Chapter 481 - Desperate Escape
Chapter 481: Desperate Escape
The 3,000 knights and knight attendants who were lucky enough to survive were completely in a desperate situation.
They rested in an abandoned farm that they had specially chosen. This farm was located in a canyon, and it was just enough to avoid the cold night wind.
But now, it seemed that such a choice back then was really digging their own graves.
The canyon headed north and south, just enough to block the cold night wind blowing from the west. On both sides of the canyon were steep mountain walls that were more than 30 meters tall. At this moment, on each side of the mountain wall, there were two to three thousand rebels using all kinds of long-range weapons. They were mercilessly attacking the remaining knights and knight attendants.
The long-range weapons of the rebels were not very good. There were only a few bows and heavy crossbows, most of them were hunting bows and light crossbow, as well as simple sharpened pilums, or even primitive catapults that were temporarily made from two leather ropes.
However, they could not withstand these long-range attackers with the advantage of the terrain.
They were looking down from above!
They were falling more than 30 meters!
With such a high drop, even if the rebellion army picked up a stone at random and threw it at the knights and knight attendants of the South County who were surrounded in the canyon, they would still be smashed into bloody pieces.
Because of this, the sharp arrows whistled down, bringing with them a tremendous speed that was created from the high place. They pierced through the iron-scale armor of the knight attendants without any hindrance, causing a large number of casualties to the knight attendants.
Only 500 knights who were fully armed could rely on their mail armor and iron helmets to avoid being injured by the arrows. Of course, there were also unlucky knights who were by the arrows through the iron rings on the mail armor and were seriously injured.
Not only were the arrows and crossbows shot, but the pilums were even more terrifying. They were much heavier than the short bows and arrows. Even though they were only wooden pilums, the 30-meter drop gave these pilums terrifying speed, their lethality far exceeded the inferior bows and arrows in the hands of the rebels.
Even a formal knight wearing mail armor and an iron helmet with extremely strong defense would inevitably break his bones and tendons when struck by the pilums. If the pilums hit the iron helmet on his head, a large part of the iron helmet would be dented, and the knight would most likely be knocked unconscious.
On this cruel battlefield, fainting on the ground was equivalent to death.
What was scarier than the pilum was the huge rocks that fell from the sky. It was not uncommon for them to smash the knights and knight attendants at the bottom of the valley into minced meat.
Under the desolate moonlight, a merciless slaughter was happening.
Countless bows, pilums, and huge rocks were shot down from both sides of the valley by the long-range soldiers of the rebellion army. In the huge height difference, along with the inertia, it produced a terrifying destructive force, causing a large number of casualties to the knights and knight attendants at the bottom of the valley, this caused a large number of casualties.
“Ah –”
A knight attendant of South County gritted his teeth and used all the strength in his body. He brandished his knight sword with both hands and deflected a bow and arrow that was rapidly shooting at him. However, he was unable to defend against the terrifying pilum that came after him, the pilum pierced through the inlaid iron-scale armor on his body and pierced through his heart, letting out an extremely shrill scream.
In a short period of time, more than 20 knights died in the canyon, and more than 300 knight attendants died.
Everyone was injured.
In the canyon, five Sarleon Lion Knights, who were wearing shiny plate armor and full helmets, only revealing a pair of merciless eyes, stood quietly behind Rolf.
The commander of the rebellion army and Rolf stood side by side.
He looked at the knights of the South County who were in a desperate situation, and a mocking smile appeared on his lips. He said indifferently, “These guys are finished!”
The commander of the rebellion army, Korob, smiled in agreement. There was an unconcealable excitement and fear in his eyes. “This is all thanks to the information you provided and the plan of ambush!”
“These guys are courting death!” Rolf’s voice was filled with disdain.
During the war, these knights were actually camping so casually at night. The sentries they sent out were so few that it was unbelievable.
Five knight corps, 500 official knights, and 4,500 knight attendants. They formed a heavy cavalry troop.
From the data on paper, this troop was definitely an elite on the battlefield. However, their previous performance, in Rolf’s words, was “The third-rate bandit groups on the Continent of Caradia are a hundred times stronger than them!”
Five thousand elite warriors and there were only twenty night sentries. This was really a joke.
Such an arrogant attitude would just end up miserably.
Being blocked in this narrow canyon and being besieged from all sides, it was difficult to find a way out.
“By the god of war, Edmund, knights, it’s time for us to fight with our lives on the line!”
In the canyon, the only grand knight among the five knight corps was exuding a powerful aura of flames. He pointed the exquisite knight sword in his hand in the direction of the northern exit of the canyon, he said in a deep voice, “Our only way out is there. Knights, for the honor of the god of war, Edmund, charge with me!”
This grand knight’s heavy lance was placed beside his warhorse. Otherwise, with his strength, using a four-meter-long lance would be much more lethal than using the exquisite knight sword, especially in this situation.
“For the honor of the god of war, Edmund, Charge!” All the members of the knight corps responded to this grand knight’s call, shouting with ferocious faces.
The members of the knight corps who were in a desperate situation had been forced to the point of no retreat. This had instead stimulated their determination to risk their lives and gathered a strong morale.
This grand knight was wearing a thick plate armor and an exquisite fine linen robe. He waved the knight sword in his hand and knocked away the arrows and pilums that kept attacking him. He led the remaining knights and knight attendants toward the north exit of the canyon, they charged forward quickly.
This direction was indeed their only way out!
The members of the knight corps in the canyon had been blocked in the narrow valley. The exits on the north and south sides were all surrounded by the rebellion army.
At this moment, the soldiers of the rebellion army who were blocked on both sides stood in the front three rows with hundreds of long spear infantrymen. The three-meter-long spears in their hands were all raised horizontally or diagonally, stabbing the members of the knight corps who were trapped in the canyon.
These rebellion army soldiers who were arranged at the front were the elite infantrymen from Silver Platter Kingdom who had been captured. They were very proficient in the spear battle formation, and they could do their best to resist the onslaught of the heavy cavalry.
At this moment, these knights under horses had lost countless lives in this spear battle formation.
The vicious spear battle formation was locked down, and the rain of arrows, pilums, and rocks that kept falling from the sky forced these knights into a desperate situation where they were bound to die.
The longer they waited, the more people they would die, and the less hope they had to break out of this desperate situation.
If they wanted to survive, they had to break out of the encirclement while there were enough knights alive.