Chapter 128: The Shameless Bandits’ Counterattack
“Something is wrong!”
Rajmaya suddenly pulled the reins of the giant wolf she was riding on.
“Stop! All of you, stop!”
Cold sweat dripped down her forehead.
How long have we been chasing them? I haven’t been paying attention as it always looked like we could reach that mage’s flag as long as we pushed a bit further, but now that I think about it…
Rajmaya thought back about the chain of events.
This is bad. Did I fall for their trap?
Bikna had told her that the enemy was the Shu army, which suggested that the enemy had a proper army, at least from Bikna’s point of view. Yet, all they had seen so far were skeletons. She didn’t think that Bikna would have called a bunch of monsters an army.
The enemy is up to something!
Rajmaya glanced at her army and saw that their formation had become loose, and quite a number of them were gasping for air.This isn’t good.
She hurriedly issued an order, “Don’t get tied down by the skeletons. Stay close and rebuild our formations first before chasing the enemies!”
She couldn’t say that they had been baited, or else her troops might fall into a panic, and that would create an opening for the enemy to strike.
Her plan was great, but reality was cruel.
Just as she was rallying her army together, Shu Yichao made his move. He wouldn’t let such a golden opportunity slip past his fingers.
I have my eye on the map! There’s no way I’ll let you rebuild your formations!
Under the cover of the Eternal Blight, the skeletons began rushing at the Tibetan army to tie them down, stopping them from gathering together. At the same time, Shu Yichao gathered the ghost horsemen under his command.
Clang!
Shu Yichao raised his modao up high and roared, “Brothers, I shan’t waste my time on words! Charge with me! We shall let those barbarians know that the Tang army is back! Their blood and cries shall become symbols of our honor!”
His ring emanated a brilliant glow that enveloped the ghost horsemen in a white aura, making them look even more majestic and terrifying. The ghost horsemen charged with a momentum reminiscent of water gushing out of a leaking dam at the Tibetan army.
“You darned grandson!” Miazova spat a curse when it saw Shu Yichao suddenly charging forth. “Can’t you give me a head s up before charging out?”
It quickly stacked all sorts of buffs on Shu Yichao.
On the other hand, Rajmaya noticed the ghost horsemen charging at them, and her eyes widened in horror.
“The Anxi army?! Aren’t they already dead? Why are they here?!”
Following Shu Yichao’s lead, the terrifying ghost horsemen galloped across the land and plunged into the Tibetan army like a red-hot knife slicing through butter. In just a matter of moments, the Tibetan army was cut into two.
That sent the Tibetans into a fluster.
“Cavalrymen! They have cavalrymen!!!”
The deafening clobbering of the horse hooves sent the Tibetans in panic, and their fear only deepened when someone saw their appearance through the illumination of their torches.
“It’s the Anxi army!”
“ANXI ARMYYYYYY!”
“Their soldiers have returned from hell to haunt us!”
“We’re doomed!”
“They must be trying to drag us down to hell with them!”
The rumors floating around enraged Rajmaya, and she roared. “What are you cowards howling about? Those are just a bunch of wild ghosts!”
A normal army might have been done for in such a situation. Their morale would crumble, leading to them breaking their formations in a bid to escape. That would create a fatal opening for the enemy to devour them.
However…
“It’s lucky I brought a divine artifact.”
Rajmaya took out a war horn imbued with a golden glow. She gulped down a bottle of potion before blowing into it.
WUUUUUUU!
A deep war horn reverberated through the night, bringing courage and hope to the panicking Tibetan army. All soldiers who heard the war horn quickly recovered from their fluster.
Seeing that order had been restored, Rajmaya put down the divine artifact and ordered, “Return to your formations!”
Cavalrymen were feared on the battlefield for their charging prowess. If they lost momentum, they wouldn’t pose a major threat anymore.
As long as I gather my army together, those 200 to 300 ghost horsemen won’t be much of a threat to my army, Rajmaya thought.
Unfortunately, Shu Yichao shared the same thought, so he didn’t dawdle around after slicing through the Tibetan army. Instead, he turned his attention toward the wolf cavalrymen.
“80 melee and 60 charge? That’s just your run-of-the-mill cavalrymen. Theoretically speaking, they don’t pose a threat… but I’m not going to make the gamble!”
Miazova swiftly understood Shu Yichao’s plan.
“You’re getting rid of the mobile troops first? You should have let me know earlier if you’re going to do something that dirty!
“Bog!”
The land that the wolf cavalrymen had been charging on suddenly became inexplicably sticky. Some of the giant wolves were slowed so much that their cavalrymen shot right off their mounts.
But that wasn’t the end of it yet.
“Terror!”
Inexplicable fear gripped the wolves. Some wolves pounced around out of terror. Some clipped their tails between their legs and howled in despair, looking as if a monster was after them.
The Tibetans weren’t so extravagant as to give their mounts mental protection necklaces.
“Kill them!”
Shu Yichao took out his bow and began firing arrows. He focused exclusively on sniping down the wolves, bursting their heads one after another. It went without saying that their riders fell to the ground following their deaths.
The trailing ghost horsemen then proceeded to either plunge their lances or trample the fallen riders into the ground.
“The enemy has a hero!” The commander of the wolf cavalrymen slapped two talismans on his mount to placate it. “He is a formidable archer! Engage him in close-quarter combat instead!”
As he said those words, Shu Yichao had already charged up to him.
“Go to hell!”
The commander of the wolf cavalrymen raised his saber to slice Shu Yichao apart.
Weng!
Shu Yichao’s modao fell vertically in a flash of white light. The commander of the wolf cavalrymen didn’t have time to react before he was sliced into two with his wolf mount, spurting blood into the surroundings.
The wolf cavalrymen descended further into chaos with the death of their commander, making them easy targets for the ghost horsemen.
By the time Rajmaya rallied the Tibetan army together, there were no more than twenty wolf cavalrymen left.
“Those damned Tang bandits!” Rajmaya’s heart clenched at the sight of the near annihilation of her wolf cavalrymen. “To think that they assaulted us! What despicable tricks!”