Summoning Total War - Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Centaur Longbow (Part 1)

The battle lasted for less than 20 minutes.

In order to reduce casualties, 600 mercenaries were divided into two echelons and alternated fighting every ten minutes. They didn’t give the gnolls a chance to breathe!

In the era of cold weapons, real melee battles didn’t last as long as battles in the era of firearms!

Before battles were decided simply by the strength required to pull a trigger, a human’s physical strength was limited, and there was a limited amount of time that they would be able to sustain high-intensity combat. Here we have to despise the people who previously gushed about the guerilla tactics of the olden days, because d*mn it, everyone ran until their legs gave out. Would they still be able to shoot their arrows or wave their knives around to cut down the enemy?

Wasn’t that courting death?

. . . . . . . . . . . .

The battle was over by the time the sky was stained with a faint red glow.

The soldiers began to stab the gnolls who had yet to die, and the one to two hundred gnolls who had finally given up resisting were stringed up one by one by the mercenaries and sent back by a group of Greek infantry. In addition to the gnolls who had stopped resisting, there were about fifty minor gnolls who were killed after the captives were taken away!

Their own casualties were quickly counted.

Forty-two mercenaries had died, and a majority of them were wounded. The Greek infantry had no casualties, and about 40 of them were slightly injured. The General Guards had two wounded horses. and none of the personnel were injured. The reason why the casualties were of a small number was that the gnolls didn’t have many weapons. The gnolls weren’t even equipped with short human swords, let alone heavy weapons!

During their last attack on Murphy’s town, most of the gnolls’ weapons had been collected. After their defeat, even the gnolls lost their helmets and armor! As a result, there were generally fewer weapons to equip the gnolls in the current territory. But with just their claws and fangs alone, these beasts were still able to cause a significant number of casualties in the Greek infantry.

The big victory made everyone feel excited!

Of course, what made them even more excited was the silver coins that they could get next.

This victory had successfully ended the conflict that had arisen between Murphy and the mercenaries when he had taken charge, and in its place was now adoration and respect! These mercenaries finally began to understand why this young governor was held in such high regard by the citizens in the town!

. . . . . . . . . . . .

The outcome of this battle was pretty much what Murphy had been expecting, so deep down he was very calm, and he really didn’t feel excited at all.

However, the eventual casualties were even fewer than he had calculated. He found that these gnolls basically seemed to have no powerful weapons. In the battle today, nearly half of the gnolls had gone without a weapon!

What was going on?

Could it be that in the previous battle, the gnolls had already used up all their weapons in their reserves?

Did these creatures not know how to make weapons?

Murphy returned back on the road from which he’d come on his horse, and the General Guards silently guarded him. The infantry were already ahead of him and had already escorted the gnoll slaves back. All those who remained were just mercenaries who would peel off the furs of the gnolls that had died in the war. For these slave traders, they would never give up their profits. If Murphy hadn’t insisted on the execution of the gnoll cubs, it was possible that they still would’ve wanted to transport the cubs for sale behind him!

A lot of blood had been spilled today.

Murphy no longer wanted to watch the brutal skinning process. He confiscated a batch of silver products that had been plundered from the gathering grounds of the gnolls as spoils of war. Then, he gave it as a reward to the Greek infantry, who had participated in the battle today. In this battle, he had taken only half of the gnolls captive, and the other spoils, including fur, etcetera, were given to the slave traders so they could distribute it amongst themselves.

Trade in the city had since stabilized, and these additional gains were no longer enough to excite Murphy.

The aim of dispatching his troops today had merely been to give the slave traders the confidence they needed to lend their power to contain the gnolls that were scattered within the territory, so as to free up time for Murphy’s territory’s own development.

By the time he returned to the territory, the sky was already dark.

Although he hadn’t participated in the battle in person, Murphy felt very tired after a full day of running.

He quickly washed up with the maid’s service and then walked toward the large room in the Governor’s Office. He now felt like he just wanted to lie down and have a good rest, even if it meant just closing his eyes. For dinner, he was going to let the maid bring it to him to eat.

Ever since the decision to relocate the town, Murphy hadn’t had a proper night’s rest.

Almost every day he was up at dawn and could only rest when the sky was completely dark.

As a Governor, when all this had just started, there were too many things he had to deal with. And there were enemies like gnolls in the surroundings, so Murphy had to rack his brain to think of a way to guard against these enemies.

After today, one gnoll camp had been destroyed, and the slave traders had learned to cooperate under his strong leadership.

Only then did he really breathe a sigh of relief.

Murphy was lying on the soft goose down with his eyes half-shut. He was in a daze, and it was like he was in a half-awake state.

This carried on till he felt a pair of soft, little hands pressing against his back. He then started to wake up a little.

Murphy was about to turn over, but he was held down by the small hand on his back.

“Don’t move. Lie down properly,” came the soft voice of the high priestess from behind him. Murphy relaxed, and his eyes closed again.

The high priestess knelt halfway down on his body. Her small hands squeezed at his neck and collarbone, and the force was a little strong. It made the soreness in his muscles come through his tiredness. At that moment, he didn’t know if it was comfortable or unpleasant.

A faint fragrance wafted by Murphy’s nose. Relaxed, he raised his hand and gently patted the woman on his back. In a low voice, he whispered: “Lighter.”

Following his order, the high priestess pressed more gently, but her movements became more frequent.

His muscles began to loosen up and no longer felt sore, and being treated by the divine magic made his entire body feel warm and very comfortable.

Murphy’s head was in a daze. He wanted to continue sleeping like this under that warm feeling.

In a daze, he felt that the high priestess was gently sitting on his back. Then, using her small hands to pinch from the neck down to his spine, the warmth began to grow stronger and stronger. It spread from his spine and all over his body and along his sore muscles!

Murphy was finally no longer able to keep awake. Arching his neck back, he switched to a more comfortable sleeping position.

Thinking about that hint of fragrance with a warm feeling in his heart, he slowly drifted off to sleep…