Chapter 847: Act 25 – The Spark of Erluin
The sudden situation on the battlefield disrupted all plans, making Brendel realize for the first time that the so-called meticulous strategies under the command art of this era are essentially akin to the decrees of the Great King Hecen I—just a joke. The noble armies, especially the outdated command structure and lax discipline among the vassal knights, are the enemies of all commanders. In such circumstances, one must not pray for which link won’t have a flaw, but rather be grateful that a link hadn’t been flawed; the more complex the plan, the more loopholes it has.
The Slogufan region is located north of the Xilmann River Valley and southeast of the Duskwood Forest, at the end of the Shubli Mountains in the Golan-Elsen province. This low-lying valley interrupts the connection between the Valenden Lake plains and the Xilmann River Valley, serving as a natural barrier. Several tributaries flowing into Valenden Lake cut across the hills, forming relatively gentle valleys where the Bloodstaff army advances. Kewen’s men had long since trailed and discovered their marching direction, scouting that these skeletal frames might pass through the valleys of Krivan and Chenier.
Krivan and Chenier are the two most important passages through the Slogufan Hills, embraced by the Jondel Mountains, fanning out towards the north, with many small hills nestled between them. The gentle slopes are still dotted with large areas of linden woods suitable for ambush at this time of year. This place is almost an ideal ambush site, and Bloodstaff seemingly never considered that a coalition from Lantonrand and Vieiro would ambush him here. His previous victories had made him overconfident, which is why history would later note his defeat here.
In Brendel’s original plan, the armies of Vieiro, Lantonrand, Toniger, and the Highland Knights would set up an ambush between the Krivan and Chenier valleys, creating a siege encircling about twenty miles. Lantonrand’s troops would first engage in a defense, followed by Vieiro and Toniger’s cavalry forces launching an attack from the rear in the gentler valley areas, completely annihilating the Bloodstaff army.
But the situation at hand had developed far beyond everyone’s expectations from the outset.
The Bloodstaff army split into two, advancing through valleys approximately seven to eight miles apart. When one vanguard encountered Vieiro’s troops, the vassal knights in Vieiro’s army could not contain their eagerness and preemptively launched an attack. The direct result was that the large army of Bloodstaff had not entered the encirclement at all; aside from a small portion of the vanguard, its main force remained in front of Lantonrand and Vieiro’s armies, and it was even further from Toniger’s troops. What started as an ambush ended up as a defensive battle.
Moreover, it was even more precarious that Vieiro’s forces were completely exposed to the army of Madara, having lost one flank, leading to morale crumbling rapidly. For the others, especially Lantonrand’s troops and the Highland Knights, they had no idea what was happening on their side. Upon learning that Vieiro’s forces had preemptively attacked, they promptly changed their battle plans in an attempt to outflank the Bloodstaff army, unaware that the lid of the encirclement had already been poked open by their own side.
Aike still urged his few cavalrymen through the mountain forests, praying that the damned knights from Vieiro wouldn’t make too large a blunder, but Makaro and Ouding had little faith in his small wish. They knew too well the private armies of the nobility; if they let them chase the victory or hold their ground, they might still exert seventy to eighty percent of their strength, but once engaged in a frontal assault, they were bound to collapse in no time.
It must be said that these two old noblemen had quite a perception of the issues plaguing their kingdom’s lands. Even without witnessing it firsthand, they could guess almost precisely.
Among all the parties involved in this battle, it turned out that Brendel received reliable information the earliest through Kewen’s magical transmission. Magic transmission was still quite rare in the wars of this age because it could only convey text, and Vaunte’s decryption technology was indeed terrifying: it possessed spells like “Deciphering Encryption” that could directly restore the original intent of the writer when the encrypted text was created. Naturally, commanders were unwilling to let their orders fall into the hands of their opponents.
However, “Deciphering Encryption” was not without flaws; rather, the countermeasures were very simple. If the messenger could be divided into pairs, with one person writing the encrypted message while the wizard apprentice simply transcribes it using the magic transmission, the message would only contain the intended text in the mind of the sender, preventing the hidden secrets from leaking. It is only simple once one understands the principle of this magic, but the problem lies in that most mortals at this time had a grasp of magic at a superficial level and did not understand the underlying principles. The silver wizards referred to them as peddler sorcerers; the legitimately inherited wizards valued the knowledge contained within magic. Most Bud people were scholars, while human wizards were mostly practitioners—this was the gap between them.
In fact, the wizards of Bud had long found ways to counter this magic, but it remained their secret until after the Slate War when it would disseminate among the Ironclad people’s military. However, Erluin now had an existence that was out of the ordinary in Brendel, so the so-called “barrier of understanding” became nonexistent, and he directly plagiarized the wizards’ methods.
