Chapter 474: Lion Prince! (2)
Translator: Zen Translations Editor: Zen Translations
They had experienced the charge of the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment for themselves, and as compared to the Wolfman Cavalry Regiment, the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment was definitely a greater threat to them. No matter the Gold Crow or Berserker Tribe, most of their wounds were from the Unicorn Cavalry soldiers. If not for the fact that they had moved out to attack the Peerless Battalion First Main Company, perhaps their defensive line would have already collapsed before this.
Of course, as they were being surrounded and in a deep fight as well, they had not closely examined their reinforcements, or how many there were. However, at this moment, they could clearly see that the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment was surrounding those reinforcements, and the circle was rather small. It was obvious that the number of reinforcements was not too high… perhaps not even able to escape the fate of being wiped out themselves…how could they possibly help cover their exit?
Naturally, Zhou Weiqing could guess what the two Tribe Leaders were thinking about, and he turned to give a signal with his eyes to Shangguan Fei’er.
Shangguan Fei’er nodded and took out a bugle from her Spatial Ring before blowing on it fiercely.
The sound of the bugle was low yet piercing, and on such vast empty plains, they definitely traveled far. What happened next would quickly cause Ma Long and Hong Yu to stare slack jawed at the miraculous sight.
Right in the distance, in the area where the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment was gathered, several hundred figures flew into the air, soaring high into the sky.
The First Main Company of the Peerless Battalion, the Peerless Air Force, had finally taken to the skies! The Consolidated Wings flapped in the air, bringing them several hundred metres up swiftly.
Previously locked in the stalemate clash, the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment was already down to almost sixty percent of their original numbers. The previous fight against the two tribes, combined with the toll from the Consolidated Bows followed by close combat with the Peerless Battalion elites, their losses had indeed been high.
As the Peerless Battalion Air Force rose into the air, they seized the opportunity to hurl down a salvo of javelins, with the heavy javelins from behind their backs, they carved a bloody path right through the Unicorn Cavalry soldiers.
The seven God Archers of the Heavenly Bow Unit did not have Consolidated Wings, and they quickly seized this opportunity to charge out and break free. They all had Ghost DEmon Horses, whose defense and speed was able to smash valiantly through the gaping hole in the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment’s ranks, right as the second salvo of javelins smashed down from above.
All of this happened just too quickly. Although not every single javelin was able to take down one enemy, with two rounds of throwing, at least six hundred Unicorn Cavalry soldiers had perished.
Campora had never dreamed that something like this would happen so suddenly. Although they had been rebuffed for such a long time and taking so many losses, the war horses that the Peerless Battalion were using as shields were mostly dead by now. In his eyes, they were on the verge of defeating these tough opponents. Although his own losses were already high, he could only grit his teeth and continue, otherwise if he let these powerful foes go, their powerful bow and arrows would definitely cause more problems and losses for them, let alone in the future war. Yet, who could have imagined that these enemies would suddenly take flight and soar out of their reach. “Retreat!” Almost without hesitation, Campora gave the order for the remainder of their entire Regiment to retreat at top speed.
The WanShou Empire armies were indeed powerful, but their method and chain of command was very different from the unified commands of the human empire armies. The WanShou Empire armies were still attached to their respective tribes, and could be said to be the elites of the particular tribe. If a particular tribe’s armies grew too low and were not able to sustain their original status or rank, then it could lead to the entire tribe’s decline.
As such, the WanShou Empire’s total power might be great, and they were indeed ferocious and good at clashing directly. However, if their death toll grew too huge, they would definitely not fight to the death. That was not because of any cowardice, but because they needed to maintain the status of their tribe.
Previously, Zhou Weiqing and the Peerless Battalion had met with the Swift Wolf Regiment, and that had been the exact case. This time, the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment would follow suit. Seeing that their losses were just so huge, and the enemies had even soared up into the air out of their reach, Campora instantly made the decision that it would be pointless to take more losses. As a result, he instantly gave the order to retreat… at least, they would disengage from the battlefield before deciding their next step. Otherwise, who knows what kind of damage this tiny troop of archers with their disgustingly tough armour could bring to them. It was truly the first time he had met such a tough ‘meal’ to digest in the many wars against the ZhongTian Empire he had fought in.
As the saying goes, ‘A rout is like a landslide.’ Upon seeing that the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment was beating a retreat, Barthez on the other side did not hesitate to give the same order to also pull out.
In truth, Barthez was personally rather afraid now. He definitely did not want to follow in his big brother’s footsteps, and the power that Zhou Weiqing had displayed had struck fear in his heart. If he questioned himself honestly, he knew he was no match for that young man. Barthez might seem rough and straightforward, but to be able to be a Regiment Commander, he definitely had his own calculations and intelligence. He could clearly see that Zhou Weiqing was already at the Five-Jeweled cultivation level, while his brother had said that when they had faced off, he was only at the Four-Jeweled cultivation level! Since he had already confirmed that Zhou Weiqing was indeed the person who had faced his brother, then it was a certainty that he had already grown much stronger since then. Furthermore, his own strength was no match for his brother’s, and he knew he would not be able to take on Zhou Weiqing in a direct clash.
Furthermore, the main goal of the WanShou Empire attacks were in raiding and looting, not in slaughtering all their enemies. After all, that was why they always attacked before the cruel winter, not just for invasion to conquer lands, but to loot the various resources to ensure that their people would be able to survive in the bitter winter cold. So what if they could kill off all these enemies? By taking such a huge loss themselves, it was definitely not worth it, and anything they could loot from them was not worth all their deaths.
