Chapter183

"Protect His Majesty! Protect His Majesty! Aaaah!"

The boulders from both mountain slopes kept crashing down, and the army that barely held its form had turned into scattered chaos.

Fortunately, since Lord Gregory dared to entrust this army of over a hundred thousand to the Yan family, he had naturally planted his own capable men within it.

Although the army suffered heavy losses in the sudden ambush, several orders quickly rang out across the battlefield.

The remaining soldiers snapped back to their senses amid the chaos. Following the orders, they raised their shields to block the falling rocks while small squads rushed to drag the squealing Hugo to safety.

"General! This mountain ravine is deep and long. If we keep going forward, there's no telling how long it'll take to get out! Let's retreat! Once we're out of the ravine, we won't be ambushed anymore!"

Several battle-hardened generals stepped up to take command. Amid the chaos and boulder assault, the disordered army barely regrouped, planning to withdraw from the ravine.

Just as they began to retreat, thunderous war drums suddenly echoed from the entrance of the ravine.

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

"Kill!!"

The roar of infantry marching and horses galloping surged from the mouth of the valley.

That kind of formation couldn't be faked by anything less than a hundred thousand troops.

The Yan-bannered troops, already shaken from the boulder ambush, were frightened by the sound. The narrow ravine kept them from seeing what was really outside, so they could only rely on the intensifying noise to judge the threat.

After a few moments of weighing their options, the leading generals turned their forces and chose to charge deeper into the ravine.

But as they led the army forward, they were met with more than just boulders.

Bundles of firewood soaked in oil were hurled down, turning the narrow path into a sea of flames.

With an army chasing from behind and ambushes on both sides, the Yan-bannered army took another devastating hit.

The generals now knew they had walked into the enemy's trap.

But it was already too late to realize this.

Their only option was to keep charging forward.

Fortunately, though the Hugo, Lin, and Zhu families were useless and foolish, their army of over a hundred thousand had been trained for years and still had some capability.

Under fire and attack from all sides, the remaining soldiers, led by several generals, forced a bloody path out of the inferno.

But when they finally escaped the ravine, what lay before them was a fork in the road.

The generals hesitated for a moment and were about to choose the left path when they suddenly heard that same thunderous sound of armor and weapons from deep within it.

Another ambush?

Did the enemy predict they would choose this path?

There was no time to think. The leading generals looked down the left road and saw a charging army shouting battle cries. Taking a deep breath, they turned again and led the troops down the right road.

They ran at full speed for nearly half an hour, only to find the right path ended in another narrow gorge between two mountains.

"General! They did this on purpose! They forced us into a dead end!"

The soldiers in the front screamed in alarm.

All the leading generals and soldiers saw the narrow path ahead and felt a wave of despair.

It was all a setup. From the moment they entered the first ravine, they had already fallen into the enemy's trap.

The generals frowned tightly, their hearts filled with dread.

It was like wolves ahead and tigers behind.

They had no desire to go through the nightmare of the ravine again.

"Stop! Turn around! Prepare to fight!"

The frontmost general clenched his teeth and ordered the troops to form up on the spot, ready to face the pursuing army head-on.

Although they had heard the fierce sounds from the enemy earlier and had glimpsed their charge, they hadn't yet seen their full force.

None of the generals wanted to go back into the ravine. They chose to stand their ground and test whether the enemy's strength matched their noise.

If it was all just bluster, they might have a chance to strike back.

The generals ordered the remaining soldiers to get into formation immediately.

But when the pursuing army emerged from the ravine carrying their banners, the characters fluttering on the flags made even the generals' faces go pale with despair.

"Xia" and "Qi."

It was the emblem of the Xia Kingdom's War God, the Q Family Army.

Led by "Xia," guarded by "Qi."

It was the undefeated and unstoppable Q Family Army of Xia Kingdom.

Q... General Qi.

Was General Qi himself lying in wait for them?

The sight of the Xia and Qi flags instantly crushed the short-lived morale of the Yan-bannered army.

