Elden: Ring of Calamity

Chapter 405 Battle
Lucia stared at the mushroom cloud rising into the sky through the telescope, and her pupils suddenly froze.

Almost at the same time, Leville, the commander of the Fifth Army of the Blazing Sun, who was in charge of the central army, rode over and reported, "Your Highness, the scouts reported that a large-scale explosion occurred in the direction of the Watcher Fortress."

"According to preliminary observations, the first explosion directly destroyed all buildings above the fortress's surface. In the following tens of seconds, hundreds of explosions occurred underground in the fortress. The resulting shock waves spread to a radius of ten kilometers, destroying several camps on the front line of the Giant Army. The enemy forces in that direction are currently in chaos."

Lucia was silent for three seconds, then decisively issued an order, saying, "Move out the entire army, bypass the Watcher Fortress in the southwest direction, and launch an assault on the enemy's flank. No prisoners should be taken, and there is no need to kill them all. We only need to defeat the enemy's main force as quickly as possible!"

"Yes!"

The order was given, and the 10,000 cavalrymen who had just rested for an hour mounted their horses one after another. All the knights were on four horses, and the men, weapons, baggage and food were carried by three horses respectively, with the last horse being empty.

The Northern Expedition Army was originally the elite selected from the nearly 200,000 troops in the Eastern Territory. Every cavalryman was an elite warrior who truly possessed the title of "Knight" from the Storm Knights and the Blazing Sun Legion. Moreover, since these 10,000 people had to undertake a dangerous mission far beyond that of their comrades, they were the best of the 30,000 Northern Expedition Army.

Therefore, even though they had just experienced a night of rapid attack, the soldiers still maintained a very good combat condition. At this time, they drove their horses to trot forward, while letting their muscles and bones relax as much as possible, trying to restore their physical strength to the best level before charging.

Thirty miles is a very short distance. Considering the average physical fitness of humans in the border areas and the war horses of the three dynasties, the actual distance for launching a charge is three kilometers, or about six miles. The individual quality of the Northern Expedition Army is higher, and the quality of their war horses is also better, so this distance can be appropriately extended to about ten miles.

In thirty minutes, the army advanced twenty miles and stopped ten miles away from the enemy. The knights switched to the warhorse that had been carrying the most energy. Generally speaking, this was the mount that had accompanied the knights in battle for the longest time, had the strongest physique, the most intense personality, and the best understanding between man and horse.

At the orders of the knight commanders, ten thousand knights were fully armed, and hung their lances on the sides of their horses with their lances pointed diagonally upwards. They also hung their horse bows on the left side and their armor-piercing dragon arrows on the right side. They lightly tapped their horses' bellies and began to charge forward at full speed.

Six miles away, the Giant Army, which was thrown into chaos by the fortress explosion, discovered the Northern Expedition Army that was flanking them from the side and rear, blew the horn and began to prepare for defense.

For four miles, the monks, magicians and storm priests accompanying the army bestowed all kinds of protection and blessings on the knights in the front row. Colorful light shields and protective shields were placed in front of the galloping war horses, and condensed into a heavy front in the group charging formation, pressing towards the enemy with overwhelming force!

Two miles away, the knights in the front could almost see the rough leather armor and dense hard hair on the front row of giants. The flames emanating from their bodies gathered into a scorching heat, as if to burn the earth!

"Raise your bows!" Hilbert, who was leading the charge in the middle of the first row of knights, shouted.

"Ready!" All the knights drew their bows and arrows, and the sharp aura gathered towards the arrow tips, piercing people's skin and causing pain!

At this moment, hundreds of dark purple wormholes opened up above the giant array, and countless meteorites ranging from several meters to tens of meters in size fell from the sky, smashing into the military formation with a sharp roar that pierced through the atmosphere!

The giant that was hit directly by the meteorite exploded into a large blood mist under the terrifying impact force. The aftermath of the meteorite hitting the ground spread out, instantly disrupting the giant army formation that was already in chaos due to the hasty attack.

"put!"

At Hilbert's command, thousands of armor-piercing dragon arrows pierced through the sky and mixed with the lethal spells fired from the back row, turning into a death storm, which set off a bloody rain the moment it blew into the array!
The speed of the knights' charge had reached its peak. The two-mile distance was fleeting, so they only completed three rounds of volleys from beginning to end. When the last round of armor-piercing dragon arrows was fired, the knights were even about to put their horse bows on the giant's face to attack. In close combat, the giant, who had just been bombarded by the Estelle meteorite, dragon arrow rain and long-range spells, had no resistance to the knights covered with blessings. As soon as they came into contact, it was like a dam that was broken by a torrent, with countless gaps blown up, and the collapsed soil and rocks were swept back by the flood!

Giants possess overwhelming physical strength compared to humans, which is a fact determined by racial talents. However, when this individual difference arises between armies, the strength difference between giant soldiers and well-trained elite human knights has narrowed a lot.

As the conditions changed further, the 10,000 most elite knights in the Northern Expedition pulled their blessings to their full potential and ran head-on into a force of thousands of giants who couldn't even complete a defensive phalanx. The final result was an overwhelming massacre.

The spears of each knight in the front row pierced through at least five giants. They used the irresistible speed of the charge to pierce the giants' thighs or abdomens, then rushed behind the giants, grabbed the front half of the spear and stabbed it out!
Such a blow may not be able to kill a giant directly, but behind them, the next knight will do the same and create the same penetrating wound on the same giant again!
For lower-level giants below the fourth generation, three such penetrating wounds are enough to take their lives.

Behind the ten rows of lance knights, there were ten rows of stronger knights equipped with halberds which were heavier than lances, or more like heavy axe spears with side blades.

The distance between them is wider than that between their comrades in the front row, but this is not to leave breathing space for the enemy. Instead, only with enough space can they swing their halberds from three meters away and chop down the giant who is half-kneeling on the ground and struggling to survive!

If one were to find a suitable metaphor to describe these 10,000 cavalrymen, the front row was like a sharp chisel, the middle row was a fierce guillotine, and the cluster of spellcasters in the rear that continuously released long-range attacks was like a stable heavy artillery.

On a battlefield of this scale, the role of hero-level units has been greatly weakened. What they have to do, including Lucia herself, is to keep a close eye on the possible counterattacks from the enemy's mid-to-high-end combat forces above the third generation of giants, and strangle them as soon as possible.

Of course, by using all the powerful divine power and magic brought by 90 points of concentration, as long as she pays a very limited price, Lucia has enough confidence to break through the army alone and kill these thousands of giants.

But just as he had conveyed to his heroes in several previous military meetings - the North was too large and the enemies were too many. If their 10,000 elite troops wanted to complete the established strategic plan, they had to make the most of every bit of strength.

Otherwise, like a spent force, without the support of a strong bow and silk cloth, and expending too much strength in the early stages of the war, sooner or later one would be overwhelmed by the endless sea of ​​giants.

Excluding the preparation time before the battle, only half an hour passed from the time the two armies met to the end of the battle.

Soon, Hilbert came to the central army carrying a head that looked like a mountain of flesh, threw it on the ground and reported: "Your Highness, this head belongs to the commander of this giant army - the next-generation giant Rudiel. In accordance with your pre-war order, the front army has executed all the prisoners on the spot after reviewing the intelligence."

"What about the casualties?"

"Ninety-six people were killed in the battle, 207 were seriously injured, and 359 were slightly injured. General Serin has taken the monks to the front line to heal the wounded."

"The dead must be registered and buried on the spot with detailed location markings. They can be moved and buried after the war is over." Lucia turned to Levi and instructed, "Notify the entire army to set up camp twenty miles south of the Watcher Fortress and rest for twelve hours. Then summon all the heroes except Serin's Seventh Legion to follow me into the fortress."

"Yes!"

(End of this chapter)