Hyperdimensional Player

Chapter 28: One Shot Destroys a Country! Barbarian Civil War
On the city wall.

When Duncan took the initiative to ask for control of the crossbow, Duke Dintagir agreed without hesitation.

It is well known that the Roman legions were best at using ballistae.

It was obvious that Duncan came from the regular army, so he must have been somewhat confident when he asked for control of the crossbow.

At this time, Duke Dingtagir had almost gathered all the nearby farmers, and including hundreds of miscellaneous soldiers, the total number was about 1,500 to 1,600 people.

After all, the British Isles were only a province of the empire, so the battlefield would be much smaller, with regular troops basically fighting among thousands of men, plus vassal troops, miscellaneous soldiers, farmers, etc., occasionally there could be tens of thousands of people involved.

When the British province was abandoned in the early days, one legion of the empire was able to suppress the barbarians from all directions.

After the empire withdrew its troops, the Britons repeatedly wrote to the empire for help. The province of Gaul sent troops three or four times to drive back the Irish barbarians. However, Germania Minor could no longer withstand the pressure. After defeating the Picts, the imperial legions had to withdraw. With no other options left, they had no choice but to abandon Britannia completely.

This shows that the empire had actually tried its best at that time.

Unfortunately, this vast empire is now in decline, and it's impossible to defend such a marginal province. (The setting of King Odd is the era when the Kingdom of Camelot loses the protection of the empire and is forced to draw swords.)
In the era of the Scourge of God, barbarian invasions, the collapse of empires, the struggle of faiths, and the war of pantheons, King Arthur was just a small man struggling to protect Britain.

Duncan didn't mind taking over the burden of the Knight King.

The ballista was left over from that time.

The early British legions were even trained by imperial officers. Some of the Sarmatian mercenary riders remained in Britain and trained the later Raguel heavy cavalry, one of the predecessors of the Knights of the Round Table.

The Sarmatian cavalry is a prestigious force in this era and is a foreign mercenary force that forms the backbone of the empire.

According to early legends, although their women were beautiful, they often had to kill enemies as a rite of passage and could not get married without certain military achievements.

During the reign of Trajan, the Empire defeated the Sarmatians, who were forced to hand over 8000 cavalry as hostages for peace.

These cavalrymen were sent to serve in Britain and became the first Sarmatian legions to arrive there.

Their dragon head flags, kontos lances and scale armor all became standard equipment for the early imperial armored cavalry.

King Uther's cavalry inherited the traditions of these Sarmatians, including the very eye-catching dragon head flag.

His nickname is 'Big Dragon Head - Uther'.

(This is also how the Imperial Dragon Banner in Mount and Blade came about.)
"It would be great if I could have a group of heavily armored cavalry. I could find a way to charge and kill them, which would give me a better chance than relying on crossbows and waiting for them to come."

Duncan has the blessing of a God's perspective.

If he charged with a powerful imperial armored cavalry, he would charge wherever the morale collapsed, directly locking down the enemy general and having a chance to take him down in one wave.

Heavy cavalry is the hammer on the battlefield, capable of smashing the enemy's lines to pieces.

As long as the frontal legion can hold on, Duncan will lead the cavalry to attack. He can seize any weakness exposed by the enemy and it will not be difficult to achieve the same feat as Alexander the Great.

Fight your way from Europe to Mesopotamia!

Of course, in this era, only heavy cavalry could fight like this, and charging into the battle line with light cavalry was almost like committing suicide.

good news.

The enemy has not attacked yet.

bad news.

The Saxon barbarians learned some of the Empire's siege techniques.

There are basically no decent cities on the British Isles. The so-called castles are actually early military fortresses. Only the Kingdom of Camelot has a fortress that is close to the early Middle Ages, so it is also known as the most indestructible place in the entire British Isles.

The Raven Queen, Triss, appeared on the city wall and whispered, "The reinforcements Duke Dintagir requested haven't arrived."

"It seems they have sided with King Uther."

The era of kings in the British Isles was somewhat similar to the feudal system, and the lords and nobles in various places had extremely high autonomy.

Anya also walked over quickly, looking a little nervous and asked, "Can you hold it?"

