Chapter 1368 - 1286: Battle of the Fat Toad (6)

Chapter 1368: Chapter 1286: Battle of the Fat Toad (6)

The freezing cold penetrated the woolen trousers, seeping into the skin and bone, causing the half-kneeling soldiers of the Holy Alliance to shiver involuntarily.

Yet, they could not rise even a millimeter, because half-kneeling was the order!

It must be said, since most of Dass’s southern army came from the warm southern plains of the Thousand River Valley, they were not very accustomed to the bitter cold of the Thorn Garden’s weather.

Especially in such a winter.

Yet they stayed their ground, raised their rifles, and launched a counterattack at the charging Vampire infantry.

Lead bullets whizzed past shoulders and helmets, occasionally sparking off fire.

In places where soldiers dare not turn their heads, the screams of comrades continuously echoed.

Those were the lead bullets of the blood pact rifles, and they had to endure them.

Fortunately, they did not need to endure long.

"Prepare!"

Accompanied by the crunching sounds of clockwork, three rows of rifles aimed at the charging Vampire army.

"Aim—"

The rifle barrel moved, aiming at the densely rising heads.

"Praise Holy Wind!"

"Bang, bang, bang!"

Standing side by side on the snowy ground, soldiers stretched in a long brown-gray line across the mountain pass.

At this moment, this rough line trembled, with at least a thousand Holy rifles firing simultaneously.

In half a minute, three rows of soldiers unleashed three rounds of Holy Wind.

The advancing Vampires were caught unprepared, the narrow mountain pass demanded low firing up to high, leaving them unable to maneuver flexibly, forced to withstand the assault.

As the gunshots rang out, the front two ranks visibly fell, black smoke and blood mist pouring from wounds, accompanied by the shrill screams.

Amidst the gunshots, a dull thud was heard, followed by a glaring flash on the white land.

Leaving three or five Vampire soldiers burnt and blackened, and a steaming crater in the snow.

The Vampire army that was originally charging, immediately began to raise their rifles in retaliation.

Perhaps their ammunition was stronger than the Holy Alliance, but in terms of firing rate and accuracy, Vampires were far behind.

Soon, under denser Holy Wind, plasma bullets, and coagulation toxic gas (certain Sorrido clan elder’s legacy), the Vampires were forced to retreat.

Putting down the binoculars, Dass’s expression eased slightly: "Surely not the main force, this commander is an amateur."

In such a climbing attack on a mountain pass, where the road is squeezed by rivers, streams, and farmlands, how could one charge with infantry and cavalry crammed together?

At the very least, cavalry should flank from both sides!

Hearing Dass say this, the staff officers felt a lot more relaxed.

However, he himself donned a stern face again: "But even lions hunt rabbits with full force, we cannot be complacent."

"Understood."

Less than half an hour later, sure enough, a second attack was launched, still the old-fashioned artillery and infantry cavalry charge tactics.

It seemed the enemy had not learned their lesson, or rather, they only knew this one tactic and could not adapt.

But Dass moved his horse closer to the frontline again, watched for a while, then moved closer again.

"What’s the matter, sir?" His adjutant caught up, looking curiously.

"These don’t seem to be the same soldiers as before."

"Ah?"

"Where did these new soldiers come from?"

Dass muttered to himself, making his adjutant half puzzled.

But he had his own logic; this batch of soldiers was clearly not the first batch.

In half an hour, it was not enough to fully restore morale and organization, yet these Vampire soldiers’ morale and organization did not seem like they had just been defeated.

That is to say, these troops were actually newly arrived, or reinforcements.

His earlier judgment about the "gradually arriving scattered soldiers" as auxiliary troops was wrong.

Picking up the binoculars again, looking at the tiered mountainous terrain, he indeed still saw the Vampire army marching.

Could this really be the rearguard? There must be at least twenty or thirty thousand soldiers!

Dass did not convey his doubts to the officers, otherwise, if the new recruits’ spirits deflated, it would be difficult to fight.

