Chapter 120 - 97: Victory in the First Battle
Chapter 120: Chapter 97: Victory in the First Battle
"Mage squad, cease fire!"
"Long Spear Soldiers, advance fifty paces."
"Blade and Shield Soldiers, once the Long Spear Soldiers are in position, cover them as they attack the enemy Porcupine-men."
The commander adjusted his strategy once more. Since ranged attacks triggered the Porcupine-men’s flying quills, he would switch to a melee assault.
...
As the Long Spear Soldiers moved up behind the Blade and Shield Soldiers, they prepared to adjust their formation.
The Steel-backed Porcupines had also drawn near and began to actively channel their energy.
Stimulated by the energy, barbs rapidly grew out one after another, then flew with a WHOOSH toward the Blade and Shield Soldiers and the Long Spear Soldiers behind them.
Because the distance was so short, the barbs reached the Blade and Shield and Long Spear Soldier ranks in an instant.
THWIP! THWIP!
The sound of barbs sinking into flesh rose and fell across the field. The Blade and Shield Soldiers fared better; they had been watching the Steel-backed Porcupines’ every move and had already formed a shield wall. Just like before, only a few had their shields pierced.
But the Long Spear Soldiers were unprepared. They had been ordered forward to attack under the Blade and Shield Soldiers’ cover.
They never expected to be ambushed by a ranged attack just as they were getting into position, before they could even adjust their formation. While not fatal, the injuries were numerous, and the barbs stuck in their bodies cut their combat effectiveness by more than half.
"Mages, cast a group heal on the Long Spear and Blade and Shield Soldiers."
Seeing the tragic state of his front line, the commander had no choice but to have the Mages heal them. Otherwise, with their combat effectiveness crippled, forcing them to advance would be pointless.
Mages served multiple roles—healing, crowd control, damage output, and support. Their Mana was limited, so every spell cast had to be carefully considered.
After receiving healing from the rear, the Long Spear Soldiers rallied their spirits, joined with the Blade and Shield Soldiers, and adjusted their formation.
Under the cover of the Blade and Shield Soldiers, they broke into smaller square formations. Some engaged the Steel-backed Porcupines to pin them down, while others moved quickly, preparing to circle around for a frontal assault.
’Well now, the enemy commander is pretty smart. It only took him a few probes to figure out he needs to attack the Steel-backed Porcupines from the front?’
’A pity. The difference in our stats is enormous. Even if they attack from the front, they’re not guaranteed a win.’
’Besides, what does he take us for? Decorations?’
The enemy commander’s act of ignoring him and his troops made Amuti very angry.
"Spiny Porcupines, rotating volleys! Let those who ignore us have a taste of your firepower."
Waves of quills immediately flew from the Spiny Porcupines’ ranks. The quills on their backs also possessed extreme piercing power. Though they couldn’t inflict progressively worsening damage like the barbs of the Steel-backed Porcupines, the harm they caused was still considerable.
THUD THUD THUD! THWIP! THWIP!
A continuous stream of quills rained down on the Blade and Shield Soldier and Long Spear Soldier formations.
The Blade and Shield Soldiers immediately raised their shields to receive the baptism of the quill rain.
The Blade and Shield Soldiers in the center of the formation, who held their shields toward the sky, were hit by the most quills.
In less than a minute, their shields were bristling with quills and severely damaged.
Then, the follow-up volleys began to break through the shields. One quill, then two... until the shields were completely destroyed, exposing the men in the center of the formation to the rain of quills.
"Aaargh!"
"Help me!"
Screams of pain erupted from within the formation.
The Steel-backed Porcupines also began to exert their power, continuously channeling the energy within their bodies to their backs. (Having learned the "Sun and Moon Breathing Technique" and the "Star Technique," the energy within their bodies had increased dramatically, as had their recovery speed.)
At the same time, from the enemy formations behind them, Long Spear Soldiers thrusted continuously through gaps in the shield wall. The energy absorbed from this reduced damage also gathered on their backs, accelerating the growth rate of their barbs.
Sheets of barbs shot from their backs, the deepening wounds breaking through the Blade and Shield Soldier formations behind them. The Long Spear Soldiers within those ranks were also struck, crying out in pain.
A few small formations managed to get in front of the Steel-backed Porcupines, and the Long Spear Soldiers within them thrusted at the creatures’ faces.
The Steel-backed Porcupines under frontal assault used one arm to protect their faces and the other to claw at the shield wall before them. When they couldn’t pull it apart, they smashed it with heavy fists, the immense force making the shield wall tremble violently.
The Long Spear Soldiers’ attacks had a piercing effect that could ignore some defense, and they managed to inflict some damage on the Steel-backed Porcupines. However, the barbs fired from the Porcupines’ backs siphoned back a good deal of health, nullifying the damage they had taken.
Seeing that his Blade and Shield Soldiers and Long Spear Soldiers were helpless against the Porcupine-men, getting beaten into submission and on the verge of collapse, the enemy commander had no choice but to order the Archers and Mages to attack as well, intending to break through the enemy’s defense with a massive barrage.
A rain of arrows and Elemental Arrows fell on the backs of the Steel-backed Porcupines, who were not alarmed but delighted.
After absorbing this wave of damage and fueling it with their own energy, the Steel-backed Porcupines directly launched a triple-volley of barbs.
