Chapter 220 - 192: First Arena Victory: Arena Master and a 2,000 Point Windfall
Chapter 220: Chapter 192: First Arena Victory: Arena Master and a 2,000 Point Windfall
’How is this possible?’
’Just ten minutes ago, my Centaur scouts reported that the Elf Corps was in an open field.’
’How could a Thorn Jungle surround them in just seven short minutes?’
’Even if the Elf Clan is truly skilled with Magic, this is beyond a simple question of their talent. The enemy’s strength... it seems to be several times greater than my own!’
Zhao Tianlai found it hard to believe.
But at this point, he was committed and couldn’t turn back.
The Centaur Corps had already charged this far. If they suddenly stopped, it would only devastate their morale.
’Charge on the first drum; falter on the second; fail on the third!’
Stopping would only turn them into living targets for the Elf Corps.
So,
"Warriors of the Centaur Clan, War Trample!"
"Charge straight through!"
They were surrounded by the Thorn Jungle on three sides, with only one side wide open.
A man of Zhao Tianlai’s intelligence would surely guess that the only side not covered by the Thorn Jungle was riddled with traps.
But compared to having the Centaur Corps ram directly into that impregnable wall of plants,
Zhao Tianlai was more willing to face the traps head-on.
Besides, it wasn’t as if he hadn’t made any preparations.
The Centaur Clan’s core Skill—War Trample—was the best preparation he could make!
As the Centaur Corps gradually closed in on the Elf Corps,
faint tremors in the ground reached the Elves’ feet when the Centaurs were still a thousand meters away.
However, the ground had been reinforced with Magic, so the vibrations were barely perceptible.
And so, Zhao Tianlai’s hope of triggering the traps with War Trample was dashed.
Because these were Magic Traps, not ordinary physical ones.
They were about to enter the U-shaped encirclement of the Thorn Jungle,
and the sense of unease that had been nagging at Zhao Tianlai grew stronger and stronger.
"Arching fire!"
He had no other choice. Zhao Tianlai could only try to ease his anxiety by employing a tactic.
For Centaurs, archery was practically an innate Skill.
The Centaur cavalry used their War Trample Skill while simultaneously raising their Bows and Arrows, aiming toward the Elf Corps’ position.
They drew their Bent Bows and shot!
A dense shower of arrows rained down,
but they were all blocked by a Magic Shield in the air.
"How is this possible?"
The pupils of the Centaur Chief, controlled by Zhao Tianlai, constricted.
He hadn’t expected the enemy Elf Corps to be completely unaffected by the tremors, their formation holding steady.
They had even prepared defensive Magic for an aerial assault!
At that moment, the Centaur Warriors leading the charge
had entered the trigger range of the delayed-activation Magic.
And so, the first wave of magical attacks arrived right on cue!
SWISH SWISH SWISH!
From the Thorn Jungle on either side,
and from seeds the Elf Mages had long since planted, countless Parasitic Seeds erupted from the ground and shot out from the foliage.
Countless Parasitic Seeds burst from the ground and stuck to the bodies of the Centaur Warriors.
This detachment of the Centaur Corps that Zhao Tianlai had sent out was well-equipped.
Most of their bodies were protected by Armor.
But their faces and hindquarters were two areas that couldn’t be fully covered.
These Parasitic Seeds exploited every opening.
They immediately found their way through the gaps in the Armor to the exposed parts of the Centaur Warriors.
Then, on the faces and hindquarters of the Centaur soldiers, these Parasitic Seeds latched on and began to grow rapidly, absorbing the Life Energy from their bodies.
Once they grew to several centimeters, or even over ten centimeters, in size,
these Parasitic Seeds, having drained the Life Essence from the Centaur Warriors’ bodies, began to explode!
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The matured Parasitic Seeds automatically detached from the bodies of the Centaurs in the front,
then fell among the ranks behind them and exploded.
The explosions at the front of the Centaur army immediately caused chaos in the middle ranks of the Centaur Corps.
This first line of plant-based defense alone cost the Centaur Corps nearly two hundred soldiers.
Both the front and middle sections of the Centaur Corps were affected,
and their charge formation descended into chaos.
"Hold the line! Charge through!"
Positioned in the very center, Zhao Tianlai roared himself hoarse.
He knew,
that their only hope was to push forward and reach the Elf Corps!
Just then,
the ground suddenly split open.
Massive fissures, over three meters long and a dozen-odd centimeters wide,
suddenly split open beneath the Centaurs’ hooves.
If it were just an ordinary fissure a few meters wide, the Centaur Warriors could have relied on their reflexes to leap across.
But with fissures of this length and width, and in such great numbers,
a large number of Centaurs immediately stumbled and fell, or got their legs caught in the cracks.
In that one instant, nearly three hundred more Centaur soldiers lost their ability to fight!
At the same time, the Elf Corps Commander gave an order to the Elf Archers.
"First Archer Battalion, begin rapid fire!"
One hundred Elf Archers loosed their arrows simultaneously.
The arrows landed with precision in the middle of the Centaur Corps.
"Second Elf Archer Battalion, continue firing!"
Another hundred arrows flew out, specifically targeting the part of the Centaur Corps still charging at the front.
The elite Armor on the Centaur Warriors’ bodies, along with the Iron Shields in their hands, blocked most of the attacks.
But blocking the attacks
didn’t guarantee survival.
Arrows that struck the Centaurs’ legs directly robbed these Warriors of their ability to continue the charge!
And the truly terrifying thing about the Elf Archers was that their arrows never missed their mark!