II

On April 19, 1665 in the standard calendar, the Tosca steppe in North New Continent was cloudy and windy

Whenever the grass begins to sprout, the wind begins to blow in the Tosca steppe.

This wind blows from the west to the sea in the east. Once the wind starts, it will not stop blowing until November, when the next winter comes.

Later meteorologists called this wind the "southwest trade wind". The merchants, as they called it, the "wind of trade", because it widened the voyage from the New World to the Old World.

Whenever the wind blows, the proud Tosca people know that it's time to start grazing again.

They emerge from their tribes' wintering grounds and return to the savannahs where they have lived for generations, where they graze cattle, sheep and monitor lizards. On the grandfather's generation, slender and short white-skinned humans came here and brought horses to the Toscans - therefore, the Toscans considered them messengers sent by the gods.

Since then, horses have also become the object of grazing by the Toscans. In gratitude for this great gift of horses, the Toscians decided to be friends with the white-skinned messengers of the gods forever. The wise men of the tribe decided to give the little grass along the coast to the oracle as a gift and reward.

Before owning horses, the Tosca rode a special species of monitor lizard – they used to call it a war lizard. The battle lizard looks a bit like a dragon (due to the lizard's bloodline) and is more than a human tall at all heights, and the Tosca can fight on its back. Horses are not as fast as war lizards at the fastest speed, and they are not as strong as war lizards, but they are easier to handle. Now, most of the Toscians have started riding horses, and it is rare to see people riding war lizards like their ancestors. Only those skilled and skilled Tosca warriors will continue to fight on the war lizard. The oracles gave them a good name, "Dragons".

The best warriors of the Tosca tribe are known as the "Dragon Knights". A tribe with five true dragon knights can already be called a large tribe, a tribe with two five, three or five dragon knights will be respected by all the Toscans, and a tribe with five or more dragon knights will be the master of the Tosca steppe.

Today, there are at least five or five dragon knights, and several times as many horsemen and walkers, and behind them are a continuous array of tents, which are not at all incomprehensible by the Toscan counting.

For nearly a decade, not so many warriors had been assembled in the Tosca steppe. Most of the warriors carried bows and arrows and throwing spears on their backs, and most of them carried huge stone axes or war hammers in their hands. They don't use swords, because they can't smelt that much metal - and their opponents aren't suited to sharp blades.

The Toscans' opponents were no more than half their height, and they were not easy to reach with a sword. Although they are not tall, their combat effectiveness is not low at all. To use the customary name of the Old World, these people were called dwarves.

What dwarves do best is smelting metal. Although they could not directly smelt a large amount of steel, they were good at making small amounts of steel and striking iron. The dwarves are mostly wearing heavy armor that makes it difficult to hit directly with swords - it is more effective to smash with a hammer than to slash with a sword. Armor can withstand swords, but it can't withstand fractures caused by impact. Similarly, the dwarven weapons were very sharp - since the Toscas were mostly not armor-piercing, and horses did not wear horse armor, the blade was the most effective weapon.

The huge military formation of the dwarves was lined up on the other side of the grassland. Their army is not visible from this angle - it is all hidden by the grass due to the height problem, but the banner fluttering in the wind can be seen.

The feud between these two races has a long history. Both the dwarves and the Tosca barbarians have the highest goal of destroying their opponents. Long before the discovery of the New World, the two races were engaged in an endless battle on this continent. Already, too long ago to know why—perhaps, it was a natural and inevitable conflict between the dwarves who depended on agriculture and mining for their survival, and the savages who depended on nature and the steppes for their survival.

Little did they know that this feud would lead to them being exploited by conquerors from the East and the West in the years to come. This savannah will belong to the conquerors of the East and West, not to the aborigines here.

And now, under this gloomy sky, the two armies, who knew nothing about the future, were far away from each other, waiting for the moment when the battle began.

"About one hundred and fifty dragon knights, about one thousand two hundred to one thousand five hundred cavalry, and about two thousand to three thousand infantry men, which is probably the entire strength of the three tribes, and according to the number of banners of the enemy, it should be seven tribes and twenty-seven families, and the total strength should be between fifteen hundred and four thousand......

Ressa Heldmont looked at the lineups of the two sides and roughly calculated the strength comparison of the two sides. It seems that the barbarians have a better chance of winning. However, the dwarves already possessed firearms technology, which should be taken into account. As a member of the Trailblazers, she is well aware that self-preservation is the number one priority in any situation. Every year, thousands of humans and elves from the Old World who have forgotten this code die here.

