"Puff!"
The sharp blade pierced through the enemy's body. The fully armed Holy Crusaders grinned and kicked the man in front of him in the abdomen, pulling out his weapon. He then turned to face another man.
After two moves, he severed the man's leg, then stepped forward and delivered two more blows before turning his attention to the third enemy.
Just as he was about to attack, a cavalryman beside him swung his lance and impaled him on the shaft.
Lack of skill, insufficient practice, disorganized techniques, and improper attitude...
How did this bunch of scoundrels manage to take over the entire Aduolin Province?
It's unbelievable.
What was the name of the archbishop over there again?
It seems to be Antiya Lisi.
I really don't know how incompetent this guy is to have lost the entire Aduolin Province in less than half a year.
Although the enemy had some elite scouts before, judging from their current combat performance, it's only a matter of time before they recapture Aduolin.
After slaughtering the scum in front of them, the Holy Crusaders looked in the direction the enemy had come from, but there wasn't a single person left to see.
Meanwhile, the commanders of the allied forces composed of these two knightly orders had also clearly seen the situation from the nearby high ground.
Upon seeing that his vanguard had been routed by his own troops, the opposing commander immediately began to retreat.
This retreat was not the orderly retreat described in books, but a typical rout.
Those soldiers who looked like they hadn't received much training had already thrown down their weapons, and some even threw off their Tree Worship Church combat robes.
They seemed to be just a group of able-bodied men recruited from nearby villages, the kind who could be taken off their clothes and sent back home to live as obedient citizens.
Hmph! This coward dares to challenge me?
The two grand knights exchanged a glance, both seeing a sense of smug satisfaction in each other's eyes.
Hahahaha!
The two burst into laughter at the same time, and one of them turned around and shouted:
"Pass on my order: All troops, advance! Don't let a single one escape!"
"Yes!"
The messenger shouted, mounted his Hoofed Beast, and waved his command flag as he left the high ground.
Moments later, the Holy Crusaders of the two knightly orders began their advance.
In the distance, the torch in Duolin's hand suddenly cracked, and a figure abruptly appeared beside him.
" Duma, you're back."
Duolin, as the legion commander's second-in-command, held this demon in relatively high regard.
Although the other party joined the Second Holy See later than himself, his strength was undeniably High Tier, making him difficult to underestimate.
Duma nodded, showing the same respect for this deputy legion commander whom Ed had been grooming.
The demon, skilled at reading people, had already found out the background of Duolin and the other four. He was impressed by their seniority and realized that they were Ed's direct subordinates in the plant power system.
No matter how powerful one is, one's expertise is limited to Psionic Energy, and it's perfectly reasonable for the World Tree itself to lean more towards the plant-based system in its attitude.
With the combined ulterior motives of both sides, Duma and Duolin did indeed get along quite well.
Duma twisted his four arms and said:
"I saw it clearly from above; they've been fooled."
Duolin looked at Duma in disbelief:
"You fell for it already? Such a simple trick..."
Duma nodded and said:
"You come from the Holy City, so you should understand that the true elite of the Holy Crusaders are the troops defending the Skeleton Alliance and the Empire in the south. As for those in the central and northern regions... I can only say that anyone with experience in suppressing bandits can be considered a veteran."
After listening to Duma's account, Duolin's face showed both joy and frustration.
Although this squad leader from the Holy City had long known the difference between the Pure Ones and the Stained Ones, he always felt that one should at least have the means to commit evil.
But now it seems that the opposing Holy Crusaders Knight Order Stained Ones, might have even lost their minds, unable to see through such a simple situation.
If the entire Tree Worship Church's Knights are like this, then the Second Holy See can soon drop its prefix...
After digesting the good news, Duolin asked Duma:
"When will we launch our attack?"
"No rush, they'll be in the designated low-lying area in about five minutes."
"Good."
The two knightly orders and a roughly equal number of enemies combined amounted to less than ten thousand men in a single battle.
In an army of this size, military orders can be disseminated very quickly.
Before the enemy had even disappeared into the woods at the edge of their sight, the orders from the two Grand Knights had already reached the entire army.
The Holy Crusaders immediately began their advance. Under the command of squad leaders and company commanders, their formation was not disorganized but rather quite orderly.
But the situation soon changed when the soldiers at the front saw enemy supplies scattered on the ground.
Weapons aren't a problem for anyone with a little knowledge of Directed Alienation, but those robes still looked about 80% new and were similar in style to what I was wearing. If I could pick one up to wash or sell, that would be wonderful...
In addition, there were occasional tree seeds scattered on the ground, the broken ends of which seemed to still bear specks of blood, likely fallen from the bodies of the defeated enemy soldiers as they pushed and shoved each other in their escape.
Further on, the group saw carriages without Hoofed Beast, food packed in boxes, and even projectiles they had seen before, which had been used by the enemies on the other side.
The discipline of the Holy Crusaders began to decline little by little. At first, they would just bend down to pick up a couple of seeds and stuff them into their pockets. This action would not cause them to fall behind, so the squad leaders did not take it to heart.
However, things quickly went wrong. Less than a minute after they started picking seeds, the squad leaders found it difficult to control their soldiers stuffing other things into their pockets.
Of course, they didn't actually try to control it, because even they themselves were constantly scanning the ground for any supplies that were worth a little money.
The soldiers at the front slowed their pace due to greed, while the soldiers at the rear, seeing their comrades eating meat, naturally wanted to get some soup too, and so the ranks began to fall apart.
As for the cavalry mixed among the infantry, their discipline was better, but because of this, they neglected their comrades' needs while not collecting supplies themselves, and thus gradually became separated from the rear troops, entering the depression in front of them ahead of the others.
It's not that the cavalrymen didn't pay attention to their comrades; it's just that cavalry were far too authoritative when it came to chasing fleeing soldiers.
As a fully armed knight, with sufficient horsepower, one man and one horse can slaughter a large group of defenseless conscripts like slaughtering pigs and dogs.