Chapter 54 : Chapter 54
Chapter 54. The Legions Are Redeployed
Over the next few days, the peace of Ningshuang City was completely shattered.
The First through Ninth Legions stationed at the Secret Realm Entrance received transfer orders. With their ranks straightened and banners raised, they marched in mighty formation toward Dante Fortress. The clashing of armor and the pounding of hooves intertwined, stirring up clouds of dust across the streets.
The nobles within the city also received summons orders. Every family hurriedly mobilized, reorganizing their private troops and knights into units before sending them out one after another to join the advancing army.
For a time, the roads leading toward the Northern Frontier were filled with an unbroken sea of banners, and the military momentum was astonishingly grand.
Interestingly enough, the tolls collected earlier at the Secret Realm Entrance had accumulated into a considerable sum of gold.
Kroll II allocated part of it as compensation for the nobles he had summoned.
Although it was only symbolic and far from enough to cover the nobles’ actual expenses in sending troops, His Majesty had at least given them an explanation.
Those nobles who had originally harbored complaints could no longer grumble openly. They could only swallow their dissatisfaction and lead their forces along.
William stood atop the high platform of the manor, gazing at the endless stream of troops leaving the city, his brows slightly furrowed.
Such a large-scale troop movement was clearly the result of the cooperation his father had reached with the Dragon Kingdom. Its target pointed directly at Dante Fortress under Kadiya Kingdom control.
Beside him, Tos said in a low voice, “Your Highness, the slave forces in our manor have already been reorganized. They can await orders at any time.”
William nodded. “Have them continue training in the Secret Realm. There is no need for them to take part in this war.”
He had already made up his mind. Under no circumstances would he let the slaves under his command become cannon fodder.
He had only bought these people not long ago, and they had only just begun cultivating. Let alone forming real combat strength, even self-preservation was still difficult for them.
If they were thrown into a battlefield where hundreds of thousands were slaughtering one another, they probably would not even make a splash. They would only fall in droves, and complete annihilation would be almost inevitable.
For talents like theirs, that would be nothing less than a waste.
“We can talk about other things once they are capable of fighting as an organized force,” he said firmly to his trusted aide, Tos.
At present, these slaves were promising seeds he had nurtured little by little with resources. Every one of them carried part of his future plans.
Rather than throwing them onto the battlefield now and wasting them for nothing, it was better to leave them in the Secret Realm to continue tempering themselves.
When they had broken through to higher realms, developed coordination, and truly become an organized force, that would be the proper time for them to step onto the stage.
William walked to the window and looked at the slaves in the distant training grounds, drenched in sweat as they trained. His gaze remained calm.
The war was fierce, but he could not allow himself to be swept away by the immediate situation.
Protecting these sparks and patiently waiting for them to grow was the most prudent choice.
As for the gaps on the battlefield, the private troops of the summoned nobles and the reorganized legions could fill them.
The atmosphere in the city grew ever more tense. Shops closed early, the common people shut their doors and stayed inside, and only patrolling soldiers remained outside to maintain order.
Above the fortress of Ningshuang City, it was as if an invisible cloud of war had descended.
Several days later, the last batch of troops left Ningshuang City, and only the guards on duty remained at the city gates.
William knew that the true great battle had already begun in the direction of Dante Fortress.
The air around Dante Fortress was thick with a bloodstench so heavy it could hardly be dissolved, mixed with the damp chill of melting snow and ice that stung the nostrils.
After the Dragon Kingdom sent troops, its legions swiftly merged their forces with those of the Kroll Kingdom.
Originally, Dragon Kingdom had wanted to seize the initiative with a surprise attack, but when an army of hundreds of thousands moved, it was like a shifting mountain range. There was simply no way to conceal its traces.
In the end, the allied forces of the two kingdoms assembled on the outskirts of Dante Fortress. Their strength had reached more than four hundred thousand troops, with over twenty Legendary Combatants holding the line.
