not afford metal shields . They were journeying a long way, the number of soldiers aboard the ships had to be maximized, so not much heavy equipment was brought along . Originally, this army contained a huge number of mages too . Even though the mages were not at a high grade, there were many magic chariots available for use . Under the protection by a magic chariot, the infantrymen would be able to resist a barrage of arrows more easily . Once the enemy launched an arrow, the mage situated on the magic chariot would cast the Wild Wind Spell to blow the arrow away .
When the four magic beast swordsmen noticed that their alchemical crossbows were effective, they chuckled in response . They put away their alchemical crossbows . When the shield-holding infantrymen were only one-hundred meters away, the magic beast swordsmen then said to the Caucasus warriors, "Let's fall back . "
The Caucasus warriors heard the message and put away their longbows . Then, they turned their rides around and retreated slowly . When the infantrymen saw that their enemy who was riding on magic wolves had retreated, they heaved a sigh of relief . All of them came to a halt, placing their wooden shields in position . They had no intention of giving chase, because they could not . The three brigades of infantrymen then prepared their bows and arrows . The range of their arrows were extremely short, and they did not have the ability to destroy armor . There was no choice though, the premium bows and arrows were sealed in the crates, and they had sunk with the ship .
The premium bows and arrows were vulnerable to corrosion by the moisture of the sea . They would not be distributed to the soldiers before arrival . The soldiers were still using the commonly seen soft bows, which had a short range and cheap manufacturing costs . Be that as it may, these soft bows were only gathered after much effort . In all that chaos, it was already very onerous to obtain so many soft bows .
After retreating for over two-hundred meters, the magic wolf cavalrymen stopped abruptly .
"Brethren, let's change our weapons," the Caucasus leader ordered . The four magic beast swordsmen were simply keeping the team in formation, they were not the leaders . Saleen did not want to make the Caucasus people feel uncomfortable . Their function was to kill any grand swordmaster who might be present in the enemy's army, so that the Caucasus people would not die unnecessarily .
Every single Caucasus person urged their magic wolves and charged towards the shield formation held together by the soldiers . By this time, the soldiers from the Eastern Sea Allied Army had already held up their lances behind the wooden shields . Seeing that the enemy was charging over, the commander of the infantrymen was jubilant .
A cavalryman might be more ferocious than an infantryman, but the fighting technique had to be taken into consideration as well . If the cavalrymen were charging into a strict formation formed by the infantrymen, the cavalrymen would suffer huge losses too . This was especially if the infantrymen were wielding lances which were over four meters long . By charging recklessly, the cavalrymen would be seriously injured even if they were clad in heavy armor .
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The Caucasus people hollered . Over a distance of one-hundred meters, the magic wolves could attain maximum velocity . The Caucasus people executed a uniformed action, they grabbed a small axe which hung by the side of their magic wolves and tossed it .
Every adult Caucasus person had an ax . Their flying axes were a favorite among mercenaries, because they contained immense offensive power and were cheap to deploy compared to a mage . Borrowing momentum from the charging of the wolves, the flying axes gave off a horrifying whiz and destroyed the wooden shields . Endless screams of excruciation filled the air, as the front row of soldiers got slaughtered . After the second round of flying axes were tossed, the soldiers simply broke down . They ignored their comrades and fled towards the sea, abandoning over three-hundred bodies .
The commander got lucky, he did not get struck by any of the flying axes . He was dumbfounded as he stared at the scene before him . A wooden shield might not be as sturdy as a metal shield, yet a tiny ax could smash it into shreds and even slice the head of the soldier behind it . "Where did these people come from? Why are they so strong?"
It must be noted that once a wooden shield was wrapped in beast skin, it could withstand a hit from a heavy weapon, even though it remained vulnerable against an alchemical crossbow . Those flying axes were not even heavy weapons . They weighed only a few catties, almost as heavy as a normal war blade . It was still these exact flying axes, which after two rounds of barrage, had caused his soldiers to collapse .
