Badge in Azure

The envoy group had three-thousand guards escorting it, but to ensure that Barde had peace of mind, Saleen also deployed the sixth camp. Since there was finally a reason for his army to enter Qin, Saleen would not give up such an opportunity.

Saleen never expected that his sixth camp would come in handy.

The deployment of a large army could not escape a mage’s eyes. The army which came out from Cexing City was split into two sections, with the first section had more than ten-thousand people. This ten-thousand man army flanked the envoy group, spreading wide across the plains. There were sorcerers in the envoy group. When the enemy was ten miles away, the envoy group’s army was already alerted.

The magic equipment donned by Phoenix’s cavalry was not good. After the chaos created by the black magicians some powerful mages were disappointed at the Phoenix nobles. They decided to leave Phoenix and go to Qin. Thereafter, during the invasion by Qin, another group of mages fled. Phoenix’s army was currently relying on its reserves.

A magic cavalryman would be blessed with magic during the charging phase, their equipment did not actually contain any skills. Since there were no grand mages available, the cavalrymen were only blessed with the low level Windspeed Skill. Even though this low level spell had a protracted duration, it was very demanding on the stamina of the warhorses and soldiers. The cavalrymen only got boosted when they were one mile from the envoy group.

The advancing speed of the envoy group was not very high either, there were many chariots. Phoenix’s roads were not repaired in time while some roads were tapered, so the envoy group was elongated.

Even though the envoy group was prepared, it could not form an effective formation to retaliate.

The sixth camp had brought along more than one-hundred large chariots. In just two minutes, these large chariots had been lined up to form two lines of defense. The infantrymen disembarked from the horses and wielded heavy crossbows, then they hid behind the large chariots and made a weak defensive formation.

In the three-thousand man army of the envoy group, sixteen-hundred of them were from the imperial swordsman’s camp and they only took orders from the two sorcerers. These sixteen-hundred people were genuine cavalrymen, the armor on their bodies was worth thousands of gold coins. Once Tiffany raised the alarm, these sixteen-hundred soldiers quickly left the main road, then assumed a triangular formation.

Of the fourteen-hundred troops protecting Barde, only four-hundred were infantrymen. These four-hundred infantrymen leaped off the warhorses and hid behind the large chariots, then they wielded heavy shields. The shields were placed at both sides to prevent the enemy’s cavalrymen from going around the formation and using their bows.

The sixth camp possessed two emblem groups worth of cavalrymen. It was not easy for Saleen to obtain a few thousand warhorses, these two-thousand cavalrymen were Saleen’s mightiest mobile units. Their response was to wear a metal mask before bending down and securing a miniature cavalry crossbow in front of the stirrup.

The range of a cavalry crossbow was far, while its accuracy was terrible. Usually, a cavalryman could only strike the enemy within ten yards based on their experience. This weapon would fire bursts of three arrows and did not need to be operated by hand. After the cavalrymen installed the cavalry crossbows, they then took out three steel pipes and joined them together, forming a cross spear.

The cavalrymen from the sixth camp retreated two-hundred yards. As their equipment was superior, they could accelerate to maximum velocity within two-hundred yards.

The over ten-thousand people swiftly altered their formation. They did not have the intention to only defend. The cavalrymen were ready to act anytime, they were eager to act even. The only person who was slightly unnerved was the envoy who was going to reside in Holy Rock City permanently; Viscount Piac.

Of course, the viscount did not feel that going to Holy Rock City was an easy task, but he never expected his life to be in danger before even entering Qin.

“What should we do? What should we do?!” Viscount Piac mumbled to himself, but a high grade swordmaster beside him pulled the reins, positioning him behind the second row of large chariots.

Piac had an upright posture atop the warhorse. If it was not for his inattentive gaze, his bearing would be pretty good.

“Viscount, if we cannot make it, you shall flee,” the high grade swordmaster beside him said sarcastically. This high grade swordmaster had just defected to Saleen, he only entered the sixth camp after passing the verification conducted by the mages. He was full of contempt looking at Piac’s appearance.

“Nonsense!” Viscount Piac suddenly exploded, he wielded a longsword and waved it about forcefully, then yelled, “What do you take me for? If I escape, the whole world will laugh at me!”

“Eh? Viscount, you are pretty brave. In that case, please go to the rear, and allow the soldiers to help you put on a set of fitting armor.”

This high grade swordmaster no longer mocked Piac, he gestured to ask the soldiers to drag the viscount away. He then returned to his position to command an emblem group of infantrymen.

Piac was not courageous at all, his son was in Saleen’s hands and so was his future. If Piac fled, his position would decline drastically even if Saleen did not kill him. His assets would be confiscated even if he remained a noble. Piac would rather die than have that happen.

Piac was very agitated, he only calmed down after the soldiers dragged him away.

“Staying alive is the most important thing. Saleen has deployed ten-thousand people to protect the envoy group and Huoxing City isn’t up ahead, I should be safe. I am not a powerless person, I still have good equestrianism. Once I wear armor and wield a weapon, I will not be less useful than a normal soldier. I can still do archery, my accuracy is still passable within fifty yards.”

At a distance of five-hundred yards, the cavalrymen from Phoenix began increasing their speed gradually, their equestrianism was superb. Upon noticing their targets getting into formation, the commander of the cavalrymen immediately ordered the cavalrymen to split into two arrowhead-shaped formation and attack from both flanks.

