It's like a repeat of the past events in the Padrosi Empire.
The overwhelming and fearless creatures came one after another like a tide, mocking all human tactics, military techniques, honor and integrity with overwhelming power.
Casualties appeared quickly, and the armor of the heavily armored ronin began to deform under the continuous blows. The light cage hands were subjected to the continuous bone claws and bites, the iron plate deformed, and the chain mail sewn on the cloth fell off. In the end, these claws penetrated deeply into the arm, tearing away the skin and muscles and injuring them. Muscles and blood vessels. The blood quickly overflowed and wetted the armor of the Rongers, making their faces turn pale. With blood loss and tendon injuries, their attack movements became more and more sluggish, and they were even unable to raise their weapons to resist the bite aimed at the throat.
When the numbers are similar, with good armor and formation, they can defeat these weakened ghouls who are not afraid of death but have relatively average attack power.
But this is not reciprocal.
That's 120 versus 400+.
And not all of the 120 people were forwards. There were only a few dozen forwards, and almost every one of them had to bear the pressure of nearly 10 ghouls attacking at the same time.
"Change the formation and fight to the bitter end!" Ryunosuke issued such an order from the beginning. At this moment, he further reduced the defense line, causing the elongated semicircular formation to change from only one layer to three layers. Henry and others sit as the core on the last layer of defense, and once the outermost person is injured, the people on the second and third layers will step in to maintain the defense. But the situation is not optimistic, and anyone can definitely see this.
"Seven people have been seriously injured in less than 10 minutes! Lord Ryunosuke!" the adjutant reported in the midst of the noise. The Ronin who had almost lost their fighting ability were placed in the middle of the formation. After only simple hemostasis, they used the most powerful force to stop the bleeding. The optimistic view is that lying on the ground will make your death more comfortable.
"At least if the bows and arrows can -" the adjutant said, but the archers who were separated from the defense line and failed to fire for more than 10 points were not evading responsibility - they had a more important task.
"Are the rockets ready?" Narumi, who was responsible for commanding the archer troops so that Ryunosuke could devote himself to defense work, shouted loudly, because suddenly the Ronin archers did not carry special rockets. At this time, they took Ordinary heavy arrows are improvised by drenching cloth with oil. However, due to the light attack, the baggage was placed halfway, and it took a full 10 minutes to sort out enough combustibles.
"It's done -" "Okay -" The archers reported their status in turn, and the samurai leader looked at the tallest flag of the sailboat not far away - the rustling wind flag was blown straight -
"Wind speed four, northwest direction, half-drawn bow! Aim at the sail!" Narumi shouted loudly, and based on the information he reported, the archers tilted their big bows slightly to the right and did not aim directly at the sail.
"Tsk--" A ronin in charge of igniting quickly ignited the improvised rocket after the archers put the arrows on it. The archers pulled the strings with their index fingers and thumbs, and only pulled them out with force. Half draw length.
The biting wind blew the flames so much that they made a "whooshing" sound. Pulling only half of the rocket was enough to reach the sailboat. If the rocket was fully pulled, the flames would be extinguished due to the high speed of the arrow and the strong wind.
"Ready - release!" Narumi gave an order, and dozens of rockets were fired at several sails of the sailboat leaning on the side. The thick sails stacked together became the best ignition material, and they were densely packed. The rockets that landed successfully spread rapidly except for a few that were stuck on the thick wooden planks covered with weather and frost and did not produce any movement for a long time.
"Next ship, ready to release!"
"Ahhhh——"
"Ryuunosuke-sama, 15 people have been seriously injured!"
"Get on top!"
"ha!"
After changing from three lines of defense to two, it was obvious that it was crumbling under the endless attacks. The crazy rush of ghouls made the semicircular front look like a dough that was kneaded hard. Once a certain point, If the power imbalance is there, it will sink in, and when humans push back, there will be a sink in the other direction.
