In the Year 799, Dulin's spring came extremely early. At the end of the 2nd month, grass was already peeking above the soil to meet the sun. The confidential secretary of the Emperor Count Philip Goolean returned to Dulin, just as the weather was turning warm.
Count Goolean's holiday seemed to not have been enjoyable; he was even thinner now than when he was in Dulin. The Palace Chief Marquis Laston Cambre who welcomed him at the gate of Hamilton Palace laughed at him, and said that the Count had went too crazy with his wife. Philip was proud of this fact. Except for him, no one could understand the benefit of Monique.
The Palace Chief brought the confidential secretary to his own office, after which Laston then asked him the reason he came back so early. At this, Philip's expression darkened almost immediately. He said the Hagrid family was crumbling.
The Hagrid family was crumbling! This matter had been discussed heatedly amongst the noble circle in the Capital. The southern nobles had organized an audit group, responsible for conveying the criminal evidence of this powerful army family. However, Alfa III His Majesty had not shown his face around since. No one knew how the controller of the Empire would judge the traitor of the country.
Philip began his job on the second day he arrived in Dulin, but the people could not understand the arrangement of the Emperor's confidential secretary. He canceled all meetings of the Emperor with Marshal Alan and placed Chief of Staff of the Imperial Guards Marshal Robin Sparse to fill the gap in the Emperor's schedule.
Marshal Robin's status in the Capital immediately enjoyed a significant rise. As a result, some young widows even held some idea with this old Marshal. The nobles in the Capital could see that Marshal Alan's opinion on the problem of Hagrid family was extremely stubborn; he even openly expressed that he would investigate deeply of the accusation against the Hagrid openly in the Army Division.
Alfa III His Majesty thought otherwise, so he ordered Philip to reject the visits of the Marshal of the Guards.
From the Emperor's point of view, the people who had hurt his nephew and his daughter deserved to die without empathy. Even if this person was Alan, he still should not have done what he did. The case investigation spearheaded by Count Rudolf Hoss of the Secret Service soon confirmed all accusations of the Military Intelligence Bureau against the Hagrid family. This made the Emperor trust the words said by Marshal Robin more.... Some thoughts of Silverfox Alan was extremely dangerous.
When it was already 25th day of 2nd month, Alfa III His Majesty thought he should not drag this matter on any longer. He called Marshal Robin into his bedroom and planned to discuss a plan with this old Marshal.
"Actually.... it is obvious that this is to expel the Hagrid from the game!"
Alfa III His Majesty nodded. He did not know if he should thank Oscar, or simply beat the kid up. The Prince pulled the military family that protected Vielonna out of the game right after he reached the south. This more or less made the Emperor more worried.
"Chief of Staff, Sir, From your point of view.... Is the case of the Hagrid as simple as it is described?"
Robin already knew that the Emperor would doubt this matter, but he had already prepared his answer.
"Your Majesty. No matter what, Hagrid must receive its punishment. If not, the pride of our country and the power of our law will experience insurmountable damage. And the soldiers will think that even a huge army family like the Hagrid had colluded with the businessman. If that so, then what other high-level General of the Guards might still be clean?"
"Go...." The Emperor moaned. He hated the fact that he was aging, and everything that was happening went against his will. "Before this, it was your previous Chief of Staff Valier Cypress; Now it is the Chief Commander of the Fifth Region Vangol Abberning Hagrid! One was a marshal of guards, another is a general of the Guards. The soldiers will be shocked by this even if they simply think about it!"
Marshal Robin laughed coldly. Valier Cypress was a poor guy while Vangol Abberning Hagrid was simply searching for his own death! On the other hand, Alan's opinion was rather appropriate, but this Marshal of Guards would definitely not beg for mercy for his friends under the risk of disobeying the Emperor.
"Your Majesty, the most urgent thing to do is to resume power and trust of the high-level generals amongst the Army Division."
The Emperor nodded. "That would be alright with other places, but the southern Hagrid is unique after all. Their family has history and tradition. Even though their soldiers are not as crazy as the Narcissus Knights, they still understand the meaning of loyalty."
Marshal Robi's smile became even colder. "We can use a new hero to replace the 'Hercules' that made a mistake."
"You mean Oscar?" Alfa III His Majesty shook his head. "Impossible. The soldiers of Hagrid hate him."
Marshal Robin shook his head as well. "Your Majesty. That person naturally wouldn't be Marshal O'Neil. The new Chief Commander of the Fifth Region should be a war hero that the soldiers are familiar with and a good, courageous general that is loved by the soldiers."
"Tell me your suggestion." The Emperor was a little expectant.
"Have you heard about the name of the single arm general? Gondol Abassia!"
"Gondol Abassia?" The Emperor frowned. This was a familiar name to him, but he was old. An old man's memory was fragmented.
"Twelve years ago, General Gondol Abassia won the Doncaster Defending War with just the strength of an Infantry Division. This was a classic example of an infantry unit winning against a more advantageous cavalry unit. This is also in the textbook of infantry officers when an officer is chosen to enter the Imperial Military Academy. At Saijo Mountain battlefield in Year 797..."
"Oh I remember now!" Alfa III His Majesty slapped his forehead. "General Gondol Abassia was the Chief Commander during the Saijo Mountain War! I even gave him the Imperial warriors badge myself."
"Yes yes!" Marshal Robin smiled, but he slowly lowered his voice. "What do you think about this general?"
The Emperor was a little hesitant. He knew this single arm general was a great fighter brought up by Oscar.
"Will this cause any disagreement among the people?"
Marshal Robin shook his head. "Then let these people stand up and state their intention. If Marshal Alan has any people to recommend, then let's make a comparison. Let's have a look at who else is more suitable to become the new Chief Commander of Fifth Region than General Abassia."
"The military and noble title of General Abassia is...'
"Lieutenant General of the Guards and Count of the Empire. These are all given by you, Your Majesty."
The Emperor nodded. "His titles are suitable. Well... let's choose him then?"
"Your Majesty, I have mentioned this just now. You can take a look at Marshal Alan's candidate as well. Jumping into this now is a little rash for us, Marshal Alan is, after all, the Marshal of the Guards. Appointing the Commander of a whole region has to be agreed by him as well."
"Hmm..." Alfa III His Majesty suddenly laughed coldly. "It's fine. Alan has too many actions going on behind my back! It's better not to let him express his opinion! I will send an order to the Army Division. The Army Division only needs to send the appointing document to the south according to procedure!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Marshal Robin quickly bowed.
The Emperor waved his hands. He was still a little restless. "Even if General Gondol Abassia's name is able to control the Hagrid soldiers in the Fifth Region, might there be anything that could blindside us?"
"Of course, there will be!" The old Marshal's expression darkened. "We have not punished the sinner of the Empire, and the influence of Hagrid family is still present. Only when we have completely eliminated them, we will truly be able to get back Burton Provine and Vielonna."
"Eliminate Hagrid?" Alfa III His Majesty had his eyes wide open. "But I have already agreed to the written resignation of the Hagrid family. They will be exiled! If I broke my trust with the people..... their soldiers will start a riot."
Marshal Robin Sparse shrugged. "We don't need to do these things at all! The few criminals that create the armed riot all think that it is Hagrid that has betrayed them. They will take their revenge! And at that time, we only need to provide some convenience to these criminals!"
The Emperor suddenly understood. "Then we will dispatch the Hagrid soldiers who want to get their revenge into the mountain to eliminate the criminals! This way we will have discreetly lowered the pressure that may cause riot."
"That is right, Your Majesty!"
The Emperor looked at the old Marshal, a little depressed. "To be honest, is this your idea or Oscar's?"
Marshal Robin shook his head with a smile. "Your Majesty, you have misunderstood. Even though the investigation against the Hagrid family is carried out by the agents of the Prince's Military Intelligence Bureau, the following arrangement is carried out by the Commander of Southern Army Group General Eugene, and myself."
"General Eugene?" The Emperor was a little confused.