Each time a Steel-backed Porcupine fired, it launched a full back’s worth of barbs—nearly a hundred of them. These three consecutive, non-stop waves instantly turned the formations behind them into pincushions. The men within were no exception; once their defenses were breached, their entire bodies were riddled with barbs.
The enemy formations instantly disintegrated. Tattered shields studded with barbs littered the ground, which was now covered with twitching bodies. They were bleeding out, and without rescue, they would soon be dead.
Without the formations at their rear pinning them down, the Steel-backed Porcupines could turn freely. The efforts of the Blade and Shield and Long Spear Soldier formations that had circled to their front were now completely in vain.
The Steel-backed Porcupines weren’t worried about the arrows and Elemental Arrows coming from the enemy’s rear. They just needed to bend over, grab their feet, and curl into a ball to block most of the damage with their backs.
These ranged attacks, in turn, provided them with energy, and the barbs they generated were fired directly at the formations that had circled to their front.
These flanking formations were utterly doomed. Not only did they have to endure the ranged quill attacks from the Spiny Porcupines, but they also had to face the barb attacks from the Steel-backed Porcupines, and sometimes even their iron fists from the front. Meanwhile, their own attacks only inflicted minimal damage, which was then immediately negated by the Porcupines’ life-leeching ability.
After being pincered from front and back for several minutes, and as more and more formations were broken, these remaining units finally collapsed. (Morale had dropped to a critical level.)
They broke formation and fled in disarray toward the Archers and Mages in the rear.
The commander, watching from a distance, saw this unfold. Unwilling to accept defeat, he ordered the Archers and Mages to fall back while continuing to attack, kiting the Porcupine-men. At the same time, he sent a message urging the Cavalry to abandon their flanking maneuver and instead charge and break the Spiny Porcupine formation. Finally, he went to rally the routed soldiers himself, gathering them to form a defensive line in front of the Archers and Mages.
Amuti watched the enemy commander begin to kite the Steel-backed Porcupines and nodded in approval.
Kiting them from a distance was the best way to deal with Steel-backed Porcupines, as the range of their back-shot barbs wasn’t very long—not as long as the Spiny Porcupines’ quills, nor most other ranged units.
Of course, that strategy could kill them, if they were alone.
However, this was a battle between armies. The Steel-backed Porcupines had teammates.
Amuti commanded the Spiny Porcupines to follow the Steel-backed Porcupines, allowing them to attack the enemy’s ranged units under the protection of their heavily armored comrades.
Not long after the order was given, the sound of hoofbeats came from the side.
CLIP-CLOP! CLIP-CLOP!
Several hundred meters away, the enemy Cavalry galloped past, charging toward the Spiny Porcupines.
The quality of this Cavalry was truly high. They headed straight for their target, not even sparing a glance for the large group of Scarecrows.
This time, Amuti was genuinely angry.
"Those Cavalry dare to ignore us!!!"
"Highly Poisonous Bees, sting their horses!"
"Shadow Reapers, once they’re off their horses, kill them."
The Highly Poisonous Bees flew up from the tall grass, caught up with the Cavalry, and began attacking their mounts.
The startled horses were about to bolt in all directions, but the riders immediately used their equestrian skills to bring them under control.
The panicked horses stopped bucking, but now they couldn’t even walk. After being attacked by the Highly Poisonous Bees, a paralyzing toxin rapidly spread through their bodies, leaving them completely immobilized.
The cavalrymen whipped their horses several times but found they truly couldn’t move. Puzzled, they dismounted, trying to figure out what was happening.
In that instant, a figure shot out from the nearby grass, slit a throat with a single slash, and then vanished back into the brush without a trace.
"Assassins!!"
"Watch out, there are assassins!"
Other cavalrymen nearby saw this and immediately shouted a warning to the others.
The cavalrymen drew their sabers and scanned their surroundings warily. The prairie grass was not short, standing about a meter tall. While not high enough to completely submerge a person, it was still easy to hide in. Combined with the stealth and invisibility abilities of the Shadow Reapers, the cavalrymen couldn’t find any sign of the assassins.
Instead, the sporadic screams that rang out caused the cavalrymen’s morale to plummet.
"No, I have to get out of here! There are devils here!!!"
One cavalryman couldn’t take it anymore. He jumped onto his horse, trying to flee, but the mount was still paralyzed and couldn’t move. Because he had let his guard down, he was easily killed by a Shadow Reaper.
Seeing this, the other cavalrymen grew even more panicked. They screamed, swinging their sabers wildly and hacking at the surrounding grass, venting their fear like madmen. A few tried to run back to the main army on their own, but they were all reaped by the Shadow Reapers waiting at the perimeter.
The enemy commander watched his Cavalry fall into the trap. He wanted to send his soldiers to rescue them, but they were driven back by a rain of quills and barbs from the Spiny and Steel-backed Porcupines. Helpless, he could only watch from afar as his cavalrymen stopped in the tall grass and then vanished one by one.
With the Cavalry gone, the Shadow Reapers and Highly Poisonous Bees silently closed in on the enemy’s remaining forces.
The enemy’s ranged troops were already at a disadvantage in their long-range duel with the Porcupines. When the Shadow Reapers entered the fray to disrupt their formation and the Highly Poisonous Bees secretly paralyzed them, they were quickly and cleanly wiped out.