Killing nearly one hundred thousand opponents with arrows before even engaging in direct combat—ultimately, the Northern Nomads themselves bore more than eighty percent of the responsibility for such a one-sided situation.
For thousands of years, the Empire fought thousands of offensive and defensive battles, which long ago completely dulled the Northern Nomads' vigilance, or rather, they simply didn't know how to fight. And the Empire, after fighting offensive and defensive battles for millennia, also failed to teach them how to fight.
When Rin arrived at the front lines of the Northern Region battlefield, and surveyed the Northern Region Grand Commander's camp from the air while riding the Wind God Winged Dragon, he almost fell off the Wind God Winged Dragon's head from laughing so hard!
It was as if over two hundred thousand people had collectively come out for a camping holiday. There wasn't even a single cheval de frise or a watchtower. The few scouts they had posted were furtively peeking towards the Empire's fortress like thieves stealing landmines.
With such a posture, it was tantamount to opening the gates and inviting subjugation… no, not even gates, there were no walls, completely open for the enemy to invade at will.
Even if the Northern Nomads had erected a circle of cheval de frise stakes in front of their camp, the Seventh Expeditionary Force's cavalry wouldn't have dared to charge the enemy camp at full speed.
The lives of one hundred thousand Northern Nomads soldiers were used to pay for their millennia-long complacency and the foolish negligence of their leaders. However, one hundred thousand lives still couldn't repay this debt of carelessness. In a real war, even a small oversight by a commander could lead to the annihilation of an entire army, let alone now.
The Northern Nomads, caught off guard and without even time to pick up their weapons, clad in animal skins, faced the charge of one hundred thousand iron cavalry, who had been building momentum for over a hundred kilometers. This was their first battle after four years of arduous training, and their hands yearned to be stained with enemy blood!
From the back of a horse in a high-speed charge, a knight's longsword, aimed at the target and swung casually, would instantly send a severed head flying into the air. The moment the one hundred thousand iron cavalry of the Seventh Expeditionary Force charged into the Native's main camp, blood and flesh flew everywhere. Those unable to dodge the rapidly approaching heavy warhorses were directly knocked away and crushed, trampled into mud by heavy hooves. The heavy, sharp knight's battle swords could easily cleave a human body, bone and flesh, into two pieces.
At this moment, facing the surprise attack of the Seventh Expeditionary Force, a significant wartime flaw of the Northern Nomads was instantly exposed.
Lack of organization and discipline.
The over two hundred thousand Northern Region Outsider army was less of an army and more like several hundred bandit groups gathered to plunder together. Soldiers from different tribes did not interact, distrusted each other, and only obeyed the commands of their own chiefs and clan leaders. The tribal soldiers in the rear camps, who had not been subjected to the arrow rain and javelin barrage, ignored the messengers who came to inform them. Without orders from their own clan leader or chief, they wouldn't move, no matter how chaotic the fighting was upfront. And their chiefs had already been wiped out by Rin's sudden opening attack of an ice meteorite!
Even with disaster imminent, they still failed to coordinate. This is why a military unit needs an absolute leader, unified discipline, and military orders that can move the entire body with one command—that is what makes an army. An army of Native, composed of hunters and herders, no matter how numerous, could not change the fact that they were just a mob of bandits.
Facing the Seventh Expeditionary Force, who were slaughtering all in their path, the Northern Nomads, renowned worldwide for their fearless fanaticism, would not passively endure. Unafraid of death, they erupted into a desperate frenzy when pushed to the brink. After realizing their weapons could not penetrate the armor on the horses' legs, the crazed Native soldiers threw themselves forward, embracing the warhorses' front legs, sacrificing their lives!
Countless individuals similarly attempted to halt the Seventh Expeditionary Force's advance with suicidal determination. While success was rare, this indeed proved the oath, "No Northern Region warrior is a coward!" It's just that they weren't very smart… The black-armored cavalry of the Seventh Expeditionary Force, in a tacit understanding, bypassed the hundred-meter radius around Rin and the Great Leader of the Northern Nomads' battlefield. Suddenly entering a powerful warrior's battleground would cause heavy casualties, and with no shortage of high-level combatants, doing so was not worth it.
