Chapter 232 The Army Attacks
In the distance, a large flock of flying birds were startled and kept circling in the sky without landing.
Faint shouting could be heard, all chaotic and random, sounding crazy and weird.
Indeed, a large group of snake worshippers were chasing Sigismund.
There were quite a lot of people, and it was a dark crowd.
But these snake worshippers definitely don't look like regular troops. Although the ones chasing in the front are indeed some snake worshippers, regular troops will definitely not chase after a large number of troops in formation...
"Form a formation! Spread out to the left and right, and let the scouts in!"
Jocelyn obviously understood this, so he was not too nervous and calmly commanded the front troops to prepare to defend against the enemy.
Sigismund led dozens of gladiators and quickly penetrated into the army formation through the gaps after the troops dispersed. Then the army gathered again, waiting for the enemy to approach.
"Commander, we may be in big trouble... My scouts can't get close to Dilingang at all. The Snake Cult has gathered tens of thousands of troops in front of us. It's endless and full of people... Moreover, they seem to marching towards us!"
Sigismund ran to the lord and explained quickly: "I found that they were marching towards this side, so I planned to get closer to find out the enemy's situation, but we were discovered. And then, they kept chasing us, as if they were preparing to have a battle with us!"
"Are the Snake Worshipers going to besiege the city and attack the reinforcements? That shouldn't be the case... Logically speaking, the Snake Worshipers should capture Dilingang as soon as possible to be in their best interest. Besides, they can't besiege the city and attack the reinforcements so far, right?"
Justus frowned in confusion.
He and the Lord came to support with great fanfare. The Snake Cult certainly knew their movements and would take the initiative to fight. But even if they were besieging the city and attacking the reinforcements, they would not be so far away from Dilingang...
"This isn't a siege... They seem to have given up on besieging Dilingang! Almost all of the Snake Cult's troops are heading in our direction!"
Sigismund said hastily: "I swear, there are not many snake worshippers besieging Dilingang, and the ones coming to us are their main force!"
The gladiators beside him also nodded repeatedly and pointed to their eyes to indicate that they had seen it with their own eyes.
"If they were all farmers like this, then there would be nothing to be afraid of no matter how many there were... But they are clearly vulnerable, so why did they dare to chase after the army?"
Alina seemed very courageous.
"No... they are not farmers! They are trying to force a melee with us! Send a message to Jocelyn, tell him not to get entangled with the enemy, and quickly break through the enemy! Then break contact with the enemy and retreat to Buyulin Village!"
Li Ang looked at the front army. Shouts of killing had already been heard. Jocelyn and his troops had already engaged in battle with the Snake Worshipers.
So he reacted immediately and ordered a retreat.
"Leon... they are just Snake Cult warriors and followers. Our troops can kill them all in half an hour at most..."
Justus, who was standing nearby, looked at the snake worshippers in front of him, somewhat confused.
"No, we can't afford to waste half an hour... If we don't retreat, we will probably end up in a melee with tens of thousands of people, and their followers will definitely continue to join the battlefield! Maybe their combat capabilities are indeed not strong, but we absolutely cannot fight them in a melee to compete with them in numbers... Governor, you should know that the people of the Snake Cult are not afraid of death!"
Le Ang had dealt with those Snake Cult warriors before. Their equipment was indeed good, but their strength was not that good.
The group of snake worshippers that followed Sigismund here did not seem to be too large, with only a little over a thousand of them, and most of them were just there to make up the numbers.
Although everyone was holding a javelin, they were pure farmers, wearing only tattered cloth - most of them were farmers who followed the Snake Cult.
If nothing unexpected happens, this group of rabble will be wiped out in just one or two charges.
However, the Lord was aware of a considerable danger...
Although most of the Snake Worshipers look like farmers, they are completely different from pure farmers - when the lord killed that small group of Snake Worshipers in Buyulin Village half a year ago, he already knew that the Snake Worshipers are not afraid of death!
Snake worshippers are also heretics. Although they worship different gods, they, like the people under the Three Prophets, follow an evil god who can bring the dead back to life... or a demon.
The way that the dark goddess Erida and the great snake Azi Dahaka develop their followers is basically the same.
The Snake Worshipers' fighting style seemed to be very similar to that of the Three Prophets - since they did not have the ability to fight in formation, they would force a melee.
The Three Prophets would use their followers as cannon fodder to create opportunities for melee, and the Snake Cult would probably be the same!