"These barbarians, what else do they use to count 'five' and 'five five', it's really too backward. Not to mention the enemy, I don't even know the number of friendly troops. ”

She shook her head helplessly, glancing at the huge figure beside her. It doesn't matter, as long as he's there, he's safe. As an alchemist, she carries no less than 50 bottles of various potions - even if they are all used to attack, they should be enough to protect herself. In particular, the fiery glue and elf burning water have brought a lot of them this time, waiting to be used to build a fire wall to block the pursuers. In more than 20 years of her life, she has not really faced the battlefield.

As long as you finish this business, you will be able to pay off your debts when you go back. This time, 200 bottles of fiery glue, 200 bottles of elven burning water, and 200 bottles of healing potions, plus a set of anti-demon armor, were exchanged for 7,500 pieces of fur, which was obviously a good business.

"Plus these barbarians promise me double the reward after victory...... Maybe you can redeem the family's title. ”

As she cheered herself up, she began to fantasize about what it would be like to return home with so many furs. Those mercenary magic goods dealers, those loan sharks who collect debts like chasing their lives, will surely regret treating the future alchemist Resa Helmont with such ......

"Get out all the best gems and solvents!Adamantite and cold iron!Wallenheitt's handmade thermometer, Gerrick's latest extractor!"

At that time, she can buy it with that confidence.

As the proverb goes, "The barbarians shoot their bows and arrows to kill, and the rich shoot gold coins to kill."

She raised her right hand and laughed as she shot her imaginary gold coin into the distance. This action immediately caused a wave among the barbarians.

"Behold! the angel of God has commanded! We should not wait any longer for the cowards who are late, but should trample the enemies before us to pieces!"

The voice behind her pulls Ressa back into the real world, nearly falling off her horse. She pulled the reins and looked back to see the most prestigious elder of the tribe yelling at the tribesmen. The elder was not young, but his voice was still not small, enough for the knights around him to hear. The barbarians who heard these words could not help but repeat the words of the elder, and they shouted at the same time, spreading the slogan far away.

"Trample to smithereens! trample to smithereens!"

"The Great Commander on behalf of our Tosca, under the guidance of the Divine Messenger, will lead us to slay those dwarf files!!Proud Great Lizard Dragon Chieftain, Red Wind, come and speak to your subjects!"

The elder continued to shout. As before, all the knights raised their mounts and shouted loudly, repeating the elder's words.

"Red Wind, Red Wind, Red Wind!"

A dragon knight burst out of the middle of the line and walked to the middle of the formation. His saurosaurus is noticeably larger than the others, and they are all different colors: the average saurosaurus is green, while his is red. Legend has it that at the age of 7, he tamed the red lizard dragon and used it as his mount – and since then, the Tosca have known him as "Red Wind".

Today, he was wearing the red iron anti-demon armor he had just bought, and his whole body was red, which made him look extremely heroic. He firmly believed that after today's war, all the tribes of the prairie would be united under his banner - and that the tribes would become an empire with a unified power, just like the whites in the east and the dwarves in the west. That's what he's fighting for.

The young and strong leader of the barbarian tribe put his hand on the dragon's back and jumped on his own dragon's back—another round of applause among the barbarians. Then his speech began.

Red Wind's voice was full of energy, and every barbarian warrior could hear it. It was a very short speech -- arguably the shortest speech in history.

"Victory, victory, victory!"

There was only one word, but the word reached the hearts of every warrior.

The red dragon turned, and the rider on it made a beautiful motion and fell on its back, which was as natural as flowing water.

"Forward!"

With this roar, more than a thousand war horses stepped on the ground at the same time, and the lizard dragon was also ready to attack. Since the horses were somewhat afraid of the dragons, they were placed in the first group of assaults, and the dragons were placed slightly behind as the forces of the second group.

"Roar!!"

With a final roar, a flash of lightning streaked through the clouds. The rumbling thunder set off the roar of the barbarians, and the momentum was enough to shake the heavens and the earth. Red Wind gave way to the entire horse team, followed the dragon team and began to charge, controlling the rhythm of the horse team's charge. The whole formation began to move before the raindrops fell. The cavalry must not get bogged down in the mud, and the battle must end before the mud falls.

"Roar !!!!"

Before Lesa could react, her mount was wrapped in the middle of the sea of cavalry charges.

Opposite them were spear tips that shone like stars and arquebuses that spread out like waves.

It may be difficult for those who have not seen it to imagine what kind of momentum a thousand cavalry charges must have.

The numbers don't seem like much, but even with a multi-line formation, the front stretches to a kilometer long - a kilometer long death line. The speed of a cavalry charge is about the same as that of a modern car. Imagine a dense line of cars with a kilometer long rushing towards you......

To the eyes of the dwarves, the sight was all the more frightening. The legs of the opposing mounts are even longer than their height. Therefore, the ancients said that one cavalry is worth eight infantry. The barbarians had more than a thousand cavalry, and they should have trampled all of them to death like ants.

