Chapter 76: Chapter 76: Reinforcements

Gibson rode on his horse, the cold wind hitting his face, sharp as a knife.

The knights behind him marched in formation, the sound of hoofbeats heavy.

“Faster! Even faster!” he urged in a deep voice.

They had been rushing for five days, using Fighting Energy on the road, with hardly any rest.

Because he understood the importance of this operation, and knew that the situation at Qingyu Ridge was not optimistic.

Two Barons, a little over a hundred men, resisting eight hundred Snow Swearer cavalry; lasting a few days was already a miracle.

“Hurry up!” Gibson growled, “If we’re late, we won’t even be able to collect the bodies!”

The war horses were panting heavily, white foam coming from their mouths, with even blood splattering from their hooves.

He did not stop, just kept charging.

But when they finally arrived at Qingyu Ridge, the scene before him made him pause slightly.

The camp was orderly, fires were burning, soldiers were patrolling, everything was as calm as usual.

No enemies.

No corpses.

Not even traces of battle were visible.

“What’s going on, was the intel wrong?” Gibson frowned, dismounted.

He had rushed for five days, racing through the night, only to see such a scene, and anger surged in his heart.

The guards saw that he bore the heraldry of Duke Edmund, and immediately stepped forward to salute: “Are you the reinforcements sent by Duke Edmund? Lord Calvin has instructed me to take you over.”

Suppressing his fury, Gibson nodded, and followed the guard into the main tent.

Louis was standing in front of the battle map, looking focused.

Hearing the commotion, he turned back with a faint smile: “The journey must have been hard for you, sir.”

“Where is the enemy?” Gibson couldn’t hold back, his voice cold and hard, “Didn’t you face an attack? Or is the intel false?!”

He stared intently at Louis, his tone full of anger.

Five days of relentless travel, if it was all a hoax, he really couldn’t swallow it.

“We encountered them,” Louis nodded, “but they’ve been dealt with.”

“Dealt with?” Gibson was stunned, “You mean, those Snow Swearer Wolf Riders, you annihilated them all?”

Louis didn’t explain, just waved his hand: “Come with me.”

The two climbed over a ridge and came to the valley side of Qingyu Ridge.

As they approached, a pungent smell hit them.

Gibson frowned, instinctively covering his mouth and nose.

The mist hadn’t dispersed, pale yellow poison smoke lingered in the valley.

Rotten, scorched, and bloody smells mixed together, flowing slowly in the cold wind like an invisible snake flicking its tongue.

Looking down, the whole valley seemed to have been scorched once.

Charred corpse remnants piled into mounds, some corroded to mere vague human shapes, bones exposed, like offerings thrown from Hell.

Standing still, Gibson’s pupils constricted, and his throat moved, but he couldn’t speak.

He had imagined the most brutal battlefields, but this scene went far beyond his imagination.

“How… was this achieved?” he finally asked, his voice hoarse.

“A simple trick, nothing worth mentioning,” Louis said stuffily.

Gibson turned to look at him, carefully observing the young noble for the first time.

Louis’s expression was calm, showing neither pride nor pity.

Yet beneath his feet lay the bodies of a full eight hundred elite Snow Swearers.

……

The night wind was biting, as a Gale Bird broke through the air and arrived.

“A battle report has arrived, from Qingyu Ridge,” the attendant quickly handed over an envelope.

Duke Edmund, draped in a military cloak, stood before the map. Upon hearing “Qingyu Ridge,” his brows furrowed immediately.

“Qingyu Ridge?” He reached for the envelope, saying softly, “Gibson’s reinforcements just set out, why is there a message so soon?”

An ominous feeling crept in his heart.

Could it be that the pass had already fallen?

He sat down in a deep voice, tore open the envelope, and quickly skimmed the contents.

The next moment, his expression changed drastically.

From confusion, to shock, then to astonishment and ecstasy, took only seconds.

“Enemy of eight hundred, annihilated in ambush? Magic Explosion Bullets, Hidden Mist Mirror… battle resolved in minutes?”

He repeated in a low voice, as if unable to believe his eyes.

The letter wasn’t verbose, only a concise report:

The enemy misjudged a decoy base, fell into an ambush, was overwhelmed by multiple Magic Explosion Bullets and a landslide, immediately followed by a Red Tide Knight Order assault; no enemies survived.

Qingyu Ridge was safe and sound.

And leading this battle was a young Baron lacking combat experience.

“What a remarkable young man.”

He suddenly laughed, clapping the battle report shut and commanding: “Order! Send another thousand knights, six thousand soldiers, to arrive at Qingyu Ridge within eight days! Order Gibson to seal the valley tightly!”

“Yes!”

“Also, the nine thousand previously gathered, don’t stop, immediately gather toward Snow Eagle City!”

“Understood!”

In fact, even before receiving this battle report, Duke Edmund had decided to adjust the strategy.

It was impossible to completely eliminate the Snow Swearers within the year.

That group of rats was cunning, scattered, elusive, and several large-scale sweeps failed to clear them out.

The army was showing fatigue from consecutive battles, and with the autumn harvest approaching, the Northern Territory needed to prepare for winter food storage.

He had ordered a shift in the combat approach:

Abandon advancing on all fronts, concentrate forces to eradicate the Snow Swearer remnants within Empire’s controlled areas.

Then gradually compress, drive them, forcing them into Ice Sea County and Snowfall County.

That would be the main battlefield for next year’s decisive battle.

And the victory at Qingyu Ridge undoubtedly marked a good start for this plan.

“Well done, Calvin family’s boy,” he praised softly, a smile curving his lips.

……

Snow Eagle City had now completely fallen into the Snow Swearers’ bloody playground.

The streets were full of torn flags and collapsed mansions, the grand banquet halls of yesteryear now only serving as entertainment for the Snow Swearers.

Barnes lay on a long chair lined with bear skin, drinking the remaining strong liquor, at his feet was a noble girl with her hands and feet bound, her eyes vacant, her body covered with bloodstains.

He wasn’t worried about the besieging Imperial Army.

As long as Qingyu Ridge fell, reinforcements would come from the rear endlessly.

And for now, he only needed to enjoy the aftertaste of victory.

However, a disheveled, dazed-eyed Wolf Cavalry stumbled into the hall.

“Report… report!!”

“Who told you to come in like this?!” Barnes waved impatiently.

But when he heard the news he brought, Barnes’s face instantly changed.

“Qingyu Ridge wasn’t taken… eight hundred brothers, completely wiped out!”

“What did you say?” Barnes stood up abruptly, the cup in his hand falling to the ground.

“They… they used some strange thing… the ground cracked open, fire! Poison gas! Everything vanished!!”

“Are you insane?!”

That cavalryman cried and laughed, kneeling on the ground: “I saw it with my own eyes… one by one… they burned, twisted… I… I don’t want to die…”

“Shut up!!”

Barnes overturned the table in front of him, cold sweat dripping from his forehead, his fingers lightly trembling.

Eight hundred Wolf Cavalry, completely annihilated.

How could it be, they were supposed to be his most elite strike force!

Worse still, the best timing for an attack had passed, the Empire’s reinforcements were arriving continuously.

And Qingyu Ridge, that place, was notoriously easy to defend and hard to attack.

He could only hope that Ice Sea County would quickly launch a large-scale offensive.

Otherwise, he would be doomed here.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep