Mary asked incredulously, "Can a battle really do all that?"
Cumberland smiled and nodded: "You'll find out tomorrow."
The Battle of Holy Guard City, Day Two.
Cumberland and Mary climbed to the top of the city wall and looked towards the enemy camp on the other side.
Just as Cumberland said last night, the church's allied forces mobilized in full force, with the 10,000-strong army divided into three formations, slowly advancing towards the Holy Guard City.
The sight of enemy troops covering the mountains and fields, their orderly drums and bugles, made Mary's face turn pale. She whispered, "The enemy has really launched a general offensive."
In contrast to the Queen, Cumberland rubbed his hands together excitedly: "Take a close look, who is the main force of the enemy's general offensive this time?"
Hearing Cumberland's words, Mary composed herself and focused her gaze on the battlefield.
The enemy's three phalanxes were positioned completely differently from those on the first day.
The Church's direct armies—the Knights of the Holy Scarlet Order, the Baptist Knights, and the Clergy—charged to the forefront, while the two phalanxes of the secular kingdom lagged behind.
Mary covered her mouth, exclaiming in surprise, "What is this...?"
Cumberland put on his helmet and laughed, saying, "When launching a general offensive, commanders usually place their strongest troops at the forefront of the formation to break through the enemy's defenses as quickly as possible; moreover, yesterday, both secular kingdoms' phalanxes launched an attack. Therefore, I am certain that today's main attack force will be led by the church's direct forces."
Mary recalled Cumberland's words from yesterday and suddenly realized, "Could it be that the reason you did that yesterday was to..."
Cumberland drew his weapon, strode to the front lines, and said in a deep voice, "That's right, it's to lure out these wild dogs hiding behind the rabbit!"
Cumberland, who had stepped onto the command platform, roared at his adjutant, "Tell those wolf cubs below that they've been watching the show all day yesterday, and today they can finally vent their anger! The entire Twilight Knights, move out!"
The adjutant straightened up, saluted, turned around, and shouted while rolling up his sleeves, "Commander's order! Alien Heavy Infantry Regiment! Sniper Inheritor Regiment! Elemental Inheritor Regiment! And the Explosive Throwing Team! All of you, onto the city walls!"
Cumberland planted his longsword in the wooden plank in front of him and coldly looked at the enemy army on the battlefield. The honeycomb on his dragonbone armor vibrated violently, emitting infrasound waves that were inaudible to the human ear and instantly spread throughout the entire city wall.
Soon, one after another, the hive parasites on the battlefield began to vibrate, and one order after another was transmitted down the chain of command.
On the other hand, after the church-led coalition entered the firing range of Holy Guard City and found that the enemy's counterattack was as weak as yesterday, the coalition commander, feeling complacent, ordered a full-scale assault.
The more than 4,000 troops directly under the church abandoned their slow advance with shields and instead adopted a dense charging formation, swarming towards the walls of the Holy Guard City.
Soon, the counterattack, which had started as a gentle breeze and light rain, turned into a raging storm.
A hail of arrows, like locusts, rained down from the city walls, obscuring the sun's rays; stones, like hailstones, were hurled from within the city, their whistling sound sending chills down the spine. The church's direct forces, responsible for the vanguard, suffered a devastating blow in the very first moment due to their overly tight formation and lax defensive awareness.
Human bodies, fragile as eggs, crumble at the slightest touch before metal arrows and hard stones, perishing one after another.
The screams of the soldiers and the neighing of the warhorses immediately echoed throughout the battlefield. Nearly a thousand soldiers of the church troops fell like wheat in autumn, being harvested piece by piece.
In just one minute, the troops had lost nearly a quarter of their strength. The Allied commander-in-chief was momentarily stunned by the sudden attack, but he quickly realized that there was no chance of retreating and could only grit his teeth and continue the charge.
The allied commander ordered his men to sound the holy horn bestowed by the Pope. The Knights of the Stigmata and the Baptist Knights raised their legionary crosses, while the Believers, led by their commanders, sang hymns loudly. Driven by religious consciousness, the remaining troops launched a near-suicidal charge toward the city walls that were within arm's reach.
Siege ladders were set up, and grappling hooks were thrown onto the city wall. The church troops began to climb the wall, but due to being in a blind spot, it was clear that these soldiers were about to reach the top.
But what happened next made all the coalition soldiers realize what hell truly meant.
Dozens of explosive charges, emitting white smoke, were thrown off the city wall.
After a dazzling white light and a violent explosion, a blood-red crater was left at the base of the central section of the Holy Guard City wall, with human remains and weapon fragments scattered everywhere.
The allied offensive was interrupted again, but after a brief pause, the commander of the church-led allied forces sounded the holy horn once more.
Led by their respective commanders, the church troops began to disperse and scale the walls, forming a tortoise-shell formation with large shields to protect the siege ladders.
Seeing this, Cumberland frowned and said, "The Church eventually found out about the explosives."
The church soldiers plugged their ears with cloth and ignored the exploding explosive charges not far away, and began to climb the city wall with all their might.
A sergeant major from the Holy Mark Knights climbed the walls of Holy Guard City, looked at a heavy infantryman from the Twilight Knights in front of him, raised his shield in front of him, and thrust his spear toward the man's throat.
The sound of metal clashing startled the sergeant.
The skin on the heavy infantryman's throat suddenly turned into silver metal, firmly blocking the impact of the spear.
Startled, the sergeant took a step back, awkwardly dodging the heavy infantryman's flail, and then aimed his attack at the man's thigh.
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