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by adminFacing the unexpected situation, the humans were ultimately not as brave and fearless as the orcs. The entire legion was visibly affected, with unease spreading among the soldiers and morale continuously dropping. Even the ten thousand strongest Royal Knights, who had not participated in the earlier charge, were not unaffected. Though there were no outward signs, the tension in the knights' hearts infected their horses, causing a slight tremor in the previously neat ranks.
The human commander realized he could no longer afford to wait and see. He had to either retreat or launch a full-scale attack. However, he also knew that if he lost over ten thousand elite knights and then fled in defeat, the military court awaiting him would likely end with the guillotine of the military judges. Therefore, he decisively chose to attack.
"Heavy Infantry First, Second, Third, and Fourth Brigades, advance in tight formation without dispersing and put all efforts into suppressing the orc main formation. Guerrilla Great Swordsmen spread to both flanks to contain the enemy formation. All knights stand by. Archers and mages, provide cover." With the human commander's loud orders, the entire human legion began to move again. Various units started to mobilize, abandoning the plan to use speed to charge into the enemy and instead preparing to overwhelm the orcs with numbers.
Meanwhile, the orc side also began to shift. Within the Minos bull-headed formation, warriors pulled the totem poles from the ground and gradually changed their formation, slowly advancing. As they moved, the blood-stained earth and the bodies of sixteen thousand human knights were gradually revealed. In a short time, these tall warriors had killed twice their number of human elite knights without a single scratch. The four thousand Snow Wolf Guards, who had previously been under the protection of the Minos warriors, also broke free and launched a flanking attack from the left wing toward the human right wing.
The Snow Wolf Knights were not much different in size from humans, but their combat power was several times greater. The four thousand Snow Wolf Knights surged into the ranks of twenty thousand guerrilla great swordsmen. These so-called guerrilla great swordsmen were, in fact, hastily recruited soldiers, at most having practiced some fragments of the lowest level of the "Nameless Sword Technique," the "Black Iron Scroll," unable to generate battle aura. The Holy Os Empire had only provided them with simple leather armor and great swords, making them essentially cannon fodder troops. Therefore, before even engaging the Snow Wolf Knights, two rounds of arrow volleys had already caused thousands of human casualties. By the time the Snow Wolf Knights charged into the formation, the human ranks had collapsed, and the orcs broke through the lines unimpeded. Some wolf warriors, having tasted blood, even dismounted their wargs, letting their mounts attack freely while they unleashed the "Nine Yin White Bone Claw" and "Heart-Crushing Palm," madly slaughtering the humans. Large numbers of humans fell in pools of blood, and the surviving soldiers began to collapse, being driven back toward the human heavy infantry main formation.
The human main formation's heavy infantry were the opposite of the guerrilla great swordsmen. These professional soldiers were fully clad in heavy armor, with magical and divine protections bestowed by mages and priests. Holding tower shields in one hand and long spears or halberds in the other, most had some level of battle aura cultivation. Even a Minotaur warrior could be killed if surrounded and stabbed by several heavy infantry. At this moment, the remaining nearly ten thousand guerrilla great swordsmen fled toward the heavy infantry square, seeking protection, only to be met by the spears and arrows of their comrades.
"Everyone, listen! Those who disobey orders, kill! Those who try to flee, kill! Those who interfere with friendly forces, kill!"
"It's the supervisory unit, it's the supervisory unit here———" The terrified great swordsmen finally understood their fate—death either at the hands of the wolf warriors or the military judges behind them. Although the supervisory unit had only killed a few dozen deserters, the wolf knights had already slain thousands of human soldiers. Ultimately, the humans chose to face the wolf warriors' slaughter, trapped between the blades of their own comrades and their enemies.
Faced with certain death, the humans summoned their final reserves of courage, madly swinging their great swords and charging at the Snow Wolf Knights.
Despite their desperate efforts, the human morale was not enough to turn the tide against my personally trained Snow Wolf Guards. Among these four thousand Snow Wolf Knights, one thousand were veteran elite soldiers who had followed me since the establishment of Fontainebleau, now reaching the level of Silver or even Gold Sword Heroes. Over a hundred of them were my disciples from years ago, having nearly reached the Sword Hero realm where star battle aura could be projected outward. These wolf warriors were fearless against human blades, utterly unscathed, while the remaining three thousand new recruits had been trained for about half a year, all having mastered basic battle aura along with Golden Bell Shield and Nine Yin White Bone Claw, their combat power far exceeding that of ordinary human soldiers. Facing the human counterattack, the young wolf warriors showed no fear, roaring as they charged forward, cutting down the human great swordsmen one by one. The human great swordsmen, being temporary conscripts, though having considerable initial courage, soon lost steam, and as more of their comrades fell, they ultimately collapsed and began to flee in all directions. The supervisory unit could only guard one side and could not stop everyone, and the flank of the heavy infantry main formation was finally exposed to the wolf warriors.
At the same time, the slowly advancing Minos warriors finally made contact with the human heavy infantry. The human heavy infantry raised their tower shields, forming a wall of steel, with four-meter-long halberds poking out through the gaps, fiercely stabbing at the Minos warriors. The Minos warriors, relying on their three-meter-tall totem poles, swung their heavy double-bladed battle axes and swiftly chopped down at the human soldiers. While both sides wore heavy armor, the weight disparity was significant. The total weight of a human soldier's armor, shield, and weapon was only about seventy to eighty jin, as any more would hinder combat effectiveness. In contrast, the Minos warriors each had over a thousand jin of strength, with a single axe weighing a hundred jin and their armor being extremely thick. Yet, they were far more agile than humans, swinging their axes like halos, and human tower shields and heavy armor could not block such powerful downward strikes. Often, a single blow would split a human in two. Although the humans desperately tried to maintain the unity of their formation, they ultimately could not withstand the Minos warriors' ferocity. Their formation crumbled under the relentless assault, and the "Minos Great Labyrinth Formation," with its strange and mysterious transformations, gradually devoured the human heavy infantry square bit by bit.
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