Even the generals no longer held onto any hope. They immediately ordered the troops to rush back into the ravine.

But it was too late.

Only a small number of the Yan-bannered troops managed to break back into the ravine. The rest were caught and torn apart by the pursuing Q Family Army.

The one-sided battle had officially broken out.

Although the soldiers of General Qi's army didn't have unique martial arts like those in the martial world, they had undergone harsh training for years. With strict discipline, they could easily fight two enemies at once.

Facing the already scattered army under the Yan banner, it was like a pack of wolves charging into a flock of sheep. The battle quickly tilted toward victory.

What made the Yan soldiers even more desperate was that those who still tried to resist found that General Qi's army seemed to be in better condition than ever.

Their weapons were sharper than before, slicing through enemies like tofu. The armor they wore was made of some mysterious material that couldn't be cut or pierced.

General Qi's army was already stronger than theirs. Now, they also had gear that was far superior in every way.

To the soldiers wearing the "Plumera" and "Qi" insignias, winning this battle was almost too easy.

The deafening roars and cries of pain kept echoing through the mountain pass.

In just half an hour, all fighting outside the pass had ended.

Most of the Yan army who hadn't entered the pass were killed, and the rest were captured.

Those who had entered the pass fell into a nightmare of blades and flames. It was uncertain how many of them would survive.

This battle ended faster than anyone expected, wrapping up in just a few hours.

Once all the surviving Yan soldiers had been captured, General Qi led his men out to clean up the battlefield. Only then did the captured generals of the Yan army realize that General Qi's troops didn't even number over a hundred thousand.

A quick glance showed that they probably had fewer than fifty thousand.

But even so, he crushed their force of more than a hundred thousand with overwhelming speed and power.

The Yan generals were filled with despair.

They used to follow Lord Gregory, and had always worked to suppress this young general who was stronger, more loyal, and more capable than them.

Whenever they stood beside General Qi, they couldn't help but feel jealous. Despite his youth, he had more fame, power, and even a steadier heart than them. So they stuck close to Lord Gregory and mocked the Qi family behind their backs.

But now, rough stones couldn't hide real jade.

In the end, they still fell into General Qi's hands, becoming prisoners under his command.

On the other side.

Two ambushes personally led by General Qi's deputies also saw similar results.

There were some minor setbacks in the middle, but with the iron armor upgrades, the enemy couldn't break through their defenses, while they cut through the enemy like vegetables.

With this kind of advantage, any setbacks were quickly dealt with.

So those two ambushes also didn't take long to defeat the armies led by the Lin and Zhu families.

All three armies under the Qi family's command had achieved complete victory. And there were barely any casualties among their soldiers.

Such a win was truly uplifting.

Yet even after the battle, the Qi soldiers remained humble and disciplined, escorting all the prisoners back.

This was the attitude of a mature army, one shaped by many years of victory.

This kind of win was already normal for them.

Once the three armies regrouped and exchanged their battle reports, General Qi wrote a report to the princess. Then, with the prisoners in tow, they disappeared into the forest to await her reply.

Inside Belladonna.

Elara received the victory report and couldn't help smiling with joy.

Good! She was right to trust General Qi. The win was even cleaner and more beautiful than she expected.

She read through the report carefully several times, then raised her lips slightly. After a moment of thought, she took out a new sheet of paper to write her reply and arrange the next steps.

But just as she wrote the first two characters, a servant suddenly rushed in from outside.

Elara looked up. It was Oswyn's personal attendant.

Her brow furrowed. "What is it?"

"Y-your Highness…"

This attendant had always been afraid of her. At this moment, seeing her frown and clearly unwilling to be disturbed, he hesitated. But gritting his teeth, he walked up quickly and quietly handed her a small piece of paper.

"Y-your Highness, please look…"

On that small, crooked piece of paper was just one sentence:

[It's confirmed. Haochen has a Spirit-Devouring Hidden Gu inside him. He isn't the real Haochen. He even tried to use Gu magic on you.]