Chapter 443 - 191: Wrath of the Gnolls
Chapter 443: Chapter 191: Wrath of the Gnolls
The great plains were the perfect place for cavalry to display their power.
Robson led his cavalry, shouting battle cries as they charged forward.
A RUMBLE like thunder instantly spread across the entire plain.
「In the distant Centaur Tribe.」
Gwen quickly recovered from his mistake.
’It doesn’t matter how the humans got here. The point is, they’re here.’
Gwen knew the moment that would decide his tribe’s fate had arrived.
"All Warriors! Gather here!"
"All Centaur Warriors! To me!"
Gwen shouted at the top of his lungs.
He wasn’t doing this to use these Warriors as a rearguard for the tribe.
Quite the opposite—he planned to take his men and run!
To Gwen, the most important part of preserving the Centaur Clan’s legacy was protecting the bloodlines of the strong male Warriors.
Even if the women and children managed to escape, they would be assimilated or conquered by other tribes sooner or later without the protection of powerful Warriors.
The law of survival on the Beastman Grassland was cruel. As one of the first groups to migrate here, the Centaur Clan had long been shaped by this savage land, losing the civility they had learned in the Elf Empire.
The old, weak, and female Centaurs nearby heard Gwen’s call and instantly understood his intentions.
"Chieftain! You can’t abandon us!"
"Chieftain! Chieftain!"
"Get out of the way!"
Gwen was stone-hearted. He didn’t waver in the slightest, even as the surrounding Centaurs came to him, crying and pleading.
RUMBLE...
The distant human Cavalry grew closer.
By now, Chief Gwen had also finished assembling his troops.
"Follow me! We retreat first!"
"Hurry and follow me!"
"Stop hesitating! Follow me, and you’ll have all the women you could ever want!"
Chief Gwen roared, with Tarren chiming in from the side.
Although the Centaur Warriors were reluctant, conditioned by the harsh environment of the Beastman Grassland, they subscribed to Chief Gwen’s logic.
Before long, many Centaur Warriors were following closely behind Chief Gwen.
"No! Don’t leave us behind!"
"Chieftain!"
The abandoned Centaurs roared, desperately trying to keep up with Chief Gwen and his party.
But it was futile. How could a group of the old, the young, and the female possibly catch up to elite Centaur Warriors?
Surprisingly, the Jackal Wolfman Warriors who had been abducted by the Centaur Clan stood their ground and began to organize a defense. The Kobolds and pigmen did the same. Even the much-maligned goblins started preparing for a life-or-death battle against Robson’s army.
For one, while the Centaurs had a chance of outrunning the Cavalry, these other races with their short legs would only die a more miserable death if they tried to flee.
For another, they were all lower-class races of the plains, and such races shared a common trait: they had not been thoroughly conditioned by the rules of the grassland.
Whether it was the Gnolls or the Kobolds, they were all social creatures. It was difficult for them to abandon their families, and when faced with a major disaster, the adult males would not choose to flee alone.
Even the goblins were like this. However, goblins were strange—they lacked strong family bonds, and males and females only had one-night stands.
Goblins found it difficult to survive alone away from their kin, so their communal instincts were also quite strong.
But what happened next was something no one expected.
The human Cavalry bypassed the Gnolls’ formation entirely, instead charging toward the Centaurs who were trying to escape up ahead.
Instead, dozens of human carriages arrived on the battlefield. Over a thousand humans disembarked and surrounded the Gnolls.
However, they merely surrounded them and made no other moves.
...
"What’s going on? What are these humans doing?"
Seeing this, Chief Gwen’s face instantly paled in shock.
’These humans have a clear objective. They’re obviously coming for me.’
’What do I do?’
"Chieftain, those tagalongs ran away!" Tarren also cried out in alarm.
Behind the column of Warriors led by Gwen, the number of old and young Centaurs following them was dwindling.
They weren’t idiots; even an idiot could see that the humans were targeting Chief Gwen.
The Centaur Warriors had shown them no loyalty, so they certainly weren’t going to charge into danger with them now.
"Damn it! Damn it!"
"Damn it all!"
Chief Gwen cursed several times in a row.
Unfortunately, cursing couldn’t change the situation.
The human Cavalry drew ever closer, until they were right on their heels.
"Light Cavalry! Flank them from the left and right!"
A command rang out from the human ranks.
From the rear of the human army, two Cavalry units split off, one charging from the left and the other from the right.
No longer slowed by the Heavy Cavalry in front, the Light Cavalry moved like lightning. It wasn’t long before they were level with the column of Centaur Warriors.
"Forward!"
With another roar, the human Light Cavalry charged directly in front of the Centaur Warriors.
The Centaur Warriors were forced to a halt.
"Cut off their arms and legs! Take them alive!"
Another roar was heard.
The surrounding humans rushed forward, and the scene descended into a chaotic melee.
The Centaur Warriors realized these humans weren’t aiming for their vital spots.
Instead, their blades were aimed specifically at their limbs.
The truly elite Centaur Warriors were already at the front lines. Most of Robson’s Cavalry were fifth or sixth-tier, with no small number of Extraordinary experts among them.
How could these Centaur Warriors be a match for such humans?
In an instant, flesh and blood flew through the air, and the screams of the Centaur Warriors were endless.
Seeing this, Chief Gwen tried to activate his Silver Fighting Qi and escape.
But how could Robson let him get away so easily?
These Centaurs were crucial to Robson’s plan.
Robson loosed an arrow at the fleeing Chief Gwen.
"Aargh!"
Before Golden Fighting Qi, Silver Fighting Qi was as fragile as paper.
Moreover, Robson was a ninth-level Gold, just one step away from the Legendary tier!
The arrow struck Chief Gwen in the back and pierced straight through his chest. Its momentum carried him forward another two or three meters.
If not for the powerful self-healing ability of the Silver rank, Chief Gwen would have already been dead.
Seeing this, the surrounding Soldiers swarmed him, hoping to claim a share of the glory for his capture.
Before long, Chief Gwen’s arms had been crippled, and he was pinned down by a group of Extraordinary Cavalry.
There was no pity in Robson’s eyes. This was a battlefield between races, a kill-or-be-killed environment. Besides, these creatures weren’t worthy of Lord Robson’s pity.
’At least, if Valentino and I had children, I, Lord Robson, certainly wouldn’t abandon them to save myself.’
Half of the Centaurs were cut down by the human Soldiers, but dozens of the physically stronger Centaur Warriors remained. Though severely wounded, they were still clinging to life.
Robson led these captives toward the surrounded Gnoll formation up ahead.