"General Eugene already knew about this when the Military Intelligence Bureau interrupted the investigation. He had provided many conveniences for the Military Intelligence Bureau, or else it would have been extremely difficult to collect the criminal evidence of Hagrid family in the south. As the Commander of the Southern Army Group, General Eugene naturally worries the most about the situation in Vielonna. He hopes the Army Division can send an exceptional commander into the Fifth Region."
"Is that so..." Alfa III His Majesty nodded in understanding.
"Alright! There's one more thing related to the south." The old Marshal said as he took an official document from his file. "The Chief of Staff of the Southern Army Group General Dario Gonzalez is currently being investigated by the local Army Division. You know many businessmen in the south have some strings pull with military and political officials. General Dario...."
"Alright alright! God of Light bless this General so that he is not found guilty! To receive a bad reputation at such old age is terrible." It seemed that Alfa III His Majesty was extremely annoyed by the southern people. He chose to lie down instead and pulled the blanket over his body.
Marshal Robin spread the official letter sent by the Southern Army Group without a choice. "Your Majesty, General Eugene has recommended a candidate that is suitable to take up the role of Chief of Staff of the Southern Army Group. You should at least take a look."
The Emperor snatched the official letter, stamping his name without so much as a glance. He could not care less about such matters. Moreover, he was not familiar with the huge and complicated relationship between the officials of Guards. He only knew a few that were worthy of his trust.
"General Eugene's recommendation is sure to be good. I rest assured I will have Eugene in the south!" The Emperor threw the document back to the old Marshal and ranged the copper bell.
The meeting was over now. Marshal Robin did not say anything more. At last he said the words that wished for the Emperor's health, but that only annoyed the Emperor.
"Let me have some time to myself! Leave me alone!"
The old Marshal then excused himself from the room.
As the Emperor's confidential secretary, Count Philip Goolean heard troubling words on a daily basis. He had to arrange the meeting of many officials with the Emperor, especially during the time the Emperor was sick in bed. Other than that, he still needed to accept all sorts of documents, then to convey all sorts of orders. Even though Philip had no rights to determine these orders, his rights determine the execution order of those Imperial Orders.
"Thus, Your Majesty, this suggestion by the Ministry of Agriculture needs to be replied as soon as possible. Or else, we will miss this year's harvesting period!" Philip looked at Alfa III His Majesty, who aged a little more every day with worries.
"This is a huge amount of money!" Alfa III His Majesty looked at the proposal in pain.
The confidential secretary sighed. "This is inevitable. The southern farmers are poor. They have nothing. If there is no help from the Ministry of Agriculture, there will probably be no harvest this year. Moreover. This money will be let out in the form of loan by Prince's O'Neil's Military Intelligence Bureau. The Prince has seized the illegal profit from the business in the south. That is a huge amount of money as well."
Alfa III His Majesty suddenly stopped talking. He glanced at his confidential secretary whom he trusted the most with worries.
"Hey... What does my son-in-law want to do there?"
Philip Goolean was a little odd. He had a guess in his heart but saying it out loud now was a little too early.
"Your Majesty, I think Prince O'Neil's initial moves in the south were very effective. After this year, the effect will be even more obvious. Even the southern nobles can see that this Prince truly wants to recover the southern states."
Alfa III His Majesty nodded slowly. "But he destroyed Hagrid. This is out of my expectation."
"Your Majesty, you should say... That Hagrid deserves all of this! Prince O'Neil did not make up any of the accusations."
Alfa III His Majesty also felt there was nothing more to say to that. He hinted to his confidential secretary and Philip quickly came forward.
"How is Ashfin?"
Philip smiled. "Rest assured, Your Majesty. Madame Count Antonia Horman is taking care of the First Prince. Prince O'Neil hid them in an extremely discreet place. Moreover, didn't you send a unit of Paladin as well? I suppose..."
"No! No! No!" The Emperor suddenly shook his head repeatedly. "I am still restless! You should go, too. Go back to the south quickly."
Philip only showed a bitter smile. It had only been a week since he returned to Dulin.
"Good work!"
The confidential secretary quickly thanked him. After that, the pair discussed some not-so-important matters again, however His Majesty was the focus his mind at all. Philip stopped his talking after a few futile attempts, and at last, he said that he would move out tomorrow. Only then did the Emperor lie down with ease.
It was fine lying down. The scariest part was not waking up. The weather in the mountain area was worlds different than its exterior. The melting of the snow brought the heat in the air away. It was nail-biting cold in the night, and did not seem to be any warmer in the day. The direct unit of Special Combat Brigade of Prince O'Neil had fought in the Alden Mountain area for more than a month, but they had no results at all. They did not even meet an armed criminal unit that had more than 100 people.
According to the rough location given by the Boustead family, the Special Combat Brigade had already carried out a careful plan. They found an extremely hidden location in the middle of the 2nd month, but all armed members of the criminal unit had already moved. Only an empty base that was made with woods and rocks was left.
The base was located at the center of the valley, and the locals called this 'Coyttshag', which meant 'A dazzling journey'. The fighters understood this accurate translation. After all, the Coyttshag was surrounded by dangerous cliffs; huge rocks extended from the bottom of the valley to the waist of the mountain, and from there, the mountain soared steeply into the skies. Snow and trees gathered to completely covered the mouth of the valley of Coyttshag, and if the fighters of the Special Combat Brigade were none the wiser about the base of the criminals at the bottom of the valley, no one would actually have the idea of looking through that area.
Producing a road that they were able to pass through near that area had taken a week for Marshal O'Neil and his knights. Except for the guarding unit around the valley, all soldiers of the Special Combat Brigade had focused on this task. Even the Marshal was not exempted.
Just when Oscar's bear-skinned gloves broke, the road towards the 'Dazzling Journey' was finally cleared. To avoid an attack by the criminals from two sides of the mountain road and for the cramping of soldiers in the narrow mountain road, the Marshal only ordered a middle-sized unit of knights to first enter the valley. The knights assigned to check out the path began their journey in the morning, and only returned to the base after the sun had set.
It was without a doubt that this unit of knights were attacked, but the Captain that led the unit was a smart and strong head of knights. Even though his middle-sized unit lost a quarter of its forces, he was able to chase the criminals who were hiding in the mountains with crossbows and fire arrows. At last, the criminals left more than 50 corpses here, then disappeared in the forest in front of their base.
Oscar reached the criminal's lair at night. His warriors were all over the place.
The soldiers had lit up the torches, and some had crossbows at the ready. They even cut off a few tall shrubs along the way.
Until the afternoon the next day, Coyttshag resumed its cold, calm demeanor, but the wooden castle buried in the middle of the forest was already completely exposed under the sun. The warriors of the Guards had cut off all tall trees that were more than ten meters in height near the base, leaving the huge wooden logs to lie in the snow. They looked stronger than isolation moats and iron fences.
How should we describe the criminal's castle? Oscar did not know because he had never seen such architecture so close to the mountain. The criminals utilized a leveled area in the geography of the mountain to build an isolation moat and firewall made of bricks. Above that, they built the main building of the wooden castle. The main buildings consisted of two blocks, east and the west, with a main house at the middle and four wings attached to it. There was also an observation deck that was around 30 meters in height at the center, and a copper bell at the top.
"I thought they hated the God of Light!" Oscar glanced at the top of the castle. If it were not for the sharpened wood at the outer area of the castle, people might have thought that this was an ancient monastery, or the mansion of a certain official.
"Who knows? They hate God of Light because the god did not care about them, but they do not dare to stop the praying." Brigadier General Luke Citel mumbled. He had fought in the mountain before and was only one step away from this place. But he had never thought that there would be such a place behind the trees.
The warriors were busy for the whole night as they searched every corner of the castle, even down to the soil the soil in this area. It was apparent to the experienced that the criminals left everything neat and in order. They brought food, weapons and everything. They even poured their excrements the past days into the water well.
The warriors were thirsty, but the water they drew from the well were buckets of feces water. Some people simply complained out loud as they chewed on snow. "Shit! Catch a live one and this is what gets to him first!" Many people, in fact, shared this sentiment.
