Chapter 10: The Seizure of Hippolyta's Girdle
The Northern Expeditionary Army reached a small valley at the foot of the mountain, where a river flowed. The rolling hills surround them and also around the place, making it look like a sanctuary close to the gods.
The procession waded across the shallows, and then, with wordless reverence, began to ascend. Hera looked up in the direction they were heading, and Hera spotted a naturally formed shield-shaped rocky field that she was sure was the resting place of the Queen of the Amazons.
"Hera," said Prome, who rode to him, "we are almost there. I'm glad you've been here. ”
"Thank you, Your Highness."
"If you had become a member of the Cowardly Xue Army earlier, maybe my father Khan would still be alive."
Hera didn't know how to answer.
"Have you thought about the advice I said earlier?"
"I've thought about it, Your Highness."
"We're in the Amazon," Promi said to Hera.
At this moment, they are in the middle of a wilderness, surrounded by mountains, the air is fresh, the sun is comfortable, and the grass stalks under their feet are long and soft.
Just as Hera was enjoying the beautiful natural environment, she suddenly heard a scream from the soldiers behind her,
"Be careful!" Before Hera could turn around, she was knocked off her horse by Promi.
Hera fell to the ground, she fell a little dizzy, but faintly, Hera heard screams, and her vision was blurred, and there was a spurt of shares directly above her.
When the vision was clear, Hera froze in place, and she saw a panther about her size lying on Promi's horse, its mouth biting almost the entire head of Promi, who was dead at this moment.
When the big cat saw that Hera was still stunned when she woke up, she let go and prepared to make a move on Hera.
Just as it swooped down on Hera with a roar, in mid-air, * swung through the air and struck the big cat's head with a single blow.
"Get up!" Hess, who was standing behind Hera, shouted, holding the * in her hand.
At this moment, not far in front of Hera, a group of pale-skinned strangers were rushing towards them, riding tall deer-shaped monsters and armed with flame-spewing weapons, fighting their army.
Hera quickly stood up, and the sergeant on the side explained tremblingly, "It is said that they are immortal, and the bows and arrows they shoot and the spears they throw are useless like tree branches, and I heard that they are protected by runes, so they have iron skin......"
"That's just their armor." Keeping her eyes on the oak and pine forest in front of their line, Hess continued, "I bet there's still flesh underneath the armor. ”
The horn sounded loudly in the mountains and forests, signaling to the soldiers in front that the enemy was coming. Hess raised the shield on her horse, and in her other hand* thirsted for the blood of these strangers.
Hera also drew Alc's sword, and in the forest far ahead of her, the first Apollo troops appeared. These strangers riding huge deer-shaped monsters, clad in iron armor, holding shields, and armed with iron swords, rushed towards Hera in a neat array.
Those strange enemies can shoot stones, lightning and flames from their bodies, which they call artillery weapons.
Facing the enemy army with artillery and iron sword, Hera's heart flashed with a trace of fear, she knew very well that sword and bow alone were not enough, she needed a shield, and preferably an iron shield, but how could Hera get an iron shield, their soldiers were almost all wooden shields.
How good is that?
Because of this, the people around Hera were obviously a little determined. But after Hess let out a roar of rage, the reinvigorated warriors responded in unison. Their roars and the sound of local trumpets shook the valley and even demoralized the enemy.
"The god of war is with us!" Hess shouted to her troops, and when she heard her shout, her troops burst into cheers.
Luckily, Hess had been prepared, and she had set a trap nearby.
When the enemy reached the location of Heth's plan, she shouted the order to charge. With her order, the surrounding warriors rushed towards the bandits from all directions and completely surrounded them.
The warriors under Heth's command launched a round of attacks on the enemy, and a large number of bows and spears rained down on the enemy, but they were all bounced off by the armor of the Apollo army, causing no damage.
What kind of armor is that? So hard? It wasn't iron armor at all, and not only that, but Hera found out that their iron shield couldn't be pierced either, what the hell was going on.
This made Hera desperate on the sidelines, but she rushed towards the enemy with a group of warriors. As they approached the enemy with their weapons in hand, a thunderous roar of artillery could be heard in the distance.
Beside Hera, there were men on either side who fell trembling as they swung their weapons, blood gushing out of the large holes in their bodies that had been pierced by the cannonballs.
Then Hera did not flinch, she grabbed the wooden shield from the fallen soldier's hand, and then untied the animal skin from her waist and covered it. Resolutely rushed forward without the slightest hesitation. In this way, her fortitude led the surviving warriors through the artillery fire once more, and then rushed forward against the enemy's evil short arrows that could penetrate any leather armor.
However, the Apollos rushed into the battlefield on dragon-like monsters, and the monsters they rode mercilessly trampled the onrushing warriors under their hooves. The Apollo armies wielded their broadswords and slashed down one of Heth's warriors, and then slashed at those who had fallen at their feet.
The first group had already rushed through the line and met the enemy's infantry column, and the soldiers under the command of Hess launched an attack on the enemy's right flank. However, in the face of the sturdy iron shields of these outsiders, the warriors' attacks only broke the spears in their hands in the face of the iron shields.
At this moment, Hera found that her running speed was much faster, and since she ate the golden apple, she was surprised to find that her strength, speed, and perception had greatly improved.