The military formation stretched for dozens of miles. Banners snapped violently in the cold wind, and the murderous aura was so intense it seemed capable of freezing the entire plain.
This posture made their intention obvious. They meant to push the war back in return. In the alliance treaty between Kroll II and Dragon Kingdom, one clause had been to assist Dragon Kingdom in seizing the Kadiya Southern Frontier.
Now, the edge of their blades was pointed directly at the heartland of the Kadiya Kingdom.
On the icy snow plains, the allied army had already arranged its formations.
The monster legions of the Kroll Kingdom stood at the front, armored cavalry spread across both wings, while the dragon riders of the Dragon Kingdom floated at the rear flanks. The deep roars of the giant dragons made the earth tremble faintly.
The breathing of over four hundred thousand men converged into an invisible pressure that bore down upon the enemy lines of the Kadiya army.
The Kadiya forces were also standing ready. Though slightly inferior in numbers, they relied on temporary fortresses built across the plain as their defenses. Crossbows were strung, and the formations of mages were orderly and tight. They had clearly prepared themselves for a fight to the death.
The wind swept through the ranks, lifting snow dust and bloodstains from the ground.
The gazes of both sides met in midair. There were no unnecessary shouted words, only increasingly heavy breathing.
The curtain of the decisive battle was about to rise upon this snow-covered plain soaked in blood.
There was no horn of declaration and no final shouting before battle. The formations of both sides surged toward one another like two torrents rushing headlong together, carrying a momentum capable of destroying heaven and earth.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The sharp crash of metal, the dull crack of bones shattering, and the miserable screams of warhorses exploded at once.
The front-line knights, under the violent impact, were crushed like sheets of paper. Men and armor alike were smashed into mangled pulp, and scorching blood splashed onto the frozen snow, instantly melting small crimson pits into the white ground.
The soldiers behind them trampled over the corpses of their comrades and surged forward. Spears pierced chests, and blades split skulls. Every step was taken upon blood and bone.
In the sky, the clashes between the Legendary Combatants were even more brutal.
Dou Qi tore through the clouds, magic exploded across the frozen plains, and dragon breath reduced whole swaths of soldiers to charred remains. Wherever the aftershock of the strong swept through, frozen earth split apart and snow was flung high into the air.
Above and below, the battlefield had become a complete inferno of chaotic slaughter.
This battle raged on for an entire week.
The soldiers swung their weapons while chewing on dried rations stained with blood.
The snowy plain was dyed a dark brown, and layers upon layers of corpses froze within the ice like crude, low-quality sculptures.
The occasional scream of agony was quickly cut off by the freezing wind. Wounded soldiers lay in the snow as blood flowed from their injuries, only to freeze into icy crusts in the blink of an eye. Even the strength to call for help was frozen into their bones.
No one had time to care about them.
The soldiers on both sides had gone red-eyed from killing. Some knights swung blood-soaked longswords without even having time to distinguish the style of armor on the enemy before them. They hacked at anyone they saw, and the emblems on their armor had already been smeared into an indistinguishable blur by blood.
Yet whether it was Kroll II and Prince Tanley or Kadiya’s commanding general, all of them gritted their teeth and refused to sound the retreat.
Everyone understood that in such a deadlocked battle, retreat meant collapse.
The moment their formation loosened, the enemy’s iron hooves would surge forward like a tide and crush the entire legion into pieces upon the frozen plain.
So the slaughter continued.
The wind over the icy plain grew even colder, carrying fragments of flesh and icy shards that struck the faces of the surviving soldiers.
Their eyes were bloodshot, and their arms had long since gone numb. They could only keep swinging by instinct alone.
In the distance, the figures of the Legendary Combatants still flashed amid light and shadow. Every collision between them might decide the outcome of one small section of the battlefield.
This bloody battle with no road of retreat was still dragging everyone downward into a deeper hell.