Chapter 1453: To Move or Not to Move

Chapter 1453 -1362: To Move or Not to Move

Outside the White Bone Swamp.

Nearly ten thousand clan soldiers, along with the Palace Army forming a long line behind them, stared in awe at the sky-covering smoke and dust.

The ash, like butterflies whose wing edges have been burnt to cinders, gracefully landed on the vampires’ exquisite silk attire.

Amidst the choking smoke, as Grigory, his face covered in ash, aggressively charged toward Konyaz, others thought the encirclement plan was orchestrated by Grigory.

Upon seeing Konyaz, Grigory wasted no words: “We’ve only intercepted around two to three hundred human enemies on a few paths and outside the forest, the rest have all escaped!”

“Our forces are clearly greater than the enemy’s, why couldn’t we stop them?” questioned the clan elder beside him.

“That’s easy to say, but we can’t guard all passages. Do you expect our soldiers to stand hand in hand along the forest edge?”

“Why not?”

Grigory laughed angrily: “Do you want three or five vampire soldiers to be ambushed by thirty or fifty human soldiers in one direction?”

Dividing the forces inevitably leads to weak defense, that’s the truth.

If you defend everywhere, it’s equivalent to defending nowhere.

Grigory and his team couldn’t divide their troops like the Holy Alliance does, nor did they anticipate the Holy Alliance’s breakout strategy of fragmenting their forces.

Even Konyaz hadn’t foreseen this move from the Holy Alliance.

He lifted his head, gazing into the darkness of the swamp’s cypress forest.

The fire and blood mist had already driven the water snakes, field mice, and beavers into a frenzy, amidst which shadowy figures could be seen.

And further away on the shore, more fluorescent lamps and torches were evidently raised.

Meanwhile, after finally breaking through the rear guard, the Royal Court soldiers who entered the Holy Alliance battle group’s territory were shocked to find it completely empty inside.

Five thousand men divided into one hundred and eighty scattered squads, determining their direction autonomously, managed to run out in the darkness.

Though many were still trapped in the dense forest, at least over seventy percent escaped.

With a fresh force of three to four thousand men, the previously hard-to-defend shore was instantly stabilized.

The original plan to swallow up this battle group in one go and then charge into the River Heart Island was thus thwarted.

“This Holy Alliance…”

Konyaz gently rubbed his temples, acknowledging that if anyone made a mistake in this battle, it was not the Palace Army.

From start to finish, even if Konyaz wanted to nitpick, there was nothing to critique.

The Palace Army’s performance this time was almost perfect, their tactical execution extraordinary, trapping an entire battle group.

Yet, the Holy Alliance, in an almost suicidal manner, managed to escape.

It was as if two elders were fighting in an octagonal cage, and one turned into liquid and seeped out through the iron grate when cornered.

Who could have foreseen this, who could have prevented it?

To the officers of the Royal Court, this was simply a miracle!

If it were the Royal Court, they would have declared the dissolution at the moment of fragmentation.

Could destiny truly favor the Holy Alliance?

As the news spread in whispers, an unspeakable atmosphere began to permeate.

Konyaz knew he must not allow them to continue this train of thought, so he ordered the special envoy to whip and maintain the order.

“Your Excellency, what is our next plan?”

Konyaz closed his eyes in contemplation for a while, then bit his lip before speaking: “Call back the Blood Flesh Titan, have the Palace Army charge directly without formation!”

“Huh?” Even Grigory, known for his radical stance, thought Konyaz was being a bit aggressive.

A column charge is certainly much faster than a line formation, and the impact is much stronger.

However, the cost is correspondingly higher, being more prone to dispersion and casualties.

But Konyaz couldn’t care less about these: “I don’t want casualty numbers, I just want River Heart Island, once we’ve crossed River Heart Island, we win!”

“Okay!”

Grigory, being one of the Angel Envoys, did not pull too much and straightforwardly executed Konyaz’s orders.

And the following Seventh Envoy Group, along with the arriving Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Envoy Groups, all charged toward River Heart Island.

“What time is it now?”

“It’s ten o’clock, Your Excellency…”

According to the original plan, River Heart Island must be taken by midnight, otherwise, the prolonged time could lead into the next day’s dawn.

At that time, the vampires, having fought all night, faced with sunlight, would experience a sharp decline in combat strength and morale.

Konyaz’s set goal was to capture the frontline village by nine, the entire riverbank region by nine-thirty, and by ten, at least engage the enemies on the shore.

Previously, the siege took too long, coupled with Dass’s layered defenses, slowing down the assault by half an hour.

Now it’s already ten, and just engaging the Holy Alliance Army on the shore would take at least another hour.

One step slow, step by step slow.

The Royal Court’s army must attack River Heart Island within an hour; having just started, already requiring a whole hour’s allowance?

Konyaz gazed across the river toward the Holy Alliance’s renowned general, whose value was far greater than the Empire’s generals.

Then, he looked north at the Chu Nan Mountain Pass, still calm and motionless.

This gave Konyaz a strange premonition that the Saint’s Grandson was quietly plotting something, certainly aimed at the Holy Grail Heights.

He took a silver flask from his pocket, unscrewed the Holy Alliance-produced threaded cap, and took a sip of blood wine.

Saint’s Grandson, oh Saint’s Grandson, when will you finally attack?

Suddenly, his motion of twisting the cap paused.

The Saint’s Grandson can use Holy Grail Heights as a trap, luring the Royal Court’s army to attack, so why can’t the Royal Court do the same?

……

“Are we going to attack?” Jia Li impatiently asked Horn.

Horn said nothing, just continued observing Holy Grail Heights miles away through his binoculars.

The rumble of artillery fire had already erupted on both sides of the Mud Gut River.

On the further side by the White Bone Swamp, the night lit up with fire, and flares zoomed through the darkness like lasers.

Here at Chu Nan Mountain Pass, through rounds of isolating maneuvers, the clan army from the Royal Court had been compressed to its limits.

Due to smoke and cloud cover, Horn couldn’t clearly see the number or movements at Holy Grail Heights.

He only knew, based on staff and frontline reports, that no large-scale troop movements had occurred at Holy Grail Heights.

“Are we going to attack?” Jia Li asked again, “My warhammer is already thirsty!”

Are we going to attack?

The northern mountain pass posed little threat; Horn could completely deploy forces toward Holy Grail Heights now.

But is this the best timing?

If the entire army from Holy Grail Heights had descended, that would be ideal.

But such a situation seems unlikely, as the southern line won’t hold that long.

Thus, timing becomes critically important—at least in the opinion of the Staff Department’s strategists.

With his hands behind his back, Horn still did not respond, just swayed to the seat before sitting down. He glanced at the anxious onlookers and offered a faint smile.

“Jia Li, you may first go prepare with the Western Battle Army.” With Jeska injured, it was natural for Jia Li to lead.

“And as for the Central Battle Army here…” Horn crossed his legs and casually picked up a Holy Alliance story magazine, immersing himself in reading.

“Don’t move until I give the command!”