Chapter 259 Battle of Mayo Town

"Get up, pigs!"

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

At the shouts of Cléante and the captains, the entire town of Mayo was awakened, and the mountain infantry walked out of their huts in a daze.

Before I could even open my eyes from the wonderful dream, I was awakened by the captains' whips.

The horses' hooves raised dust, and all seven or eight messengers rode up and down the street on horses and donkeys, dragging soldiers out of houses and tents.

Teams of mountain mercenaries formed into columns under the arrangement of their captain and ran towards the flat open space outside the town.

In the dark night, many townspeople were awakened by the noise, and the brave ones even climbed onto the roof to watch.

Cleont, with gauze wrapped around his head, stood on a mound of earth and looked into the distance.

Although there is moonlight tonight, there are also dark clouds blocking the moon, making everything sometimes clear and sometimes blurry.

But based on the sounds and vague shadows, Cleont judged that their outposts and arrow towers on the periphery were being taken down one by one.

"Why the hell are they moving so fast?"

Cléante turned around and saw that the mountain mercenaries were still in a mess. Some of them forgot to bring their weapons, some couldn't find their team, and some fell down and were trampled.

After all, it was night time and they had just woken up. If it were daytime, it would be much better than it is now.

These mountain infantrymen were dressed in linen clothes, most of them wore armor and lath armor, and only a few wore chain mail and breastplates.

These eight hundred men, according to their captains and company commanders, stood shoulder to shoulder and formed a 50X10 phalanx of spearmen and four 15X5 phalanxes of crossbowmen distributed in the four corners.

This is a variation of the Dunjar Phalanx that was learned by the Mountaineer and Norn mercenaries and is commonly used in the Norn region.

Spears were put down one after another, forming a hedgehog-like forest of iron spears, forming a long wall of spikes, pointing diagonally forward.

"Woo——"

The dull sounds of horns and whistles in the night sky seemed so noisy, and the mountain people all felt that the ground was shaking slightly.

Looking up, the Savior Army appeared not far ahead.

At the command, they placed the barrels of their spears against their shoulders and everyone took steps in unison.

Viewed from the side, it looks like a straightened black yarn.

The night wind blew through the corners of their clothes, revealing the faint red lining under the black.

Cleonte heard the distinct sound of people swallowing saliva from the formation behind him.

"What are you doing? What are you afraid of?" Cleonte waved his sword, "Back then, I, Cleonte, chased them around like stray dogs. It's only been three months. What can they do?

Don’t be fooled by their neat formation. From what I know about them, they must have a rope tied around their waists. If you knock down one of them, the rest will surely fall down.”

Cleonte looked up at the sky and felt relieved only after he was sure that the other wizard Horn had not summoned vampires or undead.

Not far away from the mountain people, Rudilo gave a command.

"All troops stop and organize their formation!"

"Stop—form the formation!"

The orderly footsteps stopped instantly and turned into tiny steps.

On the battlefield at night, the dim moonlight loomed over everyone's heads.

In front of these 800 mercenaries at this moment is a part of Rudilo's Black Hat Second Legion.

Yes, there are only 100 holy musketeers and 200 spearmen arriving at the battlefield, and facing them are 800 mountain mercenaries.

Rudilo's behavior was courageous at best and reckless at worst.

His recklessness not only led to a disconnect with friendly forces, but also a disconnect within the legion itself.

Now in this open space, they formed a 50X4 spear horizontal formation in the middle and a 10X5 holy gun horizontal formation on both wings.

借着月光，鲁迪洛目测了一下距离大概是200-300米，他们手中17毫米坎尼狄二型发条铳的杀伤距离大概在70米-100米。

If they were to march at a fast pace of 50 meters per minute, they could certainly engage in combat quickly, but the formation might become disordered and the Holy Guns might not have time to reload.

The enemy has no cavalry, and the initiative on the battlefield is in our hands, so there is no need to rush.

Rudilo ordered the division captain beside him: "The Holy Gunners, spread out and march forward at a steady pace."

"The First Holy Gun Division, spread out an arm's length to the left, the Second Holy Gun Division, spread out an arm's length to the right, and organize the formation." The division captain shouted loudly, and the brigade commanders immediately shouted to the people around them, "Take a step to the left!"

"Keep moving forward!"

Under the orders of officers at all levels, the dispersed Holy musketeers and spearmen began to march at normal pace.

"Hahahaha, look, they actually dispersed their formation."

Friends who often participate in cold weapon wars know that infantry hand-to-hand combat requires dense formations.

Enduring the pain from the base of his ear, Cleonte pointed his sword forward and charged into the battle himself: "Keep the formation and attack. Start the charge from a distance of fifty meters."

Silent footsteps echoed in the wilderness, one side was noisy and the other side was orderly.

The sound of metal rubbing against metal seemed like a countdown, and Rudilo silently estimated the distance between the two sides.

250 meters, 200 meters, 150 meters...

