Chapter 498: The Call of War!
Chapter 498: The Call of War!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Rumble!
The earth shook as Wang Chong led his army of one thousand clan experts, six or seven hundred regular Tang army soldiers, and several thousand hired experts. As they emerged out of the forest, the distant Tibetan cavalrymen were dumbfounded.
"What's going on here? The Tang actually came out on their own!"
In the distance, Dengba was flabbergasted, not daring to believe his own eyes.
The Tibetans had no infantry; they relied completely on cavalry to contend with the Great Tang. As a result, although the Tibetans did not have as many soldiers as the Great Tang, they still presented a great danger.
For a mixture of Tang infantry and cavalry to go against a regular force of three thousand Tibetan cavalry, had they gone crazy?
"Hahaha, Dengba, do you see it! You've overestimated those Tang men! It seems that they only managed to wipe out our comrades by relying purely on luck and numbers! But even this sort of luck has its limits!"
That muscular and tall Tibetan commander gave a hearty laugh.
He had originally still been a little cautious. After all, this group of Tang soldiers truly did seem a little different from the rest.
But it now appeared that he had been overthinking things.
"Carry out my order. Activate the Yak Halos and have the entire army charge! I want to crush these Tang soldiers into paste to vent my rage and avenge the deceased soldiers of our empire!"
The Tibetan commander clenched his fists, his eyes glowing with a vicious light while a sort of feeling began to boil up inside his body. It was the call of war.
"These scoundrels… are dead for sure!"
The warhorses neighed as that stalwart Tibetan commander led the charge, leaping out from the ranks. Behind him, more than three thousand Tibetan regular cavalry began their charge.
One echelon, two echelons, three echelons… in the end, thirty echelons began to surge toward Wang Chong's army like mighty waves.
The air over their heads grew hazy, as if some invisible hand was twisting. In a few moments, a massive, white, vaulted, and mobile fortress had appeared over the heads of the Tibetan cavalry.
The moment this white fortress manifested, the Tibetans began to exude a crushing weight. But their speed… was not affected in the slightest!
With a clattering of metal, Halos of Thorns began to shoot out from the bodies of the Tibetan cavalry, theses thousands of Halos of Thorns forming into a giant halo formation that accompanied the Tibetans in their charge.
Crash! Waves of energy began to gush out from behind them. In these brief moments, the Tibetans had reached a terrifying speed and were dragging a massive white wave of energy behind them.
"It's here!"
Some distance from the Ü-Tsang army, Wang Chong's eyes flashed. Even from this distance, he could feel the oceanic might of the Tibetans, but Wang Chong remained utterly unmoved.
These three thousand Tibetans were a test for his army. If it could not deal with only three thousand, then it would not be able to deal with the Ü-Tsang–Mengshe Zhao army, nor would it be able to influence this important war.
If these people could not even do this, then they were useless.
Now, it's time to try out the power of the Halo of Dusk Stallion! Wang Chong quietly said to himself.
The Halo of Dusk Stallion could boost the strength, speed, and dexterity of all the soldiers in his army, but those were not its only effects.
Of all the supreme halo techniques in Kunwu Training Camp, Wang Chong wanted only the Halo of Dusk Stallion. It hadn't been only because of its ability to boost the strength of his soldiers. What was more important was that it was also an extremely powerful offensive halo.
However, a more powerful halo also needed a correspondingly powerful cultivation level to support it.
The first layer of the Halo of Dusk Stallion was still too low. While it did offer a greater boost than normal war halos, its strength was still limited.
But when the Halo of Dusk Stallion was upgraded, it was never just a simple boost in power, but a massive leap in quality as well.
Unfortunately, upgrading the Halo of Dusk Stallion had always been difficult. It needed to absorb a large amount of mental and physical energy from the martial artist. When Wang Chong cultivated the first layer of the Halo of Dusk Stallion, he had only needed to be at Tier 1 of the True Martial realm, but to upgrade it, he had to be at Tier 5.
This difference of four tiers did not manifest in merely a pure numerical increase.
Boom!
Waves of energy exploded out of Wang Chong's body like a torrent. And there was also a completely new energy flowing out, entering the White-hoofed Shadow and expanding beneath its hooves.
Clangclangclang! A new Halo of Thorns spread under the White-hoofed Shadow's hooves like flooding mercury. The energy of the halo first spread to Old Eagle and Li Siye and then to the nearby cavalry, ultimately enveloping all his cavalry.
In a flash, everyone felt their speed, strength and dexterity increase and continue to increase.
Neigh! Wang Chong's Stellar Energy roared as a massive divine steed, seemingly cast from steel, leaped out from Wang Chong's body.
In the blink of an eye, a storm of energy exploded from that massive horse, balls of energy transforming into horses that entered the bodies of each of the Tang soldiers, ultimately forming a second halo at their feet.
"Ah! I'm so fast!"
"My body's suddenly a lot lighter!"
……
The soldiers had been charging together with Wang Chong when they suddenly felt a new stream of strength pour into their bodies. This energy was different from the past, at least two levels higher.
"My sword!!"
One of the clan experts with a lower cultivation level suddenly looked elatedly at the Wootz Steel sword in his hand. Though the sword was unsheathed, it gave off no light, but right now, that stream of energy was flowing through the sword, letting the man and weapon become one.
The True Martial realm Tier 5 and 6 experts all had very fast reactions. They immediately noticed that their weapons were faster, lighter, and sharper. They were much easier to wield and attack with, more damaging and threatening!
All of them were instantly filled with confidence!
"Arrow Formation! Charge!"
As their confidence swelled, Wang Chong's cold voice resounded in their ears, putting their focus back to the battle!
"Yes, Milord!"
The earth began to quake. The one thousand cavalry formed into countless small units, but all of them acted in concert. With Wang Chong's order, they suddenly exploded forward, pulling away from the rest of the force.
The dust from their charge blocked out the sun as Wang Chong led the one thousand clan experts charging forward.
"Milord!"
Old Eagle's expression flickered at this sight. Although he had never been in an army before, he had known many experts.
For one part of the army to pull ahead, for the head and tail to ignore each other, was a cardinal sin!
"Old Eagle, follow me. I know what I'm doing!" Wang Chong's voice came through the dust. It was calm, farsighted, as lofty as Mount Tai, and inspired great trust from others.
"Yes, Young Master!"
Old Eagle grit his teeth and followed, lacking the time to think about anything else.
At the front of the cavalry, Wang Chong locked his eyes forward, his gaze exuding a stern and bestial light. At that moment, nothing existed in his eyes except for the three thousand Tibetan cavalry.
For part of the army to pull ahead of the rest truly was a cardinal sin, but cavalry had never been part of the regular army, and its way of fighting was completely different from that of ordinary soldiers.
They could work together with infantry, but they could also attack on their own.
The greatest advantage of cavalry was adaptability. Thus, infantry and cavalry working together was only done when there was no other choice.
Cavalry that couldn't speedily adapt were no different from infantry. In addition, Wang Chong had another idea in mind.
Right now, it's time to see who's better!
Wang Chong pressed his body to his horse, his eyes glowing. He could feel that the will to fight that had melded into the deepest part of his blood in his last life was waking up from its temporary slumber.
As the Grand Marshal who had led the world's armies, he had not felt the call of war for far too long!