Reincarnation Paradise Park-Chapter 774 - 5: Cold Weapon Battlefield

"Marquis, don’t you still have three hundred thousand troops under your command? Without sufficient soldiers, I..."

"No need to say more, eighty thousand at most, that’s it."

Marquis Mark didn’t want to send troops, but he couldn’t. Out of his three hundred thousand troops, two hundred thousand had already gone to support Hill Canyon, which is Duke Edward Hewlett’s area of influence.

By common logic, Marquis Mark shouldn’t have dispatched soldiers to Hill Canyon; the Black Soil Plain was almost being overrun, and he still had the leisure to support others?

Marquis Mark was also forced into this. The status of a duke and a marquis was not on the same level; Marquis Mark didn’t dare to contradict the duke’s orders, especially when it involved many interests and his own handle.

At this moment, a knight in silver armor rushed in on horseback. The knight in silver armor flipped off the horse before it even stopped, landing steadily.

"Marquis ’Earl’ Mark, His Majesty orders that the Black Soil Plain front is in an emergency. As the Earl has not participated in military affairs for many years, during the Black Soil Plain war, all matters are to be managed by Commander Carlos. His Highness has dispatched three hundred thousand troops to reinforce the Black Soil Plain front. The Earl is requested to return to Holy Dragon City immediately; this is a direct order from His Highness."

The silver-armored knight took out a short dagger embedded with gemstones from his chest. Seeing this dagger, everyone around fell to their knees with a clatter.

"What did you just... call me?"

Marquis Mark swallowed.

"Earl Mark."

Upon hearing this, Marquis Mark, or rather, Earl Mark, directly fell off his horse.

"Also, Earl, His Highness has personally sent someone to investigate the matter of the Black Iron Fortress renovation from 14 years ago..."

The silver-armored knight was saying something, but Earl Mark couldn’t hear it anymore. His ears were buzzing. For a hereditary marquis, it’s unusual to be demoted unless it involves a capital offense, like embezzling funds for the renovation of the Black Iron Fortress.

The pungent smell spread, and the once mighty ’Marquis’ could no longer stand straight now, slumping softly to the ground. The officials, who were previously flattering him, all took a few steps back.

Earl Mark’s downfall was exposed, and he was demoted by one level; he might even lose his head, but Blood Lion Carlos’s status soared, going from deputy legion commander to full commander. Calculating by imperial ranks, the position of Iron-blooded Legion Commander is higher than that of an earl, as a commander wields military power.

"When will the three hundred thousand soldiers arrive?"

Carlos took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

"A day at most, they were drawn from ’Hill Canyon’.

"Very well."

Carlos called over the deputy and gave a few instructions.

"Commander, wouldn’t this be too rushed? Reinforcements are arriving soon, shouldn’t we...?"

The deputy’s relationship with Carlos was clearly unusual, and he was good at sizing up the situation, switching to calling him commander naturally.

"No need to wait for reinforcements for now. If the tribe’s trash guards the fortress, that’s actually good. I’m more afraid they’ll sabotage it from the inside; don’t forget their goal is to invade us."

Carlos sighed. Although attacking the fortress would cause a staggering number of casualties, one order from him would lead to tens of thousands dying on the battlefield. But the development of the war had reached a point where the casualty rate was no longer the issue. As the saying goes, ’merciful people do not lead troops’; Carlos was ruthless enough, or he wouldn’t have climbed to such a position.

"Understood."

The deputy immediately notified all the subordinates, who then spread the order downwards, and the army continued to advance toward the Black Soil Fortress.

As the army moved forward, the extremely keen Su Xiao, who was at a higher vantage point, clearly saw the situation at the Black Soil Border.

At this time, the tribal army was stationed in front of the Black Soil Border, contrary to expectations. They hadn’t used the border to fortify but had stationed their army a kilometer before it.

The tribal army mainly consisted of beastmen. ’Beastman’ was actually a generic term and included minotaurs, kobolds, and lion-headed people among other subhuman races. Apart from their heads which featured animal traits, their bodies were mostly similar to humans, only taller, with an average height of about 2.5 meters.

Of course, the tribal army comprised not only beastmen, but also goblins and dwarves. Goblins had green skin and looked like goblins no matter how you see them. As for dwarves, standing at about 1.3 meters tall, despite their short stature, these bearded dwarves were particularly sturdy and either wielded short-handle war hammers or wide-blade axes. No sign of the Giant Troll Tribe yet.

In the tribal side, most beastmen were cannon fodder, except for the minotaurs, whereas dwarves were the craftsmen. Their innate talent for forging far exceeded most other races. Of course, dwarves were also strong in combat, acting as the backbone of the tribal forces, second only to the Giant Trolls in combat strength.

As for goblins, these creatures excelled in alchemy, had good magical talent and affinity, and despite their short stature, they were war experts. The tribal magic warfare weapons mostly came from them.

Finally, the Giant Trolls were the climax species; although most of them were not particularly intelligent, their naturally strong bodies combined with skin that was somewhat magic-resistant made them assassins of infantry. However, the Giant Troll population was sparse, and they wouldn’t go to battle unless absolutely necessary.

In terms of force, the tribal side had about twice the numbers of the imperial side, but most of these were cannon fodder beastmen. In an actual fight, it’s uncertain who would win.

The human side had weapons made by the Elf Clan, while the tribal side relied on the Dwarf Clan to forge weapons. Both sides had their strengths in weapons.

Woo~

The war horn of the imperial side sounded, signaling that the war was about to begin.

Bang!

A deep rumble emanated from the back of the tribal camp. Within the Black Soil Fortress, black stone debris shot dozens of meters high. If they weren’t close enough, they wouldn’t even hear this explosion, which seemed to be from a bomb made by goblins.