"No, let's find a way to retreat."

Although she looked confident yesterday, she became nervous today when she saw the Saxon army approaching.

After all, she was just a noble lady, a little overambitious and panicked when faced with war.

If this place is lost, Duke Dintagill will have no choice but to flee to the mountains and fight guerrilla warfare. King Uther has now been forced into Wales by many Saxon barbarians.

From a strategic point of view, if Duncan can win today's battle, it will be much easier for him to gain a foothold in the British Isles.

Duncan pondered for a moment and said, "There is still a chance."

This is a battle to defend the city.

If it was a field battle, he would have retreated with the witch and the others long ago.

The Raven Queen, Triss, had an almost blind trust in Duncan. Seeing his confident look, she immediately nodded and said, "I'll make some preparations. If we can't hold on, we can find a way to retreat."

She must be planning to prepare some ritual magic.

Duncan thought for a moment and said, "Can you do some tricks?"

The Raven Queen, Triss, nodded gently and said, "What's your plan? I'd like to give it a try."

Duncan pointed at the crossbow beside him and said in a deep voice, "Find a way to use a sleight of hand to hide this for me."

Catch the enemy off guard with a shot.

Duncan put all his chips on his God's perspective and crossbow.

The Raven Queen, Triss, immediately said, "No problem. Let me get ready."

At this time, Anya said: "I will try to persuade Duke Ding Tajir to hand over the army to you for command?"

Surrender military power?

I'm afraid that's difficult.

Duncan pondered and said, "No need. Just find a way to convince him to hand over the archer troops to me."

Anya immediately said, "Okay."

The witch hurried away, finding the beleaguered Duke of Dintagir. She spoke in a few words, and from a bird's-eye view, the hundreds of archers were reduced to green-marked units. Anya's strong negotiation skills reminded Duncan of the Roman noblewomen in Spartacus, who possessed a knack for politically savvy.

——Welsh Archer (one star).

——British shooter.

——Militia auxiliary archers.

Although Duke Dintagill only had a few miscellaneous soldiers left, he still had some capable fighting troops, including the Welsh archers, the predecessors of the English longbowmen. Wales is a forest and mountainous area that produces excellent archers, but unfortunately they are not holding English longbows now.

There were only twenty-six of them in total. Duncan was brought with him, and the other archers were scattered along the city wall defense line.

The army presses the territory.

When the Saxon barbarian troops were preparing to attack the city, their strength was greater than expected, and the number had soared to nearly 6,000. The main fighting force of the barbarians had not changed at all, but there were a large number of slaves and servants who were driven to push the siege equipment over.

——British slave army (low morale).

After the invasion, the Saxon barbarians massacred a large number of Britons. They killed adult men and robbed British women. From the beginning of their invasion to the present, the population of Britain has decreased by about one third.

In the future, only Wales will still have British people, and the English region will almost have a major change of blood.

"shoot!"

The British slave army had no morale at all. They were just cannon fodder that consumed firepower and were easily defeated. Then the barbarian soldiers hacked and killed them and drove them up again.

Soon, the ground outside the city wall was littered with corpses.

Duncan didn't know how many people he had shot, probably dozens, with no noticeable improvement, as these cannon fodder had very low combat skills. Basically, if he shot more than ten people in a row, a group of slaves would be defeated, and then the other slaves would flee with them.

Intimidation (Ex): You have forged your reputation on the bones of your enemies. Your foes are struck with fear when you gaze upon them, and your mere presence on the battlefield shakes and demoralizes them.

It was not until the slave army was completely defeated that Duncan discovered that he had a new special ability.

This is made of harvested heads.

There is no doubt that the battlefield has brought him a huge improvement. When quantitative change leads to qualitative change, Duncan's basic combat style has basically turned into a dark blue mark.

This is a gradual accumulation of efforts, which has also improved other basic combat styles.

The Saxon barbarians seemed to realize that they could not capture the city walls relying solely on these slave armies, so as the two wings of the front made some movements, the real combat troops began to advance towards the battlefield.

Siege vehicles (battering rams), ladders, siege towers, etc.

The slave army pushed these siege weapons closer again. Britain did not have any tall and strong city walls, so the siege towers did not need to be built too high. Six meters at most would be enough.