Previously, Barthez had already been irresolute, his fear warring with himself internally, after all, he had came together with Campora. Of course, now that Campora had retreated first, he had all reason to do the same. Instantly, he ordered his Wolfman Cavalry Regiment to follow Campora’s Unicorn Cavalry Regiment, gathering together as they sped back towards the north.
Naturally, the inner thoughts of these two WanShou Empire Regiment Commanders were unknown to Zhou Weiqing and the others. However, from the surface look of things, especially in Ma Long and Hong Yu’s eyes, it was as if as soon as the First Main Company of the Peerless Battalion rose into the air and attacked two rounds, killing off a large number of enemies, both the Unicorn Cavalry Regiment and Wild Wolf Regiment fled like whipped curs. Such a sight was truly a huge surprise to them all.
As the two Regiments retreated, only then did Ma Long and Hong Yu realise that not only were there many corpses left on the battlefield, the most attention catching thing were the Unicorn Beasts that had lost their masters. They had not been brought away, as they would only listen to their master’s instructions. In total, besides those Unicorn Beasts which had been killed, there were actually around two to three thousand Unicorn Heavenly Beasts left milling about.
On the other side, the two Tribe Leaders were lost in their own thoughts. Those flying guys… could they be ‘birdmen’??They were even mistaken, thinking that Zhou Weiqing had brought a troop of winged Beastmen with him.
“Let’s retreat, let’s leave this place as quickly as possible. We can chat later.” Seeing the two Beastmen Regiments speeding away, his eyes flashed in a brilliant light of deep thought. After having two large scale fights with the Beastmen, he was starting to see some of the styles and particular characteristics of the Beastmen.
This was the northern border after all, and who knew when any powerful foes would appear. Zhou Weiqing had only brought five hundred men, and though the First Main Company were all elite Physical Jewel Masters, they would definitely not be able to last for too long in flight. Otherwise, Zhou Weiqing would not have needed to look for horses previously, and just brought them to fly here. In any case, it was best to leave this place as quickly as possible, at least retreating about a hundred li and hopefully meeting up with the rest of the Peerless Battalion behind. Only then would they be relatively safe.
Ma Qun and Hong Yu also knew the seriousness of the matter, and they dared not hesitate, swiftly ordering their respective tribes to break formation and start moving out with all their belongings, heading down back towards the direction of the North West ZhongTian Army camp. As for the Peerless Battalion First Main Company, they landed back down on the ground, following behind to cover the retreat. Zhou Weiqing, Shangguan Fei’er and Lin TianAo were the last to leave, covering the final retreat as they also observed the north.
Right at this moment, a low, powerful voice rang out from the distance, filled with power and a strong fighting spirit.
“ZHOU– WEI– QING!”
Just three simple words, but Zhou Weiqing was surprised to find that the owner of the voice was approaching at startling speeds.
From the far north, in the direction that the two Beastmen Regiment had retreated towards, three figures were speeding towards them at lightning speeds.
“So strong!” Shangguan Fei’er’s expression changed. From the sheer speed of the approaching trio, they could easily tell how powerful they were.
Zhou Weiqing pulled on his single-horned Ghost Demon Horse and said to Hua Feng: “Master Hua Feng, you bring the others to cover the retreat of the Gold Crow and Berserker Tribes at top speed. These three seem to be here for me. We will hold them off for a while before catching up to you all.” They had gone through so much trouble to rescue the two Tribes, and ensuring their safety was his top priority now.
The massive troop of people retreated as quickly as they could, while Zhou Weiqing, Shangguan Fei’er and Lin TianAo stopped to wait for the three approaching figures. After reaching the five-Jeweled cultivation level, Zhou Weiqing was still rather confident about his own power. Although he did not know who the approaching trio was, nor did he know why they knew his name, he had the confidence that even if he could not defeat them, the three of them could still make their escape without problems. After all, he still had the Silver Emperor Little Red Bean with him. More so, he couldn’t possibly always have the bad luck to meet Heavenly King Stage powerhouses in this desolate icy wasteland right?
Alas for Zhou Weiqing, a human’s judgement could not always be accurate, and even the lowest possibilities could sometimes occur!
As the trio got closer, Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Fei’er’s expressions changed immediately.
In terms of cultivation level, perhaps Lin TianAo was still stronger than Zhou Weiqing. However, in terms of judgement and estimating an enemy’s power, Zhou Weiqing still surpassed him slightly.
The three charging from a distance were so fast that Zhou Weiqing knew that even if he went at top speed with the powerful explosive power of the Demonic Right Leg, he still could not match them. What did that entail? It meant that the cultivation level of all three approaching figures were far beyond his own. Furthermore, he also noticed one more fine detail… despite the trio’s speed, they did not seem to make any sound. That was to say, they were already able to control their personal Heavenly Energy and energy about them to such a fine degree, able to use their Heavenly Energy to cut through the air to reduce any friction and air resistance, allowing their speeds to go higher. Using such a method to travel was definitely an extravagant method, any only those confident in their own Heavenly Energy resources and recovery would dare do so. More importantly… normally those who could do so would be at least at the eight-Jeweled cultivation level or higher!
Three Eight-Jeweled powerhouses at once? Such a degree of powerhouses would definitely have an important rank and status even in the WanShou Empire. Although the WanShou Empire did not have the same army ranking structure and formations as the human empires did, all using Regiments as their base organizational unit… to have such a number of powerhouses show up at once, could it be they were somehow specially targeting him?