Chapter 597: Bloody Battle in Crescent City! (1)
Translator: Zen Translations Editor: Zen Translations
The benefit of throwing javelins like this was that even if they didn’t use much strength, the sheer weight, the balance of the tail fin, and the piercing power of the titanium tip would mean an overall terrifying downward piercing thrust.
Originally, when they completed research and development on these throwing javelins, the goal was to reduce the Heavenly Energy expenditure of the Peerless Air Force. After all, though they were all Jewel Masters, their cultivation level was still not considered very high yet. Just maintaining flight with their Consolidated Wings alone was no small consumption. With these javelins, they could still ensure their killing power even while saving as much Heavenly Energy as possible.
Currently, the large patch of black dots descending down upon the Kalise soldiers were naturally the javelins that had been thrown down. Their targets were simple – the Kalise Heavy Infantry and Heavy Cavalry in the front.
The Heavy Infantry subconsciously reacted swiftly, raising the tower shields in their hands. As for the Heavy Cavalry, though their reactions were just as quick, they could only use the small round shields bound to their left hands.
Throwing javelins down from a height of five hundred yards was definitely not the same as shooting arrows, and naturally accuracy suffered. However, one could not dismiss the fact of their sheer numbers! Two hundred javelins raining down, and the enemy formation was so tightly packed. Even if they wanted to miss, it would be extremely difficult.
*Puu**Puu**Puu**Puu* A series of grating, harsh and horrific sounds rang out, along with screams of agony that were often cut off abruptly.
The Heavy Infantry soldiers were relatively okay. Even facing such powerful javelins, their tower shields were barely able to hold on. Although the javelins were able to pierce through the shields, by the time they did so the remaining force was much smaller, with only the front titanium tip able to pierce through. Besides a few that were unlucky enough to have it land directly at their head and killing them, most of them only received minor injuries.
Alas, for the Heavy Cavalry soldiers, misery befell them. The small round shields in their hands, how could they possibly withstand the javelins thrown from a height of five hundred yards! Clouds of bloody mist rose from the backs of the horses as the soldiers were lanced right through, some even piercing right through the human and deep into their warhorses.
Although their heavy armour weighed at least twenty jin, with those terrifying javelins that were thrown from such a height, the armour was torn through like paper, not having any use at all.
Originally, each of the Peerless Regiment Air Force soldiers were equipped with six throwing javelins, and after several volleys of such javelin rain, several dozens of Heavy Infantry soldiers had fallen, while the Heavy Cavalry was nearly wiped out.
Furthermore, having prepared for this battle for so long, how could Zhou Weiqing still leave his men with only six throwing javelins? Out of the two hundred Peerless Air Force soldiers, there were at least ten Spatial Rings, filled with large numbers of javelins. From just a rough estimate, they had at least two thousand more.
The owners of the rings did not even need to pass them to the other warriors, only needing to toss the javelins down as soon as they took them out of the Spatial Rings. The javelins would automatically fall down tip first, still resulting in the terrifying piercing effect.
Zhou Weiqing remained floating in midair. He was actually the busiest one of all. Right by his side, there was a member of the Peerless Air Force with one of the Spatial Rings, specially passing him javelins one after the other. In fact, the several dozen Heavy Infantry soldiers that had been killed were mostly all slain by him. He did not even need to use Heavenly Energy, just using his powerful natural strength and accuracy of throwing… how could their tower shields hold out against him?
By the time the Kalise Empire soldiers advanced another two hundred yards, the two Battalions of Heavy Cavalry had been wiped out. More than a hundred Heavy Infantry soldiers had also lost their lives.
At this point, Zhou Weiqing stopped the others from wasting their javelins, ordering them to ‘gift’ their final throws to the mass of infantry behind. As for himself, after taking a few more lives of the Heavy Infantry soldiers, he gathered his Air Force to return to the city walls.
Cheers erupted like a volcano’s explosion, all around the Crescent City walls. In just this burst of attacks, more than two thousand Kalise Empire soldiers had died. More importantly, most of those were the most elite and ‘expensive’ Heavy Cavalry soldiers! One could imagine the current expression on the Kalise Empire Army Commander.
“Boss, let us go again. Even if we just bring some rocks, we can smash those fellows to bits.” One of the Peerless Regiment soldiers said excitedly.
A notion rose its head in Zhou Weiqing’s heart, but he shook his head and said: “No, all your Heavenly Energy is not sufficient. Especially when the load is too heavy, the expenditure of Heavenly Energy is just too huge for you. Hurry up and recover your Heavenly Energy. Prepare to start shooting. I want all of you to focus on the soldiers who are manning the siege weapons. Your goal is to stop them all before they reach five hundred yards from the city walls.”
The Peerless Regiment First Main Company was the strongest elites of the entire Regiment, and their members all had ranges absolutely accurate up to eight hundred yards. After Zhou Weiqing gave his orders and arranged everything, he immediately went to look for two massive rocks, grabbing them as he flew up into the skies once more.
These rocks were part of a collection of fallen logs and rocks that were prepared for use in dealing with enemies who came closer. With that reminder from the Peerless Regiment soldier earlier, Zhou Weiqing flew up with the two giant rocks. Naturally, his targets now were the trebuchets.
Soon, the Kalise soldiers below could only stare in shock as two trebuchets were just smashed into smithereens by the two giant rocks. It had to be known that they only had a total of eight trebuchets for this entire battle!
However, when Zhou Weiqing returned to the city walls and rose again with another batch of rocks, he no longer had the opportunity to repeat his feat once again. The Kalise Empire powerhouses were not there just too look pretty, especially since most of them were not even from the Kalise Empire, but from the Bai Da Empire. This time, they worked together to block the falling rocks, protecting the trebuchets.
