Rumble!
Invisible ripples spread in every direction, enveloping the entire army. By now, Wang Chong's Bane of the Battlefield Halo was able to cover an extremely astonishing area. Moreover, the geography of the mountains meant that the soldiers were tightly packed together, increasing the effectiveness of the halo.
"Notice! The halo has been activated! Starting now, the death of every enemy soldier in the bounds of the halo will strengthen user's halo!"
A familiar voice piped up in his ear.
A faint smile crept onto Wang Chong's lips, and no surprise could be seen on his face. In this period of time, Wang Chong had understood a certain rule. If he wanted to get stronger through war, he would have to become the highest commander of a particular army, and it had to be an army that completely belonged to him.
The other method was to expand his halo. Weakening enemies in the boundary of the halo was equivalent to him personally taking part in the battle, which would allow him to increase his strength through battle.
Buzz!
Although none of the Tang soldiers felt anything as the halo passed over them, the Tibetans immediately noticed that something was wrong.
"What's wrong? Why did my halo get so weak!"
"Damn it, why am I moving so slowly now!"
"What's going on here? I feel so much weaker!"
……
The Tibetans had already been in chaos, and this sudden decrease in strength, speed, and dexterity threw them into absolute panic. What people feared the most was not a formidable opponent, nor was it being outnumbered by the enemy. What they feared was unknown power.
Wang Chong's Bane of the Battlefield did not increase the strength of his own side, so the Tang soldiers didn't sense it. But the way it weakened the strength of his enemies was not an effect seen in any other halo.
At the very least, no such halo existed in all of the Great Tang or the foreign countries that surrounded it.
No one had ever even imagined such an effect.
And Wang Chong's halo was also unique in that it didn't have any particularly special manifestation and was very difficult to detect. The shroud offered by the downpour made such a task even more impossible.
Rumble!
There was no time to think. As the Annan Protectorate army began to attack, the battlefield underwent an unexpected transformation. For the first time in this battle, the Annan Protectorate army possessed the absolute advantage.
Crash! The soldiers collapsed like a toppling mountain. If one looked down from the peaks of this mountain range, one could easily make out that the Tibetans had been divided into two, both their belly and back exposed.
The pocket that Wang Chong had created contained around eight thousand enemy soldiers, and on the main battlefield, Wang Chong had thrust a knife into the node around which the Tibetan reinforcements intersected. Most fatal of all was that the volley of arrows that Wang Chong had ordered the master archers to fire had simultaneously made the node fall into chaos and stopped a large number of soldiers from advancing.
Thus, even though the Tibetans had an astonishing number of troops, they were prevented from bringing them to bear due to the blockade ahead of them.
Neigh!
The highland steeds whinnied as they fell to the ground. The Tang axe soldiers often needed only a single blow of their axes to cut down these horses. While another Tibetan might try to hack at them with their scimitar, a separate Tang soldier would be there to force the attacker back with a single punch.
In terms of individual strength, the Tang soldiers had become unstoppable, with the Tibetans not even able to last a single round. For some inexplicable reason, the courageous and fierce Tibetans had suddenly become much weaker.
"I can't believe it! When did I get so strong!"
A shield soldier looked at his fist in wonder. In all his time defending Lion City, he had never been able to dismount a Tibetan horseman with just a single punch.
"Hahaha, this is all the Tibetans amount to!"
A spearman excitedly thrust his spear through the head of his opponent's horse, through the chink in the horseman's armor and into his neck. He also didn't understand what had happened just now, but he did know that the fast and nimble Tibetans had suddenly become much slower.
The spearman watched with eyes wide as an opponent's scimitar brushed past, letting him finish off the opponent and completely run him through.
No matter what had happened, there was no doubt that he had succeeded.
Similar things were taking place all across the battlefield.
The strength of the Annan Protectorate soldiers had been almost equal at the start, but now, the Annan Protectorate army clearly held the advantage, suppressing their foes.
"Hahaha, brothers, kill! It's time for the Annan Protectorate army to take its revenge!"
"Kiiiill!"
……
Cries of slaughter resounded through the skies as the Annan Protectorate army rallied. All the gloominess accumulated over this long campaign was swept away in an instant, and all the soldiers—the shieldmen, sabermen, axemen, and spearmen—began a full-out advance.
"Something's wrong!"
The Tang soldiers noticed nothing wrong, but the Tibetan commanders immediately noticed that something was off. Amongst the vast sea of Tibetan cavalry, a particularly powerful Tibetan general raised his eyebrows as he subconsciously turned his bright eyes to the summit.
Wang Chong's Bane of the Battlefield had not only affected the northeast region, but the entire battlefield.
