That's not how you use a witch!

Chapter 52 A resounding victory!

At the eastern entrance of Fulong Valley, Gorman raised an eyebrow.

He could see the flags fluttering in the valleys on both sides from afar, and the powerful sounds of drums and horns echoed for a long time.

In the valley directly ahead, rows of soldiers in iron armor relied on chevaux-de-frise, trenches, and other fortifications to build defensive lines, aiming their crossbows at them.

With this kind of display, anyone who didn't know better would think that the entire army of the Western Region had come.

However, the rebels had already infiltrated the core territories of the West with their spies, and the military movements of territories of earl and above were almost entirely in the hands of the rebel command.

Gorman was known for his bravery, but he was not reckless.

Realizing that it was unlikely that a large number of troops would be sent to reinforce Fulong Valley within the next three days, his brow gradually relaxed.

He listened carefully to the sounds of the horns and war drums several times and found that they had not changed at all; they were just repeating the same performance over and over again. He couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Those rats from the Western Territory may have strong fists, but they certainly have a lot of tricks up their sleeves! If I hadn't been fully aware of your movements, I would have been truly intimidated by this bluff!"

Gorman rode his horse to the front of the army formation and shouted provocatively at Fulong Valley, asking who dared to come to the front lines and fight him.

Seeing that the guards inside and on both sides of the valley remained motionless, Gorman mocked the West Frontier for being a bunch of cowards, which caused the rebels behind him to burst into laughter.

This was actually a calculated move: if the defending troops did not move, their morale would be at a disadvantage; if the defending troops did send men to fight, Gorman was confident that he could defeat them.

Having fought on horseback for many years, he deeply understands the importance of morale to soldiers.

It can enable one to defeat enemies many times one's size, or it can cause one to squander a victory when one has a significant advantage.

Therefore, when Gorman saw the vanguard army scatter and retreat from the forests on both sides of the Fulong Valley, and even Evelyn had a dark expression on her face, he was surprised and even shocked.

"Wasn't your mission to outflank them? Why are you running back!"

He grabbed an officer by the collar with one hand, lifted him into the air, and questioned him.

"Sir, we've been ambushed! Many of our brothers have died!"

"That's right, those soldiers from the Western Frontier are monsters!"

"They were all wearing heavy armor; their equipment was better than ours!"

"Sir, there's no time to lose, we should retreat quickly!"

The officer described his hellish ordeal in a panic, while the other survivors added vivid details to his account. Evelyn remained silent, tacitly acknowledging everything they had said.

Gorman's brow furrowed more and more, until whispers came from the army behind him. Finally, he shouted and slammed the officer he was holding in mid-air back to the ground.

"Enough! Cowards only see a precipice ahead. Exaggerating the enemy to excuse your defeat only makes you look more incompetent!"

Gorman berated the vanguard who had returned, then turned to the three thousand heavily armored cavalry and said in a deep, powerful voice:

"Listen! Only the weak waste time on intricate schemes; the strong prove through sheer force that absolute power can crush everything!"

"Charge! Charge!"

The morale of the rebels was reignited.

Gorman immediately ordered five hundred heavy cavalry. Once they successfully broke through the defenders' lines, the follow-up troops would immediately advance, like armor-piercing spikes, to completely dismantle the defenses of Thornhold.

Back in the North, they used the same tactics to defeat the Dragontooth Territory garrison, which also guarded the strategic valley.

"All troops, listen to my command! Follow me and kill!"

Gorman's angry roar echoed throughout the valley, and could be clearly heard even from the mountain pass on the other side.

Before the echoes had faded, the sound of warhorses' hooves pounding the ground rose up, like stardust, making the entire Fulong Valley seem to tremble.

The rebels launched their attack!

The militiamen couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat; the heavy full armor and the neatly arranged barricades did little to give them a greater sense of security.

