Translator: CinderTL
Hammond decided to take the initiative, and the order to attack was given.
The War Elephant Legion was the trump card of the Church faction. Moreover, the War Elephants were not in the best physical condition, so they were not initially deployed into battle.
The regular army went in first, with infantry advancing, cavalry flanking, and archers providing support—a traditional Church tactic.
The Gabella faction dispatched cavalry to counter the Church's flanking cavalry. The two sides' cavalry clashed fiercely, stirring up clouds of dust in a chaotic melee.
After a while, the Church infantry advancing from the front approached the Gabella formation.
The crossbowmen in the Imperial army raised their peculiar crossbows, seemingly intending to use ranged fire to delay the Church's advance.
The Church soldiers, experienced in such tactics, raised their shields to cover their fronts—an effective method against ranged crossbow fire. Even if the enemy had longbowmen, it would be difficult to penetrate their thick shields.
From his observation post in the rear, Deputy Commander Webster suddenly frowned. He noticed that among the crossbowmen in the enemy formation, the robed figures had also raised their wooden staffs. The red crystals embedded in the staffs seemed to glow more vividly.
A sense of foreboding rapidly swelled in Webster's heart.
Instinctively, he touched the amulet hanging on his chest, intending to pray to the Heavenly Father.
When Webster raised the amulet, he froze, suddenly breaking into a cold sweat.
The amulet had turned pitch black, as if soaked in ink.
There was a peculiar stone known as a magic-detecting stone, which resembled white marble in texture and form. Many miraculous legends surrounded this stone, including its ability to detect ambient magical energy.
When a magic-detecting stone came close to magical items or ongoing spells, it would turn from white to black. The more concentrated and powerful the magical energy in the air, the faster and darker the stone would turn.
However, since most spellcasters of the past either lived in seclusion or concealed their identities, magic-detecting stones had not been widely used. As a result, their properties gradually became shrouded in mystery and were not widely known. Even those who had witnessed magic or firmly believed in its existence were not all aware of the stone's function.
Webster's amulet was made of a magic-detecting stone. When he led the Church's army in Horns Bay, the local clergy of the Horn Bay Church, who were particularly sensitive to wizards and magic, had gifted him this amulet. He had, of course, heard the giver explain the stone's wondrous uses but had always carried it as an ordinary amulet—despite his knowledge of wizards and magic.
Now, the amulet, which should have been pure white without a single blemish, had turned pitch black. Webster instantly recalled the explanation about the magic-detecting stone he had heard in Horns Bay.
"It's magic!" he exclaimed, his eyes widening as he shouted with all his might.
Those around him were startled by Webster's outburst.
"What are you talking about?" Commander Selwyn Hammond looked at his deputy in astonishment, puzzled by his friend's uncharacteristic behavior.
Webster raised the amulet in his hand, "The Gabellans are casting magic! Please order our troops to retreat immediately; we don't know what their magic might do!"
"Magic?" Selwyn Hammond frowned, "Are you sure? And how do you know?"
Webster waved the amulet, "Do you know about magic-detecting stones? Like this one in my hand. When this stone comes into contact with..."
Hammond cut him off with a wave, "I know the legends about such stones... wait!" He quickly noticed something unusual, "Why has the stone turned black? Are our enemies casting magic?"
"Exactly!" Webster nodded, "Please, order the troops to withdraw!"
Selwyn Hammond frowned, pondering briefly before swiftly rejecting the suggestion.
"We have forty thousand men attacking! Forty thousand! How many wizards could withstand an assault by forty thousand men?"
"But!" Webster tried to argue, having become much more cautious since returning from Horns Bay.
"No buts!" Hammond waved his hand, "We're about to engage in close combat. Retreating now would devastate morale, and the Gabellans won't let us withdraw calmly, will they?"
At that moment, the two witnessed an unbelievable sight.
When the two armies were just tens of meters away from clashing, a dark shadow rose from the Gabellan formation and flew toward the advancing Church troops.
It was a volley of black arrows!
Thud!
The arrows pierced through the shields in front, their momentum undiminished, slamming into the soldiers' breastplates with such force that it sent them flying backward several feet.
Thwack!
Another crossbow bolt pierced through a shield, the wounded soldier letting out a painful cry before collapsing to the ground, clutching his injury.
"How is this possible?"
The Church soldiers were shocked to find their thick shields utterly ineffective against the high-speed arrows, as fragile as cheese.
"Take cover!"
"Ahhh, it hurts!"
The Church troops struck by the arrows let out agonized screams as soldiers fell to the ground one after another.
The entire formation seemed to hit an invisible wall, instantly grinding to a halt.
Hammond was horrified. How could those seemingly lightweight, strange crossbows fire arrows with such tremendous force?
He quickly thought of an explanation.
"It's evil magic! Damn Gabellans, they've not only become heretics but have also sunk to allying with wizards!"
"Pass my order immediately, deploy the War Elephant Legion!"
Anger—and the fear of potential defeat—drove him to play his final card without hesitation.
The earth trembled, the air roared—the Church's War Elephant Legion charged.
Twenty armored giants, already in position, formed a wedge-shaped formation and surged across the plain like a moving fortress of steel, heading straight for the Gabellan formation.
The thick elephant legs crushed the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust that blotted out the sky. In the arrow towers on their backs, archers drew their bows to full tension, the cold glint of arrowheads aimed forward. On both sides, heavy infantry with spears provided cover, their armor gleaming coldly in the sunlight.
Hammond intended to use the divine beasts bestowed upon the Church by the Lord of Light to crush their enemies.
(End of the Chapter)
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