novelraw Chapter 644 - 431: Features of the Challenge, Rodok Crossbowman
Chapter 644 - 431: Features of the Challenge, Rodok Crossbowman
Once the charge was activated, it was tossed into the middle of the formation.
Heat began to radiate evenly from the inside out, forming an invisible force field.
Due to the influence of the frost, the range of this force field covered only a little more than twenty square meters.
But it was enough to envelop all the dozen or so warriors waiting in the central district.
"Everyone, you don’t have to be so serious."
"Loosen up a bit on the spot."
"Otherwise, someone among you might end up with frostbitten toes."
Zong Shen, snapping back to reality, jokingly reminded the warriors.
Since the Odu Village incident ended, there hadn’t been any large-scale expeditions in the territory for several days, which had everyone eagerly anticipating the next action.
So after regrouping, the atmosphere on site was somewhat serious and tense.
The recruiting during the last challenge brought a lot of fresh blood into the territory.
These newly joined warriors urgently needed a battle to quickly integrate into the territory.
For warriors, combat was the best way to prove their value.
After so many days of idleness, everyone was eager to spring into action.
Zong Shen was actually feeling the same way, as too much comfort would only make the war sword rust.
Only through battle could he quickly grow stronger.
Before Luna, who left earlier, returned, it was Korby, who departed later, that returned faster to the small courtyard.
He brought back the results of dwarven forging during this period, a total of 37 sets of anti-slip ground spikes.
The ground spikes originally planned for the riding beasts were completely canceled.
It turned out that claw-type riding beasts didn’t require such things at all.
Instead, it was the warhorses that found themselves in an awkward position, be it the Grassland Horse or the Andalusian Warhorse.
The iron hooves of the heavy warhorses had no traction on the thick ice surface due to minimal contact area.
The relatively slender limbs increased the difficulty of movement.
Even though these warhorses and riding beasts were all "four-wheel drive."
They didn’t have natural "snow tires," nor did they have a more stable low-lying "chassis."
This was the fundamental reason why knights in the Northern Icefield Kingdom didn’t use warhorses as riding beasts.
"Korby, distribute these anti-slip ground spikes to all infantry warriors."
Zong Shen casually instructed, as his strategy was guerrilla warfare.
Using Burden-Bearer Mechas to transport ranged soldiers, they would utilize mobile tactics to patrol and fight.
Thus, the ranged warriors did not need to be equipped with ground spikes.
Only equipping them for infantry like the Dragonized Spear and Shield Warriors was sufficient.
These ground spikes appeared somewhat simplistic and rough, as if hastily made.
In fact, these anti-slip ground spikes were indeed a hurried job, but their quality was still quite good.
From Zong Shen’s perspective, they were ordinary items of Whiteboard Level.
[Coarse Anti-Slip Chain Spike (White)]
[Quality: Ordinary Level]
[Durability: 150]
[Effect: Reduces movement speed by 35%, increases anti-slip ability by 50%]
(Dwarf Uncle’s rushed job, though crude, it’s devoid of any shoddy work)
These anti-slip ground spikes are referred to as Anti-Slip Chain Spike in the system prompt.
In their unused, pristine state, they have a durability of 150 points.
This durability value is basically the standard for White Tier equipment or items.
Under normal use, it would more than meet the travel demands for the days of the Frosty Winter Challenge.
Zong Shen seriously examined the Anti-Slip Chain Spike in his hand.
This little item once again proved something.
That is, autonomously designed items, once adjusted by Dwarf Uncle.
As long as certain criterions are met, can be manufactured to become system-approved items.
The effectiveness of the Anti-Slip Chain Spike is system-certified, providing a solid assurance.
"Rumble..."
As Zong Shen was examining the newly made Anti-Slip Chain Spikes, the sound of Burden-Bearer Mecha treads finally came from the east.
After waiting for nearly twenty minutes, Luna finally returned.
She brought back twenty ranged warriors, plus four Water Mages, as Zong Shen had requested.
In addition to Wenresa and Madeleine in the territory.
Zong Shen’s arrangements nearly mobilized all the crossbow warriors in the territory.