The Marshal of the Guards slept until the sun was already high in the sky, and woke up looking terrible. Two months in the mountains had made his jaw become even sharper, and made his physique thinner. Adding to that thick beard on his face, there was a chance those who had known him would not recognize the Prince, who liked to hold his machete the whole day and being loud about it.
Prince O'Neil wore an oversized Marshal uniform, worn by the Prince until it was almost broken, was not suitable for fighting, but Oscar loved to wear it still. He wanted to let the warriors know that a Marshal was among them. Doing this had great meaning in it. The soldiers of the Special Combat Brigade could not get used to calling Oscar by his army and noble title, and were used to saying what their superiors had done that day or what their superiors had wrung them out for!
These people were loitering in the mountain the whole day. Except for their uniforms, the rest were no different than the criminals in the mountain. When the knights were thirsty, they just got a handful of snow; When they were hungry, they just had a bite of dry, black bread. Sometimes the black bread could not staunch their hunger, the soldiers who had nothing more to eat would visit the Prince's horse. Oslu still looked strong and fat. And delicious! So, the soldiers loved to look at it while swallowing their saliva.
Speaking of our Prince, he had already woken up in the morning, wearing that Marshal uniform of his, full of patches. He walked into the castle built by the criminals, relaxed. Sometimes he would greet the warriors there.
Someone said, "Sir, good morning!"
Oscar replied, "Don't laugh at me. You know it's the afternoon!"
Someone said again, "Sir, we need some women!"
Oscar then kicked the guy. "Go back and discuss that with your sister!"
Then, the warriors roared in laughter. At this moment, someone said something more serious. "Sir, I found a few secret passages in the castle."
Oscar thought about it. "Close every passage except for one. Who knows if the criminals may return!"
In the midnight of the 27th day of 2nd month, Year 799, after the Guards blew the signal sound of eliminating light in the castle, the criminals returned to this place from the only underground passage that was left.
The warriors of the Guards had prepared a few traps in all underground passages. The exact traps were not known, but they were prepared by a few guys that were good at them. They called this their trade secrets, but who cared? In the end, when the criminals entered the passage, the soldiers of the Special Combat Brigade had already climbed out of their warm beds.
The messenger walked back and forth in the silent castle, using hand signs and flag signals to contact all hidden units. When the criminals broke open the bricks that covered the underground passage, the Guards hidden in all corners had already entered their attack positions.
The criminals were very cautious. At first, there was only one person coming out of the passage, scanning his surroundings in alert. After ensuring there was no one around, he gave signals to his companions in the passage.
The warriors were hiding in the room near the underground passage. Their ears stuck close to the wooden planks, hearing the footsteps coming from the other side.
The wooden design of the castle gave a huge inspiration to Oscar. He thought about the time when he was assaulted in a tailor shop in Vielonna. This underground passage was left after careful consideration. At the exit was a corridor, and the underground passage was right under the chimney at the end of the corridor. At the two sides of the corridor, there were small rooms, just like toy bricks. Once Captain Mitchen gave his order, the archers in the rooms would immediately release strong, iron arrows.
The underground passage was quiet. All criminals had entered the castle. Mitchen whistled, and the criminals in the corridor immediately pulled out their weapons, only for the sharp arrows that came from the walls to quickly set them into panic.
The archers hiding in the rooms were divided into three teams. One squatting on the floor, while another put up shields.
Another team was standing. The three layers of attack formation completely shut off the narrow corridor, and the terrible screams of the criminals immediately rang across. After the second salvo of arrows, the wooden walls in front of the Special Combat warriors were already full of holes.
The soldiers of the Combat Unit finally came running from the other end of the corridor, pushing a cart that had spiky weapons attached to it. After the cart, countless warriors that held knives and axes came running towards the criminals.
Mitchen walked out of one of the rooms and waved the fire torch at the ground to countless bodies littering the floor. Incredible.
There were corpses all over the floor! But there were a few guys who suffered less injury, still moaning in pain.
The warriors of the Combat team gave a few more blows at the guys that were still, then sent the criminals that were still breathing to receive treatment. At last, the Special Combat Brigade Captain Luke Citel counted the criminals that infiltrated the castle. It was a small unit of 20 people: 17 died in the corridor while 3 survived. Oscar simply nodded at the report given by the Captain, and seemed to have no intention to participate in the interrogation, because the criminals who participated in this mission surely had the determination to die.
Unexpectedly, they actually received some useful information from the interrogation. A young guy said that the large unit of the criminals was at a location not far from here.
Brigadier General Luke immediately smacked his mouth. "You are kidding me. We have searched all over the nearby mountain area! Nothing is here!"
The guy spat blood at Luke. He shut his mouth and did not say anything further, but simply gave a cold smile to the Imperial soldiers.
Luke Citel suddenly thought of a possibility, but his thinking was a little too slow. Just when he was about to send warning to the whole unit, a loud sound of the clock could be heard from the observation deck.
27th day! Oscar took a look at the Lunar Calendar. Usually, he would not have done that because the time in the mountain was blurry. There was no need to count the days at all. But today was different! Listening to the sound of the alarm, the orders outside of the door and the noise in the woods, it was fated to have a bloody fight on the 27th day!
The Marshal wore a set of iron armor, red and black intertwined, with a helmet with dark red color. He carried a shield on his back in which a Knight's sword was tied in it. At last, he took his firegun and machete with him.
The Marshal opened his door to the generals that followed him here.
"Everyone!" Oscar smiled slightly. He first walked into the corridor. The fiercest soldiers in Titan Empire immediately followed him. They were about to walk into a battlefield where lives were taken.
At the edge of the dark night, light and fire broke out like never before in the Coyttshag area. The starlight and moon hung atop the sky, quietly decorating the night. Under the sky, the cliffs of the valley cast its shadows onto the forest to its left side. A few swathes of the the forest were painted crimson by the light of the fire.
Across the mountain and in front of the castle, every inch of ground perceivable by the naked eye was filled with armed criminals! Oscar solemnly looked at everything at the wooden wall of the castle. To be honest, he regretted it a little. It would be excellent if Torry's cannon unit could enter this valley as well! Maybe the fighting would be over even before it began. But, speaking of which, if the criminals were to know there were six fortress cannons waiting for them, they would not return to this place.
The rain of arrows finally became denser. The criminals overcame the traps and obstacles and went into formation at the tall tower in front of the castle. Then, they rushed towards the castle in four attack forces.
Without receiving orders from Oscar, the warriors in the arrow division had begun retaliating. Captain Mitchel stood on the arrow tower at the right side of the main castle and used flag signals to command numerous archers dispersed at the city walls of the wooden castle. The archers were painted in red and shouted deafening cheers. Every release of their bowstrings would take an enemy's life.
The criminals that came running from the mountain had already been cut down by half, but more came rushing towards the castle like mercury poured onto the floor. They ran in and out of narrow places in quick movements, and this strategy that troubled the Guards terribly was executed to perfection. The four attack units only used a short amount of time to reach the perimeter of the castle, where there were no soldiers. The Guards seemed to have completely given up the empty spaces outside of the castle. Only the arrows that were on the city walls kept sending deadly arrows their way.
"Should we retreat for now?" Luke Citel said as he glanced at the calm Marshal.
Oscar shook his head. "Even though we can't fight them in this castle we'll make them suffer for it."
The Combat Captain Colonel Mitchel immediately agreed. "Fire rocks! Rolling logs! Let send them the gifts we have prepared!"
The messengers were dispersed to every corner, and the order was acknowledged within a minute. Fire suddenly appeared at the city walls of the castle, boiling oil and burning logs were pushed by the soldiers, tumbling down the slope. The criminals fell into a panic almost immediately. The poor chaps in ragged clothes let out terrifying shrieks, the logs and oil burning a trail of corpses as they descended.
Finally, one of the attack units of the criminals reached the castle entrance. They used sharpened rams to continuously push at the thin gate. However, on the other side, the warriors of the Guards had no intention to stop the actions of the criminals. The arrow division, who acted as the center of defense, instead retreated off the city walls. When the sea-like group of criminals reached the top, they found no one in their castle.
In the forest right to the castle, the arrow division was naturally the last one that reached their attacking position.