But the families here are the oldest and most honored of the dwarves. Most of their genealogies date back to before the dwarves arrived on the continent. These families have fought those orcs for generations, and have already accumulated countless experience and courage. The dwarves firmly believe that "experience is stronger than armor, and courage is sharper than the blade".

What's more, today they have additional advantages.

"First column shooting!"

The order was given in dwarven language, of course, but it sounded a bit accented and mispronounced. The man who gave the order seemed to have split the words of the dwarven language into syllables by syllable—perhaps that was the habit of his native language.

Hearing this order, the dwarf officers waved their flags vigorously and passed the order to the front row. More than two hundred and thirty lead bullets flew out of the two hundred and fifty guns and fired at the barbarian army that was charging here. Even with the jammed ones removed, the remaining bullets would be enough to form a single bullet line.

"Muskets!

A cry of surprise rang out in the ranks of the barbarians. Dozens of horses were shot, and some lifted the riders off top. Then, at the same time, the horses and men were trampled into pulp by the cavalry behind. Seeing such a scene of flesh and blood flying, the alchemist was a little disgusted, and hurriedly used a magical "arrow shield" that could resist flying objects to a certain extent.

"Shoot in a change of column!"

When the dwarves on the front line finished shooting, they quickly dispersed from both sides and went to the back to change their spears. The dwarf, who was originally on the second line, stepped forward and pulled the bolt of the arquebus. The arquebus burned for about 5 seconds with a delay, detonating the propellant in the barrel. The distance of this shot is much closer than just now, and the effect is much more obvious.

Some riders were hit directly by buckshot and let go of the reins with a scream. The formation of the first row of the barbarian cavalry became sparse, and the second row was immediately filled to form the new first row. The extent of this loss, they are not yet in sight.

Relative to loss, speed is what counts. If the musketeers complete a new reload before they arrive, they will lose;

"Two columns back, three columns ready to shoot!"

The equipment of the dwarves in the third column is significantly different from that of the first and second columns. Among the three columns of dwarves, there are several terrifying-looking black iron pipes - shotguns. The dwarven warriors in this column also wore lighter armor than the first two columns, and the muskets in their hands were larger than the others'. At this time, the front line of the cavalry had already rushed to the front of the dwarven formation.

"Shoot!"

The overwhelming amount of lead burst through the cavalry. The three columns are equipped with shotgun leads, which are also used in artillery. Shotgun doesn't have the same range as lead, but it's far more powerful than musket lead. All the barbarian warriors who rushed to the front were almost beaten to a bloody blur - countless tiny particles of lead passed through their bodies and the bodies of their horses, and at this distance, it was absolutely deadly.

The barbarian cavalry was lost a whole platoon in an instant, and many of those who rushed to the third row were affected. The power of the three columns of musket attacks was as amazing as ever. The lead bullets that rained down made some of the cavalrymen who followed him hesitate.

But the hesitation was only for a moment. Undeterred by such casualties, more barbarian cavalry accelerated towards the dwarven formation.

"Charge, their musketeers, they will soon be left without resistance!"

"As long as we kill them, the prairie will be ours!"

The barbarians knew that it was impossible for a musket to fire a second round in a short time. The dwarves' three-column tactic, which they had encountered more than a decade earlier, did cause a lot of damage at first, but later, the barbarians discovered that as long as the charge was short enough and fast enough, the three-column tactic was a one-off tactic. Now, seeing that the three columns had been fired, the barbarians were overjoyed and ready to rush forward to break the musketeers into pieces. At this distance, even if the third column wants to move to the back, it is impossible......

But today, it is the most elite troops of the dwarves who are deployed here. They have a different task than they have ever done before.

"Abandon the gun and move forward!

The following order was completely different from what the barbarians had expected.

The dwarves in the third column threw down their muskets at the same time, drew their long knives, and rolled forward with all their might, and most of the hammers and tomahawks that had been smashed at them were empty. The dwarves who were not afraid of death rolled between the hooves of their horses—their pathetic height made them more agile to roll, and their disadvantage turned into an advantage. The silver light of the knife flickered mercilessly between the unprotected legs of the horse. Although many of the dwarves were trampled to death by the horses, the barbarians who were caught off guard suffered even greater losses, and the formation was one less row.

Oriental tacticists often debated the effectiveness of the "Underground Sword" tactic: they finally came to the conclusion that although this style of fighting did not guarantee victory over the cavalry, it could slow down the combat effectiveness of the cavalry.

That's the case today.

By the time the fourth and fifth platoons of cavalry had caught up and cleared the way with force, most of the dwarven musketeers had already retreated to the rear - the sacrifice of the third column had bought the whole phalanx precious time.

