The battlefield centered around the Sigma statue, aside from the dense light blue woods, had little open space, and the frontlines were not wide.
Especially on the gentle slope where the Sigma statue was located, surrounded by small cliffs and woods. The width of the uphill area was only about five hundred meters.
When four or five groups of troops surged onto the gentle slope, their total number barely reached around fifteen hundred infantry, who needed to shift from a horizontal to a vertical formation.
For a moment, the uphill area was bustling with people, and due to the changes in formation and sequence among the hundred-man teams, congestion inevitably occurred, slowing down their movement.
However, it also gave courage to the soldiers who had been hesitant and wavering.
They looked around, and their “companions” were everywhere, and the Legion Commander, Jima, was leading the charge on her floating platform.
They felt courage rising in their chests, their steps firm and heads held high, as if walking down a runway.
Jima thought of the ratmen; they gained courage in large numbers.
Fortunately, the four and five groups below were out of Jima’s line of sight.
Jima, high on her floating platform, had a bird’s-eye view of the entire battlefield. She saw the Sinful war chariots changing from a column to a line, the Sinful war beasts straining to pull the chariots, their stinger wheels crushing and snapping trees.
As Jima had anticipated, it took some time for the chariots to reposition from a marching column to a line on what could be considered a narrow battlefield; they even experienced a “traffic jam.”
It was a flaw.
But Jima couldn’t seize on that flaw; the lion was exposing its belly, weak at this moment. But for a skinny monkey holding a stone knife, charging in would mean a gift.
There was already a row of about sixteen chariots lined up horizontally. Sunlight filtered through the mist, landing on the stinger wheels of the Skinning chariots; the gray-black wheels reflected a metallic glow, quite terrifying.
More chariots were still arriving behind, lining up.
Jima said to her nearby advisor, the Dust-Mouth Demon: “I dare bet that if those poor souls down there see this row of chariots, they might not even be able to lift their feet.”
The Dust-Mouth Demon nodded, silent.
The Skinning chariot diagram:
Jima clasped her hands together and prayed to the massive Sigma statue standing at the center of the gentle slope: “Thank you for the protection of the Sigma statue.”
“Your Majesty, there is an eye in the sky, watching you.”
“Pink?”
“Yes.”
Jima replied lightly: “I knew it; it’s the charioteer’s trick.”
In the sky, the pink, eyelash-less giant eye closed.
It had transmitted all it had seen to its master.
The Charioteer.
Among this row of Skinning chariots was a divine war chariot blessed by the Sinful, endowed with divine power, pulled by four of the Sinful warhorses. On its high platform stood the “Charioteer” herself.
She waved her hellish whip, excitedly flicking her long forked tongue.
The large group of infantry ahead was a piece of tender meat, equipped with outdated gear, weak-willed, and slow. Did the enemy actually want to send them in for an offensive?
Delicious pain and souls, delivered right to her mouth.
As she leaned down, kissing and licking the face of the betraying Sinful officer tied to the cross before her chariot, she said, “Darling, thank you for the intel. The commander over there is indeed arrogant and foolish.”
She saved the betraying Sinful officer but bound him up to serve as a meat shield, seeking the emotions of agony between extreme pleasure and pain.
Having said that, she couldn’t wait any longer; raising her whip she shouted, “Sisters, charge!”
The first row of sixteen Skinning chariots, amidst laughter and cheer, began to advance, the Sinful warhorses, resembling anteaters, straining to pull the chariot, their stinger wheels starting to spin, gaining speed until they made a sound like blades slicing through the air.
They moved as if they were flying close to the ground, utterly unscientific.
Jima estimated they were moving twice as fast as the fully armored Imperial Knights.
She looked at the stationary Charioteer and said, “What a pity; it would be great if she charged together.”
That way, they could directly take the commander’s head.
But the enemy had evidently received intelligence.
In her thoughts, the sixteen Skinning chariots swiftly climbed the gentle slope.
Meanwhile, the four and five groups of infantry had only just begun to ascend.
Jima waved a yellow battle flag: “Groups four and five, hold your ground!”
Beside her, two Doomsday Knights waved the battle flag to pass on her command: “Groups four and five, hold your ground!”
