Chapter 769: Cold Weapon Battlefield

"Hou Jue, don't you still have three hundred thousand troops under your command? Without sufficient soldiers, I..."

"No need to say more, at most eighty thousand, that's it."

It wasn't that Hou Jue Mark didn't want to send troops, but he couldn't. Of those three hundred thousand troops, two hundred thousand had already gone to support Hill Canyon, which is the sphere of influence of Duke Edward Hewlett.

According to common sense, Hou Jue Mark shouldn't send soldiers to Hill Canyon. The Black Soil Plain was about to be breached; did he still have the leisure to support others?

Hou Jue Mark was also forced by helplessness. The status of a Duke and a Hou Jue are not on the same level. Hou Jue Mark dared not refute the Duke's orders, and moreover, this involved many interests and his own leverage.

Just at this moment, a knight in silver armor arrived riding a fast horse. The silver-armored knight jumped off the horse without waiting for it to stop, landing steadily.

"Hou Jue 'Count' Mark, His Majesty has an order: the Black Soil Plain front line is urgent. Because the Count has not participated in military and political affairs for many years, during the Black Soil Plain war, all matters are to be managed by 'Legion Commander' Carlos. His Highness has sent three hundred thousand troops to reinforce the Black Soil Plain front line. Count, please return to Holy Dragon City immediately. This is His Highness's personal order."

The silver-armored knight took out a short dagger encrusted with gems from his bosom. Seeing this dagger, everyone around knelt down with a 'clatter'.

"What did you... just call me?"

Hou Jue Mark swallowed his saliva.

"Count Mark."

Hearing this, Hou Jue Mark—no, it should be Count Mark—fell directly off his horse.

"Also, Count, His Highness has personally sent people to investigate the renovation of the Black Iron Fortress 14 years ago..."

Whatever the silver-armored knight said, Count Mark could no longer hear. His ears were buzzing. For a hereditary Hou Jue, generally, there would be no demotion unless it involved a capital crime, such as embezzling the renovation funds of the Black Soil Fortress.

A foul stench spread. The 'Hou Jue' who was majestic just a moment ago couldn't even stand straight now, collapsing limply on the ground. The officials who had been fawning over him earlier retreated a few steps one after another.

Count Mark's scandal was exposed, and he was demoted by one level, perhaps even losing his head. But the status of the Blood Lion Carlos soared, directly promoted from Deputy Commander to Commander. If calculated according to the Empire's official ranks, the position of Commander of the Iron-Blood Legion is higher than a Count; after all, the Commander holds military power.

"When will the three hundred thousand soldiers arrive?"

Carlos took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

"At most one day. These were drawn from 'Hill Canyon'."

"Very good."

Carlos pulled over his adjutant and gave him a few instructions.

"Commander, wouldn't this be too hasty? Reinforcements are arriving soon, why don't we..."

The relationship between the adjutant and Carlos was clearly unusual, and he was very good at reading the situation, immediately changing his address to Commander without any sense of incongruity.

"No need to wait for reinforcements. If the tribal scum are guarding the fortress, it's actually a good thing. What I fear most is them destroying it from inside the fortress. Don't forget, their goal is to invade us."

Carlos sighed. Although attacking the fortress would cause a shocking number of deaths and injuries, and one of his orders would result in hundreds of thousands of lives lost on the battlefield, the war had developed to this point, and it was no longer a question of death rates. As the saying goes, benevolence does not command troops. Carlos was ruthless enough, otherwise, he wouldn't have climbed to this position.

"Subordinate understands."

The adjutant immediately notified all subordinates, and the subordinates passed the order down. The army continued to advance toward the Black Soil Fortress.

As the army moved forward, Su Xiao, with his extremely strong eyesight and the advantage of being on higher ground, saw the situation at the Black Soil border clearly.

At this time, the tribal army was stationed in front of the Black Soil border. Contrary to what was imagined, the tribal side did not use the border to build defenses, but deployed troops on a road in front of the border.