In the process, many ronin broke away from the cover of friendly forces on the defensive line and were instantly dragged into the black tide by the bloodthirsty monsters and disappeared. The heavy armor they wore provided as much protection as possible, but it was still far from enough. They were overwhelmed. It was only a matter of time before they were engulfed in the face of sexual numerical disadvantage - but the goal was finally achieved.
"It's all lit!" Narumi shouted.
"Detachment, detachment, detachment!" Another adjutant under Ryuzosuke's command immediately roared loudly.
"The archers are advancing with the warriors, using the tactics taught by the foreigners, and they are about to withdraw!" Although the Hundred Battles Division suffered heavy casualties, it still had high morale. The archers put away their big bows and drew them out in unison. Someone else picked up the short gun of his fallen companion. The moment Henry and his party withdrew from the defense line, they forced a breakout from the south side of the semicircle formation.
"Drink--" The edge of the big sword showed again. The pressure here was relatively low by the water. They quickly cut through the ghoul wave here and broke through to a position of about 20 meters.
"Archers stop! Get in position - phase cover begins!" Narumi commanded loudly, and the archers who didn't even have time to wipe away the blood put their knives back and inserted their short spears into the ground and quickly opened the formation. Bow and arrow.
"Beep beep - beep beep - beep -" the warrior leader blew his whistle. The sharp and piercing sound was far more noticeable in a noisy environment than shouting - this was a signal to retreat, Dragon. Without looking back, he shouted loudly: "Prepare the cupping pot! Prepare the torch! Shrink the formation, cone formation!" The remaining fuel for making the rocket was quickly poured to the ground, and the ronin who changed the formation launched an attack in an instant A counterattack caused the Kuroshio to retreat a little and then quickly crossed the ground full of fuel.
"ignition!"
"Fire the arrow!"
"Boom -" The torch was thrown to the ground, lighting the flames and creating a wall of flames. At the same time, the archers not far away dropped arrows at the ghouls sandwiched between the two groups of people.
The heavy-duty Kazuya that made a "Whee--" sound fell with powerful power. Although it failed to kill these twisted monsters with a single blow except for a few hits on the head, it was enough to knock them down into Ryunosuke's troops. Breakthrough creates opportunities.
"kill!"
"ha!!!"
The seriously injured ronin was protected in the center of the cone formation, while the dead ones could only leave their corpses behind and be overwhelmed by the ghouls. 11 years of fighting side by side have already allowed them to develop a deep bond like brothers, but now they can't even bury their bodies in the capital and can only run away in embarrassment.
"Crack--"
With bloodshot eyes filled with grief and anger, they glared at all the blasphemy in front of them. The ronin injected hatred into every attack, using their carefully forged Japanese swords to efficiently kill one twisted monster after another.
"Ha-ha-" Panting, they came to where the archers were.
"Turn around? Raise the gun! Protect on the spot!" The blazing fire may be able to stop the human enemy, but it cannot completely stop these ghouls who have no wisdom and do not know life and death? The beast instinct buried in their hearts makes the flames burn. There was some hesitation in his movements but he quickly passed through the burning fire.
However, after a group of people broke through, the ghouls that caught up were no longer in the previous encircling formation, but were chasing after them in a long snake that was not conducive to performance. For Ryunosuke and others who turned around and started to defend on the spot again The pressure is much less.
"Archers - withdraw! Same distance!" The strategy briefly informed by Henry was called staged cover retreat? Although further splitting the already numerically disadvantaged troops into two parts went against Ryunosuke's wishes, Henry's explanation successfully convinced him, so the Ronin leader handed over the military power to Narumi without hesitation.
Melee fighters and archers are split into two parts, with one part attacking the enemy while the other part is evacuating, slowing down the enemy's pursuit so that friendly forces can successfully evacuate. Although retreating and escaping sounds unseemly, this approach is far more effective in preserving vitality than holding on and eventually being defeated.
"——Let go!!" They didn't stay in place for too long. The Ronin just used short guns to launch a defense and repel the four-legged running ghouls who rushed up first to buy about 10 seconds for the archers.
