Badge in Azure

Chapter 403: Ruthless (Part 1)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Saleen’s warring technique was not anything extraordinary. It was just that the enemies did not have heavy armor and metal shields, hence the arrows from the Caucasus people were so lethal. Saleen had learned quite a bit of military knowledge from Lex, so he knew that exquisite weapons would be sealed up before a battle.

The technique of having cavalrymen wield bows and arrows to attack the enemy was not very effective against heavy infantrymen, unless expensive magic arrows which could destroy heavy armor were used. The thing was, magic arrows were disposable items. It was also more expensive to produce a magic arrow as compared to training a normal infantryman, so people would not do that. An alchemical arrow was not equivalent to a magic arrow. An alchemical arrow was simply an arrow which had been refined with magic, it did not carry any magical abilities. On the other hand, the magic array on a magic arrow could be activated the moment a magic nucleus was installed. It would possess the lethality of magic, which could not be resisted by normal armor. Updated b.y b o x n o v e l. com

The metal arrows which Saleen had given to the Caucasus warriors had been refined using alchemy, so they were unusually sharp. When launched from a longbow, they could easily break metal armor, wooden shields or even a low level Invisible Shield. Such metal arrows were useless against those higher level Magic Shields. Only at a very short distance would they be able to injure a low grade mage.

Saleen might not have so many resources to produce magic arrows, but the enemy also did not have much money to produce magic armor for their soldiers. That was why in this assault, the allied army from the eastern sea could do nothing but watch the Caucasus warriors empty their quivers before beating a retreat.

A grand total of about twenty-eight-thousand metal arrows had killed over four-thousand enemies. About one-thousand people were killed on the spot. On average, every twenty arrows would take out one enemy. In such a harsh climate, if an injured person did not receive prompt quality treatment, he would end up dead too.

Only a Caucasus warrior possessed such massive strength to be able to fire so many metal arrows. If a normal soldier could fire a longbow ten times, he was considered impressive already.

The function of equipment was fully exemplified in this setting. Each Caucasus warrior was wearing a pair of magic gloves to control the bowstring. Saleen had so many soldiers under his command. Without superior equipment, this protracted harassment assault on the allied army would cause huge losses to Saleen’s men.

Saleen was still unsatisfied with the equipment his soldiers had. Unbeknownst to him, Lex’s soldiers were the elites who were always positioned at the front row back in the Qin Empire. He followed Lex’s military model to establish his own army, but his input was ten times that of a normal nobleman.

Fortunately, Saleen had made such a drastic move. Given his current manpower, he would have suffered great losses against the enemy otherwise.

Another factor which contributed to this outcome was the terrain. Since the frozen layer was flat, there was nothing else to act as a shield against the barrage of arrows. On this frozen layer, a magic wolf could also sprint more steadily than a warhorse. The magic wolves were magic beasts who lived in frigid environments. They would not slip even if they ran on ice.

Even if the allied army had cavalry troops, they also would not be able to catch up to the magic wolves.

Kredian’s defense strategy was a fluke as it caused the allied army to be paranoid. As a result, the allied army concentrated on assembling the magic chariots instead of building a camp on the land. Then when Saleen returned, Saleen immediately went to execute a sneak attack on the warships, causing the magic chariots to sink into the ocean even before they could take effect.

There was a myriad of reasons why the allied army lost this war. If they decided to split their troops and stationed some soldiers at the northern side, they would be able to cause Saleen’s army to suffer a high death toll. They would be facing a city wall which was not yet completed. They would also have help from the magic chariots.

Other than that, the allied army could have deployed their large flying puppets to conduct the offensive. If that was the case, Kredian might lose his composure and deploy his army to retaliate on the frozen layer. That way, both parties would be competing in terms of the amount of manpower.

If Kredian wanted to duel on the frozen layer, he could not get close to the warships. The warships contained the magic stone trebuchets, which could cause massive damage to his infantry troops.

