Before the advent of disciplined cavalry in the modern era, battles between cavalry were always decided by pure martial skill.
After all, no matter how neat the formation was at the beginning, once the warhorses picked up speed, the distance between soldiers in the same unit would always gradually widen.
After engaging in battle, cavalrymen often found themselves far from their comrades, or that a particular enemy cavalryman had become isolated.
The former will most likely die, while the latter will launch a righteous mob attack.
This is especially evident in World of Disorder where flight is not a concern for those below the Middle Tier.
The two groups of cavalry used the downhill slope of the sand dunes to accelerate, and then collided heavily at the trough of the dunes.
The impact here is certainly not a direct collision. Even though the Soul Returner have turned off their sense of pain and want to experience the most direct combat thrill, the Hoofed Beast and skeletal horses beneath them still feel fear.
Therefore, actual collisions are extremely rare. In most actual encounters, the two sides pass each other by, with one side being pierced or pulled off its horse by the other.
After the first wave of the charge ended, more than twenty corpses belonging to both sides lay in the center of the battlefield.
This time, there was no talk of targeting the natives or skeletons; everyone was fighting head-on, attacking whoever came near.
The skeletons supervising the battle from behind were also horrified by this sight.
Although they were also veterans guarding the borders of the Skeleton Alliance, they rarely clashed head-on with the Imperial border troops like this.
In the past, battles were either fought with everyone shooting at each other from a distance, or they would just bump into each other briefly and then run away.
Unexpectedly, these mercenaries displayed such tenacious fighting spirit today.
After the first exchange of blows, neither side showed any intention of leaving; instead, they began to regroup and prepare for the next attack.
You should know that among those twenty-odd corpses, there were a few that belonged to skeletons!
But now the die was cast and the arrow was ready to be released. With the tacit understanding between [ Western Sharpshooter ] and [ Elderly and Children Fly First ], the cavalry of both sides quickly began a second wave of charging, shouting their support.
This charge was quite different from the last one, perhaps because they were intimidated by the enemy's frenzy, or perhaps because they couldn't keep up with their own mercenaries.
In short, the first [ Western Sharpshooter ] to break through the enemy's blockade and even exchange a few moves turned around to find a gap had appeared in the center of his own ranks.
All the Soul Returner mercenaries charged ahead, while the skeleton soldiers were left behind.
The cavalry unit that Elderly and Children Fly First immediately changed tactics upon seeing this, selectively avoiding some of the enemies in their clashes with the Western Sharpshooter and others, and then focusing all their efforts on the wave of skeletons behind them.
This resulted in fewer than ten Soul Returner mercenaries falling in this clash, while over thirty skeleton soldiers were killed in one go, with the combined losses almost double those of the previous wave.
Seeing the slain skeleton riders finally rejoin their ranks, a look of anger flashed across [ Western Sharpshooter ]'s face:
Why didn't you follow us, resulting in so many deaths?!
The leader of the skeleton soldiers was also extremely angry at this moment:
"It's you who aren't controlling the horses' speed!"
[ Western Sharpshooter ] immediately retorted:
"Why didn't anyone fall behind in the first wave?"
The skeleton soldier captain also felt somewhat guilty, but he was unwilling to show it.
"Since that's the case, then we won't follow you in your charge."
He shrugged and said:
"We are not soldiers, but supervisors overseeing your operations."
"OK."
[ The Western Sharpshooter ]'s tone was full of sarcasm:
"A cavalry force of sixty-odd men needs a hundred skeleton soldiers to supervise them?"
"So what if it is? This battle could have been avoided, but you insisted on fighting. Are you going to blame me for the losses?"
"If you had stayed close to us, this wouldn't have happened."
[ Western Sharpshooter ] was seething with anger. He finally got to enjoy a game without match-fixing, but he had to take care of his incompetent teammates. How could that not infuriate him?
Upon seeing this, the skeleton soldier immediately drew his bone knife and pressed it against the [ Western Sharpshooter ]'s chest:
"You outsiders have cheap lives. If you want to charge again, go ahead. We'll take care of the cleanup."
Having said that, he turned to the skeleton soldiers and said:
"Everyone back off! Let them fight amongst themselves!"
"Yes!"
A group of skeleton soldiers let out a unified shout.
The skeleton captain turned back to look at [ Western Sharpshooter ], still gripping the bone knife in his hand:
"If you have any objections, either speak to Lord Colin, or kill me right here."
Before [ Western Sharpshooter ] could respond, the Skeleton Captain suddenly laughed:
"Oh right, I almost forgot, you've been placed under a restriction that prevents you from attacking us."
Hahahaha.
Hearing the skeleton's laughter, which had a mental interference effect, [ Western Sharpshooter ] also curled the corners of his mouth:
You just made three mistakes, and I need to correct them:
"First, it's not that I can't kill you, but that I can't kill you silently, otherwise I'll have a hard time explaining it to Lord Colin."
"Secondly, I'm not an ordinary mercenary. I was just promoted this morning, and my restrictions have been updated. Guess who has a higher rank now, you or me?"
"Third, you shouldn't point a weapon at a real cowboy."
Although there was no flesh on the face, [ Western Sharpshooter ] could clearly sense a change in the expression of the skeleton soldier in front of him.
But it was too late.
"Bang!"
The skeleton captain's head was blown apart on the spot before everyone's eyes, with fragments of all sizes flying everywhere, and the Psionic Energy light in his eyes was extinguished instantly.
The headless body swayed precariously before finally landing with a "thud" on the sand.
[ Western Sharpshooter ] raised the revolver to his mouth and lightly blew away the gunpowder smoke rising from the muzzle (a special effect added by the Grand Foundry Master ).
He holstered his pistol and looked again at the skeleton soldiers who were now standing frozen in place:
"I will explain this to Lord Colin in person, and I may die in the process."
"But if you disobey my orders, you will die right now!"
Did you understand?
"I understand!"
One of the skeleton soldiers shouted first, followed by the remaining sixty-odd skeleton soldiers shouting all at once. On the other side, some of the more impatient [ Elderly and Children Fly First ] frowned repeatedly.
[ Western Sharpshooter ] nodded in satisfaction, but then suddenly realized that he now had complete control of the team.
No wonder so many people throughout history have engaged in internal strife; it's actually quite satisfying...
With this in mind, [ Western Sharpshooter ] issued another order:
"Everyone, listen up!"
"Change formation, mercenaries in the back, skeletons in the front!"
"If anyone retreats..."
He gritted his teeth and said fiercely:
"The rear guard cuts down the front guard!"