Chapter 75: Chapter 74 Charge
Numbers One and Two are codenames given by Austin to the Dragon Vein Attendants for convenience in the army.
As Dragon Vein Attendants who have half-stepped into the domain of extraordinary power, they naturally don’t receive the same treatment as ordinary soldiers. In previous battles, they mostly played the role of leading the vanguard. One could say the army behind them mainly centered its tactics around supporting their combat.
Soon, the troops split into three groups: one large and two smaller ones, according to Austin’s orders.
"Attack!"
Without much delay, Austin directly ordered the army to attack.
With the strongest frontal force to crush the enemy, then the left and right wings strike forth, completely breaking the enemy’s morale. Leaving one side open in a three-sided encirclement, offering an escape to dissuade desperate resistance from the enemy, would eventually lead them to flee backwards in defeat.
Of course, the so-called open side is impossible. When the demoralized centaurs flee to the rear, exhausted, Austin will personally appear, descending from the sky to subdue them decisively.
The Centaur Race holds a mid-tier position within the Beastman Race. Coupled with their running speed and stamina, if they eventually flee after defeat, Austin’s Clan troops would not be able to catch up.
The three-sided encirclement tactic is the best method Austin currently has to defeat and subdue this group of centaurs.
"What a pity. If I were already an adult, simply showing myself would likely have made this group of centaurs submit. Then again, if I were an adult, I wouldn’t need this Clan’s strength anyway."
Austin sighed slightly.
Adult dragons are essentially legendary level beings. Even without speaking, they would naturally gather a strong Clan of Beastmen who inherently admire strength. But before reaching adulthood, whether young or juvenile dragons can at best attract the favor of lower-tier beast races such as goblins and kobolds, while mid-tier races and above barely pay any attention.
Given Austin’s current strength, the chance of subduing the centaur tribe ahead without shedding a drop of blood is slim. This is why Austin intends to defeat them, completely shattering their morale before revealing himself.
A troop defeated and fleeing is easiest to capture, and only when the centaurs lose all morale would there be a significant chance for Austin to subdue them.
Thinking too much is pointless. Austin lifted his body swiftly, concealing himself above the forest to carefully observe the battle and seek opportunity.
Perhaps because the centaurs were gathered in the tribe for feeding, the first attacking team managed to sneak within two hundred meters of the centaur tribe before being discovered by a centaur who had just finished feeding.
"Enemies!"
The orderly military formation moved silently under iron discipline, with long spears standing tall. Seeing the fully armed Beastman Legion approaching the tribe, that centaur naturally wouldn’t assume they came as guests.
With the centaur’s shout, the entire tribe erupted into commotion. Their ability to survive in the peril-ridden Kawa Great Forest itself spoke of their keen vigilance.
The centaurs hurriedly grabbed their weapons, noisily emerging from all around the village, faces grim as they prepared to give the audacious intruders a heavy blow.
"Charge! For the noble His Highness Austin!"
With their exposure, the Beastman Legion no longer bothered to hide, directly shouting as they charged forth.
The sound rose to the heavens, as the Beastman Legion charged as a group, with no sign of disorder.
Meanwhile, the first batch of centaurs rushed out from the tribe, wielding wooden spears and clubs in chaos, but full of momentum as they charged at the Dragon’s Nest Beastmen Legion.
The Beastman tribes living in the Kawa Great Forest exist in a primitive state of gatherer-hunter civilization. Food sources limit the tribe population size and hinder the development of metallurgy and ironworking skills. Copper and iron tools within Beastman tribes mainly come from the Human World, occasionally ending up in Beastmen hands.
As such, in the Kawa Great Forest, Beastmen tribes in hunting combat use primitive items like wooden spears and stone tools.
Yet, wooden spears do not equate to a lack of lethality. The raw material for wooden spears largely comes from a tree called hemlock, widely distributed in the forest. These trees are not only extremely hard but also straight and uniform, making them ideal for crafting wooden spears. Although inferior to real iron tools, when sharpened, they can easily penetrate an unprotected Beastman’s body with sufficient force, serving as a sharp weapon in Beastmen hunting and combat.
Centaurs are large in stature, taller than common kobolds by half a body, and when they charge, they stir up a cloud of dust. Though not as mighty as tanks, their momentum surpasses that of rumbling thunder motorcycles.
In the charging of these dozen colossal figures, they came down like a torrential mountain flood.
If it were a regular Beastman army, they might already scatter in fear upon collision, but the Dragon’s Nest Beastmen Legion, seasoned by many battles, stood unperturbed, halting to form ranks and confront the centaur’s charge.
"Kill these offenders!"
In the blink of an eye, the centaur ranks charged with grins towards the Dragon’s Nest Beastman Legion, the fighting spirit leaving them blind to the Legion’s spears and the threat they posed.
In past conflicts, centaurs counted on their size and speed to group charge, and after trampling through enemy ranks, the latter would scatter in defeat, allowing the centaurs free reign to chase them.
Even if their foes wielded spears, as long as they reached the front lines, their charging momentum would leave no beastman daring to raise a weapon but rather flee.
Repeated victories in war gave the centaurs fearless momentum in charge.
They assumed this group of little shrimps would collapse like past foes once driven to the front.
But in the next moment, the centaurs felt as though they had struck an iron plate.
No, it was an iron wall!
"Hah!"
At the moment of collision, a pair of Dragon Vein Attendants crouched at the frontline suddenly launched at the centaurs, their roar shaking the skies as the enormous shields in their left hands slammed towards the leading centaurs like walls.
Bang!!!
The centaurs, unprepared for a counterattack, flew back amidst a mighty sound as the shields crashed like a tidal wave against the strongest side of a centaur, sending two of them flying several meters.
At the same time, the Beastmen Legion behind finally revealed its hidden teeth. With a whistling sound, spears broke the air, launching forth, striking the unprepared centaurs, blood splattering as their bodies fell with a crash.