Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters
Chapter 1241 - 40 Great Alliance Moves Forward (Conclusion)_4

Chapter 1241: Chapter 40 Great Alliance Moves Forward (Conclusion)_4

When the artillery unit from Iron Peak County finally arrived at the battlefield, the remaining troops of the council were despairingly trying to break through.

The last two organized battalions of the council army, along with other routed soldiers who fled into River Valley Village, formed a large square of over a thousand men, slowly moving along the provincial highway toward the camp.

The artillery from Iron Peak County set up their cannons on the mound and continuously bombarded them.

Before they walked a kilometer, the large square of a thousand men dissolved under the cannon fire, with soldiers joining in a panicked flight.

In this decisive battle, the last organized unit of the Grand Council army vanished.

Jacob Green, who witnessed this scene, recorded the following in his notes:

"4 PM, Colonel Bod Gates lost the battle;"

"6 PM, Civil Guard Officer Winters Montagne won the battle."

...

...

When Winters returned to River Valley Village, the sky had completely darkened.

From the main gate to the central army tent, a series of torches was lit in the allied forces’ camp.

As Winters rode into the camp, the soldiers of the allied forces on either side of the road subconsciously lowered their heads. Only after Winters passed did they dare to lift their eyes, looking with reverence at the back of the "Blood of the Wolf."

Mason had been waiting outside the central army tent, and upon seeing the exhausted and pale Winters, his eyes instantly turned red.

"It’s all my fault. I was the first to set out..." Mason’s voice was so hoarse he could barely speak, and he held back tears, speaking with pain and self-blame: "If I had arrived in time, it wouldn’t have been like this..."

Winters did not comfort Mason, nor did he blame Meser. He merely grasped his senior’s hand, looked into his eyes, and gently shook his head.

Major Moritz, who was also waiting outside the tent, supported Mason and silently patted his arm.

"Is Colonel Bod inside?" Winters asked.

"Inside." Moritz paused: "He’s waiting for you."

Winters removed his weapons and walked to the entrance of the tent, quietly lifting the flap.

The dim candlelight fell on Winters, and the eyes of everyone in the tent turned to him.

Colonel Gaisa, Colonel Skool, Captain Luosong, Lieutenant Woods... almost all the surviving officers of the Four Counties Allied Forces were present.

They looked at Winters Montagne with complicated expressions, at this junior from the Military Academy, at this ghost of the Styx, at this leader of the Iron Peak County rebels, at this man who turned the tide today.

The officers slowly stepped back, making a path for Winters.

In the center of the tent, Colonel Bod Gates half-lay on a camp bed, looking at Winters with a slight smile.

Winters suppressed his emotions and quickly walked to Colonel Bod’s side.

With his chest covered by a blood-soaked coat, Colonel Bod could no longer speak; he merely looked at Winters and nodded gently.

Holding the colonel’s only remaining right hand, Winters couldn’t hold back anymore, and tears welled up in his eyes.

Colonel Bod smiled once again, slowly shaking his head.

With his eyes closed, a single tear fell from the corner of the colonel’s eye.

He reopened his eyes, looked at Winters, his chest heaving as his bloodless chapped lips barely opened, and a weak voice eerily emerged through his teeth:

"Sun... and stars... will sound... together..."

Kneeling on one knee by the camp bed, Winters held the colonel’s emaciated hand and wiped away his tears:

"The earth rises with a majestic song."

Skur Meklen gazed at Colonel Bod and Winters Montagne:

"The hope of humanity sings aloud."

"Offering an anthem for the birth of a new world."

With half of his face covered in terrifying scars trembling uncontrollably, Gaisa Adonis couldn’t bear to stay any longer and turned around to walk out of the tent. As he opened the tent flap, the officers’ deep singing drifted outside:

"The Great Alliance advances."

"The battle flag flies high."

Crushed by guilt, Richard Mason choked with sobs:

"Fighting side by side for victory."

"A new world of freedom."

...

[West bank of the unnamed creek]

A young man in a council army officer’s uniform awoke from unconsciousness, sitting dazed among the corpses.

A group of farmers walked past him as if he didn’t exist.

Each farmer held a long wooden stick, knocking and poking at the bodies as they walked by, bending down to pick up any found metal and placing it in their baskets—the allied forces were short of hands, so farmers from River Valley Village and nearby villages were hired on a piecework basis to clean up the battlefield.

The council army officer stared blankly as the farmers rummaged through the bodies of his subordinates and his enemies alike, stepping over the dead with no respect, flipping them over with their feet, and stealing their belongings.

A similarly young allied forces officer overseeing the farmers dismounted, took out a water bottle, and silently handed it to the council army officer.

The council officer stared at the water bottle in his hand, suddenly bursting into tears.

...

"All who are oppressed, unite."

"Rise against the evil Empire that enslaves you."

...

[East bank of the unnamed creek]

Monkey hugged a corpse in armor, sobbing uncontrollably. A bullet hole was clearly evident in the center of the breastplate.

Veteran soldier Lu Xirong stood beside Monkey, placing a hand on his shoulder without saying a word.

...

"The people’s roar will be like rolling thunder."

"As relentless as the tides and time."

...

[Medical station at the corner of the camp]

Screams and curses rose and fell, with severed arms and legs piled haphazardly outside the tent like a small mountain.

An officer with both legs amputated below the knee crawled on the ground, clawing at the dirt and laughing maniacally.

...

"The Great Alliance advances."

"The battle flag flies high."

...

[Field below the mound where the artillery position is located]

A warhorse with its front leg blasted off lay on the ground, with blood pooling into a small pond beneath it.

Tears streamed from its eyes as it slowly chewed on the straw at its mouth.

...

"Fighting side by side for victory."

"A new world of freedom."

...

[East bank of the unnamed creek]

The pyres for burning the bodies blazed fiercely. The peculiar smell of tar accompanied the thick smoke drifting afar.

People covered their mouths and noses with kerchiefs, expressionlessly throwing more corpses into the flames.

...

"Just as dawn will surely greet the sun."

"As rivers will inevitably meet the sea."

...

[Downstream of the unnamed creek]

Naked swollen bodies stranded on the sandbanks downstream.

Villagers along the shore stripped the clothing from the corpses.

...

"The new day for the people of Senas has arrived."

"Our children will live proudly and freely."

...

[Snake Swamp]

Andre threw the council army’s flag outside the walls.

Snake Swamp opened its gates in surrender.

...

"The Great Alliance advances!"

"The flag billows in the wind!"

...

[Yunque Mountain]

The hoofbeats haunted persistently behind.

The brown-clad soldiers desperately fled into the forest, escaping toward Green Valley.

...

"Fighting side by side for victory!"

"A new world of freedom!"

...

[Central army tent in the allied forces’ camp]

Colonel Bod’s eyes shone with light, and with his last ounce of strength, he held Winters’ hand tightly, smiling contentedly:

"Just as dawn will surely greet the sun."

"As rivers will inevitably meet the sea."

"The new day for the people of Senas has arrived."

"Our children will live free and proud."

Winters likewise held Colonel Bod’s hand firmly, singing resolutely:

"The Great Alliance advances!"

"The flag of justice flies in the wind!!"

"Fighting side by side for victory!!!"

"A new world of freedom!!!!"

As the final verse ended, Bod Gates passed away outside River Valley Village at forty-six years of age.

This battle, which determined the fate of the Newly Reclaimed Land, thus concluded.