CHAPTER XXIX: Morituri te salutant (Morituri te salutant)
The sky began to turn gloomy, and Griffith and his squadron had been resting behind the battle line, waiting for the artillery and engineers to knock a hole in the Orcs' defense line.
After losing more than one-third of their troops, the Wulong Governor Army on the opposite side completely retreated behind the defense line and became motionless.
Bernard and the light artillery of other squadrons went up and fired a few rounds, and found that there was no movement between the small artillery shells hitting the horses, the earthen ramparts and the trenches. The army then began to move the trebuchets and bombarded the position with huge incendiary bombs. Fenrir
He and the people from the test squadron also dragged the Orochi Cannon forward, hoping to hit a few hits when hitting fixed targets.
The earth-shaking shelling continued until 4:30 in the afternoon, when the troops of the Beyelan Group advanced to the front of the enemy's position and deployed.
Griffith looked at the corpses on the ground with anxiety. After the enthusiasm for the charge cooled down, he became as worried about gains and losses as before.
The previous cavalry attack was very successful. The wolf cavalry of the clan alliance was repulsed by a strict group of cavalry. The sides and rear of the infantry were exposed, and they were charged by the elite cavalry from behind, leaving corpses all over the ground. Our victory and the enemy's defeat were both.
Reasonable.
The auxiliary soldiers are collecting the war dead, cremating them and burying them in accordance with the regulations. If the Weave of Life can suddenly resurrect them, and send a few death knights to lead them, then, that would be great...
There are well-trained troops deployed on the battlefield, including powerful extraordinary beings and cavalry, which are not comparable to militiamen and city defense troops. In front of the regular army, resurrecting corpses may be able to catch them off guard, but as an outside god's method, it is too shallow.
.
Behind Krista is the layout of the outer gods. The indescribable shadow has opened its net. The more time passes, the closer the destined danger is. Griffith knows that disaster is coming, and knows that Krista is coming.
It's a tool of conspiracy, but you don't know what you are going to face. The high-hanging threat is as heart-wrenching as the boots from upstairs that have not yet fallen.
Griffith looked up to the southeast.
Could it be the shadow that appeared in the southeast? Gil and Desai's reconnaissance has not returned yet, and the army has not reported detailed intelligence.
After waiting for a while, Griffith received the order to prepare for a general attack. The orcs' defense line had been loosened, and it was time for a breakthrough.
Victory is in sight, and Griffith's heartbeat is getting faster and faster. If the enemy has a back-up plan, the winner will be determined if he doesn't start.
He mounted his horse and patrolled the area, and saw the Ninth Corps under General Modres in the center of the battle line. After the artillery prepared their firepower, they formed a dense formation and advanced towards several gaps. They shouted
The slogans were like a waking giant tumbling up. The movement was very loud and the momentum was amazing, but Griffith found that they were lingering and delayed in launching an attack.
Compared with the previous unshakable tenacity and perseverance, this offensive was like running on the spot while showing an all-out effort.
This, this is not an attack, this is dancing in circles. Sure enough, something is wrong...
"Gather the squadron!" Griffith immediately summoned the squadron to move towards the headquarters. On the way, he met Sonia and Dedeus who were riding over. Seeing him coming, the countess hurriedly asked him what happened and left without authorization.
The position is a serious violation of discipline. The headquarters is constantly dispatching cavalry from the Guards and issuing general attack orders to the entire army.
Dedeus was also on the side. His squadron was taken to Pierrefonds by Berthier. He followed the army headquarters and Sonia Kurala with nothing to do, without looking at his lord.
She just looked around cautiously. She looked at the southeast for a while, then at the Ninth Legion moving in place, and finally at the target knight:
"Griffith, what do you think is there? Could it be Duke Meyer's reinforcements?"
No, I haven't heard of such an arrangement. Meyer's defense area is very important, and the Teutonic cluster does not need additional troops. Griffith did not speak. An officer came over here and found a cavalry squadron not far from the headquarters.
Dei asked loudly from a distance:
"Storm Squadron? Why are you here?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a wavy forest rose up in the direction leading to the Dukedom of Tiernemeyer, sparkling in the sun.
That's a gun formation!
Immediately afterwards, there were waves of wild roars like mountain roars and tsunami coming from the battlefield to the east, accompanied by rumbling thunder.
There was a swaying outline of a hill.
"What it is?!"
Everyone saw the forest of guns and the hills, and made a lot of noise. Suddenly, a huge boulder the size of a carriage roared over, hit the rear of the military formation and rolled over, raising a cloud of gravel and dust into the sky.
"How did this stone fly here?!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the second huge boulder hit the side and rear of the army, hitting a square formation, and half of the squadron disappeared in an instant.
