Chapter 26: Su Xiao Who Missed His Stop
Su Xiao had just carved out an open space in the tribal army. Before he could catch his breath, he noticed the surrounding orcs and dwarves beginning to retreat. There was no fear in their eyes—this wasn't because they were scared of his killing.
Boom, boom, boom...
The ground trembled slightly. This unusual situation put Su Xiao on high alert.
The ground vibrations grew stronger. Not only that, but the formation of the surrounding tribal soldiers gradually dispersed, as if making way for someone.
"Crush the cowards of the empire."
A dwarf riding a wild boar charged out from the tribal army. He wielded a short-handled war hammer, and the vital areas of his boar were covered in armor.
Seeing this attire, Su Xiao immediately thought of the Dwarf Clan's 'Mountain Cavalry Regiment.' But upon closer inspection, he noticed these dwarf cavalrymen were different from the Mountain Cavalry.
The armor of these dwarf cavalrymen had a yellowish-brown pattern, clearly the product of Goblin forging craftsmanship combined with Dwarf alchemy.
The armor gave off a heavy feeling. Although the 'Mountain Cavalry Regiment' was the elite force of the dwarves, it would be too exaggerated for every member to be equipped with this kind of armor.
Su Xiao became alert and used the Apostle's Eye to check the attributes of these dwarf cavalrymen.
The information was as follows:
Name: Bart
Category: Dwarf
Position: Earth Cavalry Regiment (Dwarf Clan's ace cavalry, total 1,200)
Health: 100%
Mana: 200/270
Strength: 52
Agility: 32
Stamina: 49
Intelligence: 27
Charm: 6
Skill 1: Ace Cavalry (Passive Lv.19), increases Health by 400 points, Strength +3, Stamina +5.
Skill 2: United Effort (Passive Lv.20), when Earth Cavalry numbers reach 10, Strength, Agility, Stamina +1; when Earth Cavalry numbers reach 100, Strength, Agility, Stamina +3; when Earth Cavalry numbers reach 1,000, Strength, Agility, Stamina +5.
Skill 3: Earth War Armor (Passive Lv.25), Defense +15, Health recovery per minute +18. Generates a small Earth Aura. When Earth Cavalry numbers reach 1,000, a large Earth Aura will form (crafted with Dwarf forging techniques + Goblin alchemy).
Skill 4: T-Formation Charge (Passive Lv.26), when 1,000 Earth Cavalry form a T-shaped charge formation, charge speed +40%, momentum +70%, attack power +12%. After charging, a power linkage occurs, which attaches to the large Earth Aura.
Skill 5: Life and Death Together (Passive Lv.29), candidate Earth Cavalry choose a young Sharp-Tusked War Boar during childhood. The Earth Cavalry and the boar train and live together. Their mutual understanding surpasses that of a knight and his warhorse. Long-term life-and-death companionship creates a symbiotic relationship between the Earth Cavalry and the boar. When either party's Health drops below 50%, a life force sharing state activates. The party with higher Health will share life force to balance both sides. If one suffers a fatal wound, both parties' Health will drain together until death.
...
Seeing these dwarf cavalry attributes, Su Xiao began to slowly retreat. If it were just one Earth Cavalryman, he could eliminate him in a dozen seconds.
But now, over a thousand dwarf Earth Cavalrymen were charging out from the tribal army. They rode sturdy wild boars in a row, clad in alchemical war armor, wielding matching war hammers. The armor was an alchemical product—would the Earth Cavalry's weapons be inferior?
Rumble...
Over a thousand dwarf Earth Cavalrymen charged up the slope, like a muddy yellow mudslide. Since Su Xiao was inside the tribal army, he would be the first to make contact with the Earth Cavalry.
A yellowish-brown energy connected the thousand-plus Earth Cavalrymen. They were about to flatten the Black Soil Fortress.
Su Xiao dispelled the Counter Shield. Facing this kind of large-scale charge, the Counter Shield would only increase the enemy's attack surface area and send him flying.
