25
The news of Beccabia’s camp being captured was from the day before.
Anton reported to Alz with a bow.
“The enemies retreated as predicted through Gariton Mountain. Following the General’s orders, we pretended to chase them, disrupting their count and breaking off the pursuit.”
The effect of the night battle.
As the Beccabia army fled through the mountains, they couldn’t accurately assess the number of enemy troops pursuing them due to the deep darkness of the mountains.
They might have thought they were pursued by the entire army, but in reality, only about 3,000 irregular troops were noisily shouting and carrying out the pursuit mission.
The rest of the army quietly lay in wait at the outskirts of Rohadun Gado.
And it was at the moment Anton cut off the enemy’s pursuit that Alz began the actual operation.
“Well, shall we start the operation in earnest now?”
“….”
The officers looked at Alz with awe in their eyes.
A strategic mind resembling Juras and mysterious tactics.
‘He’s definitely not a simple mercenary.’
‘Who on earth is he? Could it be that a renowned strategist is hiding their identity and is here?’
The officers thought to that extent, showing how delicate and wicked Alz’s tactics were.
“Alright, from now on, we will split the army into two. Anton!”
“Sir!”
“You will go to the Gekson Castle and bring it down as promised.”
“I will fulfill the order.”
“I will detach 10,000 troops for you. Depart immediately. Every minute without supplies is precious for us.”
With the individually allocated rations, they could somehow survive for about a day, but without looting, further supplies were impossible.
“I will leave at once!”
Anton led 10,000 troops towards Gekson Castle.
Later, Alz led the remaining 25,000 towards the Kessilian Fortress.
The rest of the troops were scattered strategically to intercept the enemy’s intelligence heading towards Carington.
As Alz and his army revealed themselves, an emergency situation unfolded in Kessilian Fortress.
Commander Berid Malone, who was guarding the fortress with 2,000 reserve troops, muttered in disbelief, “How did the Crossing Army come this far…?”
This place was quite distant from the ongoing battle in Carington.
Malone knew the outcome of the initial skirmish, but he lacked information on what followed.
“They said reinforcements were heading to the Alliance front line…”
Alz, in response, pushed forward the body of Casolla Tel’teil as if to prove a point.
“Carington has fallen! We’ve annihilated the reinforcements that came to aid you, so there is no hope left for you!”
The morale of the Bekabia soldiers, who had confirmed Tel’teil’s body, plummeted instantly.
Seeing the enemy holding the body of the general who led the reinforcements, they concluded that the reinforcements had been destroyed, and the Carington battle had ended in defeat.
Alz seized the opportunity to offer defection.
“Choose! Will you be buried here with this formidable fortress, or will you defect?”
Malone, the fort’s commander, was in no position to make a proper decision.
The sudden appearance of the Crossing army had thrown him off guard.
Just like surrendering unexpectedly to Gang Yugwan’s forces crossing the mountain pass, Malone’s judgment veered to extremes due to the unforeseen circumstances.
“De, Defection is difficult!”
Defection was difficult.
Upon hearing Alz’s offer of a way out, Malone had to make a decision.
Fight or flee.
As he pondered, deserters began to emerge rapidly.
The reserve troops stationed here were either too old or too young to be formally organized, which led to a rapid loss of morale.
Observing Crossing’s army preparing for an attack from the south gate while leaving the north gate unguarded, they chose to flee.
Malone deemed a proper battle to be challenging. Following Alz’s suggestion, they evacuated the fortress and headed towards Arandal.
If they had besieged Kessilian Fortress, without siege weapons, they would have wasted at least half a day, so Alz saved time with just a few words.
Thus, Alz peacefully entered Kessilian Fortress and began urgent resupply using the resources within.
Meanwhile, Anton, heading towards Gekson Castle, faced a different situation from Alz.
While Kessilian Fortress fell just by causing the soldiers to flee, Gekson Castle was different.
With a population of 80,000 within the castle, led by its lord and with a trained militia of a thousand, Gekson Castle was not going to be an easy conquest.
