Chapter 277 - 45: The Routed Beastmen
Chapter 277: Chapter 45: The Routed Beastmen
"For the kingdom! Charge!"
The enemy was already on the run, but Knight Commander Elon showed no sign of stopping, still leading the charge from the very front.
Although Tec had anticipated that the humans would arrive, it all happened too quickly—within a dozen or so minutes.
In the camp, many Beastmen were even still deep in their sleep.
"You’re courting death!"
Just as Knight Commander Elon was deep in the charge, a long spear suddenly appeared at his side, thrusting violently toward him. The spear glowed with a blood-red battle aura, a seeming harbinger of death.
The spear was so fast that Knight Commander Elon had no time to react. Fortunately, his mount was no ordinary beast. Sensing its master’s peril, it abruptly dropped to its knees. The beast mount skidded a long way across the ground before finally coming to a halt.
In the moment his mount was skidding, Knight Commander Elon leaped off, planted his own spear into the ground, and brought himself to a stop.
He looked back and saw a blood-red Dwarf standing where he had just been.
"The Visari Tribe!" Knight Commander Elon exclaimed in shock.
As the powerhouses of the eastern front, the Fengman Clan knew the various Beastman tribes of the region in meticulous detail.
The name Visari Tribe stirred an unpleasant memory for Knight Commander Elon. This very tribe had been involved in the death of the previous Fengman Patriarch.
Knight Commander Elon narrowed his eyes.
"Since this is a blood feud, don’t even think about leaving today."
...
Claude, meanwhile, was unaware of the bloody battle unfolding in the Beastman Camp. He had already led his Cavalry Team around it.
’The Lord is truly a master strategist,’ Claude thought, astonished, as he watched the Beastmen pouring out of their camp.
"For this battle, each Beastman killed is one merit point! Everyone, charge!" Claude roared, brandishing his spear. He then spurred his horse forward, charging toward the distant Beastmen.
This "merit point" was a score within Robson’s military merit system. Achieving First-level Military Merit required one merit point, and each subsequent level required double the points of the last.
In other words, reaching Third-level Military Merit required four merit points.
Hearing Claude’s words, the warriors of the Cavalry Team said little. Though it wasn’t as generous as previous rewards, it was better than nothing.
Just as the Cavalry Team bypassed the Beastman Camp to charge its rear, the Beastmen within were just beginning to emerge.
Seeing the Beastmen before him, Claude once again brandished his spear in excitement.
"Break formation! Spread out! For the Lord! For the kingdom! Charge!"
The Cavalry Team naturally had different tactics for different enemies.
The Beastman Army before them was in disarray, so scattering to charge individually was the best option.
"For the Lord, for the kingdom!"
The soldiers of the Cavalry Team roared their slogan and immediately broke into smaller units, causing the area covered by the cavalry to expand several times over in an instant.
"Humans! There are humans over here, too!"
"How was there no warning at all? What about those scouts? They’re fed so well, so where the hell are they?"
The Beastmen didn’t know that a sizable town had originally stood as a bulwark in front of them. For now, all they could do was curse.
Seeing the human cavalry charge, whether they were Dwarves, earth goblins, or any other race, all felt their hearts tighten and scrambled toward the forest.
No one tried to run back to the camp. While they might not be considered true elites in the grand scheme of the war, they were all seasoned veterans who knew that an even fiercer enemy was behind them.
Unfortunately, their legs could only carry them so fast. They weren’t Extraordinary, nor did they possess the constitution of one.
Claude led the Cavalry Team like a Steel Saber, slicing straight into the Beastman Army.
This Cavalry Team under Robson’s command was composed entirely of battle-hardened veterans. Aided by a Mounted Combat System, their fundamentals were solid, and their physical conditioning far surpassed that of typical elite soldiers.
Although these Beastmen were also veterans, they were no match for Tier Six Cavalry.
The Cavalry Team was like fire when concentrated and like stars when scattered.
Having changed formation in advance, the Cavalry Team’s reach extended across nearly half the battlefield.