Saleen’s army would never let the enemy succeed so easily. When the enemy was five-hundred yards away, the chariots that were fitted with alchemical crossbows started firing.

It was not difficult for the strongest alchemical crossbow to have a range of more than one mile and still be accurate. The alchemical crossbows on the chariots were much smaller and they were also not controlled by mages, they were simply ruthless.

The one yard long arrows, which had an arrowhead with a cross-shaped metal thorn, pierced through the air. Even though the cavalrymen were several yards from one another as they charged forward, the range of this alchemical crossbow had exceeded five-hundred yards. They could strike the enemies very easily.

Hundreds of arrows penetrated the warhorses and cavalrymen.

The penetrative ability of these arrows was astonishing, every target that got hit lost a huge amount of flesh due to the cross-shaped metal thorn and their bones were shattered. This round of assault had caused the two-thousand cavalrymen to suffer massive losses.

These over three-hundred alchemical crossbows had caused up to four-hundred casualties, both man and horse were crippled. The first wave of cavalrymen only had two-thousand people and twenty percent of them were lost. That caused the morale of Phoenix’s cavalrymen to waver. There was still an army with more than ten-thousand men behind, the vanguard’s cavalrymen could not retreat at this point in time.

The cavalrymen who charged at the front dodged the edge of the alchemical crossbows as they went towards the sides. If there were no mages an alchemical crossbow could only be fired once. Once the enemy went farther forward, they would enter the effective range of the heavy crossbows though. The lethality of a heavy crossbow was not as high as an alchemical crossbow, but it could still penetrate a cavalryman’s heavy armor.

A heavy cavalryman could resist a longbow, but they could not withstand an ejected arrow that was launched from a heavy crossbow with a two-hundred yard range. The vanguard’s cavalrymen split into two streams, but they noticed shields measuring two yards in height at the sides of the chariot formation. The pedal-operated crossbows prepared by the cavalrymen had to be fired. A shrill whoosh filled the air, as more than one-thousand arrows rushed towards the infantrymen from the sixth camp.

The shields operated by the infantrymen were coated with an exterior layer of metal, with an interior layer of thousand year old wood, while the side facing the enemy was covered in beast skin. The arrows fired from the pedal-operated crossbows struck the shields, these metal arrows pierced through the metal layer, but were blocked by the wood inside.

The two different materials of the shield formed a strange physical structure and obstructed the arrows’ powerful penetrative ability.

Even though this shield was not a magic shield, it had been designed by a mage. Originally, the infantrymen from the sixth camp were a little fearful, but their moods were very much stabilized now.

The cavalrymen from Phoenix were a bit afraid at the moment, their pedal-operated crossbows actually failed to penetrate the enemy’s shields from a distance of less than one-hundred yards!

A standard issue pedal-operated crossbow from Qin must be able to pierce armor from a distance of one-hundred yards. There was only one chance to shoot on the battlefield. These pedal-operated crossbows were also the best equipment in Phoenix’s cavalry regiment.

The infantrymen stationed at the sides were not using very good equipment, the soldiers in the back rows wielded small shields as they opened up handheld hard crossbows. These hard crossbows would only have a chance of piercing the heavy armor worn by Phoenix’s cavalrymen within a distance of fifty yards. The soldiers could not even lift the alchemical crossbows installed on the large chariots, not to mention taking aim and firing them.

The large chariots which Saleen issued to the sixth camp were solely used for combat. Once the enemy’s charge had been fended off, the cavalrymen at the back finally launched their offensive.

Two-thousand cavalrymen suddenly accelerated from a standstill. The twenty cavalrymen in the first row were clad in double-layered heavy armor and rode on skeletal warhorses, while wielding disposable cavalry lances. Saleen had designed these lances by imitating Cloudflow’s magic beast swordsmen, these cavalry lances had to be thrown away after a one time use. The mighty charging power of a skeletal warhorse could not be supported by the soldiers. The ends of the weapons were attached to the body of the skeletal warhorses using metal chains.

Cavalrymen from both parties crashed into each other violently, producing a booming sound which could only be replicated by a trebuchet.

The twenty cavalry lances wielded by the first row of cavalrymen from Metatrin were utterly shattered, but they had thrashed an opening into Phoenix’s formation. The strength of a skeletal warhorse was several times higher than that of a normal horse.

Once the lances were crushed, the Metatrin cavalrymen calmly took out heavy duty machetes and slashed them horizontally. Enemies who brushed past were cut in two by the machetes.

The second wave of cavalrymen from Phoenix arrived in that moment. The alchemical crossbows on the large chariots were removed and got replaced by large heavy crossbows. The soldiers from the sixth camp had experienced Metatrin’s defensive war and had fought with the Holy See’s soldiers. Their nervousness in the beginning was a result of being unfamiliar with Phoenix’s soldiers.

In the end, after the first round of retaliation, it was proven that the soldiers from Phoenix were less ferocious than the Holy See’s soldiers. The injured ones also would not get up to continue the assault. This huge disparity became a large confidence booster for the soldiers from the sixth camp.

It was not that they were not elite enough, but when they were first recruited, their first enemy was the Holy See’s expeditionary army. The fighting style of those fanatic believers was poles apart from that of normal people. Even though Metatrin eventually triumphed, the soldiers were traumatized by the Holy See’s believers.

The Phoenix people were obviously much weaker.