Chapter 1059: Chaotic Continent and Changes on the Battlefield (Part Three)
In comparison, even though wars were happening in the Northern Region, it was much calmer compared to other places.
The war between the Zenit Empire and Barcelona Empire attracted many people’s attention.
After Barcelona quickly swallowed the southern region of Zenit, the Barcelonan soldiers were stuck outside St. Petersburg for 20 days. Several demi-gods moved, but they couldn’t break through St. Petersburg’s defenses. Both parties fought many battles where Zenitians guarded the defense wall and Barcelonans tried to siege, and more than a million soldiers were involved. Outside the [Goddess of Earth’s Protection], the land was lowered by about four meters.
On the endless grassland, broken sieging equipment and horse-drawn carriages, chipped blades, torn armor, and dried blood were everywhere. To prevent a plague from happening, Barcelonans would burn the corpses of the soldiers and animals together. The surging flames and smoke looked like an angry volcano was erupting.
Countless grudge-laden souls roared and shouted in the dark sky as they ascended with the smoke.
A stinky odor permeated the air. Anyone who inhaled felt like they sucked in a mouthful of rotten flesh and blood. Vultures that were feasting could be seen everywhere, and they chirped as they dashed down. As if they were copying humans, they used their sharp beaks to break the corpses and start another round of merciless killing as they fought with each other for the food.
As the sun lowered into the horizon, it looked blood-red, dyeing everything in the world that color.
Battle shouts continued to sound on the ground, and screams could be heard non-stop.
Granello was covered in blood. He had broken more than a dozen top-tier steel sabers, and a human life disappeared whenever he struck out. His arms were completely swollen.
This man couldn’t remember how many times the Barcelonans attacked. Blood already soaked his hair, making his hair stick to his forehead. Blood also dripped into his eyes, blurring his vision and making everything seem like it was soaked in blood to him.
This defense battle lasted for close to three hours.
Finally, retreat bugles sounded from the Barcelonan campsites, and the Barcelonan soldiers backed away like falling tides.
Tink!
The steel saber in Granello’s hand dropped to the ground; its blade was also curled a little. If he weren’t supporting his body by leaning against a battlement, he would have fallen to the ground. The retreat of the enemies meant that he could finally get some rest.
Granello breathed heavily, and he felt like pepper powder was tossed into his lungs. The soldiers around him felt the same.
Hundreds of groups of soldiers were moved onto the defense wall in the last 20 days.
With a rough estimate, more than 100,000 Zenitian soldiers had died on the defense wall.
Right now, a blazing fire was burning in the Military Burial Field day and night. All soldiers below the rank of Battalion Commander couldn’t be properly buried. Their corpses would be burned in the fire with everyone else, and their families could only come and pick up their ashes.
After taking in a few mouthfuls of air that was filled with the smell of blood, Granello finally felt like some of his strength had recovered.
Just as he was about to switch the soldiers on the defense wall, loud noises sounded in the direction of the western gate. Then, he saw about 1,000 Star-Level Warriors of Zenit jumping off the defense wall with the aid of ropes, chasing after the Barcelonans who were backing away.
“Again! This damn idiot! During the battle, he hides inside the watchtower. Now that the battle is over, he is forcing the soldiers who haven’t gotten a chance to breathe to chase after the enemies? Are other people’s lives not worthy in his eyes? How dare he force the elite soldiers to do such things? He is committing a crime! He is killing our warriors! How many times had he done this? How many times? Do the lives of our soldiers worth less than the damn military merits?” Granello was enraged.
Chapter 1059: Chaotic Continent and Changes on the Battlefield (Part Four)
Such things had happened more than ten times.
To encourage the soldiers to fight against the enemies, the Royal Family and the Imperial Military Headquarters issued a new order. Anyone who decapitated an enemy would receive some military merits, and they would be rewarded after each battle.
This order came from a good place.
However, someone shameless came up with an idea and suggested the dumb Fourth Prince to select a few elite soldiers on the Star-Level and force them to go out of the city and decapitate the enemy soldiers who already died. This was one way of accumulating military merits.
In the beginning, the Fourth Prince got many benefits from it.
Since the Fourth Prince had more military merits compared to the other three gates, and he was a prince, the officials in the Imperial Military Headquarters didn’t get strict with him and instead gave him quite a few rewards.
Without a doubt, this pushed the Fourth Prince to do more of this shameless act, forcing the elite soldiers to do more risky things.
However, such actions enraged Barcelonans.
During one retreat, Barcelonans set up a trap and sent out many masters, killing half of 1,000 elite soldiers who came out of St. Petersburg. If it weren’t for Golden Lion Lampard who showed up and saved them, the rest of the elite soldiers would have been killed as well.
In such cruel battles, the life of a well-trained ordinary soldier was precious. However, due to this idiotic prince’s selfishness, 500 elite soldiers of Star-Level were killed. These 500 people were all mid-tier officers in a main battle legion! Losing one of them in such a fashion would be a big loss.
Although the soldiers and officials were angry, what could they do to this prince who seemed to be trusted by Emperor Yassin?
What enraged people more was that after the big loss, the Fourth Prince didn’t stop his idiotic behavior. He organized more Star-Level Warriors to do similar things. For his own gains, he forced the elite soldiers to do the dangerous deed. It was truly detestable.
It was heard that to force the elite soldiers to go down the defense wall and decapitate the corpses, the Fourth Prince killed a few officials who dared to go against his order, and he used these warriors’ loved ones as threats. He was truly despicable.
“No! I need to meet the Second Prince! I need to go into the Royal Palace and meet Emperor Yassin! I can’t let this idiot continue to kill the warriors of Zenit!”
Granello couldn’t hold it back anymore, and he roared.
At this moment, sudden changes occurred outside the defense wall.
The 200 elite soldiers of Zenit who were chasing after the retreating Barcelonans were suddenly attacked. About 40 mages suddenly emerged from the crowd, and they chanted and released terrifying offensive magic spells. Flames and thick smoke engulfed the battlefield, and roars and whines sounded from the smoke. Blood spilled in all directions, and broken limbs flew into the air.
“Quick! Send people to reinforce them!” Granello roared while his heart bled. The meaningless death of every Star-Level Warrior of Zenit infuriated him.
“Sir, there is no need! Look! We won!” Just as Granello was about to leap down the defense wall and reinforce his peers, his deputy commander suddenly grabbed him and pointed at the battlefield.
Granello looked up and saw that the dust had settled. More than half of the 40 Barcelonan mages died, and the rest escaped. About 50 elite soldiers of Zenit died, but they won this small skirmish. Right now, they were leaving the battlefield and retreating.
In a flash, about 150 people got below the defense wall and quickly climbed up using the ropes.
Granello heaved a sigh of relief. At the same time, an ominous feeling hit him. He felt like he missed something.
In the next moment, four powerful figures flew into the sky from the campsites of Barcelona, and they dashed toward St. Petersburg with powerful auras. At the same time, the retreating troops of Barcelona suddenly turned around and shouted while charging back.
“Damn it! We fell for their trap!” Granello finally understood the situation, and his expression changed.