Chapter 1436 - 1345: The Downfall of the Branch Valley

Chapter 1436: Chapter 1345: The Downfall of the Branch Valley

Grupside raised the binoculars: "What are they doing? Why are they just shelling and not advancing?"

"Isn’t this advancing already?" A Blood Servant peeked from behind the hill, "Look at those cavalry, aren’t they circling the camp and firing?"

In the canyon, smoke and dust billowed, and in the shadow of the cliffs, the Cuirassiers galloped back and forth around the small camp, creating a great spectacle.

As for the Lakunio artillery and the Cuirassier Cavalry, they still remained at the rear.

To say they are not attacking isn’t accurate, but their movement speed is overly slow, and the direction is somewhat askew.

"Are you an idiot?" Grupside was speechless, "Those are the Cuirassiers. Those main Cuirassier Cavalry neither advance nor retreat, only moving to the side..."

As he said this, Grupside paused and suddenly slapped his forehead.

After slapping his forehead, his expression changed: "Damn, they’ve found out; quickly, block the mouth of the valley!"

Although not understanding what Grupside was muttering, the Blood Servant honestly conveyed the order.

In no time, footsteps thundered and dust rose, as thousands of Blood Knights poured into the once faintly illuminated valley entrance.

Following behind, there were more footsteps; those were the vampire infantry closing in from both sides towards the center.

This is a trap!

Bether noticed the clue the moment the initial contact began.

The method to detect the clue wasn’t overly difficult. Simply put, after the artillery blasted the tents away, the vampire soldiers inside shockingly weren’t wearing bird-mask helmets.

For vampire soldiers, in this noon weather, not wearing bird-mask helmets and shadow armor is akin to being unable to breathe.

But these "vampire soldiers" staggered and only slowly began to put them on.

Bether promptly ordered the Cuirassiers to risk close-range observation.

As he suspected, only about half of the soldiers in the camp were vampires, the remaining half were zombies.

This group of vampires didn’t even bother to make a complete show.

It’s just that he didn’t know; it’s not that Grupside was unwilling to do the whole act; it was simply impossible to do it completely.

This is inherently a dirty, tiring, and high-risk work, and aside from the few silly yet loyal Royal Court soldiers, almost no vampires are willing to do it.

Moreover, the notion of imminent reinforcement might be believed by ordinary soldiers, but the officers were skeptical, and Grupside didn’t believe it at all.

Clearly, this was Lakunio’s intensive political struggle against him!

And Grupside’s response strategy was straightforward; violent resistance to orders would lead to death by Serafe, and executing orders would lead to death by the Holy Alliance.

So execute it halfway.

Casually find a cavalry unit, devour a group of around two thousand, and then turn around to escape.

If asked, simply say: "I’ve already resisted the enemy, that’s why I’m regrouping with the main forces."

As for how to escape, Grupside had already planned, if Serafe can survive by cutting losses, why can’t Grupside?

Leave half the troops as a rear guard, then escape, simple as that.

But the premise of all this was to achieve some battle merit, like taking down this small cavalry unit in front.

One against three thousand, still in the canyon terrain, and well-prepared with vampire artillery, how could this lose?

Grupside even set up several artillery positions on hills above the camp; as soon as the Holy Alliance Cuirassier Cavalry charged, they would be shelled immediately.

Even if it means killing Royal Court soldiers in the camp, the victory price must be paid.

Let the soldiers suffer a bit, Serafe can bear the infamy.

But unfortunately, these three thousand cavalry weren’t following the script, instead retreating to the side.

This canyon terrain has a taller peak on the left while the right peak is lower, and its steepness is also greater on the left than on the right.

Therefore, the commander of this Holy Alliance cavalry swiftly shifted upon discovering the situation, not trying to climb the slope, but moving towards the left hill.

This wasn’t an attempt to storm up the hillside; rather, in such circumstances, unless Royal Court positions the artillery almost vertically, hitting the cavalry at the base of the hill is nearly impossible.

Grupside, seeing this, though vexed, considered it a minor flaw.

Very soon, iron balls shrouded in blood fog fell from the sky, kicking up a splash of dirt that cascaded over the heads of the Holy Alliance cavalry at the rear.

They seemed unfazed and began to wave shovels, excavating earth to fill sandbags.

In the valley bottom, there was a conveniently abandoned village; though just ruins, it provided enough fortifications for the cavalry.

"Counter-shelling, blow up their little artillery," Bether commanded loudly.

The cavalry artillery squad immediately pulled with oxen behind low walls, positioning their swivel gun towards the enemy’s artillery spot.

With a few howls, sand and dust erupted chaotically on both sides of the Royal Court’s small artillery pieces.

This clearly startled the vampire artillerymen; they were dumbfounded to find the enemy seemingly had artillery too, albeit smaller.

But what they didn’t know was that Bether deeply regretted, because he didn’t bring the three-pound cannon for speedy marching.

With two horses pulling, a three-pound cannon wouldn’t lag much behind the cavalry; this isn’t a twelve-pound or forty-eight-pound heavy cannon.

Bang, bang, bang...

