Chapter 1835 - Behemoth Slayers!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Clang! Clang!
The thirty-six Behemoth Slayers stood in a row, raising their twenty-foot-long Behemoth Banes up into the air, allowing the teeth lining the edges to gleam.
These intimidating swords were shockingly large, even taller than Huang Botian!
Once they raised their swords, the thirty-six Behemoth Slayers went still and silent.
Buzz!
Even the distant Arab Governors and Deputy Governors couldn’t help but widen their eyes in shock at this sight.
Arabia was a militaristic country, and its generals had campaigned all around the world and seen many things. But none of them had ever seen soldiers use such massive weapons before.
All of them felt uneasy at this development.
Roooar!
The bellowing Behemoths drew closer and closer, the earth shaking and dust churning at their approach. Even though the clouds of dust rose several hundred feet into the air, they still could not completely mask the enormous forms of the Behemoths.
One second!
Two seconds!
A moment later, just when the Behemoths were about to crash into the defense line, the thirty-six Behemoth Slayers shot over with astonishing speed, instantly crossing several hundred feet.
As a Behemoth was about to plunge into the defense line, Huang Botian cried out, his body somersaulting through the air. As countless people watched in awe, he landed on the head of a bull Behemoth.
“Open up for this old man!”
Huang Botian’s eyes were red, his hair and beard in disarray, his body brimming with divine energy.
Crack!
A flash of lighting seemed to cross the skies, and a moment later, that twenty-foot-long sword slashed down.
With a metallic clang, the armor around the Behemoth’s head, three feet thick and strengthened by innumerable inscriptions, suddenly cracked open. After breaking through the armor, Huang Botian stabbed his giant sword into the Behemoth’s head, two-thirds of the blade sinking into the flesh.
Awooooo!
The bull Behemoth’s body shuddered as it painfully howled.
The teeth edging the blade of the twenty-foot sword seemed to wound it even more than the giant ballista bolts.
As the sword plunged in, plush! Foul blood gushed out from the wound along a groove in the sword specifically designed for redirecting blood, drenching Huang Botian.
“Die for this old man!”
Huang Botian furiously roared, and as his Stellar Energy rumbled, the entirety of the sword plunged into the beast’s head.
The Behemoth instantly howled. Its massive body staggered and dropped, crushing ten-some steel walls into metal scrap.
“Kill!”
Right behind Huang Botian, the other armored soldiers shot forward with their massive swords and lunged at the other Behemoths.
The reason warriors found it hard to hurt the Behemoths was their tough, thick, and tenacious flesh. The thickness of the skull alone was several meters. Ordinary weapons couldn’t even pierce through their bones, let alone damage their organs.
The Behemoth Banes had been forged for this specific purpose.
These massive weapons weren’t that powerful when used against regular enemy soldiers, even being so large that they hindered mobility and prevented the user from exerting their full strength. But they were perfect for the Behemoths.
Thudthudthud!
As the Behemoth Slayers came forward, the Behemoths began to howl in pain.
“Release!”
Without the slightest hesitation, the giant ballistae began to thunder, sending ballista bolts howling through the air. In a flash, another seven or eight Behemoths had been felled, bringing the total losses above twenty.
But not a single Behemoth had been able to penetrate deeply into the Tang defense line.
Upon seeing this, the millions of Arab cavalry turned silent, all of them stunned.
These were the world-destroying beasts of Arabia, and even the powerful Sassanid Dynasty, despite its fierce resistance, had fallen under just a few Behemoths.
But now, even before the battle had fully begun, so many of these beasts had been lost. This eastern empire had even established a force specifically to deal with the Behemoths, a development that none of them had expected.
For the first time, the fearless Arab cavalry were realizing that these eastern infidels would be far more frightening than imagined, even with their overwhelming advantage in numbers.
“Kill!”
“Everyone, charge with me!”
“The Behemoths have already made an opening! Hold the Tang back! Tear them to shreds! Attack!”
At this moment, Arabic war cries resounded through the air. As the Behemoth Army offensive was being pushed back, the galloping of hooves came from behind them. Weapons clanged, their edges flashing with cold light, and an army of two-hundred-thousand-some Arab cavalry charged out, the general leading them pointing his sword straight into the air.
As Khatabah’s most outstanding vanguard general, Apolis had a sharp intuition for spotting the best chance to strike so as to increase the advantage for his own side. From the very beginning, Apolis had been watching the battle from the rear.
While the enemy had been more prepared than expected and the Behemoth Army’s attack had been thwarted, the objective had been reached. The Behemoth Army had successfully opened up the center of the Tang defense line.
“Kill!”
The Arab cavalry roared and sped up, and the distance rapidly shrank from six thousand feet to four thousand feet. At this distance, the Arab cavalry suddenly split in two, circling around the Behemoths before continuing their charge.
“Focus! They’re about to attack! The enemy commander is extremely formidable. He plans to use the power of the Behemoths to widen the gap in our defenses!” A powerful mental wave swept out, mixing with the mental waves of the other five Tang commanders. The speaker was none other than Wang Zhongsi, atop a scarlet steed.
Wang Zhongsi was not participating in this probing assault, but as the illustrious and experienced former War God, he had been constantly observing the battlefield.
Wang Chong had always been on guard against the Arabs, starting his preparations ever since the Battle of Talas. This was probably the Great Tang’s greatest advantage in this battle. In normal circumstances, if the initial assault had failed to produce the expected amount of damage, the majority of commanders would choose to temporarily retreat, but not this commander.
This man was aggressively minded. Rather than retreating, he wanted to create more opportunities on the battlefield by attacking on two flanks, thus throwing the Tang army into chaos and allowing the Behemoth Army to get more done.
Two hundred thousand cavalry assaulting the defense line paired with the Behemoth Army would massively increase the pressure on the Tang.
“Lord Zhangchou, Protector-General An, it’s up to you!” Wang Chong coldly said, his expression calm and collected.
“Mm!”
On the left and right flanks, Zhangchou Jianqiong and An Sishun subtly nodded, but they remained motionless in their separate armies.
As top-class Great Generals, Zhangchou Jianqiong and An Sishun had their own analyses of the battlefield, their own understanding of the ideal chance to strike and how the strike was made. They were not like ordinary generals, who would rashly charge in the moment they spotted the enemy.
That was far from the best opportunity.
“Kill!”
“Exterminate these infidels!”
“This is a great glory! Today, we will follow the Hierophant in uniting the entire eastern world and fulfilling God’s will!”
“Those who die will be eternal warriors of Arabia!”
Arabic war cries continued to ring out as the Arab cavalry coalesced into floods of steel.
The neighing of their horses was getting closer and closer.
As the tension soared, time slowed to an interminable crawl.
“First defense line! Left and right flanks! Raise shields! Hold the line!”
“Beehives! Get ready for my order!”
“Ready!”
“Ready!”
A string of orders came from the first defense line. At this time, there was no need for Wang Chong to issue the orders himself. His subordinates had been honed by numerous battles.
The commanders at the front line were Li Siye’s subordinates: Kong Zi-an, Sun Zhiming, and Xue Qianjun.
Gallop!
The Arab cavalry picked up speed, and the air current created by the tens of thousands of charging Arab cavalry produced visible ripples in the air.
At this distance, it was possible to see the savage visages of the Arab cavalry, even the bristly hairs on their arms. All the Arab cavalry flowed between the steel walls like floodwaters, navigating through the gaps.
In order to maximize the amount of area covered by the steel walls, Wang Chong had been forced to leave these gaps.
