Chapter 241 – Waving a Hand to Exterminate the Enemy [1]
Zhao Hai was surprised for a moment, but then showed a faint smile. “Many thanks, beastfolk friends, but we don’t need to do so. We can solve this problem ourselves.” As he spoke, he turned to the oncoming Jackal tribe cavalry.
These Jackal tribe members were armed with weapons didn’t make them look very kind. They seemed ready to strike and kill everyone on the spot.
Zhao Hai snorted coldly and brandished his Ghost Cane. Over a hundred undead suddenly appeared around the caravan. These undead weren’t human-shaped, but were instead beast-shaped. Moreover, they weren’t zombies but skeletons.
By doing so, Zhao Hai showed he had no intention of hiding his identity. They were going to wander through the Beastfolk Prairie, so sooner or later they would be known by the other merchants. These merchants would then try to ascertain their identity. By revealing his identity as a black magician now, he would let them know that the black magician, Zhao Hai, had entered the Beastfolk Prairie.
Yesterday, Zhao Hai had taken back these undead and placed them in the Space specifically for this situation. As long as a black magician doesn’t use human-shaped undead, they wouldn’t get annoyed for it. Especially so when they were within the Beastfolk Prairie. Even then, strength was the basis for one’s right to speak within the Beastfolk Prairie. If one were to use human undead, the beastfolk wouldn’t be so repugnant about it. As long as one was strong enough, they wouldn’t act out of place so easily either.
Currently, Zhao Hai had saved around a thousand magic beast undead. A hundred of these undead were enough to deal with the current problem. As such, he didn’t release them all.
Even with this much, those Jackal tribe members were surprised. The magic beast undead that Zhao Hai released were really big. In front of these undead, the Jackal tribe members looked like 10-year-olds standing in front of a large man.
These undead had the strength of a Rank Seven magic beast, so they were a lot stronger than those Jackal tribe members. Because of the gap between the sizes of their bodies, the hundred undead were able to surround those two hundred Jackal tribe members. Since the Jackal tribe members weren’t able to react quickly enough, they were attacked twice by the undead. The two hundred Jackal tribe members were instantly defeated.
In the Beastfolk Prairie, if a human kills a beastfolk, they would be chased down by all beastfolk. If a human did it in self-defense, however, then the situation would be different and the beastfolk wouldn’t move.
After Zhao Hai released his undead, the Titan Cattle leader quickly understood that Zhao Hai could deal with the attack of the Jackal tribe. He never expected, however, that it could be solved so easily.
As a Titan Cattle prince, he had a greater understanding with regards to magicians than ordinary beastfolk. He had never seen such a magician fighting within the Beastfolk Prairie, however. After all, he lived in the Beastfolk Prairie and human magicians wouldn’t normally kill at will within the Beastfolk Prairies.
After dealing with the Jackal tribe, Zhao Hai turned his head to the young Titan Cattle tribe leader and said, “Dear beastfolk brother, we should collaborate with one another and deal with the enemies. Afterward, we can drink two cups together. How about it?”
Zhao Hai’s impression of this Titan Cattle person was quite good. When they had been in danger earlier, he had offered his help. Zhao Hai was grateful for such thoughtfulness.
As soon as the young Titan Cattle member heard what Zhao Hai said, he became stunned for a short moment. He thought over what Zhao Hai meant. While Zhao Hai wanted to help him, he also didn’t want to damage his face, so he offered his support to cooperate against the enemy—the Jackal tribe.
Although he understood Zhao Hai’s intent, the pride of the beastfolk wouldn’t let him agree so easily. Instead, he loudly said, “My human brother! I, the Titan Cattle tribe’s Wales[2], will help you exterminate those hateful dogs.”
Zhao Hai was surprised for a moment, then laughed. He liked Wales as he was very frank. Earlier, he feared Wales wouldn’t let him help, so he spoke of cooperation. He didn’t expect for Wales to be so proud that he would instead offer his help and refuse a weaker position.
The dialogue between them was clearly heard by those of the Jackal tribe, who couldn’t help but panic. They had seen the battle strength of the undead Zhao Hai had summoned and, to be honest, they weren’t very confident they could go up against that. With the addition of the Titan Cattle tribe’s three hundred warriors, they feared the situation wouldn’t go well for them.
They were about ready to make adjustments when a large number of undead suddenly appeared. These undead were just like the hundred undead that Zhao Hai had summoned previously. They were magic beasts and were a thousand in number. Those undead easily surrounded the two thousand Jackal tribe cavalry.