The attack unit, investigation unit and combat unit were already prepared at three different directions. The archer division immediately took over the mountain road that led to the castle. They gazed at the whole caste from above.
"They've breached the castle!" A team of investigation soldiers came rushing from the castle.
Oscar immediately set alight the line that under his feet. Like a group of children waiting to enjoy some fireworks, the officials around the Marshal covered their ears as they wore cheeky smiles on their faces.
The line kept burning, creeping towards the the castle, before finally disappearing under the city walls. After half a minute, the explosives that O'Neil Andrew Morisette had hidden in the castle finally exploded into a spectacular ball of fire! It appeared that he had no intention to keep this place at all. He wanted to send the criminals and their base to heaven.
The Special Combat Brigade did not bring their cannon unit, but instead had a large number of explosives, and set up a considerable number of explosives at four main locations in the castle. The power of the explosion spread just like earthquake, and the soldiers closest to the castle were even pushed onto the snowy ground due to the shock waves.
The explosion happened in an instant. The Guards could even see the human bodies that flew into the sky along with the fire. The huge rolling balls of smoke were just like the cake, made with human fillings and baked by God. Along with the deafening roar and an incredible light, wooden shreds and leftover human parts fell all over the mountain. Dust floated in the air and founds its way the head of the warriors, staying there for quite a while.
The Guards finally blew horn to signal attack. The combat unit went forward towards the back of the now-ruined castle, with the attack unit rushing towards the left side. The knight of the investigation unit guarded the Marshal, while the archer division was divided into two different units: One followed the combat unit, while the other followed the attack unit.
The criminals seemed to be still stunned by the frightening explosion before. They were drowned in the ruins that were made of dust and debris, and not even the screeching of the wind also could call them back to their senses. Even if the warriors' weapons were plunged into their body, they remained silent.
The situation of the battlefield was completely one-sided to the Guards. The Special Combat Brigade that advanced forward closed off the criminals in the empty space to the outer area of the castle, pushing forwards with their shield walls. The Guards used their weapons and arrows to force the panic-stricken criminals away.
When the fight in the frontline had almost lost its meaning, the criminals finally launched their attack with likely what was their last unit. Old, and injured men, fully naked and smeared with blood, this unit came rushing out of the dense forest, but the archers of the Guards did not let them reach the frontline at all. The arrows were like avalanches on the mountains with salvo after salvo.
Bloody water and broken weapons smeared the white snowy ground. Fallen human bodies surrounded the wooden castle, standing tall like a destroyed statue. The moat became a pond of blood, and the ruins became landfill that full of chunks of human bodies. The warriors had stronger combat abilities in normal war situations. With the frontline as center and six-men teams as one war unit, they were advantageous during the fight, and kept pushing forward in the blood and fire.
Oscar glanced at the battlefield in front of him and then at the criminals, sadly. He was Marshal of the Guards, and as a Marshal, he was not interested in a massacre. He wanted to have a true fight to the death.
The number of criminals were huge, but that was that. They had managed hold off five years of in the mountain, and could only show their rich combatting experience. In the previous experience with the Guards, except for the Devil's army, the criminals had never encountered any opponent that was even worth mentioning.
The First Special Combat Brigade of the Military Intelligence Bureau was different. From the criminals' point of view, they were facing a group of monsters. These monsters not only had accurate shooting ability, but also exceptional combat ability. Moreover, they knew well the essence of a guerilla war. The criminals' situation was becoming more like the initial situation the Guards were in: the enemy was in the mountain, but there was no way of confirming their exact location. The scout and investigating soldiers would usually be eliminated without any sound. The disturbances and night attack they were so good at before, also became ballast after going through the traps and defense of their opponent.
Without any choice when facing such difficult situations, the criminals' leader changed their war tactics. They did not plan to continue the fight with the armed forces. Instead, they opened up the path leading to their base.
The Guards happily obliged. They reached Coyttshag valley without going through much trouble.
This proved a guess among the criminals' leaders all this while: these godd**ned guys must have the guidance of the traitor. Or else, they would not be so focused on attacking Coyttshag. Also, their searching and attack directions would not be so accurate as well.
But all this did not matter now! The dogs of the nobles had already taken over their destination. According to the strategy of the criminals, the large army would enter the mountain area and remain at the destination in which they planned to go to at first. If they wanted to be safe in the mountain, they would surely utilize the base as their base of operations. At that time, the criminals only needed to focus their forces and return to finish off this strong army.
The criminals' guess was not wrong at all. Just when they arrived at this place, O'Neil Andrew Morisette still planned to take over this base, but changed his mind during the night. He thought that the criminals were extremely familiar with this area and this castle, and could not even sleep properly here. For a criminal to come out from some corner and shoot in his head was entirely possible. Thus, the Marshal hid a large number of explosives where he was. He intended to destroy the castle with its master in it.
Actually, to be frank, Instead of analyzing the war tactic, the reason this Marshal gave up this base was because he did not like the smell of the wooden castle. He would rather carry on with his guerilla warfare. Thus, in the midnight of the 27th day, the criminals witnessed the largest explosion in the history of the Westland. This also made them remember the name of O'Neil Andrew Morisette forever, a name that represented death in their hearts.
The war continued until dawn. The criminals finally confessed to the crimes they were known for.
They should not have given up their guerilla war, facing a special combat unit that was known to be strong and had exceptional combat ability. They should not have launched an attack that was no different from suicide. Most important of all, they should not have stepped into an empty castle when they did not have clear intelligence on their opponent. When the Guards retreated from the castle, they should have realized they had stepped into a trap.
After four hours of fighting, the investigation unit finally stopped their pursuit in front of a dangerous cliff six kilometers away from Coyttshag. There were numerous corpses along the way, all around the snowy ground, some pinned on the trees. They were left on the black granite. Blood stains were led far away, into the thick of the woods. Then, dawn came and illuminated the blood, as it congealed and turned into bright ice crystals. The white and stiff bodies stretched their arms open as if welcoming the morning sun, inviting the vultures to came straight for them.
The warriors of the Special Combat Brigade held an injured criminal while they climbed the mountain. Marshal O'Neil was just right behind this team of warriors, was still in his war-armor. However, the depressing thing for him was that he was not able to use his machete at all during a whole night of fighting.
"It's him!" The trembling criminal pointed to a body that was getting eaten by the vulture.
"Yes! He is our leader!"
With a wave of his hands, Oscar commanded the warriors immediately pulled this poor traitor out of their misery.
The Marshal used his sword sheath to turn the body over. Baron Messier, who was beside him, also came forward. The Chief of Military Intelligence Bureau carefully searched the body of the criminal's leader.
"There's something in his throat!" Diener Edward saw right through it.
Oscar signaled to him and Edward immediately began his work. He pulled the jaw of the corpse away with a minimum amount of force. Then, he opened the person's mouth and took a paper out of it, frowning.
"It's.... It's a letter to his family!" Messier carefully opened the letter that was sticky with saliva and blood.
"What does it say?" Oscar came forward, interested.
Messier carefully looked at the handwriting smeared contaminated with blood. After a while, he sighed. "Sorry Sir, it seems to be for his lover, but I can't see the handwritings clearly!"
Oscar shrugged. He scanned the mountain under the sky. "How many more?"
Brigadier General Luke Citel said, "There are three more groups of armed criminals that hold positions of power."
Oscar turned around and kicked the body that was by his feet. "Who is that letter for?"
"The person is called..... Verdin Reohowl." Messier opened the letter once again. "There is also a... Hmm... A stamp with the shape of a small Snapdragon by the name."
"Snapdragon stamp?" Oscar suddenly laughed. "Ola! That is a family named Reohowl with Snapdragon as their totem."
The expression of the Empire's Prince immediately turned cold. "Find this family. Let their family members die together with this excellent son of theirs!"
Messier replied 'Yes'.
The Prince said nothing more, and slowly walked up to the top along the mountain road littered with corpses. When the sunlight shone on him without hindrance, he clearly realized that the fun of climbing was in the process. When you reached the top and turned around, what was left was a bloody road and an unspeakable loneliness.