Saleen got pretty lucky . The allied army's ships had carried quite a sizeable quantity of heavy equipment, sufficient to form genuine heavy infantrymen already . Due to the rapid assault from the alchemical boat, these things had sunk with the warships even before they could be unpacked .
Items such as the magic chariots, heavy crossbows, various war puppets, and the large flying puppets had sunk together with the warships . Each of these items could easily solve the problems the soldiers were facing . They did not have the time to salvage all this equipment though .
If only the black-robed mage was present . The black-robed mage, together with four grade-6 grand mages from the mage's platoon, had been lured away by the three kings .
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Without the black-robed mage, the mage's platoon still contained forty people . Four grade-6 mages, eight grade-5 mages, twelve grade-4 mages and sixteen grade-3 mages .
This platoon could adequately deal with a team of only twenty-thousand people . On the other hand, the other mages who were below grade-3 could steer the magic chariots . That way, every brigade would enjoy the assistance of a mage .
The allied army should have come ashore long ago, but the climate on the frozen layer was too terrible . The magic chariots could not be assembled yet, they could only stay in the cabin . If the alchemical boat did not launch that attack, then the soldiers would have an additional day to assemble all the magic chariots .
A magic chariot was not some rare toy . This thing was like a portable magic tower, it could provide a stable elemental environment for mages . It also boosted their magic power . A magic chariot also carried an unspecified number of magic arrays . Once a few magic chariots were merged, a large-scale spell could be cast .
The Qin Empire had a number of magic chariots . It was tough assembling these machines, however, and it was very challenging to deploy them in a field battle . After assembly, a magic chariot was very prone to wear-and-tear, its consumption was also immense . As a result, a magic chariot would only make its appearance in the event of a decisive battle or a siege .
In some sense, the function of a magic chariot was similar to that of a portable battlement, though it was extremely difficult to transport them around . With that being said, their prices were poles apart .
In order to ensure the capabilities of a magic chariot, it would be sealed in a special crate, and only be unpacked upon arrival at the destination . The cost of protecting the magic chariots would bring many headaches to the commanders, otherwise .
The retreated allied soldiers witnessed a scene which sent chills down their spine . Those wolf-riding people had walked to their original position and picked up the axes calmly . Their magic wolves chewed at the necks of those soldiers who were not dead yet .
At this moment, the allied army still had dozens of grand mages on their team . They actually had twenty grand mages . Four had left with the black-robed mage, while there were two unlucky ones who were trapped in the bottom cabin and did not manage to escape . Their cabin was directly hit, causing large amounts of seawater to gush in in that instant .
The Caucasus people picked up their axes and wiped off the blood, then they hung them back at the side of their magic wolves . Even though this short ax was only a few catties heavy, it was impossible to bring too many along . On this trip, Saleen only allowed each person to bring two axes .
After putting away the axes, the Caucasus people took out their longbows once more . They then fired the remaining arrows in their quivers .
Saleen's warring technique was very palatable to the Caucasus people . It was no wonder then that the great priestess was full of praises for this mage . A simple warring technique had caused the enemy to suffer huge losses .
Had it been a head-on battle, the Caucasus people were confident of killing over two-hundred enemies . They would definitely suffer casualties in the process . On the battlefield, even the weakest enemy would have a chance of killing a person unless one was a high grade grand swordmaster . It was also impossible for a grand swordmaster to remain unharmed in a large-scale war . In a situation whereby the enemies were in the surrounding, the function of swordsmanship would be limited . When tens of thousands of people clashed with one another, a soldier required some luck, other than his skills which were honed daily .
The four-hundred Caucasus people emptied their quivers . Thereafter, they rode on their magic wolves and patrolled the grounds a few times in a provocative manner before turning to leave . By this time, the surviving soldiers from the warships had gathered . The commanders had also converged in front of the general to receive further orders .
In front of more than a thousand bodies and many more injured soldiers, the general was beyond distressed . He did not expect his expedition to wind up like this . All of the warships in his possession had sunk, while there were two other seized warships floating on the sea . Those ships were operated differently from his, so it was impossible for him to use them to escape .