The thorn forest, hastily and magically grown overnight by the quillboar, was utterly destroyed by the fifth round of artillery fire. Amidst the thunderous roar of cannons, some quillboar warriors, apprehensive, retreated step by step, some even fleeing. Fangtooth, personally overseeing the battle, killed a fleeing quillboar warrior with his spear, casting a cold glance around. The quillboar fell silent, barely managing to stand their ground. Half an hour later, the thorn forest was completely cleared. The magic-enhanced thorns of the quillboar spellcasters couldn't withstand the bombardment of shells made with ultimate gunpowder. The land between the Crusaders and the quillboar was riddled with large craters and thick smoke.
"When poor, use tactical insertions; when rich, use overwhelming firepower! My Rabbit didn't deceive me! I just wonder how much damage the ultimate gunpowder's power can inflict on the Burning Legion's demons. Against those Demon Guards and Hellhounds, a wave of artillery fire followed by an aerial strike from aircraft, unloading a dozen tons of shells, would be the ultimate man's romance. Woo! Woo! Woo!"
The signal horn for the attack sounded. The mortar squad packed up their mortar tubes and returned to the rear, now it was the infantry's time to shine. The infantry's formation was neat and tidy. Their bright silver armor with red trim gleamed under the sunlight. They held shields in their left hands and broadswords in their right, their figures brave and imposing. Anyone who saw them would praise them as an "elite force!"
Compared to the Crusader warriors, the quillboar were far inferior, not just in discipline, but most obviously in weapons and equipment. The quillboar warriors' appearance was truly terrible. These quillboar tribes, who lived by plundering, wore all sorts of mismatched equipment. Most of it was leather armor made from the hides of wild beasts or even fighting boars, and they were mostly bare-chested, only covering their vital areas. The quillboar's terrible tech tree prevented them from smelting metal themselves. The weapons in their hands were mostly plundered from other intelligent races' merchant caravans, basically a chaotic mix. Many even wielded wooden spears instead of iron weapons.
Only the quillboar elite had the ability to acquire a set of refined iron armor, and they were all standardized, with helmets and shoulder armor with protruding spikes, like the leader Fangtooth and his group of overseers, as well as the captive near Galen, Omar and Haynie's captured purple-skinned overseer, Fangtooth. Galen suspected they had robbed a caravan selling armor.
"Fangtooth, what do you think of my Crusader army's appearance?"
After Galen arrived, he released the captured Fangtooth. Galen didn't remove his weapons, but when he suddenly tried to take Galen hostage, Galen drew Tok'ar, the Troll Slayer. This sword not only echoed with the wails of troll souls, but also drank the blood of orcs and quillboar.
Tok'ar easily severed Fangtooth's warblade and then stopped at Fangtooth's forehead. After that, Fangtooth became much more docile. He was not only intimidated by the sword's sharpness, but even more terrified by Galen's strength, that terrifying pressure, and precise control. The helmet, split in two and falling to the ground, was proof. The helmet was severed by the sword, but not a single hog hair was harmed! What a terrifying man!
Hearing Galen's words at this moment, Fangtooth's already purplish-blue pig face seemed to be filled with shame, blood rushing to his head, turning even more purplish-red. Compared to the Crusaders, the Bristleback quillboar were like country bumpkins. It could be said that the Bristleback tribe was as miserable as the comparison showed. Just looking at the army's equipment and formation, there was no need to consider who was stronger or weaker. The Crusaders completely overwhelmed the Bristleback tribe.
Not only Fangtooth, but Fangtooth on the opposite side also looked at his own warriors and then at the Crusaders' fully armed soldiers, his jealousy overflowing. He muttered to himself: "Mine, once my reinforcements arrive, all of this will be mine!"
However, Galen didn't give him any time. He wanted to shatter these quillboar's psychological defenses, let them witness the Crusaders' power, and prevent them from having any thoughts of resistance in the future!
"Attack!"
The infantry advanced, crossing the land still filled with smoke, constantly approaching the quillboar. At this moment, a flash of white light appeared beside Galen. Gandalf had arrived, along with three thousand musketeers.
"Mortar squad, assemble!"
This was what Galen and Gandalf had agreed upon, to have him bring all the musketeers of the Tidefury Legion, and then come and pick up the mortar squad and some musketeers to go to the passage in the Eastern Barrens and support Durin and Amor.
