636 Broken Blade Pass Part 1 (1/2)
The Tanggulasis attacked like locusts. If both sides had one-thousand soldiers each, Saleen's swordmasters would have won. The Holy See's soldiers did not care about their own injuries or casualties so even if Saleen won, he would suffer many losses as well. Now that the enemy outnumbered his own by many times the two regiment leaders were decisive and gave the order to retreat.
Fortunately, the crossbows could unleash arrows very quickly. While the one-thousand men retreated into the forest, those armed with crossbows would shoot at the enemies' thighs or warhorses. The Tanggulasis soldiers that stayed on their horses had a difficult time advancing so they got down to give chase.
In the forest a warhorse provided its rider a height advantage at the expense of a loss of speed.
Saleen's men were all well-trained in retreating. This forest was originally a very wide one, but before they carried out the ambush, the two regiment leaders ordered the soldiers to cut down a patch of trees at the back and the skeletal warhorses and death mages were supposed to stay put there. Judikaka was no longer there as he had left with the injured soldiers long ago. The only death mages left were those that had been placed there.
The purpose of the forest was to stop the enemy's knights. If the forest was too wide it would be difficult for Saleen's men to retreat. Speed was the priority so none of the one-thousand men were wearing heavy armor. Only one-hundred were wearing light armor while the rest were clad in leather armor. If the Tanggulasis caught up with them, these armors would be useless against the knights' heavy machetes.
Even though the crossbows had already shot down a few hundred men, more and more Tanggulasis continued to give chase. Although the terrain was flat, it was still a mountainous area. The skeletal warhorses were not able to run at top speed and the soldiers were not very good at riding either.
Once they reached an empty space, the one-thousand soldiers automatically split into five groups and retreated in different directions. Although there were some slight grievances from not having fought the enemy properly and losing two-hundred large crossbows, they still managed to kill three-hundred enemy soldiers. Another six-hundred were also injured by the crossbows, but that would only use up some of the holy priests' energy.
The two regiment leaders each led a group and escaped towards the east. Both of them regretted not asking Judikaka to stay behind. If only they had known that the enemy would not retreat and instead would forcefully give chase into the forest.
They also thought to themselves that the spirit of the dead might not obey them. It was already commendable that he was willing protect those that were injured. If not for Judikaka, they might not have been able to inflict so much damage on the Holy See's army. They managed to kill and injure so many enemy soldiers only because Judikaka had kept a large group of holy priests engaged. If they wished to ask Judikaka to bring up the rear, perhaps only Master Saleen would be able to give the command.
The Holy See's soldiers charged through the forest quickly to see the Qin riding away on their skeletal warhorses. The Tanggulasis that were extremely strong tried to shoot them down with their large bows, but the swordsmen were too agile and managed to dodge the arrows.
”Stop chasing. Let's go back.” The officer from Tanggulasi Empire saw the situation and gave the order.
”Officer!”
”Don't say anymore. The enemy has death mages. There is no way we can catch up with their skeletal warhorses. Humph, we shall go forth and flatten their city. We shall see if they will escape into the sea by then.”
An ambush of more than one-thousand bows and arrows only resulted in such minimal damages. The Holy See's army managed to find a shorter route to continue towards the east and cut down on a few hundred miles of traveling.
Behind the vanguard was a ten-thousand strong regular army, followed by the army in the center. The troops that were bringing up the rear had already merged together with the logistics troops. Saleen's attempt to disrupt their logistic troops was quite effective. The Holy See's army was now traveling at full speed. They needed to reach Metatrin City before they ran out of food.
Saleen's last two regiment leaders were quite fortunate. They managed to flee in time to avoid encountering the ten-thousand strong army.
The Tanggulasis were traveling along the borders of west of Phoenix without too much trouble. They would eventually need to turn towards the east and would have to travel on more than two-thousand miles of narrow routes without any big cities though. Riots had occurred in Phoenix in the past so the cities at the borders had been left empty. When the Holy See's army passed through, there was nothing left for them to loot.
After killing the residents of a few sporadic villages, the Tanggulasis lost interest in robbing. They realized that turning an entire village upside down would only get them a few hundred pounds of low-grade flour in return.
Saleen's sixth battalion had almost returned to Metatrin City, thanks to Judikaka's escort. Only the remaining two regiments with more than one-thousand soldiers were still riding on their skeletal warhorses and were rushing back. The distance between them and the Holy See's army widened. By the middle of June, they reached a small town in the north.
This small town had already received news that the demons of the Tanggulasi Empire would be coming to slaughter the city. Everyone, regardless of residents that has permanently settled down or merchants that were there for business, were advised to leave as soon as possible. The battle at Luolan had already proved that Tanggulasis killed with no regards, they even killed innocent people.
The eighth and ninth regiments bumped into the fifth battalion who had come forth to assist in the retreat. Traveling at full speed had tired out the death mages in the two camps. They changed onto normal warhorses and assisted the residents in fleeing.