Initially, when the sides had only ten thousand troops engaged, Dass and his men still had room to retreat.

Now that battle had commenced, with enemy reinforcements arriving, there was no longer any room to retreat.

Even with the faint sense that something was wrong, he could only grit his teeth and fight on.

"Sir, those Vampires have retreated again," the adjutant pointed at the scene at the pass, unable to contain his excitement.

But Dass didn’t respond, instead scanning the mountain pass with his eyes, speaking only after a while: "I’m making the following deployment adjustments."

Upon hearing Dass say this, the adjutant immediately took out his notebook and began speeding notes.

"Order the battalion’s direct artillery camp to occupy the left platform and disguise, no firing without orders.

Withdraw two regiments from the left-wing of Tindaros village to the right-wing, the four regiments on the right-wing edge will continue extending further right, forming an L-shaped intersection..."

"Two direct reserve regiments..."

"Do not move!"

"Yes."

"What time is it?" Dass observed the battlefield through the binoculars.

The adjutant took out a pocket watch from his pocket: "Nine o’clock sharp Royal Court Barracks time."

"Good, send a messenger to Sir Jeska, report our army’s situation again."

Dass quickly wrote a small note and sealed it in a wooden tube, handing it to the messenger who sped away.

Following the orders, the four regiments at the right front began collectively shifting toward the right mountain.

The left-wing was evidently thinner, but in the two hours, Tindaros village had built quite a number of simple fortifications.

The entire maneuver was carried out behind the reverse slope, and after the morning fog lifted, senior Vampires couldn’t fly, therefore Shanluan hadn’t noticed.

When he saw the Holy Alliance army moving at the mountain pass, he thought it was normal horizontal formation rotation.

"First rotation." Shanluan recalled the previous battles, "Their Holy power exhausted faster than I imagined."

"Humans are after all naturally flawed, not as strong as our divine lineage," Samuji squinted at the reverse slope ahead, "yet again this tactic."

"Do you have a way to crack it?" Shanluan immediately asked.

Samuji shook his head: "I do, but need to wait until night. But regardless, sending infantry and cavalry charging in a swarm is not a good method, it can even be called amateurish."

Shanluan’s face turned red-black immediately: "What do you mean?"

Samuji remained as arrogant as at the start: "It means, when I’m here, we can’t fight like just now."

As Dass had anticipated, the vampire corps charging for the second time were reinforcements already assembled.

As for the sixth and seventh missions led by Samuji, they were still lining up.

But the two clan corps from the first charge had reorganized and could be thrown back into battle.

"I brought twelve hundred Imperial Knights," Samuji threw down roughly thirty thousand servant army, but only kept these twelve Imperial battalions.

Proven, humans weren’t all incapable; in cavalry, humans were far superior to vampires.

Vampires had almost no strong cavalry.

This group of Imperial Knights, although traitors handpicked from countless individuals, in terms of cavalry combat abilities, were unrivaled among Vampires.

Don’t overestimate the ethics of Extraordinary Knights; both royal palace guards and clan armies had many loyal Extraordinary Knights.

Vampire infantry combined with human Extraordinary Knights had already become the standard configuration in the Eastern continent Royal Court army.

"Sir Shanluan, do you think these Imperial Knights should attack the enemy’s left wing or right wing?"

Shanluan contemplated for several seconds: "Right wing, the enemy’s left wing has Tindaros village, not easy to charge."

"You are right, then let the Imperial Knights charge the right wing."

Although Samuji said this with a sincere expression, Shanluan still sensed a trace of a sneering tone.

However, he was no longer concerned.

Facing the operations against the Holy Alliance, Imperial Knights had an illustrious record.

Although they lost Pavia back then, at least they caused the greatest damage and pressure to the Holy Alliance.

A total of twelve hundred Imperial Knights charging, even without achieving the effect of the Pavia battle, at least would outdo the early phase effects of Cheese Bay, wouldn’t they?

If and only Prince Kongdai had vampire infantry then, the outcome might have been different.