Chapter 1052 - War Approaches!
Chapter 1052: War Approaches!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“Iron Head, could it be…”
The scout below the tree raised his head in anxiety and doubt.
“Impossible! It can’t be! The Arabs aren’t that fast! If they had arrived, we would have already received the signal. After all, there are six groups ahead of us, all of them extremely experienced. No gaps are possible.”
On the tree, Iron Head shook his head and immediately rejected the speculations of the scout down below.
The Great Tang scouts had an extremely rigorous system that had no gaps. Defeating this system wasn’t impossible, but it would require an extremely terrifying strength.
The two silently exchanged glances for some time.
“No good! I’ll go down and take a look! Those rock eagles were injured in a previous battle. They might have died because their injuries broke out!”
Iron Head was quiet for some time, and then he slid down the tree, called his horse, and galloped away.
But he hadn’t been riding for long when the earth suddenly began to shake and sway.
“What’s going on here?”
Iron Head immediately stopped, and the scout behind was even more shocked. Not much time had passed between the plunging of the rock eagle and the shaking of the earth. Not even the enemy army could be this fast!
But in the blink of an eye, the trembling had reached maximum intensity. The shuddering was so fierce that even the warhorse sensed something and widened its eyes in fear.
The sound of the shaking was so enormous that it suppressed all other sound in the world. Even the sound of one’s own breathing was drowned out.
Iron Head seemed to notice something and turned around to shout anxiously at the scout behind him. “Cloud Leopard, go! Hurry!”
But Cloud Leopard wasn’t able to hear a thing, only determine what was being said by reading Iron Head’s lips.
Plush! The moment Iron Head turned around, a sharp arrow plunged through his body, causing his voice to suddenly pause. He lowered his head in disbelief to his chest and saw a sharp arrow head poking out of a sea of red, right where his heart was.
Iron Head’s mouth opened and his eyes went wide as he dropped from his horse.
“Iron Head!”
Cloud Leopard was so astonished that he even forgot to breathe.
Fast!
Far too fast!
This scene had completely surpassed his imagination and left him too stunned to do anything. At this moment, Cloud Leopard saw a sight that he would never forget for the rest of his life.
Rumble! Countless trees on the horizon suddenly began to crash to the ground as a black tide of steel rushed out from behind them. This was a torrent of destructive black flame that filled every corner of one’s vision as it swept over the world.
Hwoooo! The wind was akin to the wailing of ghosts or the howling of wolves, and the entire world seemed to tremble in fear at the momentum of this army. In a few short moments, the vast flood of soldiers had rapidly closed the distance!
It wasn’t that Cloud Leopard had never seen a powerful army before. The Anxi Protectorate army itself was such an army. But when he saw this army that was like a sea of flame surging out of the underworld, Cloud Leopard felt numb.
So many!
Far, far too many!
Never in his life had he seen so many elite soldiers. Each of these soldiers had fierce auras, and all of them had been tempered through the cruelest and bloodiest of battles. These were true veterans of one hundred battles! At the same time, this army was marching far too quickly. Barely seconds had passed between the start of the rumbling and the moment of discovery.
This was an invincible momentum, a wildfire raging through a grassland!
“How could there be an army of this many powerful soldiers?!”
Cloud Leopard’s heart was trembling in terror. He suddenly understood the fate of the six scout teams ahead of them, and he also understood why that distant rock eagle had dropped from the skies without communicating any message. This was no ordinary army, but one of unprecedented power.
And this army must have been marching night and day at this terrifying pace. Otherwise, they would have never arrived so early.
“I must immediately report this to Lord Protector-General and the Young Marquis!”
Cloud Leopard’s heart was still cold with fear and only one thought was left in his mind. Without a second thought, he mounted his horse and stabbed his saber into its behind. Gallop!Man and horse immediately charged off into the distance. Behind them, the black tide of four hundred thousand Arab soldiers continued its ceaseless and rapid advance toward Talas.
……
“Reporting!”
An hour later, the vigilant and focused Tang army in front of Talas suddenly heard an extremely frantic and urgent voice in the distance. An Anxi Protectorate army scout emerged out of a cloud of dust, his body pressed against his horse as he urgently rode toward Talas.
“The Arabs are coming!
