Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

"Thud."

"Thud."

"Thud."

The sound of chopping trees did not cease for a moment.

The messenger dismounted in haste, hurriedly took out a scroll sealed with lacquer, and presented it with both hands, "This is an order from the bridge construction headquarters for you, Commander."

This chapter is updat𝙚d by freeweɓnovel.cøm.

"Thank you." The Centurion took the letter, broke the seal, and casually glanced at it.

The messenger steadied his mind and covertly sized up the man, finally having the opportunity to witness the legendary Blood Wolf’s true face.

He didn’t seem particularly special, not especially stout, nor particularly thin, just a bit taller.

Apart from a fine gold chain around his neck, he wore no other ornaments.

Yet, he was special in a way the messenger couldn’t articulate. He stood with immense respect.

"Do you need a receipt?" the Centurion asked.

The messenger waved his hands repeatedly, "No need, no need."

"Alright then, I’ve received the orders." The Centurion raised the letter in his hand, "You’ve worked hard, you may go back."

The messenger mounted his saddle, saw the Blood Wolf put the letter into his pocket, and picked up the axe again.

From a distance, a shout came, "Be careful, down it goes!"

The militiamen in the logging camp responded in kind, "Down it goes!"

"Down it goes!" The Blood Wolf wielded his axe, striking the tree trunk over and over.

Just as the messenger had left, two riders stormed into the logging site like a wild wind.

"Not good!" one of the riders shouted, "The Herders are here!"

…

Winters had continuously used the Splitting Spell that morning to break apart over a dozen trees, and the phantom pain had not subsided by the afternoon.

No sooner had the messenger rider left than he heard Anglu’s panicked shout, "The Herders are here."

The militiamen abandoned their work and ran towards the tents that stored their weapons and armor.

With his red mane flying, Heinrich rushed to Winters’ side, Anglu jumped down from the saddle, and said breathlessly, "Commander, the Herders are here!"

"Don’t panic, speak slowly," Winters’ head hurt even more, "Where? How many? How is the battle going?"

"The carriage carrying the wood has been hijacked!"

"How many Herders are there?"

"Twenty-some!"

"They’re here!" Winters shouted internally, "I knew this day would come!"

With an outburst, he buried his axe into the tree, and the oak, finally unable to hold on any longer, trembled and fell to the ground.

"Watch out!" Winters shouted, "The tree is falling!"

The surrounding militiamen quickly moved out of the way, and fortunately, no accidents occurred.

Winters ran towards his warhorse, commanded loudly, "Those with warhorses, come with me! The rest stay here on standby! Release the sentries!"

The warhorse sensed its master’s urgency and, though usually stubborn, showed no resistance and allowed him to saddle up without any extra fuss.

Grabbing his saber, he leaped onto the saddle, ready to depart.

"Put on your armor!" Tess, holding Winters’ three-quarter armor, ran over in a hurry, "You haven’t put on your armor yet!"

Regretfully, Winters dismounted to don his armor.

He was dressed in coarse clothes meant for labor, all of which had to be changed.

Silk undershirt, cotton gambeson, chain mail, plate armor, boots – Tess and Heinrich helped Winters layer on his armor.

If the messenger were to come again, he would certainly not mistake him.

After preparations, Winters led about twenty Dusacks to the location where the convoy was ambushed.

On one hand, the Paratu army was felling trees near the outer edge of the forest, while on the other, they dispatched logging teams to delve deeper into the woods to cut down big trees.

The ambush site was located between the logging area and the main camp, with the force from the main camp arriving before Winters; the Piaoqi Troops had already set off to pursue the Herders.

The scene was a carnage, as the unarmed transport convoy was completely unable to resist, and all the coachmen were slaughtered.

The wagons remained in place, but their axles were destroyed, and the draught horses had been taken by the Herders.

Alpad had already deployed scouts around the area, but still, this small band of Herders had slipped through.

"Forcing us to split our forces again," Winters thought, "Is this your plan, White Lion?"

...

Before the transport convoy was attacked, the bridge construction project was progressing exceptionally smoothly.

Winters had initially been most concerned that the [floating pile drivers] wouldn’t work because they had high centers of gravity, making them prone to capsizing in even slight waves.

The river flow of The Styx was calmer in winter—but that was only relative to its turbulent state in spring and summer; closer to the river’s heart, the current became more rapid.

Luckily, the Paratu engineers had built the rafts large enough, with pontoon stabilizers, so the functioning of the pile drivers wasn’t an issue.

The floating pile drivers were the core machinery for bridge-building; with them functioning, all other problems were minor.

The Paratu army constructed two floating pile drivers, advancing them simultaneously from left to right.

The Herders on the opposite bank tried to harass them with arrows, but the heavy arrows they used couldn’t reach as far as two hundred meters.

Right, and their arrows were against the wind.

Even with light arrows, at two hundred meters they lost precision and power.

Since the arrows didn’t reach, the Herders launched several small boats, trying to engage in river combat.

They were met with a hail of gunfire from the Paratu musketeers, leaving several floating corpses as they retreated to shore in a miserable state.

Winters estimated that when the Herder’s arrows could finally inflict effective damage, the bridge would be less than fifty meters away from them.

Even then, the musketeers could still exchange fire with the Herders across the river, and it was not yet clear who would have the upper hand.

This time, it was the Herders on the other side of the river who experienced a sense of helplessness.

No matter what they did, the bridge continued to extend toward the East Bank at a rate of over ten meters a day.

The greatest factor limiting the speed of the Paratu army’s bridge construction was no longer the Herders, but the timber supply.

In the wilderness, forests were already scarce, and large timbers suitable for bridge pylons were even rarer.

The Paratu army could’ve continued north to a narrower part of the river for the bridge, but ultimately they chose the current location because it was adjacent to a coniferous forest.

Through measurement, the deepest point of The Styx’s water level was about six or seven meters, requiring wood at least ten meters in length.

For ten-meter-long timber, twenty-meter-tall trees were needed.

The Paratuan searched frantically but found few suitable materials.

It was an old carpenter who came up with a solution: if long timber was insufficient, they could splice together shorter pieces and secure them with iron nails and hoops. Although iron would corrode, it would hold up until the bridge’s completion.

So, the bridge-building headquarters dispatched twenty logging teams at once, including Montaigne’s century.

...

The attack on the timber transport convoy meant that the White Lion had spotted Paratu’s Achilles’ heel.

Yesterday, Winters had requested the construction headquarters to build a fortified camp in the forest.

The timber harvested by each logging team would first be gathered at the camp, then transported back to the main camp under armed escort.

Today, a messenger brought him a reply.

The request had been denied by the bridge construction command because it "spread out forces" and "the second transfer delays time."

But now, even if the legion didn’t want to spread out their forces, they had no choice.