When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist
Chapter 93 - 91: Black Snake Swallows Porcupine

Chapter 93: Chapter 91: Black Snake Swallows Porcupine

"Captain Hakuto, now Lord Belard is going to have issues with us."

Along the mountain path, fifty mercenaries advanced slowly.

"We’re from the White Maple Mercenary Corps, not Belard’s private property. He’s just our employer, not the head of the Mercenary Corps." Hakuto looked around carelessly.

"What should we do now?" A slightly younger soldier haphazardly slashed at the long-leaf grass on the ground with his short sword.

"Let’s look around. I just feel something’s off." Pushing aside the bushes in front of him, Hakuto turned to the people behind him and said, "Cléante isn’t someone so unreliable, our Be..."

"Captain, watch out!"

A flash of cold light appeared at the corner of Hakuto’s eye. He immediately retreated, and the long spear narrowly grazed his lips.

Hakuto staggered back two or three steps, his body falling back onto a companion, his mouth and nose covered as blood seeped through his fingers.

"Blow the whistle, form ranks, it’s Short Fur (nickname for Black Hat Army)."

The other mercenaries hadn’t even reacted, when soldiers clad in black cloaks emerged one after another from behind the bushes.

Their steps were hurried, their faces noticeably tense, yet they still managed to form a roughly ordered queue.

The squad leaders of the mercenaries immediately blew their whistles, rainwater pouring into them, distorting the sound.

The mercenaries in white hooded robes, who had initially spread out, quickly began to converge towards the middle at the sound of the whistle, forming a square formation.

The Black Hat Army, bearing black and red flags, also blew their whistles, filling the small clearing with commands and whistle sounds instantly.

Three brigades of the Black Hat Army formed a tidy line, the first row having already equipped their four-meter-long forged spears, while the latter two brigades still held six-meter-long cast spears, shared by two.

The rain pattered to the ground, and for a moment, the urgent whistle sounds ceased.

In that instant, the Black Hat Army and White Maple Mercenaries stared at each other.

The next second, straw sandals stomped into mud puddles, splashing mud onto pants rolled up to the knees.

The three brigades of the Black Hat Army charged at the fifty before them simultaneously.

The friction of spear blades hissed, and their footsteps were as rhythmic as the rain.

The first line of the White Maple Mercenaries also raised kite-shaped shields, while one spear after another reached over their shoulders, resting on the shields, towards the Black Hat Army.

The spears exposed to the rain made the entire formation resemble a porcupine bristling with spikes.

"Steady, steady." Hakuto’s upper and lower lips and nose tip all had nicks, making his speech whistle.

Before he finished speaking, those Black Hat Army soldiers had started their charge in the wind and rain.

This made Hakuto almost unable to believe his eyes.

The ability to run and strike on the battlefield required not just discipline and trust, but most importantly, a spirit unafraid of death.

These Black Hat Army soldiers, surprisingly, surprisingly...

Before he could finish being surprised, one soldier in the first line of the Black Hat Army already slipped.

On the slippery ground, like dominoes, the first row of Black Hat Army soldiers all slipped and fell one after another.

The second and third rows of the Black Hat Army had to halt their charge and carefully step over their fallen comrades.

It was then Hakuto noticed, these black-clad soldiers would tie a rope around their waists, forming a neat charging array.

To him, this seemed extremely foolish.

Because if one fell, everyone had to help, easily toppling the entire formation.

Similarly, if one person wanted to run, everyone else would be implicated, potentially running together.

Indeed they were ignorant rabble; he was momentarily scared at the beginning.

Beyond the first line of the Black Hat Army, the following two brigades lifted ten spears, charging towards the spear formation.

"Don’t move! I said don’t move!" Hakuto shouted loudly, and those six-meter-long spears got closer.

In the eyes of the first line of White Maple Mercenaries, the enemy’s spears seemed about to pierce their eyeballs.

"Stab!"

With the whistling command slipping from Hakuto’s mouth, twenty long spears thrust forward instantly, one row straight, one row angled upward.

