stonecrandall Page 20
Page 20
If you like this book, please subscribe, give a reward, and vote for more updates. There's a bonus chapter in the monthly vote group; if a certain number of monthly votes are reached, a bonus ecchi chapter will be added.
Finally, thank you for reading my book, thank you very much.
Respectfully submitted in December
Chapter 22 Centaur Rangers
As night deepened, the summer full moon hung high in the sky, casting wisps of cool, frosty light.
The town of Grotos, the central camp.
Inside the brightly lit tent, sharp and irritable arguments could be heard.
Two groups of people, dressed in distinct attire, faced each other. One group consisted of mercenaries clad in iron-trimmed leather armor and wielding shields and longswords, while the other group consisted of noble knights and their retinues clad in chainmail, breastplates, and iron armor.
"I'll say it one last time, Rutos!" A blond, shoulder-length nobleman slammed his fist on the table and glared at the burly, tall mercenary captain before him.
"Your mercenary group's extra reward is only one hundred gold dir! It's never the four hundred gold dir you mentioned!"
"Hey, that's not up to us." The mercenary leader, Rutos, clad in heavy chainmail and thick plate breastplates, sneered as he leaned on his greatsword.
"Either you, Angel, pay the four hundred gold dir, or I will withdraw my men from Grutos and let you fight the Countess yourselves, how about that?"
“You think I really need you?” Angel, the rebel leader of Castellania, sneered. “Right now, the Countess only has those fourteen princess knights and a newly recruited army that is not even fully equipped. Do you really think I would be afraid of her?”
"Then why did you set this one-month deadline?" Rutos scoffed. "I heard that you originally planned to take the castle when the beasts invaded, but you only gave this one-month deadline after you saw the Minotaur King's beasts defeated."
"What? You, Viscount with thirty noble knights, are afraid?"
In fact, Count Dorne fully covered all his employment expenses, but that didn't stop him from making another quick buck, especially since things had been really strange in Castella recently.
First, he annihilated a group of beastmen with a minotaur king, then quickly stabilized the lives of ordinary people, and even had the spare capacity to eliminate the beastmen, which made him uneasy.
"Watch your words, you lowly commoner!" The two guard knights drew their longswords and sneered.
"Enough!" Angel raised his hand to stop the two guards who were about to erupt, and looked coldly at Rutos.
"I'll pay you a maximum of two hundred gold dir, the rest—"
"boom--!"
The violent thud of horses' hooves suddenly came from outside the camp! Accompanied by chaotic noise and a cacophony of shouts and curses! Among them were a few extremely hoarse and shrill screams!
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!!"
"Enemies! Yes, it's the Beastmen!"
"Centaur pack! Quick! Form ranks, you idiots! Raise your spears! Raise them—Ughhhhhh!!" (I don't have time, Lin is here, is she available?)
The piercing screams completely disrupted all the plans in the camp. The nobles and mercenaries inside were startled and quickly picked up their weapons and left the camp.
"What's going on?!" Angel drew his longsword and, as soon as he lifted the tent flap, saw a chaotic scene of noble private soldiers running around in all directions and squires struggling to pull their frightened warhorses.
The town, which was once brightly lit, was now engulfed in flames, and the sounds of fierce fighting mixed with the angry roars of officers could be heard from the town gate.
One by one, awakened soldiers, weapons in hand, filed out of the camp, forming ranks amidst the roars of their officers and noble knights, and marched toward the front lines.
Not far away, 150 mercenaries from the Bloodblade Mercenary Group quickly raised their shields and Bloodblade longswords to form a square formation, leveling their swords and shields, and advanced in accordance with the mercenary regulations.
"Viscount Angel! It's an enemy attack! A horde of beasts is attacking at night!" A noble knight covered in blood reined in his galloping warhorse in front of Angel, leveled his blood-stained longsword, and dropped a blood-stained, deformed head of a horned beast.
"A horde of beastmen?!" Angel instinctively exclaimed, "How is that possible! These beastmen couldn't even break through the outer defenses, how could they possibly have the guts—"
"This beast tide is very different," the noble knight interrupted urgently. "The horde consists entirely of horned beasts, more than three hundred in total. Some of them are even equipped with standard spears and leather armor, and there are also more than thirty angry horned beasts. Our soldiers have suffered heavy losses!"
Upon hearing this, Angel's pupils contracted sharply, and his expression turned cold. Rutos behind him also looked grave.
The horned beasts, equipped with standard spears and leather armor, along with more than thirty angry horned beasts, were a group they had never seen before.