In conclusion, the failure of the allied army was not predetermined. All of this was a coincidence. The strangest of all was that Saleen’s divination was actually true. Saleen also trusted Sika’s intuition. If Saleen did not rush back, the allied army would have successfully altered their magic chariots. By then, even with reinforcement from the spirit army, Kredian would also lose the port.

At that point in time, Banchajanna was not around, so the other two spirit kings would definitely lose to the mage’s platoon. At the very least, if they took the initiative to attack, they would have suffered badly.

This outcome was also brought about by some intrinsic factors. The Eastern Sea Allied Army did not have any large-scale combat experience. The so-called king of the eastern sea might only own a tiny island, with a population of tens of thousands only. It was almost an insurmountable task for such an army to conquer the Myers mainland.

When any army on the Myers mainland went to war, the number of personnel involved could easily reach one-hundred-thousand. Furthermore, each noble would contribute hundreds of soldiers to the imperial family as backup. Adding all these people together, the total number of people involved was astronomical.

When Emperor Chanake set off for his expedition, thousands of low grade mages had come forth to join his army. When Emperor Chanake lost, quite a number of these mages managed to escape. Had this been the Eastern Sea Allied Army, their whole force might have already been killed.

After receiving news from the frontline, Saleen immediately gave a second order. The pirates, who had followed Saleen into the Chaotic Swamp, gathered another two-hundred men. Together with the barbarians, they rode on the skeletal warhorses and came to the edge of the frozen layer. Then, they launched the second wave of assault.

“General, we have to retaliate, otherwise…”

Back at the seaside, the general of the allied army almost went berserk in the face with such a situation. The enemy had utilized their strong bows and crossbows for harassment. If they possessed enough arrows, this ten-thousand strong army would be dead after a few days. A few days were actually not needed. Since the warships had sunk, the supplies for the army were gone, so these soldiers would soon be overwhelmed with hunger and cold. If they could not find food, everyone would simply die on the frozen layer.

The pirates did not have archery skills like the Caucasus people. They were using heavy crossbows, which only had a range of about four-hundred meters. Their skeletal warhorses were pretty stable running atop the ice layer. The allied army organized a few rounds of retaliation, but were deflected by the flying axes tossed by the barbarians.

The pirates roared with laughter without any tinge of sympathy. After being exhausted from all that shooting, they simply pointed at the soldiers from afar, but they did not return to the city. At least half a minute was required to load an arrow onto the bowstring, but the pirates were not in a hurry to kill the enemies. The barbarians felt slight disdain when they noticed those soldiers afar who were clad in some weird-looking armor. “These cowards. They are still not fighting for their lives at such a moment.”

Nevertheless, there were too little pirates. Including the barbarians, there were only about five-hundred men in total. The enemy, however, had more than ten-thousand men. If the enemy decided to charge forward, the pirates and barbarians would definitely beat a retreat.

From time to time, some flying puppets would soar into the skies and fly back to the city base. With protection from the barbarians, the accompanying low grade mages did not need to do anything. They only needed to record the current battle situation and send it back to the city using the flying puppets.

In the temple, as Saleen reviewed the battle reports piece by piece, his rage gradually disappeared. The current death toll of the enemy was now ten times that of his fallen soldiers, and this was not including the soldiers in the sunken warships.

“How is Judikaka’s side doing at the moment?”

“There is no news yet, Sir,” a mage from the Sregl Island answered.

“Mm, if the three kings work together, the battle will at least end in a tie. It will be impossible for them to lose. I am just afraid that the sorcerer will abandon the battle and return to create trouble for us.” Saleen moaned, then said, “A swift battle will be the best. Make the enemies lose hope, lest that sorcerer decides to fight until his last breath. If he has any powerful scrolls, our soldiers will not be able to take it.”

“Sir, the sorcerer will not fight with the normal soldiers,” another mage reminded Saleen.

“Those are the rules on the mainland. These people are from the eastern sea and I am not familiar with their practices. How is Kredian’s arrangement coming along?”

“In about an hour’s time, it will be completed.”

“Mm, ask Daniel to gather his spirit army. Then, instruct the rest to retreat.”

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