If the ghouls that stay too long catch up, they will be surrounded from all sides.
"咻咻咻咻——" The whistling rain of arrows fell in the middle of the ghoul tide in the long snake formation. The powerful heavy arrows knocked over the ghouls, blocking the subsequent running part and stagnating their momentum. , then Ryunosuke and his party ran backwards again to widen the distance.
Almost everyone was gasping for air. Although the biting wind under the gloomy sky blocked the scorching summer sun, the strenuous physical exercise and armor load still aggravated the sweat loss and sultry body feeling.
But they must ignore these.
The hand holding the knife began to throb with pain? The palms and fingers were numb? The legs felt like they were filled with lead, but they could still move forward under the tight leggings - so they had to keep moving forward.
The number of people was decreasing little by little? The seriously injured ronin who had been supported along the bumpy road because there were no stretchers finally died? Ryunosuke gritted his teeth and abandoned these people? They just walked toward each other piece by piece at a distance of tens of seconds and dozens of meters. Retracement in the direction of Hot Spring Village.
"Sir Samurai, we're out of arrows!" As if their tired bodies weren't bad enough, the archers shouted loudly after taking cover for the last time.
"We've reached a critical point!" But after the Ronins retreated, they recognized the terrain here - this is exactly where they hid their baggage, horses and some supplies when they attacked Saburo's main formation with light equipment -
"The riders come out." The former county magistrate gave the order with a stern face, and the cavalry, which had also been damaged, walked out from the infantry team and quickly ran to the reeds to pull out the horses--Enter The waiting gelding has a docile personality and will not leave the area where it is placed without the owner's order.
Although they were both physically and mentally exhausted, after mounting their horses, they immediately gathered their energy and picked up the riding spears that had also been reserved in place.
"Archers replenish arrows as soon as possible."
"You foreigners, thank you for your work." The stamina of the wanderers who ran long distances in heavy armor was close to the bottom, but Henry and his party preserved their strength better because they acted together with the archers. Together with the Qingtian family warriors, they switched defenses and stood on the front line, and our Mr. Sage single-handedly fought off the ghoul vanguard, which became sparse during the pursuit, as always.
Black blood spattered under Claymore's edge, and the twisted monsters fell to the ground one after another. Everyone else was slaughtered by Henry before the ghouls rushed up.
"If everyone under my command were like him -" Ryunosuke sighed with a slightly gloomy look, and the archers who quickly replenished their arrows did not hesitate to draw their bows and set arrows again, and when a wave of arrows fell, Afterwards, the cavalry troops also sorted themselves out.
"preparation--"
"charge!"
"Ha!!!" The sound of horse hooves quickly accelerated from "tap tap tap tap!!" to a thunderous "rumbling" sound. Under the powerful impact of hundreds of kilograms of people and horses, even though there were only dozens of horses They still managed to knock the group of ghouls apart.
The bodies that were pierced by the spear tip and lifted up were still waving their limbs wildly in an attempt to cause damage. Some ghouls even bit the barrel of the big gun and couldn't get rid of it no matter how hard they shook it, so the rider had no choice but to abandon the big gun and pull it out. He took out the sword fixed on the saddle and continued fighting.
"Beep beep - beep beep - beep -" the whistle sounded again, which was the signal to retreat. The cavalry did not rush forward. After trampling the entire team of ghouls in turn, they quickly started to fight with them. The large forces evacuating further merged.
Everyone was exhausted physically and mentally and walked hard, but thankfully, until they evacuated to a position where the blazing fire of the sailboat was out of sight, the ghouls no longer appeared among the reeds in the distance.
"Stop, everyone, take a breath." The moment Ryunosuke ordered, nearly half of the Ronin slumped to the ground with pale faces. Almost all of them were injured. Although they were protected by armor, they were not seriously injured, but it still increased the burden.
"No, we are catching up." Narumi carefully watched the wind and grass in the reeds in the distance, but Henry said calmly: "Because their mission is only to guard those sailboats."