Fortunately, the barbarians did not have catapults, otherwise this battle would have been even more impossible to win.

Duncan's figure began to move, followed by a team of Welsh archers.

——Saxon spearmen (morale shaken) (encountered a strong enemy).

This special ability forged through killing seems to have begun to take effect.

When Duncan appeared on the right side of the city wall, the barbarian soldiers hiding behind the siege tower actually showed signs of "morale shaken".

The barbarian officers shouted loudly to boost morale.

About three minutes later, the sign of shaken morale disappeared, but the sign of 'encountering a strong enemy' remained.

I don't know when it started, probably after Duncan harvested about a hundred "real warriors' heads", the enemies he encountered would have a "strong enemy" sign on their heads.

Well, although there is only one powerful enemy.

Duke Dintagir advanced with a small contingent of British troops.

At this time he can only fight with all his might!

If the commander-in-chief doesn't go into battle himself, where will the morale be?

The Saxon barbarians began to attack in three directions at the same time with the sound of horns. Duke Dintagir was obviously unprepared and a little flustered. He directly sent militia and peasant troops to resist the enemies climbing the city wall.

At this time, the enemy has already attacked.

The city gate below was shaking violently due to the impact of the siege vehicle, and the British militiamen under the city wall nervously gripped their weapons.

—British Mixed Corps (morale shaken) (returned from a crushing defeat) (the enemy outnumbered us).

——The morale of the urban militia was shaken (the enemy was numerous and we were few).

——A mixture of farmers (morale shaken) (no training).

Fuck!
Why is so much morale shaken?

Duncan observed the battlefield and his face suddenly became extremely solemn.

"Why is morale so low?"

"Is it because Duke Dintagir suffered a crushing defeat first?"

Duncan had been shooting the enemy to boost morale, but he didn't expect that in the first wave of hand-to-hand combat, at least several centuries of troops showed signs of wavering morale and were almost about to surrender.

The British mixed forces all had the mark of "returning from a great defeat".

"This is really a den of bears!"

Duke Dintagir bears at least half the responsibility for the low morale of the army.

Duncan no longer conserved his energy.

He directly picked up the Northland bow and directed the Welsh archers behind him to concentrate their fire on the position marked by the enemy officer.

Continuous shooting! One kill, two kills, three kills!

The stamina bar dropped bit by bit, and then recovered slowly. Duncan didn't use his full strength before, and the slave army was not worth his effort.

Sharp arrows pierce the air!

The Welsh archers followed Duncan and fired a wave of arrows, directly killing the centurion of the Saxon spearmen.

——Saxon spearmen (morale collapsed) (officers were killed) (encountered a strong enemy).

This wave of point kills.

More than thirty enemies were shot dead or wounded in succession, and a century-man squadron immediately collapsed, allowing other troops on the city wall to catch their breath.

But soon a rain of arrows came.

puff!

A Welsh archer next to Duncan was shot in the head on the spot. One arrow hit his eye socket and another arrow hit his neck, scaring the others nearby so much that they immediately raised their shields to avoid.

—Saxon Forest Hunter.

——Saxon Elite Forest Hunter (one star).

Under the cover of shield-bearing warriors, Saxon archers also joined the battlefield. The barbarian forest hunters were more skilled than ordinary archers. They were numerous, and a wave of arrows completely suppressed them, directly shooting down dozens of people. If it were not for the cover of the city walls, they would probably have been able to defeat these militia forces head-on.

"If we win this battle."

"In a total war, it would at least be an epic victory, right?"

Tens of meters away.

Duke Dingtagir was hit by an arrow in his helmet, and he was so scared that he broke out in a cold sweat. He hurriedly picked up his shield and retreated to the protection of his personal guards.

A gap appeared in the southwest defense line of the city wall.

Duncan rushed forward rapidly, picked up a javelin casually, and burst out with all his strength, as if he was a legendary figure from ancient Greece. At the moment of running, the javelin whistled through the air, directly penetrated the chest of an elite barbarian warrior, and knocked his body off the city wall.

There was an uproar all around!
The first enemy elite unit in heavy armor was killed, and the first barbarian warrior to reach the scene was stabbed to death by Duncan's javelin.

