Chapter 1127 - The White Bone Battalion
Chapter 1127: The White Bone Battalion
These followers, of course, were like the Ancient Dream Saintess in the past. They were all ordinary people who had been bullied but had no strength to fight back.
However, when they stared into the Ancient Dream Saintess’ eyes, they saw the Big-horned Rat God’s majestic image in those eyes with four pupils.
Furthermore, in every subsequent dream, they received blessings, guidance, and enlightenment from the Big-horned Rat God.
As a result, she awakened all kinds of skills and became the commander of the Great Horn Army, whose combat strength was enough to contend with the clan warriors.
After that, the Ancient Dream Saintess led her followers and excavated a large number of temples hidden in the deep wilderness.
Many temples had already been lost before the era of the great extinction order.
They had been sealed underground for more than five thousand years.
Even the oldest military aristocrats to date were unaware of the existence of these temples.
The temples’ names could only be heard in the old fragmented war songs, heard a temple, which were deafening.
However, guided by the Big-horned Rat God, the Ancient Dream Saintess easily found these temples and unlocked the various mechanisms in them. She turned the treasures left behind by the ancient Turan people at least five thousand years ago, into the initial capital to build the Great Horn Army.
Naturally, the underground base in the depths of Rift Valley, which was located at the border of the Blood Hoof Clan and Gold Clan’s territory, was also a gift from the Horned Rat God to his devout believers.
Just like that, with the Ancient Dream Saintess’ efforts, the storm that was originally unimaginable finally took shape in a few short years and swept the entire world.
Even today, the Ancient Dream Saintess was definitely no older than eighteen years old.
Yet, such a young girl displayed a maturity that did not match her age in battle.
Everyone thought that there was a huge difference in strength between the Great Horn Army and the Wolf Clan battle group that had come to encircle them. The ending of a narrow path was destined to be like using an egg to strike rock[1].
However, the Ancient Dream Saintess had seized the Wolf Clan’s weakness.
They could not afford to lose, not to mention be defeated by the rat people.
Even if their victory was too slow and forced, it would make people doubt the Wolf Clan’s strength and their determination to defend their glory.
Only a full and unscathed victory could prove the pride of the Wolf Clan and even the entire Gold Clan.
Under heavy pressure from the Lion and Tiger Clans, the Wolf Clan had no patience at all. They were in a deadlock with the rat people.
They could only charge at the Great Horn Army’s main forces in an attempt to finish the battle.
Taking advantage of the situation, the Ancient Dream Saintess took the initiative to set up several suspicious soldiers.
Following a series of attacks, the Wolf Clan warriors became impatient. They also thought that the rat people were only capable of stealing and that they lacked the strength as well as courage to fight head-on.
She even used a “counter-plot” to deliberately leak false information to the Wolf Clan through the mouth of a traitor and mislead the Wolf Clan’s heavy cavalry into lunging at nonexistent main forces from the Great Horn Army.
After that, there was the defeat of the Howling Legion and the result of killing the Nighthawks.
In the series of fierce battles that followed, the Ancient Dream Saintess also showed astonishing military genius.
It was as if she could predict the future. Each time, she was keenly aware of the Wolf Clan’s military route and knew every Wolf Clan battle group’s actual situation like the back of her hand.
There had been several times when, without any warning, she had used her intuition alone to make the Great Horn Army’s main forces jump out of the Wolf Clan’s painstakingly arranged ambush circle and pounce on the enemy’s hidden and weak ribs. She had made the Wolf Clan experience the taste of failure to get what they wanted.
In short, the officers and priests’ hymns of the Ancient Dream Saintess made Meng Chao think of another “Saintess” who had emerged during the great war known as the Hundred-year War in the Earth era.
Regarding these existences… they had been ignorant yesterday, but they were able to command the world today.
Apart from “a revelation from the heavens and ancestral blessings,” there was no other reasonable explanation.
On top of that, the officers and priests also told the rat people around Meng Chao that they were all experts who had gone through a lot of training during the long journey and siege.
They were qualified to fight alongside the Great Horn Army’s main forces.
Furthermore, if they continued to maintain their high morale and loyalty to the Big-horned Rat God in the next series of battles, they had a good chance of becoming part of the Great Horn Army’s main forces.
They would receive commands personally from the Ancient Dream Saintess and participate in the decisive battle to attack Red-gold City!
When they thought about how they also had a chance to become a member of the skeleton rat tide that had devoured the glorious city….
Their mouths became dry and trembled.
Many people could not wait to witness the might of the Great Horn Army’s main forces who defeated the Wolf Clan.
Even the Big-horned Rat God had to grant them enough luck to be able to catch a glimpse of the incredible Ancient Dream Saintess.
However, no matter how awe-inspiring and invincible the Great Horn Army’s main forces were in their minds…
Once the enemy really appeared, the rat people were still shocked, and they could not believe their eyes.
Meng Chao was the first to notice the arrival of the Great Horn Army’s main forces…
More than two months after the outbreak of the Great Horn Rebellion…
In the middle of the Gold Clan’s territory, in a river valley close to the Turan River.
Meng Chao woke up from his mottled dream and saw that every hair on his body was standing up like steel needles.
