Chapter 2453: Chapter Fourteen: Scattered Elite

The shouts of killing pierced the heavens; in this cold weapon war, once the soldiers were locked in melee, it was utterly horrific.

A soldier from our side, covered in blood, gasped heavily, one hand gripping a battle axe snatched from a dwarf soldier, the axe already slightly nicked, he had forgotten how many enemies he had slain—five? Seven? He could no longer recall.

As a four-star title, the War Lord's bonus is formidable: +5 to all real attributes, morale increased by 50 points, applying to all soldiers; soldiers fight using strength, agility, and constitution attributes, with a combined increase of 15 points from these three attributes—its effect is easy to imagine.

With a boom, a fireball exploded near this soldier, his flesh burned away, leaving only a skeleton that clattered to the ground.

"Kill these dwarves!"

A one-eyed soldier from our side roared; as his words fell, his head buzzed, and then he knew nothing.

Pfft, pfft.

A soldier swung a heavy sword wildly, beheading three dwarves; one dwarf suffered worst—only his upper body remained, yet he still lived, collapsing to the ground in endless wails.

Flames scorched the corpses; the stench of blood mixed with thick smoke, producing a smell both pungent and adrenaline-stimulating—this is the taste of the battlefield.

After the two armies became entangled, the dwarven unit's combat proficiency showed: their main force met our soldiers head-on, then the flanks enveloped and quickly regrouped, the dwarf goat cavalry forming successive "swords" that charged from the flanks into our formation, aiming to split and gradually devour it.

The rams ridden by the Peruvian dwarves were fully armored, stronger than wild boars, their curled horns natural weapons; striking our soldiers meant death or crippling, these sheep had extraordinary bloodlines, eating no grass, only meat, and it had to be raw.

Indeed, this dwarf unit's combat proficiency was high, but sometimes the individual combat power gap among soldiers cannot be compensated by formation; the dwarf cavalry on both flanks could not break through and were instead counter-charged.

Thunder rumbled in the sky; half an hour later, a torrential downpour fell, weapons clashed on the battlefield, mud and water splashed, under the curtain of rain, visibility dropped sharply.

At the rear of our army, Su Xiao did not join the battle; he wanted soldiers capable of capturing a fortress, not merely defeating this dwarf unit before him; at the war's outset he discovered these defeated troops were not originally a single unit, but a patchwork assembly.

Obviously, after Su Xiao removed the former deputy commander·Avare, Uno thought of this defeated force; although Avare's troops had little combat strength, they could still form battle formations and relay orders quickly, but this defeated force was different—some hundred-commanders and ten-commanders did not even know each other, unable to form a complete establishment; the flaw was unseen before battle, but once fighting began, it appeared immediately.

Su Xiao did not care whether his soldiers could form battle formations; as long as he had over fifty thousand soldiers, even without any formation, they would not fear the enemy's dwarf elite units—this is the might of the War Lord title.

Three hours into the battle, our soldiers and dwarf soldiers were completely intermixed; by then, the enemy also had no formation; those dwarves fighting had no time to relay orders, everywhere were roars and screams, the rain pouring down.

The ground was covered in muddy footprints, light red rainwater filling them, the rain eased and finally stopped.

When the rain ceased, visibility returned; the dwarf soldiers then realized with a start that many of their comrades around them had already fallen.

Pair after pair of vicious eyes stared at them; heavy casualties plus the enemy's ferocity made the dwarf soldiers' hearts pound.

"Red, where did Red Beard Lord go?"

Light red water droplets trickled down the battle axe blade; a dwarf soldier began to panic in his heart, unable to see his leader, he could not help but wonder if their Red Beard Lord had abandoned them and fled.

"Red Beard abandoned us and fled!"

After a our side thousand-commander roared, he flung himself beside a corpse pile, feigning death.

"Red Beard fled!"

Amid the clashing of weapons and armor, this shout was especially piercing.

Fear began to spread among the dwarf soldiers; soldiers are people too, and without orders, their first thought was whether to flee the battlefield—Red Beard fled, does that mean the supervise-and-fight unit also fled?

After continued chaotic fighting for half an hour, the dwarf soldiers collapsed and began to retreat rearward; our soldiers seized the chance to beat the dogs in the water.

After the slaughter continued for a long time, the battlefield finally fell silent; strands of black smoke rose to the heavens; looking around, the battlefield was littered with corpses and bloodwater, both ours and the Peruvian dwarves'.

A soldier with three blood streaks on his face sat on a small corpse pile, he picked up a war hammer from the ground, gazing at the broken-horned sheep head pattern on it, he grinned.

The war ended, we won the first battle—not a great victory; according to Deputy Commander·Aus's statistics, our side lost about 9,700 men, while we annihilated over 16,000 enemies.