This included twelve Tier Two Rodok Crossbowman, six Tier Two Avalon Light Crossbowmen, and four Tier Three Avalon Dragon-kin Rangers.
Among them, those Rodok Crossbowmen are basically the most cost-effective ranged troops at the Tier Two crossbowman level.
This is because the Rodok Kingdom possesses the strongest crossbowmen of the same tier in the entire Human Race Kingdom on the continent.
Much of the Rodok Kingdom’s territory is surrounded by mountainous highlands.
Therefore, most of the Bang City and Giant City within its jurisdiction are mountain fortress-type cities.
Through years of struggle against beasts, magical beasts, and alien races, even children as young as seven or eight in the Rodok Kingdom have mastered some techniques in strong crossbows or strong bows.
This has become a nationwide trend and habit that has persisted for thousands of years.
Because of this, Rodok’s crossbowmen can basically outperform other kingdoms’ crossbowmen of the same tier.
Whether it’s a Tier Two ordinary crossbowman, a Tier Five Steel Spike Crossbowman, or a Tier Six Rodok Divine Archer, this holds true.
Moreover, the Rodok Kingdom’s infantry ranks among the top few in all the Human Race Kingdoms.
They just get overshadowed by the crossbowmen.
The Tier Four Rodok Soldier is considered an ace troop in siege and positional warfare.
In terms of melee ability alone, only second to the Nord Kingdom’s infantry.
These Rodok Soldiers are equipped with heavy shields, military chain head hammers, and long-handled machetes.
Their excellent shield defense capabilities give them a significant advantage in melee combat.
And they can buy time for their shooters to attack.
Of course, every advantage has its shortcomings.
As a mountainous kingdom, Rodok only maintains some knight orders in its northern regions.
Their National Knight Order ranks at the bottom among Human Race Knight Orders.
However, the Rodok Kingdom has little interest in developing knight orders.
In mountain fortresses, any knight orders seem lackluster; no excellent riding beast can smoothly charge at fortresses in the mountains.
As for aerial riders, they’re even less of a threat.
Ranged warriors can turn them into sieves.
Since its founding, the Rodok Kingdom only needed to focus on positional warfare and fortress defense.
So their troop advantage also leans heavily towards defense warfare.
In fact, nearly every Human Race Kingdom has one or several types of dominant troops compared to others.
These advantageous troops are connected to the kingdom’s war experiences, the region in which the kingdom resides, as well as historical traditions and habits.
The warriors stood on the open cargo hold of the Burden-Bearer Mecha.
Zong Shen surveyed the Rodok Crossbowmen, preparing to examine their specific attributes.
During recruit exchanges, the strategy system was in a dormant state, so Zong Shen hadn’t been able to thoroughly examine these crossbowmen’s attributes and characteristics.
He now seized the chance before deployment to understand them, ensuring he had a clear plan.
These Rodok Crossbowmen wore brown leather caps; Zong Shen casually picked a bearded one with high recognition to focus on.
[Rodok Crossbowman: Devitt]
[Talent: Good]
[Strength: 22]
[Agility: 26]
[Wisdom: 8]
[Charm: 8]
[Life Value: 365]
[Piercing Damage: 64~67]
[Head Armor: 10]
[Upper Body Armor: 25]
[Lower Body Armor: 20]
[Magic Resistance: 10]
[Skills: Armor-Piercing Shot LV10 (Grants attacks an additional 35% armor penetration ability, lasts 10 minutes, cooling time 1 hour)]
Triangular Piercing LV10 (Grants attacks a triangular piercing effect, causes an additional 15 points of damage to shields and armor, applies a 10-second bleeding effect losing 5 life value per second upon hitting an enemy, lasts 10 minutes, cooling time 1 hour)
Passive Skill: City Defense Enhancement (In city defense state, reload speed increases by 10%, piercing damage increases by 10%)]
[Squad Skill: Torrential Rain Volley (Squad Level) (Launches five rounds of volleys within 15 seconds, increases range by 100 meters, cooling time 1 hour)]
(May your enemies kneel and beg under the rain of arrows)