Chapter 1369 - 1287: Battle of the Fat Toad (Part 2)

Chapter 1369: Chapter 1287: Battle of the Fat Toad (Part 2)

1,200 Imperial Knights were ready, they mounted, they charged, their morale was high!

They were defeated.

Shanruan wiped the lens of the telescope hard, he could hardly believe his eyes.

They were defeated!

Just a few minutes had passed?

They hadn’t even charged into the enemy formation; they fell within the firing range of the clockwork guns after the artillery barrage.

Twice three-round volleys, plus a round of six-pounder grape shot, and a counter-charge.

After this, the Imperial Knights were easily repelled before engaging directly.

There were 1,200 knights when they left, but counting them on the way back, there were less than 1,100 knights.

"Cowardly humans!" Sitting on a cart pulled by two Centaur guards, Shanruan stomped his feet in anger.

The axle of the cart and the two Centaurs let out painful creaking sounds.

Samuji, however, laughed heartily beside him: "This human is so lame!"

Shanruan turned his head sharply: "Wasn’t it your command? Didn’t you say to have them attack?"

"Who said it was my order?" Samuji shrugged, "Attacking the right wing was your order, and the enemy commander clearly anticipated your thoughts, thus strengthening the right wing."

The left wing had village fortifications, difficult for cavalry to tackle, so the right wing had to be targeted.

Clearly, Dass had thoroughly read through Shanruan’s intentions.

"Are you messing with me?" Shanruan squinted his eyes.

Though he was just a Northern Road Army overseer, his status was equivalent to the two native rebellious Ogre Grand Generals.

Although Samuji was an Angel Envoy of the Royal Court Guards, if Shanruan demanded an explanation, Serafe would surely provide one, even if not killing Samuji.

Samuji put away his smile: "Don’t rush, Your Excellency, see, isn’t this battle going well?"

Shanruan turned his head toward the battlefield, only to see a large number of vampires forming a grand column, continuing to strike the right wing under artillery cover.

Lead bullets flew, stones scattered, human soldiers fell sporadically, whereas vampires fell en masse.

Shanruan’s gaze toward Samuji grew increasingly dangerous: "Is this part of your plan?"

"Yes." Samuji put on a neck guard and buckled an iron helmet over his bald head, "Please allow me to leave for a moment, and you will understand."

Without waiting for Shanruan’s approval, Samuji disappeared among the soldiers.

Shanruan, filled with pure hatred, could only wait impatiently where he was.

In his eyes, the battle appeared unchanged, yet felt as if changes had occurred.

Being a general, he noticed that something was amiss.

The first two battalions of the Third Envoy, 1,000 men and more than 500 Imperial Knights, had unknowingly mixed into the surge of soldiers’ charge.

And their target—

"So it was the left wing!" The overseer Shanruan suddenly realized.

"Advance! Maintain formation!"

Samuji’s shout overshadowed the mingled sounds of footsteps and gunshots.

The rising sunlight spilled its ochre light onto the white snow, staining the earth with an eerie crimson hue.

The finest vampire soldiers of the Third Envoy’s First Battalion took the lead forward, accompanied by a group of advanced vampire hunters advancing towards Tindalos Village.

In front of the village formed by huts and walls, several sandbag walls and trenches blocked their path.

Flying bullets broke branches, hitting the backs of the vampire soldiers, but they remained unfazed.

"Fire!" Samuji shouted, raising a gun and precisely shooting into the lookout at the village entrance.

A human hunter in a gray coat fell like a puppet with severed strings from the wooden tower.

His elite infantry armed with blood guns advanced in six rows, occasionally pausing to fire shots.

Boots swept over the snow, leaving tracks.

"Has the artillery position at the village entrance been cleared?" Samuji asked his adjutant.

"It’s cleared; Karen led two Mann family tribes and infiltrated, sabotaging the inner clockwork warehouse."

