Chapter 1449: The Curtain Rises!

Chapter 1449 -1358: The Curtain Rises!

The beavers poked their heads out from the dam made of branches, curiously gazing at the golden-red sunset.

The usually quiet and cold winter days had become oddly noisy and lively lately, with more and more orderly thumping sounds coming from the ground.

But compared to the vibrations from the ground, what they hated most were those swooshing little black things flying around—

“Boom—”

A massive column of water shot into the sky, striking the dam the beavers had painstakingly constructed.

Seeing their family’s dam, built over several generations, suddenly on the verge of collapse, the beavers screamed and scrambled to repair it with branches.

On both sides of Mud Ditch River, whether it’s the Glagu Town to Low Platform City route or the Malar Town to Glagu Town route, armies were marching in rows.

They were not on the move, but rather deploying their forces.

Today, that is, at noon on December 25th, all the main forces of the Royal Court had gathered.

Yet, they did not immediately launch an attack but chose to rest and wait, proceeding into action only five hours later.

It must be said, the attire of these Royal Palace troops seemed overly flashy to the Holy Alliance.

The majority of soldiers wore double-sided waist coats, black on the outside and red on the inside, with specialized leather gloves on their hands.

If judging by silk material alone, given the Royal Court’s financial strength and capabilities, it wouldn’t be surprising.

What was genuinely expensive was the anti-glare material sandwiched in the inner layers, and the bird-beak masks each soldier had.

Yes, without the bulky anti-glare attire, switching to a more fitting uniform greatly boosted morale, flexibility in action, and marching speed.

From an aerial view, around the central Holy Grail Heights, countless black and red rectangles moved, rotated, regrouped, and merged.

Along the riverbank, Rangers often dueled, and Hunters and high-ranking vampires faced off in the bushes and woods.

Konyaz stood atop the high Holy Grail Heights, listening to the scout’s description of the Holy Alliance’s deployment.

In this battle, if the results from the pre-war reconnaissance were correct, the Holy Alliance should have deployed in this manner.

“According to the estimates made by Lord Lakunio and his staff team, and the results from the frontline reconnaissance,” the staff member spoke, “the enemy probably numbers around sixty thousand, with the Western Battle Army of approximately ten thousand still on the way.”

During the day, we launched reconnaissance and attacks in all directions, discovering that the enemy was mainly focused in two directions.

One was the northern enemy, which we estimate to be about thirty thousand, distributed around the Chunan Mountain Pass.

Another was the southern enemy, which we estimate to be twenty thousand, likely around Lake Colson.

The remaining ten thousand Holy Alliance Army is probably scattered along various riverbanks relatively in the central line…”

With the enemy forces relatively thin and with one thousand still on the way, striking at this moment was undoubtedly the best choice.

As for how to attack and where to hit, there were discussions.

Though lacking a professional staff team, Konyaz autonomously achieved what it took Horn and dozens of staff members to conceptualize through joint effort.

Though crude, the general direction was consistent.

“Hit the southern line, break through their southern line.” Konyaz immediately ordered, “After breaking the southern line, first, the transportation with Malar Town can be cut off, and secondly, we can attack the enemy at Chunan Mountain Pass from the north!”

“So, how do we deploy?”

“I’ll dictate, you write.” Konyaz cleared his throat, “Move the Rascur Clan Army and Brunosk Clan Army along the northern line to confront the Holy Alliance.

The First, Eighth, Ninth, and Eleventh Royal Palace armies stay nestled at Holy Grail Heights in reserve.

The Twelfth Royal Palace Army and from the Second to Sixth Royal Palace Armies move south to the region near Bone Swamp, ready to attack the southern line at any time.

The Seventh Royal Palace Army and Yakunalu Clan Army act as vanguard, directly attacking the region near Bone Swamp.”

The staff who was quickly noting stopped: “Bone Swamp, isn’t it near Lake Colson?”

“No, it’s Bone Swamp.” Konyaz’s face remained unexpressive, “Do you know the Holy Alliance has a Gallar Family dish called stuffed soup dumplings?”

“Humph, a good Saint’s Grandson doesn’t become Pope, instead studies culinary recipes…”

“I’m not talking about that, the way to eat soup dumplings is to first bite open a hole, suck out the soup, and then eat the dumplings.”

Attacking Bone Swamp wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision for Konyaz, but decided after personally scouting the frontline and contemplating for a long time.

His meaning was simple, your Lake Colson indeed is spacious, easy for soldiers, but doesn’t mean I must go there.

According to the light cavalry reconnaissance, the garrison at Bone Swamp won’t exceed one thousand.

Your defensive line is a rope; as long as I cut off a section, the whole rope will break.

So where to attack isn’t important, stabilizing the battle line after the attack and ensuring a passage for substantial forces to pass through is key.

For victory, Konyaz would rather expend more soldiers’ lives, adopting a suboptimal strategy, to break open the situation.

As Serafe said, this battle would be the final one, with no need to consider the future anymore.

With Konyaz’s commands given, the troop movements quickly completed, needing to finish deployment before nightfall.

Once deployment completed, what lay ahead was the army of twenty thousand at the northern Glagu Town to Low Platform City highway responsible for defense.

The clan army’s field and frontal combat capability may not excel, but defending and holding this section could effectively tie up the enemy’s thirty thousand main forces without issue.

While the middle line also had ten thousand, stretching the battle line too thin rendered further attack capabilities nearly lost.

Of course, this didn’t exclude the possibility of an ensuing Holy Alliance’s ten thousand reinforcements arriving, so ample troops and reserves must remain at Holy Grail Heights, meaning twenty thousand Royal Palace Army.

Regarding the southern line, Konyaz firmly believed the enemy wouldn’t exceed twenty thousand, whereas he deployed double the number.

A full 45,000 soldiers, albeit including 10,000 clan army, yet still doubling the Holy Alliance Army’s numbers.

Even if the enemy possessed the advantage of rivers, they had the benefit of Holy Grail Heights; even defeating the Royal Palace Army, the enemy couldn’t pursue and expand the battle results.

As long as Holy Grail Heights stayed secured, they reached an undefeated state.

A look of calm calculation adorned Konyaz’s face, yet his mind went over the entire process countless times, unable to suppress the tightening of his fists.

With nearly 100,000 troops, suppressing 60-70,000 enemy forces, plus the geographic advantage of Holy Grail Heights, it shouldn’t result in losing.

He surveyed the terrain once more, swiftly wiping an idea from his mind, letting out a bitter laugh: “It shouldn’t be, indeed…”

But even if the Holy Alliance did it this way, what of it?

The decisive victory or defeat lay on the battlefield; winning meant a central breakthrough, losing equated becoming tightly surrounded.

As dusk approached and darkness fell, the final rays shadowed everything with golden edges.

Two silhouettes donned in gleaming silver breastplates climbed the slope step by step, reaching the heights.

They lifted their heads, half-kneeling towards the tallest silhouette — “Lord Konyaz…”

“Sayefis, Yakunalu.” The tall silhouette bowed its head, “This battle, you both lead as vanguards, entering from Bone Swamp, capture the village before nine o’clock, can you do it?”

“We can.”

“Good, prepare now; you may set out.”

As Konyaz finished speaking, the sun completely vanished behind the mountains.

It was as though drawing the curtains on a dark stage, with even the starlit sky quieting.

Nightfall stained the faces of all vampires; until clouds enveloped the stars, pairs of crimson eyes opened within the darkness.

Waiting, patiently waiting, every soldier awaited the first command’s call.

Only then could they set their hearts pounding.

“Seventh Royal Palace Army, set off!”