Cohen of the Rebellion Volume 8 Chapter 8

Translated by Tianic, edited by Grammarly
The word 'Cecilia' in ancient Asmodian language means fight hard and stand fast.
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The short time has laid a solid foundation for our victory.
Through the hideous mess of the enemy's wall of s, I could see their troops were already collapsing after the falling stones and arrows. Their commanders on the horses were yelling at the soldiers while the rest just wandered aimlessly in the crowd.
As their front men were under attack, the rear 10, 000 troops rushed to support without even thinking, though my stones intercepted them halfway. Their following forced breakthrough were all beaten down by my arrows! In the meanwhile, thousands of hidden traps were waiting for them under their feet. They could do nothing for their friendly army inches ahead but to leave several thousand bodies and retreat.
Looking at them burnt and dead, I made a faint smile because I had arrangements for those enemy soldiers that fled. Fast as they ran, no more than 1000 men will escape and tell Guildford the news.
While the front enemies were withdrawing, the rear ones were trying hard to thrust forward. Their retreat path was also cut by my traps. Those traps were all human-manipulated. Once the war started, the sandman soldiers will haul off the supporting trunks under the traps and hide into the underpasses. The enemy dead bodies will never fill those pits as the holes were big and deep.
Under the attack of both arrows and catapults, my enemy has lost more than 5, 000 men in their front rows.
Finally, they have caught a glimpse between the arrow rains then a crazy burst of yellings of 'Cecilia' erupted from the enemy crowd. The remaining hostile men thrust their weapons and charged for us!
The enemy commander chose to positively breakthrough, and this decision stood no ground for blame. Although they were faced with mere archers from the two sides, they must think it to be odd. Thus they've conformed to pick pikemen as their leading target. If they successfully marched near and engaged a close battle with my men, my archers will be no longer useful.
AUFs were always proud of their close combat ability. In their points of view, no PUF army will triumph them in a melee battle.
I ordered my marksmen to rise up from their hideouts and initiated a beastly arrow rain toward the enemy soldiers who were running inward.
Under the threats of the archers, the enemy speeded up! They yelled and marched, their weapon constantly passed from left hand to the right and formed a straight marching line. I could see from their reddened eyes and harsh sounds, they were well-assured and expected in this melee battle. Although they did not seem to notice the absence of their heavy infantries.
The presence of the part of heavy-loaded infantries was not huge with in an army, the presence was even rare in a highly mobilized corps. Their armors were just too heavy to ignore, 200 kg was a dreadful figure for any armor. Regular sword or blade cuts would only tickle. An enchanted shield was also there to protect their faces. Thus they were not afraid of forms of damage.
They sounded like a timid type of force, though their utilization was irreplaceable. Often, they were able to break through the enemy's defense line by resorting on their solid armors. Most of the time, they will not need to do many jobs except for standing straight: the ones behind them will push them forward.
My catapults' targets were just those heavy infantries that stood in the front. Currently, they were nearly all down for good. Without the heavy-loaded infantries, breaking through my pikemen will be a tough job.
"All units, position!"
"SWISH!" I drew my black steel machete and slashed forward.
"Pikemen forward and stand in position!" My duty officer read my gesture then yelled, "Bowmen, order!"
The front 5 rows of pikemen advanced 10 steps forward and lowered their bodies, their spears laid on the ground. The bowmen behind them were in position. Thousands of sharpened arrows have locked their closing targets. Many enemies who were marching toward us have raised their right hands with the blades.
"Loose!"
"Loose!"
"Loose!"
The hostilities were shot to kill by three rounds of crossbow firings once they entered the shooting range. The ones who were shot groaned and fell. Their once tensely formed formation immediately dispersed. As the formation halted for a moment, the breaches were instantly filled by more soldiers behind. What a group of experienced soldiers as they knew what to do next without any orders. They were worthy of their name, an army that excelled in marching and melee combat.
My crossbowmen fired another round of arrows then fell back.
The front pikemen rose while the first row pointed their spearheads to the front, the 2 rows behind them placed their spears on the first row's left and right shoulder armor. My design had put two notches there. This way, there will be three spearheads guarding in front of each soldier.
If I stood in a higher position, I should be seeing two lines were closing imminently.
I've decentralized my command authority of the front soldiers.
As the enemies have marched close enough to show their faces, dozens of their commanders raised their sabers and yelled at their subordinates.
"Steady… steady… steady…" My palm sweated and shivered while hearing the shoutings from the enemy side.
Dozens of sabers slashed down almost at the same time, "KILL!”
"CECILIA!"
"KILL!" My front soldiers roared and adjusted their spear for the last time. At this very moment, the spears have penetrated the enemies' bodies. Many have even penetrated more than one bodies!