"Weak, weak." Samuji bared his teeth, exposing scarlet gums.

The Holy Alliance Army’s right wing was being entangled by his diversion troops on the eastern side of the mountain pass, unable to mobilize in time.

Dass assumed Samuji had maneuvered his left-wing forces; even Samuji wasn’t aware now.

With more troops on the right wing, it was apparent they’d been shifted from the left; did he still assume he was Shanruan?

With Tindalos Village captured, a sufficiently wide breach could be opened.

Allowing the Sixth and Seventh Envoys to rush in like a tide, thoroughly crushing the human defense line.

Bear in mind, although the freshly arrived Sixth and Seventh Envoys hadn’t fully recovered due to lack of supplies, they were in their prime state.

"Accelerate!" Samuji mounted, charging forth personally.

The vampire knights and remaining Imperial Knights immediately followed, rushing together towards the village entrance.

The Tindalos Village garrison was utterly blindsided by the sudden assault.

Blood contract guns emitted a low roar, commencing free shooting.

Bullets flew, bursting blood blooms on the chest and heads of Holy Alliance soldiers.

With several cavalry assaults behind him disrupting the Holy Alliance Army’s formations, Samuji pulled back his horse.

An increasing number of blood gunners poured into the village, as the remaining human troops gradually retreated.

In a short while, even if the human right-wing forces escaped the distraction, there was no chance of retaking this village.

The plan succeeded!

Now just waiting for reinforcements from the Sixth and Seventh Envoys to arrive, then they could, then they could...

"Swoosh—"

In the moment of distraction, Samuji felt an intense tearing pain on his neck.

Instinctively reaching out, his body lurched forward uncontrollably, falling from horseback.

His cold body slammed heavily onto the frozen mud, suffocating his chest.

"Master!" The adjutant exclaimed, rushing over but was stopped by Samuji’s wave.

He lay on the ground, making hoarse throat sounds.

Instantly, his neck muscles twisted and tangled, like countless black and red snakes coiling together, forcibly sealing the gushing wound.

As a member of the Brach family, they lacked magical clan spells, instead pushing the vampire’s innate physique to the limit.

Though muscle could stop bleeding, the intense pain darkened his vision.

He lifted his head, scarlet pupils constricting: "Where did that shot come from? Have the hunters here been cleared?"

"They were cleared..." The adjutant protested.

"Could it be..." Samuji’s voice was gruff as if sandpaper had rubbed against it, looking in the direction the bullet came from.

Behind the hillside bushes, a neat line of soldiers in grey-brown uniforms suddenly appeared.

They were advancing in four columns, each one wielding brand-new clockwork guns.

"They actually hid two battalion reserves!" The adjutant’s teeth chattered in shock.

Samuji gritted his teeth, supporting his body, muscles on his neck still trembling.

He stared vehemently at the approaching unit, noticing the flag at its forefront.

A military flag bearing a silver lion, beside the flag bearer was a general riding a white horse, observing the battlefield through a telescope.

"Dass, truly underestimated you." Samuji coughed.

Due to the reverse slope and daylight nature, he hadn’t thought Dass had hidden 500 reserves behind the slope.

Whether the right wing was breached or the left wing, reinforcement could instantly rush in and patch the gap.

"Form ranks to face the enemy!" Using a finger, he picked out the blood-soaked bullet fragments and shouted to the gunners behind him.

The elite vampire gunners clearing remaining foes in the village immediately reacted, turning around to reorder their ranks.

In this cold weather, vampires evidently moved more swiftly than human soldiers.

They quickly retrieved blood bullets from their waist ammo bags, stuffed them into the gun barrels, using the rod to tamp them firmly.

Connecting the blood vines, they placed fingers on triggers.

"Fire!" At Samuji’s command, the frontline blood gunners simultaneously pulled triggers.

Nearly a hundred muffled shots blended into one, black-red smoke seeped from the blood contract gun breech, spreading in the frontlines.