Chapter 604: The Decisive Battle! A Clash of Ten Thousand Generals (III)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Bang!
A massive halberd landed on the mountain, this simple action seeming to carry with it an enormous power. Even Longqinba had to raise an eyebrow.
“Longqinba, we meet again.”
A low voice came from up the mountain. That person’s hair flapped in the wind, and his face, which seemed to be chiseled from stone, was embedded with two eyes that seemed as deep as the sea.
“Sun Liuyue!”
Longqinba’s expression sank as he halted his steps.
This person was dressed in an armor completely different from the rest of the Annan Protectorate army. It was simple and thick, with nothing special about it besides its weight.
In truth, this person was not a member of the Annan Protectorate army.
Wang Yan had several generals under his command different from regular generals. They had no rank or title, but their status in the army was above even Chen Shusun.
Sun Liuyue was one of these generals. He was not only one of Wang Yan’s personal guards, but also a retainer of the Wang Clan. Back when Wang Yan entered the army, the patriarch of the Wang Clan, Duke Jiu, had arranged for Sun Liuyue to be at Wang Yan’s side.
These people were all experts that had been selected from the best soldiers, and they rarely left Wang Yan’s side. They were like his shadow.
When Wang Yan was not present, they could substitute for him and oversee the entire army to deal with any sudden surprises.
During the siege of Lion City, Longqinba had been nigh unstoppable. Only Sun Liuyue had been able to check his brash assault.
“Annoying fool!”
Longqinba’s eyes narrowed as he instantly charged forward, scimitar swinging. The moment he charged forward, a light flashed, and a massive shadow that seemed like a demonic god appeared behind him.
……
“It’s finally my turn.”
While the two armies were engaged in their bitter clash, a short yet valiant figure appeared at the back of the mountain. Tumi Sangzha looked up at that waterfall of caltrops descending from the summit, a strange smile appearing on his lips.
Boom!
With a thought, Tumi Sangzha suddenly stomped forward, and an invisible ripple spread out from his feet.
The scene on the mountain slope suddenly changed. Hundreds of metal men stood up from the waterfall of caltrops and swiftly began to clean up their surroundings.
Bangbangbang! These metal men picked up caltrop after caltrop and threw them down the mountain, working with incredible speed.
Buzz!
Tumi Sangzha looked around, his eyes quickly locking onto two nearby metal walls. His fingers spread apart as he began his summoning.
“Rise for me!”
Roar!
The two metal walls began to twist and roar. Two metal giants rose up like prehistoric beasts and began to crawl up the mountain.
With these two metal giants, the clean-up proceeded even more quickly.
“Once this path is cleared up, it will serve as the best place for the cavalry to charge up!”
Tumi Sangzha grimly laughed as he looked up the mountain. With both sides engaged in battle, now was the best opportunity to clean up the caltrops. The Great Minister’s plan was not merely to defeat them in a head-on confrontation on the battlefield.
Leaving the metal men to their task, Tumi Sangzha began to quickly make his way up the mountain.
……
This was a battle of unprecedented scale. Purely in terms of military strength, it far surpassed any previous battle. The dense ranks of the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army crashed forward like giant waves.
The one hundred thousand soldiers of the Whitestone Corps had once madly assailed this summit, but the number of soldiers this time was even greater than that.
Each soldier of the Annan Protectorate army was under incredible pressure. The outermost soldiers might have been equipped with large shields, but these shields were trembling like drops of water, the fast and furious attacks almost causing their bones to shatter.
Besides this, the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army were also clearing up the metal walls, slowly shrinking the space in which the Annan Protectorate army could operate. The situation was turning more and more against the Tang.
“It’s about time.”
Wang Chong looked down from the summit at the battlefield. Although the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army was proceeding with a vicious momentum, everything was still under his control.
Boom!
Just when the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army was pressing closer and closer, Wang Chong’s eyes flashed and he took a step forward. Boom! This step seemed to set the mountain shaking as an invisible energy began to spread down the sides of the mountain to cover the battlefield.
Wang Chong had finally unleashed the strongest halo in his body, the Bane of the Battlefield. Buzz! Invisible ripples began to extinguish the halos of the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang soldiers like so many candles, all of them greatly dimming.
Buzz!
In mere moments, the tens of thousands of Tibetan and Mengshe Zhao soldiers on the mountain suddenly had their cultivation drop an entire level. And right when Wang Chong unleashed the Bane of the Battlefield Halo…
“Attack!”
