Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1308 - 1301: Assault Formation

Chapter 1308: Chapter 1301: Assault Formation

The troops involved in the operation quickly assembled and embarked on their mission, heading toward the Wufeng City stronghold over a hundred kilometers away.

The attacking force comprised around a hundred soldiers, with the Beast Head Tribe as the vanguard and the Beast-Ear Race forming the main strength, collaborating with the Advance Team to launch surprise attacks on Wufeng City’s various strongholds.

Logically, a stronghold guarded by a General and manned by over one hundred men would require a larger attacking force to capture. However, the Demon Clan simply did not have the numbers, so they had to launch an attack with equal forces. Thankfully, with the aid of the Advance Team, their chances of success were bolstered.

The Advance Team’s objective was clear, eliminate the General, and the rest of the soldiers would be inconsequential.

Indeed, without the Generals, the Dongsheng Empire’s soldiers would struggle to overcome the Beast Head Tribe, beings of great strength naturally suited to battle. They could evenly match the Generals, let alone ordinary soldiers.

As a prelude to the counterattack, the Demon Clan’s army also brought improved firearms.

Although Lingyuan City was desperately short on minerals, they continuously salvaged metal wreckage from the fallen Helrandum to melt and forge, ensuring a steady supply of metal for warfare.

These metal scraps should not be underestimated, being products of the High-peak people’s heavy industry. While the quality may be inferior to Earth’s metals, they were still superior to the metals the Demon Clan could forge themselves.

The flintlock guns forged from these metal scraps were significantly stronger than the current Demon Clan service firearms, capable of withstanding higher chamber pressures and boasting far better airtightness. This confidence was one of the key foundations for the Demon Clan’s courage to counterattack.

Around twenty marksmen armed with altered flintlock guns, basic weapons cobbled together by swapping the ignition mechanism on matchlock guns, would be allocated to each small attacking squad.

Of course, this was a measure of last resort, as retrofitting existing matchlock firearms was much easier and more cost-effective than forging new ones from scratch.

Otherwise, a wholesale replacement with flintlock guns would have been impossible for the Demon Clan’s army with Lingyuan City’s output within one to two years before they could launch a counteroffensive against the Dongsheng Empire.

According to the assault team’s mission requirements, the Advance Team devised a tactical formation for them, somewhat akin to the Mandarin Duck Formation.

The force of over a hundred could be divided into roughly ten squads, with the Beast Head Tribe vanguard playing the central role in confronting the General, typically assigned as a separate group.

The remaining Beast-Ear Race soldiers were grouped in tens, with five shield-bearers forming a wedge formation at the front to protect their comrades at the rear and to attack encroaching enemies.

Behind the shield-bearers were three pikemen, responsible for attacking enemies at medium range and serving as the formation’s primary damage dealers.

In the rear were two marksmen tasked with long-range attacks. The kinetic energy of the guns greatly surpassed that of crossbows, meaning ordinary shields couldn’t defend against their bullets—let alone the fact that East Continent’s troops didn’t engrave Defense Runes on their shields.

This formation perfectly covered enemies at close, medium, and long ranges. If the enemy launched a frontal assault, they would be thwarted by the shield-bearers, facing stabs from the pikemen as they engaged the shield-bearers.

If the enemy opted for ranged combat, they would fall under fire from the marksmen at the rear. Between ten and twenty meters, a gun’s accuracy would generally be comparable to that of bow and crossbow, with much greater firepower.

It’s worth noting that due to resource scarcity, the Demon Clan’s army had a low rate of armor coverage, with most soldiers clad in leather armor or even thicker garments. Only higher-ranking officers might be equipped with metal armor, and that would possibly be armor seized from the enemy on the battlefield.

This made coordination crucial, especially as their opponents from the Dongsheng Empire had much higher armor coverage rates, ensuring basically each common soldier was equipped with a set.