He was standing on the city wall, and he actually dared to climb up first?
——Shield strike!
Duncan picked up the shield from the corpse, swung it violently, and hit the enemy's head with a heavy blow. His arm felt slightly numb, and the burly barbarian warrior in front of him was knocked over, and then he rushed up from both sides and hacked him to death with his swords.

——Combat style; beheading!
The Oath Keeper flashed a cold light, and the Saxon axeman who rushed up the city wall again froze in place, leaving only a headless corpse, and blood spurted out like a fountain.

Roar!
Duncan roared to the sky, his voice like thunder!
This extremely bloody scene shocked the enemy and also encouraged the nearby friendly forces whose morale was shaken to regroup.

kill!

A cheer like a landslide and tsunami rang out on the city wall.

Unparalleled warrior!

Duncan single-handedly boosted morale!
Even Duke Dingtagir, who had retreated to the protection of his personal guards, could not help but stick his head out, regroup, hold swords and shields and lead his personal soldiers to drive back the enemies who were rushing up the city wall.

"Close combat is more likely to boost morale than long-range shooting."

Duncan personally charged into the battle, killing more than ten people in succession, and finally stabilized the defense line in the southwest direction, and also made the group of morale-shaking signs disappear.

From God's perspective.

The projected image seemed to have changed a little.

Inspiration (Ex): Your bravery greatly boosts the morale of others. When you appear on the battlefield, friendly units will have the courage to continue fighting because of you.

Duncan's own mark changed, with two special states, namely "Intimidation" and "Motivation".

Fight all the way until now.

His own existence seemed to have some strange supernatural properties because of the killing, which was almost visible to the naked eye, and the nearby soldiers became more motivated.

"No wonder ancient warriors dared to lead dozens or even hundreds of men to attack enemies several times their number!"

Morale is so important.

Wherever Duncan goes, morale is high!
He almost single-handedly saved the defense line that was on the verge of collapse.

But the enemy's offensive did not stop.

Under the cover of Saxon forest hunters, teams of elite soldiers soon approached the battlefield.

This was a brutal massacre of flesh and blood.

Not far away, the Saxon King Henges stared at Duncan with a shocked expression. He asked his attendants, "Who is that man?"

"When did Duke Dintagir have such a brave knight?"

He was waiting for the opportunity to exhaust the enemy and launch a full-scale attack, but Duncan's appearance abruptly resisted the three waves of attacks from the Saxon barbarians, causing the situation on the battlefield to remain deadlocked.

Those militiamen whose morale was close to collapse fought desperately because of his personal bravery!
If only Britain had had such a tough guy earlier.

They probably won't be able to establish the Kingdom of Kent here.

“They’re exhausted!”

Hosa rode up to his brother and pointed to the northwest side of the city wall. "That place is full of a motley crowd of militiamen and farmers. If we concentrate our elite forces, we can take it down in one fell swoop."

Although Duncan was extremely powerful, the two brothers were not panicked at all.

Fight till now.

The elite troops of the Saxon barbarians have not all been deployed yet. Their siege warfare habit is to wait until the enemy is exhausted before sending their elite troops to launch a strong attack.

This way there will be fewer casualties.

While talking.

Surrounded by the barbarian chief's guards and noble riders, the two brothers gradually approached the front line of the battlefield, seemingly observing and looking for weaknesses in the enemy's defense line.

This distance is far beyond the range of bows and arrows, so there is no need to worry about the threat of archers.

Duke Dintagir has too many peasant militiamen.

As long as there is a gap in a section of the city wall, it will mean a complete defeat.

"coming!"

Duncan began to move, locking onto his target, waiting for the moment when the opponent's speed would gradually slow down.

It's now!

Looking down at the battlefield from a God's perspective, the enemy leader was marked, and the deception of Triss, the Raven Queen, disappeared. In the slightly panicked eyes of the people in the distance, a crossbow suddenly appeared on the city wall, and the arrows that looked like javelins were already loaded. The straight-line distance to the enemy was only more than 300 meters.