In the tribal army, most were orcs. Orcs are actually just a general term, including bull-headed men, dog-headed men, lion-headed men, and other sub-human races. Except for the beast features on their heads, most of their bodies are similar to humans, just taller than humans, with an average height of about 2.5 meters.

Of course, the tribal army not only had orcs but also goblins and dwarves. Goblins had green skin and looked like goblins no matter how you looked at them. As for dwarves, their height was about 1.3 meters. Although they were short, these dwarves who liked to keep big beards were exceptionally sturdy, holding short-handled war hammers or wide-bladed battle axes in their hands. As for the troll race, they hadn't been seen yet.

On the tribal side, most orcs were cannon fodder, except for the bull-headed men. Dwarves were the craftsmen of the tribal side, and their talent in forging far exceeded most races. Of course, the dwarves' combat power was also very strong, belonging to the backbone of the tribal side, with combat power only below the trolls.

As for goblins, these guys were good at alchemy and had good magic talent and affinity. Don't look at their short stature; they were war experts, and the magic-type war weapons of the tribal side were all made by them.

The final trolls were the trump card race. Although the intelligence of most trolls was not very good, their naturally powerful bodies combined with skin that had a certain degree of magic immunity made them infantry killers. It's just that the troll race was sparse in population and would not fight until the critical moment.

In terms of troop strength, the tribal side was about twice that of the Imperial side. However, most of these were cannon fodder orcs. If they really fought, it was hard to say who would win.

The human side had weapons made by the Elf race, while the tribal side had the Dwarf race responsible for forging weapons. Each had its own strengths in terms of weapons.

Hum~

The Imperial war horn sounded, which basically meant the war was about to begin.

Boom!

A low, muffled sound came from behind the tribal camp. Inside the Black Soil Fortress, black stone chips flew tens of meters high. If it weren't for being close enough, one wouldn't hear this explosion. This should be a bomb made by goblins.

Seeing this scene, all the Imperial soldiers were furious. The thing Commander Carlos feared most happened: the tribal side was destroying the Black Soil Fortress from the inside.

Once a large gap was blown in the fortress, even if the Imperial side successfully recaptured it, they would have to face endless harassment from the tribal side.

It seems the tribal side also knew that the Imperial side would spare no effort to recapture the fortress. Therefore, as invaders, they simply didn't defend here and directly destroyed the fortress. When the tribal army rushed out of the Imperial territory, broke into pieces, and wantonly destroyed, the Imperial side would have a hard time.

Boom, boom, boom……

A deafening war drum sound came from behind the Imperial army. A giant race member about ten meters tall was holding a drumstick, beating a giant drum covered in runes.

Hearing this drum sound, Su Xiao's heartbeat began to accelerate, and the speed of blood flow increased.

【You have gained the buff effect of 'Iron-Blood Legion War Drum Song', movement speed +5%, Strength +1, Stamina +1, pain -20%.】

This is a super-large buff skill. As the drum sound rang out, the Imperial soldiers began to march forward in unison.

Clatter. Clatter……

Following the rhythm of the war drum, the footsteps of over one hundred thousand people became consistent, emitting a sound like ocean waves.

The drum sound became more and more urgent, and the soldiers' footsteps became faster and faster, slowly changing from marching to jogging, and finally sprinting.

"Warriors, kill all the weak Imperial army."

Su Xiao heard a roar from the front, but he was in the tide of the Imperial army and didn't see where the tribal army was.

As a plain war, there was no tactic, only battle arrays.

The spearmen in front of the Imperial army charged quickly. They aimed their spears and halberds at the enemy, row upon row of spears and halberds forming a horizontal line. This was a result that could only be achieved after training for who knows how many years.

The two armies collided quickly like two rushing currents meeting head-on. Just when the spearmen at the very front were three meters away from the tribal army, they suddenly stopped.