Seeing this, all the soldiers on the imperial side were enraged; Commander Carlos’s worst fear had come true. The tribal side was destroying the Black Soil Fortress from the inside.

Once the fortress had a large breach, even if the imperial side managed to reclaim it, they would face endless harassment from the tribal side.

Apparently, the tribal side understood that the imperial side would spare no effort to reclaim the fortress, so as aggressors, they chose not to defend it, directly destroying it. When the tribal army flooded into the empire’s territory, splitting into smaller groups and wreaking havoc, it would be the imperial side suffering.

Dong, dong, dong...

The deafening sound of war drums came from behind the Imperial Army, where a giant about ten meters tall from the Giant Race was holding a drum hammer, striking a massive drum covered in runes.

Upon hearing this drumbeat, Su Xiao’s heartbeat began to accelerate, and the flow of his blood increased.

[You have gained the ’Iron-blooded Corps War Drum Track’ buff effect, moving speed +5%, power +1, stamina +1, pain perception -20%.]

This is a super-large buff skill, with the sound of the drum, Imperial soldiers began to step forward in unison.

Crash. Crash...

With the rhythm of the war drums, the footsteps of hundreds of thousands of people synchronized, making a sound like ocean waves.

The drumming became more and more urgent, and the soldiers’ steps grew faster, gradually transforming from marching to jogging, and finally to a sprint.

"Warriors, kill the feeble Imperial soldiers."

Su Xiao heard a roar from the front, but being amidst the Imperial Army, he couldn’t see where the tribal army was.

As a plains battle, there were no tactics, only battle formations.

The pikemen at the front of the Imperial Army charged quickly, aiming their spears at the enemy, forming a horizontal line with row upon row of spears, a result of years of training.

The two armies collided rapidly like two torrents charging head-on, and just as the front-line pikemen were three meters away from the tribal army, they suddenly stopped.

Buzzing~ Buzzing~

The frequency of the war horn changed, and those pikemen turned aside in unison, revealing shield soldiers with tower shields behind them.

Bam!

A large line of shield soldiers carrying nearly two-meter-high tower shields stood before the pikemen, facing the enemy with tower shields, spears protruding from the gaps.

The two armies collided, and the cannon fodder beastmen at the front of the tribal army were pierced like skewered candied haws, their blood dyeing the ground red at the intersection of the two armies.

The sound of flesh being pierced filled the air, accompanied by endless screams. If one’s will wasn’t strong, merely hearing these sounds would make their soul scatter in fear.

From the initial engagement, it was clear the Imperial Army had the advantage, but the tribal forces were overwhelming in number.

The clanging of weapons collided incessantly, flesh fragments flew, blood splattered, and shouts for slaughter filled the sky; this was the battlefield, a purgatory devoid of humanity and compassion, with only one thought: kill all the enemies.

After two minutes of fierce fighting, the front-line heavy shield soldiers of the Imperial Army were breached. Soldiers of both sides intermingled, and a chaotic melee of cold steel began.

Despite being in the front-middle section of the Imperial Army, Su Xiao still hadn’t seen the enemy; there were simply too many soldiers from both sides. He was out of range, but it wouldn’t be long.

Whoosh~

The sound of the wind whistled overhead, making Su Xiao instinctively duck low. On the battlefield, acting cool could get you killed.

Boom!

A green glass bottle the size of a water tank fell a hundred meters away from Su Xiao. The moment it hit the ground, it exploded, and green flames spread rapidly around.

Whoosh~

Wherever the green flames passed, Imperial soldiers turned to ash in an instant, the ground turning to glass. The acrid stench spread as the green flames dispersed after spreading for dozens of meters, revealing an elliptical glass surface on the ground about fifty meters in diameter. On the glassified ground, armor and weapons partially melted into iron were faintly visible.

Su Xiao swiftly got up. A kobold with a curved knife stained with flesh fragments charged at him, yelling, as he finally saw the enemy.

Dragon Slayer Slash was across his front as Su Xiao took a step forward, and the blade flashed. The kobold’s curved knife was severed, as was the kobold itself, instantly killed.

[You killed a tribal army low-grade infantry: Kobold.]

[You obtained 10 Paradise coins.]

[Your Talent ’Soul Devourer’ activated, permanently increasing Mana Value by 6 points.]

...

Judging by the current situation, in less than ten minutes, the Soul Devourer could devour 200 points of Mana Value, allowing him to restore even more Life Value and Mana Value after killing enemies.

Talent Effect (Passive): Upon killing a target, permanently seize 1~30 points of Mana Value and restore the same number of Mana and Life Value (e.g., after killing, if 30 Mana Value is permanently increased, 30 Mana and Life Value will be restored).

Tip: In each Derivative World, a maximum of 200 Mana Value can be seized. If Mana reaches the limit, the Soul Devourer will fully activate, and the restoration effect after killing will increase by 50% (e.g., if 200 Mana Value has already been seized, enemies will still provide corresponding Mana and Life Value restoration according to their strength, with a 50% increase in restoration effect).

Just after Su Xiao killed one kobold, he immediately felt over a dozen malicious gazes upon him.

"There’s an enemy officer here, kill him!"

Over a dozen cannon fodder beastmen charged towards Su Xiao, while the human soldiers around him instinctively distanced themselves from Su Xiao, entirely unscrupulous. This was, in fact, a battlefield survival tactic.

Su Xiao kicked away the beastman corpse at his feet. Though never having participated in large-scale cold weapon warfare, he found it perilous yet exhilarating. The intense smell of blood and the crescendo of battle cries stimulated his nerves, and a smile appeared on his face.