In the Year 799, Dulin's spring came extremely early. At the end of the 2nd month, grass was already peeking above the soil to meet the sun. The confidential secretary of the Emperor Count Philip Goolean returned to Dulin, just as the weather was turning warm.
Count Goolean's holiday seemed to not have been enjoyable; he was even thinner now than when he was in Dulin. The Palace Chief Marquis Laston Cambre who welcomed him at the gate of Hamilton Palace laughed at him, and said that the Count had went too crazy with his wife. Philip was proud of this fact. Except for him, no one could understand the benefit of Monique.
The Palace Chief brought the confidential secretary to his own office, after which Laston then asked him the reason he came back so early. At this, Philip's expression darkened almost immediately. He said the Hagrid family was crumbling.
The Hagrid family was crumbling! This matter had been discussed heatedly amongst the noble circle in the Capital. The southern nobles had organized an audit group, responsible for conveying the criminal evidence of this powerful army family. However, Alfa III His Majesty had not shown his face around since. No one knew how the controller of the Empire would judge the traitor of the country.
Philip began his job on the second day he arrived in Dulin, but the people could not understand the arrangement of the Emperor's confidential secretary. He canceled all meetings of the Emperor with Marshal Alan and placed Chief of Staff of the Imperial Guards Marshal Robin Sparse to fill the gap in the Emperor's schedule.
Marshal Robin's status in the Capital immediately enjoyed a significant rise. As a result, some young widows even held some idea with this old Marshal. The nobles in the Capital could see that Marshal Alan's opinion on the problem of Hagrid family was extremely stubborn; he even openly expressed that he would investigate deeply of the accusation against the Hagrid openly in the Army Division.
Alfa III His Majesty thought otherwise, so he ordered Philip to reject the visits of the Marshal of the Guards.
From the Emperor's point of view, the people who had hurt his nephew and his daughter deserved to die without empathy. Even if this person was Alan, he still should not have done what he did. The case investigation spearheaded by Count Rudolf Hoss of the Secret Service soon confirmed all accusations of the Military Intelligence Bureau against the Hagrid family. This made the Emperor trust the words said by Marshal Robin more.... Some thoughts of Silverfox Alan was extremely dangerous.
When it was already 25th day of 2nd month, Alfa III His Majesty thought he should not drag this matter on any longer. He called Marshal Robin into his bedroom and planned to discuss a plan with this old Marshal.
"Actually.... it is obvious that this is to expel the Hagrid from the game!"
Alfa III His Majesty nodded. He did not know if he should thank Oscar, or simply beat the kid up. The Prince pulled the military family that protected Vielonna out of the game right after he reached the south. This more or less made the Emperor more worried.
"Chief of Staff, Sir, From your point of view.... Is the case of the Hagrid as simple as it is described?"
Robin already knew that the Emperor would doubt this matter, but he had already prepared his answer.
"Your Majesty. No matter what, Hagrid must receive its punishment. If not, the pride of our country and the power of our law will experience insurmountable damage. And the soldiers will think that even a huge army family like the Hagrid had colluded with the businessman. If that so, then what other high-level General of the Guards might still be clean?"
"Go...." The Emperor moaned. He hated the fact that he was aging, and everything that was happening went against his will. "Before this, it was your previous Chief of Staff Valier Cypress; Now it is the Chief Commander of the Fifth Region Vangol Abberning Hagrid! One was a marshal of guards, another is a general of the Guards. The soldiers will be shocked by this even if they simply think about it!"
Marshal Robin laughed coldly. Valier Cypress was a poor guy while Vangol Abberning Hagrid was simply searching for his own death! On the other hand, Alan's opinion was rather appropriate, but this Marshal of Guards would definitely not beg for mercy for his friends under the risk of disobeying the Emperor.
"Your Majesty, the most urgent thing to do is to resume power and trust of the high-level generals amongst the Army Division."
The Emperor nodded. "That would be alright with other places, but the southern Hagrid is unique after all. Their family has history and tradition. Even though their soldiers are not as crazy as the Narcissus Knights, they still understand the meaning of loyalty."
Marshal Robi's smile became even colder. "We can use a new hero to replace the 'Hercules' that made a mistake."
"You mean Oscar?" Alfa III His Majesty shook his head. "Impossible. The soldiers of Hagrid hate him."
Marshal Robin shook his head as well. "Your Majesty. That person naturally wouldn't be Marshal O'Neil. The new Chief Commander of the Fifth Region should be a war hero that the soldiers are familiar with and a good, courageous general that is loved by the soldiers."
"Tell me your suggestion." The Emperor was a little expectant.
"Have you heard about the name of the single arm general? Gondol Abassia!"
"Gondol Abassia?" The Emperor frowned. This was a familiar name to him, but he was old. An old man's memory was fragmented.
"Twelve years ago, General Gondol Abassia won the Doncaster Defending War with just the strength of an Infantry Division. This was a classic example of an infantry unit winning against a more advantageous cavalry unit. This is also in the textbook of infantry officers when an officer is chosen to enter the Imperial Military Academy. At Saijo Mountain battlefield in Year 797..."
"Oh I remember now!" Alfa III His Majesty slapped his forehead. "General Gondol Abassia was the Chief Commander during the Saijo Mountain War! I even gave him the Imperial warriors badge myself."
"Yes yes!" Marshal Robin smiled, but he slowly lowered his voice. "What do you think about this general?"
The Emperor was a little hesitant. He knew this single arm general was a great fighter brought up by Oscar.
"Will this cause any disagreement among the people?"
Marshal Robin shook his head. "Then let these people stand up and state their intention. If Marshal Alan has any people to recommend, then let's make a comparison. Let's have a look at who else is more suitable to become the new Chief Commander of Fifth Region than General Abassia."
"The military and noble title of General Abassia is...'
"Lieutenant General of the Guards and Count of the Empire. These are all given by you, Your Majesty."
The Emperor nodded. "His titles are suitable. Well... let's choose him then?"
"Your Majesty, I have mentioned this just now. You can take a look at Marshal Alan's candidate as well. Jumping into this now is a little rash for us, Marshal Alan is, after all, the Marshal of the Guards. Appointing the Commander of a whole region has to be agreed by him as well."
"Hmm..." Alfa III His Majesty suddenly laughed coldly. "It's fine. Alan has too many actions going on behind my back! It's better not to let him express his opinion! I will send an order to the Army Division. The Army Division only needs to send the appointing document to the south according to procedure!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Marshal Robin quickly bowed.
The Emperor waved his hands. He was still a little restless. "Even if General Gondol Abassia's name is able to control the Hagrid soldiers in the Fifth Region, might there be anything that could blindside us?"
"Of course, there will be!" The old Marshal's expression darkened. "We have not punished the sinner of the Empire, and the influence of Hagrid family is still present. Only when we have completely eliminated them, we will truly be able to get back Burton Provine and Vielonna."
"Eliminate Hagrid?" Alfa III His Majesty had his eyes wide open. "But I have already agreed to the written resignation of the Hagrid family. They will be exiled! If I broke my trust with the people..... their soldiers will start a riot."
Marshal Robin Sparse shrugged. "We don't need to do these things at all! The few criminals that create the armed riot all think that it is Hagrid that has betrayed them. They will take their revenge! And at that time, we only need to provide some convenience to these criminals!"
The Emperor suddenly understood. "Then we will dispatch the Hagrid soldiers who want to get their revenge into the mountain to eliminate the criminals! This way we will have discreetly lowered the pressure that may cause riot."
"That is right, Your Majesty!"
The Emperor looked at the old Marshal, a little depressed. "To be honest, is this your idea or Oscar's?"
Marshal Robin shook his head with a smile. "Your Majesty, you have misunderstood. Even though the investigation against the Hagrid family is carried out by the agents of the Prince's Military Intelligence Bureau, the following arrangement is carried out by the Commander of Southern Army Group General Eugene, and myself."
"General Eugene?" The Emperor was a little confused.