Foiled once more, Zhou Weiqing could only return to the city walls. He was not at all excited by their achievements thus far, as he knew that this was only the beginning. The hidden aces that he had were slowly being flipped open, but the attack of the enemy was only just beginning.
Just on this frontal assault on the south wall, the Kalise Empire still had at least twenty thousand soldiers. For just a small city, once their attack actually started, it would be wave after wave crashing against them. Furthermore, if the giant battering ram cart actually reached the gates, how long could the weak gates of the Crescent City hold out?
Come then! Zhou Weiqing yelled in his heart. At this moment, he suddenly thought about how the Kalise Empire had invaded his homeland, and how his father had fought to the end, almost sacrificing his life to Seal the Royal Palace. His eyes turned red slowly. The true battle was about to begin.
The Peerless Regiment archers began to display their true strength. They began to focus on firing at those soldiers that were pushing the various siege weapons. At this point, they did not even need to use their Consolidated Bows, each using their personal longbows, causing the movement of the siege weapons to drop dramatically.
However, the Kalise Empire commander also reacted quickly. They still had more than a thousand Heavy Infantry soldiers remaining, and they quickly stepped forward with their tower shields to protect the soldiers pushing the siege weapons. Once again, the siege weapons resumed their slow march towards the city walls.
From the vision up on the city walls, at least fifty sets of sieging ladders were prepared right behind the rest of the siege weapons. Once they all reached the two hundred yard range, the true offense would begin.
“Summon your Consolidated Bows. Fire!” Zhou Weiqing shouted angrily. The enemies had finally reached the five hundred yard range. At this moment, it was time to show another ace. It was imperative that these siege weapons were stopped!
Once again, the Peerless Regiment soldiers showed their power. The Consolidated Bows sprang into existence one after the other in bright light. Soon, the earsplitting sounds rang out explosively as they fired as one.
The tower shields of the Heavy Infantry truly had an amazing defense. Even with the explosive effect of the Consolidated Bows, they still weren’t able to destroy them with a single shot. However, the explosive effect was still stunning, able to knock them back or even send them flying.
For a time, the Heavy Infantry soldiers at the front were under great pressure. The explosive power of the arrows caused their neat formation to stumble and be thrown into disarray. Furthermore, for some of the skilled Peerless Regiment archers, their Consolidated Bows did not have the explosive effect, instead with a powerful piercing effect. The arrows that these fired out were not stopped by the tower shields, each claiming a life upon hitting.
At this point, the defensive line that had been the sturdy bedrock of the Kalise soldiers finally suffered a catastrophic loss. With the Peerless Regiment soldiers no longer sparing their Heavenly Energy, the remaining thousand Heavy Infantry soldiers all perished by the time the formation reached the three hundred yard mark.
Three hundred yards. At last, the Kalise Empire soldiers began to come into range to return fire as well, and a large number of arrows began flying up in an arc towards the city. In such a large scale battle, there weren’t many soldiers who could be as accurate in their archery as the Peerless Regiment soldiers. However, they just had too great of numbers, and they just needed to shoot upwards in an arc towards the Crescent City walls.
A large patch of arrows fell upon them. The Peerless Regiment archers and Heavy Cavalry were naturally not afraid due to their armour, but for the ordinary soldiers, the injuries and death were starting to add up. Although they were all equipped with shields, they were after all still fresh recruits with minimal training! Facing such a battle, how could panic not ensue?
*Bang**Boom**Bang**Boom* The ballista turrets on the walls also began their fire. One by one, the siege vehicles were smashed apart by the heavy bolts of the ballista. Although they weren’t as effective as Zhou Weiqing’s previous arrows, even down to killing the soldiers within, but at least the main goal of taking down the siege vehicles had been met. For a time, the death toll on the Kalise side continued rising higher.
Out of the fifty siege vehicles at the start, the number which had actually reached the three hundred yard range now was only about twenty or so. Just from that alone, one could imagine how crazy the fight for the Crescent City had been thus far.
However, by this point, a large majority of Zhou Weiqing’s hidden aces had already been revealed. Yet, there were still six more trebuchets, and they were closing in soon. The remaining siege weaponry were also reaching soon.
This was especially so for the giant battering ram cart, the lumbering giant which seemed to be the next greatest threat soon. Those things were just too huge, and Zhou Weiqing had tried using a massive rock to smash one earlier, but it did not have a big effect. It seemed to difficult to destroy them outright. At this point, Zhou Weiqing did not dare to spend too much Heavenly Energy. After all, those Kalise Empire powerhouses were not to be trifled with, and when the actual onslaught began, they would charge forth as well. On his own side, there was only Lin TianAo and Xiao Yan who could help him deal with those powerhouses, so it could be said that the majority of enemies had to be dealt by Zhou Weiqing.
As such, standing on the city walls, Zhou Weiqing could only continuously fire arrows with his Overlord Bow at the Heavy Infantry soldiers, not even using much Heavenly Energy. At such a range, even his ordinary arrows were not so easily blocked.
It wasn’t just the Heavy Infantry soldiers who suffered. Even some of the Kalise powerhouses who tried to charge forward were sent on a retreat by Zhou Weiqing’s Overlord Bow.
Since the fight had already reached such a point, it was already infinitely close to the most savage and ruthless point, hand to hand combat. It wasn’t just the frontal south wall though, all the other three walls of the Crescent city were also facing the frenzied attacks of their respective enemies.
Currently, this Crescent City was just the first stop in Zhou Weiqing’s revival of his Empire, and just like a boat in the torrential winds of the fifty thousand Kalise Empire armies, on the verge of capsizing at anytime.