"KILL!" The second row of pikemen sent their spears. As they sent theirs, the front row was retracting their spears and preparing to thrust again.
It seemed to be a pure teamwork, but these soldiers have practiced countless times urged by their drill sergeants' lashes. They have practiced until the blisters became callosities and until they could finish the movements without opening their eyes and until each of them were yelling 'KILL' in their dreams.
It was not like my officers were harsh on my soldiers. Because of the changeable situation on the battlefield, there will no time for the soldiers to think. They would be better off sticking to the experience. A man without experience and knew nothing to do at any moments was a man who will die first in a war; as a well-trained soldier was able to kill some even given no weapons or armors.
My pikemen’s teamwork was like a winded machine as three rows of spears thrust in order, which made the enemies’ marching in vein.
My opponents also knew that they could only live by breaking through our defense. Thus they attacked even harder. Many soldiers shot their weapons over with their last breaths as more men who were pierced by spears grabbed the spear bodies. Those who were wounded but lived made their way slowly by my pikemen.
As a mix of sounds echoed on the battlefields, from time to time, one or two broken body parts with wrecked armors that attached were thrown into the air. This place was swamped by a smell of blood. As my enemies marched fearlessly, my pikemen were under great pressure.
"Axemen, go!"
"Kill!"
Thousands of soldiers advanced one step forward, their bodies made swirls then a myriad of flying axes shot and landed accurately in the enemy crowd.
The axes were not huge, but they were sharp and thick. The axe body was almost a round shape, and the axe handle was right in the middle of it. Once tossed, the axe was able to cut a body from any angle!
The enemies in the front paid only attention to the pikeman they faced and entirely ignored what came over their heads. Most of them were hit and slashed into unequal halves by the sharp axes.
Before the first wave of the axe victims fell, the axemen made another round of swirls then a rain of axes of the equal amount came right up. Those enemies who followed once again meet their doom. A considerable amount of them was killed by spears because they looked up for the axes.
After finishing throwing 2 axes, the first team of axemen returned to the stocks and reload, the second team took their places.
Those who were hit by the axes could not hold up while they hindered significantly to those who followed. Thus my pikemen had a chance to relieve and adjust their formation. The AUF army had a great impact force on me earlier. If it were not for the axemen, they could almost succeed in breaking through my defense.
Every commander knew what it meant to be able to adjust formation during an intense battle. My side of the soldiers has dominated the battle.
My contempt to positional battle did not mean I have not studied it.
Before I went to the PUF headquarter, I've consulted many books, and after going through countless books, I came to know the reason that so many people loved to take advantage of positional battles. The reason lied in the fairness and easiness of such a fighting style.
A positional battle was to place thousands of soldiers on both sides, then start marching under an order. It was a direct competition of strength. Whoever had the most men and the thickest armor and the strongest manpower will have the victory. In contrast, strategies were still one part, but its effectiveness was limited.
One plus one equals two, simple math. Once the commanders of both sides took the variables of terrain, soldier number, force kind, single soldier's combat power and the power of the mages. They naturally knew who's here to win.
Spells and arrows were useful at the beginning of the battle, but once the soldiers from both sides intertwined, the men had to rely on their own abilities. One against one, a platoon against another platoon, there will be no simple ways to get out.
As for my strategy, I intended to let my front soldiers dominate the battlefield and weaken the enemy front power in the meantime. I wanted to force each of my enemies to face more than three of my soldiers. I will never let the word 'fair' to show in this battle.
Hence I equipped my soldiers with plenty of crossbows and axes. Everything was aimed to make my army the absolute dominance on the battlefield.
"You wanna beat my ass? Beat it, suckers!"
"KILL!"
"CECILIA!"
As the spears thrust again and flying axes soared in the air, countless AUF soldiers fell at a distance of 20 arm lengths to several arm lengths. Their companions had to advance by stepping the dead bodies. The corpses piled and thickened until it accumulated to an adult's chest level.
The dead soldiers will never learn that we called this distance 'the dead zone'!
Sounds of chanting came from my back. Looked like the mages were ready.
Walls of fire blazed in the dead zone. The spell-powered, two-man high fire wall started devouring anything that dared to pass through it. Many AUF soldiers had become burned charcoals before they made themselves to my pikemen.
The enemy mages countered by firing scattered black or green spell spheres. But once their balls rose, ten more spheres from my side will strike back immediately. Our formation was so intense that if I cannot prioritize terminating the enemy mages, the dead number they will give me could only be more.
Mages from two sides kept them busy by releasing protective screens and making more spell attacks. For a while, the sky above the battlefield became extremely colorful and brilliant like a firework competition.