Watching the tragic sight of his fellow soldiers being trampled under the iron hooves of the Seventh Expeditionary Force, the Great Leader of the Northern Nomads' tiger eyes turned blood red. He roared, smashing the icy branches of the surrounding ice-blade forest with his warhammer, intending to charge into the military formation. At this moment, the most crucial thing for the Northern Nomads was to disrupt the momentum of the Seventh Expeditionary Force's iron cavalry charge, to slow down the iron cavalry. Only then would the Northern Nomads' troops have time and energy to regroup for battle. And his Imperial Armament warhammer, Capable of Shattering All Hard Objects: mjolnir, was perfectly suited for this task.
But how could Rin, being so astute, easily let him pass?
Even with a warhammer capable of shattering all hard objects, each swing could only break one ice spike. Therefore, even though the Great Leader of the Northern Nomads' martial arts were far superior to ordinary people, his breakthrough speed was not extremely fast. At this moment, Rin drew yatsufusa from its sheath at her waist. The gleaming, clear blade reflected the corpses of Native soldiers scattered everywhere.
"A hammer that can shatter all hard objects, even Teigu, is no exception. In that case, confronting you head-on would be unwise. Since that's the case, let me show you the true secret technique of yatsufusa."
Lin raised the ominous demonic blade in her right hand and swung it downwards. With the infusion of magic power, black-purple waves of death spread out in ripples from the ice platform beneath Lin's feet, instantly washing over the entire battlefield—
yatsufusa Secret Technique: March of the Dead!
Under the surging waves of death, the bodies of the Foreign People soldiers surrounding Lin from all directions suddenly moved! Not just one or two, but a large number, entire groups, began to stir. When the Great Leader of the Northern Nomads, whose physique was more robust than a grizzly bear, swung his warhammer and smashed through the blockade of ice blades, he was not met by the charging hundred thousand iron cavalry of the Seventh Expeditionary Force, but by living corpses riddled with countless arrow holes, some even with half their skulls shattered!
These completely dead Foreign People soldiers did not enjoy the peace after death; instead, they became swords and blades in the hands of their enemy, driving their deceased bodies, holding their weapons, and charging towards their former Great Leader.
"Ah ah ah ah ah—!!! You harlot who desecrates the remains of warriors! I, Mordred, curse you to die a terrible death! May you never find peace!"
The Great Leader of the Northern Nomads' roar, filled with rage that could ignite the nine heavens, momentarily suppressed even the clashing of metal and the thunderous galloping of warhorses on the battlefield.
The bold and uninhibited customs of the Northern Nomads taught their descendants from a young age not to fear death. Therefore, although the soldiers of the Northern Nomads' army did not understand military orders and disregarded military discipline, being just a rabble, these Northern Region soldiers who viewed sacrifice as glory could still inflict heavy casualties on the Empire's borders every year.
However, precisely because they regarded death in battle as glory, they attached great importance to the bodies of their fallen comrades. As long as there were still living people on the battlefield, every body had to be brought back to its tribe and returned to its family. Lin's act of driving the dead to fight undoubtedly touched the greatest taboo of the Northern Nomads.
The Great Leader named Mordred, with tears in his tiger-like eyes, raised his warhammer and hunting knife, vigorously striking at the dead comrades who had been his subordinates before dusk. These reanimated dead, who erupted with even greater speed and strength than when they were alive, were instantly crushed and severed upon contact with the warhammer and hunting knife. Broken limbs, some still impaled with arrows, flew far away. But an endless tide of corpse soldiers had already surrounded him tightly, leaving no escape.
Those with knives used knives, those without knives used the arrows stuck in their bodies, those without arrows used their claws, and even corpse soldiers with severed limbs twisted their remaining bodies and lunged at the Great Leader of the Foreign People with open mouths...
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