After his earlier encounters, Black-and-White Bear thought he was about to face another fearless charge from the enemy cavalry.
But no charge came. The massed cavalry, whose numbers filled the battlefield, first took the customary volley from two hundred flintlock musketeers and blasts from two Crouching Tiger Cannons as they approached the Great Square Formation.
After a swath of enemy riders fell, the flintlock musketeers quickly withdrew into the Great Square Formation and fixed bayonets to brace for the charge.
Yet once the cavalry drew close, they did not charge the formation. Instead, they attacked it from three directions with bows, short-barreled matchlocks, javelins, throwing axes, and other ranged weapons.
For a time, arrows rained across the battlefield, axes and javelins whistled through the air, and the reports of short-barreled matchlocks rang out one after another.
Standing at the very front, Black-and-White Bear naturally bore the brunt of this barrage.
When the first rain of axes came hurtling through the air, Black-and-White Bear flicked his Great Spear and knocked two aside with its tip. A third struck the armor over his left shoulder blade. The sound of his three overlapping layers of shoulder armor deflecting the axe was as clear as ice cracking.
One cavalryman got carried away and rode too close to the Great Square Formation. With a javelin poised in his hand, he tried to throw it at Black-and-White Bear from close range and impale the powerful warrior.
Black-and-White Bear answered by lunging two steps forward and thrusting his Great Spear with all his strength. As its Four-Edged Sword-shaped head pierced the horse's neck, hot, rank blood sprayed out, accompanied by the rider's scream.
Black-and-White Bear planted his feet in a firm horse stance. His power rose from the ground, traveling from his thighs through his waist and