Chapter 374 - 130: Just How Many Good Mothers Do You Have?

Chapter 374: Chapter 130: Just How Many Good Mothers Do You Have?

At the pass.

The hundred Blue Scarf soldiers left to guard the pass were lazing against the walls. Some were drinking water, others were sorting through captured supplies, and a few were arguing over who had killed the most enemies.

"Those Empire troops sure run fast."

"Wouldn’t you run? A hundred men against twenty-two hundred. Only an idiot would stand and fight."

"Hahahahaha!"

Laughter echoed through the pass.

But in the next instant, their laughter died.

Just then, Marcus led a hundred routed soldiers and dozens of zombies back into the pass. They emerged from a secret passage known only to them, charging the hundred Blue Scarf soldiers on guard duty.

Instantly, fierce battle cries and the clang of steel filled the pass.

At the same time, a series of violent explosions suddenly tore through the gorge, one after another, as if the earth itself were splitting open.

The explosions were deafening, their roars reverberating endlessly through the gorge.

In an instant, fire erupted at several of the most treacherous points along Gray Claw Gorge. Shattered rock flew through the air, and the gorge filled with smoke and dust.

Massive boulders broke loose from the cliffs, crashing down onto the mountain path below with a deafening RUMBLE!

The Blue Scarf soldiers marching down the path were caught in the landslide. Some were crushed into pulp by the massive boulders, dying instantly. Others were struck by flying rock fragments, their screams echoing as they tumbled down the slope.

Screams of pain, cries of alarm, and the terrified neighing of warhorses wove together into a cacophony of despair that filled the gorge.

In a matter of moments, the long, winding serpent of an army was brutally severed into three parts.

The vanguard was trapped at the bottom of the gorge, unable to advance or retreat. The central column was buried beneath the rubble, suffering immense casualties. And the rear guard was cut off from Gray Claw Pass, isolated and without support.

The explosions and rockslide alone killed at least two or three hundred of them.

The Blue Crow Department, tasked with guarding the rear, found themselves in a position both fortunate and unfortunate.

Fortunate, because they were the farthest from the epicenter of the explosions. Only a few dozen soldiers at the very front were caught in the blast, resulting in just over a dozen casualties.

Unfortunate, because they had a clear view of the infernal scene unfolding on the path below.

Fire, smoke, screams, and flying gore.

The winding path down the gorge was now completely blocked by the rockslide.

The banner of the central column toppled amidst the dust, and the shouts of the vanguard were drowned out by the roaring chaos.

Watching this unfold, Blue Crow’s face went white. His eyes glazed over, too stunned to process what was happening.

Suddenly, gunshots rang out from the cliffs on either side.

"BANG! BANG! BANG!"

Several soldiers on the flanks, too slow to react, collapsed as bloody holes erupted in their chests. ℯ

Before they could even scream, they collapsed from blood loss, twitching on the ground with guttural gurgles caught in their throats.

But it wasn’t over. The gunfire had barely ceased when it was replaced by the whistle of arrows cutting through the air.

A volley of pale bone arrows shot out from the dense woods, raining down on the men.

At the same time.

"VMMMM!"

A grayish-white ray of energy shot out from the woods, piercing clean through the chest of an officer as he tried to raise his shield.

The officer glanced down at the charred hole in his chest. The light in his eyes faded, and he pitched stiffly from his saddle.

’Ambush...!!’

The sight snapped Blue Crow out of his daze, his pupils contracting sharply.

’Fuck, fuck, fuck!’

’It’s a trap!’

The thought struck him like a bolt of lightning, sending a chill through his entire body and making his scalp prickle with fear.

’Explosions, an ambush... they were obviously prepared for us! How could I not have realized it? We’ve absolutely fallen into a trap!’

He understood it all now. The "blitz," the "surprise attack," the idea that "Lynch won’t have time to react"... it was all bullshit!

From the very beginning, they weren’t the Hunters.

They were the prey!

’That bastard Lynch... he was waiting for us here all along!’

"Retreat! Fall back, now!"

Blue Crow roared, his voice hoarse, "Everyone, fall back to Gray Claw Pass! Regroup with our men on guard duty! Move!!!"

His voice echoed through the gorge, thick with unconcealable panic and fury.

The five to six hundred surviving Blue Scarf soldiers under his command snapped out of their stupor. They scrambled to turn around, frantically climbing back up the path they had just descended.

However, the attacks from the forests on either side did not cease.

"BANG! BANG! BANG!"

The roar of muskets echoed relentlessly.

"WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!"

Arrows flew from the forest like a swarm of locusts, nipping at the heels of the fleeing soldiers.

The elusive Magic attacks also continued to rain down, each one claiming another life.

Screams echoed up and down the mountain path.

Bodies littered the path, and streams of blood gushed out to stain the gravel red.

Blue Crow hunched low over his horse, whipping it into a frenzy. He paid no mind to the arrows grazing past him, not even daring to glance back at his fallen men.

He had only one thought in his mind.

’Escape!’

’I have to get back to the pass!’

’Only by regrouping with the garrison, by using the pass’s defenses, could they hope to steady their line, to...’

’To what?’

He didn’t know.

But he knew that staying on this godforsaken mountain path meant certain death.

「An unknown amount of time passed.」

It might have been fifteen minutes, or it might have been an hour. When a panting Blue Crow finally reined in his warhorse and looked up, his movements froze.

There, on the walls of Gray Claw Pass, the battle flag of Lynch’s Ninth Battle Battalion was already flying high.