Lao Lao Wang's Works The Butterfly that Crossed Time and Space Volume 3: Warfire in the Cold Wind Twenty, "The Phantom Rose"'s Dead End

  The chaotic melee didn't last long. The rolling tide of oak barrels driven by the Dog Bears was indeed formidable, but it couldn't replace real armor - the strange wooden barrels crafted by Phili's great druid exclusively for his personal guard didn't have brakes, and after crushing the elf army's formation, these unobstructed objects continued to roll in their original direction.

  Moreover, from the small hill where the goblin army was stationed, the terrain was all downhill, and no matter how hard the dog bear in the bucket tried, it could not stop the large wooden barrel that had rushed over its head, but instead rolled away at an increasingly fast speed.

  Armored troops without infantry support can break through the enemy's defensive positions, but cannot occupy and consolidate the captured positions. However, in the Giant Bear Army, there were not enough brave soldiers to follow the ill-fated Bear Company into action. Even the dwarves and beastmen, who were said to be naturally skilled at fighting, had lost their courage after a long period of peace and become timid and weak. It was already a great explosion of character for them to not immediately desert when war broke out.

  As his subordinates fell one after another, the great Druid also began to be surrounded by more and more people. Although his magic level was high, he was absolutely not an invincible war god. In the intense battle, multiple bursts of broken magic bullets and divine-protected weapons pierced through his tough bear skin, forcing him to abandon the fight and chase after his own guards. Sophia, who had suffered heavy losses in a row, finally had a chance to breathe, gathering the scattered remnants under the oak barrel's impact and reorganizing her troops.

  However, Feri did not intend to give her such a buffer time. Taking advantage of someone's illness to take their life was his consistent creed.

  Moreover, the unprecedented success of the unlucky bear squad strongly stimulated the main force of the legion behind them, making these originally extremely cowardly and timid people suddenly evolve into fierce warriors, each holding their weapons high, with excited faces shouting various slogans, as if they were called to hell to punish demons or go deep into the abyss to deal with evil spirits.

  "Whoosh—"

  A red signal flare rose slowly into the air on the mountain ridge, issuing a general attack order. Before the signal flare was fired, Bam, riding his beloved boar "Lightning", had already raised his ancestral battle-axe and led his wild boar knights in a charge out of formation. Hundreds of pig hooves trampled across the snow-covered valley, causing the ground to tremble slightly. The dwarves' battle-axes glinted with a bloodthirsty metallic sheen, as if they were about to drink their fill of fresh blood.

  As the Imperial Army launched another round of attacks, the Elven soldiers who had just gathered were suddenly dispersed. Many soldiers climbed up the mountain peaks on both sides of the gorge along the small paths, trying to find a way out in the wilderness. However, more human soldiers simply dropped their weapons and raised their hands in front of the enemy. The hunters from the original mountainous region scattered around the periphery of the battlefield were busy catching fleeing soldiers while also collecting the surrendered soldiers' weapons, taking them away in groups to distant military camps or even New Morselbra City, so busy that they couldn't keep up.

  The dwarven knights' hoofbeats were rapidly closing in, their thunderous impacts striking at the morale of the elven army with each passing moment. They watched their commander intently, despite having little faith left in her after repeated defeats, still hoping she could conjure up some clever strategy to turn the tide as she had done before in the lands of Ferelden and the colonies of Mazcka.

  In the face of a severe situation, Sophia calmed down and calmly commanded her last elite force - the Knights of the Church of Xuefeng, gathering them into an unconventional phalanx formation. Then, dragging her body which was slightly slow in movement due to rheumatism, she drove her mount to stand at the very tip of the phalanx.

  "These colored Ryel people have crawled out of their turtle shells, don't think about crawling back from our hands!" Sophia drew her long-unused military knife, her green single eye staring at the approaching enemy with a fierce glint. The knights of the Xuefala Church also drew their swords. Hundreds of sharp blades reflected the cold light of the morning sun, shining brightly.

