The Lord of the Rings: Lords of Middle-earth.

Chapter 129 Flail
"Giddy up!" The Bauhinia Knights spurred their horses into battle, heading forward to lure the enemy.

"Form a formation! Stay hidden!" Nyx drew a slender staff, and streams of magical elements flowed around it.

"Pay attention! Be careful, we're facing the Dongyi people in chariots! They're ferocious, powerful, and well-equipped!" Grand Duke Nyx sighed.

At this time, the Crusaders were not the massive army of 100,000 that existed in history. This army consisted of militia and professionals, numbering no more than 5000. And now they were about to face their first clash with the Eastern Barbarians!
"Huff, huff~" The heavy breathing of the Cross Bauhinia Knights came from under their visors. Seeing the enemy getting closer and closer, the Cross Bauhinia Knights pulled out the flails hanging on their horses!
"Crack!" The flail, swung in a wide arc, sprayed a spray of warm blood as a corpse with a sunken chest flew out of the truck bed. The body rolled a few times on the ground, convulsed a few times, and then lay still!
The well-made flail truly lived up to its reputation as a can-opening marvel, hitting its mark every time. When it struck leather armor, the impact point immediately dented and bruised; when it struck iron armor, the spectacle was even more absurd! The flying iron and bloodstains would tell the story of how wrong it was to use flesh directly to flail.

"Kill them all!" The chariot warriors, suddenly struck by a brutal beating, turned bloodshot and whipped their chariots, turning to chase after the Crossbow Knights.

"They're here!" The knights looked back and, seeing that they had successfully lured away the entire charioteer's scout force, they spurred their horses on.

"The enemy is about to engage! Prepare for the charge!" roared the Bauhinia Knights who had crossed the hilltop. Not far behind them were chariot warriors driving their chariots and wielding spears.

"Maintain the formation!" Grand Duke Nyx said, swallowing hard and his voice trembling.

"Kill!" The charioteers, driving their war chariots, crossed the mountain and appeared before the crowd.

"Raise your guns! Set up barricades!" Some junior officers spontaneously commanded their troops. Whether they were conscripted light infantry or professional soldiers, they all raised their long guns, and steel or wooden shields were erected by the soldiers to block their way.

"Charge!" The officers shouted as the massive tanks roared toward them. Only by successfully stopping the tanks' charge could they hope for victory; otherwise, the terrifyingly powerful tanks could easily crush their ranks, drive them away, and slaughter them.

With a deafening boom, several chariots jolted violently as the horses pulling them slammed into the soldiers' shield wall. The sheer force of the horses caused sections of the shield wall to crumble, and the sharp blades embedded in the chariot wheels sliced ​​through the armor of the soldiers on either side. The soldiers in heavy armor fared relatively well; only their armor was cut open. Some professionals, protected by their battle aura, didn't even have their armor breached. But the unarmored light infantry fared much worse! In an instant, their armor was torn away, and blood gushed forth! Dozens of light infantrymen clutched their wounds, howling in agony as they collapsed into pools of blood, struggling in agony.

"Giant Vines Entanglement!" Grand Duke Nyx's starry eyes flashed, and a beam of emerald light appeared. Several enormous vines burst from the ground and quickly wrapped around the wildly rolling wheels. Instantly, under the immense tearing force, the entire chariot was ripped apart, with countless parts scattered all over the ground. The three charioteers on the chariot also fell off along with the disintegrating chariot.

"Thud!" Several ordinary soldiers wearing linen robes embroidered with cross patterns rushed forward and smashed the chariot civilians who had just landed and were still somewhat dazed.

"Thud!" A soldier casually raised his spear and impaled a passing civilian on a chariot. Drops of blood dripped down the spear shaft and onto the ground.

"Ah!" Several chariot soldiers were hit by arrows and fell off the chariot.

After the initial panic, most of the Crusader soldiers recovered and, led by their junior officers, regrouped and surrounded the chariots that had unexpectedly broken into the crowd.

"Where are the archers! Fire!" Seeing that many charioteers were still hiding in the wagons and putting up a stubborn resistance, Grand Duke Nyx had no choice but to give the order for a long-range attack. After all, it was extremely unwise to risk the lives of his soldiers for these crazy, doomed people.

"Shoot them! Young man, show them what we're made of!" A knight reacted, waving his hand to summon several archers with bows and arrows. "Ah!" A shrill scream rang out. How could the charioteers, who had been putting up a last-ditch resistance, withstand the powerful archers' attack? Their thick leather or iron armor was pierced by the archers' longbows, and warm corpses fell one after another beneath the chariots.

"Check if there are any survivors! Make sure no one escapes!" Finally, after the enemy was overwhelmed by the rain of arrows, the officers slowly moved forward, ordering the soldiers to clean up the battlefield and finish off the remaining enemies.

The Crusader soldiers who received the order were also clever men. One by one, they raised their spears and whipped the already dead charioteers' corpses again from a distance.

"Sir! They're all dead!" the soldiers boasted.

Looking at the tank crewmen who had turned into bloody gourds, the officers grinned. "We told you to finish them off, not to desecrate their corpses! Look at how badly these bodies have been mutilated... they're not even human anymore."

……

"What's wrong, Your Highness?" A knight with a cross and a bauhinia flower approached the silent Grand Duke Nyx.

“Only a few chariots this time? This small number of enemies has caused our soldiers to suffer heavy losses and almost caused the army to collapse... Now I’m starting to wonder if the Eastern Expedition was a mistake!” Nyx’s lips twitched and his eyes dimmed.

She had originally thought that she would drive out the enemy, restore her homeland, and rebuild her kingdom on the land of the Duchy of Nyx, just like in the novels. But the cruel reality dealt Nyx a heavy blow. The recent skirmish made her realize that the crusaders under her command were really a rabble! Perhaps the only consolation for Nyx was their numbers; they were utterly useless.

"Your Highness, you need to believe in yourself! And even more so, you need to believe in us! No matter what, we will stand before you and fight for you! Until our last drop of blood is shed!" the knights proclaimed passionately.

Unfortunately, Nyx didn't have a single true commander under his command. If Reno were here, he would have ordered the immediate cover-up of the battle and a full retreat, instead of continuing down this path! Because a missing patrol would always attract attention, and soon a second, larger reconnaissance team would be searching along the route where they disappeared…

"Alright! Thank you all for your trust! Let's continue fighting! Let's strive to defeat the enemy as soon as possible!" Nyx clenched her fists, her flushed face full of determination.

If Roland were here, he'd probably cry. This little girl is truly fearless, like a newborn calf. She probably doesn't even know how many enemies are at her destination. Let alone a Crusader army mixed with 5000 militia soldiers, even a regular Lagrange legion would suffer heavy losses!

“Clean up the battlefield! We’ll camp up ahead tonight!” Nyx said, looking at the clean and open mountain pass ahead.

"Yes, Your Highness!" Several knights spurred their horses out to scout ahead.

(End of this chapter)