Chapter 72: Staying Alive Is What Matters
It was the first night after the three lords of the Fertile Plains officially launched their invasion of the White Mountain Territory.
Ion had already joined forces with Baron Ster.
Their combined troops barely totaled one hundred, if those with minor injuries were also counted.
"If I’m not mistaken, all areas north of White Mountain City have likely fallen by now."
Baron Ster sketched a rough map on the ground.
He first drew a circle to represent the White Mountain Territory.
Then, he placed a stone slightly above the center of the circle to indicate White Mountain City.
Next, at about one-third from the top of the circle, he drew a horizontal line representing the fallen zone.
Finally, he tapped a spot on the right side within that fallen zone to mark their current position.
"We failed to break out at the start. Now, the Western Wind Territory and the Spring Breeze Territory have likely already set up a blockade ahead, just waiting for us to walk into their trap," Baron Ster said slowly. "I don’t know whether Ken has managed to safely escape the fallen zone."
Ion had already reported his earlier arrangements to Baron Ster, so the latter knew that Ken should have received Ion’s message.
Of course, Ion had also admitted his misjudgment, he had not anticipated the resolve of the three lords of the Fertile Plains.
As a result, the observation post system he had set up completely failed, causing the White Mountain Territory to lose the initiative.
But Baron Ster did not blame Ion.
He understood clearly that, given the size of the White Mountain Territory, the surveillance system of the observation posts might suffice against ordinary people.
However, the moment their enemies decided to deploy Bloodline Knights, that defensive network would be rendered ineffective, because the White Mountain Territory simply didn’t have enough Bloodline Knights.
In fact, even Marquis Visen might not have been able to establish such a large-scale defense system.
That was because such a network was designed for national-scale warfare, and only entities with national-level resources could afford to deploy enough Bloodline Knights.
Apart from them, hardly any noble could bear the cost of maintaining such a defense system, perhaps the six Grand Dukes of the Tyrella Kingdom could manage it, but they had evidently chosen not to do so, likely due to other concerns.
"If it’s Knight Commander Ken, he should be able to escape the fallen zone," Ion said after carefully recalling the strength of Ken Andar.
"But I’m worried he might try to evacuate the people in his fief with him. If that’s the case, it’ll be hard for him to escape the fallen zone."
Besides the Bole Family, the only other family in the White Mountain Territory was the Andar Family.
Unlike the Bole Family, which had passed down through seven generations to Giggs, the Andar Family was a relatively new one: if Ken hadn’t successfully awakened his bloodline, there probably wouldn’t even be an ‘Andar Family’ ; it had only existed for three generations.
Ken’s grandfather had been the first Bloodline Knight to serve the Bole Family.
His father had also become a Household Knight of the Bole Family.
Ken himself had grown up with Baron Ster, which was why he was able to become the Knight Commander of the Bole Family.
As a result, Baron Ster had naturally granted the best village in the White Mountain Territory to Ken as his fief, and personally renamed it Andar Village, marking it as the origin of the Andar Family.
Thanks to Ken’s efforts and the influence of Baron Ster’s policies in the White Mountain Territory, Andar Village had always thrived.
Even the aging population problem was not severe: the village had 1,300 households and a population of over 3,000, with half being able-bodied adults.
Among them, over 40% had received relatively professional militia training, under extreme conditions, Andar Village could instantly muster a fighting unit of over 500 if weapons were distributed.
If Fisher Village was the natural source of troops for Lily, then Andar Village had always been the source of troops for the Bole Family, from the time of Baron Ster’s father, more than half of the private soldiers recruited in the White Mountain Territory had come directly from Andar Village.
But sometimes, such trust and respect weren’t necessarily good things.
If Ken Andar merely conscripted the militia and led them out, he would likely succeed in breaking through and could even take a loyal force to aid Lily in defending White Mountain City.
However, if he attempted to evacuate all the villagers from Andar Village, he could end up sacrificing himself as well.
After all, Andar Village was facing the Western Wind Territory, the strongest in both resources and power among the three lords of the Fertile Plains.
Baron Ster had clearly realized this as well, and thus fell into silence.
While Ion lacked a deep understanding of the Fertile Plains, Baron Ster was very familiar with the Western Wind Territory’s strength.
The strength of the Baron of the Western Wind Territory was not just baseless praise or flattery from outsiders, it was rooted in real substance.
The Fertile Plains were the cradle of the Antares Family, as evidenced by the fact that the County governed by the Antares was named the Fertile Territory.
However, the stronghold of the Antares Family was not located in the Fertile Territory.
Anyone with insight would immediately understand that the so-called three lords of the Fertile Plains were merely watch dogs raised by the Antares Family, in fact, under the arrangement of Marquis Visen, both the White Mountain Territory and the Forest Territory held the same status.
Among the three lords of the Fertile Plains, the Western Wind Territory, occupying vast fertile lands in the west, was the foremost.
The status of this family in the Fertile Territory was nearly equivalent to that of the Bayor Territory in the Red Eagle Territory, except that while the Senels Family of the Bayor Territory harbored ambitions, the Karco Family of the Western Wind Territory had already been thoroughly tamed by the Antares Family.
As for their foundational strength?
Although the Karco Family of the Western Wind Territory did not have any Fourth-Tier Bloodline Users, they had two Fourth-Tier Bloodline Users and three Third-Tier Bloodline Users.