This time, the quillboar in the Eastern Barrens had mobilized no less than seventy to eighty thousand troops, marching westward in a mighty formation. The Dark Guard didn't dare to neglect it and quickly sent the news back.
The Thunder Legion and the Scarlet Flame Legion were already waiting by the Rage Water River at several suitable fording points, preparing to attack halfway across the river and snipe these Bristleback reinforcements. Because they were defending along the river and the enemy had a large number of troops, Galen provided them with a batch of ranged troops.
After Gandalf left, the battlefield here began. Fangtooth didn't choose to rely on the wooden walls and buildings of the Golden Tent camp for defense, because he had witnessed the power of these human cannons. He had snatched this thing called gunpowder from the goblin merchants' caravans and knew its power against buildings.
Therefore, when the Crusaders' vanguard troops were about to approach, he saw the uneven large craters causing changes in the human formation, and he felt that his opportunity had come.
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"Attack! Charge!"
"Kill! Charge!"
Fangtooth was the strongest in the Bristleback tribe in the Northern Barrens, a peak ninth-tier warrior. Even Fangtooth was no match for him, so he had a high reputation in the tribe. This was why he was able to become the Bristleback tribe's regional governor, commanding 100,000 quillboar.
Fangtooth, spear in hand, charged at the front of the team. He was followed by a group of strong quillboar with better weapons and equipment. They wielded refined steel longswords and looked very much like Fangtooth's previous guard, the Bristleback Berserkers!
These two should be the same type of unit!
Snoutnose commanded the Bristleback quillboar's ranged troops from the rear, the Bristleback Hunters and Bristleback Geomancers, as well as a small number of Bristleback Mystics. The leader's charge boosted the quillboar's morale. This was a brave and fierce race, otherwise they wouldn't live by plundering. As long as there was a strong leader, they dared to challenge everything.
Bang, bang, bang!
After the quillboar entered the firing range, the remaining musketeers began to attack, taking away some quillboar with a volley. Unfortunately, there were too many quillboar. Otherwise, two rounds of volley fire would have been enough to rout the enemy with huge casualties.
As the two sides drew closer, Bristleback's ranged units began their attack, sending a flurry of arrows into the air, mixed with fireballs and lightning bolts!
So far, the infantry trained by the Heart of Origin had demonstrated excellent combat capabilities, with low training costs, short training cycles, and the ability to quickly form large-scale combat legions. Although their initial strength was only Tier 3, the qualitative change triggered by quantitative change was Galen's reliance against the endless Burning Legion army in the future.
However, the infantry also had a weakness, which was also a problem for the heavy cavalry: their magic resistance was relatively low. When faced with magical attacks, they only had the option to evade or withstand them head-on.
As expected, the arrows fired by the Bristleback quillboar hunters were deflected by the infantry's armor, but the fireballs and lightning bolts mixed in with the arrows caused considerable damage. The impact of the fireballs sent the soldiers staggering, and even more serious were the lightning bolts. Soldiers who were hit experienced a burst of paralysis, with blue smoke rising from their bodies. If they were unlucky, they would even transmit the lightning bolts to their teammates, causing secondary damage.
I'm so scared! Such powerful magic attacks! Fortunately, my ranged forces are not lacking! Hahaha!
"Musketeers, suppress the enemy's ranged units! Wizards, biu them for me!"
Galen had several legions of musketeers. Although Gandalf had taken some away, their numbers were still several times greater than Bristleback's ranged units. In particular, the legions were equipped with priests and wizards, suppressing Bristleback's ranged units to the point where they were unable to fight back!
At this moment, the front lines of the infantry and quillboar warriors collided, and hand-to-hand combat began. The northern part of Razorfen Downs was a wide plain, and the troublesome briar thickets had been flattened. Galen's forces were strong, and in this terrain that could accommodate a large number of troops, there was no need for too many tactics. Tens of thousands of infantry simply pressed forward, sweeping away all resistance.
The quillboar leader, Tusk, also demonstrated his formidable strength, with his personal guard, the Bristleback Brutes, behind him. He fearlessly charged forward. With a flick of his spear, seemingly a special combat technique, the spear tip rotated, directly piercing through the infantryman in front of him. The spearhead pierced through the middle of the shield, piercing the infantryman's throat, killing him instantly.
What a powerful penetrating force! 135 units of gold just gone like that!