Accompanying the falling rock, thousands of voices emitted the all-too-familiar roar of the Byeran army.
"Ula!"
Several phalanxes of orcs and orcs suddenly appeared on the right rear of the Teutonic cluster and launched a fierce attack. Locust-like arrows flew directly at the back of the army. Amidst the intensive shooting, there were also the roar of wolf cavalry and the falling of boulders.
of tremors.
The army was in commotion. Immediately afterwards, a loud noise like a river thawing came from the southeast, and earth-shattering sounds of breaking, splitting, collapsing, drifting, galloping, and collapsing came from that direction.
The sect's armed forces guarding the right wing collapsed in an instant. They let out earth-shattering screams and howls as if they were struck by a ghost. Twenty thousand people were frightened and ran away like sheep.
Griffith listened to the chaotic screams. This defeat happened too fast, and it was not like the screams when the team was defeated, but more like the screams when facing some kind of unspeakable monster, and the mind and courage were broken together.
.
"Sonia, Dedeus, go quickly!" Griffith, who had been nervous, jumped up, "Squadrons assemble, go south, Lean, go and call the people from the 603 Squadron, bring only light artillery.
Follow us."
"But the order is to go north...ah!" Sonia just asked and was led by her knight to run. Kurala also took the reins of Dedeus.
The high ground where the headquarters was located was in chaos. A group of cavalry ran down from above and headed straight to the southwest. The anxious messengers ran wildly in all directions.
A moment later, the three attacking armies suddenly turned back from all directions. After a cry of "We have been trapped", there was a cry of "Escape quickly". The tenacious army suddenly thawed like a river, and everything was frozen.
To break, to split, to collapse, to drift, to gallop, to collapse, to collide with each other, to crowd each other, to be in a hurry.
The Ninth Army Corps, which had been dawdling just now, turned around like lightning and rushed towards the south. The speed was so fast that one suspected that Modres was waiting for this moment. The Twelfth Army Corps on their left ran faster and abandoned the army.
They gathered the baggage and formed a column, half rushing south like a gust of wind.
Griffith led the cavalry to attack south. Along the way, he encountered a large number of clan alliance troops attacking from the east. They passed through Duke Meyer's defense zone and suddenly appeared behind the Teutonic cluster, about to block the passage.
On the road to the south, the Storm Squadron immediately attacked them, and several cavalry units that maintained their organization also attacked together, crashing into the enemy's encirclement that had not yet been closed.
The cavalry poured down like lava from a volcano, rushing towards the enemy. Their spear thrusts drove away the crowd, defeating the army in a blink of an eye.
After dispersing these enemies, Griffith found that the enemies who were intercepted from the flanks were exhausted, their bodies were gray and gray, and their formations were in a mess. They had traveled a long way to outflank us and cut off the road between us and Teutoburg.
It might be possible for the legionnaires to stabilize the flanks...
While Griffith was still observing, there was a shrill roar in the air, and another boulder flew through the air. It was moving very fast, making a sonic boom that tore the air, and the moment it hit the ground, it shook the earth.
Amidst the bursts of panic and miserable wailing, Griffith vaguely heard a word and heard the roars of countless orcs and half-orcs filled with admiration.
"Gron!"
"Gron!"
Griffith raised his head in the direction of the voice and felt a chill all over his body.
In the turbulent sea of people, a huge shadow like a hill appeared on the treetops of the forest to the east. Chaotic and evil giant brown eyes stared at the panicked humans without any emotion or fluctuation. Its body was huge, as solid as a fortress, and its belly was rolling.
With his round belly, his arms containing strange strength and his sharp claws quenched by ice and snow, the dense forest was wiped out like wisps of ashes.
It emerged from the forest, glanced at the panicked army, and waved its huge claws at them casually. Amidst the crackling and continuous explosions, a group of soldiers turned into a rain of blood, with armor and war horses in front of a landslide-like attack.
They are no different than tissue paper.
This is the most powerful legendary creature in the world. The cubs possess extraordinary power, and the adults even possess the power of a demi-god.
"Behemoth!"
The soldiers of Storm Squadron were all shaken, and together with the infantrymen around them, they let out heart-piercing screams. Everyone saw the terrifying body of the giant beast and instantly knew what kind of terrifying existence they were facing.
Behemoth approached them, waving his giant claws and making a roar of sonic boom. The invisible shock wave swept the nearby crowd into a rain of blood, and knocked down those in the distance like grass.
Chaos and evil thoughts stretch out their tentacles under the ocean of collective unconsciousness. Just the tip of the iceberg exposed makes people feel like they are facing the abyss of despair. Countless crazy thoughts resonate in the wilderness, forming indescribable primitive images or distant echoes, or even
Even the pure sky fluctuated, as if some kind of transparent barrier was shattering.
