novelraw Chapter 506 : Line Infantry
Chapter 506 : Line Infantry
Chapter 506: Line Infantry
Gwen gripped the sword hilt, her expression darkening as she looked toward the army opposite them.
She had known they would inevitably run into trouble along the way, but she had not expected trouble to come this quickly.
The Resistance Army had left Sleddinburg in the afternoon. It was not even dark yet, and they had already encountered the enemy.
Logically, they should not have met anyone at this time—night operations were almost impossible in this era.
Not to mention the problem of illumination, the proportion of night-blind soldiers in the Northlands was extremely high. At night, they were practically blind with their eyes open.
And with the military competence of this era, even locating where the enemy stood was already a problem. Fighting? Impossible.
Yet the Resistance Army truly encountered an enemy force at dusk.
“Something’s not right.” Isaac came close. “Look at those people. They haven’t even fully put on their gear, and their mental state seems off.”
Gwen narrowed her eyes and looked more carefully. Indeed—their equipment was unbelievably poor, nowhere near that of regular troops. They looked more like… guards from small towns.
And they truly appeared somewhat absent-minded, but that was not the main issue.
What really convinced Gwen that something was wrong with their minds was this—
They had fewer than two hundred people, yet they were standing directly and openly blocking the path of the Resistance Army.
The Resistance Army had several thousand members.
“What do you think is happening?”
“The work of Investigators.” Isaac answered without hesitation.
“Investigators were highly versatile Transcendent professions. These ordinary people were likely bewitched by them and sent here to block our path.”
“Then we—”
“Leave it to me.” Isaac sneered. “I am also an Investigator.”
Isaac walked forward alone. After speaking with them for a moment, the soldiers suddenly shouted and charged forward—but they rushed in another direction entirely, as if an enemy existed over there.
Ignoring the soldiers who were running farther and farther away, Isaac returned alone.
“The situation is bad. They’re militia from the nearby towns—not just one town. People from five towns came over. That’s how this number came together.”
“In other words, there are quite a few Investigators in the nearby towns. They’ve truly set their eyes on us.”
Gwen cut in, asking, “Why don’t they just come directly and cause trouble for us?”
“No idea. Although we’re within an army, with their numbers, dealing with the two of us wouldn’t be difficult. But they keep probing instead, as if afraid of something.”
“Indeed, it’s too strange.” Gwen rubbed her chin. “What exactly are they afraid of?”
This probe was only an appetizer. The Resistance Army did not force a night march that evening—moving through wilderness in the dark without illumination was too risky. Plenty of people would definitely get lost.
Not to mention wild beasts. Coyote packs of the Northlands were dangerous. When starving, they would not hesitate to risk their lives attacking humans.
They were not attacked during the night, but Gwen vaguely heard many distant sounds.
When they prepared to depart the next morning, Gwen was shocked to see Granny’s face looking extremely pale.
“We fought with the enemy Transcendents last night. Granny was injured, but two of them died.”
Isaac explained.
“You—you’re hurt? Let me bandage you!” Gwen hurriedly tried to find bandages, but Granny waved her hand.
“Nothing serious. Just had both legs chopped off.”
Gwen looked down in shock—yet Granny was walking on the ground perfectly fine.
“This is the ability of the Chrysalis Path. Granny does not possess organs in the usual sense. Simply put, she has no weak points. Any injury can be recovered from—though not without cost.”
Granny coughed weakly a few times, yet her spirit seemed fine. She laughed and said, “Don’t look so startled. Even after having my legs cut, I still fired a Dragon’s Breath Cannon with just my upper body. Caught them off guard and killed two. Haha! Both kills are mine!”
Isaac nodded helplessly. “There were too many of them. My earlier estimate might’ve been too conservative. This trouble may be quite large.”
“If you stayed inside the Resistance Army all the time, wouldn’t it be safer?” Gwen inserted.
“For the two of us, yes, but—”
“But then we wouldn’t be able to retrieve the weapons.”
Granny sighed. “We came from the train side and had to hide and disguise ourselves the whole way. We carried enough weapons to defend ourselves, but we couldn’t bring extras. Isaac brought one machine gun; the rest are all Dragon’s Breath Cannons—and only Transcendents can use those.”
“But we have a lot of muskets?”
“The muskets you use and Castel’s Gatlings are not the same thing at all. Isaac should know this very deeply after the past half year.”
Isaac nodded. “One Gatling Gun’s fire density equals that of dozens of musketeers. If we had twenty machine guns, we wouldn’t have needed to retreat. We could’ve held Sleddinburg directly. They wouldn’t have been able to break through.”
“So powerful?” Gwen widened her eyes in surprise.
“More powerful than you imagine. The Allied Forces that besieged you earlier were wiped out by this kind of weapon. If the Resistance Army had one for every person, the entire Northlands wouldn’t be able to do anything about you.”
“Too bad. Originally, our mission was to transport weapons. But the Church’s blockade was too tight. Getting a large number of weapons across the line was impossible. We had no choice but to come ourselves. Honestly, a single Transcendent is not even worth a machine gun.”
Gwen felt slightly fascinated. From their tone, such machine guns were not even especially precious—not compared to a Transcendent.
What kind of existence was Castel, to possess such miraculous weapons…
Gwen was truly curious.
“Boss Gwen! There’s an enemy ahead! Lots and lots of enemies!”
A shout came from afar. Gwen quickly looked up.
A mounted scout was racing from the front of the formation, while Isaac’s expression had already frozen.
Moments later, he said directly, “Prepare for battle. They look like regular troops, but they’re not flying any banners. Not sure which Grand Duke they belong to… doesn’t matter. We must break through!”
“How many?”
“More than five hundred. Their equipment looks decent. This will probably be a tough fight.”
The Resistance Army did have the numerical advantage, but this was not a straightforward clash. As long as the enemy delayed the Resistance Army long enough, the pursuers in the rear would catch up.
The enemy clearly knew this as well. Though few in number, their morale was decent.
Soon, both sides drew close, and Gwen could finally see the enemy force clearly.
These soldiers wore no armor, but each held a musket.
They were the Empire’s most common line infantry.