Free Web NovelChapter 1150: Chapter 1085: Scorching Winds (Part 1)
The rapid clatter of hooves made the gray-green bushes and withered yellow grass leaves sway back and forth. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
A cavalry column of a thousand men arrived at the outskirts of Shovel Town and stopped. Kennard galloped out and rushed to a high ground for reconnaissance.
Reining in his chestnut warhorse, Kennard lifted the visor of his bird-beak helmet, his dark gray pupils sweeping over the scene before him.
This was a sun-scorched and yellow foot-of-the-mountain area, the sky obscured by billowing clouds of smoke and dust.
To the west were rolling low mountains, their surfaces exposed in ocher-red rock, with sparse thorny bushes like dried spider webs clinging to the slopes.
Accurately speaking, the Yellow Fang Trail area all had this yellow terrain, even though it was at the foot of the mountain, it was no cooler than the city.
At the steep foot of the mountain, several valleys of varying depths had cracked open.
Not too wide nor too narrow, capable of accommodating fifty to sixty cavalry charging side by side.
The town was situated at the junction of the foothills and the plain, mostly consisting of earth-yellow timber-frame houses, with very few stone brick houses.
The only tall building was the pointed-roof church at the center of town, desperately ringing its bell at that moment.
Ahead, three columns of fire rose around Shovel Town, the source of the billowing smoke and rushing hot wind.
Though the distance was far, the screams and the crackling of wood brought by the hot wind could still be heard.
"It’s the scum from Wonyu City!" exclaimed Hawke, the leader of the right-wing reconnaissance cavalry, arriving at a sprint. "They’ve formed a formation outside the fence at the east end of the town, about seven or eight hundred men!"
Following Hawke’s guidance, Kennard climbed another dirt slope, getting closer to the town.
Squinting, he saw a dense crowd of shadows swaying beside the town’s fence.
They were clad in mismatched leather armor, wielding long spears and axes, with many throwing torches onto the fence.
Arrows sporadically shot from the arrow towers behind the fence, but every so often, someone would fall from behind the arrow tower’s railing.
He recognized the attire of those people; they were the Armed Farmers from Wonyu City, their formation as scattered as headless flies.
Only nearly a hundred men in the back wore uniform chain mail, likely the Mercenaries.
Just as he thought!
In terms of confronting the enemy outside the city, Kennard had his calculations too.
If the Holy Alliance wanted to hide large forces of their army, then the Defensive Army of Longbow Castle was the best and only cover.
According to current intelligence, the Defensive Army of Longbow Castle was still in the neighboring Deferland County and hadn’t moved.
So even if there were elite Holy Alliance soldiers infiltrating, their numbers couldn’t be large, at most several hundred.
Dawn Island was not like Shattered Stone Plain; in such a densely populated area, it’s virtually impossible to conceal the movement of over a thousand people. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
So Kennard was almost certain that these people were militia from Wonyu City, with not much combat strength.
With a cold snort, Kennard abruptly drew the knight’s sword from his waist: "First team, charge the left flank with me, second team, circle the right and drive them to the open ground on the west of the town!"
"Woo——" The sound of a bull horn pierced through the smoke and dust, as a thousand knights split into two streams under the blue swallowtail flag.
Only after the stream surged past his eyes did Kennard press his metal boots heavily into the horse’s flank.
The chestnut warhorse reared up with an ear-splitting neigh, then shot forward like an arrow leaving the string.
Though starting later, it rushed to the forefront of all the cavalry.
The soldiers from Wonyu City outside the fence were still chaotically battering the gate, only turning around in panic when they heard the earth-shaking sound of hooves behind them.
The Mercenaries in the back quickly pressed down their iron helmets, the rear turning to the front, raising spears to form a spear formation.
But their numbers were too few, and although the spear formation had strength in defense and precision in thrusts, the knights’ iron hooves had overwhelming speed.
"Bang!"
The knights’ charge was like a rock smashing into a clay pot, immediately knocking two men flying, their breastplates shattered.
Kennard’s longsword came down with a rushing wind, cleaving a Mercenary’s spear in two before slicing through his collarbone, almost cleaving half of his body.
Blood sprayed but couldn’t catch up with Kennard’s charging back.
Iron hooves trample, armor clashing, the screams and clatter of armaments mixing together, amplified several times by the howling wind.