Moreover, the Western Wind Territory had established a cavalry regiment of three hundred men, trained and formed entirely by the standard of Knight Attendants.
In the open terrain of the Fertile Plains, even Third-Tier Bloodline Users were reluctant to engage this cavalry head-on.
What Baron Ster was currently grateful for was that, due to the mountainous terrain of the White Mountain Territory, the most formidable Western Wind Cavalry Regiment could not enter the battlefield.
What they truly needed to be wary of was the wolf soldiers of the Spring Breeze Territory.
"Wolf soldiers?" Ion and Roda both voiced their doubts.
"The Spring Breeze Territory raises a group of wolfmen," Baron Ster said gravely.
"A fairly credible explanation is that they are the result of Bloodline Users of the Mountain Wolf bloodline who failed in their breakthrough and turned into monsters. For some reason, they retained a certain degree of rationality, but they couldn’t control their desires and ended up violating many women."
"The half-human, half-wolf freaks born from those women were the first wolfmen."
"After generations of domestication and bloodline optimization, the current wolfmen look no different from humans in appearance. But under the cover of night or in dark environments, they exhibit extraordinary combat capabilities. Not only are they fearless, they also have stronger physical attributes than average soldiers, ideal soldier material."
Upon hearing Baron Ster’s explanation, Ion immediately recalled a unit he had once encountered near the border.
"Children of the Mountains."
"Exactly," Baron Ster nodded. "The most famous, and at the same time most infamous, unit in the Southern Region of the Tyrella Kingdom, the Children of the Mountains."
The Children of the Mountains were renowned for their fearlessness and formidable combat prowess.
They were one of the elite main forces in the Southern Region border army, specialized in tackling tough enemies.
However, their reputation was infamous because the unit frequently lost control, turning on their own, and they especially enjoyed abducting women, regardless of whether the women were enemies or allies. If they fancied someone, they would take her back to their 'wolf den'.
As a result, unless absolutely necessary, the Southern Region’s border army rarely deployed this unit. It was, after all, a double-edged sword.
"But the wolf soldiers of the Spring Breeze Territory are quite different from the Children of the Mountains," Baron Ster continued.
"First of all, their number is small, I'd estimate around eighty. Also, they don’t have a Wolf King, so while they’re stronger than regular soldiers, their strength has limits. As long as we don’t encounter them at night, the threat should be manageable."
"But they have an extremely sharp sense of smell. Even from a kilometer away, we could be discovered," Ion frowned.
"That means we can’t use stealth tactics like we did against the Eastern Mountain Territory forces. We’d be forced into a direct confrontation. But if it’s a frontal battle, their side is bound to have Bloodline Users, maybe even the lord of the Spring Breeze Territory himself. That puts us at a disadvantage."
The lord of the Spring Breeze Territory was a Third-Tier Bloodline User, equal in strength to Baron Ster.
Ion didn’t believe only one lord came leading troops from the Spring Breeze Territory. Most likely, at least two or three Bloodline Users would accompany him.
Combined with the wolf soldiers who were clearly superior to regular soldiers, they wouldn’t even need to meet at night. Even if an encounter battle occurred during the day, they would still be outmatched.
Ion was especially aware of the Children of the Mountains’ specialty in raid operations.
Even if the Spring Breeze Territory’s wolf soldiers weren’t as powerful as the Children of the Mountains, and their raiding prowess had diminished, they were still far stronger than the soldiers they currently had.
"Exactly," Baron Ster affirmed Ion’s analysis.
"That’s why, if we want to break through the blockade, we’ll have only one chance. If we fail and get pinned down, we’ll be completely annihilated. They absolutely won’t allow us to retreat safely. ...So, Ion, do you have any ideas?"
"I do have one, not fully thought out," Ion said.
"Such as?" Baron Ster’s eyes lit up. He hadn’t expected Ion to actually have a plan.
"I don’t think we need to rush the breakout."
"Hm?" Baron Ster looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"The Baron of the Eastern Mountain Territory only has two people left now," Ion said slowly.
"One Third-Tier Bloodline User and one Second-Tier Bloodline User. ...Since we’re mortal enemies with the Eastern Mountain Territory already, I think we might as well kill the Baron now."
Ion had always felt that Baron Ster’s approach was too cautious.
Still thinking about breaking out and fleeing.
Since they were already in a life-or-death conflict with Count Shuvaric, why not take this chance to sever one of his fingers?
They couldn’t beat the Spring Breeze Territory or the Western Wind Territory, but could they really not handle a crippled Eastern Mountain Territory?
As long as they killed the Baron of the Eastern Mountain Territory and his eldest son, that territory would be finished, even without them lifting a finger, other lords of the Fertile Territory, or even the Household Knights of the Antares Family, would surely start eyeing it.
If they stopped trying to break out and instead continued to stir trouble from behind, the continued blockade of their southern retreat to White Mountain City by the Spring Breeze and Western Wind Territories would be meaningless.
And if their enemies decided to turn back and confront them instead of maintaining the blockade, the initiative would fall right back into their hands. Then, they could choose when and how to break out.
Ion didn’t understand noble pride, nor did he care about quitting while ahead.
He only knew that if the enemy wanted them dead, then he’d kill them first!
An eye for an eye, blood for blood, that was the survival path he’d learned as the former vice commander of the Iron Wolf Mercenary Group.
Elegance? Dignity? None of that mattered more than staying alive!