Below, nine Doomsday Knights on fire-spitting platforms floated over the infantry’s heads, shouting, “Everyone hold your ground!”
Upon hearing the orders from the Doomsday Knights above, this group of light infantry, composed mainly of Sinful raiders, stopped.
A raider on the left wing, wearing a mohawk helmet, asked, “What’s going on?”
“Why have we stopped?”
“Weren’t we supposed to charge?”
They chattered away incessantly.
Some even shouted at Jima floating in the air, using a sing-song tone as if calling in a mountain song: “Hey~~ why did you call a stop, General?”
Others chimed in, echoing: “Hey yo yo yo!”
Just as their song faded, a sound like blades slicing through the air approached rapidly.
The one in the mohawk helmet looked towards the side of the Sigma statue’s base.
One chariot, two chariots, three… a total of sixteen Skinning chariots burst forth.
After a long-distance drive, their speed increased to a terrifying level.
Just as he came to his senses, he saw an entire row of chariots charging directly at him.
The stinger wheels were nearly two men tall. The spinning blades were fast enough to create an afterimage.
And he had only an iron helmet on his head, a shield that could barely cover half his body, and a long hand that had mutated into a claw.
Nothing more.
Just watching the approaching stinger wheels, his bare upper body already felt a vague pain.
As a bit of fear began to take hold, the Skinning chariots charged right up.
He instinctively brought the shield up to protect his chest and raised his right hand, trying to fend off the full-speed onslaught of the Skinning chariots.
“Boom!”
The stinger wheels crushed him into the ground, piercing through his armor, creating bloody holes from foot to head. The Skinning chariot rolled over his corpse, the bloodied stinger wheels lifting a fragmented limb.
The Skinning chariots directly sliced through the first five rows of soldiers like a knife cuts through flesh, from above watching, it was as though they were plowing through sixteen blood-soaked paths.
The Sinful raiders who managed to survive between the stinger wheels could not escape the long whips of the Sinful demonesses on the chariots, as they laughed wickedly, slaughtering the wounded. The spinning blades peeled skin off of people, and those raiders who lost all skin above the neck screamed and shouted.
The cries of anguish reached the ears of the infantry on the right wing, who still had no idea what was happening.
But the rapidly approaching sounds of blades soon replicated the scene of a meat grinder on the left wing.
It was the second row of sixteen Skinning chariots.
The remaining sixteen Skinning chariots abandoned their formation and charged forward, joining in on the bloody feast of agony at the foot of the Sigma statue, enjoying the hospitality of the fifteen hundred Sinful raiders—they were guests, and they were food.
Morale was on the verge of collapse; the formation became chaotic under the cutting of the chariots, and the flags fell.
Fortunately, Jima had chosen a narrow battlefield; at the steep places of the gentle slope, there were woodlands and low cliffs.
Only a few Skinning chariots managed to trample right through the mass of one thousand five hundred bodies. They circled back, rebuilding momentum, and charged towards the Sinful raiders from behind.
With such a massive supply of flesh, even the high-speed rotating stinger wheels, still possessing their strange magic, finally obeyed Newton’s laws and began to stutter, slowing down.
Broken chitinous claws got stuck in the gears; several Skinning chariots became frantic, and the Sinful warhorses pulled the chariots with great difficulty.
Around them, brave Sinful raiders stabbed at the Sinful Skinning chariots with their mutated claws, but the results were minimal; the chariot bodies were incredibly tough and resistant to damage.
Some individuals were already turning to flee.
“Bang bang bang!”
Jima took out an automatic rifle and directly executed several fleeing individuals leading the way. She transformed the automatic rifle into a branch axe-spear, raising it high and shouting:
“Doomsday Knights, charge with me! Charge towards the stalled Skinning chariots!”
The number of Doomsday Knights returned to ninety-nine as they, under Jima’s lead, rushed to surround the stalled Skinning chariots amidst the “heap of flesh.”
In this round of support, they managed to stabilize the wavering morale.
The Doomsday Knights waved and thrust, and blue lights flashed in the sky.
Under Jima’s personal leadership, she and her royal guard beat down five helpless Skinning chariots, destroying them and tearing apart the Sinful demonesses that drove them.
Her “branch axe-spear” sang with a raucous tune, praising the unparalleled Valkyrie.
