Lefi crawled up from the ground, shaking his head, his body swaying, and his vision filled with blood red.

He had just been knocked flying by the iron hooves of Nikosak, his head hitting a large rock.

If not for the helmet's protection, his brains would have been splattered all over the place.

As the scene before him gradually cleared, the tide-like noise once again pierced into Lefi's ears.

The surrounding War Monks were clamorous, some mechanically loading the Holy Guns, while others, holding long spears, pursued Nikosak who withdrew from the battle formation, preparing to launch a second assault.

But more people stood confusedly, or desperately tried to rescue Barnaby whose throat was pierced—despite knowing he was beyond saving.

Everyone was shouting, everyone was running around like headless chickens, and under the immense impact, Lefi likewise fell into a state of bewilderment.

The Gallar Array, as a replica of the Maurice Array, inherited both the advantages and disadvantages of the former, most notably the overly weak flanks.

Whether for a single formation or the overall setup, the overly thin depth and fragile flanks of Holy Gunmen made them susceptible to being pierced by cavalry charges from the side.

Horn always chose favorable terrain to prevent today's situation.

Having lost the cover of teammates and the command of Barnaby as Legion Commander, the Black Hat Sixth Corps plunged into chaos.

"Oh!" Lefi exclaimed and arched his body, tugging out of his collar the Alchemy Talisman obtained from Mormon.

Previously, when Mormon was crafting Alchemy Talismans, Horn assigned Barnaby's Sixth Corps to assist.

Barnaby, in turn, passed the task to Lefi, who gathered the disgruntled Hand Cannon Cultivators to help.

As remuneration, Mormon used leftover materials to create an Alchemy Talisman for Lefi and others, said to enhance spell power.

But considering Lefi and others couldn't use spells, it was basically ornamental.

Yet just moments ago, Lefi felt an intense burning sensation on the Alchemy Talisman.

When he held the talisman in his hand though, he felt none of that previous sensation.

Despite not understanding why, the pain woke Lefi up, and among the swarming heads, he clearly saw the returning Nikosak riders.

The Nikosak riders charged at the forefront and rear, with their knights squeezed in the middle like sandwich filling.

"Reform the ranks, reform the ranks." Awakened from bewilderment, Lefi began loudly reminding, "The Nikosak riders are charging again."

"Who among Brigade Commander level commanders still remains?" Amid the clattering hooves, Jeska did not send out a messenger, but instead came in person.

"I am here." Seeing none around answering, Lefi shouted out loudly as he stepped forward.

Although he was the Brigade Commander of the Hand Cannon Brigade, this position was overly special and belonged to a Brigade level.

Now, while most people were still in confusion and chaos, Lefi was the highest-ranking and most proactive among the alert.

"Alright, appointing you as commander, tasked to hold off the assault, as long as they can be held for two minutes, reinforcements will arrive."

"Yes, Sir Jeska."

Charged with the task amid defeat, Lefi had no time to feel excited before facing Nidesar's charge.

Maneuvering among the crowd, he continuously pushed or pulled the Holy Gunmen and Long Spearmen back into position.

"It's too late!" Bernardo, covered in dust, squeezed out from the crowd, grabbing his wrist.

"What is too late?"

"I'll handle regrouping the formation." Bernardo, with a handsome face marred by a diagonal scar across his cheek, said, "You gather all the Hand Cannon Cultivators, delay time, or else we'll repeat our earlier fate."

"Ah, right, right." Lefi immediately puffed up his chest, shouting in a voice that seemed to shatter internal organs, "Wake up, Barnaby is gone, Hand Cannon Cultivators, hurry to the front line."

"No, Hand Cannon Cultivators to the second line, be careful of spears."

Under Bernardo and Lefi's collection, the previously chaotic formation surprisingly coalesced into a loose formation.

The Hand Cannon Cultivators exerted all strength to mount their arm-thick hand cannons on erected crescent axes, a custom weapon issued to Hand Cannon Cultivators.

After all, slender wooden gun mounts could not support the weighty hand cannons and their incredible recoil force.

The Hand Cannon Cultivators had no time to aim properly, but Lefi could not let that stop him; he heard the thunderous sound of hooves.

The cannon barrels extended forward between the shoulders of Long Spear Soldiers, aiming at those Nikosak Knights.

This Spring-Loaded Hand Cannon bore a resemblance in appearance to the Kanni Di Type I, yet it was not derived from the Kanni Di Type I.

The origin of this Spring-Loaded Hand Cannon was actually a hand cannon created by Horn, essentially a downsized version of the Leather Cannon.

Horn intentionally reduced the mountain copper content, but only War Monks with three to four mana could fire one round.

If the rifled Great Cannon was for precise targeting to kill key figures.

Then the Spring-Loaded Hand Cannon aimed for range and denial; since it failed to hit speeding knights, it should close in for area damage, and the target was horses, not people.

