Chapter 1270 - A Battle at the Front (1/2)
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
In the king’s city, City of Tusk, in the Kingdom of Wolfheart.
This city, which had been ravaged by the church, had yet to fully recover. From above, the outer city still lay in ruins. Nevertheless, compared to the Broken Tooth Castle that had been completely destroyed by the demonic plague,the outer part of the citylooked much better. At least, therewere not piles of decayinghuman remainsdown the wells and drainage facilities.
Just a few months ago, this place had still beenunder the ruling of the Tusk Family, a branch of the royal family of the Kingdom of Wolfheart. Iron Axe had initially planned to evacuate the towns and villages before he dealt with the nobles. As such, he had not interfered with the relentless battles between the Tusk, Token and Redstone Gates Families immediately. However, the sudden appearance of theRed Mist forced him to adjust his original plan. As the Tusk City was the central citythat connected the south and north of the kingdom, he had to seize it to let the troops retreating from the Kingdom of Everwinter through.
It was a fairly quick and boring battle. Even without the support of the Longsong Cannon, the five temporary units, which totalled 500 soldiers, soon breached the well-fortified Tusk Castle and the Tusk Citywith the mortars and the anti-demon grenades. The local lord, Hilburke, was shot dead when he was supervising his army. The city thus fell even before the nobleslaunched a proper counterattack. The other nobles thus all surrendered,whichofficially ended the dominance ofthe three major families in the Kingdom of Wolfheart.
Asa commander who had been following Roland since the first battle in Border Town, Iron Axe knew the military strength of Neverwinter better than anyone else. Five years ago, they had still been struggling to defeattheLongsongDuke; but now,theFirst Army could flatten any kingdom on this continent on His Majesty’s order.
They had far outstripped those nobles.
However, this did notgive Iron Axeanyself-contentment, nor did it relax his mind.
He understood the unbridgeablegap between the human race and the demons.
As the Red Mist continued to spread, the First Army was forced to constantly retreat from the Kingdom of Everwinterto the Kingdom of Wolfheart. Casualties increased every day. As the armywas not able to build a permanentdefensive line, the units were often caught unprepared by the enemies. Intelligence showed that the demons frequently appeared on the path that the troops had to pass, despite that they had confirmed several times beforehand that the road was clear.
The constant defeats would definitely lower the morale among the soldiers. Iron Axe knew that he should have directed the army to the Cage Mountain and given the troops a good rest. However, His Majesty’s order superseded everything.As the king needed people, he had no choice butto keep advancing despite the surging casualty rate.
There was no other way except fighting back.
They had to punch the demons in their ugly faces! Only in this way could they shake them off and raise the morale.
Iron Axe thus picked the Tusk City as his temporary stronghold.
“The demons are putting their guard down,” Brian reported as he looked through the telescope. He had returned from the Southernmost Region to the Sedimentation Bay on Roland’s order with 1,500 Mojin warriors. This was also the first formal Sand Nation army in the history of Graycastle.
“They started to put their guard down at the border the Kingdom of Everwinter,” Iron Axe agreed with a nod. “Edith was right. Erecting the Obelisk on the ridge of the continentcan beboth good and bad. Although the ridge is a perfect hiding place, the demons can’t easilymarch down to the south from there.”
He could see dark,crimson clouds spread across the sky as hegazed upon the northfrom the watchtower of the castle. The Red Mist had already crossed the border of the Kingdom of Everwinter and the Kingdom of Wolfheart, andwas now pressing slowly toward the Tusk City.