Despite the number and quality of my side of the mages were in absolute superiority, it did not mean the enemy mages were wusses.
"BOOM!” A black magic sphere traveled through our protective screen and landed on my right. Several soldiers who stood there immediately vanished, leaving a piece of burnt land there. There was one officer who loved to be kicked by me among those who died.
I forced myself to look away and calculated the enemy's marching speed.
"HORNS!" Seeing the main enemy force have all entered the ambushing area, I yelled, "SOUND THE HORN!"
"WOOOOOOOOOOO"
As the horns sounded, heaps of soldiers sprung from their hideouts, which blocked the enemy's withdrawal path. They, as well as the other 4 regiments, have surrounded the entire enemy corps. In the meantime, the adjusted catapults start puking stones once again aiming only the enemy center.
The ambushing teams have been holding back in their hideouts for quite a while. Once they were out, they attacked furiously like beasts! All of their blades have been pre-installed with one-meter long metal handles, which has proven to be more efficient than the enemies' weapons of both strength and flexibility. Once the blade slashed, the target will mostly wind up in 2 equal half of both their bodies and arms.
After I've depleted the enemy mages, my wingmen and elf warlocks rose and swept the field in a neat formation. The enemies that left were disconcerted, disheartened and disabled.
An army of 20, 000 enemy vanguards were wiped out. None of them surrounded from the officers to the soldiers.
As the horn blew the cease-fire sound, my soldiers cheered, they cheered while tossing their helmets and armors. Many were hit and lightly wounded. Some even started tossing their commanders' helmets.
"Sir," Carlos rode along and talked excitedly, "we win, we win big!"
I nodded, "How many casualties?"
"After initial calculation," Carlos paused for a second, "more than 3, 000, dead and wounded."
"Today's battle was an ambush…" I frowned, "AUF is not to be underestimated anyhow. They even managed to kill and wound 3, 000 under such a disadvantage!"
"But sir, they're completely annihilated." Carlos lowered his voice, "Wiping out 20, 000 AUF soldiers with 3, 000 casualties, the cost is negligible…"
"You can't say that, Carlos. Victory is not measured by the dead number, rather, it's judged by whether the objective is achieved." I interrupted Carlos, "Although we've reached our tactical objective, the cost is still… oversized."
"Sir…"
Before Carlos said anything, many officers came.
"Sir!" The logistics leader said, "We have the toll: 870 dead, 2350 severe wounded, 300 of them are disabled…"
I nodded and said, "Tell the fleet to pull into shore. I want our wounded soldiers and corpses on the ships ASAP."
"Sir, yes, sir!"
"Sir," Jack said, "our soldiers behaved well. No undisciplined soldier found on the battlefield."
"Well done!" I praised.
"Thank you, sir!" Jack blushed and said, "By the way, we've got many enemy casualties as well…"
"The enemies?" I said, "I don't need captives, kill them."
"But there are thousands…"
"Kill them!" I glanced Jack, "They are to be executed by the LAD personnel only. Regular soldiers are not allowed to interfere!"
"Sir, yes, sir!" Jack left.
I could barely take care of our own casualties, let alone the enemy wounded? Although everybody knew it should be done as I said, the atmosphere was still very grim.
"Sir, talk to your soldiers!" Carlos broke the silence, "They're waiting for your comment!"
"Might as well!" I answered, "Let's go!"
The enemy's broken armors made a big pile at the center of the battlefield. The officers, under my leadership, approached as the soldiers who were cleaning the field gathered.
"Atten-hut!" The duty officer shouted, "Present-arm!"
"Sir!"
Several ten thousands of voices yelled altogether. Their voices stung my ears.
At such a scene, I couldn't help but sigh. I recalled the first time I was on the Ninth Legion speaking stand, they also saluted me. That scene was so much different than the men I was watching right now.
"Soldiers, you've done well!" I was affected by just looking at these men's joyful faces, “We’ve annihilated 20, 000 Asmodian troops! We've once again kicked the old bastard Guildford's ass!"
"Sir, yes, sir!"
"20, 000 enemies is not a big number. We still have a million enemies on the Line! After a few more victories, we'll be kicking them back home!" I continued, "How did we win the war? We're united. Each and every one of you has trusted each other. And you've fought hard! As long as you carry on, we will continue to win!"
"Yes, sir!"
"The bastard Guildford's ass was not to be easily messed with. He will bring more!" I altered my tone, "From this day forward, put away your exciting heart. Pay more attention to training and preparation. We'll be kicking the bastard's ass again!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Dismissed!"
"Let's go back to the camp." I told an officer beside me, "Guildford will strike back soon next time!"