Chapter Thirty-Four: The Downfall of the Beastmen

“Soldiers of the 2nd Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, cease your advance and form hollow squares!” As the wolf cavalry charged toward them, the highly trained Song officers displayed exceptional military acumen. Shouts to organize the troops into squares echoed across the battlefield. Thanks to the efforts of officers at all levels, the line infantry of both divisions finally managed to form hollow square formations.

Under strict organization, the line infantry swiftly contracted from their linear formations into hollow squares, ready to fire in any direction without blind spots. Lacking a defined front or rear, they could not be encircled or flanked, depriving the cavalry of their greatest advantage. Several hollow squares provided overlapping fields of fire for mutual support.

The wolf cavalry, charging forward, suddenly found themselves vastly outnumbered on the same stretch of field by tightly packed infantry with gleaming bayonets. Instantly, their combat effectiveness was diminished. Yet, even at such a disadvantage, these savage wolf riders hurled themselves headlong at the hollow squares. Under the punishing crossfire, they suffered heavy losses against the ramparts of bayonets. Even if a wolf rider somehow broke through a square, he would only find himself surrounded and overwhelmed from all sides by the infantry waiting within.

Sun Li had not expected such effectiveness when facing a vastly superior enemy force wielding cold steel weapons from all directions. The wolf cavalry were being slaughtered almost without resistance! At the same time, Sun Li noted a fatal flaw in the square formation: should the enemy possess artillery or long-range firepower, the results would be devastating. The hollow square, after all, lacked the linear formation’s ability to concentrate fire in a single direction.

In practice, a commander with cavalry superiority could force the enemy to adopt the immobile, firepower-dampening hollow square, then press forward with infantry or bombard them with artillery, inflicting massive casualties while minimizing losses to their own foot soldiers. Should the enemy revert to line formation to engage infantry, the cavalry could swing around to the flanks or rear for a decisive charge.

But when facing the backward orcs, such complexities were unnecessary. Now, aside from a few thousand elite guards led by Hammerfist, the orc foot soldiers had no remaining force capable of resistance. Although the main force of strong orcs had been rescued by the wolf cavalry from the slaughter inflicted by Song’s infantry, the spear cavalry would never give them a chance to regroup. Any attempt by the strong orcs to assemble in numbers would be met by the iron hoofs of the spear cavalry, and these demoralized orcs stood no chance against such elite human horsemen.

Watching the wolf cavalry hurl themselves in suicidal charges without fear, Hammerfist seemed to discern the hollow square’s limitations in mobility. He led his several thousand-strong elite guard directly against the human main force, having lost faith in the terror-stricken strong orc legions. At least, he reasoned, they could hold off the human cavalry for a time.

Seeing the orc warlord himself enter the fray in full armor, Sun Li could not hold back. Possessing the strength of a high-ranking knight, he had long yearned to test his prowess. Clad in half-plate, he led his personal guard—a thousand steel-clad men, reconstituted from his original Mamluks and heavy cavalry.

With a thunder of hooves, Sun Li charged at the head of his ironclad warriors, riding straight at Hammerfist.

This was a duel of kings. Hammerfist’s elite guard, the mightiest champions among millions of orcs, met the charge without fear, disregarding the differences between infantry and cavalry. Indeed, these elite soldiers were worthy of their title, selected from among millions during Hammerfist’s century-long reign. Each year, a grand orcish tournament attracted warriors from across the continent to the imperial capital, lured by generous rewards. Hammerfist gathered the best, elevating them to the highest status and forming them into his personal guard, which further solidified his rule.

Today, for the first and last time, these paragons of orcish strength fought side by side. Their flesh and blood once again testified to the inviolable honor of the orcish race, standing firm against the charge of human heavy cavalry. Their suicidal attacks brought the world’s most powerful cavalry to a halt, each ironclad rider pinned down at the cost of several orcish lives. Sun Li’s guard was finally bogged down among the orc ranks.

The orc elite paid a dreadful price to stop the ironclad charge. Yet, once dismounted, the human heavy infantry proved nearly impervious—orcish weapons could barely scratch their armor, relying only on bludgeoning blows or inhuman strength to injure the men within by striking through the gaps.

Once more, the disparity in equipment brought catastrophic losses to Hammerfist’s guard. Within the melee, Sun Li, heavily protected, used his knightly prowess to efficiently cut down orcish champions. The chaos raged on from morning until afternoon. Both the orc elite and Sun Li’s ironclad guard were exhausted and decimated, yet neither side would yield, fighting on through sheer determination. At that moment, a thousand spear cavalry, having routed the strong orc main force, returned to reinforce them. Their arrival revived human morale and crushed the orcs’ spirit.

After another cavalry charge, the last threads of will among the orcish guard snapped. Even though they still outnumbered the humans, their strength had collapsed; yet not a single orc surrendered.

Hammerfist, knowing the battle was lost, gathered every able-bodied champion and launched a final, desperate assault against Sun Li, who was tightly guarded. This act nearly annihilated the remaining heavy cavalry, and the survivors were wiped out by the arriving spear cavalry. When the dust settled, not a single ironclad horseman was left standing; even the survivors had collapsed from exhaustion, including Sun Li himself.

After ordering the pursuit to wipe out all remaining orcs and handing command to the line infantry general Robin and the cavalry commander Ryan, Sun Li, supported by his men, withdrew from the field. This grueling battle taught him that no matter how mighty one’s strength, being surrounded and worn down by an army was an easy path to death.

With Hammerfist’s demise, the orc main force completely collapsed. Only a handful of diehards and defenders of orcish honor launched suicidal attacks, causing some trouble for the humans; the rest was nothing but endless pursuit and slaughter.

The bravery of the wolf cavalry left only a few hundred survivors fleeing. Barely a tenth of the strong orc main force escaped the relentless hunt. As for the orcish guard, after Hammerfist’s death, most took their own lives. They were truly the most loyal champions of the orcish people.