The two rows of spears instantly penetrated the chests of five or six Black Hat Army soldiers, their blood spurting from the wounds, and screams erupted instantly.

Shield soldiers in the first row then pulled out their short swords, beginning to parry spears and stab the Black Hat Army in the front row.

Of course, the Black Hat Army wielded six-meter-long spears, much longer than these, with two or three even piercing the shields or sticking into them.

But for these veterans, it merely wounded their arms or other non-essential parts.

Blood mixed with rain, flowing down the mountain path with the commands and screams.

Crowds of black-clad soldiers emerged from the bushes, many holding long or shorts spears, some new recruits even wielding just wooden sticks, flails, and pitchforks.

Within the surging sea of black-clad soldiers, Hakuto spotted a group with red cloth tied to their arms and some even wearing chain mail and leather armor.

The black-clad soldiers circled Hakuto’s formation, attempting to enclose it, while Hakuto immediately ordered a retreat, trying to get back to the main road.

Curse this weather, unable to shoot signal arrows to notify downstream.

Hakuto’s spear formation retreated while fighting, and neither the Black Hat Army nor the Imperial Guard could break through their spears.

Facing the hedgehog-like formation, occasionally someone would charge forward trying to force a breakthrough, only to be dragged back by other brigade leaders with reinforcements.

Black-clad soldiers surrounded Hakuto on three sides, moving slowly with the spear formation, constantly attempting charges and feigned attacks in coordination.

Smoothing back his gray hair to push the obstructing white strand back, Hakuto became anxious.

He was correct about the rope-charging tactic but wrong about these black-clad soldiers.

This was quite unlike the mobs he’d encountered before; with his fifty men, he’d already inflicted thirty casualties without any signs of a rout, not even a deserter.

Even in the face of such a situation, they kept trying to attack instead of cowering.

Most importantly, despite their lack of training and experience, their ranks were extremely orderly, clearly guided by specialized officers.

"Flying axes, beware of flying axes, dodge!"

While Hakuto was momentarily distracted, two brigades of the Imperial Guard charged up and threw their waist-axes.

Twenty short axes spun through the air like wheels crashing into the soldiers’ ranks.

Hakuto raised his arm, deflecting a short axe with his small shield, while in front of him, a White Maple Mercenary fell straight down.

A flying axe had struck him square in the face, knocking him out.

Most of the others were similar, some axes hitting people directly with their blades.

Looking around, Hakuto was relieved as only three to five soldiers were injured, with just the one in front losing combat capability.

"Drink the potion! Prepare to break out!"

As more soldiers emerged from the bushes, reaching up to two hundred in number, Hakuto made a quick decision.

The White Maple Mercenaries quickly reached for the potions on their waists.

The potions, specifically brewed for the White Maple Mercenary Corps by the Kingdom’s Alchemist Guild, enhanced morale, stopped bleeding, and alleviated pain.

Under Hakuto’s direction, the fifty mercenaries, besieged by nearly two hundred enemies, unscrewed the potion vials from their waists and gulped them down.

Shortly after, their skin started to flush faintly red.

But just then, the encircling black-clad soldiers suddenly parted, revealing a girl filled with electrical sparks walking towards them.

"Witch!"

"By the mountain goat, there’s really a witch!"

"I thought it was just some rumor among the refugees."

The White Maple Mercenaries began to curse, yet Jeanne didn’t give them a chance.

In normal weather, Jeanne’s lightning would often be deflected by armor, but in the rain, these mercenaries were almost drenched to the skin.

"Sizzle—"

The sound of arcing electricity came through the air, and a stark white lightning bolt flashed through the porcupine formation.

Tiny electric arcs carried the smell of burnt eggs, and when the white glare vanished from the front ranks, a radius centered on the strike point saw five men fall heavily.

Their eyes rolled white, faces marked with electric scars and blisters, hands, and feet twitching incessantly.

As Jeanne gathered more electric light in her palm, Hakuto squeezed towards the front line.

"Wait, we surrender!"