Chapter 119 - 96: The Legion’s First Battle
Chapter 119: Chapter 96: The Legion’s First Battle
Lin Yu didn’t wait long at the entrance to the arena’s Teleportation Array before Phantom arrived with a large group of soldiers.
He was still chewing on something nonstop. Moon Shadow followed behind him, a resentful look on her face as she stared at him, holding a half-eaten breakfast in her hand. From the looks of it, she wouldn’t let Phantom off the hook until he finished his meal.
"My lord, the Third Legion is assembled!"
"Let’s go. We’re heading in. Bring your wife with you."
"But, my lord..."
"It’s fine. This Teleportation Array has no limit on the number of people. One or two more won’t matter."
"Also, I just checked. The arena now has a public broadcast function. Once we’re inside, I’ll turn it on during the legion’s battle. The residents of the territory will be able to watch a live broadcast of the fight."
...
The group stepped into the Teleportation Gate and arrived at the Eternal Battlefield’s rookie Training Camp.
The rookie Training Camp was already bustling with people. Compared to the morning, when it was just curious lords who had come to see what was new, there were now many fully armed soldiers—the legion troops brought in by the lords.
Due to the large number of soldiers, most lords chose to rent an exclusive space in the Training Camp—a Lord’s Army Lounge.
The lounge was quite spacious. It was large enough to fit more than ten legions the size of Lin Yu’s ten-thousand-man army.
Moreover, the lounge provided plenty of food and drink, all completely free.
It also offered some training equipment, giving the legion soldiers a place to warm up.
Furthermore, the lounge was also a place to resurrect soldiers, requiring only a small payment of War Gold Coins or battle points.
War Gold Coins could be exchanged for territory resources. However, common resources (wood, stone, ordinary iron ore, coal, etc.) yielded fewer Gold Coins, while specialty goods, Energy Crystals, and Elemental Crystals could be exchanged for more.
Since he had just entered the Training Camp and hadn’t participated in any battles yet, Lin Yu had no points. However, he had come prepared, bringing some Elemental Crystals with him. He exchanged them for some Gold Coins at the exchange counter and then led his subordinates into the lounge.
Then, after the legion warmed up briefly in the lounge, Lin Yu had Phantom go and register.
Before long, Lin Yu received a notification.
"Lord ’ID 3166146007,’ please prepare. Your first battle will begin in three minutes."
"Alright, everyone, get ready! It’s about to start!" At a signal from Lin Yu, Phantom began to assemble the troops.
"Pay attention! Follow your training. Everyone listen to your squad leaders’ commands. Don’t act on your own. Individual heroism won’t work on the battlefield."
...
Three minutes passed in a flash.
When the time was up, the legion was teleported out of the lounge.
At the same time, a massive screen unfolded in the lounge.
The image on the screen was from a bird’s-eye view, allowing one to see both sides simultaneously.
The battlefield was a plain. The two legions stood on opposite sides, their figures visible in the distance.
Opposite the Third Legion from Lin Yu’s territory was a very typical Human Lord, one who still relied on cold-weapon warfare.
Leading the charge were Sword and Shield Soldiers. Behind their shield formation were spearmen, followed by Archers. Large numbers of Cavalry flanked the army, and Casters like Mages were positioned in the center of the legion.
This configuration was very traditional, and also the most versatile.
After entering the field and forming up, they began to advance slowly toward Lin Yu’s position.
The troops were well-organized, exuding a palpable sense of pressure. The Cavalry started to break off to the sides, circling around the plain toward the Third Legion’s rear. It was obviously an attempt at a sneak attack.
On Lin Yu’s side, the Highly Poisonous Bees flew low, hugging the grass as they scattered and headed for the enemy. Due to their small size, the enemy didn’t notice these scouts.
(Highly Poisonous Bees, 20 units count as 1 population, so a considerable number can be brought along.)
The bees soon arrived within the enemy’s formation.
With a BUZZ, they seized the opportunity and attacked five different types of enemy soldiers.
"Ah~"
"Agh~"
...
Cries of alarm rose one after another. The attacked enemy soldiers all experienced varying degrees of paralysis.
This caused a series of disturbances in the enemy’s orderly formation.
"What’s wrong? What’s happening?" a man who looked like an officer shouted.
"Sir, there are bees, and they’re poisonous."
"A lot of the men have been stung!"
"It’s just bees?"
"Yes, sir."
"You’re making a fuss over nothing! I thought the enemy was attacking. Hurry up and get back in formation! How can a few measly bees throw you into such chaos?"
The officer was furious and began to reprimand them loudly. "Mages, repel the bees. Just keep them from getting close."
The Mages in the ranks cast a wide-area Magic spell to repel wild animals.
This Magic simulated an aura that wild animals disliked, causing most to stay far away from such an area.
But the Highly Poisonous Bees weren’t wild animals; they were true soldiers and were naturally unaffected.
However, to mislead the enemy, most of them flew away, leaving only a few bees to circle above the enemy formation without attacking again.