Soon, when Hera came to the front line of the battlefield, she calmed down and flew the wooden shield in her hand towards the nearest enemy, and the power of the wooden shield smashed the soldier's head, and the powerful impact broke his neck.
Without hesitation, the enemy came from the right, Hera slammed the sword in her hand and slashed at the enemy with all her might, Hera was surprised to find that under the mutual force of strength and blade, the sword in her hand could easily split the opponent's armor, and also knocked the opponent to the ground, as if the hammer had smashed into the man's side.
Hera did not hesitate, she quickly pierced the throat of the wounded soldier who fell to the ground with her sword, and before she could draw her sword, she summoned a stabbing sword from the enemy in the rear, and she simply dodged it.
Hera bent down to dodge the attack, she pulled out Nimea's saber at her waist, and stabbed the armpit part exposed by the gap in the armor, and when the opponent screamed, Hera grabbed her sword and stabbed back, the blade pierced through the armor and killed the enemy, and flew forward with the knife in her hand, stabbing at another enemy running towards her in the front.
Before she could catch her breath, an enemy came behind her with a sword, and although she was easily killed by Hera, similar things kept repeating themselves on the front lines of the battlefield, and it was never a problem.
Behind Hera, one by one, their own warriors remained in formation, holding their line of battle, not leaving the ranks because of the enemy's escape. But to no avail, no matter how much the warrior charged again and again, retreated again and again, and constantly attacked, no one else could inflict any substantial damage on the Asura army except himself.
They were unable to shake the enemy's defenses, but they paid a terrible price in each attack.
Hera could smell the mixture of blood and dirt, and the blood seeped into the soil as if it had moistened the earth, so she couldn't fight alone.
Just when Hera hesitated, in front of her, five warriors wearing skeletal spike armor stepped forward, except for the warrior in the middle with a golden helmet, the others were skull helmets, Hera felt that the middle one should be Apollo, because he had a belt around his waist, the eagle's head emblem.
Apollo arrived, which provoked Hera's fighting spirit.
Hera leaped forward, and she struck the tallest of several warriors. Unfortunately, the armor of these five people was much more defensive than the previous one, and the blade hit his helmet to withstand most of the damage, but due to Hera's strength, the opponent's neck twisted at a strange angle, and he stumbled backwards, and his neck broke and fell to the ground.
Without any respite, one fell, and another warrior dressed in the same uniform took his place. Hera hurriedly stepped back and glanced at the new warrior, but the emotion in Hera's eyes rekindled the fighting spirit.
Hera and the warrior were so close that they could clearly see each other's faces, with pale skin and yellow hair covering their faces. Hera saw fear in his eyes, a warrior's fear of death.
It seems that their rumors are false, and they are definitely not immortal.
At this moment, Apollo was gone, and in a flash, he stepped onto the back of the dragon-like monster not far away, and the warrior in front of him rushed forward sideways, he swung his thorns and slashed downward, Hera avoided his attack, and pierced the opponent's exposed face with his sword.
At this moment, Apollo was riding a beast of fierceness, wielding the sword in his hand, and the monster in armor under the knight raised its hooves in the crowd, kicking and trampling the warriors under Heth's command.
Hera stepped forward first, picked up the sword of the warrior who had been impaled in the face, and stabbed the other side into the gap between the warrior's neck and helmet, and then the other person fell to the ground with his throat clutched.
Hera threw away the enemy's sword, she wanted to vent all her anger on Apollo's pseudo-body, she ran through the bushes with great difficulty, ran towards the warrior, rushed to Apollo, she held the sword in her hand high, and when she was still a little away from Apollo, she jumped suddenly, the height was no longer ordinary to jump.
Hera leaped into the air towards Apollo on the dragon's back, slashed at the dragon's neck with a sword from above, and kicked Apollo in the head, shattering Apollo's helmet and wounding the leg.
This shocked everyone present.
Before the monster could make a sound, Hera knew she had severed its neck, as she could hear the monster's bones breaking under the blade.
Apollo flew off his mount and fell to the ground, but he quickly got back to his feet. He was dizzy and unable to stand still, but he still hurriedly picked up the fallen bow in his confusion.
After Hera landed, she quickly picked up the bow behind her back, and before Apollo could open the bow, three arrows burst out at once, one of which hit the warrior who came to cover Apollo behind the man, one shot the bow in Apollo's hand, and the last shot hit the knee of the man who fell to the ground.
Hera lowered her bow after a shot of revenge, and she was not prepared to kill Apollo, because he had spared her life.
Apollo clutched his knees and screamed in pain, and Hera walked up to him and put her sword to his neck, "We don't owe each other any more." She said coldly.
Apollo looked at Hera with resentment, and he scolded, "It turned out to be you dog...... Kill me! ”
"Even if it's a dog, you lose," Hera said coldly, then lowered her sword, "I won't kill you, Apollo, but she will." ”
Before Apollo could react, his throat was sealed by the sudden blood of the spear, and when he turned his head, it was Heth, who killed Apollo with Promi's spear.
Hess drew his spear, and with a whimper, Apollo fell to the ground clutching his throat, dead on his side.
Hess crouched down, unbuckled Apollo's belt, and turned to hand it to Hera, "Your merits." ”
Hera looked at the glittering belt in confusion, "What is that?" ”
"Hippolyta's belt," Hess explained, "the relict of the Queen of the Amazons." ”