"All troops stop advancing, Holy Gunners begin reloading." "Ready!"

The clockwork key began to turn, and the sound of gears meshing was heard. In a moment, all the holy musketeers had loaded their guns.

"aim!"

Having practiced countless times and with the gun-holding posture already formed into muscle memory, the war monks indifferently aimed at the enemies in front of them.

To them who had experienced the charges of hairy zombies and giant spiders, the movements of these soldiers were simply as slow as a snail.

The mercenaries raised their spears to their chests, pointing the sharp blades of their spears at the peasant army that had stopped in fear.

What did they see? These farmers actually picked up fire pokers and pointed them at them. Were they using the fire pokers as weapons?
Many mercenaries showed mocking grins on their faces. As expected, as long as there were no flying vampires and undead mentioned by the Demon King Hoss the next day, these farmers were as weak as chickens.

"Farmers, the guards are coming." This slogan commonly used to suppress peasants was once again heard from the army.

"110 meters, 100 meters..." Rudilo finished counting the last number of the countdown, "Holy Gunners, two rows of retreat and shoot!"

"Praise the Holy Wind!"

The giant beast, whose throat was stuck by the thorns, let out a thunderous roar, and the recoil made the Holy Gunner tremble all over.

The sound of whistling wind was heard, and Cléante heard the previous sound again. His footsteps subconsciously paused, but the others around him rushed out.

The sound of crushing ripe berries rang out one after another, metal rings and iron pieces flew in front of eyes, and a blood mist suddenly enveloped the front-line positions.

Nearly ten of the mountain people who were charging in dense formation fell down in an instant, but they did not realize what was happening and were still rushing forward subconsciously.

"Bang bang bang-"

"what--"

"It hurts, it hurts, Mom, it hurts so much."

When the second round of gunfire rang out, nearly ten more people fell down, tripped by the corpses under their feet, and many mountain people fell into confusion.

What just happened?
Looking up and towards the opposite side, there was only the back of the farmer turning back to pass through the gap in the array, and the fire stick he raised towards them.

Before they could react, the infantry phalanx, whose speed had obviously slowed down, was once again hit by a rain of lead bullets.

The whistling sound of lead bullets piercing the air rang around me, big holes were punched in the thick armor, and my comrades around me fell down one by one.

A strong smell of blood spread out and drifted into everyone's nose and mouth.

Cléante keenly noticed that scattered deserters began to appear on both sides of the phalanx.

He rushed through the sparse ranks of mountain people in a rage, chasing and hacking at the deserters.

"Don't run, don't run." The disheveled Cleonte tried to stop these mountain people, but it was no use.

Cleont, who was wearing armor, could not catch up with the armor-less mountain people.

The tight formation of mountain people that had been charging rapidly from a distance of 50 meters to the front of the Second Legion of the Black Hat Army had basically turned into a sieve pancake and no longer had the tight formation it had before.

The holy musketeers who were firing backwards came to the rear end of the team and began to turn left and right, hiding behind the forest of spears.

"All spearmen, charge!"

Shoulder to shoulder, 200 spearmen roared in unison and charged towards the enemy's loose formation.

As if a hot knife was cutting butter, the spearmen easily penetrated the scattered mountain people in the front row.

In the blink of an eye, the mountain people in the back row did not put up much resistance, but fled in all directions, crying "Magic!" "Wizard!"

They seemed to have seen something terrible and threw away all their weapons and heavy armor just to be a few points faster than their companions.

"Lancers, pursue the formation, Holy Gunners, advance at a steady pace!"

The pikemen immediately formed into three brigade columns and began to pursue and counterattack to prevent the enemy officers from gathering the defeated soldiers and re-forming the battle line.

By the time the pursuit was over and Rudilo's rear guard, the Cheka and the military judge arrived at the scene, it was already past midnight.

Next to him was Rudilo, who was speechless after being questioned by the military judge, while Laurent was rummaging through the pile of corpses.

Soon, he saw a familiar figure.

Among the corpses on the ground, Laurent found Cléante's body.

He was lying on the side of the road with a dented head and bloody footprints on his body. He must have accidentally fallen while running and was trampled to death.

Standing in front of Cléante's body, Laurent looked at it for a long time, then turned around and went straight to the direction of his old friend Jourdain.

At dawn, Horn finally arrived at the town of Mayo.

When the morning light shone on the earth, the townspeople climbed onto the roofs, walked out of the houses and crowded on the roadside.

The Salvation Army war monks, dressed in black and red coats and carrying black and red flags, surged forward. Countless mercenaries who had oppressed them were tied up with ropes and marched forward dejectedly.

The townspeople picked up stones and mud and threw them at the mercenaries, cursing them viciously and even crying.

When Horn arrived on his tall horse, belated cheers resounded throughout the town of Mayo.

Everyone raised their hands, waved at Horn, and kept shouting Horn's name.

Standing up in the stirrups, Horn raised his fist high: "Friends, my friends, I am back."

(End of this chapter)