ocean-life Book 1: Chapter 19-2: Battle
Book 1: Chapter 19-2: Battle
Book 1: Chapter 19-2: Battle
There was a certain overpowering pressure that came from 500 fully armed soldiers advancing towards you, but even so the elves remained composed. In fact they grew calmer thanks to the sight of the empires helmets which reminded them of their training.
The imperial soldiers stopped marching 500 meters away from us.
The infantry created a path between them and a well built soldier wearing gaudily decorated custom armor rode his horse through them.
He held a primitive version of a loudspeaker.
Hear ye hear ye, my honored self is the second son Merissak of the noble Knight Family Harengur! We have arrived to deal a crushing punishment to those barbarians who defy our order. We 500 of the Roan Branch Sacred Sword Order will dole out this punishment with honor.
I had been wondering what they were doing until I heard their announcement. They purposefully announced their identity and purpose. A declaration that this was not an ambush.
Looking at their strangely righteous appearance and counting their troops, it appeared that they were being honest. There didnt seem to be an ambush set up.
Doing such a ridiculously stupid thing so that he can gain honor and feel pride in such a battle.
Does he have a maggot in his brain?
I scorned his ridiculous actions and pointed my crossbow at the sky before pulling the trigger.
The arrow was protected by the wind and flew in a beautiful parabola towards the stupid noble.
It was perfectly calculated using Program.
Listen! Savages obediently AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
I had purposefully missed his vitals and the arrow simply thunked into his abdomen.
Of course the arrow I had fired was soaked with a powerful poison. It was a double K.O. of incredible pain and paralysis poison. Once it got into your bloodstream even a bear wouldnt be able to move for a day or two.
The megaphone amplified the sounds of his screams so they echoed everywhere.
This was a sudden and dramatic blow to their morale.
A nearby adjutant picked up the megaphone.
You fired! You shot while he was in the middle of naming himself! Unfair! Such cowardice!!
I couldnt help but feel amazed. They werent wondering why the arrow was able to hit him from such a distance, but were instead exaggerating the dishonorable nature of shooting him while he was naming himself.
Andcowardice? Furthermore unfairness in war?
What the hell was he saying? We were exchanging lives. What was wrong with doing anything to survive? This wasnt some kind of sport.
A supporter handed me another loaded crossbow and I simply fired once more.
It was a replay of what happened to the noble moments earlier. Arrow pierces stomach, he screams, and falls off his horse.
Plus there was a bonus. This time the horse panicked and started kicking the soldiers around it.
Next!
Shortly after I said that I was handed another crossbow.
This time I had two exclusive supporters aiding me.
This was a secondary effect of the poison. The fear felt when hearing the screams of their allies would dull their movements. The fear could transform into panic and there would be those who would try to help their fellow soldiers. Many soldiers shouldered their allies slowing their charge considerably.
Furthermore fallen allies became obstacles to the rest. The soldiers had to slow down so they wouldnt trip over their fallen friends.
It would take 2 minutes for them to cross 100 meters in this condition.
As they slowly advanced the arrows poured down like rain.
It hurts.it hurts.
What is this? Wasnt the Empires armor invincible?
Oi, please dontdont die! Ill lend you my shoulder
So far we had a completely one sided battle. We shot the enemy full of arrows and received no casualties ourselves.
If this was a proper army they would have made the necessary arrangements to advance forward with all their power and steel themselves or to retreat.
Back row step forward, Aim..Fire!
After a small gap the rows changed and another volley fired.
Once again the arrows hit causing numerous casualties.
Even so, the soldiers were getting closer.
Now that they reached a distance of 100 meters I ordered the villagers to aim properly.
At this range they should be able to have a near perfect hit rate.
The soldiers casualties instantly skyrocketed.
Normally the Imperial Soldiers wouldnt do this kind of reckless charge.
This kind of straight charge would only end in catastrophic casualties. Even so they didnt stop. Maybe I had caused this by shooting all of the commanding officers who could order such a retreat.
Well, nevertheless there are a few that can use their brains popping out.
There were some soldiers who decided that the punishment for ignoring orders was less frightening than death.
Even if it was harder to move, they chose to move through the forest instead of down the well-paved path with arrows raining down upon it.
They probably planned to flank us using the cover of the forest.
Our two row archer formation was weak to attacks from the sides and rear.
Certainly if they were able to succeed it would be a very effective tactic.
But it isnt as if I hadnt thought of that beforehand.
I had been using Perception Expansion to oversee the situation in the forest.
Some soldiers had fallen into pits filled with poison, others got caught in rope traps and were hanging in midair, and there were the elf hunters who had hidden their presence and snuck up on those who managed to get through.
I could see the miserable state of those soldiers who tried to be smart.
There were numerous traps set up in the forest and 5 hunters on each side of us.