When these demons were severely injured and lost morale, they screamed and turned to pink ash, leaving the mortal realm. The Skinning chariots spewed forth clouds of pink ash, losing their magic and collapsing into heaps of scrap metal.
But the remaining forty-three Skinning chariots were still cutting through freely.
Jima was cautious, only bringing the Doomsday Knights to overpower the fewer enemies, afraid of losing her edge. Even in the sky, there were floating sharks yet to take action.
The Sinful raiders from groups four and five, while supported by Jima’s forces, were not yet completely defeated, but they were gradually retreating.
The ground trembled.
Over a thousand swift Sinful cavalry rushed over, primarily composed of Sinful Hellwalkers, along with the focus on Sinful Seekers, the latter being stronger than the former, differentiated by their riders. One was a mutated mortal, and the other was a Sinful demoness.
Both the Sinful Seekers and Sinful Hellwalkers were sacred hunters of souls, skilled in this mission.
They were closing in from both sides of the gentle slope.
Due to the narrow road and the overwhelming scent of blood, the Sinful cavalry formed a long line, but their sheer numbers were enough to instill despair in the Vanguard Legion’s soldiers.
Some shouted, “There are deadly flanking attackers on both sides!”
Though the Sinful cavalry were not armored and had weak defenses, they excelled in flanking attacks and ambushes—a nightmare for infantry.
Although Jima fought at the front, the appearance of the Sinful cavalry directly shook their morale.
Suddenly, a black vortex appeared in the sky, like a black hole, continuously sucking in surrounding soldiers, pulling them into the void. The Sinful raiders almost scattered as one. They screamed, turned around, and fled desperately to the rear, allowing the Skinning chariots to crush them from behind.
Jima led her team on floating platforms into the air, wielding her bloodied axe-spear, observing the battlefield.
Her soldiers, the Sinful raiders from groups four and five, were fleeing even faster.
The Sinful cavalry circling from both flanks, spurred by arrogance and honor, couldn’t wait to charge, fighting among themselves to devour the fleeing soldiers clean.
Jima could see that the desires of the Sinful cavalry had gathered above them, glowing thickly in the air—this was partly her doing.
“The cavalry has finally arrived and, as expected, are charging.”
The Dust-Mouth Demon observed with terror, the cavalry driving the fleeing soldiers into chaos was a classic scene of defeat.
Seeing Jima smiling, he flattered, “Everything is going according to plan.”
“Indeed, all according to plan.” After all, as long as I don’t intend to win, I’m stable in mindset, Jima thought and said, “Just can’t let them kill too quickly.”
She clapped her hands and shouted, “Come out, Bald Qiang!”
The previous Blood God Champion, former Demon King, roared as he fell straight from the sky, crashing into the Sinful Hellwalkers who were flanking from the left, crushing several riders and their mounts.
The fear on the battlefield enhanced his size, with shattered flesh gathering around him to form a terrifying armor.
He raised his hands, catching the screaming branch axe-spear, transforming it into a massive axe, swinging it forcefully around, sending six or seven Sinful warhorses flying into the sky, blood flowing.
The “branch giant axe” cried, “So good! So good, you are much better than that woman! Come on! Come on!”
Standing on the floating platform, Jima commented, “Next time I’ll turn it into a stirring stick to stir the cesspool.”
Having said that, she waved a blue flag: “Deploy all floating sharks to backstab the cavalry flanking the left wing.”
“Understood.”
Bald Qiang was now eight meters tall, like a pillar, standing on the main road, blocking the Sinful Hellwalkers ahead.
While he couldn’t block everything, he did hinder many Sinful cavalry; after all, when one stopped, everyone got jammed up, like a holiday traffic jam, where just one car accident can block a lane and create several kilometers of queues.
Meanwhile, the Doomsday Knights leading the floating sharks directly descended from above, attacking the stopped Sinful cavalry from behind.
Thus, the fleeing Sinful raiders wouldn’t all be slaughtered under the attacks of the cavalry flanking from both sides.
They left at least three hundred corpses on the short road of four to five hundred meters leading to the dense woods, most of them injured, scrambling to escape into the forest.