What was a cavalry’s most tragic situation? It would be when they were surrounded and lost the ability to charge out of the area. A rider that loses their ability to charge wouldn’t even be as good as infantry.
The reason why the Jackal tribe became the most notorious thieves in the prairie was due to their mounts. Their mounts were wind element magic beasts, cunning lightning jackals. These Rank Five magic beasts boasted a high degree of perception and flexibility. Because of this, the Jackal tribe could come and go like the wind throughout the entire Beastfolk Prairie and not allow others to find a trace of them.
But now they were surrounded. The mobility they had been so proud of had been sealed. The slender Jackal tribe had now truly become furnishings on a tea table, completely disastrous.
Soon enough, they found that they weren’t even furnishings on a tea table. To describe their situation more accurately, they were better suited in the kitchen where they would be diced up. They were surrounded by numerous undead and were doomed to a tragic outcome. It was so miserable that a tragedy might not even be the right word for their situation.
The Jackal tribe hurriedly tried to start a charge, but they didn’t know how they would deal with this situation. Zhao Hai then issued the attack and the thousand large undead began to assault the Jackal tribe.
Upon seeing the situation, Wales couldn’t help but be surprised for a moment. He quickly recovered and naturally wouldn’t miss such an opportunity to hit back against those dogs. Wales immediately issued the order to attack.
The Titan Cattle warriors had been surrounded and attacked by the Jackal tribe and their hearts had been continuously aggrieved to death. When they heard Wales’ order to attack, they shouted loudly and bristled as though they’d taken stimulants. They called for their mounts and road on the backs of the bulls, charging straight toward the Jackal tribe.
A Titan Cattle warrior’s mount wasn’t a stoneskin cattle. While stoneskin cattles were very powerful and had high defensive capabilities, they weren’t quick so they weren’t the best mount to use as cavalry. As such, what they used as mounts were instead magic beasts called earth-traversing cattle[3].
Earth-traversing cattles were Rank Five magic beasts and weren’t slow. They also had good defensive capabilities. In addition to their high strength, they became the most suitable mount for the Titan Cattle warriors. Earth-traversing cattles were not related by blood to the Titan Cattle tribe, but rather, it was the stoneskin cattle. The problem was that they killed stoneskin cattles and absorbed the magic beast soul from them. Herding blood-related magic beasts for such a task was an exceptional case within the Beastfolk Prairie.
In the Beastfolk Prairie, the beastfolk generally used their own blood-related magic beasts as mounts. There were, however, a few tribes like the Titan Cattle tribe who used other magic beasts like earth-traversing cattle as mounts instead of blood-related magic beasts.
Zhao Hai watched the charge of the Titan Cattle warriors. He had to admit that Titan Cattle warriors were truly a force to be reckoned with. Hands down, they did a great deal more damage than the heavy cavalry recorded from Earth. Imagine an army of massive warriors wielding hundred kilogram heavy war axes as they charged forth… this is what that concept was like.
Chinese martial arts community had a saying. A genuine weapon is swung, and one tael[4] equals one jin[5]. That is to say, a heavy weapon weighing one jin would increase the strength of the wielder and become ten jin of strength when it’s being swung. In ancient China, however, charging cavalry used swords that weren’t for swinging, but were instead flat and thin. They instead borrowed the force of the horse while atop the saddle to kill the enemy. Along with this, warriors in the prairies of China would use sickles[6], and the charge of a sickle-wielding cavalry was very lethal[7].
The Titan Cattle tribe’s charge, however, didn’t just involve them swinging their weapons. These were a hundred kilogram heavy weapons. Along with the power given off from the cattle they rode, just how much force could that axe possess? Zhao Hai really couldn’t come up with an estimate.
Zhao Hai was also a military otaku, so he knew of these things. The reason why ancient cavalry didn’t swing their weapons was because it would dislocate their shoulders. As such, when an ancient cavalry charge began, they used a long weapon. This kind of weapon couldn’t be held with one hand, but they could tuck the shaft beneath their arms.
During this time, common cavalrymen used spears. Once they pierced the enemy they would have to pull the spear back in order to make it useable again. Otherwise, the spear would directly break.