Le Ang didn't know whether there was any connection between the Dark Goddess Sect to which the Three Prophets belonged and the Snake Cult, but at least one thing was certain, that is, the leader of the Snake Cult army must be the same as the Three Prophets, and would not care about the lives of these followers.
Maybe in their eyes, dying on the battlefield is equivalent to offering a sacrifice to their snake god...
After all, they have always sacrificed living people.
The surrounding area is all the territory of the Snake Cult, and the number of its followers must be terrifyingly large. Although these followers are all farmers with low combat effectiveness, being trapped by the farmers can be fatal!
These farmers who joined the Snake Cult certainly had no combat training, and they would definitely not be a match for Li Ang's coalition army if they fought in formation.
But if the Snake Worshipers used a cannon fodder to follow the scouts into the army formation, delaying Li Ang's troops, and then tens of thousands of Snake Worshipers continued to join the battlefield, turning the battle into a melee...
Under this kind of human wave tactics, even the most powerful troops would find it difficult to escape.
No matter how strong the gladiators are, they will get tired, and the arrows of the Noldor are limited. If they are held back by these cannon fodders and cannot get repairs in the continuous melee, then even the strongest troops will be dragged down by the human wave.
"Blow the trumpet! The whole army will retreat in formation!"
The Lord gave the order again: "Sir Justus, take your troops back to Buyulin Village as quickly as possible... Don't kill the enemy along the way, and don't stop. Go back to the village first to set up defenses and meet us!"
Justus nodded and did as he was told, because he had also seen that behind the first group of snake worshippers who were chasing after them, there was even more smoke and dust.
The startled birds that kept circling in the sky never landed.
This means that there are people coming here from the direction of Dilingang, and the number is huge!
As the governor of the empire, Justus had led troops to participate in the encirclement and suppression of many Snake Worshipers. He had also witnessed the Snake Worshipers' attitude of not fearing death, so he now understood Leon's concerns.
He had never faced a group of snake worshippers that outnumbered his own army, but he could imagine how terrifying it would be if these fearless people formed a group of tens of thousands...
Justus has a large number of Imperial Guards under his command. These young men are the sons and nephews of the members of the Immortal Legion under Emperor Marius, and they also serve as the reserve force of the Immortal Legion.
The mortal guards are all very young, and most of them are unskilled. They are not yet able to be selected into the Immortal Legion, so each of them will be equipped with a large shield to enhance their survival rate on the battlefield.
At the same time, they are very good at forming dense shield formations and are also good at forming formations for defense.
Therefore, Leon asked Justus to take these young and strong imperial guards back to Buyulin Village to set up defenses.
The horns of retreat continued to sound. Under the restraint of the non-commissioned officers, the Free Corps stabilized their position and did not rush out to engage the enemy. Instead, they lined up and covered each other while fighting and retreating.
Leon himself was leading the Noldor elves as the rear guard. He wanted to break contact between the army and the Snake Worshipers who were chasing them first as quickly as possible.
In other words, he had to kill all the enemies in front of him as quickly as possible.
The output capacity of the Noldor elves is undoubtedly the strongest.
Perhaps using Noldor Rangers to deal with the followers of the Snake Cult was really like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Those peasant-like enemies were simply vulnerable. After just over ten minutes, the battlefield was littered with corpses, and most of the Snake Cultists who had initially pursued them had been killed.
However, more snake worshippers have arrived here one after another. After the enemy was killed and wounded, the number has increased several times...
At the moment, the number of Snake Worshipers that Leon could see was endless and too numerous to count.
Moreover, no matter how heavy the casualties were, the Snake Worshipers did not retreat. No matter how many died, they continued to charge forward.
Enemies who are not afraid of death are really difficult to deal with, especially when there are many of them.
Fortunately, the Noldor rangers were all on horses, so they were not trapped.
Leon led the Noldor Rangers to fight and retreat, and tried his best to pull to the side to slow down the enemy's pace, but a large number of farmers continued to come from the south under the leadership of a few Snake Cult soldiers, and their numbers were increasing.
From time to time, you can see some Cobra Warriors riding scarlet warhorses. They are roughly equivalent to centurions in the Snake Cult. Each Cobra Warrior probably leads a dozen Snake Cult warriors and hundreds of farmer followers.
It is obvious that there is a strict and clear hierarchy within the Snake Cult. This is not a messy peasant army. They have a meticulous organizational structure.
The Lord's judgment was correct. The Snake Cult did want to have a melee, and it was a pure fight of numbers, regardless of casualties.