They were not facing any defeated soldiers or bandits, but the most powerful heavy cavalry in the entire North—and possibly the entire Blackrock Empire.

But their beloved lord Ronan always stood at the forefront of the army, never retreating a step, as did their chief witch, Maddale.

Thus, the militiamen's fear was replaced by courage—they all aimed their crossbows at the barbarian general and his heavy cavalry, and with the chevaux-de-frise blocking their way, their formation was gradually narrowed.

When the two sides were only about a hundred meters apart, Ronan drew his sword and aimed it at the rebel cavalry: "Fire!"

"Whoosh whoosh!"

Fueled by rage, the militiamen pulled the triggers on the enemies who had invaded their homes.

The specially made heavy triangular armor-piercing arrows, with an abnormal acceleration, emitted a sharp whistling sound as they pierced the air and plunged into the rebel army's ranks.

Gorman initially dismissed the drizzle of arrows as nothing.

His cavalry possessed the finest heavy armor in the entire Eastern Continent; not to mention small crossbows, even the heavy winch crossbows of the Northern Alliance could not easily harm them.

Until a sharp pain shot through his left shoulder—to Gorman's astonishment, an arrow pierced his shoulder armor like a hot knife through butter, tearing his flesh apart.

With his strong willpower, Gorman did not wail in pain, but the wails of pain around him rose and fell.

Under the precise and deadly crossbow bolts, the once invincible heavy cavalry fell one after another, their proud defenses crumbling to nothing. Each arrow pierced deep into their armor, incapacitating them at best and killing them instantly at worst.

The arrows fired by the defenders were so bizarre: Gorman even saw an arrow that should have missed its mark adjust its trajectory dramatically in mid-air before piercing through the visor of the knight next to him with an absurd acceleration.

In the blink of an eye, he lost nearly a hundred heavy cavalrymen.

They were all elite warriors who had been through countless battles, including dozens of knights who had made it to the inner circle!

The final distance of less than 100 meters was magnified infinitely by the crisscrossing barricades—unlike those easily destroyed wooden barricades, these barricades were all made of iron, so that they could only keep going around them, unable to cross or destroy them.

As they continued to maneuver, the rebel cavalry became easy targets for the militia's archers. They didn't even need to aim; they only needed to fire in the general direction, and the arrows, under Madel's control, would correct their trajectories and accelerate, reaping the rebel cavalry with incredible kinetic energy and precision.

The defenders lying in ambush on both sides of the valley also sprang into action, firing arrows from their high vantage points to snipe the rebels, while simultaneously pushing down logs and boulders to disrupt their formation and block their path.

"Cease the attack!"

Realizing that the outcome was already clear, Gorman shouted, and bursts of golden-red light erupted from him.

Arrows fired at the rebel cavalry were shattered into fragments, along with the steel chevaux-de-frise and rolling logs and stones blocking the rebels' retreat.

Ronan's eyes narrowed: This is a seven-star secret technique, Star Shattering Storm. The rebel general in front of him is at least a seven-star knight!

"All troops retreat! I'll cover the rear!"

Under Gorman's orders, the rebel cavalry turned and retreated after leaving behind more than two hundred corpses, while he himself charged alone towards the Thornholde's defenses.

"Focus fire on the rebel generals!"

After Ronan finished speaking, he took a step forward, ready to engage in battle; Gorman, however, spurred his horse and turned sharply, unleashing a sword strike towards the open space in front of the defending army's line.

The sword energy shattered the arrows, stirring up clouds of dust. When visibility returned, Gorman had already ridden his horse over a hundred meters away.

"You're lucky this time! I'll take your heads another day!"

He made a harsh statement from afar.

"Okay, I'll wait for you!"

Ronan laughed and replied, "Whoever chickens out is a coward!"

His laughter was met with the retreating figures of the rebel cavalry and the equally hearty laughter of the militia around him, echoing endlessly in the Fulong Valley.

This battle was a resounding victory!

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