Robson’s cavalrymen were fresh off a victory, their morale sky-high. As they faced the Beastman Infantry, who had only just crawled out of bed, every rise and fall of their spears claimed a life in an instant.
There may not have been much difference in battlefield experience between the two sides, but in terms of skill and physical prowess, the Cavalry Team completely crushed them.
The Cavalry Team swept through like a plague of locusts. No enemy they encountered managed to resist successfully. Where their horses passed, they left only a field of corpses.
After Claude led the Cavalry Team on a single charge through the enemy ranks, he looked back to find that not a single one of his men had been stopped by the infantry.
"Cavalry Team! Charge!" Claude commanded loudly once again.
The task Robson had given him was to hold these Beastmen back and prevent them from escaping so easily into the forest.
...
Meanwhile, Robson, leading two Infantry Corps in horse-drawn carriages, had already circled around both the Beastman Camp and the battlefield, arriving at the edge of the forest east of the camp.
"Out of the carriages! Prepare for battle! Get out, quickly!"
As soon as they arrived, Ais bellowed commands at the soldiers behind him.
Soon after, the first dozen or so carriages came to a halt, and squad after squad of soldiers poured out.
"Faster! Faster! Into the forest!"
"Move! Into the..."
The first ones off the carriages were naturally the squad leaders, who then directed the rank-and-file soldiers as they continued to disembark.
Within a few short minutes, the five hundred men of the vanguard from the first corps had formed up and charged into the forest under Ais’s command.
Robson didn’t focus on the first corps for long, turning his gaze back to the battlefield.
According to Robson’s plan, the enemy had to be killed, but this group could not be allowed to retreat back to Bai Ma Ferry. It would be best to drive them all toward Wisley Path.
First, it would prevent the Beastman forces at Bai Ma Ferry from being reinforced. Second, it would shatter the morale of the Beastmen at Wisley Path.
Most importantly, after this battle, the battlefield would be split in two by Robson’s army. Bolstering the Beastman forces at Wisley Path would force the opposing Beastman General to come to their rescue. At that point, the roles of attacker and defender would be truly reversed.
On the battlefield, the sound of the horn from Robson’s side didn’t distract the cavalry from their slaughter. Although Robson wanted to increase the number of Beastmen at Wisley Path, he had no intention of letting a single Beastman Soldier escape.
But the Beastman force numbered two thousand, after all. Gradually, some began to break through the battlefield cordon.
It wasn’t many—just a few dozen.
At that moment, Robson cast a Lighting Technique into the sky. His own Magic level had also reached the sixth tier, and he had specifically learned the Lighting Technique from Falan.
In an instant, the entire battlefield was illuminated as if it were broad daylight.
Just as the escaping Beastmen were breathing a sigh of relief, they suddenly saw a group of armored humans appear in what they had thought was their safe haven.
For a moment, everyone’s minds went blank. Many Beastmen froze on the spot.
"Fire!" Ais ordered the Archers behind him, ignoring the Beastmen’s reactions.
SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
Instantly, hundreds of arrows whistled through the air. Robson hadn’t ordered the soldiers to use their Magic Crossbows, mainly because half their stock had been expended in the Battle of Ancient Dumu and had yet to be recovered or replenished. Besides, the Beastman Infantry were only a few dozen meters away from the soldiers of the first corps.
"My eyes! My eyes! Ahh!"
"Th-There are humans here, too! What the hell is Tec doing? Why didn’t he tell us anything?! What the hell is Tec getting paid for?!"
Seeing the human army ahead, a Beastman Officer’s mental defenses suddenly crumbled, and he began to curse Tec.
It was like opening Pandora’s box. Suddenly, Beastman Soldiers across the battlefield began "sending their regards" to Tec’s family.
"Damn it, that bastard betrayed His Highness’s trust and led the army into a death trap! Brothers, run for it!"
"Run! North! There are no humans to the north! Run!"
As if they had finally found an excuse to flee, the entire Beastman Army began a tacit retreat to the north.