Tusk forcefully pulled out his spear, then swung it in a sweeping motion, sending several infantrymen who tried to surround him flying with the spear's great force. Seeing this situation, Galen realized that he had to contain this Bristleback powerhouse. Soldiers against soldiers, generals against generals, that was the right way to do things!
Galen glanced at the several legion commanders in the distance. Fadir, Flar, and Durin had only recently broken through to Tier 8, and they were unlikely to win against this Tier 9 peak Tusk, even if the three of them ganged up. In particular, these three had not chosen to become paladins, and had fewer life-saving skills. Galen didn't want his few legion commanders to die in a duel!
Varrokal was pending. In Galen and Gandalf's plan, Dezco and Varrokal's knight orders had to support the various invading armies at any time. Dealing with more than 20,000 Bristleback quillboar warriors was enough for the infantry legions.
"Order Omar and Hennie to advance and kill the quillboar leader!"
Two messengers went to the First and Second Legions respectively to convey Galen's orders. After a while, Omar and Hennie led their respective elite guards out of the crowd and rushed to the front line!
"This leader!" Fangtooth suddenly spoke from beside Galen. Galen had not avoided him when giving orders. In Galen's view, Fangtooth could not escape. His final outcome would either be to choose to submit, or Galen would forcibly make him submit: kill the pig and extract its soul!
At this moment, his opening his mouth aroused Galen's interest.
"Speak!"
"If I help you solve Tusk, can you spare the remaining Bristleback people?"
Fangtooth almost struggled to finish these words, and after speaking, he felt relieved. Since he had been conquered by Galen's strength, he had remained silent. Galen had not concealed some of the Crusader's deployments and information from him. He had already learned from Dezco's shamanic people that Bristleback's leader, Tusk, had chosen to send a request for help to the Skullsplitter tribe, in exchange for reinforcements at the cost of surrender.
This was contrary to Fangtooth's philosophy. Although the two of them had always been at odds, as a supervisor sent by headquarters, the parachuted supervisor was definitely not welcome in Tusk's faction, otherwise he would not have been sent out to be a suicide squad.
In addition to the Crusader's strength, besides Galen, this terrifying man, there was also an unfathomable spellcaster, a stout, dark-faced dwarf, and a large number of troops, which made Fangtooth doubt himself. Could the Bristleback tribe, with a total of 300,000 people, beat this group of humans in front of them?
He had been struggling, and after this terrifying man gave the order, it was the last straw that broke Fangtooth's back. Under various factors, he made up his mind! He chose to surrender!
"Yes, but you need to change your equipment!"
Galen didn't make things difficult for him, but his own equipment was custom-made for him, and there were no quillboar sizes. So, he took out a large-sized King's plate helmet, the same style as the Stormwind City guards, but changed to the colors of Stromgarde: red.
Then, he took out a Stromgarde battle robe, with the Highlands eagle printed on the chest, and then untied his own red cloak and equipped Fangtooth with it. Looking at Fangtooth in all red, Galen's mind popped up with a sentence:
Razorfen Downs Legend: Fangtooth Returns!
"What weapon are you good at?"
"Greatsword! Two-handed greatsword!"
Galen rummaged in his bag for a while.
Bang!
A huge greatsword with a reversed blade tip was thrown on the ground by Galen, making a dull landing sound.
"Try it and see if it suits you."
"Jin'rohk, the Great Apocalypse" greatsword, from Zul'Aman, because Galen thought the appearance was cool, he asked the blacksmith shop to imitate it. Besides this one, Galen's backpack also had many counterfeit weapons.
Fangtooth raised the two-handed greatsword, weighed it in his hand, and then nodded with satisfaction.
"Good sword! Thank you, leader!"
"If you are satisfied, go and take the quillboar's head, and I will spare the quillboars of Razorfen Downs!"
"As you wish!"
"Also, you should know the price of deceiving and betraying me!"
Hearing Galen's cold words, Fangtooth seemed to remember something terrible.
"I will serve you for the rest of my life!"
Then Fangtooth turned over and mounted the raptor that had just been led over. Since becoming a prisoner, this raptor had become a trophy, and now it was back to its original owner.
"Let's go, old buddy!"
After speaking, Fangtooth tightly pulled the reins with his left hand, and carried Jin'rohk in his right hand, galloping towards the center of the battlefield. The raptor's fast and agile running speed blew his red cloak high!