In warfare with melee weapons, the rate of armor coverage was key. Two fully armored armies could fight from dawn to dusk with casualties only amounting to a few percent because armor could block many lethal injuries.

As for the Advance Team, they too formed a distinct group, teaming up with the Beast Head Tribe vanguard to seize opportunities to strike at the enemy General. And since the Demon Clan lacked an Inner Core, as long as they aimed accurately, the risk of friendly fire was essentially nonexistent.

Because they had come to an agreement with the commander of Dongsheng, the Demon Clan army involved in the surprise attack set up camp about ten kilometers from Wufeng City. This served as a forward base for launching the attack without concern for being surrounded and besieged by the Dongsheng army.

For Xuan, as long as he could take out more generals, he had a thousand reasons to stay put and wait for each stronghold to fall in turn—this was the main reason the Demon Clan army dared to launch the surprise attack.

And just like that, these Dongsheng generals became the unwitting victims sold out by their own commander.

After leaving Lingyuan City, it took the army about five days to reach the designated area outside Wufeng City to begin setting up camp.

The Demon Clan army participating in this assault had a little over a thousand soldiers, divided into ten squads. Of course, not all ten squads would be deployed at once; typically, only half, about five, would partake.

Of the five squads, the Advance Team could only take care of three, so the remaining two would join forces to attack a target, ensuring numerical superiority.

At nightfall, the members of the Advance Team gathered around the campfire to discuss the impending raid. Hu Daoke rubbed his hands together excitedly and said, "The battle starts tomorrow. To be honest, this will be my first time fighting a war like this. It feels somewhat dishonorable to pull out guns in a cold weapon war, doesn’t it?"

"Cut it out," Cheng Ziang gave him a look and replied, "As if you could beat a general without a gun."

"You too. Tomorrow you must use a gun, don’t you dare draw your sword. Did you hear me?" Tangmo, taking on her rare role as an older sister figure, frowned and admonished.

"Come on, a general enjoys some leeway when out in the field, why be so uptight? It’s not like we can’t win without it." Cheng Ziang shrugged, his comment noncommittal.

"You promised Luo’er yourself. What, thinking of breaking your word now?" Tangmo asked.

"Luo’er’s just being paranoid. He always treats us as if we’re still wet behind the ears, but we’ve fought for many years. Issues arise during development, and we solve them in the process. If we always listen to him, that would be dogmatism," Cheng Ziang said, unconvinced.

"So, you’re set on breaking the discipline?" Tangmo queried.

"There’s a problem with your wording," Cheng Ziang retorted. "What does ’don’t draw your sword’ mean? If someone comes at my face, am I not allowed to draw my sword in self-defense? That’s not reasonable."

"You can always find plenty of excuses," Tangmo said with dissatisfaction.

"This isn’t making excuses, it’s just laying out the logic. And besides, I am the deputy captain of the Advance Team, after all. Shouldn’t I have some say?" Cheng Ziang spread his hands.

"Just remember you’re the deputy captain; don’t go undermining your authority all the time. Look at Luo’er, how steady he is, then look at you," Tangmo rolled her eyes.

Cheng Ziang had no response, merely closing his mouth in silence. Then, he turned to Feng, who was also silent, and asked with some concern, "Feng, will you be alright on your own tomorrow?"

"No problem!" Feng blinked and shook his head vigorously.

"Remember, don’t try to be a hero tomorrow. Use your gun more. You’re fighting for the Advance Team, not the Demon Clan. You must follow Luo’er’s orders—understand?" Cheng Ziang instructed.

"Yes, I got it," Feng nodded.

"Anyone else could say these words, but not you," Tangmo couldn’t help but interject.

Cheng Ziang ignored her and continued, "Also, you’re from Kyushu, so some members of the Demon Clan might harbor ill feelings towards you, and you might face some unfair treatment. So if you feel aggrieved, don’t keep it to yourself; make sure to tell us, got it?"

"I understand," Feng nodded emphatically again.