The truth is, this method had no technical complexity, and it was very easy to spread. Once magic transmission became commonplace, countries with strong military might like Madara and Cruz would benefit far more than Erluin. Therefore, Brendel had never made this technology publicly available in his military, usually only utilizing it for communication with trusted subordinates. Unless he was certain it could provide Erluin with ample advantages in a large-scale war to offset subsequent impacts, he would never easily spread this secret among the Bud people.
In Brendel’s mind, he had already made calculations; however, the war against Bloodstaff had not yet gotten serious enough to that extent.
He folded Karglis’ magical letter amidst the misty rain. Madara’s victory over Vieiro’s antiquated knight armies was no surprise, but the sheer audacity of the commanding officer on Vieiro’s side in gathering those vassal knights from the lower territories to the left flank caught him off guard. “I don’t know if this is overconfidence or the so-called self-cultivation of an actor,” Brendel mused. Given those troops, he would rather send them to face off against Madara than command them. The reason he referred to those vassal knights as “things” reflected his deep impression of this so-called army, composed of small landowners, fallen knights, and opportunists; historically, they had doomed the northern nobles, echoing today’s foolishness. “But that commanding officer must also be in a dilemma; at least nominally, these knights are still the vassals of Duke Vieiro. If they are willing to rally for their lord, that reflects loyalty and righteousness. If Duke Vieiro dares not accept that, his prestige would be completely gone.”
Brendel understood well the game rules of these old, decayed nobles. Knights and lords are the foundation that constitutes this era. Unfortunately, these foundations had begun to shake from the very bottom. “Lords, your era has already ended—” At that moment, he even had the leisure to remember a famous bard’s verse from the game.
Brendel was somewhat relieved.
Thankfully, Madara had defeated Vieiro; his greatest fear was that Duke Vieiro’s forces would preemptively attack, making Bloodstaff feel alarmed. This notoriously cautious dark lord would pull his forces back to the Xilmann region. If that were the case, the situation would be troublesome because Erluin still had a Rendener within its borders. Their ambush on Bloodstaff was to exploit a time gap; if Bloodstaff were to fail in the ambush, Rendener would lose external assistance and a retreat route to Madara, naturally crashing morale.
But if Bloodstaff huddled in Xilmann, giving Rendener a glimmer of hope for a breakthrough in that direction, then the combined forces of Toniger, Vieiro, and Lantonrand wouldn’t be able to endure too long amidst these hills with no village nearby.
If Rendener and Bloodstaff manage to merge, the chaos in the Southlands wouldn’t know when it would end.
To Brendel’s surprise, he had anticipated the decline of Vieiro’s vassal knight army, but he did not expect them to degenerate to this extent. When Karglis’ letter stated that Vieiro’s left flank had been shattered by hundreds of skeletal soldiers, he nearly thought it was a joke. But Karglis would not tease him at such a time, so indeed, Vieiro’s army had collapsed like a miracle.
It was just a miracle of stupidity.
He flicked the letter, then moved aside to grasp the saddle and mount. In the hazy rain, the army was setting out, with everyone mounting one after another. Further away, Duke Toniger’s young wizard regiment was assembling under Charles’ leadership. The wizards climbed upon phantasmal steeds summoned by magic, clad in unified silver-gray robes with hoods, turning their gazes towards this direction. Among them were former mercenaries from the peddler sorcerer group, young individuals just completing their apprenticeship from Valhalla and Fir Tree Fort, and a small batch of druids led by Quinelle, along with some female faces. Most of these female wizards had pale faces, cold expressions, and high cheekbones with harsh countenances—they were witches from various places, persuaded by Babasha and two others to join Brendel—or rather, the future Dark Dragon.
Nevertheless, despite their ragtag assembly, Brendel finally had the first wizard regiment in the Southlands. A total of 120 individuals with varying strengths; a quarter came from various mercenary groups’ sorcerers and wizards, half from Toniger and the Royal Knight Academy, and the last quarter comprised witches and druids. In the eyes of regular armies, this wizard regiment looked like a band of beggars, but in the Southlands, it was an unprecedented occurrence.
Naturally, the commander of the wizard regiment was Charles, but the deputy was Antinna. Ever since the seeker recognized her talent and took her as an apprentice, Antinna had systematically studied magic knowledge. Although she was still just an apprentice, her talent in magical technology far surpassed most others. Brendel was well aware of the future of the wizard regiment, so it was only natural for Antinna to hold this position.
Then there were the Wind Archers.