Hum~ Hum~

The frequency of the war horn changed. Those spearmen turned sideways in unison, and shield soldiers holding tower shields rushed out from behind.

Bang!

A large row of shield soldiers holding tower shields nearly two meters high blocked in front of the spearmen. The tower shields faced the enemy, and spears and halberds poked out from the gaps in the tower shields.

The two armies collided together. The cannon fodder orcs in front of the tribal army were pierced through by the spears and halberds like candied haws, and blood instantly dyed the ground where the two armies met red.

The sound of flesh being pierced connected into one, and screams were endless. If there were anyone with weak will, just hearing this sound would be scared out of their wits.

Judging from the initial clash, the Imperial army clearly had the advantage. But, the tribal side's troop strength was simply too much.

The clanging sound of weapons colliding connected into one, flesh flew, blood overflowed, and shouts of killing soared to the sky. This is a battlefield, and the battlefield is purgatory. There is no humanity, no sympathy; the only thought is to kill all the enemies.

After the two armies fought for two minutes, the heavy shield soldiers in the front row of the Imperial army were breached, and the soldiers of both sides gradually gathered together in an interlaced manner. A chaotic melee began.

Su Xiao, who was in the front-middle position of the Imperial army, still hadn't seen the enemy. There were too many soldiers on both sides, and it wouldn't reach him for a while, but it would be soon.

Whoosh~

A whistling sound of wind breaking came from overhead. Su Xiao subconsciously lay down. On the battlefield, one cannot show off; that really will lead to death.

Boom!

A green glass bottle the size of a water vat landed a hundred meters away from Su Xiao. The glass bottle exploded as soon as it landed, and green flames spread rapidly to the surroundings.

Whoosh~

Wherever the green fire passed, Imperial soldiers instantly turned into ashes, and the ground was vitrified. A sour stench spread. The green fire spread for about tens of meters before drifting away. An oval-shaped glass surface appeared on the ground, about fifty meters in diameter. On the vitrified ground, one could vaguely see armor and weapons melted into molten iron.

Su Xiao immediately stood up. A dog-headed man holding a scimitar covered in minced meat came rushing toward him, shouting and screaming. He finally saw the enemy.

With Zhan Long Shan held horizontally in front of him, Su Xiao stepped forward, and the blade light flashed. The scimitar in the dog-headed man's hand was cut off, and at the same time, the dog-headed man was cut into two halves, killed instantly.

【You killed tribal army low-level infantry: Dog-headed man.】

【You gained 10 Paradise Coins.】

【Your talent 'Spirit Eater' has been activated, permanently increasing your mana by 6 points.】

……

Judging from the current situation, in less than ten minutes, Soul Eater will be able to devour 200 points of mana. By then, the health and mana recovered from killing enemies will be even more.

Talent effect (Passive): After killing a target, permanently seize 1~30 points of mana, and recover the same amount of mana and health (e. g., if you permanently increase 30 points of mana after killing an enemy, you will recover 30 points of mana and health).

Note: Each derived world can seize a maximum of 200 points of mana. If the seized mana reaches the upper limit, Soul Eater will be fully activated, and the recovery effect after killing enemies will increase by 50% (e. g., if you have successfully seized 200 points of mana, you will still recover the corresponding amount of mana and health based on the enemy's strength after killing enemies, and the recovery effect will be increased by 50%).

Su Xiao had just killed a dog-headed man when he immediately felt a dozen unkind gazes looking at him.

"There is an enemy officer here, kill him!"

A dozen cannon fodder orcs rushed toward Su Xiao, while the human soldiers beside Su Xiao subconsciously moved away from him, completely lacking integrity. This is actually the way of survival on the battlefield.

Su Xiao kicked away the orc corpse under his feet. Having never participated in a large-scale cold weapon war, he found that although it was dangerous here, it was quite good. The strong bloody scent and the sky-high shouts of killing stimulated his nerves, and a smile appeared on his face. ===== CHAPTER 770 =====