Given the premise of "humans being extraordinary but horses not," directly knock knights off their horses, bringing them to the ground to face off against the Salvation Army's Long Spearmen and Holy Gunmen.

However, in terms of power, five Spring-Loaded Hand Cannons were even inferior to one of Horn's Leather Cannons.

The ten spring-loaded hand cannons were aimed at the approaching Nikosak. Lefi squinted his eyes, knowing that the Nidesar, inheritors of the desert nomads' tactics, only clad their warhorses in thin iron cloth armor.

This cloth armor was somewhat effective against stray arrows, but for the iron shot of the hand cannons, it was quite inadequate.

With eyesight as keen as an eagle's, Nidesar instantly saw through Lefi's intentions.

"They really look down on us." He sneered coldly.

This new type of spring-loaded cannon was used before in the battle of Monkulus. Do they think we Nidesar, like the Imperial Knights, don't read the battle reports?

Not only did he read the reports, but he also humbly sought out the Night Guards who were on the front lines to inquire.

After multiple rounds of questioning, Nidesar had long understood the limitations of the spring-loaded hand cannon—while it was powerful, it could only fire once, with a maximum range of just twenty yards.

For the squire knights behind him, making a turn at such a distance was quite a difficult task.

But for these well-trained Nikosak, it was not too challenging.

Under the scorching sun, the silver armor of the Nikosaks gleamed brilliantly, like a golden flood.

Just as Lefi was about to shout "fire", this golden flood suddenly changed direction.

Meanwhile, the escorting squire knights behind them rushed towards the ten hand cannons with expressions of utter despair as if their brakes had failed.

"Those damned blood slaves of the sun goats." With his plans foiled, Lefi roared, but could only order to fire.

After all, whether it was the Nikosak or the squire knights charging, they would rip through the defense line once again, and by then, they might not have another opportunity.

"Fire!"

The cannon muzzle spewed a dark shadow, like a shrieking black fog whizzing through the air.

The acrid smell of heated metal quickly spread, blending with the scent of grass and the glaring sunlight.

Only after the fact did the explosion sound ring out, and ten hand cannon cultivators were blasted onto their backs, needing support from other cultivators behind them.

Iron shot struck against the heavy armor, emitting a piercing metallic clash.

The sunlight reflected off the shattered armor plates, illuminating the terrified faces of the escorting knights.

Amidst successive booms, the neighs of warhorses mixed with the knights' screams, merging into a hair-raising wail.

The densely muscled warhorses were riddled with bloody holes by the scattering black fog of iron shot.

Having lost its fundamental balance, it crashed heavily onto the dry ground, kicking up layers of dust.

The knights were thrown off by their beloved warhorses, either crushed underneath or bouncing off the ground, their armor clanging dully as it hit the earth.

Behind the swirling dust, the sound of hooves steadily continued, and over a hundred javelins pierced through the smoke, the white dust clinging to them like silk.

Another thirty or so war monks were shot down or injured by the javelins, and the Holy Gunners were still awkwardly reloading and winding the spring mechanism.

With the remaining Nikosaks, Nidesar sat perched high on his horse, watching the scene unfold as if it were a gladiator showdown.

The reinforcements on the other side had yet to arrive, and with their final trump card spent, at least breaking through this mutually supportive array, the other array faced only defeat.

In the distance, under the hillside, nearly five thousand Night Guards and Armored Soldiers surged up, sweeping along the peasant soldiers.

"Victory!" Nidesar raised his index finger high, pointing to the sky, with a smug smile on his face.

Besides "victory", he couldn't think of any other word.

Turning his head with a smile, Nidesar reached for his canteen by the saddle, gulping water down his parched throat.

"Bang! Bang bang!"

"Cough cough cough..."

Two streams of water sprayed out from Nidesar's nostrils.

He desperately tugged his warhorse to turn his head, towards the front of that array, the once imposing Nikosaks now lay in the dust like the escorting knights.

The Holy Gunners, having finally reloaded, once again stirred up the terrifying Holy Wind, and the remaining hundred or so Long Spearmen shouted in unison as they charged towards them.

The distance was far, yet Nidesar could still clearly see the bewilderment and fear on the faces of the Nikosaks.

This, how could this be possible?

Nidesar stood upright from his horse, inadvertently crushing the canteen in his hand.

Wasn't it said that they could only fire one shot...?

Damn it, Nidesar suddenly slapped his forehead, realizing it was the trick of Demon Horn, and he had fallen into the trap.

This thick-barreled spring-loaded cannon, just like the thin-barreled ones, could indeed fire multiple shots!

"Should we continue the attack now?" The adjutant tilted his head, looking at Nidesar's conflicted face.

"......"

Could there be a third shot? Nidesar furrowed his brow.

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