Know that this was under the War Lord's blessing; if not for the enemy's rout, fighting to the end would have been an extremely horrific victory, possibly even a defeat.

Barely had the first battle ended, before the soldiers could clean the battlefield, enemy reinforcements arrived—a force of 20,000 dwarves.

At this moment, our soldiers had just fought a major battle, leaving only about 13,000 men, and many were wounded.

Amid the rumbling of moving mountains and shaking earth, the enemy's dwarf cavalry charged in the front lines, followed by ranks of dwarf soldiers, advancing in an a-shaped formation.

Though our soldiers' condition was poor, their morale had risen above 90 points, so no one retreated; they wiped blood from their faces and pressed forward, still using the flat-push tactic—that is, a dark mass charging ahead.

The second battle lasted only one hour before ending; the enemy was simply pathetic; compared to the previous broken-horn unit, this dwarf reinforcement was utterly incapable of withstanding a blow; although various formations were deployed, under the suppression of individual strength, they were useless.

In just one hour, the enemy discarded over 5,000 corpses and fled; their retreat resembled that of a bereaved dog, while our side lost over 300 men……

In the distance of the battlefield, a large group of dwarf soldiers ran swiftly; among them was a dwarf officer, his expression somewhat flustered, worried the enemy would pursue; in his view, this time he had encountered bloody misfortune, meeting the elite unit of the Sand Flame.

Actually, Su Xiao's forces were in fact defeated troops; through the War Lord's bonus, they became scattered elite.

……

Behind the battlefield, our soldiers passed through here; Su Xiao sat on a wooden crate, upon hearing the battle report, he was quite surprised.

"The enemy fled? So unwilling to fight?"

"Yes, my lord, they fled toward the Peru side; should we pursue?"

"No, clear the battlefield."

"My lord, how should the spoils be distributed?"

Aus's eyes held some anticipation.

"Finder's keepers for loot; weapons and armor to be uniformly collected."

"Yes."

Aus withdrew; not long after, our soldiers began clearing the battlefield, Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang and Bahah also busily delighted, searching everywhere for treasure chests.

Through Aus's account, Su Xiao learned that the Broken Horn unit was one of Peru Kingdom's elites; though not the strongest, it was quite renowned; Su Xiao had previously wondered why this dwarf unit was so difficult to handle.

At six o'clock that evening, battlefield cleanup was completed; large quantities of shields and weapons were seized; shields could be used directly, weapons such as battle axes and war hammers could also be used directly, but thick-bladed swords and the like were unsuitable—our soldiers found them too short when wielded.

Our soldiers' corpses were uniformly buried; enemy corpses burned; prisoners killed without mercy; Su Xiao had no grain to feed these enemies, and selling them as slaves would be too wasteful of time.

Vast tents were erected, all new ones bought by Caesar; ten soldiers plus one ten-commander per tent, this both speeds up assembly and makes it easier for each ten-commander to maneuver his subordinates.

Inside Su Xiao's tent, firelight illuminated the interior brightly; Su Xiao sat at a low table, dinner laid out; Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang beside him occasionally stole a bite of extraordinary creature's beast meat.

"Caesar, why did you bring him here? Just slaughter him together with the prisoners."

Su Xiao tossed a berry into the air; Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang beside him tilted his head back and caught it.

"Bai Ye, this one cannot be slaughtered."

As Caesar spoke, he pulled off a dwarf's helmet; this dwarf was bound with five flowers, two soldiers pressing his left and right shoulders, forcing him to kneel on the ground, a blackish suspicious object stuffed in his mouth, causing him to roll his eyes up and down; this thing seemed to be Caesar's sock.

"This dwarf is named Lai Dun Red Beard, cousin of the Peruvian King·Spring·Steel Sheep."

Caesar's words made Lai Dun Hongxu's struggle intensify, and he made whimpering sounds from his mouth. Seeing this, Caesar pulled the sock from his mouth.

"Ugh~"

Lai Dun Hongxu gave a dry heave, gasping heavily.

"Hahaha, you've caught the wrong person. Lord Hongxu has already escaped."

Lai Dun Hongxu laughed loudly. He was seeking death with all his heart.

Seeing this, Caesar pinched his nose, brought the sock in his hand toward Lai Dun Hongxu, preparing to stuff it back into his mouth, and Lai Dun Hongxu's face began to turn pale.

"Are you really Lai Dun Hongxu or not?"

"No!"

"Then good!"

Caesar shook the sock.

"Ugh~"

Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang rolled his eyes, gave a dry heave, and Su Xiao frowned tightly. He wanted Caesar to quickly get rid of that thing, as the tent was already becoming hard to look at.

"Wait, wait, I, I am."

Lai Dun Hongxu gave a dry heave, lowered his head. He would rather die than let that terrifying thing come near him.

Miaoshu House