  "Long live Xuefengras-sama, charge!"

  The military sword chopped down, the elf army shouted and rushed towards their opponents. Charging against counter-charging. White blade battles against white blade battles, intense fighting broke out again in the canyon that had already been stained red with blood.

  The sound of clashing weapons, the cries of warriors, the firing of muskets, the trampling of wild boars, and the explosions of hand grenades, punctuated by the occasional shrill whistle, shrouded the entire battlefield like a nightmare. The smoke from burning gunpowder mixed with splattered blood, wafting through the valley. The weapons, armor, and uniforms of the dead lay strewn about, forming a cruel obstacle course.

  A brief but intense melee ended with one side falling. The Knights of the Church of Xeridia taught a vivid lesson to the entire Ursine Legion by piling up corpses, once again proving the truth that "weak troops cannot fight white blade wars".

  "Fire at will!"

  Bam and his over a hundred subordinates had just faced off against their opponents when the elven knights drew out large-caliber handguns engraved with magical spells, unleashing a hail of lead at the dwarven knights and their mounts. Although the bullets' power was insufficient to penetrate the magically reinforced large oak barrels, they could hardly break through the thick bear hide of the great druids. However, they were more than enough to pierce the dwarves' iron-plated light armor or wild boar skin. Amidst the rising white smoke, dozens of dwarves either fell to the ground or let their fallen mounts roll onto the ground, trampled and injured by the knights behind them, and cries of grief erupted all around.

  The dwarf knight, enraged by the massive loss, frantically swung his axe to avenge his fallen comrades. The elf, without hesitation, wielded his sword to parry. Amidst the clanging of metal, the seemingly sturdy battle-axe shattered under the impact of the slender longsword. Even the finest weapons crafted by dwarf artisans were no match for the blessed swords. The seasoned church knight effortlessly cleaved through his opponent's weapon and then slit their throats under the disbelieving gaze of the dwarves.

  Seeing the battle was unfavorable, the remaining dwarves stopped their charge and threw out the hand grenades they were carrying - these guys who lacked regular training couldn't even shoot on the back of a bumpy riding horse, but this

  Their numbers had dwindled by nearly half. The elf raised his scabbard. Generally, the hand grenades that were thrown at him were knocked back and flew away again. In the explosion, the dwarves fell under their own weapons. A group of elven knights took advantage of the situation to break away from the formation and charge forward, slashing at the enemy who had lost their speed advantage with their swords, and amidst the dwarves' wails, another bloody storm was stirred up.

  A brief exchange, and over a hundred dwarf knights who had retreated were left with only single digits, while the elves suffered almost no losses. The Knights of Schiffer's Church were originally professional warriors who had been brainwashed by clergy and accumulated rich combat experience. Their failure in front of the unlucky bear squad earlier was mainly due to being dragged down by their own defeated soldiers, unable to fully exert their strength. Now that they had a fair opportunity to showcase their strength, although it was with infantry against cavalry, they still showed the colonists what real fighting looked like.

  The sun has emerged from the morning fog, but the fierce battle in the canyon still shows no signs of ending.

  After the dwarven knights were almost completely annihilated, the beastmen wielding wolf-tooth clubs, the long-spear bearers forming a dense battle array and even the troll warriors leaping down from the mountain cliffs launched wave after wave of attacks against the last elven army, but Xylara's elven knights stood firm like rocks in the face of the relentless onslaught.

  After almost annihilating the Zena Speaker's hired Drol warriors from a security company, Sofia even led her subordinates to rise up and launch a countercharge against the main force of the terrified giant bear legion. If it wasn't for Deifi hurriedly throwing out all the metal ball magic bombs in his hand on the battlefield, the elf knights would have been knocked down, and perhaps "Ghost Rose" would have escaped with her subordinates.

  "It seems that a large number of artillery is needed to blast them away, what special materials are these elves made of?!" Seeing the elf knight using holy power to dispel the yellow-green foul cloud, Fili wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, "When can the main force of the artillery arrive?"

