Chapter 342: Bombs Away

White smoke and fire flashed across the battlefield.

Another wave of charging cavalry collapsed in front of the Brambleford soldiers.

At this moment, Meryln finally understood the despair that Rowe had faced on the battlefield.

After fighting fiercely for a whole day and night, his light cavalry had suffered heavy losses in battle with the Imperial Guards. Both his troops and the Imperial Guards were constantly throwing in reinforcements to fight over the supply route.

But now that balance had been broken, the Brambleford army had arrived, bringing weapons that spewed fire.

The reaver cavalry, already exhausted, could no longer defeat them. Wave after wave of charges, and the reaver cavalry kept falling.

"Quickly report this situation to Prince Fern!" Meryln shouted.

Covered in blood, he knew the reaver cavalry wouldn’t retreat unless ordered to. Although the Brambleford army was terrifying, they were still slower than cavalry. As long as they didn’t get close, there was no danger.

Just as he finished speaking, cavalry in silver chest armour rushed forward. These armoured riders maintained a tight formation, staying organised even under a barrage of arrows. If the ones in front fell, the ones behind would instantly fill the gaps; it was like an iron flood surging forward.

It was this kind of relentless attack that had caused such heavy losses. They had never seen such a method of assault before.

Meryln pulled his reins and swiftly retreated, avoiding confrontation.

At the same time, he saw the Imperial Guards, under the protection of the Brambleford army, regrouping to transport the grain to the imperial army camp.

This operation was being led by Timothy, who was helping the Imperial Guards organise and escort the supplies.

When the reaver cavalry attacked the supply line, the grain porters quickly formed a circle with the wagons and hid behind them.

Most of the fighting during that time had been between the Imperial Guards and the reavers. While some civilians had been injured, the casualties weren’t large.

Now that the enemy had been defeated, there was no time to waste; it was the perfect moment to move the supplies to the main camp.

With the Brambleford army escorting them, the previously chaotic supply convoy slowly started moving again.

Meryln watched the scene with frustration, but there was nothing he could do. He could only wait for reinforcements.

While Timothy was fighting alongside the musketeers and armoured cavalry, behind a patch of trees, Aiden was helping Jayden and Martin heat the hot air balloon, protected by 500 musketeers and 1,000 cavalry.

"This is the map. We’re roughly here. Preston City is 30 kilometres directly north. Cobblestone is 20 kilometres to the northeast. Your first destination is Cobblestone. Meet with General Benjamin in the city and give him the current layout of the imperial army."

Aiden gave detailed instructions to Martin.

The battle was in a deadlock. Although both sides were holding back, it could erupt into full-scale war at any moment. So communication was crucial.

Martin nodded. The balloon was fully heated now. He and Jayden boarded it.

The soldiers holding the balloon let go, and it slowly began to rise.

Preston was suffering from a drought. The sky was clear with hardly any wind. The balloon floated steadily northward.

Aiden looked at the slowly rising balloon and sighed. He still doubted how useful hot air balloons were in battle.

After launching it, he turned to the surrounding soldiers. "Go help the imperial army transport the grain now. If we’re late, the reaver cavalry might come back."

This time, the reavers had been cunning. They cut off the supply route six kilometres from the main camp, leaving the imperial army helpless to stop it in time.

If the front lines fell into disarray, the reavers would definitely launch a full assault, and everything would be lost.

Just after Aiden gave the order, everyone on the battlefield saw something huge rising slowly from the forest.

The Brambleford army had seen it before, but the imperial soldiers and reavers stared at the floating balloon in shock, many even forgetting to fight.

The balloon hovered about 300 meters off the ground, not too high, but high enough to avoid all weapons, and low enough to clearly observe the ground.

"You reaver dogs! Come hit me! Come hit me!" Martin shouted from the balloon.

At 300 meters, their voices couldn’t reach the ground, but their excitement couldn’t be contained.

As men from Brambleford, how could they not hate the reavers?

While venting, they kept adjusting their altitude, looking for the right wind current to move toward Cobblestone.

"Jayden, how about we drop a powder canister?" Martin picked up an explosive canister, smiling.

"We can’t just drop them randomly. His Highness said to only throw them where the crowds are dense." Jayden replied.

Reluctantly, Martin put it down. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew from the south, pushing the balloon due north.

"We found a wind current." Jayden smiled. "Let’s look for a westward one once we’re further north."

Martin nodded. The two kept adjusting their height, floating up and down, drifting with the breeze.

At the imperial army’s main camp, the battle from the previous day had left over 10,000 dead or wounded. The reaver cavalry had also lost thousands.

Both sides had stopped by nightfall to eat and rest.

To prevent surprise attacks, they ate in shifts while maintaining battle formations.

The next day, the standoff continued. At that moment, Randy spotted a strange object drifting in from the sky. It was floating toward the reaver side.

Clinton also noticed the strange flying object. He was puzzled and even a bit scared.

Just as the object floated over their heads, a black canister fell from it.

"Boom!" Before they could react, a loud explosion erupted just a few dozen meters from Clinton, engulfing a group of cavalry in flames.

Clinton’s face turned pale. He had seen it clearly; it was one of the Brambleford army’s explosive canisters.

That flying object was dropping bombs on them!

Clinton suddenly felt a chill down his spine. What was that thing?

And it wasn’t stopping. The balloon kept floating north with the wind, toward Fern’s silver tent.

Realising the danger, he quickly sent someone to warn Fern.

Meanwhile, on the balloon, Jayden laughed loudly. As they passed over the reavers, they had tossed a few canisters down- not many, since the wind kept them moving.

Just like Prince Simon had said, their main mission was still scouting and delivering messages. Dropping bombs was just to scare the enemy. If it caused chaos, even better.