The defensive Annan Protectorate army chose to attack. Twangtwangtwang! Deafening booms filled the air. The first to strike was not the Tang infantry, but the Great Tang ballistae.
On flat terrain, it was basically impossible for ballistae to fire around the soldiers on the front lines. But their location on the mountain made this task much simpler.
Boomboomboom!
The dense quarters of the battlefield, with thousands of soldiers squeezed into one place, were the best place for the ballistae to gather their harvest. While the thick bolts covered in inscriptions were fired, at the front lines, a forest of pikes suddenly stabbed out from the chinks in the shield wall.
Squelchsquelchsquelch! In the past, the strength of these pikes would have been limited, but all the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang warriors were currently in a weakened state.
The sharp pikes were able to plunge through their Stellar Energy barriers and into their bodies, raising them high into the air and flinging them away. Thwish, thwish, thwish… In a few short moments, the forest of pikes had thrust out and in several times. They emerged from the shield wall shining bright and retracted painted in dark red.
The ground in front of the shield wall was soon littered with corpses.
These valiant Mengshe–Ü-Tsang warriors who had been so formidable just moments before were now punctured as easily as cloth bags. In addition, while the shield soldiers had been under enormous pressure before, they now felt the severe weakening of the enemy attacks, allowing them to quickly harden up their lines.
“Axemen, move out!”
Suddenly, furious roars rose from the front lines as massive axes began to fly through the air, smashing into the sea of Mengshe–Ü-Tsang soldiers.
At this same moment, the earth quaked as stalwart figures suddenly charged out of the Tang ranks like ferocious beasts, slamming into the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang ranks.
“Die for me!”
The muscular figures of the Tang axemen advanced through the enemy ranks with fierce expressions on their faces and veins bulging out of their skin. Their excellent and sturdy armor and the inscribed axes in their hands allowed them to easily hew through the enemy ranks.
“Aaaaah!”
Screams filled the air as the Tibetan and Mengshe Zhao soldiers were cut down like stalks of wheat. A few Mengshe Zhao soldiers were even cleaved in two by the giant axes, their bodies falling both to the left and the right.
Amongst all infantry, axemen had always been the strongest, and they were always selected from the cream of the crop. An axeman was always at True Martial Tier 6 at the minimum, and with the massive debuff inflicted on the enemy army by Wang Chong’s Bane of the Battlefield, these axemen proved even more effective.
In an army, axemen had incredible offensive power, always used for a vigorous push to break the enemy formation when the situation was looking unfavorable.
Boom boom boom!
To the southeast, southwest, northwest… in every direction, the army that had once held the advantage began to crumble. None of the soldiers were able to put up any resistance.
“This, this… What’s going on here?”
“How could their strength change so quickly!”
“What sort of power could have this large a range!”
……
The transformation on the battlefield had shocked everyone. This was not the first time Wang Chong had used the Bane of the Battlefield Halo, but this was the first time that it was on a battlefield of many tens of thousands, allowing it to produce never-before-seen results.
Even a fool would be able to notice that the Bane of the Battlefield was affecting the entire mountain and perhaps even beyond its boundaries.
“Great Minister, what do we do?”
People began to turn toward Dalun Ruozan at the base of the mountain.
“There’s no need to worry. Such a large halo must have extremely large costs. Pass on my order to continue the assault!” Dalun Ruozan pronounced with a wave of his hand.
Although he didn’t know how Wang Chong had managed it, in Dalun Ruozan’s view, there was only one thing in this world that could inflict such a large-scale debuff on the enemy army’s halos, and that was another halo.
But every halo required a consumption of energy. The more people it encompassed, the more energy it consumed. Given the massive range Wang Chong’s halo covered, Dalun Ruozan was confident that it would quickly sap the user of all his energy.
More importantly, in this sort of battle, the strongest halo or the strongest existence could not achieve much against an army of hundreds of thousands.
If Huoshu Huicang alone could win a war, what did they need all the other soldiers for?
But Dalun Ruozan quickly realized that his judgment was wrong.
Neigh!
As countless people looked on, a fierce cry arose from the summit. A divine steed with snow-white hooves appeared under the banner, a beanstalk in its mouth.
And the erect figure on the back of this horse was like the sun in the sky, attracting everyone’s gaze.
At this moment, Wang Chong appeared like a handsome god looking down from the heavens.