The Sinful war chariots dashed in without hesitation, crashing into the woodlands, snapping and uprooting trees. The stinger wheels bounced on the uneven ground of the rooted forest, miraculously not tipping over.
The Sinful cavalry pursued eagerly, so eager to kill the fleeing soldiers that they hardly noticed the encroaching Sinful demonesses lurking in the dense forest.
Even though the forest was hard to navigate, the chariots and cavalry relentlessly chased after the fleeing infantry until they pressed deep into the woods; finally, recovering from their fervor, they looked up to find two hundred-man squads of heavily armored Sinful demon warriors standing ready, holding long pikes.
On their sides, more infantry were slowly closing in.
A few scattered fleeing soldiers charged toward the carefully prepared position, slipping through openings between the two hundred-man squads, but the Sinful demon warriors directly used their long pikes to kill them.
There were too few fleeing soldiers to breach the stronghold.
Because of the mist, the infantry in the woods failed to see the tragic fate of the infantry from groups four and five.
Jima watched as a huge mass of Sinful cavalry and Skinning chariots charged headlong, tumbling directly into the pocket, personally blowing the horn of counterattack.
The Sinful demonesses, long-embedded in the dense woodlands, eagerly dashed out; they were deadly flankers, excitedly side-attacking and back-attacking.
The foremost Skinning chariot, with its Sinful demonesses atop, was yelling to retreat, to pull back.
But the Sinful cavalry behind, unaware of what had happened in front, back, or sides, only knew that many souls ahead were fleeing and pressed forward desperately.
As they attempted to turn around, they found companions on both sides within the dense forest; turning was difficult for the cavalry, let alone for the chariots.
Consequently, they could only stubbornly issue orders to advance, advance, and charge forward!
The Sinful warhorses strained to pull the chariots, charging forward toward the Sinful demon warriors; they kept getting stuck, moving slower.
Bracing against the ground with their long pikes and the heavy armored bodies, they easily stopped and cut down the Sinful cavalry and Skinning chariots, shattering any hope of penetration.
A massive horde of Sinful cavalry and Skinning chariots sank into the “quagmire.”
Jima seized the opportunity and shouted to the Doomsday Knights:
“Charge!”
The ninety-nine Doomsday Knights, who had long been watching the show, dove from the air, launching an aerial strike on the backs of the massed chariots and cavalry, hindering their hopes of retreat.
More infantry charged from both wings, aiming to encircle them.
Some Sinful cavalry nimbly escaped, but the majority of Sinful cavalry and chariots were jammed together, people pressed against people, pressed against trees, gasping for breath; the stinger wheels even pierced into riders’ flesh.
Screams and songs resonated together, weaving into a funeral song.
Jima slightly bowed and ordered Bald Qiang, who was blocking the road, “Let it rain!”
Bald Qiang raised the blood-soaked branch giant axe, and blood clouds appeared overhead, howling winds mixed with drops of blood rain slammed down violently on the Sinful army that loved bikini armor.
Their skins were torn, blood flowed incessantly.
From chasing glory and victory, they turned into fish in a barrel. The Sinful demonesses could not help but stand atop the halted Skinning chariots, singing loudly, shedding blood and tears as they sang their funeral song. Some even played music in accompaniment.
You could only say, the Sinful demon army was as expected.
Jima, engaged in a fierce battle, could not help but listen and heard them singing a funeral song that carried her name.
They sang too early.
Jima thought to herself, the dough for the dumplings was thin, and the enemy still had a large number of infantry.
Calmly, she soared into the air, turning around to see that under the Charioteer’s leadership, infantry formed a horizontal line, having arrived at the slope, where the ground was littered with flayed corpses. These infantry were only three or four hundred meters away from the “dumpling wrappers.”
There were many of them, like a tide. The Sinful cavalry that had escaped on both wings and those who hadn’t fallen into the pocket had already reassembled.
This time, they would backattack the “dumpling wrappers.”
Jima only took a quick glance. She noticed among a group of Sinful sisters stood a towering Sinful female— the Sinful great demon “Keeper of Secrets.”
——————
By the way:
This Sigma statue diagram is the most hated by the players of the Empire; the massive Sigma statue in the center blocks all the ammunition of the rocket launchers and obstructs the Empire’s line of sight, whereas the Empire relies on artillery superiority.
