Chapter 1401 - 1316: Smooth as Silk

Chapter 1401: Chapter 1316: Smooth as Silk

Even in the usually cool Roaring Corridor, after the onset of summer, there came hot nights.

Starlight blooms like flowers over the plains, everything appears scattered with silver, pulsating with a luminous glow.

But vampires cannot walk peacefully into such sultry nights, for colorful luminous shells are flying overhead.

Because the luminous shells are fired with an instant trigger, the moment they are shot, the trigger rod cracks the primer mixed with lunar mercury and slime powder.

Thus, the luminous shells light up immediately, followed by being launched by the trigger rod.

From an observational standpoint, countless beams of red, green, blue, and yellow light fly across the sky, hitting the ground and splattering dust and blood everywhere.

Occasionally, one strikes a vampire, resulting in him rolling on the ground, screaming maniacally.

Unlike before, these high-intensity glowing shells inhibit wound healing, reducing the healing of gunshot wounds to regular human levels.

Even vampires of the Brahe clan cannot heal wounds quickly and must be dragged away by their comrades.

Under the starlight, the dark blue Holy Alliance soldiers, their military boots stepping over streams and grasslands, come step by step across the wooden bridge in front of the village.

As for the sparse woods around and the farther plains, one can still see cuirassiers and dragon cavalry confronting the vampire knights.

But it hasn’t been long before the vampire clan army that came to intercept vanished under the multiple attacks of luminous rounds and spring cannons.

Staring at those fleeing vampire clan troops, André continued to lengthen his telescope, though he didn’t know what he was looking at.

Late July, after a long journey, the northern army led by André successfully traversed hundreds of miles of uninhabited area, reaching the core region of Bear Castle Territory.

Upon arriving, they faced fierce attacks from the Royal Court clan’s army, but the attack at this time came too late.

André had anticipated this, and within less than a day, he repelled the attacking vampires.

"Alexey, what do you think?" André put down his telescope and asked Alexey.

Alexey pondered for a moment: "Kutuyov, what are your thoughts?"

Kutuyov thought for a while: "Lord André, what do you think..."

"Ah, forget it!" André waved his hand quickly, "I can’t figure out what Lakunio’s strategy is either."

No matter how nonsensical the traps may be, they should be activated by now.

If not activated soon, with the current situation, the Holy Alliance army will reach Fat Cow Castle!

It can’t be some kind of plan for the prince to sacrifice himself, right?

"What do we do then? Should we watch and wait?" Although Alexey dreamed day and night about returning to the capital, he knew at this moment that impatience wouldn’t help.

"No more watching; I trust the stability of our rear. Delaying leads to changes; let’s proceed with the original plan and continue attacking."

The next morning, the staff brought hunter cuirassiers and intelligence from prisoners, and began placing pieces on the large map.

André, Alexey, and others, all military school graduates, looked at the map and markers with great interest.

But Kutuyov, being older, could only grasp a rough idea.

Once the staff had finished laying everything out, they quickly determined the enemy’s troop deployment.

The troop arrangements on the map seemed dense, as if blocking all paths, appearing especially perfect.

A mediocre leader might actually be fooled.

But to André, these troops seemed clumped together, with enough gaps for an entire army to pass through.

Not only was this the case around Fat Cow Castle, but over by Blue Pattern Castle too, entire armies were clumped together.

In other words, forces seemed evenly distributed, and even key defenses weren’t solid enough.

In general, frontal battles involved the Holy Alliance having more troops.

The only impressive part was the map looking perfect, as if it blocked all enemies flawlessly.

Without considering what had truly happened, André thought for a moment and gave the order.

Gather all the cavalry and assign them to Alexey and Kutuyov.

Their task was simple: coordinate with the main forces, constantly weaving through enemy-controlled zones, cutting off communications and logistics.

Additionally, they were to broadcast Alexey’s formidable name (Alexander), rallying support from the lower Norn nobles.

These nearly ten thousand cavalry suddenly moved out, striking everywhere, engulfing the Royal Court encampments like floodwaters.

Inside the vampire’s grain stables, they set fires, burned Royal Court outposts, and captured newly built vampire castles.

With years of training, Alexey was no longer the naive young officer he once was, possessing solid skills but lacking experience.

Kutuyov complemented this aspect perfectly.

Thus, these nearly ten thousand cavalry combined and split, moving around Bear Castle Territory’s ducal lands, even defeating dispatched Imperial Knights several times.

Originally, there weren’t many Imperial-level knights, and Leia’s Imperial knights had mostly perished in the Thousand River Valley war.

Norn’s Imperial knights had either been forcefully transformed or sent to fiercer southern battlefields; those remaining in Norn were few.

Yet defeating them in cavalry battles was still an outstanding achievement.

As for infantry, clan troops launched organized and fierce counterattacks under Lakunio’s command.

Across the plains, towns, and villages, black lines and red lines clashed continuously, advancing and retreating.

Gunfire and cannon sounds replaced church bells and countryside rooster calls, becoming the Roaring Corridor’s main theme.

Regrettably, every attack organized by Lakunio against André seemed thrilling but impactful, with few casualties.

Oddly, Lakunio frequently made erratic moves, deploying frontline troops unexpectantly.

As if rushing to hand over advantages to the Holy Alliance.

But it was all in vain, as the Holy Alliance troops continued advancing step by step.

In the south, Serafe also wished to rapidly deploy some troops to support the north.

However, Horn wasn’t about to allow her, immediately mobilizing troops and Cheka to initiate small-scale attacks at the borders.

Initially, Serafe wanted to press forward full-scale, yet she was privately advised by Konyaz to change her orders the following day.

She could only place more hope on the northern army.

Yet whether she frequently interfered with Lakunio at first or stopped under Konyaz’s persuasion, nothing halted the Holy Alliance troops’ approach.

By early August, after nearly two weeks of maneuvering around Fat Cow Castle, Alexey rode up on horseback to a small hill.

Sweat streaming from his forehead, he just returned from luring the enemy and immediately asked the accompanying aide: "What about those Imperial knights?"

"Our dragon cavalry, firing guns and luring them, have led them into the valley, now just leaving..."

Before the aide finished speaking, salvos of buckshot and horse neighs echoed from the other side of the hill.

Alexey couldn’t wait, quickly riding to the hilltop, but didn’t see the Imperial knights falling like cut wheat.

Within the valley, the horses with broken hooves, the wailing knights, and scattered lances and blood clearly showed the outcome.

Alexey smiled in satisfaction, turned his horse, and asked the cavalry captains: "Have the nearby village strongholds and vampire castles been mostly cleared?"

"There’s a village in front; its walls are too high, and we can’t throw plasma grenades over; we dare not approach too closely," a cavalry captain spoke.

"Where is it located?"

"Behind that hill, there’s an extensive plain... Follow me."

The group rushed to a nearby high ground, Alexey raised the telescope with a serious gaze and then abruptly lowered it.

He reached out with a large hand and slapped the cavalry captain on the back of the head.

"That’s not a village fortress; that’s Fat Cow Castle!"