"General Eugene already knew about this when the Military Intelligence Bureau interrupted the investigation. He had provided many conveniences for the Military Intelligence Bureau, or else it would have been extremely difficult to collect the criminal evidence of Hagrid family in the south. As the Commander of the Southern Army Group, General Eugene naturally worries the most about the situation in Vielonna. He hopes the Army Division can send an exceptional commander into the Fifth Region."
"Is that so..." Alfa III His Majesty nodded in understanding.
"Alright! There's one more thing related to the south." The old Marshal said as he took an official document from his file. "The Chief of Staff of the Southern Army Group General Dario Gonzalez is currently being investigated by the local Army Division. You know many businessmen in the south have some strings pull with military and political officials. General Dario...."
"Alright alright! God of Light bless this General so that he is not found guilty! To receive a bad reputation at such old age is terrible." It seemed that Alfa III His Majesty was extremely annoyed by the southern people. He chose to lie down instead and pulled the blanket over his body.
Marshal Robin spread the official letter sent by the Southern Army Group without a choice. "Your Majesty, General Eugene has recommended a candidate that is suitable to take up the role of Chief of Staff of the Southern Army Group. You should at least take a look."
The Emperor snatched the official letter, stamping his name without so much as a glance. He could not care less about such matters. Moreover, he was not familiar with the huge and complicated relationship between the officials of Guards. He only knew a few that were worthy of his trust.
"General Eugene's recommendation is sure to be good. I rest assured I will have Eugene in the south!" The Emperor threw the document back to the old Marshal and ranged the copper bell.
The meeting was over now. Marshal Robin did not say anything more. At last he said the words that wished for the Emperor's health, but that only annoyed the Emperor.
"Let me have some time to myself! Leave me alone!"
The old Marshal then excused himself from the room.
As the Emperor's confidential secretary, Count Philip Goolean heard troubling words on a daily basis. He had to arrange the meeting of many officials with the Emperor, especially during the time the Emperor was sick in bed. Other than that, he still needed to accept all sorts of documents, then to convey all sorts of orders. Even though Philip had no rights to determine these orders, his rights determine the execution order of those Imperial Orders.
"Thus, Your Majesty, this suggestion by the Ministry of Agriculture needs to be replied as soon as possible. Or else, we will miss this year's harvesting period!" Philip looked at Alfa III His Majesty, who aged a little more every day with worries.
"This is a huge amount of money!" Alfa III His Majesty looked at the proposal in pain.
The confidential secretary sighed. "This is inevitable. The southern farmers are poor. They have nothing. If there is no help from the Ministry of Agriculture, there will probably be no harvest this year. Moreover. This money will be let out in the form of loan by Prince's O'Neil's Military Intelligence Bureau. The Prince has seized the illegal profit from the business in the south. That is a huge amount of money as well."
Alfa III His Majesty suddenly stopped talking. He glanced at his confidential secretary whom he trusted the most with worries.
"Hey... What does my son-in-law want to do there?"
Philip Goolean was a little odd. He had a guess in his heart but saying it out loud now was a little too early.
"Your Majesty, I think Prince O'Neil's initial moves in the south were very effective. After this year, the effect will be even more obvious. Even the southern nobles can see that this Prince truly wants to recover the southern states."
Alfa III His Majesty nodded slowly. "But he destroyed Hagrid. This is out of my expectation."
"Your Majesty, you should say... That Hagrid deserves all of this! Prince O'Neil did not make up any of the accusations."
Alfa III His Majesty also felt there was nothing more to say to that. He hinted to his confidential secretary and Philip quickly came forward.
"How is Ashfin?"
Philip smiled. "Rest assured, Your Majesty. Madame Count Antonia Horman is taking care of the First Prince. Prince O'Neil hid them in an extremely discreet place. Moreover, didn't you send a unit of Paladin as well? I suppose..."
"No! No! No!" The Emperor suddenly shook his head repeatedly. "I am still restless! You should go, too. Go back to the south quickly."
Philip only showed a bitter smile. It had only been a week since he returned to Dulin.
"Good work!"
The confidential secretary quickly thanked him. After that, the pair discussed some not-so-important matters again, however His Majesty was the focus his mind at all. Philip stopped his talking after a few futile attempts, and at last, he said that he would move out tomorrow. Only then did the Emperor lie down with ease.
It was fine lying down. The scariest part was not waking up. The weather in the mountain area was worlds different than its exterior. The melting of the snow brought the heat in the air away. It was nail-biting cold in the night, and did not seem to be any warmer in the day. The direct unit of Special Combat Brigade of Prince O'Neil had fought in the Alden Mountain area for more than a month, but they had no results at all. They did not even meet an armed criminal unit that had more than 100 people.
According to the rough location given by the Boustead family, the Special Combat Brigade had already carried out a careful plan. They found an extremely hidden location in the middle of the 2nd month, but all armed members of the criminal unit had already moved. Only an empty base that was made with woods and rocks was left.
The base was located at the center of the valley, and the locals called this 'Coyttshag', which meant 'A dazzling journey'. The fighters understood this accurate translation. After all, the Coyttshag was surrounded by dangerous cliffs; huge rocks extended from the bottom of the valley to the waist of the mountain, and from there, the mountain soared steeply into the skies. Snow and trees gathered to completely covered the mouth of the valley of Coyttshag, and if the fighters of the Special Combat Brigade were none the wiser about the base of the criminals at the bottom of the valley, no one would actually have the idea of looking through that area.
Producing a road that they were able to pass through near that area had taken a week for Marshal O'Neil and his knights. Except for the guarding unit around the valley, all soldiers of the Special Combat Brigade had focused on this task. Even the Marshal was not exempted.
Just when Oscar's bear-skinned gloves broke, the road towards the 'Dazzling Journey' was finally cleared. To avoid an attack by the criminals from two sides of the mountain road and for the cramping of soldiers in the narrow mountain road, the Marshal only ordered a middle-sized unit of knights to first enter the valley. The knights assigned to check out the path began their journey in the morning, and only returned to the base after the sun had set.
It was without a doubt that this unit of knights were attacked, but the Captain that led the unit was a smart and strong head of knights. Even though his middle-sized unit lost a quarter of its forces, he was able to chase the criminals who were hiding in the mountains with crossbows and fire arrows. At last, the criminals left more than 50 corpses here, then disappeared in the forest in front of their base.
Oscar reached the criminal's lair at night. His warriors were all over the place.
The soldiers had lit up the torches, and some had crossbows at the ready. They even cut off a few tall shrubs along the way.
Until the afternoon the next day, Coyttshag resumed its cold, calm demeanor, but the wooden castle buried in the middle of the forest was already completely exposed under the sun. The warriors of the Guards had cut off all tall trees that were more than ten meters in height near the base, leaving the huge wooden logs to lie in the snow. They looked stronger than isolation moats and iron fences.
How should we describe the criminal's castle? Oscar did not know because he had never seen such architecture so close to the mountain. The criminals utilized a leveled area in the geography of the mountain to build an isolation moat and firewall made of bricks. Above that, they built the main building of the wooden castle. The main buildings consisted of two blocks, east and the west, with a main house at the middle and four wings attached to it. There was also an observation deck that was around 30 meters in height at the center, and a copper bell at the top.
"I thought they hated the God of Light!" Oscar glanced at the top of the castle. If it were not for the sharpened wood at the outer area of the castle, people might have thought that this was an ancient monastery, or the mansion of a certain official.
"Who knows? They hate God of Light because the god did not care about them, but they do not dare to stop the praying." Brigadier General Luke Citel mumbled. He had fought in the mountain before and was only one step away from this place. But he had never thought that there would be such a place behind the trees.
The warriors were busy for the whole night as they searched every corner of the castle, even down to the soil the soil in this area. It was apparent to the experienced that the criminals left everything neat and in order. They brought food, weapons and everything. They even poured their excrements the past days into the water well.
The warriors were thirsty, but the water they drew from the well were buckets of feces water. Some people simply complained out loud as they chewed on snow. "Shit! Catch a live one and this is what gets to him first!" Many people, in fact, shared this sentiment.