This troop, descended from the legendary Silver Elf Army, was under the command of their captain—both present and past—Medisa, who sat on a unicorn with her lance hanging from the saddle, her hands clasped together in prayer. Like ancient Silver Elf warriors, she prayed for the spirits of the ancestors within the forest to protect them, grant them bravery, and help them vanquish their enemies. She also prayed for the souls lost in battle; the ethereal and dreamy song of the Silver Elves made all the tree elf archers pause to listen, revealing expressions of admiration.
As for her deputy, Fina was already the Silver Elf Princess’s most fervent fan.
Among all the troops under Brendel’s command, only the White Lion Guard was the most organized and quiet. The young men from Toniger seemed already accustomed to this atmosphere under Brendel. The officers and soldiers transferred from the original White Lion Army were filled with curiosity, but they all possessed a glimmer of sword-like determination in their eyes. This sword sparkled vividly in Freya’s hand; ever since this sword re-emerged, the new White Lion had gained a soul.
Their deputy commander Karglis was far away in the southern Xilmann hills, naturally unable to appear with this army.
At Brendel’s side, only Himelam and Shi Ta remained. Himelam was currently polishing the heavy surface of her Gaea’s Staff, with raindrops falling on the stone staff, creating a greenish glow around it as if life was burgeoning forth from the soil, full of vitality. However, Little Fat Dragon didn’t dare to utter a word; after having eaten the shrimp she prepared for dinner, the priestess maiden wasn’t troubled by it, directly twisting the staff of mountains and making her way toward the door.
It must be known that Himelam benefitted the most from the battle in the Frostvail Forest, and her power had recovered to the level of elemental manifestation. Coupled with the near-invincible Gaian Staff, Shi Ta’s fate was easy to foresee; ever since then, it seemed like he viewed Himelam as a mouse would a cat.
In Brendel’s view, the last figures to appear were the Cruzian Swordbreakers.
These proud knights rode past one by one from the hills, raising their swords in salute to him. Although there weren’t many of them, only a few understood the terror of this troop. Xiao Peiluo, still wrapped in his thick cloak, a crossbow tucked beneath it, raised his head to look at Brendel and asked:
“My lord, is the news reliable?”
“Absolutely reliable,” Brendel replied. Xiao Peiluo’s eyes showed a hint of surprise; trailing and scouting the Undead Army in this era was quite difficult for a couple of reasons. One was that before this, the black rose of Broamente rarely appeared in the public eye. Even in Erluin’s perspective, that dark land seemed to be a fractured and weak nation; less than ten years before the First Black Rose War, the lords of Karasu frequently led troops into Madara for retaliatory raids.
The undead of that era were fearsome, but the dark lords were like a scattered sand. They would even rather see their peers attacked by humans to seize the opportunity to merge. At that time, it was practically a dream for a lord of Madara to contend against a kingdom’s might like Erluin. Thus, aside from the civilians deeply affected by the undead in border areas, the mindset of Erluin’s nobles regarded Madara as a small, nearly bandit-like nation. They knew nothing of this country and had little inclination to understand it.
The Black Rose War was a startling nightmare for the entire Erluin kingdom; in fact, even now, the nobles were still unaware of what they had lost. The previous tragic defeat of Vieiro’s forces against Bloodstaff illustrated everything.
This was an ignorant land, inherently a mystery.
On the other hand, the stark contrast between the undead and the living made it extremely difficult for human scouts to approach the Undead Army. This problem remained the most challenging until Madara clashed with Saint Ausoor. Although Madara had never been on land adjacent to the Cruz Empire, Xiao Peiluo and his regiment well understood this. They were quite skeptical about Brendel’s claims.
Brendel’s confidence stemmed from knowledge that transcended the era; there were many methods to deal with these skeletal frames from the later generations of Wind Elves, and Karglis personally taught him that bypassing the Bloodstaff army was not difficult. At that time, he personally led refugees to escape from Madara right under their noses, while Karglis only led a few scouts trailing behind the main army. It was all the easier and, moreover, at this time, Madara did not understand how many gaps their reconnaissance methods had.
Xiao Peiluo performed a distant salute towards the lord: “Since you’re certain that Bloodstaff won’t retreat anytime soon, then let’s wait for our good news.”
Brendel nodded, and the young men of the Swordbreakers, under his gaze, pulled up their cloaks, turned around, and left towards the south. But in moments, only the shadows of flying cloaks remained in the rain. At this time, Freya had already made her way to the front of the White Lion Guard.
“Brendel,” she called out, “Aike has contacted us.”
“Let’s set off then,” Brendel replied, standing tall in the rain, full of vigor. “Let those knights of Vieiro understand that the era has forsaken them. Welcome to the future, this new era!”
Freya momentarily stood still.
Charles whistled and chuckled, “Let’s go, Freya. The lord means that, despite being a bumbling ally, we still need to save them.”