If Lord Sungju were to mobilize the Sungmin and engage in a siege, the situation on this side would also become quite serious.
Anton acted according to Als’ instructions.
He showed it to the soldiers and Sungmin of Geksun Castle.
Rumble! Hundreds of carts advancing in unison.
The place was filled with intestines that made one sick just by looking at them.
Anton swiftly spread them out at the entrance of the castle.
“That, that is…!”
“M, monster! Those guys are not human!”
“aaahh──!!”
Chaos erupted among the people of Geksun Castle.
They thought those intestines belonged to humans.
In reality, it was a collection of livestock intestines, but since the shapes were similar, and human intestines were not something seen frequently, from a distance, one could not easily recognize them as animal intestines.
“U, uwek!”
“I, I won’t stay here!”
Just witnessing this carnage made the soldiers on the castle walls flee inside.
Lord Sungju Antasian was pale with disgust.
Anton gazed at Antasian as if delivering a final warning.
“Choose. Whether to repeat the massacre in Carington here at Geksun Castle. Or preserve your lives…!”
“Ca, Carington has fallen?”
“Otherwise, there’s no way our army would be here.”
That was true. Antasian knew of the devastating defeat in the previous battle, so the retreat of the Carington army didn’t seem strange to him.
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“But it’s odd. Even considering that, it’s too fast…!”
He felt suspicious about that part, but Anton swiftly took action to eliminate any room for such thoughts.
“I suppose the proposal is rejected. Prepare for full-scale combat! Let these fools witness the bloodbath that took place in Carington!”
Whoa!! The difference in morale was clear.
Antasian urgently tried to stop Anton.
Regardless of other circumstances, facing 10,000 regular troops with the current forces of Geksun Castle would result in unimaginable casualties.
He cherished the Yeongjimins like his own family and wanted to avoid such a situation.
“Tell me the terms, the terms of surrender!”
“…It’s simple. We’ll open the north gate, so lead all citizens to Arandal. If you do that, you should be able to preserve your lives until the armistice.”
“Is, is that all?”
“Still, we must take the loot. Leave behind valuables and food. If you fail to comply, we’ll send pursuit forces.”
“Guh! …So be it.”
“I’ll enter through the south gate in 30 minutes. It’s best to flee before then.”
With that, there was no room for choice.
The citizens of Geksun Castle streamed through the north gate towards Arandal, while Anton led the 10,000 troops to peacefully enter the castle.
Having peacefully entered the castle, Anton swiftly began gathering valuables and food.
Being located in the granary region, Geksun Castle had a significant stockpile of food.
Anton poured the intestines, transferring the food to the empty carts, and shouted, “From now on, we’ll march forcefully!”
The forced march he proposed was so harsh that even the officers bit their tongues.
They had to keep moving for almost two days without rest.
Moreover, they had to bring along supply wagons, so there was no choice but for stragglers to emerge.
They resolved that issue with the valuable items obtained from the Gexon Castle.
“To those who follow the forced march to the end, I will evenly distribute the treasures obtained here! Everyone, muster your strength and follow me!”
And so, Anton’s troops eagerly began to move towards the location indicated by Alsgar.
* * *
The capture of the Kessilian Fortress and Gexon Castle.
After receiving detailed reports, Sophia widened her eyes and shouted,
“Send reinforcements to Arandal immediately! Lock the city gates and prepare for a siege!”
The enemy’s intention was simple.
The second city of Beccabia.
By capturing Arandal, they aimed to end the war.
“It’s a plan to sow discord among them! Sending the people of Kessilian Fortress and Gexon Castle to Arandal is to plant spies in their midst! We must not accept refugees under any circumstances! Maekelly! Concentrate all intelligence forces near Arandal!”
“Princess, but the enemy is short on supplies. Will they really march north to Arandal?”
“They must have resupplied at Gexon Castle! With that amount, it should be entirely possible! We can even provide additional supplies as they march north!”
