When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 682: Battle! (Rounded to 6k words, super huge two-in-one chapter)

The fist-sized iron ball drew an arc and hit the reeds, and a piece of mud and grass flew into the sky.

When the strong wind blew, Taskin bent down again, fearing that he would be exposed from behind the grass.

Pulling aside the gaps in the reeds, he lay prone on the wet mud, huddled behind a mound, and observed the situation on the battlefield with squinting eyes.

After escaping, Taskin did not leave the battlefield, but found a nearby place to ambush with several companions.

Although he didn't know which knight had ordered him to be stopped, it would not be a big deal as long as it was not the count.

Although he felt inexplicably nervous when he thought of the scene just now, it did not stop him from staying.

When a wizard shows his power, everyone will be scared to death, but if they encounter monks and extraordinary knights, the situation will be unpredictable.

If the situation improves, he can join in, which will be worthy of the one gold coin per month from the Duke of Portosa.

As a mercenary, Taskin still has a lot of professional ethics.

The first "iron meteor" cut through the air and crashed into the ground with a sharp whistle.

Tuskin held his breath, his heart almost skipping a beat.

However, the solitary cannonball stopped just in front of the knight formation, and the stirred up mud and grass debris obscured the view.

Most of these extraordinary knights and elite mercenaries are veterans of the battlefield, and their morale and ability to withstand stress are much higher than normal soldiers.

They were shocked for a moment, and the front of the army was stagnant and chaotic for a few seconds, but they quickly regained their composure under the scolding of the supervisory team led by Count Kazi.

"How is it? Brother Taskin, you have a good eye. Is this battle easy to fight?"

"We haven't started the fight yet, let's wait and see." Tuskin pulled his head back from behind the mound and whispered, "But in my opinion, it should be a 50-50 chance. The meteor's accuracy is not very good. It just fired seven or eight times and only injured one person.

As long as this phalanx of knights can withstand the meteor bombardment, once close combat begins, the knights will have a greater chance of winning given the loose formation of the Thousand River Valley infantry.

Of course, if the knights collapsed first, then when the elite Patriarch's guards arrived from behind, they would probably just throw away their armor and flee."

"Then it's still a battle of willpower."

"Yeah, who would have thought." Taskin sighed, "Infantrymen can actually compete with knights in a duel of willpower. No wonder Prince Condé was fooled."

"I heard that the Despot of Thousand River Valley is recruiting servants for the country, and he is paying them very quickly. When the money is paid here, why don't we go and take a look?"

"We're still at war, what are you thinking about?" Taskin kicked his helmet with his foot. "Focus on it, don't let your mind wander."

Before Taskin could finish his words, he was interrupted by another roar. He immediately fell silent, grabbed a rock, and stuck half of his head out from behind the mound.

This time it was still an "iron meteor", but as the knights and the Saviors continued to move towards each other, this "meteor" had already hit the side of the knights' phalanx just a few dozen steps away.

A mud wave composed of rotten mud and duckweed rose up, and the whole puddle was shaking. Even a few water snakes and water rats climbed up the shore in a daze and disappeared into the stream in panic.

The foul smell was stirring in the wind, and many knights' faces changed slightly.

This taste doesn't feel right.

"How is it?" Looking at the results of the two test firings, Lulos, who was present in person, asked Mormont.

Mormont put down the telescope and said, "The positioning is almost accurate. Anyway, the Falcon Cannon is a flat shot. These two shots are just to position the Sand Sculpture Cannon."

"How long will it take to transport the sand sculpture cannon?"

"Um." Mormont took out his pocket watch. "I think it may take about a quarter of an hour. The main reason is that the enemy commander is quite smart and took the inner side. Our Griffin cannons can't hit them. What a pity...

But you can rest assured, I have arranged two regiments of God's Punishment Army in advance, with ten Falcon Cannons, to pass through the forest on the side, so that we can launch a double attack with the Holy Wind."

"Very good." Lulos nodded. She hesitated for a few seconds and asked, "Are you sure you don't want me to go into battle?"

"Don't go into battle," Mormont said. "If you do, what if you are hit by a cannon? We will be unable to do anything."

Lulos lit her pipe with some disappointment: "Okay, then I'll go see how the hydraulic winding machine is installed."

After Lulos left, Mormont continued to calculate the distance with the telescope in high spirits.

"Six hundred steps... that's about it." Mormont muttered to himself and instructed his adjutant, "Fire at an angle of 2, with seven guns in a group, firing alternately. When the enemy enters 7 steps, fire all the shells in the barrel and retreat."

The two gun positioning test firings were completed. The first shot was used to measure the longitudinal distance, and the second shot was used to measure the lateral distance. Under the calculations of the astrologers, the 14 Falcon Guns began to slowly adjust the left and right directions of the muzzles.

"Praise the Holy Wind!"

It was as if the god of thunder in the Norn legend was driving a chariot across the sky. Amid the rumbling sound, seven cannonballs were fired horizontally.

"Here they come!" Taskin, hiding behind the mound, growled and focused all his attention on the battlefield.

As he blinked his eyes, the artillery shells in the distance quickly changed from blurry black dots to whistling hellfire winds.

"Ah--" A series of screams instantly occupied the knights' ears. Almost in an instant, a total of eight knights in the first three rows were almost knocked to the ground.

The knights in the middle were caught off guard and almost tripped, while the knights at the back were still wondering what was going on.

"Have you engaged? What's going on in the front row?"

"Chantist, suppress the enemy's spells, quickly!"

"Save me... save me..."

Count Kazi, who was protected by the supervision team, stood there blankly. He was always known for his alertness, but he did not react for a moment.

When the iron ball hit the knights, the two sides were still about 500 steps apart!

But he clearly saw a brave knight among them who was moving forward firmly. Suddenly, his feet left the ground, he let out a scream that was almost like a lady's, and then his buttocks fell backwards and fell out.

He was a rare high-ranking knight with imperial decree combat power, but in the blink of an eye, the knight's chest was pierced by a cannonball, and blood gushed out from the broken armor, splashing all over the surrounding knights.

The iron ball even pierced through his armor and continued to smash the thigh of a knight behind him before it stopped.

Although only 7 of the 3 shells hit the target, due to the knights' close positioning, almost every shell pierced at least two people.

The dense formation that was originally used to protect them now turned into a fatal curse.

"Keep going, keep going!" After being shocked, Count Kazi reacted quickly. He drew out his dagger and hit the helmets of the knights in the front row hard, waking them up from their daze.

"Don't be afraid. They are just a new type of crossbow. They can't fire many rounds at a distance of several hundred steps. Charge forward! Loyalty and honor!"

They currently occupied relatively open and stable terrain, able to assemble and deploy their troops.

If they retreated at this time and left this relatively hard ground to the Saviors, they would never have the chance to regroup.

Count Kazi gripped his dagger tightly, his palms already soaked with sweat.

He vaguely felt that forming a large square formation was a mistake, but if he retreated, he would probably not have the chance to attack again.

"Loyalty and honor!" A knight captain stuttered and shouted, and the monks used their last bit of strength to cast the magic of dispelling fear on these knights.

When the warm magic fell on his body, his pounding heart slowed down, and his legs and feet, which had been as heavy as lead, became light.

However, when they stepped past the bloody corpses with hollow eyes, the large formation that was originally advancing normally unconsciously slowed down its pace.

Although only five knights died, the invisible shock to their souls was indelible.

They could endure death, but not this kind of death, where they fell down inexplicably before the battle even started and before they could even see the enemy's face clearly.

Death with blood and flesh flying everywhere and broken limbs scattered all over the ground is not their glorious death.

Almost a minute later, there was another violent roar, and this time it hit more people.

Amid the whistling sound of the shells breaking through the air, seven or eight knights in the front row fell down or even flew backwards.

The orichalcum springs stirred the air, and a sharp sound similar to that of a bagpipe came out from the balance hole.

As the Falcon Cannons retreated together, the huge iron ball rushed out due to the violent friction between the firing rod and the barrel, and shot out in a very small parabola.

Breaking through the resistance of the air and penetrating the interception and caress of the reeds, four of the seven fist-sized iron balls hit the knights with a clang.

If you are lucky, only your hands and feet will not be broken. If you are unlucky and are hit in the torso, your ribs and spine will fly out from the back and splash all over the faces of your friendly soldiers behind you.

The friendly forces at this time don't have to think about having an easy time, because any shells that penetrate can basically break their calves and thighs.

Broken pieces of iron and a mess of severed limbs swept across the army, and they couldn't even see the enemy's face clearly.

"It's okay, it's okay, charge forward, there are only two thousand of them, as long as we kill them, their horizontal formation can't stop us." Count Kazi shouted at the top of his lungs, running back and forth with the supervising team and monks.

The Knight Commander and high-ranking knights in the battle formation also shouted in anger: "Get out if you are afraid of death. There are only a few catapults, and they can't fire many times."

The knights holding their swords and halberds became skeptical for a moment.

In this era, generally speaking, the greater the power and the longer the range of a projectile, the lower its firing frequency. This has been proven by El scholars.

Under the dual encouragement of potions and magic, they still gritted their teeth and continued to charge forward.

Unfortunately, after more than a minute of silence, the third round of bombardment arrived as expected, followed by the fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds...

In the next ten minutes, 14 Falcon guns fired in succession, firing nearly sixty shells.

The two groups of artillery fired seven projectiles each time, firing at the knights at increasingly smaller angles.

As the distance got closer, facing such a wide formation, they didn't even need to aim, they could fire all the solid shells into the densest crowd.

The phalanx's advance speed became slower and slower, and it even had to stop and wait for the knights in the rear to fill their positions.

But no one wanted to move forward, so they could only hide to the sides, and the formation actually developed from a square formation to a horizontal formation.

Before the two sides actually engaged in battle, the noble coalition forces in the Lilac Corridor had already suffered a casualty rate of nearly 5%.

"Archers, archers!" After running around anxiously, Count Kazi's voice trembled as he called out to the archers. "Has the demon hunter not dealt with those mages yet?" "I can't feel any spell reaction, sir." A servant trotted over with his back bent in fear. "Those catapults are not cast by mages, so there is no spell reaction."

"Wouldn't the demon hunters just go and assassinate them? Let them do it. If they destroy a catapult, they will be rewarded with 300 gold pounds."

Although there will always be brave men when there is a big reward, unlike the magician, these cannons are densely arranged right under the nose of the Holy Gunner.

As soon as a few demon hunters approached, they started firing indiscriminately. After finally getting close, they looked at such a huge iron thing and couldn't think of how to destroy it.

In the end, nothing was brought back except the bodies of his companions.

A huge iron ball whizzed past overhead, and as the knight walked, he fell down with his limbs flying everywhere.

Under such tremendous pressure, Count Kazi ran around, offering bounties and promising titles, and relying on the magic of the supervisory team and monks, he brought the more than 2800 fully armored knights to a position of about 150 steps.

When both sides can see each other's flags clearly, it means they are ready to fight.

Lead bullets created sparks on the armor, and the clock bullets falling from the sky made the knights shake their heads involuntarily, but they could not scratch the itch in their ears through the helmets.

"We're finally here." Gnashing his teeth, he looked at the scattered enemy formations in front of him. Looking at the sparse formation, Count Kazi suppressed his excitement and said, "Rectify the troops for the last time and prepare to charge!"

"Roar--"

In response to him, the knights had the long-suppressed anger. After being beaten by this group of farmers for more than ten minutes, they finally had the strength to fight back.

The more than 2,000 Salvation Army soldiers standing opposite each other also began to move closer and hold down their spears, preparing to deal with the impact.

"Stand still!"

"Go to the front row. Those with two-handed swords, go to the front row. Duke Portosa will reward you 100 gold pounds!"

"For glory, for the Lilac Corridor!"

"...In ancient times, there were no heroes to be seen, but nowadays, there are lead bullets and cannonballs..."

"The enemy's catapults stopped firing. They must be scared!"

"...Unheard of Holy Father's hand, an indestructible clockwork gun..."

"Who is singing, and who allowed singing?" A knight shouted impatiently as he heard the singing coming from the noisy shouting.

"...We, the monks, are all chosen by the gods. We are not afraid of any difficulties..."

"Who is singing? Who is singing?" Listening to the singing becoming clearer and clearer, the knight captain looked around angrily, but suddenly he turned his head towards the other side of the forest.

What is that? The knight slowly opened his eyes, and his heart beat faster and faster within half a second.

At the edge of the forest, God's Punishment Army, covered in mud and fallen leaves, appeared in sight with leeches on their ears and calves.

What frightened him most was not the cavalry on the flank, but the platform rising from the mud and the row of small clockwork cannons on the platform that were slowly moving forward.

“Hey hey hey——” In a hurry, the knight was unable to speak. He just pointed at the forest and shouted, “Bows and arrows, archers, shoot over there, quickly! Quick!”

"I sing row after row of songs..."

As the singing became clearer, the knights on the right side of the square turned their heads and looked in horror at the sudden appearance of another team of Saviors.

And the row of 3-pound Falcon guns in front of them.

"Sing me row after row...Holy Alliance Salvation Army!"

Chaos began to break out on the right side, but Count Cazi was completely unaware that a new behemoth had appeared behind the dozen or so catapults on the opposite side.

"For glory!"

The war cries of the knights seemed to be a hundred steps away from him, and Count Kazi's eyes were fixed on the enlarged versions of the "magic catapults".

No, no!
Count Cazes wanted to shout, but the sound was stuck in his throat and he couldn't shout out.

New magic catapults, four new magic catapults!
"Praise the Holy Wind!"

The devil's whispers speak praises to the Father.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom -"

In coordination with the four horizontally firing sand sculpture cannons, the twenty-four falcon cannons roared together.

When the cannon sounded, Count Cazes felt his heart was about to stop.

Although the shell did not hit him directly, the flying mud and impact were like a heavy punch to his chest.

"My Lord Earl." The dusty-faced servant immediately reached out to support him, but was pushed away by Earl Kazi.

Pushing aside the mud and dust in front of him, Count Kazi stared blankly at the grapefruit-sized iron ball not far away.

When he looked up again, the front row of the square was no longer there.

The once neatly-ordered queue was now a bloody mess, with bloody bodies and broken gun barrels scattered on the ground.

The heavy iron balls as big as grapefruits fell on the densely packed square formation, and immediately rolled out a long bloody path in the queue.

The knights in the first three rows groaned in pain, their limbs were cut off by the shells, the blood kept flowing, and they could only look at Count Cazi in despair.

"Holy Father——"

The knights in the front row squeezed back, but the dense array locked them down.

Some people were screaming like crazy, some were pushing their companions to escape, and more people just stood there, letting the boiling blood stain their armor red.

Some knight captains were still shouting "Keep the formation!", but no one listened to them, and even they themselves were knocked down by the holy wind.

Only hundreds of knights, out of great fear, raised their spears and swords, bypassed their comrades, broke away from the battle formation like crazy, and launched a desperate and reckless charge towards the Savior Army.

After just a few steps, the holy gunners not far away raised their clockwork guns.

The lead bullets pierced through the charging infantry knights, causing flying dirt and fragments of flesh and blood. The knights were shocked all over as they ran and fell to the ground.

There were only a few great swordsmen who could actually reach the front of the battle. Even if there were any, they would soon fall to the ground, covering the wounds in their throats and armpits, under the siege of dozens of fine iron spears.

The broken bone fragments brushed against Count Cazes' cheek, taking away a piece of flesh, and blood flowed down his cheek.

He just stood there motionless, listening to the screams, gunshots and cannon fire around him, his hands and feet cold.

The usually calm Earl couldn't even control his body from shaking, nor could he stop the dizzy tinnitus in his ears.

It seemed that the phalanx still retained its original organization, but he knew in his heart that it was just defeated too quickly and the knights had not yet reacted.

He lost, he had already lost.

The sand sculpture cannon roared again, and the six-pound cannonball fell into the formation, instantly tearing the bodies of the three knights into broken flesh and blood.

The order of the phalanx seemed to be torn apart, and fear quickly spread from the crack.

The knights had never seen such a way of death - silent and irresistible, like a joke of the god of death.

"Run!"

Someone let out a tearing cry, and the sound seemed to pierce through the last barrier.

The knights began to flee in all directions, stumbling over the corpses and mud under their feet. In panic, they even drew their swords and killed each other, just to fight for a way to escape.

"Our army is defeated. Our army is defeated."

"Run, run, they have the devil's help."

"I saw it with my own eyes. Their iron pipes are connected to the hell of fire. Run!"

The wounded knights cried out, and some even knelt on the ground begging for mercy.

Fear spread one after another, and the knights, who were originally just wavering, quickly turned to fleeing. They threw away their heavy armor and weapons and began to push and run wildly.

There were even several incidents of trampling and mutual attacks.

Looking at the chaotic scene around him, Count Kazi could no longer hold on. His legs went soft and he fell to the ground, allowing his comrades to flee or fall down.

He looked at the enemy formation in the distance. Their catapults and clockwork guns were still firing, and the knights were like a bunch of crude targets.

“Everyone respects Dalia and worships Kracherus.

Alexander, is this the name of all heroes?
Looking at the world today, who can compare to him?

I am the only one, line after line, the Holy Alliance Salvation Army! "

Amid the orderly singing and drum beats, thousands of spearmen followed the beat and began to drive the knights towards the river.

Taskin and other mercenaries who were hiding behind the mound and witnessed the whole process looked pale.

They were speechless as they watched the knights wailing on the ground or fleeing all over the mountains.

All that remained in their ears was the melodious singing.

"In ancient times, heroes were nowhere to be seen, but nowadays we have lead bullets and cannonballs."

Unheard of hand of the Holy Father, an indestructible clockwork gun.

We monks are all chosen by God, so we are not afraid even if there are thousands of difficulties.

Sing me row after row, Holy Alliance Salvation Army! "

(End of this chapter)