Taking advantage of this time, the dwarves' most important orders were given.

"All spears raised!"

There is only one command, and the "swish" of the action is only one. Countless spears were raised at the same time, blocking the path of the barbarian cavalry, the tips of which reflected the cold light. Another flash of thunder flashed, and the cold silver spear tip array looked like starry stars. Deadly starry. Unlike human mercenaries or goblin spear formations, well-trained dwarven infantry never breaks - a spear formation that can't break up and can hold back any horse.

The rest of the barbarian cavalry, who could no longer brake the car, all rushed into this deadly spear array.

Lesa followed the Tosca cavalry and stumbled into the spear formation. The little fur riding skills I learned in my hometown had long been scared away from the clouds. Now she can only make do with the reins and ensure that she does not fall off the horse.

She couldn't help but rejoice: if she hadn't had the foresight to feed this horse a bottle of taming potion, she would have fallen off her horse and been trampled into a meatloaf by the rebels. The previous musket bullets could also be countered by reflex magic and ordinary projectile defense magic, and if it was a knife-to-flesh melee combat, she would definitely not have enough magic as an alchemist. Most alchemists will only practice some auxiliary magic, such as enhancing abilities, creating coagulation effects, changing the properties of objects, etc., and other magics have always been ignored by alchemists.

Seeing her rushing in the midst of the tall savages, the dwarves gathered in her direction, and each dwarf who saw her involuntarily changed the direction of their attack to the direction she was. Countless spear shadows surrounded Rysa's side, almost stabbing at her vital point. If it weren't for the savages around her, she would have turned into a puddle of mud.

"This ...... What the hell is going on with these dwarves? Why are they all attacking a weak woman like me? I'm ...... shorter than these savages."

Lesa dodged the many-haired attacks in anguish, puzzled. She used the golden staff in her hand to send out tiny shields, trying to resist the spears. The cloak that shimmered with gold was already pierced with holes, and the magic of the golden headband on his head and the golden necklace around his neck was about to be exhausted.

"I can't go on like this, I'm going to die here if I continue like this! I have to quickly find the reason why I became the target......

Of course, it was impossible for her to hear the other party's orders.

"Concentrate on the man who is covered in gold!" the strange-accented man commanded decisively in dwarven language.

More spears stabbed at her, and the cavalry around her fell from their horses, being stabbed by the dwarf and then stepping on a foot. At some point, almost all the barbarians guarding around were gone, and all that remained was the enemy.

"Khoo!" Resa used her magic shield to block a shot. The green magic shield glows cyan, and it looks like it's about to break beyond its limits at any moment.

"Khoo!" she used her staff to block another spear. But this time the spear hit her arm, and as soon as her arm hurt, she reflexively let go of her hand, and the staff fell to the ground.

Next, two spears hit her horse. The horse neighed and howled and threw her down.

She could only watch as the last spear stabbed at her, and the sounds of dwarves cheering were all in her ears. With only seven or eight hundred casualties, they completely annihilated these thousand two hundred cavalry!

Sure enough, shouldn't this job be accepted in the first place......?

Suddenly there was darkness in front of me. Something blocked the light.

"Khoop, boom, boom!" all the spears that stabbed her were blocked.

A huge, two-size-tall golden shadow broke through the dwarf's formation at an unusually high speed, leveling every dwarf who dared to resist and protecting her.

Resa saw the huge figure appear beside her, suddenly regained her vitality, jumped up, and chanted a spell at the golden figure. It was only then that the dwarves realized that it was a giant Gold Golem - an animated battle creature that only high-level alchemists could refine. With the incantation, the Golem dummy's belly opened, and Resa immediately jumped inside.

"Hahahaha! Now it's time for me to fight back! Come on, Ganda! trample them for me! Show them the power of the 'Alchemist of Pure Gold'!"

By the way, the reason why she got this nickname is that she did not hesitate to choose "gold", an alloy of high conductivity material, as the Golem material. This directly led to Resa Helmont being in a state of lack of money all year round.

It only took a split second to open, and Ganda's belly quickly closed again, protecting its maker inside. Now, Lesa doesn't have to be afraid of those spears anymore. This Golden Golem dummy is the culmination of her alchemical research - and the source of her debt. Think about how much it would cost to make a golden Golem dummy that was as tall as two people......

"Golden Flying Fist!Golden Crack! Golden Slash!" The alchemist's voice echoed over the chaotic battlefield. "Whoever stands in my way, go to hell!"

Following the path opened by Ganda, the second group of dragon dragoons finally arrived, and the red dragon rushed to the front of this group. Red Wind roared, brandishing the silver spear in his hand.

"Assault!"

The situation is back on the side of the barbarians.

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