Bloody Battlefield
After obtaining the Lord template, many new features were unlocked, but the one that Xiao Yu liked the most was the Strategic Command System.
As its name suggests, this system is specifically designed for use in story campaigns. Once activated, Xiao Yu gains a real-time strategic perspective and real-time command capabilities, allowing him to directly move and control his troops, attacking or defending, just like he used to do in strategy games. He no longer needs to rely entirely on language to command, as he did when attacking Hydra City, where his subordinates had to understand what they were capable of.
Of course, this system is not without its drawbacks. Once the player enters the Strategic Command System, their role cannot be controlled in real time. Therefore, whether or not to activate this system during combat requires careful consideration.
At this moment, Xiao Yu the system. The view in front of him was very similar to the screen he used to see when playing Total War. In front of him were densely packed red units, which was the color of the Naga army.
The Water Elemental Legion green, while on either side of it are adventurer units marked in blue. These adventurers are shown as friendly units, belonging to the same faction as the player, but cannot be directly controlled.
Looking at the clearly defined formations of both sides, Xiao Yu felt a Boiling of excitement. Commanding thousands of troops in a great battle was far more exhilarating than one-on-one combat. The most enjoyable part of playing the BOSS and Hero templates was campaign battles, and this battle was taking place on flat ground, allowing him to fully utilize his operational skills from playing Total War.
Through a combination of thought and gestures, Xiao Yu began to move and manipulate the troops in their marching formation, one unit at a time. The formation he had arranged was a classic inverted triangle, also known as a line formation, which was the most commonly used formation in the era of firearms.
The reason for using this formation is that Water Elemental are like musketeers in the linear warfare era; their single-target damage and accuracy with Frostbolt are not high, so they must rely on volley fire to enhance firepower and accuracy. The Water Elemental are arranged in rows of thirty-three, with three rows forming a rectangular square. The first row consists of elemental units around level 20, the second row around level 30, and the third row around level 40. Since higher-level elemental units are larger, this allows the first three rows of Water Elemental to attack simultaneously, maximizing their firepower advantage.
These bar-shaped formations expanded outwards one after another, creating a very large horizontal plane. Behind this thin horizontal plane were even more horizontal planes composed of linear columns, totaling six layers. Each horizontal plane was spaced thirty yards apart, which was the optimal firing range for the Frostbolt.
Xiao Yu's tactics were simple: use continuous firepower to prevent the enemy from getting close. As long as the density of firepower could offset the number of Naga troops, the enemy could be wiped out before they could get close. Even if the enemy broke through the first line of defense, the second line of Water Elemental could continue to wear them down.
Xiao Yu's formation was the optimal one, derived from repeated calculations and planning. In contrast, the Naga on the other side resembled an ancient army from the age of cold weapons, still arrayed in dense formations, seemingly without any fixed formation. They were densely packed, bustling and noisy, with swords and spears flashing brightly in front of Yang Guangxian. They looked imposing, their armor gleaming, but compared to the Water Elemental Legion's disciplined formation, they appeared somewhat like a rabble.
The Naga army stopped two hundred meters away, well beyond the range of the Frostbolt. Both sides were on high alert. Several impatient adventurers rushed forward a few steps, but retreated when they saw no one else was charging. At this moment, a giant Naga, as tall as a three-story building, squeezed out from the enemy ranks.
Agutanis (Naga Highlord) is a 3-skull-level boss with 8.73 million HP.
Judging solely from attributes, she completely overwhelms Xiao Yu; however, in terms of physique, Xiao Yu is still more imposing.
Xiao Yu also stepped out from the ranks, and the two armies faced each other in complete silence.
Agutanis (Naga Highlord): "Water Elemental, you have trespassed into a place you should not have entered. The Lost Island is the sacred ground of my Naga race. Tell me why you have come here, or you will bear the endless wrath of the Naga race."
Azathoth (Water Elemental Lord): "Naga, you lowly races, how dare you invade the Water Elemental Plane! Today, you will understand how foolish it is to challenge the will of the elements."
The Naga Highlord laughed in fury.
Agutanis (Naga Highlord): "Hahaha, foolish elemental creature, very well, you have successfully angered me. You will soon regret this. Now, feel the wrath of the Naga."
With a powerful swing of his longsword, white magical light flashed continuously within the army formation as Naga priests, Naga witches, and other spellcasting units began to cast various buff spells upon the troops.
Haste, Song of the Ocean, Frost Resistance —the auras were quickly maxed out, and then the Naga Warrior surged forward like a tide. Xiao Yu sneered inwardly, "Hmph, still as stupid as ever."
