Chapter 1460: Chapter 1458: Infiltration Attack
Leaving the map hanging on the wooden rack, Soron stepped towards the corner of the military tent, squinting his eyes: "In that case, if we act swiftly, we might be able to accomplish everything before Sika makes a move."
As he spoke, Soron walked to a sand table, studying it carefully for over ten seconds.
The aides and clerks in the tent realized something, instinctively gathering around, their eyes falling on Soron. Then, after a moment of silence, Soron took three small red flags from the edge of the sand table and forcefully inserted them into three locations on the table.
Soon after, Soron announced the attack plan: "Next, we’ll split into three routes. Left route, fifty thousand troops, bypassing the Grey Rock Territory, attacking Southern Shalin. Right route, fifty thousand troops, bypassing the Chaotic Mountain Range, directly heading for Eastern Shalin. Central route, one hundred fifty thousand troops, personally led by me, quickly advancing through the Chaotic Mountain Range roads, attacking the ’Gate’ of Southeastern Shalin—Withered Stone City."
For years, Reef Rock Castle had publicly claimed to have strength no greater than two hundred thousand, but it had actually neared three hundred thousand. This time, Soron initially deployed one hundred sixty thousand troops, and now needs to gather nine thousand more from the rear to execute the new plan, almost emptying the nest.
Everyone in the military tent felt the weight of it, their expressions solemn.
"Execute!" Soron finally said in a deep voice.
"Yes," everyone replied in unison, busying themselves.
...
"Rumble..."
The wheels of war rolled forward, leaving chaos in its wake.
...
An afternoon with faint sunlight.
A battlefield scattered with fresh blood.
Mario led his battalion, patrolling a battlefield that just saw a small skirmish. Not far away, a temporary camp was being rapidly constructed, and Mario’s task was to prevent the enemy from suddenly attacking the camp before it was fully built.
"Thud thud thud..."
As the horse hooves sounded, midway through the patrol, Mario pulled the reins, slowing down, and looked at the ground beside him.
There, in a pool of blood, lay a corpse yet to be buried. Judging by the black armor on the body, it was easy to identify as a Shalin Black Knight.
The Black Knight lay facing upwards, with half of the armor shattered, helmet missing, exposing eyes that wouldn’t close. His face bore a fierce expression, glaring at his chest, which had five spears embedded—three broken and two intact—clearly the direct cause of his death.
Looking at the body, Mario couldn’t help but frown, imagining the fierce struggle the Black Knight must have had before dying, causing considerable damage to his comrades—in fact, at that moment, there were quite a few injured lying in tents behind him at the construction site.
Such existence really makes one uneasy.
Being stabbed with five spears before dying... is that still human... do Spark People even know what pain means?
Mario couldn’t help but sigh in his heart... Though an enemy, he had to admit that the Black Knight was very outstanding, an exceptionally qualified warrior.
Indeed, during the march, the opponent’s endless small-scale infiltration attacks caused them frequent trouble. To ensure safety, an entire cavalry battalion was sent out to patrol.
Just as he thought of this, Mario felt he heard something and turned his head to look westward.
In his vision, dust rose, rapid horse hooves echoed, and again, over thirty Black Knights appeared, charging straight across the horizon.
Another infiltration attack initiated by the Black Knights.
Mario’s eyes narrowed, almost instinctively reaching into his coat to take out a military whistle to sound the alarm.
However, someone was faster than him.
"Whoosh—"
The shrill sound came from Mario’s left side, and two hundred-member battalions of Blue-armored Magic Knights dashed forward, heading to meet the thirty Black Knights.
"Whoosh—"
Mario watched, exhaling slightly in relief, as the Alliance Blue-armored Magic Knights collided with the Black Knights, beginning the slaughter.
After a brief skirmish, both sides penetrated each other’s formations, momentarily separating, and nearly half of the Black Knights had fallen.
The remaining half of the Black Knights showed no fear, silently charging again at the Blue-armored Magic Knights. Midway through the charge, however, one Black Knight suddenly broke away from the group, riding around in a large circle, heading for the unfinished camp.
Was that their true aim, heading for the camp?
Mario’s eyes widened as he drew his Longsword, leading the team in interception.
The Black Knight tried to reroute upon facing interception, but Mario left no chance, tightly guarding the space between the Knight and the camp, herding him several hundred meters away.
At this moment, he saw the Blue-armored Magic Knights in the distance had successfully slaughtered the engaged Black Knights and were now coming over to eliminate the last remnant.
It seemed the situation had stabilized.
Mario pondered, exhaling a breath from his lungs, just about to relax when one of his men cried out behind him, "Captain, new enemies!"
"Hmm? New enemies, where?" Mario asked, puzzled.
"Over there!" The subordinate pointed.
Mario whipped his head around in the indicated direction, seeing a Black Knight appear out of nowhere on his right, like an arrow, crashing into the camp, heading straight for the largest tent—that was the medical tent for the injured, all without combat power.
Instantly, Mario felt his blood turn cold, already envisioning the damage this Black Knight was about to cause.
The loss would be beyond repay with ten lives... he was finished...
Stop right there... Mario silently shouted at the Black Knight plunging into the camp.
Next moment, the Black Knight seemed to heed his silent plea, really stopping because a hundred fully armed Heavy Armor Infantry surged out from both sides of the tent, blocking the way.
Mario recognized them as the people guarding the temporary military food store in the camp, apparently having detected the Black Knight’s action, taking measures to intercept.
Thank goodness for the temporary military food guards.
Initially, Mario felt that stationing so many people to guard the temporary food store was wasteful, but now it seemed just enough to thwart the Black Knight’s infiltration sabotage.
Mario cracked a slight smile, but next moment his gaze hit something, his expression stiffening, mouth slowly opening wide. In his view, in a corner of the camp, a fire pillar over a meter thick suddenly sprang up, followed by a dull explosion echoing.
"Boom!"
That...
Everyone froze.
About three seconds passed before someone behind Mario spoke hesitantly, "Captain, it seems... our food storage exploded..."
"Yeah—" Mario answered hoarsely.
Smoke rose higher from the camp.
A hundred food store guards, as if realizing something, furiously charged at the Black Knight.
Blue-armored Magic Knights also reached Mario’s side, unceremoniously surrounding the distracting Black Knight, brandishing weapons...
Slaughter...
"Puff puff..."
After brief clashes, both Black Knights in and outside the camp fell.
The enemies were defeated, but no one could be happy, defeat pervasive in the air. They all knew—there would be empty stomachs ahead.