Those Armed Farmers had never seen such a scene; before the knights even got close, they threw down their weapons and fled in all directions.
The mercenaries resisted for a moment, but they were soon scattered.
"Legion Commander, should we pursue?" Hawke rode up to Kennard, the plume on his helmet singed black by smoke and fire.
"No need." Kennard pulled the reins, turning to lead the left-wing knights through the middle of the town.
The burning wooden houses and fences crackled, and sparks swirled up into the air like a swarm of fireflies.
"Get everyone in town who can move to put out the fire. They haven’t set many houses ablaze!"
The townsfolk, who had long been hiding fearfully in the stone houses, dared to peek out only after hearing the knights’ calls.
Kennard picked out dozens of able-bodied men, ordering sternly: "Fetch water, put out the fire. If the granary catches fire, none of you will survive!"
The men scrambled to find buckets, while Kennard turned his horse, charging towards the foothills in the northwest.
Count Striffen’s besieged slope, he had just learned, was behind those hills.
From afar, he could already see flags waving on the trees of the hill, bearing the Sk Wolf Castle family crest.
"Leave fifty men to guard, the rest follow me!" Kennard’s voice exploded in the wind, and the remaining nine hundred elite knights immediately followed.
A torrent of dust and smoke surged once more towards the foothills, but as they were still half a mile away, Kennard’s heart tightened, and he abruptly reined in his horse.
From the shadows behind the low hill emerged two rows of cavalrymen, about two hundred, each holding a black iron tube.
"It’s spring-loaded guns!" Hawke exclaimed, having participated in the Thousand River Valley War.
"Don’t panic, crouch on your horses and charge through!"
Before Kennard could finish his command, the cavalrymen pulled their triggers.
"Bang bang bang!" The rapid gunfire echoed through the valley, lead bullets whistled through the air, and several knights fell, blood gushing from their armor.
"Scatter! Charge up!" Kennard roared, swinging his longsword, ducking to avoid the whistling pellets.
He knew the power of these firearms; they had long range but slow reload, he had to break through them during the winding intervals.
The knights immediately broke into small groups, charging towards the slopes on both sides.
The cavalrymen using the spring-loaded guns were clearly well-trained, retreating as soon as the knights charged, continuously firing back over their shoulders.
Lead bullets whistled past the knights, raising circles of dust on the ground and mountain walls behind them.
Kennard’s gaze swept over the cavalrymen, and his heart skipped a beat.
Their horsemanship was superb, maneuvering freely on the steep slopes, evidently elite members of the Holy Alliance.
But their personal combat skills were lacking, their sword-wielding movements awkward.
"They’re novices!" Kennard shouted, charging at the forefront, as a bullet grazed his shoulder armor, sparking brightly, "Don’t entangle with them, just charge through the pass!"
The knights surged like a tide up the slope, and the lead bullets from the Holy Alliance cavalry couldn’t stop their flood.
One Holy Alliance cavalryman’s horse got caught in thorns, and he turned, trying to slash at the charging knight with a saber.
But the opponent deftly unseated him with a spear, and he rolled down the slope screaming.
The longsword felled three Holy Alliance cavalrymen in succession, as Kennard’s iron steed trampled over bodies to reach the top of the slope, the scene before him making his pupils constrict.
Behind the hill was a narrow valley passage, with a few Sk Wolf Castle soldiers’ corpses scattered at the entrance, and several blood streaks crushed by hooves on the ground.
The previous Holy Alliance cavalry had shaken off Kennard, retreating deeper along the valley.
The lead knight even glanced back, repeatedly drawing and sheathing his saber as he looked at Kennard.
Kennard wanted to rush down the slope to block them, but considering Count Striffen’s safety, he charged towards the Count’s banner on the other side.
When he reached the corner, only dozens of soldiers’ bodies and a broken flagpole remained.
"Where’s the Count?!" Kennard grabbed a townsman cowering on the ground, a middle-aged man with a bushy beard.
The townsman trembled, pointing shakily deeper into the valley: "He... he was taken away...
There was a female knight in silver armor earlier, she had people stuff the Count into a carriage... they went that way..."
Kennard abruptly let go, and the townsman fell to his knees with a thud.
"Hawke!" Kennard’s voice was laced with restrained fury, "Guard the valley entrance with a hundred men, the rest follow me!"
