Black-armored cavalry, like a continuous, surging tide, came roaring from the direction of the Imperial fortress. From the time the Foreign People scouts reported until now, only a brief moment had passed, but thirty kilometers was less than a moment for fully unleashed Danger Beast warhorses!
Even though the horses were completely encased like iron cans, to prevent hindering their running, the scale armor on their legs had varying degrees of ventilation holes at the muscle locations of their four limbs. These warhorses, which poured all their Danger Beast abilities into speed and endurance, could not defeat any aggressive Danger Beast in a frontal fight. However, they carried a person on their backs!
The Northern Nomads, whether due to insufficient intelligence or technology, or because they never believed the Empire would launch an offensive, not only lacked the city wall defenses of the Seventh Legion, but also the most basic wooden palisades and chevaux de frise found in any army camp. It was simply a large collection of tents pitched together, completely devoid of any defensive measures.
From an aerial view, the entire Foreign People camp looked like a wide-open, drafty pocket, almost as if welcoming any invaders.
At this moment, the attention of over two hundred thousand Foreign People was entirely drawn to Rin. Even the Foreign People soldiers on the outermost circle, who couldn't see Rin's silhouette, were facing the direction of the recent earthquake, whispering to equally bewildered people beside them, guessing what was happening, and thus the time for battle preparations quietly slipped away.
It is said that dark clouds press down on the city, threatening to destroy it. What the Great Leader of the Native saw at this moment was precisely this scene, and a mere glance from the corner of his eye was enough to captivate him. Yet, he had neither city walls nor even a wooden fence, so how could he possibly withstand a cavalry charge?!
"Be on guard! Everyone, pick up your weapons immediately! The Empire's bastards are here to kill us!"
In fact, there was no need for the Great Leader of the Northern Nomads to shout; the Northern Nomads on the outermost perimeter had already sensed the abnormal ground vibrations and felt that something was wrong. At this moment, Suzaku, leading the charge, was already within one kilometer of the Native's main camp.
"Prepare for long-range suppression!"
The Wind God Winged Dragon, manipulating the wind and airflow in the sky under Rin's command, drove the wind, carrying Suzaku's not-so-loud command to the ears of every Seventh Expeditionary Force warrior.
"When within 800 paces of the enemy, fire arrows at a 45-degree upward angle. Within 200 meters, throw light javelins. Within 100 meters, throw heavy javelins. Use throwing axes as the situation dictates."
The weaponry and equipment Rin provided for the Seventh Expeditionary Force were beyond imagination for ordinary people. Besides being fully armored from head to toe in black cavalry armor, their weapons were comprehensive, transcending the limitations of all military branches. On the broad backs of their Danger Beast warhorses hung a five-foot-long cavalry strongbow and fifteen iron-fletched arrows. Three cavalry sabers ensured that warriors, whether accustomed to wielding a single sword or dual-wielding, always had backups. On the back of their black cavalry armor, like a peacock fanning its tail, were seven metal javelins, four light and three heavy, which could be thrown or held as melee weapons. Behind their waists were two short-handled, double-edged axes, effective for both close combat and throwing.
Additionally, they had chain sickles and more, with each person's armor featuring three-shot hidden sleeve arrows installed on each wrist. They were truly armed to the teeth!
Suzaku drew her strongbow and shot the first arrow into the sky, and then—the sky went dark!
Waves of arrows rained down! The black-armored cavalry of the Seventh Expeditionary Force maintained their charge without the slightest reduction in speed. Strong bows and powerful arrows, like dark clouds, obscured the sky! Then they poured down like a sudden storm!
With the Danger Beast warhorses charging at full speed, exceeding 100 kilometers per hour, it only took a mere dozen seconds. Yet, the warriors of the Seventh Expeditionary Force were able to unleash all fifteen arrows from their quivers within this short time.
Don't assume that drawing a bow and shooting an arrow is a simple task. Misled by modern computer games, many people believe archers are agile but weak in strength, which is completely wrong!