Aim for the crosshairs!
Duncan took a deep breath, and in an instant his javelin pierced the air with a sharp sound. The enemies in the distance panicked and almost turned their horses around to retreat.

boom!
Heavy arrows like javelins flew across the battlefield.

this moment.

Diana of the ancient Roman pantheon is watching!

Artemis of the ancient Greek pantheon is watching!

Pfft!
The enemy tried to escape, but it was too late.

next second.

King Henges of the Kingdom of Kent fell from his horse. A heavy arrow from a crossbow pierced through his chest, piercing two people and directly killing a warhorse behind him.

The entire battlefield was dead silent!
Everyone stood there in shock, their faces covered in horror, before an earth-shaking commotion and cheers broke out the next second.

Somehow, Duncan performed exceptionally well!
The barbarian chief's guards retreated in panic, holding the king's body. As expected of a two-star gold hero unit, he did not die on the spot even though the crossbow pierced his chest. He just spurted out blood, and was breathing more than breathing when he was dragged away by the chief's guards.

"The enemy king is dead!"

"The enemy king is dead!!!"

On the city walls, the Britons cheered and shouted at the top of their lungs, and the entire battlefield situation suddenly underwent a shocking reversal. The morale of the attacking barbarian troops was shaken and panicked, and they were quickly and completely repelled.

On a high tower not far away, the Raven Queen - Triss finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She had been kneeling in prayer, holding the emblems of both Diana and Artemis in her hands.

This time, the Raven Queen - Triss also fought hard.

A corner of the coffin of the ancient Roman and Greek pantheon, which had been suppressed by the church, was forcibly opened.

Duncan felt his chest warm slightly. It was the emblem rune stone given to him by Triss, the Raven Queen.

The witch, Anya, was breathing rapidly. She didn't know what was happening, but after hearing the shouts and cheers, she realized that Duncan had turned the whole battle around.

He is worthy of being the man I like!
Anya glanced at Triss furtively, feeling that she had already gained the upper hand.

The Saxon barbarians began to retreat.

At the rear of the army, Horsa grabbed the witch doctor who came out of the tent and asked with a sullen face, "How is the king's injury?"

The witch doctor looked horrified and shook his head slightly.

This means there is no hope.

The crossbow arrow shot through his body and penetrated his lungs. Unless a miracle happened, he would surely die. Now he was just hanging on to his last breath.

Hossa's expression was gloomy, and it was unknown what he was thinking about.

Although the two brothers led the barbarian troops to invade Britain together, there could only be one king. His elder brother being the king was enough to convince the people, and he himself was convinced, but now his elder brother was dying.

Who will be the next king of Kent?
Henges had only one son, Esk, who was quite famous. He and his nephew were the only two people eligible to inherit the throne of the newly established Kingdom of Kent.

The founding monarch died suddenly!
The chain reaction this caused was extremely terrifying, and other barbarian chiefs would probably also be ready to take action.

We can all join forces to rob, but I won’t be happy if you want to be my king.

There was a slight change in the air above the battlefield.

At some point, a Valkyrie with a silver helmet and bird wings appeared above the battlefield. She turned her head to look in the direction of Duncan and flew directly to the position of King Henges.

The Valkyrie appears.

Judging from her appearance, she was going to take away the barbarian leader unit, Henges, the founding monarch of the Kingdom of Kent.

The barbarians retreated.

The king died suddenly and the morale was severely damaged. Horsa had no intention of staying and led his troops to retreat directly. The most important thing now was to decide the next heir to the throne.

He worked hard with his brother to build a empire in the British Isles, and was obviously unwilling to hand it over to his nephew who had not made many military achievements.

This is the king's position.

Why can't he sit?!
On the battlefield.

The Valkyrie with the bird-winged silver helmet lingered for a long time. After taking away the warrior's soul, she looked deeply at Duncan and then disappeared out of thin air.

Duncan didn't know when he found an extra mark on his body.

——Odin's attention: Odin only appreciates the bravest warriors. You have now attracted his attention. Odin, the main god of the polytheistic-Norse pantheon camp, has become interested in you.

The Valkyries have spread your fame throughout the Halls of Valor.

You have enabled the faction legend of the Polytheistic-Norse pantheon.

………………

(End of this chapter)