When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 587 - 564: Be Careful, Commander!

The gentle sunlight shone on the fields, and near the military camp, farmers, filled with fear, took their families, retreating into their straw cottages and reed marshes.

As Prince Kongdai's grand army passed by, the ground rumbled so intensely that the dust shook off from the beams of the houses.

The bold ones peered through cracks in the doors and saw a long procession on the countryside paths, stretching as far as the eye could see.

The farmers couldn't clearly see the clothes they wore, but most were in black, blue, or gray robes and military attire, with a shiny chainmail on top.

Looking at the colorful flags, the farmers knew it was His Highness the Prince's mercenaries.

After the Imperial Knight unit passed, a few farmers removed the door planks, looked around, and then led their plow horses or donkeys from their barns, shaking off their family's pulls, and headed towards the abandoned watchtower to give a warning.

Soon, columns of black smoke, thick and thin, rose from where the knights had traversed.

The horse hooves trod on the solid ground of the King's Path, with Prince Kongdai's robust body pressing down on a piebald horse that panted repeatedly under the weight.

Smelling the scorched scent of burning straw, he looked around and saw only rising columns of smoke beyond the forest and reed marshes.

The Prince sneered, "No wonder we've been ambushed all along, now I understand why."

"These local peasants are truly ungrateful," an accompanying Imperial Knight couldn't help but glare.

Lakunio then bluntly revealed the truth, "I suspect it's organized by those rats; these peasants must have some relatives or friends in the Saint's Grandson's Army."

Rats, was Lakunio's term for the Saint's Grandson's Army.

However, this time the rats stirred the nobles of Hotam County, thwarting Lakunio's plans, forcing him to take them seriously.

Prince Kongdai gazed at the smoke stretching into the distance and asked his attendant, "Has the vanguard engaged?"

"A previous report said the skirmish is within 5 miles; Griffin should have encountered them by now."

"I estimate that Griffin and his men won't be able to handle them," Prince Kongdai said ruthlessly to Lakunio, "We'll need to send knights for support. Hold off on the Imperial Knight unit, and send the hired knights we recruited instead."

Lakunio nodded, "Call for Mentus, take ten lancer units and two hundred hired knights to reinforce."

..........

"Can't hold much longer, Commander."

"Damn it, just holding for this short while and you can't hold on? Stop whining; reinforcements are almost here."

Griffin angrily cursed while hiding under a large shield, stomping on a footrest to string his heavy crossbow.

Just after securing the string, Griffin heard a series of rapid whooshing sounds; the door plank shield beside him kicked up dirt, and a comrade's corpse lay lifeless in front of him.

Sneaking half a face through the gap of the door plank shield, he saw at seventy to eighty meters ahead along the road on both sides, the moving and shooting North Bow Cavalry.

In the stream and weeds amid the bushes, a thousand Imperial Guards were arrayed in two battle formations, front and back.

The area, filled with fields, fences, and residences, hampered the deployment of the Salvation Army's horizontal formation, forcing them to stand front and back.

From Griffin's perspective, the scene was already terrifying enough.

The forest of long spears with heavy shadows swayed like waves in motion; the armor clinking and rasping, six hundred long spearmen formed a square formation of 50x12, slowly advancing.

On either side of the long spear forest, the Holy Gunmen who finished volleying, as instructed by the Soldier's Holy Scripture, rested their holy guns on their shoulders, audaciously turning their backs to the enemy amidst flying arrows, walking through the column to the last row.

Behind them, another group of Holy Gunmen took a step forward in unison, raising their holy guns and positioning them on gun stands.

Seeing this, Griffin quickly shrunk back his head and immediately heard another series of whooshing sounds.

The door plank shield vibrated fiercely, and a few hot wood chips splashed onto Griffin's face.

He instantly dropped to the ground, peered through a pierced hole in the shield after the volley, gulped, then cursed angrily, "Are you looking to die? It's so close, aren't you afraid of hitting your own people?"

After cursing, he whistled, swiftly stood up from behind the shield, squinted his right eye, and aimed at a spearman in the front.

He pulled the trigger, the bowstring quivered, and a burst of blood splattered from the spearman's throat, dropping him straight in the ranks.

Simultaneously, the heavy crossbowmen of the Eagle Squad fired their crossbow arrows one after another.

Nearly a hundred crossbow arrows flew out, kicking up dust on the dirt road, the arrow feathers even vibrating on the walls of fences and houses.

A dozen to twenty soldiers in the front ranks immediately fell; some arrows landed at the soldiers' feet, yet it hardly affected the opponent's pace, some even marched on with arrows embedded.

The brigade commanders waved their feathered lances, commanding the rear spearmen to quicken a few steps, filling the gaps left before.

The glaring long spears were now less than 50 meters from the Eagle Squad's formation.

"Damn it!" Griffin shouted to his rear, "Armored ones, with shields and flails to the front, where are the Great Swordsmen and War Axe Warriors? Prepare for the breakthrough!"

Turning his head, through the pierced hole, Griffin licked his dry lips; this was truly a challenging situation.

This time, Griffin had seized the position of vanguard from Stenberg of the Death Squad.

To capture the bridge crossing at the Salvation Army's camp in advance, he led a third of a brigade and over three hundred guards at the forefront.

Yet Griffin never expected the Salvation Army's marching speed to exceed theirs.