He said this, his voice neither loud nor quiet, but enough for others to hear.
"Hiss--" Ryunosuke's shorter adjutant suddenly made a smacking sound, and then he gritted his teeth and rushed over with a sound of swaying armor and grabbed the sage's clothes--because of his height. When she raised her hand, she could only hold it close to the collar.
"Tie Baa."
"What on earth are you hiding from us! You are familiar with these things, right? Why didn't you tell me earlier! It's all your fault that so many people died!" Because the volume increased and the surroundings became quiet, the woman The unique voice was completely exposed, and the others in the Qingtian family also turned their heads in surprise - they didn't know that the adjutant under Ryunosuke was actually a woman.
The female members of the Kazuto samurai family basically need to learn martial arts and are responsible for guarding the house when the men in the family go out to fight, but this one obviously hides her characteristics as a woman and only exists as a samurai.
Her calm performance in battle and her status as adjutant given by the former county magistrate showed that this female warrior was worthy of her professional qualities, and it was precisely for this reason that they never doubted that under the armor, she was actually a Daughter body.
But at this moment, perhaps it was because of the unique delicacy of a woman that she noticed the sage's understanding of ghouls. The tall southern barbarian's always calm attitude seemed like oil at the moment when her subordinates who were like family members suffered heavy casualties. Pouring it on the fire, you can't help but explode as soon as you relax.
"Murasame, stop, sir, you saved our lives." Because Henry's name was too troublesome for Kazuto to pronounce, Ryunosuke and Narumi also called the sage this way. The adjutant gritted his teeth and let go of his hand, but most people still looked at the sage - they needed an explanation, immediately, immediately.
"Are you familiar with what La Mo calls magic, that is, spiritual power?" The sage didn't even bother to straighten his collar and went straight to the topic.
"The techniques learned by Onmyoji, right? It is said that shrine maidens can also use spiritual power. Does this have anything to do with the current situation?" Magic is also a higher level thing in this country. As the former county magistrate, Ryunosuke I only have a rough understanding of it.
"Using this power can indeed perform miracles. But I have never heard that it can reverse life and change life and death."
"Onmyojitsu should be more -"
"Not such a twisted thing." The former magistrate chose his words, and finally said it in Kazuto's unique euphemism.
"The magic power that humans and other races can use is limited." The sage gave an analogy: "It's like a bonfire. If the burning bonfire is touched directly with your hands, the body will be burned due to excessive heat."
"But if it is separated by a container, fire can be used to heat water. By adding a buffer medium, the temperature can be controlled, heating a cup of tea, and boiling a pot of bath water. It becomes usable by people."
"Ah, mana pool." The Luoan girl next to her sighed with some understanding.
"So -" the adjutant was silent, and Ryunosuke seemed to have some understanding.
"Yes." The sage nodded.
"The so-called ghouls are those who have insufficient endurance but have come into contact with the original magic power, which is what you call the existence of spiritual veins."
"Humanity."
"So how did Saburo master this power?" The former county magistrate asked the question he wanted to know most.
"I don't know." But beyond almost everyone's expectations, the man who should have had many answers shook his head.
"I don't have the exact answer, but there are inferences."
Henry looked at the dried blood on the guns of the group. The dark red blood was mixed with a few traces of black.
"Probably to control the flames to a small range. Although it will still burn, it will not be directly burned to death."
"He diluted it, presumably by adding tiny amounts to those people's diets."
"But this should be impossible," said the sage.
"Ghouls who have been transformed by erosion will not obey the orders of a mere mortal. They are only loyal to the twisted original purpose - hunting and eating. They are pure animals who have stripped off the outer skin of civilization and the constraints of the ancestral temple and the country, and returned to the state of beasts. 'biology'."
"Although twisted, it is also pure."
"To be able to command such pure chaos with a mortal body, apart from the necessary spells and the acceptance of [higher degree of erosion]."
He looked at Ryunosuke.
“You also need to have strong and unshakable emotions.”
"usually."
"It's hate."