In the past, the beast hordes always used inferior horned beasts as cannon fodder to wear down the enemy, while the Angry Horned Beasts and the horned beasts charged as the main force. They were easy to deal with. All you had to do was withstand the charge of the inferior horned beasts and then accurately kill the leading Angry Horned Beasts, and they would collapse without a fight.
But this time, it's different from before.
Angel and Rutos exchanged a glance, nodded in unison, and stopped arguing.
He donned his visor, mounted his horse, and led two guard knights at a brisk pace toward the front lines, while Rutos donned his bucket helmet, drew his longsword, and led his mercenary band forward.
When the noble chieftain Angel rode his horse to the front lines, he was shocked by the sheer brutality of the battle.
The road, originally paved with blue bricks, has been stained crimson with dripping blood and rotting flesh!
Hundreds of beastmen surged forth from the shadows of the forest, wave after wave crashing down on the nobles' private army, whose hastily assembled lines of longswords and shields were constantly being crushed and repelled. With each step forward, several horned beasts were beheaded by the longswords!
With each step the beastmen advanced, the human lines were pushed further towards the brink of collapse. Their savage physiques rammed into the shield wall with each impact, causing this stubborn rock that had been blocking the tide of beastmen to crumble.
Human soldiers' longswords tore through the savage bodies of the beastmen, while the beastmen's iron spears and rusty machetes ripped open the shield walls, tearing and mashing living bodies into rotten pulp.
The savage, dark, bloodthirsty beastmen horde clashed and tore at the well-equipped lines of the nobles. The center of the battlefield was like a meat grinder running at full power, grinding and crushing the two pieces of bright red flesh—humans and beastmen—into it.
Crimson chunks of flesh and dripping blood gushed from the center of the battle line, echoing with the bloodthirsty roars of beasts and the furious shouts of human soldiers.
"Roar--!"
Several savage and ruthless unicorns roared as they crashed through the weak points of the battle line, and several human soldiers who did not have time to dodge were brutally hacked and chopped into mincemeat by the falling axes and machetes.
The next second, several spears suddenly pierced out from behind the shield wall, piercing through the savage bodies of the horned beasts. But before they could retract their spears, an extremely burly horned beast roared and charged into the gap in the shield wall! Its double-edged battle axe swung like a windmill, tearing and chopping several human soldiers to pieces along the way!
Led by the Angry Horned Beast, a savage horde roared and surged toward the breach. Just as the Angry Horned Beast was about to expand the battle line again, a chilling sword light flashed! The Angry Horned Beast's deformed head rolled off!
"Cross! You lead your eight knights to the right wing! Vantas! You lead your seven knights to the left wing!"
Angel wiped the blood off his longsword and roared as he filled the gap.
Watching the retreating human ranks, he quickly issued command orders, directing the thirty noble knights and sixty squire knights he had assembled.
"Fast! Lead five knights and squires to flank and attack from behind, cutting the entire herd in two!"
Although it was a loose alliance of rebellious nobles, Angel's prestige, coupled with the severity of the situation, meant that no noble was foolish enough to think about vying for power at this time.
The three noble knights nodded in agreement and quickly led their knights and squires away from the main force, leaving Angel with only ten knights to guard the position.
For human nobles, the current situation is not one that can be directly attacked. There are friendly soldiers blocking their way, and it's a meat grinder situation. Throwing knights into the fray would only be a waste of their mobility and ability to cut through the battlefield.
The best option is to split up and attack from the side. The Beastmen's crude weapons can hardly break through the knights' plate armor and chainmail, and their morale is very low. Once the battlefield is divided, the situation on the battlefield can be reversed suddenly.
Two groups of plate-armored knights, each riding their own cloaked warhorses, bypassed the town via other routes and arrived in the wilderness. The fifteen knights formed a lance formation, leveled their lances, and launched a group charge towards the unsuspecting horned beasts on both sides!
The crisp sound of horses' hooves was particularly jarring on this meat grinder battlefield. As the nobles had expected, the beastmen on both sides quickly fell into chaos upon hearing the heavy, dense sound of hooves.
This is the perfect opportunity for the knights to charge into battle with their lances! Once they break through the Beastmen's lines, the Beastmen's low morale will inevitably lead to a chain reaction of collapse, turning them into easy prey for the knights to slaughter.
Meanwhile, the cavalry force of sixty knights led by five knights had already cut into the battlefield from the flank and was about to complete the dismantling and encirclement of the horned beast herd.
Two lances, each made of plate armor, thrust directly at the chaotic flanks of the beastmen from both sides, and a hint of disdain appeared on Angel's face.
Those lowly beastmen are really asking for trouble.