On the battlefield, drawing a bow and shooting arrows is the most strenuous activity. Ordinary archers on the battlefield are already weak and sore after 12 draws, unable to fight further. Elite archers can draw about 24 times, ensuring accuracy, but this is the limit of an archer's combat power in a battle. For ordinary people without long-term professional training, even drawing the bowstring would be a pipe dream.
Only the Seventh Expeditionary Force under Rin, these individuals who have long fed on Danger Beasts and have almost evolved into humanoid beasts, could continuously fire fifteen arrows at a rate of less than one arrow per second and still have energy left. One hundred thousand iron cavalry, fifteen arrows per person—during their high-speed charge, the Seventh Expeditionary Force continuously unleashed 1.5 million arrows into the Northern Nomads' ranks within a dozen seconds!
The Native soldiers, who were completely unprepared and already lacked armor due to scarce supplies, didn't even have time to raise their makeshift animal hide shields. They were indiscriminately covered by an arrow rain as dense as dark clouds pressing down on a city! At this point, even if fifty arrows killed one person, thirty thousand Native soldiers would have been shot into sieves by the arrow rain.
Tens of thousands of Native soldiers fell like a wave crashing on a beach. Every corpse was riddled with still-trembling arrows, and countless more were wounded. A Native soldier, shot in the shoulder, fearlessly pulled out the arrow from his shoulder, picked up his weapon, and, unafraid of death, prepared to meet the torrent of iron cavalry right before his eyes.
"No warrior of the Northern Region Snowfield is a coward! If we die, we'll take one with us to avenge our fallen brothers!"
He roared this in his heart. As he took less than three steps forward, he suddenly felt dizzy, and then his body completely lost sensation, collapsing uncontrollably onto the snow.
The arrows were poisoned!
Indeed, every arrow of the Seventh Expeditionary Force was laced with a potent venom! This poison was derived from a highly venomous snake living deep within the Forest of Dangerous Species. A single drop of this snake's venom, even diluted a hundredfold and introduced into the bloodstream, could still cause an adult's heart to stop within ten seconds. Furthermore, as the snake evolved over the years, its venom's potency would further increase. One such snake once evolved into a Super Danger Beast, and a thousand years ago, the First Emperor ordered it to be slain and crafted into an Imperial Armament that struck fear into the hearts of all who heard of it, still kept in the Imperial Secret Vault: One-Hit Kill: Murasame!
The arrow rain suppression alone, before close-quarters combat, directly caused nearly seventy thousand Native soldiers to die from arrow poison upon being hit. The already unprepared Northern Nomads fell into even greater chaos. No matter how fearless they were in the face of death, seeing their compatriots fall in droves before even engaging the enemy face-to-face—even if they themselves were unharmed by arrows—this terror of death and cold instantly embedded itself deep within their souls! Morale and fighting spirit instantly plummeted to negative values.
Not all of the poisoned Northern Nomads had fallen yet. The black-armored cavalry at the forefront of the charge had already reached within two hundred meters of the Native's main camp. The cavalrymen, who had just fired fifteen arrows, showed no pause in their movements. Their right hands directly drew a light javelin from the holster on their backs, and leveraging the inertia of their charging warhorses, they threw it with force. The powerful, armor-piercing javelin had enough strength to skewer two people, pinning them to the ground. Close behind, at a hundred-meter range, heavy javelins were thrown. Three times the weight of light javelins, these heavy spears could penetrate five people with a single strike, instantly widening the path of the cavalry charge.
Ultimately, only the cavalry in the front half of the formation could throw javelins; further back, accuracy against the enemy could not be guaranteed. However, the long-range suppression alone, before truly engaging the Northern Nomads, crushed nearly one hundred thousand Native troops. The bodies of the Northern Nomads, caught off guard and killed, covered every corner of the camp. Hooves shod with iron trampled their bodies as they charged into the camp.
Suzaku flipped her hand and took out her weapon, which she cherished more than life itself. The foot-long metal rod instantly expanded into the ten-foot-long Five Weapons of the War God: heavenly halberd, which she swung towards the remaining Native troops—
"Kill!"
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.