Chapter 346

"They might even be more formidable than our heavy cavalry—look at their armor, covered in magical runes. Their stamina surpasses our horses', and since they're fused with their mounts, they're far more agile on the battlefield, unlike our heavy cavalry, which is so cumbersome. If our heavy cavalry regiment faced them in equal numbers, we'd likely lose!"

A man spoke with an expression turned solemn.

"Aren't the orcs supposed to have poor iron-smelting skills? Look at their armor—it's all identical! Where did they get so much of it?"

Someone was deeply puzzled.

"Yes, their shields look terrifying too—how much iron would that take? Even our cavalry probably couldn't lift such shields!"

"The bearmen's shields are even worse—one shield probably weighs hundreds of jin, but there are too few bearmen. These centaurs are countless—they've been marching for so long, there must be tens of thousands!"

"Look at the weapons they carry—so many spears, each several meters long. If they hurl those, even ordinary shields won't hold up."

"Indeed!"

Over twenty thousand centaur warriors left the crowd of over a hundred thousand in stunned silence.

Among some nobles, their estimates of Yan Country's strength had undergone a radical shift.

"I have a feeling what comes next will be even more astonishing."

A noble murmured.

Finally, after several full minutes, the twenty thousand centaur warriors had completely emerged.

Then came wave after wave of fox-people archers.

The fox-people archers wore uniform attire; to conserve stamina, they wore no heavy iron armor, only simple leather armor—specialized leather, far superior to the hides worn by the lion warriors in the past.

If a commoner tried to cut through this leather with a knife, it would take several blows to break through.

This leather also offered decent magical protection—status-affecting spells had no effect on them, and even powerful elemental spells like fire and lightning were well-defended against.

Of course, fox-people archers still feared close combat—that's the nature of all archers, except for centaurs who can fight both at range and up close.

Immediately behind these ten thousand fox-people archers came five thousand cat-people warriors, whose sole purpose was to protect the archers.

The appearance of the fox-people archers also triggered gasps.

It was widely accepted that fox-people lacked weapons and equipment.

In the past, many orcs didn't even possess a single iron tool.

Let alone crafting something as complex as a bow.

Yet the bows these fox-people carried were standard longbows—each over one and a half meters in length!

The craftsmanship required to make such longbows was no simpler than forging an iron weapon!

Moreover, many noticed magical symbols etched onto the bows, meaning these fox-people longbows likely carried magical power and would strike with exceptional ferocity.

Furthermore, training an archer was no easy task!

Even the royal army of the Heling Kingdom had no more than ten thousand archers total!

"Good heavens, so many archers—and their bows look terrifying! Such long bows must have a range farther than ours!"

In the crowd, such exclamations never ceased.

On the Continent of Gods, outside the magic attacks of powerful mages, archers were the most effective ranged weapon.

Yan Country possessed such a massive force of archers, all equipped with such superior gear—this meant Yan Country already had formidable ranged striking power and devastating suppression capability on the battlefield!

The successive appearances of well-equipped centaur warriors and fox-people archers began to make onlookers realize that Yan Country's army was nothing like they'd imagined.

This army didn't just boast individual strength—it was also exceptionally well-equipped. Once on the battlefield, its combat power would likely be astonishing.

Then came the perfectly aligned lion-people warriors.

As the former royal family of the orcish nation, the lion-people warriors' strength spoke for itself.

After embracing Lin Yan's faith, these lion-people warriors had received multiple blessings, greatly enhancing their individual power.

Now, over half of the fifty thousand lion-people warriors had Reached Second Rank!

This was terrifying.

The Church's Knights of the Divine Temple had once been led by Third Rank knights; even after expansion, they'd only added a few thousand-man Second Rank knightly units.

But here in Yan Country, there were at least thirty thousand lion-people warriors with Reached Second Rank!

This was the natural physical advantage of the orcs!

A lion-people warrior reached First Rank upon adulthood; with training and strengthening, they naturally could Reach Second Rank.

Of course, the onlookers didn't know the exact ranks of these lion-people warriors.

But the sight of them—standing over five meters tall, fully armored, wielding shields and longswords—marching in perfect formation still sent waves of gasps through the crowd.

People on the Continent of Gods were generally tall; adult men typically stood over 1.7 meters.

But even a two-meter-tall man paled in comparison to these lion-people warriors.

Imagine fighting an enemy five meters tall!

An enemy clad in armor you couldn't even cut through!

Such an enemy would inspire despair even before the battle began.

But now, such enemies weren't one or two.

They marched in endless rows, stepping in perfect unison, emerging endlessly from Hope Avenue.

Thus, everyone present—commoners and nobles alike—were stunned.

The lion-people's status as the former royal family was no accident.

Their entrance was even more awe-inspiring than that of the centaurs.

Well, that was partly because they were more numerous.

The centaurs numbered only twenty thousand; these lion-people numbered fifty thousand.

Of course, these commoners and nobles never imagined that such powerful lion-people warriors had once been defeated by the fox-people and centaurs ahead of them.

But back then, the lion-people's defeat stemmed mainly from lack of elite combat power and equipment. Now that their gear had improved, if Lin Yan and Meng Ying didn't intervene, a battle between equal numbers of centaurs and lion-people might not have a clear winner.

"I have a feeling that even if we had ten times their numbers, we still might not defeat them."

A noble who had been to war muttered to himself.

This noble had once armed a force of over a thousand men and fought alongside the main army—that was the human battlefield.

On the human battlefield, phalanx met phalanx, and magical forces clashed—but in this noble's view, if these armies of Yan Country charged onto the human battlefield, no human phalanx could withstand their impact!

Now, whether noble or commoner, all hearts were filled with awe!

The armies of Yan Country had only just appeared halfway, yet they already felt invincible!