The Marshal of the Guards slept until the sun was already high in the sky, and woke up looking terrible. Two months in the mountains had made his jaw become even sharper, and made his physique thinner. Adding to that thick beard on his face, there was a chance those who had known him would not recognize the Prince, who liked to hold his machete the whole day and being loud about it.
Prince O'Neil wore an oversized Marshal uniform, worn by the Prince until it was almost broken, was not suitable for fighting, but Oscar loved to wear it still. He wanted to let the warriors know that a Marshal was among them. Doing this had great meaning in it. The soldiers of the Special Combat Brigade could not get used to calling Oscar by his army and noble title, and were used to saying what their superiors had done that day or what their superiors had wrung them out for!
These people were loitering in the mountain the whole day. Except for their uniforms, the rest were no different than the criminals in the mountain. When the knights were thirsty, they just got a handful of snow; When they were hungry, they just had a bite of dry, black bread. Sometimes the black bread could not staunch their hunger, the soldiers who had nothing more to eat would visit the Prince's horse. Oslu still looked strong and fat. And delicious! So, the soldiers loved to look at it while swallowing their saliva.
Speaking of our Prince, he had already woken up in the morning, wearing that Marshal uniform of his, full of patches. He walked into the castle built by the criminals, relaxed. Sometimes he would greet the warriors there.
Someone said, "Sir, good morning!"
Oscar replied, "Don't laugh at me. You know it's the afternoon!"
Someone said again, "Sir, we need some women!"
Oscar then kicked the guy. "Go back and discuss that with your sister!"
Then, the warriors roared in laughter. At this moment, someone said something more serious. "Sir, I found a few secret passages in the castle."
Oscar thought about it. "Close every passage except for one. Who knows if the criminals may return!"
In the midnight of the 27th day of 2nd month, Year 799, after the Guards blew the signal sound of eliminating light in the castle, the criminals returned to this place from the only underground passage that was left.
The warriors of the Guards had prepared a few traps in all underground passages. The exact traps were not known, but they were prepared by a few guys that were good at them. They called this their trade secrets, but who cared? In the end, when the criminals entered the passage, the soldiers of the Special Combat Brigade had already climbed out of their warm beds.
The messenger walked back and forth in the silent castle, using hand signs and flag signals to contact all hidden units. When the criminals broke open the bricks that covered the underground passage, the Guards hidden in all corners had already entered their attack positions.
The criminals were very cautious. At first, there was only one person coming out of the passage, scanning his surroundings in alert. After ensuring there was no one around, he gave signals to his companions in the passage.
The warriors were hiding in the room near the underground passage. Their ears stuck close to the wooden planks, hearing the footsteps coming from the other side.
The wooden design of the castle gave a huge inspiration to Oscar. He thought about the time when he was assaulted in a tailor shop in Vielonna. This underground passage was left after careful consideration. At the exit was a corridor, and the underground passage was right under the chimney at the end of the corridor. At the two sides of the corridor, there were small rooms, just like toy bricks. Once Captain Mitchen gave his order, the archers in the rooms would immediately release strong, iron arrows.
The underground passage was quiet. All criminals had entered the castle. Mitchen whistled, and the criminals in the corridor immediately pulled out their weapons, only for the sharp arrows that came from the walls to quickly set them into panic.
The archers hiding in the rooms were divided into three teams. One squatting on the floor, while another put up shields.
Another team was standing. The three layers of attack formation completely shut off the narrow corridor, and the terrible screams of the criminals immediately rang across. After the second salvo of arrows, the wooden walls in front of the Special Combat warriors were already full of holes.
The soldiers of the Combat Unit finally came running from the other end of the corridor, pushing a cart that had spiky weapons attached to it. After the cart, countless warriors that held knives and axes came running towards the criminals.
Mitchen walked out of one of the rooms and waved the fire torch at the ground to countless bodies littering the floor. Incredible.
There were corpses all over the floor! But there were a few guys who suffered less injury, still moaning in pain.
The warriors of the Combat team gave a few more blows at the guys that were still, then sent the criminals that were still breathing to receive treatment. At last, the Special Combat Brigade Captain Luke Citel counted the criminals that infiltrated the castle. It was a small unit of 20 people: 17 died in the corridor while 3 survived. Oscar simply nodded at the report given by the Captain, and seemed to have no intention to participate in the interrogation, because the criminals who participated in this mission surely had the determination to die.
Unexpectedly, they actually received some useful information from the interrogation. A young guy said that the large unit of the criminals was at a location not far from here.
Brigadier General Luke immediately smacked his mouth. "You are kidding me. We have searched all over the nearby mountain area! Nothing is here!"
The guy spat blood at Luke. He shut his mouth and did not say anything further, but simply gave a cold smile to the Imperial soldiers.
Luke Citel suddenly thought of a possibility, but his thinking was a little too slow. Just when he was about to send warning to the whole unit, a loud sound of the clock could be heard from the observation deck.
27th day! Oscar took a look at the Lunar Calendar. Usually, he would not have done that because the time in the mountain was blurry. There was no need to count the days at all. But today was different! Listening to the sound of the alarm, the orders outside of the door and the noise in the woods, it was fated to have a bloody fight on the 27th day!
The Marshal wore a set of iron armor, red and black intertwined, with a helmet with dark red color. He carried a shield on his back in which a Knight's sword was tied in it. At last, he took his firegun and machete with him.
The Marshal opened his door to the generals that followed him here.
"Everyone!" Oscar smiled slightly. He first walked into the corridor. The fiercest soldiers in Titan Empire immediately followed him. They were about to walk into a battlefield where lives were taken.
At the edge of the dark night, light and fire broke out like never before in the Coyttshag area. The starlight and moon hung atop the sky, quietly decorating the night. Under the sky, the cliffs of the valley cast its shadows onto the forest to its left side. A few swathes of the the forest were painted crimson by the light of the fire.
Across the mountain and in front of the castle, every inch of ground perceivable by the naked eye was filled with armed criminals! Oscar solemnly looked at everything at the wooden wall of the castle. To be honest, he regretted it a little. It would be excellent if Torry's cannon unit could enter this valley as well! Maybe the fighting would be over even before it began. But, speaking of which, if the criminals were to know there were six fortress cannons waiting for them, they would not return to this place.
The rain of arrows finally became denser. The criminals overcame the traps and obstacles and went into formation at the tall tower in front of the castle. Then, they rushed towards the castle in four attack forces.
Without receiving orders from Oscar, the warriors in the arrow division had begun retaliating. Captain Mitchel stood on the arrow tower at the right side of the main castle and used flag signals to command numerous archers dispersed at the city walls of the wooden castle. The archers were painted in red and shouted deafening cheers. Every release of their bowstrings would take an enemy's life.
The criminals that came running from the mountain had already been cut down by half, but more came rushing towards the castle like mercury poured onto the floor. They ran in and out of narrow places in quick movements, and this strategy that troubled the Guards terribly was executed to perfection. The four attack units only used a short amount of time to reach the perimeter of the castle, where there were no soldiers. The Guards seemed to have completely given up the empty spaces outside of the castle. Only the arrows that were on the city walls kept sending deadly arrows their way.
"Should we retreat for now?" Luke Citel said as he glanced at the calm Marshal.
Oscar shook his head. "Even though we can't fight them in this castle we'll make them suffer for it."
The Combat Captain Colonel Mitchel immediately agreed. "Fire rocks! Rolling logs! Let send them the gifts we have prepared!"
The messengers were dispersed to every corner, and the order was acknowledged within a minute. Fire suddenly appeared at the city walls of the castle, boiling oil and burning logs were pushed by the soldiers, tumbling down the slope. The criminals fell into a panic almost immediately. The poor chaps in ragged clothes let out terrifying shrieks, the logs and oil burning a trail of corpses as they descended.
Finally, one of the attack units of the criminals reached the castle entrance. They used sharpened rams to continuously push at the thin gate. However, on the other side, the warriors of the Guards had no intention to stop the actions of the criminals. The arrow division, who acted as the center of defense, instead retreated off the city walls. When the sea-like group of criminals reached the top, they found no one in their castle.
In the forest right to the castle, the arrow division was naturally the last one that reached their attacking position.