“There hasn’t been any intelligence confirming their march to Arandal.”
“No, they must have done so. Otherwise, it doesn’t make sense.”
This was actually an opportunity.
Sophia couldn’t contain her excitement at finally seizing the opportunity for a counterattack.
“Our troops will also head to Arandal! Begin preparations for an immediate advance!”
Arandal will stand ready to withstand the assault, with herself taking the lead.
Thus, Sophia’s army, stationed in Carlington, headed to Arandal a step behind, boasting of reading Alsgar’s scheme perfectly.
Six days into the campaign.
The battle on the northwest front was intensifying.
Jurass mobilized all his forces for a full-on attack, while Albad’s Kyan fended them off with inspired defense tactics.
“Indeed, is this the legendary Sarak… There seems to be no loophole at all.”
Jurass laughed, confident in his victory.
According to other officers, he was getting tired of it.
“Never expected there to be no loophole to this extent… The Sarak’s Kyan!”
“Gylias Melbun and Yussis Goldray. Their timely judgment is impressive. Even Lutger Rosenburg’s vacancy seems to have been filled now.”
Gylias and Yussis, well-known as Kyan’s disciples.
They each handled offense and defense, acting as Kyan’s left and right arms.
With this exquisite harmony, the Crossing Army was faltering at every turn, unable to build a tactical stronghold.
“Hah! It’s too early for the trash of Crossing to aim for Albad.”
Leading the allied forces, Gylias taunted before turning to Kyan, the center army.
“Master, we’ve chased away the enemy unit that was targeting our right flank. They have retreated significantly.”
“Hmm…”
Despite the continued news of victories, Kyan’s face still showed unease.
“Teacher? What’s the matter?”
“I find it strange that this weasel is using such aggressive tactics.”
Juras was the type who wouldn’t launch such attacks unless in a special situation.
He always managed to create favorable situations for himself, making the opponent attack.
“Isn’t it possible that you’ve overestimated that guy, Teacher? Besides, the attack came from the Crossing side. If he had thought of just sitting back quietly, he wouldn’t have declared war in the first place.”
“No, something’s off. Immediately find out about the developments on other fronts.”
At that moment, information was reaching Cayenne a day late.
Juras, while launching a full-on attack, had cunningly cut off the intelligence flow as requested by Als.
Hence, the news of the fall of the Kessilian Fortress and Geoksun Castle had just arrived.
“Kessilian Fortress and Geoksun Castle have fallen…?”
Gylias narrowed his eyes.
According to Cayenne, there was a look of defeat on his face.
Sophia, who had begun to chase the Crossing army heading towards Arandale, arrived at the Gashal Gate, one of the gateways to Arandale, and received a soldier’s report with a bewildered expression.
The Gashal Base, which should have been captured, was surprisingly intact.
“Yes? The Crossing army, you say? I haven’t seen them at all!”
“I, I thought refugees passed through here!”
“Yes! But the Crossing army did not pass through.”
Strange. Very strange.
‘Without passing through the Gashal Gate, they cannot threaten the major cities of Beccabia.’
There’s only one answer.
‘Did they bypass the troops?’
Then where did they divert to?
In response, Maclellan Koon speaks.
“Could they have returned to Carrington? Expecting us to vacate the area.”
“Wrong. Even if they go to an empty Carrington, there’s not much they can gain.”
Even if they went to an empty Carrington, the only thing they could gain would be slightly better terrain.
Since Carrington is a gentle plain, the effect of seizing the terrain is not significant.
If that’s the case, Beccabia can return to Carrington and confront them again.
“Then where on earth did they divert to? We concentrated the reconnaissance in this area, so if they headed towards our territory, they couldn’t avoid detection.”
“It’s not our territory…? Ah, oh… oh no…!”
Only then did Sophia realize where the Crossing army had diverted to, shouting out in alarm.
She immediately turned her gaze to one place.
The battlefield in that direction. The northwest front where Cayenne and Juras were facing off.