But just as the two knights' lances were about to pierce the flank of the herd of horned beasts, another light and extremely abrupt sound of hooves suddenly rang out from the depths of the forest!
Angel's pupils constricted sharply, and he reined in his horse, roaring, "This is impossible!!"
Sixty female centaurs, clad in light linen robes and wielding crossbows, leaped from the shadows of the forest like sharp swords! With incredible speed and agility, they turned their hooves and circled around to the side of the plate-armored knights who had launched the mass charge!
The plate-armored knights who launched the charge were simply not in the same league as the swift and agile centaurs.
Before they could even rein in the horses, the two plate-armored knights, their bloodshot red eyes peering through their helmets, watched as the female centaur leaped out of the shadows of the forest. With incredible agility, she turned her horse around to their side, then raised her crossbow, nocked the arrow, and the heavy armor-piercing arrows gleamed coldly in the moonlight.
"Crack——!"
The crisp, trembling sound of the bowstring was particularly jarring on this bloody battlefield. Before the two plate-armored knights could react, they were riddled with crossbow bolts from dozens of female centaurs that sprang out of the woods!
Even though their plate armor blocked some of the deadly arrows, the horses beneath the knights could not withstand the dense barrage.
The warhorse, its head and torso pierced by arrows, fell to the ground with a long neigh, its momentum throwing the rider behind it like a stone into the chaotic herd of horned beasts.
Before these self-proclaimed noble knights could even get up, riddled with arrows, they were hacked to pieces, armor plates still attached, by the hooves and blades of the horned beasts and angry horned beasts.
"Withdraw! Withdraw back!"
"They're centaur cavalry! Retreat! Back to the lines!"
Another group of knights, led by a knight, saw the plate-armored knights being ambushed by the crossbowmen of the centaur archers. The leading knight immediately reined in his horse and roared, but it was too late!
Another series of crisp, dense, and muffled hoofbeats suddenly resounded from the woods beside them!
The group of knights, who thought it was a herd of unicorns attacking, were completely unprepared for the centaur cavalry that ambushed them from the forest. Before the leading knight could react, a wild and proud white centaur sprang out of the shadows of the forest at an extremely fast speed and pierced through his strong, tall, plate-armored body, sending him flying!
In his despairing and gloomy gaze, he watched as his knights and squires were pierced through by this group of barbaric and arrogant centaur rangers, clad in chainmail robes and wielding steel-tipped lances, leaving their unsuspecting knightly line completely exposed!
The neighing of warhorses mingled with the roars and screams of their squires, echoing across the battlefield.
Chapter 23 Flesh Hound Karanak (Second Update)
"Damn it! Damn it! How is this possible! Why do these centaurs have crossbows, armor, and steel spears?!"
Angel stared at the three knights torn to shreds, his eyes beneath the helmet bloodshot and contorted in a ferocious rage.
In human perception, beastmen are known for their savagery and lack of discipline. Their tactics are extremely barbaric and backward, consisting of using inferior horned beasts as cannon fodder to charge the front lines, followed by concentrated attacks from elite units such as angry horned beasts, centaurs, and minotaurs.
Their weapons and armor were extremely crude, consisting only of stone spears, crude machetes, and rusty iron axes. Their ranged weapons were limited to soft, sinewy bows and slingshots, which were completely ineffective against the knights' sturdy plate armor.
To deal with the Beastmen, you only need to hold the line head-on and then have heavy armored units like knights cut them off and flank them, or you can launch a mass charge to defeat the Beastmen from the front.
But the entire Empire has never seen a battle like tonight's, where the horde of unicorns charges from the front, while the centaurs ambush in the forest to cover the unicorns' flanks and seize the opportunity to outflank and launch a surprise attack!
Not to mention, these centaurs were not only equipped with extremely fine and neat chainmail robes and steel-tipped lances, but also with crossbows powerful enough to pierce through a knight's plate armor!
"Rutos! You fucking get on top of me right now!"
Angel drew his sword and beheaded a unicorn, then pulled on the reins and roared angrily.
All the noble knights he brought with him have been killed, and the knights' squires and the few remaining knights are tied up by the forty centaur rangers and cannot return to the front line. The infantry line has collapsed under the savage beast tide of the horde of horned beasts and angry horned beasts. Now the only thing he can rely on is the Bloodblade mercenary group brought by Rutos.
As long as this Bloodblade mercenary group launches an attack, everything will be alright!
But when he turned his horse around, he saw a scene that made him shudder.
Eight incredibly powerful centaur cavalrymen, clad in crimson heavy armor and standing nearly three meters tall including their hooves, wielded crimson fanged skull axes and roared into the Flesh and Blood Mercenary Group's lines like eight fully powered meat grinders!
