Exploring Technology in a Wizard World-Chapter 1306 - 1304: Variables

Under the influence of the enemy’s momentum, the morale of the Alliance Central Army was noticeably wavering. The second-line troops were okay, able to hold their ground, but the prisoner units had already begun to glance around, preparing to run.

They were all Sika people, who already didn’t want to fight against their own compatriots. Additionally, they knew how strong the five-thousand-man corps coming toward them were and didn’t think they were a match. Perhaps the entire Central Army could withstand this wave of attack, but they, stationed at the front, would likely become sacrifices, killed.

And they absolutely did not want such an outcome. They surrendered because they didn’t want to die—didn’t want to die then, and still don’t want to die now.

As the five-thousand-man corps got closer, the chaos within the Alliance Central Army grew increasingly noticeable, and the intensity of long-range counterattacks sharply declined. Due to the withdrawal of the prisoner units, even the second-line troops began to feel timid, which stood in stark contrast to the first-line troops on the two wings who charged forward in a suicidal attack.

Seeing this situation, the supervising squad took decisive action.

"Slash!"

A head was chopped off.

"Slash!"

Another head was chopped off.

"Slash!"

Yet another head.

In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen heads hit the ground. Those who were most clearly attempting to flee were all beheaded, and the bloody scene forced the Central Army into silence. Those still preparing to flee had to stop and seriously consider which side was closer to death—should they fight or run away?

As for taking up arms in hot blood, rebelling on the spot, and engaging in a fierce battle with the Alliance supervising squad, that was never in their consideration. The reason was simple: Sika Kingdom never allowed civilian soldiers to surrender voluntarily. Once surrendered, it was a permanent betrayal—they had already betrayed once and could not return to the Sika Kingdom. It was absolutely impossible for them to betray a second time, nor could they stay on the Soma Alliance side.

"No retreat, retreat and die!"

The supervising squad issued a warning.

Amid the warnings, the prisoners ultimately made the decision to choose battle. Under the pressure of the supervising squad’s blades, seeing the five-thousand-man corps of Sika getting close enough, they halted their long-range attacks and moved up to engage with the support of the second-line troops.

Contact, combat.

New slaughter began, new blood was shed.

It was nothing more than a repetition of what came before, the only difference being that the scale was a bit larger, more intense, with more deaths.

Slaughter, slaughter, slaughter...

Amidst the slaughter, both sides’ numbers continued to dwindle. The five-thousand-man corps of Sika Kingdom decreased in number a bit slower, while the Alliance Central Army’s numbers dwindled faster. However, ultimately the Sika Kingdom’s five-thousand-man corps had fewer numbers, and at a steady rate, they would be the ones to perish first.

Richard watched for a while, even calculating the exact time.

But war was not purely mathematics, with many more variables. When the Sika Alliance’s five-thousand-man corps had suffered nearly half casualties, and the Alliance Central Army had lost nearly four thousand, a variable appeared.

A prisoner picked up a longsword and was about to stab at a soldier from Sika Kingdom whose face was covered in blood, when he suddenly widened his eyes and exclaimed, "Captain... Captain!"

"Clang!"

The prisoner shuddered as if burned, immediately dropping the longsword, and turned to run.

That one action seemed to trigger a chain reaction. With a swish, a large swath of prisoners dropped their weapons and turned to flee, causing chaos in the entire Central Army formation.

"Halt, violators die!"

The supervising squad shouted in anger, wielding thick-backed broadswords like long iron slabs, mercilessly chopping down at the deserters.

"Slash! Slash! Slash!"

A series of heads quickly fell to the ground.

The signs of retreat were slightly curbed, as those who ran fastest were all dead, leaving the rest in hesitation.

"Slash! Slash! Slash!"

The supervising squad showed no mercy, chopping off another series of heads.

The deserters were finally subdued, reluctantly turning back to attack the soldiers of the Sika Kingdom. But soon they were scared away again, and then the supervising squad cut off another batch of heads as a lesson.

From then on, it seemed like a murder contest between the Sika Kingdom soldiers and the supervising squad. The supervising squad had to kill more, and more decisively, to force the prisoners to face the soldiers of the Sika Kingdom instead of facing them.

Screams, wails, and shouts kept echoing...

With great difficulty, the Central Army stabilized, and the five-thousand-man corps of the Sika Kingdom had been reduced to only one and a half corps. The Alliance was on the brink of victory.

Just then, a new change took place—the Sika Kingdom dispatched another attack force.

The new attack force was not large, even less than the initial two-thousand-man corps sent. At a glance, there were only about a hundred or so men, but the impact of their appearance was much greater than that of the second wave’s five-thousand-man corps.

The reason was none other than the appearance of the Magic Knights.

About a hundred and fifty Magic Knights—an enhanced Magic Knight Battalion—each member wearing Magic Rune Armor, wielding Magic Rune Weapons, riding specially-bred high horses, quickly galloped forward.

"Thud, thud, thud..."

The hoofbeats roared like thunder. Before they even reached them, the entire Alliance Central Army had become panicked. This time, it wasn’t just the prisoner units wanting to flee; even the second-line troops felt the urge to escape because they truly didn’t believe they were a match for the Magic Knights.

The Magic Knights were like a needle; though not numerous enough to slaughter the entire Alliance Central Army, they would definitely cause bloodshed wherever they charged.

This was not something they could withstand; even the first-line troops couldn’t resist.

The only ones capable of withstanding the Magic Knights were likewise the Magic Knights or Wizards.

As the Magic Knights drew ever closer, and the long-range crossbow shooting proved almost entirely ineffective, the entire Central Army started to retreat slowly. The supervising squad had stopped killing, as there were simply too many to kill—they were meant to instill fear when necessary, to curb morale collapse, and prevent the formation from disbanding. But they weren’t gods, and if a rout became completely unavoidable, they could do nothing.

Honestly, facing an enhanced Magic Knight battalion charging at them, they had no idea how to address the situation.

Should they expend thousands of soldiers as a sacrifice to wear them out? If this were a first-line elite unit, perhaps they could succeed, but with this group of second-line and prison units, they would collapse halfway after just a few simple charges from the enemy.

What should they do?

The supervising squad couldn’t help but look toward the wooden platform.

On the wooden platform, Richard squinted, watching the approaching Magic Armor Cavalry Battalion, pondering whether he should intervene.

Just then, a commotion from the left-wing direction was heard. The sound of hoofbeats rapidly approached, revealing about two platoons of over two hundred Alliance Magic Knights who appeared, rushing to meet the Sika Kingdom’s Magic Knights—it was reinforcement from the left wing. It was evident that Soron had anticipated some special occurrences and had thus prepared a contingency. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Whew—"

Seeing their own Magic Knights appear, without having to personally face the assault of the enemy Magic Knights, most people in the Central Army breathed a sigh of relief, but only just a sigh of relief.

As soon as the Magic Knights of Sika and Soma made contact, the Central Army formation of the Sika Kingdom suddenly split open in the middle, and this time, it was an entire five Magic Knight Battalions that charged out.