The attack unit, investigation unit and combat unit were already prepared at three different directions. The archer division immediately took over the mountain road that led to the castle. They gazed at the whole caste from above.
"They've breached the castle!" A team of investigation soldiers came rushing from the castle.
Oscar immediately set alight the line that under his feet. Like a group of children waiting to enjoy some fireworks, the officials around the Marshal covered their ears as they wore cheeky smiles on their faces.
The line kept burning, creeping towards the the castle, before finally disappearing under the city walls. After half a minute, the explosives that O'Neil Andrew Morisette had hidden in the castle finally exploded into a spectacular ball of fire! It appeared that he had no intention to keep this place at all. He wanted to send the criminals and their base to heaven.
The Special Combat Brigade did not bring their cannon unit, but instead had a large number of explosives, and set up a considerable number of explosives at four main locations in the castle. The power of the explosion spread just like earthquake, and the soldiers closest to the castle were even pushed onto the snowy ground due to the shock waves.
The explosion happened in an instant. The Guards could even see the human bodies that flew into the sky along with the fire. The huge rolling balls of smoke were just like the cake, made with human fillings and baked by God. Along with the deafening roar and an incredible light, wooden shreds and leftover human parts fell all over the mountain. Dust floated in the air and founds its way the head of the warriors, staying there for quite a while.
The Guards finally blew horn to signal attack. The combat unit went forward towards the back of the now-ruined castle, with the attack unit rushing towards the left side. The knight of the investigation unit guarded the Marshal, while the archer division was divided into two different units: One followed the combat unit, while the other followed the attack unit.
The criminals seemed to be still stunned by the frightening explosion before. They were drowned in the ruins that were made of dust and debris, and not even the screeching of the wind also could call them back to their senses. Even if the warriors' weapons were plunged into their body, they remained silent.
The situation of the battlefield was completely one-sided to the Guards. The Special Combat Brigade that advanced forward closed off the criminals in the empty space to the outer area of the castle, pushing forwards with their shield walls. The Guards used their weapons and arrows to force the panic-stricken criminals away.
When the fight in the frontline had almost lost its meaning, the criminals finally launched their attack with likely what was their last unit. Old, and injured men, fully naked and smeared with blood, this unit came rushing out of the dense forest, but the archers of the Guards did not let them reach the frontline at all. The arrows were like avalanches on the mountains with salvo after salvo.
Bloody water and broken weapons smeared the white snowy ground. Fallen human bodies surrounded the wooden castle, standing tall like a destroyed statue. The moat became a pond of blood, and the ruins became landfill that full of chunks of human bodies. The warriors had stronger combat abilities in normal war situations. With the frontline as center and six-men teams as one war unit, they were advantageous during the fight, and kept pushing forward in the blood and fire.
Oscar glanced at the battlefield in front of him and then at the criminals, sadly. He was Marshal of the Guards, and as a Marshal, he was not interested in a massacre. He wanted to have a true fight to the death.
The number of criminals were huge, but that was that. They had managed hold off five years of in the mountain, and could only show their rich combatting experience. In the previous experience with the Guards, except for the Devil's army, the criminals had never encountered any opponent that was even worth mentioning.
The First Special Combat Brigade of the Military Intelligence Bureau was different. From the criminals' point of view, they were facing a group of monsters. These monsters not only had accurate shooting ability, but also exceptional combat ability. Moreover, they knew well the essence of a guerilla war. The criminals' situation was becoming more like the initial situation the Guards were in: the enemy was in the mountain, but there was no way of confirming their exact location. The scout and investigating soldiers would usually be eliminated without any sound. The disturbances and night attack they were so good at before, also became ballast after going through the traps and defense of their opponent.
Without any choice when facing such difficult situations, the criminals' leader changed their war tactics. They did not plan to continue the fight with the armed forces. Instead, they opened up the path leading to their base.
The Guards happily obliged. They reached Coyttshag valley without going through much trouble.
This proved a guess among the criminals' leaders all this while: these godd**ned guys must have the guidance of the traitor. Or else, they would not be so focused on attacking Coyttshag. Also, their searching and attack directions would not be so accurate as well.
But all this did not matter now! The dogs of the nobles had already taken over their destination. According to the strategy of the criminals, the large army would enter the mountain area and remain at the destination in which they planned to go to at first. If they wanted to be safe in the mountain, they would surely utilize the base as their base of operations. At that time, the criminals only needed to focus their forces and return to finish off this strong army.
The criminals' guess was not wrong at all. Just when they arrived at this place, O'Neil Andrew Morisette still planned to take over this base, but changed his mind during the night. He thought that the criminals were extremely familiar with this area and this castle, and could not even sleep properly here. For a criminal to come out from some corner and shoot in his head was entirely possible. Thus, the Marshal hid a large number of explosives where he was. He intended to destroy the castle with its master in it.
Actually, to be frank, Instead of analyzing the war tactic, the reason this Marshal gave up this base was because he did not like the smell of the wooden castle. He would rather carry on with his guerilla warfare. Thus, in the midnight of the 27th day, the criminals witnessed the largest explosion in the history of the Westland. This also made them remember the name of O'Neil Andrew Morisette forever, a name that represented death in their hearts.
The war continued until dawn. The criminals finally confessed to the crimes they were known for.
They should not have given up their guerilla war, facing a special combat unit that was known to be strong and had exceptional combat ability. They should not have launched an attack that was no different from suicide. Most important of all, they should not have stepped into an empty castle when they did not have clear intelligence on their opponent. When the Guards retreated from the castle, they should have realized they had stepped into a trap.
After four hours of fighting, the investigation unit finally stopped their pursuit in front of a dangerous cliff six kilometers away from Coyttshag. There were numerous corpses along the way, all around the snowy ground, some pinned on the trees. They were left on the black granite. Blood stains were led far away, into the thick of the woods. Then, dawn came and illuminated the blood, as it congealed and turned into bright ice crystals. The white and stiff bodies stretched their arms open as if welcoming the morning sun, inviting the vultures to came straight for them.
The warriors of the Special Combat Brigade held an injured criminal while they climbed the mountain. Marshal O'Neil was just right behind this team of warriors, was still in his war-armor. However, the depressing thing for him was that he was not able to use his machete at all during a whole night of fighting.
"It's him!" The trembling criminal pointed to a body that was getting eaten by the vulture.
"Yes! He is our leader!"
With a wave of his hands, Oscar commanded the warriors immediately pulled this poor traitor out of their misery.
The Marshal used his sword sheath to turn the body over. Baron Messier, who was beside him, also came forward. The Chief of Military Intelligence Bureau carefully searched the body of the criminal's leader.
"There's something in his throat!" Diener Edward saw right through it.
Oscar signaled to him and Edward immediately began his work. He pulled the jaw of the corpse away with a minimum amount of force. Then, he opened the person's mouth and took a paper out of it, frowning.
"It's.... It's a letter to his family!" Messier carefully opened the letter that was sticky with saliva and blood.
"What does it say?" Oscar came forward, interested.
Messier carefully looked at the handwriting smeared contaminated with blood. After a while, he sighed. "Sorry Sir, it seems to be for his lover, but I can't see the handwritings clearly!"
Oscar shrugged. He scanned the mountain under the sky. "How many more?"
Brigadier General Luke Citel said, "There are three more groups of armed criminals that hold positions of power."
Oscar turned around and kicked the body that was by his feet. "Who is that letter for?"
"The person is called..... Verdin Reohowl." Messier opened the letter once again. "There is also a... Hmm... A stamp with the shape of a small Snapdragon by the name."
"Snapdragon stamp?" Oscar suddenly laughed. "Ola! That is a family named Reohowl with Snapdragon as their totem."
The expression of the Empire's Prince immediately turned cold. "Find this family. Let their family members die together with this excellent son of theirs!"
Messier replied 'Yes'.
The Prince said nothing more, and slowly walked up to the top along the mountain road littered with corpses. When the sunlight shone on him without hindrance, he clearly realized that the fun of climbing was in the process. When you reached the top and turned around, what was left was a bloody road and an unspeakable loneliness.
