A Single Blow

The Pioneering Alliance chose a good defensive position: a wide, undulating hill. This allowed the human troops to form up comfortably while also restricting the Centaurs' group charges.

Although they had formed an alliance to fight together, the Nobles still commanded their own armies. They simply had different tasks according to the alliance's tactical arrangements.

Like the dynasties of previous eras, unifying armies under a single command would indeed lead to greater combat power and cohesion. However, the allied forces had no intention of doing so.

Firstly, the soldiers hadn't trained together, so suddenly integrating them into unfamiliar units would make good cooperation difficult.

Secondly, none of the Nobles were willing to let others command their troops. In the process of pioneering, whoever earned more merits would gain more territory. If you led my soldiers into battle, whose功 would that be?

Marquis Prague's legion alone numbered nearly ten thousand men. His 1,000-man contingent, along with the Dwarves', formed the main force at the center of the defensive formation.

Other Nobles defended the flanks, centered around Marquis Prague. Stronger forces were assigned longer battle lines, while weaker ones had shorter sections.

Although Marcus was personally powerful and his Knights performed exceptionally well, his troops numbered just over a thousand, preventing him from occupying a main position.

Marcus's territory was not in the Eastern Province, making recruitment much harder than for other Nobles. Even with excellent conditions offered, he only recruited a few hundred men. Including the veterans he brought from his territory, the total barely reached a thousand.

However, these thousand soldiers were all relatively strong, regular soldiers, with no mixed irregulars.

Marcus was assigned to defend a highland on the right flank. This was the highest point and had various traps and obstacles, making it a relatively easy place to defend.

The Elves, due to the handsome Elf and Tiona's good relationship with Harrot, came along. Conveniently, the highland on the right flank was also suitable for archery.

Marcus encouraged everyone: "If we win this battle, our pioneering plan will be halfway to success! Honor, status, and wealth are beckoning to us!"

"Fight with courage! This campaign of ours will be etched in history, becoming a glorious feat in human history, praised and remembered by future generations! We are the heroes who open up new frontiers!"

Marcus's charisma was exceptional. This encouragement greatly boosted the morale of the troops. Even soldiers who had never faced monsters like Centaurs found their courage.

Harrot was given an important assignment: 200 elite infantrymen were placed under his command. This included the 50 infantrymen he was originally responsible for, as well as the Gladiators and Marcus's core Imperial Guards.

The Bald Man was too severely injured to fight, which was a pity. However, Harrot trusted that Marcus would not mistreat The Bald Man.

Harrot, with these elites, had to firmly hold the front of the highland, blocking the Centaurs' frontal assault.

The other Knights led regular soldiers to defend the flanks. Marcus remained at the rear, leading archers in shooting and providing support to regular soldiers wherever needed if the situation turned dire.

The Elves managed themselves; Marcus had no authority to command them. Fortunately, these Elves were quite cooperative and positioned themselves alongside Marcus's ranged units.

The Centaurs arrived quickly, reaching within ten miles of the alliance camp before noon. Each Centaur was a behemoth weighing half a ton. The over thirty thousand Centaurs were several times more imposing than the eighty thousand allied forces.

The Centaurs had little patience and were not a disciplined army. They wouldn't bother with tactical arrangements or splitting forces.

After only about ten minutes of rest, the Centaurs launched a full assault on the allied forces.

Tens of thousands of Centaurs charged haphazardly, with no formation, no cover, and no division of forces. They simply rushed en masse towards the allied forces. The open hills became somewhat crowded as the Centaurs poured in.

Just as Grand Duke Lance had said, the Centaur army was a complete rabble, without formation or tactics, just like the simple tactic in games where the entire army charges at the start of a fight.

Only the Thunder Tribe, led by the Centaur chief, maintained their composure, holding their formation at the rear and not attacking.

Over twenty thousand Centaur troops surged forward, overwhelming the allied defense line. The sound of tens of thousands of hooves pounding the earth and the roars of the Centaurs intertwined, deafening.

Thankfully, the terrain was quite undulating, making it difficult for the Centaurs to gain speed, which significantly reduced the deterrent power of their group charge.

From a distance, both sides began shooting arrows. The Centaurs' movements were not affected in the slightest by their act of drawing and firing arrows. Centaurs had greater strength than humans, and their bowstrings were very tough. When fully drawn, their range was further than most human archers.

The Centaurs generally managed to fire an arrow before humans could effectively retaliate. Fortunately, the Centaurs somewhat underestimated humans and had extremely poor military discipline, failing to exploit their range advantage to harass humans from afar.

In such large-scale battles, pinpoint accuracy wasn't as crucial, so the Centaurs' advantage in archery precision wasn't evident.

The human soldiers all raised their shields to defend. Even Harrot, the strong man with the greatsword, held his steel shield above his head to block the rain of arrows.

Although Centaurs were strong and could shoot far, their arrowheads were made of stone. They inflicted limited damage on humans who were equipped with shields and protected by cover.

Conversely, the human side, in addition to bows and arrows, also had a small number of strong crossbows. Their enemies were also massive Centaurs. A single volley brought down several hundred Centaurs.

If it weren't for the Centaurs' tenacious vitality—taking two or three arrows barely bothered them—the number of fallen would have been several times higher.

In the ranged engagement, the allied forces gained an advantage, but unfortunately, they didn't have many opportunities for volleys to extend that advantage.

The Centaurs charged quickly. Even on the undulating hills, they rapidly reached the allied forces and began close-quarters combat.

The advantage the allied forces had gained in ranged combat vanished instantly. Regardless of whether the Centaur formation was scattered or their ranks were disordered, their half-ton weight and exceptional strength were undeniable. The human army was simply no match.

As soon as combat began, the human allied forces' lines were completely disrupted, suffering heavy casualties. The defensive formations, whether composed of regular soldiers or elite soldiers, were easily torn apart, and thousands of human soldiers at the front tragically perished.

This was fortunate that it happened on the hills, where the Centaurs couldn't build up speed for their charge. Otherwise, this single engagement could have resulted in over ten thousand casualties for the allied forces, and it was possible that morale would plummet to zero, leading to an immediate rout.

Centaurs possessed three times the strength of ordinary humans, twice that of elite soldiers, weighed half a ton, and had far greater vitality than humans.

In small-scale battles, humans could still rely on their agility to maneuver and fight, but in this chaotic battlefield, strength and physical constitution were the most crucial factors.

The disparity in physical attributes between humans and Centaurs inevitably put humans at a disadvantage in direct combat.

Except for the central army, which was assisted by the Dwarf contingent, all other defensive points managed by the Nobles were suppressed. Several lines were completely breached, and many soldiers began to flee.

The allied forces fell into such a huge disadvantage right at the start of the engagement, which was completely unexpected by everyone. How could the Centaur horde, a rabble, be so strong in group combat?