Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1344 - 1337: Falling into Crisis

Chapter 1344: Chapter 1337: Falling into Crisis

Everyone held their breath, watching in stunned silence as over a thousand heavy cavalry charged towards the infantry line of the Demon Clan. The Demon Clan commanders at the frontline were especially tense, their commanding sabres quivering on their shoulders.

Several hundred meters of distance were closed in the blink of an eye by the heavy cavalry. The ground-shaking thunder of their charge numbed the hearts of every Demon Clan soldier. However, facing the onslaught of the heavy cavalry, the Demon Clan’s army still had an ace up their sleeve that they hadn’t played yet, which was the Rune Shield developed for them by the High-peak people.

The heavy cavalry of Dongsheng had charged up to the Demon Clan’s infantry in a blink, but before their pikes could touch the soldiers, they were snapped by an invisible barrier before their eyes.

Then, the succeeding cavalry, unable to stop in time, crashed right into it. This invisible barrier firmly withstood the charge of over a thousand Dongsheng heavy cavalry.

Cavalry and horses tumbled over each other before this barrier, creating extreme chaos on the battlefield.

Such defensive power by the shield was not uncommon because, throughout the thirty years of warfare in the Otherworld, the Otherworld Allied Army had relied on shields like these to withstand the blanket artillery fire of Earth’s armies. To be sure, the firepower unleashed by Earth’s armies was much more formidable than the charge of the Dongsheng heavy cavalry.

Faced with the defeat of the heavy cavalry, Xuan’s pupils constricted suddenly, but he quickly recovered, squinting his eyes and smiling, "Interesting, indeed very interesting."

"This kind of loss..." an adjutant began, then hesitated.

"It’s necessary," Xuan said coldly. "I just want to see what other tricks they have up their sleeves."

As the momentum of the Dongsheng heavy cavalry’s charge waned, the Demon Clan commander immediately raised his command sabre and ordered the shield to be removed. Then, swinging his sabre down forcefully, he bellowed, "Fire!"

Over three thousand muskets fired at once, at close range, and the Dongsheng heavy cavalry, who had not had time to adjust their postures, were immediately hit by a devastating barrage. Screams of agony and the sounds of gunfire filled the air along the long battle line. White smoke obscured the chaotic Dongsheng heavy cavalry, and no one knew what was happening inside, only that they were undoubtedly suffering terribly.

The thick armor could not fend off the direct shots from the firearms. Although the Demon Clan was equipped with primitive muskets, their power was incomparable to that of crossbows. The large caliber bullets easily pierced through the armor of the Dongsheng heavy cavalry, who, having lost their momentum, appeared feeble under the Demon Clan army’s attack.

"Charge!" After the muskets had fired in unison, the Demon Clan commander roared again.

At his command, over three thousand Demon Clan infantry, armed with muskets, rushed forward, using bayonets to stab the heavy cavalry, with Pikemen close behind, spearing any yet unhorsed cavalrymen to the ground.

Over a thousand Dongsheng heavy cavalry had no chance to exploit their advantage before they were overwhelmed by the enemy in such manner. The pike-bearing cavalrymen, having lost the advantage of distance, simply weren’t a match for the Demon Clan soldiers and were forced to draw their side swords to fight back.

The battle line resounded with war cries; the surviving Dongsheng heavy cavalrymen, outnumbered, struggled to fend off the surrounding Demon Clan infantry. Those wielding side swords were simply no match for the soldiers of the Demon Clan.

Because they outnumbered the Dongsheng forces, some of the Demon Clan soldiers even managed to reload their muskets amidst the chaos, delivering devastating shots to the stubbornly resisting Dongsheng troops.

"Field Marshal, we must send reinforcements quickly, otherwise these thousand-plus men will be sacrificed, and these are the Empire’s elite," an adjutant implored Xuan urgently upon seeing this situation.

"Third squad, advance!" Faced with the desperate situation of the heavy cavalry, Xuan’s expression turned grim as he emotionlessly issued the order for rescue.

Noticing Dongsheng’s army’s renewed attack, the Demon Clan army immediately responded. Mortars fired ceaselessly, pounding the enemy ranks with Fragmentation Grenades, creating one bloody vacuum after another.