The vampires’ blood-contract musket began a volley, and under numerical advantage, the Holy Alliance cavalry urgently repairing the defenses fell flat on their backs.

In less than half a minute, from among the ruins, a group of cuirassier cavalry charged out.

The sixty or seventy meters was far too short a distance for the cuirassier cavalry; in the blink of an eye, they charged through the clanging bullets up to the front lines.

At first, there was a round of hand cannon volley, then they drew their sabers and plunged into the formation.

The sabers gleamed silver-gray, bringing forth splashes of fresh blood.

In one round trip, the six rows of Royal Court soldiers were scattered, and the flanks had no choice but to merge toward the center.

But Bether was quite cunning; seeing them about to converge, he immediately retreated—this canyon couldn’t be missed with its limited length and width, could it?

As a cavalry battalion, they couldn’t reach the Imperial Knight level of the first cavalry squadron of the Holy Grail Cavalry Corps, but breaking through these Little Kalami clan troops was no problem.

Seeing the first charge thwarted, Grupside didn’t show any emotion.

The soldiers of the Holy Alliance, not being Falan, couldn’t achieve victory so easily, could they?

"Block the canyon entrance, rotate and go at them. I don’t believe it; we’re ten thousand against three thousand, how could they have the advantage!"

Soon, fierce gunfire echoed through the canyon, and the previous scene repeatedly played out.

The broken walls of the abandoned village became the last barrier for the Holy Alliance soldiers, the stone walls pitted by the iron balls of the cannon.

But the soldiers continued to hold every inch of the ground steadfastly.

At this moment, Bether’s foresight in choosing this location became apparent.

This canyon had a slight bend; artillery couldn’t hit from above, and down below, the mountain walls partially obscured the view.

The cannonballs struck the mountain wall, sending falling rocks that crushed the Royal Court soldiers to cursing.

Under Bether’s orders, everyone dismounted except the cuirassier cavalry, using the horses as meat shields, continually firing at the enemy.

If the enemy got too close or the artillery was too fierce, the cuirassier cavalry would move out, scattering infantry or capturing enemy artillery positions.

Using plasma projectiles as cover, the Holy Alliance cavalry temporarily acted as infantry, quickly reloading and firing in unison.

Lead bullets swept through the narrow passage like a torrential downpour, vampire soldiers fell in waves, bodies piled up, nearly blocking the path at the village entrance.

On the hillsides of the canyon, Grupside’s expression grew increasingly grim.

He originally thought that ten thousand against three thousand, and with canyon terrain, the village could be taken in less than two hours.

But now, half a day had passed, and though the Holy Alliance’s defense line continued to shrink, it hadn’t collapsed.

"A bunch of useless fools! Can’t even take a rundown village! Assault, give me an assault!" He kicked over a nearby ammo crate, roaring in anger.

To launch a strong assault, more troops were definitely needed.

So the infantry had no choice but to move forward, crowding into the canyon but unable to deploy formations.

Every time they charged forward, there was only a small wave, the rest just packed in behind, clustered together.

By then, Bether personally guarded the most critical gap, shouting as he swung his longsword wildly.

Thanks to years of support for senior officers from the Holy Alliance, while not everyone had the strength of Imperial Knights, they certainly reached Square Banner Knight level.

The sun was gradually setting, and the light within the canyon turned dim.

Grupside paced back and forth nervously on the hills, his initial pride long gone, leaving only a mind full of anxiety.

Wave after wave after wave, how many waves were there!

Each one repelled, even though the Holy Alliance cavalry casualties continued to mount, there were no signs of surrender.

Unable to repel them, Grupside considered bribing their officers to surrender, but three sets of emissaries were sent, all of whom were beheaded and tossed back.

Begging them now, even a glimmer of hope would be good!

This isn’t some life-or-death final battle. If you surrender, we can retreat, isn’t that fine?

No, this cannot continue.

After much deliberation, Grupside finally realized something was wrong and reluctantly gave the order: "Fifth regiment stays, the rest pull back!"

Yet, this order came somewhat late.

Bether lay on the stone wall, observing with the faint starlight for a long time before he doubtfully raised his head: "They’re retreating? They withdrew from the combat zone but didn’t evacuate the canyon, why?"

Beside him, with bandages tied around his head, the Senior Pastor was nervously cautious: "Don’t make decisions so quickly, it might be a bait!"

The soldiers also noticed the anomaly, halting their shooting and watching the canyon entrance tensely.

The battlefield fell into an eerie silence, only occasionally broken by distant cries of the wounded.

Bether gripped his longsword tightly, ordering: "Keep alert, don’t relax! Send two scouts!"

Two cuirassiers cautiously crawled out from the fortifications, heading toward the canyon entrance.

It wasn’t long before they raced back, faces filled with joy: "Commander! It’s reinforcements! It’s our reinforcements!"

Bether stood up abruptly, peering toward the canyon entrance.

In the night, a black-red sun gear flag quickly approached, the sound of bugles clearly drew closer, growing louder.

As the flag came into view, it revealed dense rows of advancing Holy Alliance soldiers moving through the canyon.

And before them, nearly ten thousand Royal Court troops were trapped tightly within a side gorge, unable to move.