  "Never mind the artillery for now! Look, the enemy is charging again!" Renny, who was commanding troops on the battlefield for the first time, had completely lost her pride and excitement of leading a large army, and was like a frightened little girl, pulling at Fili's sleeve while shaking. She even got tears and snot all over him. Fili could only smile awkwardly.

  The red-robed mage, Fedron, looked at Renny with some disdain and said to Fili in a serious tone, "Commander, there's still some time before the artillery arrives, but..." He pointed to the dissipating stench cloud in front of the Spirit Knights. Then he pointed to their own soldiers who were retreating step by step, turning pale and trembling with fear after witnessing the brutal slaughter. "With our current morale, we'll collapse at the slightest touch! We need to think of a way to hold them off!"

  "What can I do! The metal ball magic bombs are all gone, and magic can't conjure up city walls and warriors either!" Fili anxiously grasped his smooth and frozen scalp, looking at the enemy who was charging again, "City wall, city wall! Ah, right, we can use that to hold them off for now!"

  Bang, bang, bang, a series of consecutive sounds, more than a dozen elf knights who were charging in the front almost simultaneously crashed into an invisible wall and were all knocked back. Because they charged too fast and too hard, the counterforce was naturally quite strong as well. Since it happened suddenly, they didn't use holy power to protect themselves, so one by one, they crashed with their noses blue and faces swollen, blood flowing down from their foreheads.

  However, they did not show any surprise or astonishment. Under Sofia's guidance, dozens of elves shouted in unison and their long swords flashed with golden light for an instant before stabbing into the force field wall in front of them. Along with a massive tearing sound, the magical barrier was shattered by the divine-blessed swords.

  The spirits advanced two more steps, again colliding with another force field wall. The long sword blessed by the gods was raised once more. Meanwhile, Ferry had already revealed a desperate expression - he had only prepared spells for two force field walls, and the shocking visual effect of the spirit knight destroying the force field wall had scared off a considerable number of soldiers who retreated in disarray.

  "Are you going to let the last of these spirits get away like we did at Glorious City?" He muttered, holding Renny and using flight magic to retreat with all his might. Feton followed beside him, looking displeased with his fleeing behavior, "How can the brave warriors of New Delos be less than a three-legged frog!"

  Dozens of long swords radiating golden light stabbed into the second layer of force field walls again, but this time the force field walls only flickered and instead emitted an even more intense golden light than the long swords, bouncing the spirits back and knocking them to the ground in a heap, unable to get up for half a day.

  Fili turned around in surprise to find Grand Druid Vini standing behind him, his bear paws extended as he reinforced the force field wall Fili had just cast. The members of the ill-fated Bear Squad also abandoned their wooden buckets and followed Grand Druid on all fours back onto the battlefield.

  Seeing over two hundred fat-headed and big-eared dog bears, Fili's chest, which had already been cold with despair, was once again burning hot: New Thalassor may be extremely lacking in warriors, but it is absolutely not short of brave dog bears. He let go of Renni, fell from the air to the ground, and shouted loudly at Grand Druid and his unlucky bear squad.

  "Mr. Vini, I'll leave the remaining enemies to you, and after we succeed, I'll give each of your subordinates 200 top-grade honey! A full 200!"

  "Waaaah!"

  "Wah wah!"

  The great Druid translated the bounty offered by Fili to the members of the ill-fated bear squad. The bearkins immediately cheered excitedly. As soon as the effect of the force field disappeared, they stared at their enemies in front of them, panting heavily and rushing forward, as if charging towards a group of walking beehives.

  The lives of the dog bears are truly cheap! If every member of the giant bear army were as diligent and hardworking as these dog bears, the war on the new continent would have been won long ago. Looking at these brave dog bears and then at the fleeing soldiers beside him, Fili couldn't help but fantasize about having a fearless and courageous dog bear army.