The soldiers' faith and courage seemed to have been drained of their foundation, falling straight towards the most primitive consciousness. Tens of thousands of people were losing their rationality, and at this moment they experienced the same empty emotion -
"How can this be something that humans can defeat...What on earth am I doing here?"
The military formation was in chaos, and anyone who witnessed this terrifying beast for the first time could not bear the crazy and cruel torture. Officers abandoned their soldiers, and soldiers abandoned their duties. Mortals who saw this beast for the first time threw away their weapons and hid in the mud pits and
Among the mounds of earth, or shaking their hands like seaweed, they fled in all directions.
Sonia and Dedeus were screaming, and Kulala grabbed them to prevent them from running away. Griffith heard his teeth chattering, and waves of fearful nausea surged in his throat. He wanted to fuck
Ugh, I want to run away.
However, a stronger emotion suppressed the fear in his heart and mobilized his mind.
Krista, where is Krista? This thing appears in front of us again. The beginning of this tragedy...
I have to launch an attack. As long as I kill this thing, everything will be fine! This is just a Behemoth. I am not the same as I was a long time ago!
"Hahaha, hahahahaha!" The would-be knight covered his face with his hands and laughed wildly, "Don't panic, gentlemen."
"Griffith..." Sonia looked at the monster she had never seen before, and her whole body trembled with fear. Suddenly, her knight laughed more crazily than the sight before her.
The entire squadron looked at the laughing captain with pale faces, and even forgot about the giant beast in the distance.
"Griffith, why are you laughing!" Kurala slapped him with the back of her saber, thinking that if this man went crazy, it would be all over.
"I laugh at the fact that Behemoth is just showing off. The orcs are so powerful." Griffith raised his hand and pointed. "They came to attack us from afar, but their formation is in chaos. As long as we concentrate our attacks, we can defeat them."
them……"
Before he finished speaking, the giant beast from ancient times left the forest like a beast, and grabbed a huge boulder with its extremely ferocious long limbs and giant claws. It did not throw it out immediately, but crushed it with both hands as if playing, and squeezed it tightly in its right hand.
Under the horrified gazes of countless people, the monster as big as a hill raised its right hand backwards like a ball, raised its left foot forward, and leaned back slightly.
It's about to shoot! This works too?!
"Everyone dismount and take cover!" Griffith was so startled that he almost fell off his horse. He turned around and pounced on Sonia, pressing her under him.
As soon as he finished speaking, the overwhelming rubble swept over like cannonballs.
The dense rain of stones roared in. From a distance, it looked like a cloud of sand. Stones the size of helmets fell on the heads of Beyelan's army. Sweeped by the raindrops of falling stones, dense blood bloomed on the wilderness.
The red flowers, the shrill screams and wails soared into the sky.
The rain of gravel swept across in a fan-like pattern, and several squadrons were severely damaged in the blink of an eye. The broken limbs wrapped in gravel bounced on the ground.
This tragic scene was more powerful than a volley of fifty cannons. The auxiliary legions and religious orders were in chaos and fled one after another. Roads, paths, bridges, plains, hills, valleys, and woods were all blocked by the defeated army.
Full. The wilderness is filled with cries and discarded knapsacks, weapons.
The regular regiments, which had maintained orderly movements in columns, were also in chaos.
The situation took a turn for the worse. It didn't matter our compatriots, generals or orders. There was only an indescribable terror and the obsession to escape from here.
The most terrible rout of the retreat occurred.
Under the enemy's front and rear attacks and Beamon's attack, most of the entire army was in chaos, fighting each other for the way out. The cavalry and infantry each escaped and retreated southward like a stormy sea.
Several phalanxes were like rocks in the water, standing in the turbulence of the defeated army, completely losing contact with the defeated army on all sides. Some of them were guarding the high ground, and some were guarding the wilderness, preparing for the final stand.
.
After Beamon's shocking attack, the orc army also swept in. Relying on the pressure of the giant beasts, they were almost unstoppable wherever they went, and were about to block the south retreat road.
The Storm Squadron was also in chaos. Everyone couldn't hear Griffith's order and mingled with the defeated troops. If the retreat road hadn't been crowded with people, everyone would have fled without a trace.
"Culala, Lean! Take Dedeus and Sonia to retreat." Griffith found a few calm people in the crowd and handed Sonia to them. "Gather those who still have the courage."
Cavalry, retreat to the southwest, do not go toward Teutoburg."
"What are you going to do?" everyone exclaimed together.
Well, what am I going to do...
Griffith tapped his helmet lightly and clenched the lance in his hand. Thousands of thoughts swirled around, as if he had returned to that scene a long time ago.