“The Arabs are coming!
“An army of four hundred thousand soldiers marching night and day is now only thirty-some li from Talas!”
The scout’s nervous voice resounded over the city. Rumble! The voice was a boulder thrown into the placid lake of the defense line, instantly throwing the soldiers into a frenzy of activity. The city of Talas came to life like a giant machine.
The city gates opened, allowing countless soldiers to flood out in a tide of cold steel and head to their stations on the first defense line.
Winds raged and the clouds of war gathered. Countless soldiers appeared on the walls of Talas as well. The tension in the air suddenly increased by hundreds of thousands of times.
Whoosh! At almost the same moment, a figure galloped out of the city in a flash of light.
“Milord, Milord… it’s an emergency! The Arabs killed our scouts and are currently approaching.”
The youthful figure on horseback might as well have been as lofty and steady as a mountain to Cloud Leopard. He rushed forward in agitation, but before he could get far, his body lost its strength, his eyes went blurry, and he dropped from his horse. But he did not fall to the ground as expected.
Just when Cloud Leopard was about to fall, a young, slender, yet vigorous hand grasped him and held up his body.
“Milord!”
That young and familiar face reinvigorated Cloud Leopard.
“…Be careful of the Arabs. They’re coming.”
“I understand. Relax. We’ve already made preparations.”
Wang Chong spoke in a mellow voice as he solemnly looked upon this Anxi Protectorate army scout.
“Wonderful…”
Cloud Leopard originally had much more to say, but Wang Chong’s words made him breathe a long sigh of relief, and his mind instantly relaxed. In that moment, Cloud Leopard finally noticed the wave of extreme fatigue washing over him. His eyes slowly lost focus and his body gradually grew limp.
Wang Chong gently put down the body of this Anxi Protectorate army scout, his eyes turning sharp and fierce as he stared at the sharp blood-stained Arabian arrow protruding from the scout’s chest.
This wound had been fatal. The destructive power in the arrow had not only shattered his heart but also jolted all the meridians in his body. The scout had only managed to make it this far by sheer willpower, something that the Arabs had probably not expected.
Be at ease! Those who offend the Great Tang will be punished, no matter how far away they are. All Arabs will eventually pay the price, Wang Chong mentally swore.
He stood up and looked past the steel walls toward the horizon. Although there was nothing there except the howling winds, Wang Chong could sense a somber aura.
“Wang Chong…”
Gao Xianzhi walked out from the city as he also looked west with a solemn expression. Behind him, Cheng Qianli, Xi Yuanqing, the Anxi generals, the Gangke King, and the other commanders also arrived.
“Twenty-some li!” Wang Chong said. “They’re moving extremely fast, and they seem to be taking precautions against our scouts. Other than this scout, none of our scouts have sent back any news. Their vanguard seems to be extremely formidable. I estimate that we’ll be seeing them soon.”
The scout had said that they were still thirty-some li away, but this number was the distance the scout had noticed the army at. Based on the time that had passed, Wang Chong was able to provide a more precise estimate of the Arab army’s distance.
The horizon remained empty and the world remained silent, but Gao Xianzhi, Wang Yan, Cheng Qianli, and all the others could feel a grim mood in the air, and some of them felt their hearts sinking.
Creee!
A few moments later, seven or eight rock eagles ten-some li from the first defense line suddenly let out plaintive shrieks and plunged from the sky. Everyone was stunned by this sight while Wang Chong’s expression turned solemn.
Many people were still confused as to what had happened, but Wang Chong had clearly seen the arrows fired into the sky. Although those rock eagles had undergone training and were extremely nimble, they had still failed to dodge.
The rock eagles patrolling the skies can see ten-some li into the distance. That the enemy was able to wipe out the rock eagles without any warning means that they have a firing range of ten-some li and are extremely strong!
Wang Chong’s expression was serene while his mind buzzed with thought.
Although he still hadn’t seen that Arab army sweeping toward him, this fierce and swift attack as well as the terrifying speed at which the army was marching was enough to threaten everyone here.
Bzzzz! Not long after the rock eagles had plunged from the sky, a faint shudder came from the distance, upon which the entire world began to tremble. Hwooooom! There was still nothing to be seen, but a fierce wind was roaring out from the west…