As the Papacy's greatest trump card, the War Elephant Legion launched a massive assault on the Gabella's positions.
No one on the battlefield could ignore this powerful force. If it were the Gabella local army that the Papacy had encountered after the Battle of Ursula Plain, their soldiers would have been trembling and running away screaming.
But today's Gabella army was so different. The soldiers stood firmly in place, as if rooted to the spot, and smoothly loaded arrows into their crossbows, aimed, and fired in unison.
Fueled by evil magic, the crossbow bolts pierced the air, and the papal soldiers could even hear the sharp hum of the arrow shafts rubbing against the air. These arrows were faster and heavier than ordinary arrows, and their arrowheads glowed with a dark red light, making them extremely eerie.
Some soldiers raised their shields, forming a shield wall as they continued to try to block the deadly weapons, as there was no other way.
The shield wall emitted a dense, muffled thud. Some high-quality oak shields, soaked in tung oil, were not completely penetrated, but the arrowheads were deeply embedded in the shield surfaces. The powerful impact caused the soldiers holding the shields to crack their knuckles, and those in the back could even smell the burnt wood.
The armor of heavily armored infantry could barely withstand arrows that could cause fatal wounds, but the impact still slammed into their chests like a hammer blow. Those struck staggered backward, their ribs snapping painfully as they dented their armor. Lightly armored soldiers fared even worse; arrowheads pierced their leather armor and lodged diagonally in their thighs or shoulders, the fabric around the wounds blackened and curled by an unknown force.
Screams echoed across the battlefield. Some tried to pull the arrows out of their comrades' bodies, but could feel the heat as soon as they touched them. Others clutched their pierced arms and found that the arrow shafts were slightly hot inside their muscles.
The most deadly arrows were those that struck the neck and joints; their terrifying penetrating power could cause the victim to collapse like a puppet with its bones removed.
Blood and sweat from the Papacy soldiers flowed through the gaps in their armor, while a new swarm of arrows from the Gabella people blanketed the sky like a bee.
As a seasoned veteran, Webster remained calm and observant even under such unexpected circumstances.
He noticed something amiss: the soldiers carrying crossbows were firing their arrows in a manner that was related to the movements of the robed men mixed among them.
If we look at the coordination of movements, it's quite obvious that Gabella... The soldiers were divided into small groups of about five or six people each, with each group having a robed man as its leader.
Before each shot, the soldiers in the group would set up their arrows, draw their bowstrings, and aim. Once all the group members were ready, the robed man at the core would raise his wooden staff—this seemed necessary—and after a short while, all the crossbows in the group would fire at once. The next second, the arrows would pierce the air and, with a sharp whooshing sound, fly into the Papacy's army.
Perhaps that was a Gabella sorcerer!
"Watch out for those Gabella people in robes!" he shouted to Selvan Hammond, the army commander beside him. "They may have cast some kind of spell to enhance the power of their crossbows!"
"I don't care if they wear robes or not!" Hammond shouted, his eyes bloodshot. "Our mighty war elephants will crush them all!"
The bloody scene after his soldiers' attack was thwarted deeply affected Hammond.
"Great Heavenly Father, please protect us, protect those charging warriors, protect those charging elephants!"
Webster prayed silently, hoping that his war elephants would display their might and crush the evil wizards who were casting spells.
But he miscalculated.
Just as the twenty war elephants were about to charge at the Gabella people, several orbs of light, or fireballs, suddenly rose from behind the enemy lines, as if a ball of flame had been confined within a transparent glass sphere.
The fireball flew at incredible speed past the Gabella infantry formation in front of it, heading towards the approaching war elephant army.
As the first fireball whistled through the air, the Papacy's charioteers didn't even have time to raise their whips. The fist-sized crimson orb swooped down from the hillside of Gabella's position, striking precisely in the path of War Elephant Legion's charge.
In the instant of the explosion, soil and gravel, enveloped in orange-red flames, burst out in a radial pattern. The three war elephants charging at the forefront were hit by the splashing flames, and suddenly raised their trunks, letting out heart-wrenching howls.
More fireballs followed, raining down on the elephants like a meteor shower, and then exploding.
Burning pebbles struck the war elephants' sensitive ears, igniting their silk drapes. One startled, greyish-white elephant thrashed its head wildly, sending the wooden arrow tower on its back and two archers flying. Another elephant staggered and fell, its leg licked by the incoming flames, crushing the infantrymen who were unable to dodge in time.
The once orderly charging formation was thrown into chaos. The frightened elephants collided with each other, and the sharp knives tied to their tusks became deadly weapons.
The air was thick with the acrid smell of burning hair. Twenty war elephants rampaged through the splattering flames, while the mahouts clung futilely to the reins, only to be tossed about like rags in the wind by the raging giants.
A war elephant, its eyes blinded by thick smoke, turned and charged towards its own ranks. Its powerful legs even crushed the barricades into dust. The Papal soldiers who reacted quickly scrambled to the sides, while those who were slow to react suffered greatly.
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"Those damned wizards!" Selvan Hammond's expression was so vivid that it perfectly captured the word "unbelievable."
He began to curse, "What have they done! Those are war elephants, those are our war elephants! They are divine beasts bestowed by the Lord of Light upon his most loyal followers, and those bastards dared to do such a thing!"
On the opposite side, new fireballs continued to rise from behind Gabella's army and continued to fly towards the Papal army.
It seems that not every fireball will explode; the probability of it exploding is about one in four.
But the effect was significant. Each explosion tore open a new gap in the Papal army's ranks or exacerbated the chaos of the War Elephant Legion. After several rounds of fireballs, all the war elephants no longer obeyed their riders' commands and just charged wildly around their own positions.
Faced with such a behemoth, the Papacy's soldiers were terrified and fled in all directions. Within just a few minutes, their army completely collapsed.
This powerful army, which had repeatedly humiliated Gabella's forces, was now being trampled by the behemoths it had raised.