This was how ancient Chinese riders did their assault. While this method of assault was similar for foreign knights, those knights wore heavy armor and held a straight lance. While they changed, they must pay attention to the wooden lance in their hands. So long as they hit the enemy, the lance would snap. If the cavalry had good riding skills, then the lance would only have snapped at the tip and would still be useable.
A Chinese spear considered his problem, however, and the shaft of the spear wasn’t made entirely of wood. Instead, the spear would be wrapped around tightly with strips and resemble modern times steel wire ropes. It wouldn’t just be tough, but incomparably hard. When used to attack an enemy, the cavalryman could just use a bit of force to shrug the enemy off the shaft. Like this, after impact, the horse could keep its balance and avoid having to back up and die. The spear’s shaft in this case wouldn’t break[8].
It could be said that Earth’s ancient cavalry didn’t use the power of a human, but a horse’s strength. This time, the assault of the Titan Cattle cavalry used not only the earth-traversing cattle, but also their own strength, increasing their might greatly.
Naturally, the humans on the Ark Continent would have better bodies than those on Earth. Of course, the plants in the Ark Continent had an abundance of magic elements. Along with the natural qi in the air, it was a lot better compared with Earth. Since this was the case, the people living on the Ark Continent would have better physiques than those on Earth. They could achieve matters that the humans on Earth couldn’t.
The assault of the Titan Cattle tribe cavalry could be called, if Zhao Hai were to put it to words, beautiful. A brutal beauty, the beauty of power, the beauty of slaughter.
With the assault of the three hundred earth-traversing cattle cavalry, the fight had basically finished. While the charge didn’t exterminate the Jackal tribe completely, they did take down four hundred of them. The remaining Jackal tribe members were killed by the undead Zhao Hai had summoned.
After their assault, the three hundred earth-traversing cattle cavalry returned to camp, eyeing the corpses of those Jackal tribe members outside
It wasn’t that they hadn’t seen corpses before, just that these warriors protecting Wales hadn’t been in many battles. They sighed as they wouldn’t have expected that the two thousand large Jackal tribe cavalry would be unexpectedly destroyed just like that.
At this moment, a large amount of black smog enveloped the battlefield. When the black smog dispersed, the battlefield was cleaned up. The only thing that remained were the trampled grass of the earlier fight. No one would be able to believe that there had just been a battlefield here.
At this time, Zhao Hai’s caravan slowly moved toward the camp. Once their carriage was twenty meters, Zhao Hai and Laura walked out and slowly approached Wales. The earth-traversing cattle wanted to block their paths, but Wales shouted for them to stand down.
Zhao Hai led Laura and the other two women until they were two meters from Wales. They then made their greetings with straight chest towards Wales. “Brother Wales, hello. Zhao Hai offers the most sincere blessing to you.”
Wales also straightened his chest and grasped Zhao Hai, laughing as he said, “Brother Zhao Hai, you are truly a great magician. You easily and unexpectedly defeated the Jackal tribe with your magic. Starting today, you are a close friend of this Wales.”
Zhao Hai wasn’t able to adapt easily to Wales’ enthusiasm. After he broke free of Wales’ hug with great difficulty, he panted for air as he said, “Brother Wales, you shouldn’t hug me like that. I almost died by your hands.”
When Zhao Hai said those words, the beastfolk around them began to laugh. They started to like Zhao Hai because he spoke sincerely, not like those other hypocritical humans.
Laura and the other two also smiled. They were currently facing the beastfolk. When compared to humans where they needed to act reserved, it was more comfortable around the beastfolk. This wasn’t something they’d have imagined happening.
Notes:
-This chapter was MTL’ed. Please leave a comment for constructive criticisms and advice. Thanks.
-Please support the author if you love this novel.
-Please check out the Editor’s footnotes, thanks.
Footnotes:
[1]Please read the Announcement Post↩
[2] 威尔斯 – Wēi ěr sī. ↩
[3]土行牛 – Tǔ xíng niú.↩
[4]One tael(两) is about 50 grams…↩
[5]Since one jin equals half a kilogram, it’ll be 50 grams (tael) to 500 grams (jin). So a 1 to 10 conversion. Hey, the raws actually matched these measurements!↩
[6]Common farming implement in old China… methinks. In Europe it would be pitchforks? Dunno why I’m commenting.↩
[7]Take everything this paragraph said with a grain of salt. I have no idea and just made it so that it sounds legit.↩
[8]No idea if this is true in the least. No idea if the paragraph is correct. And lastly, no idea why author went into a history lesson.