From the reactions and paralysis effects of the enemy soldiers during the previous attack, they had already confirmed one thing: the quality and level of these soldiers were not very high, at least not compared to their own.
Having obtained this information, they sent the intelligence back for the legion’s commander to make a decision.
The commander of the Third Legion was a Withered Messenger named Amuti Goodwin. He was the first Withered Messenger recruited in the territory. Of course, he had also lived up to expectations; his level was the highest among the Withered Messengers, and he was intelligent. He had always served as the captain of the Withered Messengers and was now entrusted with the important role of legion commander.
"The bees’ reconnaissance shows that the enemy soldiers are ordinary. Our bees are of Excellent grade, which means the enemy is at most Excellent grade."
"In that case, we don’t need to go all out."
Amuti thought for a moment, then divided the troops into three sections. The Steel-backed Porcupines were at the very front to lead the charge, followed by the Spiny Porcupines a short distance behind, and finally the Withered Messengers.
The Highly Poisonous Bees and Shadow Reapers spread out around the legion, ready to attack at any moment.
With no more interference, the enemy army moved quickly, arriving not far from the Third Legion in a short while.
"Report! Enemy troops spotted! They’re led by a squad of Porcupine-men, followed by a group of porcupines, and at the very back are a bunch of Scarecrows."
The commander: "..."
’What the hell, how did I run into such a bizarre army in the very first battle?’ he silently complained in his mind.
The commander suppressed the urge to complain that was bubbling up inside him and asked, "You didn’t see any other types of troops?"
"Report, none spotted."
"Then, did you notice any special circumstances? Like anything unusual about the environment?"
"Report, sir, no."
"How many troops do they have in total?"
"6,000 to 7,000."
The commander looked up at the Highly Poisonous Bees in the sky. His intuition told him these bees were not simple, so he asked, "Are there many bees on the other side?"
"Report, not many. There are bees all over the prairie."
After hearing the scout’s reply, the commander set aside his doubts. "Alright, continue scouting."
The commander glanced at the approaching Porcupine-men in the distance. Although he found it a bit strange that the enemy had come in without a full roster, it didn’t affect his decision. He ordered, "Sword and Shield Soldiers, advance 50 paces and form up!"
"Archers, prepare! Once the enemy enters range, attack their Porcupine-men."
"Mages, be ready for any unexpected situations."
When most of the Steel-backed Porcupines had walked into the Archers’ range, the Archers immediately began a volley fire.
A great black cloud of arrows soared into the air, heading toward the Steel-backed Porcupines.
These Archers had a long range, firing from over 500 meters away, yet their accuracy was extremely high. They were clearly elites.
Seeing the incoming arrows, the Steel-backed Porcupines turned around one by one, faced away from the volley, and then continued to walk slowly toward the enemy formation.
CLINK, CLINK, CLINK~
A barrage of arrows struck the Steel-backed Porcupines’ backs, making the sound of metal being struck. All the arrows that hit the Steel-backed Porcupines snapped and fell to the ground.
The arrow attacks began to charge the Steel-backed Porcupines. Spines grew out one after another and, with a SWOOSH, shot toward the nearest Shield Soldiers.
"Raise shields~~"
The commander among the Sword and Shield Soldiers shouted.
The Sword and Shield Soldiers raised their shields, overlapping them to form a shield wall.
THUD, THUD, THUD~
Just as the shield wall was formed, the spines from the Steel-backed Porcupines’ backs shot over.
The Sword and Shield Soldiers felt the force transmitted through their hands, and their faces changed in unison.
"The Sword and Shield Soldiers say they can’t hold?"
The commander listened to the message from the Messenger in disbelief.
He didn’t even need to get a closer look. Just by watching the Steel-backed Porcupines advancing without the slightest pause, he knew those Porcupine-men had taken almost no damage.
"Archers, cease fire! Mages, launch a collective attack on the enemy Porcupine-men."
The commander immediately adjusted his strategy, trying to find a weakness in the enemy.
The Mages launched multi-colored Elemental Arrows. They flew through the sky together, beautiful and deadly.
Unfortunately, the Steel-backed Porcupine’s damage reduction didn’t differentiate between physical and magical attacks. Its reduction mechanism first applied a 70% reduction from "Energy-Absorbing Steel Back," followed by a reduction from its back’s 10x defense. Only the remaining damage after these two layers was actually dealt to them.
Moreover, all of this mitigated damage was converted into energy, charging their backs.
And so, another wave of spines flew toward the Blade and Shield Soldiers (it couldn’t be helped; the Steel-backed Porcupines’ range was limited).
THUD, THUD~ SQUELCH~
This time, some of the Blade and Shield Soldiers couldn’t completely block the incoming spines, which pierced through their shields and stabbed into their bodies.
Streams of blood flowed out along the spines. Due to their special structure, the spines fired by the Steel-backed Porcupines caused continuous bleeding damage.
Before the blood could even drip to the ground, it all disappeared. It was absorbed by the spines and used to replenish the Steel-backed Porcupines, restoring their lost health.
The health that the Steel-backed Porcupines had lost was once again fully restored.