Chapter 180 - 164: Will to Fight
Chapter 180: Chapter 164: Will to Fight
Under the adjutant’s command, hundreds of Wolf Cavalry had already gathered. Despite this, the adjutant didn’t dare relax for even a moment.
He had just seen it with his own eyes—the enemy had fully armored Heavy Cavalry! And their numbers were by no means small!
A charge from just a few dozen Heavy Cavalry would be all it took. His lightly armored Soldiers would be completely unable to resist.
The slightest misstep, and the formation they had just organized would be instantly shattered.
Just as the adjutant had anticipated, upon seeing his actions, Claude went directly to rally the Heavy Cavalry from the Knight Team.
This was where the effects of Robson’s earlier military reforms became apparent. Although the Knights had largely scattered after charging into the camp, each going their own way, they had largely remained within their designated squads.
Having gathered forty or fifty men, Claude looked at the enemy formation growing ever stronger and knew he could wait no longer.
Claude had the Cavalry deliberately pull back, even exiting the Beastmen camp. Only after creating a gap of nearly a mile did they begin their charge.
"Charge! For the kingdom! For Gold Coins!" Claude roared.
In his wake, dozens of fully armed Heavy Cavalry raised their lances and followed closely behind.
The massive warhorses thundered across the ground, making the very earth groan. A rumbling like thunder rolled out in all directions.
Just as the adjutant had feared, Claude led the Heavy Cavalry in a devastating charge. The front rank of Beastmen were sent to meet the Beast Emperor beneath the crushing hooves.
But to Claude’s surprise, despite seeing the gruesome fate of their comrades and the power of his Heavy Cavalry, the Beastmen behind them didn’t scatter. Instead, more Beastmen swarmed in from all sides, attempting to form a wall of bodies to halt the human charge.
They actually succeeded in taking down two. By the time Claude broke through the Beastman formation, two Heavy Cavalrymen had been dragged from their horses by the Beastmen’s suicidal tactics and hacked to death by a flurry of axes.
Claude was shaken. He had believed his angle of attack was flawless, yet he had still taken casualties.
"Rally! Rally! Form on me!"
Claude roared to the men around him. By now, over a hundred Heavy Cavalry had gathered by his side. Claude was eager to see just how "elite" these so-called elite Beastmen truly were.
After pulling back to a safe distance, Claude brandished his greatsword.
"Charge!" Claude roared, raising his sword and spurring his horse onward.
A thunderous beat echoed across the plain once more. The rhythmic pounding of the human Heavy Cavalry’s advance was both awesome and terrifying.
But unlike the last charge, Claude now commanded over a hundred Heavy Cavalry, and with Heavy Cavalry, the effect was more than just the sum of its parts.
The hundred Heavy Cavalry thundered across the field with the force of a thousand, their presence alone enough to shatter the enemy’s morale.
The Beastman adjutant watched the human Heavy Cavalry charge toward him. To say he felt no fear would be a lie. Fear is a primal instinct.
Fear is a primal instinct, but battle is a Soldier’s calling!
The Beastman adjutant raised his scimitar once more.
"Spread out! Spread out!"
This time, the Beastman adjutant didn’t choose to meet the charge head-on. He knew it was futile. Against a Heavy Cavalry charge of this magnitude, scattering was the only viable option.
Unfortunately, the order came too late. The Beastmen were packed too tightly together; it would take time for them to disperse.
To command an Array to expand and contract at will required not only a wealth of knowledge but also long-term experience and exceptional military genius.
The Beastman adjutant was merely an ordinary Officer of the Empire. He possessed neither a wealth of knowledge nor exceptional military genius.
"ROAR!" Suddenly, the Beastman adjutant’s spirit surged. He tossed aside his favored scimitar and snatched up a heavy, crude axe.
’Perhaps a great axe is more fitting for a Beastman after all.’
Like their adjutant, countless other Beastmen felt their primal fury ignite. Their roars echoed like those of ancient, savage beasts.
But alas, even a true prehistoric beast would have to bow before the cold steel of civilization.
Against a hundred human Heavy Cavalry, their resistance was futile. As the iron tide rolled over them, the earth was painted with their purple blood.
The Beastman adjutant’s order, though late, had some effect. A fair number of Beastmen managed to escape, avoiding the fate of being ground into paste by the charge.
The Beastman adjutant was surprised to find himself still alive. ’It seems I even killed one of the human Heavy Cavalry,’ he thought. He hadn’t heard a scream, but he could smell fresh blood on his body.
Just then, another rumbling sound filled the air.
’So soon?’
The Beastman adjutant was startled, but the fear was gone. He understood now what his fate would be.
It wasn’t the human Heavy Cavalry. It was a procession of horse-drawn carriages, preceded by countless glowing orbs of the Lighting Technique. Emerging from the light into the thick darkness of the night, the carriages looked so holy—like Agulufa, the Beast God’s own emissary, come to guide the souls of Beastmen to the Celestial Kingdom.
But it was not the emissary of the Beast God who disembarked from the carriages. It was rank after rank of fully armed human Soldiers. In the glow of the Lighting Technique, the Beastman adjutant could clearly see the glint of light on their iron armor.
’Such exquisite iron armor.’ The Beastman adjutant was a kinsman of General Curry, but even he felt a pang of envy for the armor these humans wore.
The Beastman adjutant tried to raise his battle-axe, ready to fight these humans to the bitter end, but as he reached for it, he found the weapon had become impossibly heavy.