402 A wolf’s fighting technique Part 2 (1/2)
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.
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.
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.
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?”