Chapter 680.
Wave after wave of attacks stirred up a fire in the officers and men of Aldo’s army.
Although the archers within the Ordo army were also fighting back, their targets were moving targets – the orc cavalry running on horseback, while the Ordo army in formation was a fixed target for the orc cavalry.
Shooting arrows from horseback was not the least bit difficult for these races that grew up on horseback.
“What’s going on here? Just stand and get beaten?”
Complaints arose from the various formations of the Austrian army, and many wondered why they were not allowed to attack after all this!
“Your Highness!” Montreat asked Catherine again, “If this continues, the morale of our army will soon collapse!”
Hearing his anxious tone, Catherine looked towards her side’s military formation.
Sure enough, the infantry square in the center as well as the knight square located on the left flank had already begun to stir.
She was flooded with dilemmas in her mind.
After all, the armies of the Black Stone Plains’ leaders were a bit short of patience.
She had carefully chosen this battlefield in order to balance out the maneuvering advantage of the orc cavalry.
Sunset Valley, as its name suggested, was a place sandwiched in the middle by two mountains.
Although it still appeared slightly wide as a valley, it had been able to restrict the cavalry’s mass movement in both the left and right directions to a certain extent.
A few hours before the army’s main force departed from the camp, a cavalry of more than 2,000 men had already quietly left the camp under the command of Klein and Lester, and their goal was to quietly detour through the mountain passes to the back of the orcs, and launch an attack from the back of the orc army when the two armies’ main forces were clinched.
But in order to avoid the scouting of the orc scouts, the road they took to detour was a bit farther, which was also the reason why Catherine had insisted on pressing on.
According to the original plan, it was necessary to wait until the agreed upon moment to launch the attack at the same time.
This was the plan insisted upon by the generals who were familiar with the tactics of the orc army, and it was somewhat risky.
Of course, if the orcs gave up their previous tactics and stopped using this kind of if-and-when attacking tactics, and instead directly formed up and charged, it couldn’t have been better for the Aldo army.
The Aldo army would crush the orcs’ attack by virtue of its superiority in numbers and armor, and the task of the meandering troops would automatically shift to intercepting the fleeing orc rout.
As one of the senior generals commanding this battle, Montreat was aware of this deployment.
However, he still held another point of view – even without the cooperation of that detouring force, the Aldo army would still be able to crush the orcs’ army simply by virtue of the main force that fronted up against the orcs.
The orcs’ raiding tactics gave him reason to urge Catherine to go to war as soon as possible.
Catherine reconfirmed the time, there was still an hour before the agreed upon time to attack.
Perhaps Klein and the others had already arrived at the reserved position? After all, redundancy had been taken into account when the plan was made.
Should we attack now?
Or wait a little longer?
Catherine, who was in supreme command, pondered hard in her mind.
At this moment, there was a sudden commotion on the left flank, and countless people let out sounds of revelry.
Catherine looked over there, but it turned out to be a knight who suddenly jumped out of the line and waved his lance, stabbing an orc cavalryman who got too close to him to death.
The knight’s behavior was not considered a violation of military orders, as he did not stray too far from the formation and quickly returned after killing his target.
No one would spare an enemy who foolishly rushed up to die.
However, his unexpected action boosted the morale of the whole army, but also made them more and more restless.
Catherine realized that many of the officers and men might lose their minds if they weren’t allowed to do something.
“Attack!”
She finally gave the order! When Catherine’s order was conveyed to the entire army through the banners, the entire army of Aldo erupted in an amazing cheer.
The morale that had fallen because of the repeated raids and battles by the orcs was instantly pulled back up, and everyone was enthusiastic and battle-hardened.
The army quickly took action.
According to the plan, the left, center and right three squares burst into the orc side.
The infantrymen of the center army, who had been building up their strength for a long time, held their lances and quickly stepped forward to meet the orc cavalry that had turned back again.
The cavalry on the left and right flanks closely covered their flanks to avoid being flanked by the enemy.
The progress seemed to be going well, many of the orc cavalrymen who didn’t expect the Austrian army to make a sudden attack couldn’t dodge as well, and were fended off by the dense forest of lances along with their horses.
Finally, sizable casualties were inflicted on the enemy, an achievement that boosted the morale of the entire army even more.
“Kill!”
Monterey, who was in charge of commanding the infantry of the center army, was so excited that he waved his greatsword and commanded in the line, encouraging the officers and soldiers to continue to fight their way forward.
There was no way for him not to be passionate, if he defeated the orcs in this way, he would be the first to make a mark in this battle and become a dazzling new military star in the kingdom.
Think about it, in the case of the fall of the Watcher’s Fortress and the loss of the northeastern territory of the kingdom, cutting off the tentacles of the orc army to the west, this is such a great honor.
The infantry marched faster as he urged them on.
From the command position of the orc army, Calum watched the changes on the battlefield with wide eyes.
“The human army has finally struck!”
He coldly addressed the generals around him, “The warriors of the grasslands will defeat them and slaughter them! But …… that army from Jingyao is a threat!”
An orc with an eyepatch and a fierce look shook his reins, “Lord Calum, I request to lead the army to pester them!”
Calum looked at him approvingly, “Courageous, one-eyed Wardle, but be prepared to go without a return, perhaps the common human soldiers may be weak compared to us, but those men are mighty knights with excellent martial arts skills, no less than the Eagle Feather Warriors of the Great Chieftain.”
A ghostly light flickered in what was left of Vaudreuil’s one eye, “That is what I crave, great General Callum, Vaudreuil and the warriors under his command will need enemies to match to prove themselves.”
Callum nodded solemnly.
“Bring me my sword!”
His servant immediately handed him a blade.
“This is a long knife I purchased from a human merchant for a heavy amount of money, although I can’t call it a divine weapon, but it’s made of fine steel all over, it’s also a rare and good knife, and I’m now gifting it to you!”
A trace of excitement flashed across Vaudreuil’s originally grim face, and he solemnly reached out to accept it.
Clang!
He couldn’t wait to draw the blade out, and the shining reflective light dazzled him for a moment.
Unable to help himself, he exclaimed, “A fine blade!”
The blade was engraved with some complicated patterns, and if someone who knew what they were doing was here, they would recognize it as some sort of Ordo floral alphabet that had been newly created in recent years.
“Made by Northwest Industries, No. 1995-0231.”
The letters are in a rather abstract style of lettering, recognizable only to those involved, and have some anti-counterfeiting properties.
However, Callum has always assumed that this is the pattern used to finish the blade.