Just a few moments ago, he had clearly sensed the subordinates around him weakening. However, Wang Chong's Bane of the Battlefield had no effect on generals, so he had no idea what had happened.
"What's this? What's going on here?"
Those bright eyes surveyed the battlefield, quickly settling on the northeast region. Logically speaking, the number of troops gathered around the northeast mountains should have given them the absolute advantage, but in actuality, the Tang army held the advantage.
There was nothing normal about this situation!
"Hyah!"
A cold light flashed through his eyes as the Tibetan general suddenly turned his horse around and urged it to gallop toward the northeast.
……
"Northeast region, left wing, four thousand five hundred meters! Right wing, one thousand eight hundred meters! Fire!"
At the same time, at the top of the mountain overlooking the northeast region, the golden-armored Wang Chong stood under the flapping banner, his voice cold and flat. Twangtwangtwang!With Wang Chong's orders, two volleys of arrows flew through the air like the eyes of the god of death, landing separately on the left wing 4500 meters away and the right wing 1800 meters away.
Crash! As horses toppled to the ground, the Tibetans, who had just been on the cusp of reestablishing order, instantly fell into chaos once more.
Wang Chong stood on the summit and watched it all like an eagle high in the sky. No movement could escape his gaze.
The master archers allotted to every large army were a strategic asset in his hands.
At this stage, the number of casualties inflicted by the master archers was no longer important. Wang Chong was employing them for his tactical advantage, disrupting any area that looked like it was building up a threat.
At its heart, the art of war was ultimately about disrupting, misleading, and weakening one's opponent, as well as doing one's utmost to create a numbers advantage.
At present, the Tang army in the entire northeast region was in this state.
The Tibetans had clearly held the numbers advantage, but at this moment, they had suddenly become the inferior side. Wang Chong used their internal chaos to construct invisible walls in the army that prevented them from helping each other.
Tibetans screamed as they fell to the sabers and axes of the Tang army. Meanwhile, countless messages were echoing in Wang Chong's mind.
"Congratulations to user for killing 182 Tibetan cavalry!"
"Congratulations to user for killing 342 Tibetan cavalry!"
"Congratulations to user for killing 687 Tibetan cavalry!"
"Congratulations to user for killing 1344 Tibetan cavalry!"
"Congratulations to user for killing 1788 Tibetan cavalry!"
"Congratulations to user for killing 2576 Tibetan cavalry!"
"Congratulations to user for killing 3936 Tibetan cavalry!"
……
"Congratulations to user for killing 5722 Tibetan cavalry!"
"Congratulations to user for killing 7549 Tibetan cavalry!"
……
A stream of voices in his mind continuously reported the Tibetan casualties to him. This number was not rising at a steady rate, but climbing by leaps and bounds. In a few short moments, the Tibetan casualties were increasing at a terrifying speed.
The winds swept across the summit, the energy carried by each dead Tibetan warrior flowing through the air to enter Wang Chong's body. Wang Chong had previously reached True Martial Tier 9, and now, he was showing signs of reaching the peak of Tier 9.
And if he went even further, all his halos would fuse into one massive Halo of Thorns, and he would have ascended to Tier 1 of the Profound Martial realm.
"This is impossible, impossible!"
Chen Shusun and the other officers were all dumbstruck by this sight, their minds in turmoil.
Although they didn't have the instant knowledge of the Tibetan casualties that Wang Chong did, they could tell from their vantage point what was happening on the battlefield.
The Tibetans were falling apart!
Although the Tibetans had outnumbered the Tang, they were now no longer any match for the Annan Protectorate army. In that pocket where Wang Chong had trapped the Tibetans, large numbers of Tibetans were being hewed down like stalks of wheat.
On the other battlefield, the Annan Protectorate army was like a sharp sword thrust into the heart of the enemy, their foe utterly incapable of putting up any resistance.
If the Tibetans were a sea, then the Tang army was a rock in this sea. Although it seemed the weaker party on the surface, in truth, it possessed the complete advantage.
"Wonderful, wonderful!"
Chen Shusun clenched his fists, his face red from excitement.
Even the other guards and officers around the banner now viewed Wang Chong differently. When Wang Chong had first taken command of the army, everyone had doubted him, including Chen Shusun.
But now, as they looked at the battlefield below, not a single shred of doubt remained.
I really didn't think that Youngest Master would have reached such high levels in the art of war. Even if Eldest Young Master were awake and still here, he wouldn't be able to compare. There's still hope for the army yet!
Chen Shusun was inwardly ecstatic.
The scene before him was not something any of the officers could have imagined in their wildest dreams. A unit of archers and a simple order to retreat had completely transformed the landscape of the battlefield. It was like the work of a god.