He nodded to the Sairen beside him. "Let's begin."
On the Water Elemental Legion's side, spellcasting units such as the Siren Priest, Water Priest, and Ice Priest also cast various buff spells on the elemental Warrior.
Just like in the previous battle, this group of Naga had no tactics to speak of, and it was still a chaotic human wave attack. However, unlike before when they could swim and advance quickly in the sea, the Naga's physical structure made them not fast on land, which made them the best targets. It looked like the Naga were about to enter their firing range.
Xiao Yu also retreated to the rear of the army formation and began to give orders.
Azathoth (Water Elemental Lord): "First row, attention! Frostbolt directly in front of you, prepare to fire!"
The first row of nearly a thousand Water Elemental almost simultaneously raised their hands, and with a whoosh, a row of white trails of Frostbolt flew out, crashing into the oncoming wave of Naga, giving the impression of being lined up for execution.
Azathoth (Water Elemental Lord): "Second volley—third volley! All hands on deck, free fire!"
A dense barrage of Frostbolt Rain rained down, row after row, fully demonstrating the range advantage of ranged units. With a maximum Frostbolt of around 100 yards, a Naga would take at least fifteen or sixteen Frostbolt to get past the spell's range. Most Naga were felled by the dense Frostbolt before they even reached the enemy lines. A few elite Naga with high health and defense managed to reach the line, only to be met with...
Frost Nova! A series of flashes of white light appeared, and the power of ice froze all the charging Naga in place. The Water Elemental that cast Frost Nova immediately retreated.
Azathoth (Water Elemental Lord): "Support troops, use area-of-effect attack on the first row."
With Xiao Yu's command, Blizzard, Freezing Cloud, and various area-of-effect ice spells were unleashed simultaneously, pelting down on the chaotic Water Elemental and Naga. Since the Water Elemental were immune to ice spells, there was no need to worry about friendly fire. The Naga who had reached the front line struggled to advance, enduring both the hail and ice mist falling from the sky and the barrage of Frostbolt. They fell in droves, or were simply frozen into ice sculptures.
On either side of the central formation were the left and right flanks, composed of adventurers, who were also under attack from the Naga army. From the beginning, the Naga commander seemed to have intended to use their numerical advantage to flank the Elemental Legion from both sides. Unfortunately, they ran into the player forces instead. Although there were less than a thousand players on each flank, with less than five hundred scattered on each side, the adventurers' combat power was far superior to that of ordinary Naga Warrior.
The biggest advantage adventurers have over monsters, besides their fearlessness, is the sheer number of spellcasters. Out of ten, five or six are magic users, and each has area-of-effect attacks. With so many spellcasters crowding the front of the group, their wide-range spells almost form a death line. Ordinary Naga Warrior simply cannot cross this line and fall amidst the Blizzard, the Flamestrike, and the Volley of arrows.
In contrast, most Naga monsters are melee units, and less than 10% of Naga witches can cast spells from a distance. Moreover, most of them can only use single-target spells. Only the elite template Naga priests or the mini-boss template Naga royal guards can use wide-area spells, but these are not very effective against the healing of a large number of healers.
"Haha, this is so awesome! So much experience!"
"Behold the power of my Blizzard!"
These adventurers with area-of-effect attacks were having a blast. They weren't afraid of missing their targets in the face of the swarming Naga, and their experience points were skyrocketing. Some of them, who were over level 10 and just there to farm experience, could level up in just a few minutes. They were thoroughly enjoying themselves.
Xiao Yu intentionally assigned the adventurers to protect the left and right flanks of the army, and this proved to be very effective. The battle lasted for half an hour, and nearly 10,000 Naga died on the way to the Charge. The battlefield was filled with countless corpses. Since monster corpses do not respawn during story battles, it looked quite bloody. Some adventurers with weaker mental fortitude vomited while fighting.
By this time, the first line of the Elemental Legion had been almost completely wiped out, with seven or eight hundred elemental soldiers lying dead. However, compared to the losses suffered by the Naga, this was negligible. Moreover, Water Elemental turn into water as soon as they die, so it seemed as if the dead were all Naga.
Despite achieving a huge exchange ratio, Xiao Yu did not relax. This world is a magical world, and quantity is never the decisive factor. As long as the opponent's BOSS is not defeated, the battle is not over.
Seemingly feeling that the deaths of his men had been too heavy, Agutanis finally couldn't sit still any longer. He suddenly rushed out of the Naga army, surrounded by hundreds of Naga royal guards, and charged towards them.
"It's finally here!" Xiao Yu thought to himself, and he also became nervous.