The crimson fangs and axes, swirling like windmills, swept across the mercenary ranks as their horses galloped by, sending shredded flesh and severed limbs flying everywhere!
The Bloodblade mercenary group, fully equipped and ready to enter the battlefield, had their lines broken through by eight Blood Frenzy Centaur heavy cavalry before they even reached the front lines!
Before they could even organize a defense, this well-trained Bloodblade mercenary group was pierced through like a scattered ant ball by a graceful female knight clad in fitted silver armor, who moved with the agility of a holy silver blade!
The swift hooves trampled through the blood, blood foam, and bone fragments. With a speed imperceptible to ordinary people, the Princess Knights followed closely behind the eight bloodthirsty centaurs, tearing the well-trained mercenary group apart!
The knight's longsword, gleaming coldly in the firelight, swept past mercenaries, sending up sprays of blood and chunks of blood from severed heads.
This mercenary group, on which he had placed great hopes, was swiftly and skillfully cut down and slaughtered by the eight bloodthirsty centaurs and the silver-armored female knights, as if they were scalpels operated by a pharmacist!
Amidst the smoke and ruins of the raging fire, the burly, bear-like mercenary leader, Rutos, was now being hunted like a giant bear, his chest pierced by a steel spear.
A cold and indifferent man calmly reined in his warhorse, raised his spear, and lifted Lutos's body, which weighed over two hundred pounds, high into the air.
This mercenary leader, whose strength was enough to tear a troll apart with his bare hands, was now in a terrible state. Both his arms had been severed, his rugged and resolute face was filled with terror, his legs had been broken into twisted deformities, and blood mixed with fragments of internal organs kept flowing from his mouth.
Asmodé indifferently moved aside the burly corpse propelled by the tip of his spear, his deep, indifferent black eyes piercing through the smoke and fire, staring at the leader of the rebellious nobles.
He casually tossed the hundreds-of-pounds-heavy corpse in his hand, letting it roll into the smoke and flames and be burned into dry charcoal. He tightened the reins with his sword, flicked the blood off his spear, and kicked the horse's belly to launch a charge forward!
"Damn it!" Angel roared, pulling on the reins and abandoning the battle lines behind him. He spurred his horse, sword at an angle, and charged back at Asmodée!
Two swift warhorses, on this blood-soaked battlefield ablaze with flames, shot towards each other like two crossbows released from a bow! The crisp sound of hooves kicked up dust and splattered blood!
At this moment, Angel and Asmody had completely transformed into two enraged bulls! They bared their sharp horns and charged towards each other's vitals!
"Qiang——!"
With a clear gunshot, Asmodai suddenly threw his spear, which shot towards Angel's head like a crossbow bolt, accompanied by a sharp whooshing sound!
As the spear hurtled towards him, Angel's pupils contracted. He abruptly turned his body to the side on his galloping horse, his bloodshot red eyes peering through his helmet as the spear swept past him with a sharp whistling sound!
As he dodged the spear and turned his head, he saw Asmodian's fist, wrapped in black chains, strike him like a siege hammer, its immense momentum and power crashing down on his helmeted head!
"boom--!"
The violent collision sound, mixed with the dull cracking of flesh and bones, resounded in Angel's ears at the same time. His vision suddenly and rapidly receded. His body, weighing 300 pounds including armor, was actually knocked off his horse by Asmodie's punch!
The helmet was thrown off, and his blond hair came flying everywhere! He crashed into the brick wall behind him, which had already been burned to ruins!
"Pfft!" A mouthful of blood suddenly spurted from Angel's mouth, his vision turning blood red. He forced himself to stand up straight, holding the long sword in his hand and staring at the indifferent and cold man in front of him.
He looked at Asmodel's arm, which had been broken and twisted like a withered tree trunk in the fight, and his fist, with its skin cracked, flesh rotten, and bone fragments protruding. He turned his head and spat out a mouthful of blood, but the next second, his bloodshot pupils suddenly contracted.
Asmodée's indifferent, deep black eyes glanced casually at the twisted, broken arm and the fist shattered into a pulp, then gently lifted it up. The next second, a soft, emerald-green halo covered his arm.
His twisted arm gradually straightened, healed, and grew new flesh amidst a series of eerie cracking sounds. In Angel's bloodshot and trembling pupils, the outward-facing bone fragments of his fist, which had shattered into flesh and bone fragments, seemed to re-enter the flesh and blood. The rotten flesh and blood writhed and surged little by little, returning to its original state.