Chapter 760: The Northern Mountain Front

At the beginning of the following spring, Henwell enters the paired upright and inverted pyramids.

The outside world assumes he is still recovering. His heart was pierced through, after all.

Plenty of people witnessed the wound. Henwell may have moved about normally afterward, but no one dares test him.

Every faction has consulted its own Iron Knights and received much the same answer.

A fatal wound like that takes a long time to heal.

Removing every hidden complication would demand an even longer recovery.

As Henwell falls silent, all eyes turn toward Vorry Kingdom's Northern Mountain Front.

The moment Peace Haven's two reinforcement army groups reach the battlefield, Arius sends them to the foremost sector of the defensive line.

Their commanders, Dominic and Agnico, raise no objection. Neither believes Arius is deliberately trying to expend their forces.

Once they enter their assigned sectors, they see the kingdom's battered army for themselves.

The situation is worse than the reports suggested. In the six months since the war began, three of the kingdom's legions have been annihilated and four more crippled.

The defensive line keeps retreating. Breaches have opened in many places, and weak points are everywhere.

If Arius had not personally led several ace legions forward, the defenses would have collapsed long ago.

The heavy losses among the Blood Lion Knights alone show how grim the fighting has become.

Every major faction in the kingdom now understands how badly the situation has deteriorated.

The kingdom's powerful dukes and counts have all visited the front. Once they witness the Northern Mountain Raiders' ferocity, they hurry home and throw their full support behind Arius's policies.

No one who reaches such a position is a fool. Most have commanded troops and can judge the Northern Mountain Raiders' combat capability for themselves.

If this vast defensive line collapses, the kingdom will face annihilation.

No faction within the kingdom can stop the Northern Mountain Raiders' advance.

Peace Haven might manage it, but Peace Haven is too far away.

Fortunately, two army groups from Peace Haven have already arrived.

Arius's plan is simple: use Peace Haven's elite forces to retake the Fortress Cluster One defensive line.

They must drive the Northern Mountain Raiders back to the first defensive line. Only then can the fortifications inflict maximum casualties.

A brief battle conference produces an exceedingly simple and brutal plan.

Agnico's Mixed Army Group will take the lead and smash head-on into the Northern Mountain Raiders' advance.

If the fighting bogs down, the First Cavalry Legion and Blood Lion Knights will charge together and shatter the enemy's main force.

Dominic will then lead the Central Army Group in a rapid thrust toward Fortress Cluster One.

The other units will hold the enemy and buy time while the Central Army Group retakes the fortresses as quickly as possible.

Fortunately, the fortresses were built with recapture in mind. Several hidden tunnels will allow elite troops to slip inside.

The gates also have a secondary opening mechanism.

From what they have observed, the Northern Mountain Raiders use the captured fortresses mainly as transit points for troop deployments. They have made no serious effort to defend them.

The coming siege should not be too difficult.

After three days of rest and preparation, the operation begins.

The kingdom's troops along the second defensive line launch an all-out counterattack, making it look like the start of a major offensive.

The feint draws in large numbers of enemy troops, leaving far fewer around Fortress Cluster One.

Agnico leads the Mixed Army Group's two legions swiftly forward.

After they advance more than ten li, mounted scouts report that enemy troops are pouring out of the first fortress defensive line and assembling in force.

The First and Third Mixed Warbands form the center.

The Second and Fourth Warbands guard the wings, while two garrison warbands form the rear.

Six cavalry battalions range around the formation, ready to intercept an enemy cavalry charge.

The battle line spans several li from wing to wing, its ranks advancing at an orderly jog.

The moment the enemy vanguard appears on the horizon, the troops halt and rapidly form ranks.

Within ten minutes, their battle formation is complete. The enemy is still charging forward in a disorganized mass.

The Mixed Army Group advances in long strides, steadily closing the gap.

Through his telescope, Agnico can already make out the enemy clearly.

The Northern Mountain Raiders are nothing like the wild mountain tribesmen he imagined.

They carry standardized arms and equipment, not wooden clubs and stones.

Their armor appears to be made from a composite of bone and wood, while most wield heavy battle sabers.

The enemy are not particularly tall. They are slightly shorter on average than Vorry Kingdom's soldiers, standing at roughly 1.7 meters.

Peace Haven, by contrast, has benefited from better food, growing prosperity, and Henwell's pro-natal policy.

Its soldiers now average close to 1.9 meters. Among the other nations, only the soldiers of northern Kosen Kingdom can compare.

The Northern Mountain Raiders may be short, but each one is powerfully built and thick with muscle.

Battlefield reports place their average strength above that of the kingdom's soldiers.

Their heavy, obsidian-like blades possess formidable armor-piercing power and durability, with strength no worse than steel.

Fortunately, Peace Haven's metallurgical and forging techniques have influenced Vorry Kingdom in recent years, greatly improving both its craftsmanship and its steel.

Otherwise, the kingdom's weapons might truly have been inferior to those of the Northern Mountain Raiders.

Older weapons and armor brought out of storage to equip defensive troops have often been cut apart by the enemy's blades.

While Agnico studies them, the two armies make contact.

At one hundred meters, the Northern Mountain Raiders launch the first ranged attack.

Raiders armed with greatbows send a massive wave of arrows arcing overhead.

Many of the heavy armor-piercing arrowheads punch straight through the Mixed Army Group's armor.

Fortunately, Peace Haven's advanced metallurgy and high-quality steel mean that even a penetrating arrow usually causes only a minor wound.

Soldiers with arrows lodged in their armor take portable cutters from the military doctors and snip the shafts off flush with the metal.

This keeps the protruding shafts from hindering their movement.

Those with serious wounds stay behind and wait for the military doctors to carry them away.

Most simply draw short blades and hack the arrows off at the base.

The enemy archers are clearly trying to coordinate their shots into massed volleys.

Their discipline appears lacking, however, and their shooting remains badly disorganized.

The arrows keep coming, but they never achieve area saturation.

At fifty paces, Peace Haven's Recurve Crossbows answer.

The heavy shield infantry plant their shields. Spearmen brace behind them, while the attached crossbowmen raise their heavy crossbows and fire a direct volley to break the enemy's charge.

Dozens of meters farther back, the massed crossbowmen form ranks and load heavy armor-piercing bolts meant for arcing fire.

At the officers' command, nearly a thousand crossbowmen angle their weapons upward and unleash a perfectly coordinated rain of bolts.