Moreover, it was obvious that those Cobra Warriors were sending their samurai and farmers to their deaths as cannon fodder.
They really don't care about the lives of their men, maybe they don't even care about their own lives.
Fortunately, Li Ang managed to break away from the contact in time. If he had not retreated immediately, he would probably have been unable to escape by now.
"Everyone, follow me! Get ready to ride and shoot!"
Seeing that the army had been away from the battlefield for at least two miles, and the enemies in front of them were increasing in number, the lord led the Noldor around to the side and began to retreat while shooting from the side.
Perhaps it seems a waste to spend precious arrows on these farmers, but it must be done.
The sea of Snake Cultists was still chasing them, but the constantly changing positions of the Noldor and the damage caused by their accurate bows and arrows still posed a great hindrance.
The Snake Cult army was getting further and further away from the Free Legion.
"Okay, let's retreat!"
From the time the enemy was discovered to now, the total time was only about half an hour.
The lord estimated that in this half hour, his troops had caused at least a thousand casualties to the Snake Cult.
If this rate of casualties occurred in an ordinary army, it would probably directly lead to panic and collapse of the entire army.
But the snake worshippers don't have that.
The snake worshippers who were shouting wildly showed no signs of fear at all.
There was a strange madness about them, and it did not seem to be due to bloodlust or bellicosity.
At the same time, the lord was still a little confused - if the purpose was just to fight against his reinforcements, the Snake Cult could have waited until he arrived near Dilingang before taking action.
Isn't it good to wait for the opportunity to come?
His army has already made it clear that it will reinforce Dilingang. No matter how strong the Snake Cult is, he will definitely go.
Why would the Snake Cult give up the siege of Dilingang and run so far to attack their own troops with all their strength?
Could it be that in the eyes of the Snake Cult, their reinforcements are more important than Di Lingang?
Or does the Snake Cult have other intentions?
If we don't figure out the reason, we won't be able to repel the enemy in a targeted manner. If we fight such an enemy head-on, even if we can win, the losses will be huge!
This time, the support for Dilingang was very thorough, and it actually attracted the enemy's main force to our side...
With a lot of questions in his mind, Li Ang returned to Buyulin Village.
The Imperial Guards under Justus have formed a stable formation, and there are still some corpses of Snake Worshipers at the entrance of the village.
Apparently, Buyulin Village was also attacked by the Snake Worshipers. Fortunately, the lord left Risadilan near the village to intercept the Snake Worshipers' scouts.
"Sir, less than half an hour after you led the army away this morning, a group of Snake Cult warriors appeared near the village..."
When Lisadiran saw Li Ang leading the team back, he stepped forward and began to report the situation.
"There must be spies of the Snake Worship Cult everywhere around here, but fortunately we didn't suffer too much loss... Let's prepare to meet the enemy. There are tens of thousands of enemies only ten minutes away from us! This will probably be a tough battle. I don't know what's so special about us that can make the Snake Worship Cult not attack Dilingang, but instead attack us with all their strength..."
Li Ang nodded and began to arrange defenses.
Since they were camping in Buyulin Village, it was natural that the enemy would attack the village. This was also the reason why Leon asked Lisadilan to block the enemy scouts in the surrounding area.
"Wait, my lord, maybe you should meet this person... maybe she can tell you some information."
Instead of leaving, Lisadilan took Leon into the village and brought out a woman.
It was a young girl wearing a pointed Shahi helmet and holding a black iron spear.
The girl had an outstanding appearance and a very delicate face. Although she was wearing a leather jacket that was totally ill-fitting, she still exuded a seductive charm.
Her extremely long eyelashes, emerald green eyes, and seductive red lips are a breathtaking combination.
"Who is she?"
The lord looked at Lisadilan, then at the woman, and frowned.
"She claimed that she had escaped here. When I found her, she was being hunted down by a group of Snake Cult warriors..."
Lisa Dilan paused and lowered her voice: "She is a member of the Snake Cult."
“Hiss… I am not now… Commander, my name is Alyssa…hiss…”
As soon as the girl opened her mouth, her seductive demeanor was immediately destroyed...
The hissing sound was exactly like that of a venomous snake spitting out its tongue. The girl named Alyssa was not imitating that sound. Instead, she would stick out her tongue before speaking and exhale at the same time, causing the hissing sound.
Moreover, the tip of her tongue is forked! Just like the tongue of a poisonous snake!