Because the High-peak people had received the true teachings of Earth’s military theories, when they taught the Demon Clan about the theory of firearms, they also creatively introduced the so-called gradual barrage. By constantly adjusting the firing elevation of the mortars, they ensured the shells always landed within the ranks of the advancing enemy army.

Noticing the Dongsheng army’s movement, the Demon Clan commanders reacted very swiftly. Guided by the sound of drums and bugles, the Demon Clan line infantry immediately disengaged and began reloading in formation, preparing for the next battle.

Although they were panting and not small in physical exertion, they maintained high morale, for they had repelled the enemy’s several rounds of offensives while sustaining minimal casualties.

The Demon Clan’s reaction was beyond Xuan’s expectations. Seeing them reassembling, Xuan fell into deep thought. Eventually, he commanded expressionlessly, "Order, no retreat for the cavalry. Fight to the death, they must stall the Demon Clan."

"But Commander, those are the Empire’s elite forces," a deputy general couldn’t help but exclaim in alarm.

Hearing his words, Xuan became infuriated and suddenly drew his sword and swung it towards the deputy general. In a flash of lightning, the deputy fell off his horse, clutching his wound and staring wide-eyed at him.

Xuan truly intended to kill him; it was only because his armor was thick that he was merely injured. Nevertheless, he was knocked off his horse by Xuan’s force and looked up at Xuan apprehensively.

"Are you the marshal, or am I the marshal? I’m issuing an order, not negotiating with you!" Xuan cursed furiously.

"Sorry, my lord... I have erred," seeing Xuan’s fearsome demeanor, the deputy general shook like a leaf and quickly knelt to plead guilty. Witnessing his fate, the other deputy generals wisely closed their mouths.

Originally, the Dongsheng cavalry had nearly broken and fled, but, receiving Xuan’s orders, they had to grit their teeth and turn to attack the Demon Clan’s formation again. At this time, their horses either had been killed or had run off, and they had to transform from cavalry into heavily armored infantry to fight.

The Dongsheng heavily armored cavalry effectively disrupted the line infantry of the Demon Clan, forcing them to again scatter their formation to deal with these aggressors. After several rounds of uninterrupted firing, the Dongsheng cavalry was finally on the verge of complete collapse, turning to flee.

However, the Demon Clan soldiers were not much better off. They were still trying hard to form up, but the Dongsheng infantry was already approaching a distance of fifty meters, advancing methodically.

The Demon Clan line infantry barely managed to reform their ranks and, under the command of their commanders, raised their guns for a volley. At this point, the Dongsheng infantry had approached within less than twenty meters, so the Demon Clan’s volley interval was extremely dense, with a round of shooting happening about every five seconds.

The dense barrage once again caused heavy casualties to the Dongsheng soldiers, but this time, the line infantry of the Demon Clan seemed somewhat disordered, far from as composed as before.

When the Dongsheng army advanced to within more than ten meters of the Demon Clan army, a mournful bugle sounded from behind — the charge signal. Without a second thought, bearing a grudge to avenge their comrades, the Dongsheng army launched a tidal wave of an assault on the Demon Clan army.

Faced with the enemy’s charge, the line infantry were instantly thrown into disarray. After hastily carrying out one last volley, the Demon Clan commanders also immediately issued the charge command, hoping they could repel the Dongsheng army this time.

The battlefronts of both sides collided like torrents, and immediately, cries of battle filled the heavens. One side was the Dongsheng army, emboldened by fear and eager for vengeance for their comrades, while the other was the Demon Clan army, confident from successive victories.

The two forces clashed, fighting desperately with no strategy to speak of, relying entirely on the will of the soldiers.

But soon, the Demon Clan army began to show a clear sign of defeat. The reason was simple: the line infantry were basically equipped with only leather armor, and their opponents, the Dongsheng army, were fully covered in iron armor, their defensive strength was simply not on the same level.

The reason the Demon Clan army had previously defeated the Dongsheng army was the powerful penetrating power and lethality of their muskets, which had damaged the enemy’s morale. By the time the Demon Clan army began their charge, the Dongsheng army’s morale had already been low. At that point, it wouldn’t matter if they were wearing iron armor or even in a Gundam — they would have run.

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