Cyan Steel Shadow energy enveloped the Dragon-Slaying Flash. A single Earth Cavalryman wasn't too strong, but when a thousand charged together, that was a different concept.
"Oh la la la..."
The Earth Cavalrymen let out strange shouts as they charged. This wasn't meaningless behavior. The synchronized shouts not only boosted their own momentum but also drew the enemy's attention, weakening their morale.
The shouts of the Earth Cavalry spread. Upon hearing this sound, the veteran soldiers in the Imperial Army instinctively began to retreat. Unfortunately, they couldn't—there were too many soldiers behind them.
Su Xiao held the Dragon-Slaying Flash horizontally in front of him. By now, the Earth Cavalry had charged to within ten meters of him.
The distance closed rapidly. Eight meters, seven meters...
Su Xiao stomped the ground, sending gravel flying. He actually charged forward to meet the Earth Cavalry head-on, counter-charging.
The few Earth Cavalrymen in front of Su Xiao were stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter, as if mocking his overestimation of his abilities.
"Small T-formation."
Several Earth Cavalrymen formed a small T-shaped formation, and the yellowish-brown light on their armor deepened.
Su Xiao collided head-on with the few Earth Cavalrymen. The raindrops falling from the sky slapped against his face—cold.
Cyan Steel Shadow energy surged on the long blade. The few Earth Cavalrymen raised their war hammers almost simultaneously.
Su Xiao raised the Dragon-Slaying Flash above his head, the muscles in his right arm slightly bulging. He put all his strength into this strike.
The Dragon-Slaying Flash met a war hammer.
Boom!
A shockwave spread outward. The charging momentum of the thousand-plus Earth Cavalrymen halted for an instant. They were connected as a whole; a thousand-man charge was a single entity.
With a crack, the war hammer in the hand of the Earth Cavalryman who clashed with Su Xiao shattered. Along with it, his arm and body also broke apart.
A mist of blood exploded. The few Earth Cavalrymen in front of Su Xiao burst into a mess of flesh and blood, including the Sharp-Tusked War Boars beneath them.
The few Earth Cavalrymen were obliterated, shattered by the opposing forces.
Force is reciprocal. In the instant the thousand-plus Earth Cavalrymen paused, Su Xiao was already flying backward toward the Imperial Army.
Whoosh~
Su Xiao made a sound of breaking air as he flew backward. Mid-air, the right side of his body was numb, and the tiger's mouth of his right hand was split open.
While flying backward at high speed, Su Xiao activated the Counter Shield to protect himself.
Bang, bang, bang...
Imperial soldiers were sent flying by the Counter Shield one after another. Su Xiao was like a high-speed train plowing into the Imperial Army.
Boom!
Su Xiao crashed into a stone slope, coughing up blood from the impact. This didn't stop his backward flight; he continued flying toward the fortress.
Dazed and disoriented, he flew an unknown distance before stopping behind a few Imperial soldiers, creating a large crater in the mud. Those soldiers looked at him with lingering fear.
"Is... is this a friendly?"
"Probably... maybe he was knocked flying by a troll."
After confirming Su Xiao was a friendly, the Imperial soldiers ignored him. They wouldn't check his injuries or treat him. This was a battlefield; there was no time to care for the wounded.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Su Xiao coughed up several mouthfuls of blood. He understood how he had been sent flying. When the thousand-plus Earth Cavalrymen charged, they formed a power-linkage effect—that yellowish-brown light. It made the Earth Cavalry a single entity.
Su Xiao had withstood the force of the Earth Cavalry's charge head-on. Although the thousand-plus Earth Cavalrymen only paused for an instant, that kind of power was beyond what Su Xiao could block at his current level. This was the power of a charge formation.
He took out a No. 1 potion and drank it. The numbness in the right side of his body gradually faded, and the split tiger's mouth on his right hand began to heal.
Fortunately, Su Xiao's Stamina attribute was high enough—he could both fight and endure. If it had been another contractor specializing in Strength or Agility, that blow would have been an instant kill. Even for Su Xiao, after taking that hit, his Health had dropped to 17%.
