When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#367 - Battle of Black Mountain (10)

“How many waves has that been?”

Wickdor, dragging his weary body back to the battle line, asked Mulla, who was assisting, as he gazed at the burning shield carts before him.

“Third wave,” Mulla replied, lightly holding up three fingers. After saying that, he looked up at the sun in the sky.

The sun overhead was almost at its zenith; this encounter was lasting longer than anyone had imagined.

Looking at the battle formation before him, the war monks’ morale was generally high, but some were showing signs of fatigue.

“Ehehe, mint water’s here.”

Several orderlies, each carrying a large bucket of mint water, wobbled as they ran down the slope.

Seeing the cool mint water, the war monks didn't rush to grab it; they stood like posts in their original positions, unmoving.

This was because the orderlies would help them fill all the water and send it to each brigade.

They passed the mint water sent from the rear one by one; baked by the sun, even the mint water in their waterskins felt lukewarm.

Swallowing the cool mint water, the pungent coolness shot straight to their foreheads, dispelling much of the summer heat.

After drinking this mouthful of mint water, Coleman felt that the cicada’s chirping by his ears was much clearer.

Standing next to Coleman, Wickdor held a spyglass and gazed at Zeraken's array in the distance.

In the golden wheat fields, farmers were bending over to harvest wheat and rice grains, even though they might have had their surplus grain snatched away and their houses burned down in the morning.

But if they didn't work, they wouldn't have food next year; who could they threaten if they didn't work?

In such hot weather, many in the Ibe army were collapsing from heatstroke.

Having undertaken the divine art of blessing multiple times, these people were already in a weakened state, and with the added heatstroke, dozens of them soon died suddenly.

Given this situation, Wickdor estimated that it would be difficult for the enemy's central army to launch another attack before three in the afternoon.

On the other hand, the Ibe army's left flank, due to its proximity to rivers, streams, and the shade of the forest, was the least affected.

“Guess what clever method Count Zeraken will use to deal with us next time?”

“Who knows? I bet he’ll invite a wizard to curse us.”

“Don't mention it; you really shouldn't. These devil monks might really come from the Fire Pits.”

Clever Zeraken was a nickname given to Zeraken by the Salvation Army monks, mainly because of his act of sprinkling holy water on the Salvation Army during the second wave of attack.

As a result, the Salvation Army was unharmed, but the Ibe army's morale was greatly reduced because the holy water was ineffective.

After being repelled by Wickdor and others, Zeraken did not give up.

He first mobilized the peasant soldiers, forming two large square formations, trying to defeat the Salvation Army with numerical superiority.

Then, due to the holy water incident, their morale plummeted, and the peasant soldiers took the lead in fleeing, with the guards following suit; they retreated before even fighting.

Soon after, after using potions and rewarding bonuses, Zeraken returned with his guards.

He changed the large square formation into a column, trying to reduce the attack area of the volley fire, but was beaten back by the L-shaped shooting tactics on the flanks.

After Zeraken settled down again for a full hour, he collected a large number of door panels from the vicinity and installed them on horse-drawn carts.

He had the peasant soldiers push the cart fortresses straight in, blatantly using Horn's cart fortress tactics to deal with Horn.

Correspondingly, Horn immediately ordered the fireball crossbows to move forward fifty meters.

Four wizards from the Fire Rose manipulated the fireball crossbows, and four large fireballs flew out, ending Zeraken's cart fortress dream in a great fire.

However, both Horn and Wickdor were a little puzzled; if the shield cart tactics just now were combined with transcendent knights, there might really have been a bloody battle.

It was understandable that the transcendent knights didn't want to go because the "side effects of the medicine were too great," but the Nigosaks were completely intact from beginning to end. Why didn't they go?

“Could it be that they are preparing to retreat?” Das looked up at Horn, who was holding the spyglass.

If Nidsal made this decision, Horn wouldn't be surprised, but the problem was that they hadn't fought to that point yet.

Even if Nidsal wanted to leave, wouldn't he be afraid that the Salvation Army would immediately come down from the gentle slope and launch an attack on them if the formation changed?

The positions of the two sides were too close; even if they wanted to retreat, they probably had to retreat little by little. It was impossible to not retreat until now, when the central army was almost crippled.

“Woo woo woo—”

An urgent bugle call sounded from the right flank, and Horn's spirits lifted. Was this the Nigosaks' move?

Horn immediately jumped off the rock and snatched the spyglass from Das, watching the Ibe army's left flank.

But strangely, the guards were still hiding in the shade of the trees, lazily waving their fans. As for the squire knights and Nigosaks, they were still by the stream…

“No! Those aren't Nigosaks.” Horn's eyes widened suddenly. “Half of the horses in the stables are gone!”

“Your Majesty, it’s not that direction!”

Das grabbed Horn's shoulder and turned him towards the right side of the right flank army.

A sand sculpture flag representing Nidsal fluttered on the hillside, and three hundred Nigosaks and two hundred squire knights miraculously appeared on the side and rear of the right flank army.

“Where are the hussars?” Horn threw the spyglass in his hand to Das and waved the flag towards Hakuto.

Hakuto gave the flag signal that no enemy movement had been detected.

They didn't go around from the left side; could it be that they went around from the right side?

“Impossible.” Das frowned tightly. “The reason we chose to deploy here in the first place was because the west side near the river is a swamp and a waterhole. Their ability to walk on flat ground can't work on the water!”

At this moment, Mormon, who was meditating to restore his mana, suddenly opened his eyes.

He paused for half a second, then quickly propped himself up from the ground, trotted to Horn's side, and said, “Your Majesty, can I use this spyglass?”

Picking up the spyglass, Mormon swept back and forth across the edge of the swamp and forest, and suddenly his gaze stopped.

After being silent for about three seconds, Mormon suddenly gritted his teeth and whispered, “There's a traitor!”

“Traitor?” Das didn't understand what he meant.

Putting down the spyglass, Mormon's eyes flashed with anger: “There are traces of fossilization into mud and frost spells on the edges of the waterhole and forest…

Damn it, there are wizards working for them. How dare they? Have they forgotten how these knights treated us?”

Horn and Das exchanged glances. Although the case was solved, he really didn't expect this process at all.

This Nidsal really doesn't discriminate. If it were an imperial knight or a church bishop in command, it would be impossible to use magic to achieve tactical goals.

In the church, devoutness in the process is true devoutness.

Adjusting Bloodshade Cloud to a handy position on his belt, Horn took a deep breath and put on his helmet: “The Hakuto unit maneuvers to the right and temporarily abandons the high ground on the right.”

After a pause, Horn turned his head: “Guards, follow me to support the right flank!”