Chapter 179

Announcement:

Starting from this chapter, YANYU NATION will be referred to as EDELWEISS KINGDOM. YOUDAN, including Youdan County or Youdan Kingdom, will now appear as BELLADONNA or BELLADONNA KINGDOM. We apologize for any confusion caused and appreciate your understanding as we update the names for consistency.

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A few days later

At the border between Edelweiss and Belladonna

Under the guidance of Snake, Cat, and Bird, two squads accurately avoided all the surveillance scouts set up along the border by the Edelweiss Emperor and quietly slipped into Edelweiss territory. They moved quickly toward the southwest region, targeting the largest rear military camp and grain depot.

That night, just as darkness fully enveloped the mountain, a sudden burst of bright red light flared up along with intense heat. The flames exploded from the area where weapons and equipment were stored.

The Edelweiss soldiers had just finished training. They were taking off their armor and getting ready to eat and sleep. Stunned for a second, they suddenly heard panicked screams erupt around them.

"Fire! Fire!!"

"Put it out! Put it out!!"

The previously well-organized camp was instantly thrown into chaos.

But the fire wasn't the end of it. As soldiers rushed around grabbing buckets and water to extinguish the flames, chaos erupted at the horse stables too.

Over a dozen frightened warhorses had long black chains tied to them. The chains dragged on the ground, each more than two meters long. At the end of each chain, a large bundle of firewood soaked in oil was burning fiercely. As the panicked horses ran wild, they dragged the burning bundles through the camp, spreading the fire rapidly.

Generals rushed out from the command tents. The moment they saw this scene, they instantly realized the camp had been invaded.

"Quick! Defend the camp! Enemy attack! Enemy attack!!"

"Stop the horses! If you can't, shoot them! Don't let them keep dragging the fire around! Hurry! Put out the flames!!"

Still not fully dressed in armor, the generals grabbed weapons and ran out, shouting across the chaotic camp.

Their faces were drenched in sweat, though no one could tell whether it was from the fire or the sheer shock of what was happening.

It wasn't that they were completely careless. Edelweiss was one of the strongest nations among the dozens of nearby third-tier countries. Aside from a few other major nations of the same rank, Edelweiss was used to attacking others, invading others, watching others kneel and beg for mercy.

When had anyone ever dared to launch a surprise attack on them?

Even though they knew that Belladonna, their vassal state, had recently fallen to Plumera, the Edelweiss Emperor's letter hadn't taken Plumera seriously at all. He said everything had already been arranged. All they had to do was wait for news. Once Marigold was broken, they would launch a full invasion.

At that point, not only would they reclaim Belladonna, they would also crush the entire Marigold region under their feet.

The generals of Edelweiss were used to domination and victory. They only showed caution when facing Mr. Yu. The rest of the time, they barely took any enemy seriously. They had won so many battles, it gave them the illusion that they were unbeatable. Especially when facing the tiny nations in the southwest, ones that didn't even count as mid-tier. They saw them no differently than ants underfoot.

But now, right here on the border of one of the weakest third-tier countries, they had been completely caught off guard. Someone had snuck all the way into their camp.

Generals poured out of their tents, all staring in shock and disbelief at what they saw.

Even if they'd been careless, they had surveillance agents all around the camp sent by the emperor himself.

With those scouts in place, nothing should have escaped their notice.

That was knowledge earned from decades of battlefield experience.

It was also one of the reasons they believed they could never be ambushed.

But now, not only had someone broken into their camp, those scouts hadn't sent a single warning.

The Edelweiss generals shouted wildly to regain order, but deep down they were growing more and more tense.

Who had come?

Who had this kind of ability?

Before they could even think straight, arrows suddenly rained down like a storm from all directions.

Screams filled the air one after another.

The generals quickly ordered the soldiers to grab their armor and shields.

But once the soldiers managed to throw on their gear amid the chaos, they discovered something even more terrifying.

Their armor didn't block the arrows.

The sharp tips pierced through it like it was made of paper, plunging straight into their bodies.

"How is this possible?! Shields up! Raise your shields!!"

"Archers! Return fire! Fire back!!"

The military housing had already been set ablaze during the fire and the rampage of the burning horses. There was nowhere left to hide. Soldiers could only gather together, holding shields up in front of them, trying to form turtle-shell-like formations with shield-bearers surrounding the archers in the center.

The archers pulled their bows tight and shot through the gaps between the shields, aiming toward the direction the arrows were coming from.

But as time passed, another terrifying reality slowly revealed itself.

The Edelweiss soldiers suddenly realized that the wooden shields they carried, after being hit several times by those sharp arrows, actually cracked and broke!

Though wooden shields were not as durable as bronze ones, they were enough to defend against common stone and wooden arrows of the time. The Edelweiss soldiers had never seen arrows that could pierce wooden shields so quickly before.

Once the wooden shields cracked and broke, the small fortress they barely held together collapsed immediately.

The archers who had been shooting for a long time started to lose hope because their arrows were almost gone, but they still hadn't hit a single enemy.

They couldn't explain the feeling. The darkness made it hard to see the enemy's exact location.

Even though they had shot so many arrows, based on their experience, they were sure some must have hit.

Yet, they hadn't heard a single scream from the enemy side.

The sharp arrows hit the bodies of the Puppet Soldiers, but the only sounds were on their side.

It was as if their arrows, though hitting, could not cause any harm to the enemy.

In this terrifying and suffocating chaos, after most of the camp's wooden shields were broken, the little order that had returned was shattered again. Only a few soldiers had bronze weapons. Most held broken or about-to-break wooden shields.

Screams filled the air again, and crying didn't stop.

The flames around seemed to grow bigger.

But they still couldn't see where the attackers were.

"Retreat! Prepare to withdraw!"

In this situation, the Edelweiss generals couldn't care about much else. They held up heavy bronze shields to block the incoming arrows from all directions and shouted for the soldiers to cover the retreat.

The camp was badly attacked. They had to leave.

The Edelweiss generals guessed the enemy forcing them back like this must be strong. The attackers might number over ten thousand and wanted to strike the camp at night to wipe them out.

The generals, panicked and fleeing, did not realize the force pushing them back was only a small team of three thousand.

Having not seen such a surprise attack in a long time, the generals only wanted to retreat now. They planned to find a safe place by dawn and send a message back to the Edelweiss capital. They needed to check which third-rate country attacked them and why the Puppet Soldiers lost their power.

After deciding this, the generals shouted again for the soldiers to retreat quickly. The bronze shields weighing nearly a hundred pounds made their muscles strain to hold, but they dared not lower them.

Only the bronze shields could block the strange arrows still flying nonstop from above.

Meanwhile,

About a hundred miles from the camp, at the secret Edelweiss rear supply warehouse,

Fully armed Hector led two thousand elite soldiers. With help from the Puppet Soldiers sent by Elara and medicine from Oswyn, they silently sneaked into the warehouse area.

The warehouse guards were very strict.

Hector and his team had already silently killed many Puppet Soldiers with medicine and daggers. They had also used Oswyn's method to completely break the Puppet Soldiers' communication so others wouldn't notice.

Once inside the food storage, they quietly eliminated the guards at each point without a sound.