After recovering somewhat, Su Xiao stood up and looked around. He was surprised to find that he had flown to the rear of the Imperial Army, almost out of the battlefield. Nearby were a few slightly bewildered soldiers from the execution squad.
"Soldier, are you alright?"
The execution squad soldiers weren't stupid. Besides, they had seen Su Xiao fly in from the front lines. He wasn't a deserter but a warrior who had been fighting fiercely.
"It's nothing serious."
Su Xiao stretched his sore body. Just as he was about to return to the front lines, he noticed something was off about the battle situation.
The screams from the front lines were continuous—all the screams of Imperial soldiers.
A yellow tide was crushing and trampling large groups of Imperial soldiers. This yellow tide was the Dwarf Earth Cavalry Regiment.
The thousand-plus Earth Cavalrymen were like bulldozers, almost unstoppable. They had already charged to the top of the fortress, forcing the Imperial soldiers on the fortress down. The Imperial Army was being pushed off the fortress and even had a tendency to be driven down the magma slope. If this continued, the Imperial Army would be cleared out of the Black Soil Fortress.
Boom, boom, boom...
Heavy footsteps came from behind Su Xiao. Giants about ten meters tall walked past him toward the front lines. They wore battle armor and oversized boots with metal soles at least twenty centimeters thick. The Giant Clan was the nemesis of the Dwarf Earth Cavalry Regiment.
Su Xiao took a few steps forward, jumped, and nimbly climbed onto a giant's shoulder, standing there.
The giant turned to look at Su Xiao, his gaze calm.
"Soldier, what are you doing on my shoulder?"
The giant spoke in a deep, rumbling voice, with a hint of a rural dialect.
"Catching a ride."
"Oh, then be careful. Humans and giants are friends. Giants don't want to hurt humans. Essen likes human friends."
The giant brother grinned, revealing two rows of teeth the size of cabinet doors.
"No problem."
Su Xiao didn't expect these big guys to be so unexpectedly good-natured.
"Stand firm. I'm going to charge. Those little shorties are troublesome—they hurt my feet."
The giant brother gave a simple smile, bending his legs.
"Hey, you're not going to..."
Boom!
The giant brother leaped, jumping several hundred meters in one bound, crossing over the Imperial soldiers and landing directly on the Black Soil Fortress.
It wasn't just this giant brother who jumped; the other dozens of giants also leaped.
Boom, boom, boom...
Dozens of giants landed on top of the Black Soil Fortress. The fortress shook violently. The previously unstoppable Earth Cavalry Regiment was crushed in large numbers—those twenty-centimeter-thick metal boot soles were terrifying.
"Retreat!"
With the Giant Clan's appearance, the Earth Cavalry Regiment immediately turned and retreated down the Black Soil Fortress. In less than half a minute, the Imperial side had retaken the fortress.
As for Su Xiao, who had "caught a ride," he was now staring at a few stunned goblins. Beside these goblins was a large metal catapult—the very thing that had been throwing the "Green Phosphorus Fire Bombs."
That's right. In just ten seconds, Su Xiao had gone from the rear of the Imperial Army to the rear of the tribal army, crossing the entire battlefield. The strength attribute of that giant brother was too high. Su Xiao guessed that guy's Strength attribute was probably 80 points—the limit of this world.
Su Xiao stood up and looked around.
"I missed my stop."
The moment Su Xiao finished speaking...
"Enemy attack!"
A few goblins let out shrieks, like a few panicked middle-aged women.
Su Xiao couldn't stay here long. He had to fight his way back from the tribal army's rear to the Black Soil Fortress and rejoin the Imperial Army. He was too far from the Imperial Army. If he didn't get back quickly and the Imperial Army lost, he wouldn't even have a chance to retreat—he would be surrounded and killed by the tribal army.
Su Xiao charged at the panicked goblins. A few slashes later, the frail goblins lay dead. Just as he was about to charge into the tribal army from the rear, his gaze swept across and was drawn to the metal catapult and the dozens of bottles of Green Phosphorus Fire Bombs nearby.