When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 725 - 682 Battle! (Rounded up to 6k words, super long combined - )_2

The knights in the middle were caught off guard, nearly tripped, while those in the back were still puzzled about what was happening.

"Engaged? What's happening at the front?"

"Master, quickly suppress the enemy's spells, hurry!"

"Save me... save me..."

Count Kazi, protected in the center by the command squad, stood dumbfounded. He, known for his quick wit, surprisingly did not react immediately.

When that iron ball hit the knights, they were almost five hundred paces apart!

But he clearly saw a brave knight, steadfast in his advance, suddenly lifted off the ground, issuing a scream almost like a lady's, then flung backward, rear first. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

That was a rare high-tier knight with decreed combat strength. Yet in the blink of an eye, the knight's chest was pierced by a cannonball, blood gushing from the shattered armor, splattering the knights around him.

The iron ball, after piercing through his armor, continued smashing through another knight's thigh before coming to a stop.

Though only 3 out of 7 cannonballs hit, the knights stood so closely together that almost every cannonball pierced through at least two people.

The dense phalanx initially meant to protect them had turned into a death curse at this moment.

"Advance, keep advancing!" After the shock, Count Kazi quickly reacted, drawing his short sword and harshly striking the helmets of those in the front row, snapping them out of their daze.

"Do not fear, just a new type of crossbow, at that distance they can't fire many shots, charge through! Loyalty and Honor!"

Currently, they occupied relatively open and stable ground, enabling them to assemble and deploy the army.

If they retreated now and ceded this relatively firm ground to the Salvation Army, they would have no chance to regroup.

Count Kazi gripped his short sword tightly, his palm already soaked with sweat.

He vaguely felt that forming such a large phalanx was a mistake, but if they retreated, there might not be another chance to strike.

"Loyalty and, and Honor!" A Knight Captain stutteringly shouted aloud, while the monks mustered the last of their strength to cast a Divine Art to dispel fear over these knights.

When the warm Divine Art fell upon them, their pounding hearts eased, and the legs that had felt as heavy as lead became light again.

However, as they stepped over the bloodied, vacant-eyed corpses, the phalanx which had been advancing steadily involuntarily slowed its pace.

While only five knights had died, this intangible shock to the psyche was hard to erase.

They could endure death, but not this kind of death—falling inexplicably before the battle even started, without even seeing the enemy's face clearly.

The gory and limb-scattered demise was not the honorable death they sought.

Almost a minute later, there was another violent rumble, hitting even more this time.

Amidst the shrill whistle of cannonballs slicing through the air, seven or eight knights in the front row fell or were thrown aside.

The copper clockwork stirred the airflow, emitting a sharp, bagpipe-like wail from the balance holes.

As the hawk cannons recoiled, the massive iron balls shot out, with a low trajectory, in a flat arc.

Breaking through air resistance, bypassing the reeds' interception and caress, of the seven fist-sized iron balls, four clanged against the knights.

The lucky ones only lost limbs; the unlucky ones struck in the torso had bones and spines fly out of their backs, showering their allies behind them.

The allies fared no better, as almost any passing cannonball could still break their legs.

Broken shards and a chaotic mess of severed limbs swept through the formation, even before they could see the enemy's face clearly.

"It's okay, it's okay, charge through, they only have two thousand men, as long as we break through, their horizontal formation won't be able to stop us." Count Kazi shouted hoarsely, rushing back and forth with the command squad and monks.

The Knight Commanders and high-tier knights in the formation bellowed similarly: "If anyone's afraid of dying, get out. There are only a few trebuchets; they can't fire too many times."

Holding large swords and carrying long halberds, the knights hesitated, half-convinced for a moment.

In this era, generally, the more powerful and long-ranged a projectile weapon is, the lower its firing rate, a fact proven by the El Scholars.

Boosted by potions and Divine Arts, they gritted their teeth and charged forward.

Unfortunately, after more than a minute of silence, the third round of bombardment arrived as scheduled, followed by the fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds...

In the next ten minutes, 14 hawk cannons continuously fired, launching nearly sixty cannonballs.

With two battery squads, seven projectiles flew out each time, firing at the knights with increasingly smaller angles.

As the distance closed, with such a wide phalanx in front, they barely needed to aim to lodge all the solid cannonballs into the densest crowd.

The great phalanx's advance slowed, eventually stopping to wait for the rear knights to fill in the gaps.

Yet no one wanted to move forward, all opting to dodge to the sides, transforming the formation from a phalanx to a horizontal line.

Even before truly engaging, the Clove Corridor's Noble Alliance Army already experienced nearly a 5% casualty rate.

"Archers, archers!" After frantic rushing, Count Kazi called for archers, his voice even trembling faintly. "Haven't the Demon Hunters dealt with those mages yet?"

"No spell reaction, sir." A servant ran over in fear, hunching over. "Those trebuchets are not being operated by mages, there's no spell reaction."