He pressed his palm lightly against the ground.
Through the weak vibrations, he could sense that a large number of fierce beasts were approaching from a very far place.
Meng Chao and Ice Storm forced themselves out of the tent at the same time.
He saw a large number of frightened birds fluttering into the sky, tearing apart the thin dark clouds, stirring the icy cold moonlight, and creating layers of ripples.
The overlapping killing intent whistled like a mudslide, instantly surrounding the entire camp.
Waves of mournful wolf howls scratched the rat people’s ears like sharp blades.
Along with the guards’ sentry posts, the entire camp was in chaos.
Hundreds of hastily lit torches reflected the people’s changing expressions and wandering eyes.
No matter how hot-blooded they were when they heard the news of victory during the day, no matter how much they wanted to find a wolf, tiger, or leopard man and perish together with him…
In the darkest hour before dawn, they heard hundreds of wolf howls. From far to near, they gathered into a surging tide that was about to attack the camp.
The rat people who had just joined the rebel army could not help but feel uneasy and a little weak.
Closer and closer… On the dark horizon, the heavy panting of jackals and the sound of armor rubbing against swords could be heard. They were like the grim reaper, calmly sharpening his scythe.
Soon, one, two, three, countless green sparks appeared in the darkness.
They were the eyes of thousands of wolves, staring straight at the temporary camp that had no protection.
No one knew how so many wolves could silently enter the area that should have been controlled by the Great Horn Army.
All the rat people were so scared that their scalps went numb. They bit their lips until they were torn apart. Only then did they use pain to stimulate their nerves and order their slightly trembling hands to clench their swords, spears, and halberds.
However, just as they thought that a fierce battle was inevitable…
From within the pack of wolves, a familiar horn sounded and a battle flag shot out.
It was the horn that the Great Horn Army used to identify their allies.
Although it sounded very similar to the charge horn that the five great clans used, there were subtle changes in its rhythm. Only the officers and priests who had followed the Ancient Dream Saintess for many years could tell the difference.
Illuminated raging flames, the blood-red war flag that slowly unfurled did not have the picture of a rat’s skull.
Instead, it had a complete head and tail. It was a skeleton rat that was baring its fangs and brandishing its claws.
This was the war flag of the Great Horn Army’s main forces, the elite troops known as the White Bone Battalion!
It was said that the White Bone Battalion was personally led by the Ancient Dream Saintess.
Most of its members were veterans who had made an oath to follow the Ancient Dream Saintess for many years.
Many of the officers had been personally selected by the Ancient Dream Saintess, and through the dream realm, they had received the Big-horned Rat God’s blessings.
There were also a few new members who had been well-trained during the past two months of escaping and fighting.
The reason why they had chosen such a strange name was because…
The Ancient Dream Saintess wanted all the rat people to remember that in the past ten thousand years, hundreds of millions of rat people had been squeezed into piles of bones by the clan warriors.
She also hoped that everyone would gather their courage and not give up on the idea of resistance even if they turned into broken skeletons.
The White Bone Battalion represented the Great Horn Army’s highest combat strength.
Although the Ancient Dream Saintess was not among the charging cavalry…
The White Bone Battalion cavalry had captured hundreds of wolves from the Wolf Clan’s battle group. That was enough to widen the eyes of the rat people who had been startled by the false alarm. They clicked their tongues in wonder.
The wolves had mouths full of fangs and sharp claws stained with blood. Yet, they allowed the White Bone Battalion soldiers, who were also rat people that were as docile as warhorses, to command them.
Seeing this, the rat people were puzzled.
From the time the White Bone Battalion defeated the Howling Legion until now, it had been at most ten days to half a month.
What secret technique did the White Bone Battalion soldiers use to tame the ferocious and brutal wolves in such a short time?
After a short discussion, everyone agreed that it was probably another miracle performed by the Big-horned Rat God through the Ancient Dream Saintess.
The meeting with the cavalry of the White Bone Battalion boosted the morale of the troops in Meng Chao’s group.
Next, they would be dispatched by the White Bone Battalion to attack a few towns near the river valley that were likely to store a large number of mandrake fruits.
As the current place was close to the central region of the Gold Clan, the defending troops stationed in the towns would definitely be stronger than the old, weak, and disabled soldiers stationed at the border.
Therefore, it did not matter even if they were temporarily unable to conquer it.
As long as they put on a grand show of attacking the city, they would be able to attract the reinforcements nearby to come out in full force.
After capturing a large number of war wolves, the newly established White Bone Battalion cavalrymen would naturally give the unassuming reinforcements a fatal blow halfway.
It was a standard “besieging and striking the city’s reinforcements.”
The leader of the White Bone Battalion cavalry also promised that as long as they performed well in the siege battle, even the rat people who had just joined the Great Horn Army yesterday would have a great chance. They would become a sharp blade personally forged by the Ancient Dream Saintess, a member of the White Bone Battalion!
[1] Chinese proverb that means to attempt the impossible. https://medium.com/@jeffhou/the-art-of-striking-rocks-with-eggs-81019227fb01#:~:text=Sooner%20or%20(most%20likely)%20later,means%20to%20attempt%20the%20impossible.