Bloody massacre
Campbell was very confident in the decisive battle in Gordon Heights that he had planned. Even if they couldn't win against the Faustian army, which had more people and stronger combat power, at least they wouldn't lose. Campbell would drag the Faustian army into the endless quagmire of war.
Faustian was strong, but Shalor's economy was more developed, and their food production was also more abundant. Not to mention, they had far more magic power than the surrounding countries. In the later stages of the war, it wasn't about whose forces were more powerful, but whose logistics were more powerful.
If it weren't for the bloody battle in Gordon Heights, which directly lost more than half of Shalor's military strength, the Shalorian army wouldn't have been routed, and Bideslane wouldn't have been lost.
The defense of the Felmo Grand Canyon was just a product of Campbell's haste, but it had already delayed the progress of the Faustian army for nearly a month. If Campbell had come again, Shalor's territory wouldn't have fallen so quickly, and Shalor wouldn't have faced the danger of being destroyed.
But these were all just ifs in the world. Campbell was a human, not a god. He couldn't predict so many changes. The current situation was that Shalor was on the verge of extinction.
All he could do was donate everything he had to his country. Campbell, who was surrounded by tens of thousands of Faustian troops from Gale, was ready to die for his country.
But before he died, he would leave a deep impression on the Faustian invaders. He would let the Faustians remember his real name, Campbell Jones, and let them remember the price they had to pay for invading Shalor!
The two armies confronted each other. One side was ready to go, relying on the high walls to defend, while the other side was disciplined. The tens of thousands of troops were like a torrent of steel, crushing over to crush Eilis City.
"Gale ~ Gale ~" A slow song sounded. The lyrics were simple, and there was only the word "gale" throughout. It was a war song created by Woode himself.
Each of the four Faustian margraves had their own characteristics. For example, Marmen had a violent personality, De De Sandro was good at scheming and operations, Shia was loyal to the royal family, and Woode was straightforward and honest.
Woode's personality made him intolerable in Faustian's officialdom, but it allowed him to blend in with the soldiers like a fish in water. Among the four major corps of Faustian, Gale didn't have the highest combat power, nor did they have the best equipment, but they were the most cohesive corps.
Almost all the soldiers in Gale loved their commander, and Marquess Woode had dedicated his life to Gale.
Woode's family was one of the top families in Faustian, but in terms of wealth, it might not even be comparable to a count's family. The reason for this was that Woode had donated every extra thaler he had to the construction of Gale.
When Woode first took over Gale 20 years ago, it was ranked at the bottom of Faustian's four major corps. It was a corps composed entirely of rogues, beggars, thieves, and robbers. Almost all the dregs of Faustian's army were thrown here to fend for themselves.
It was Marquis Wood who, with his pair of iron fists, had beaten the people of the Gale Legion into submission. Men would only submit to those who were stronger than them. Woode had almost single-handedly conquered Gale.
In the years that followed, Marquis Woode took root in the Gale Legion. Whether it was food or lodging, he was always in the barracks, spending every day with the young men of the Gale Legion. For a whole 20 years, nothing changed.
Woode had also changed from a young man who had just inherited the family's title to a middle-aged man. The straightforward Marquis Woode had a terrible memory. It was said that when he was in the aristocratic school, he did not even pass the cultural class, but now he could remember almost one-third of the names of the Gale Legion.
Woode's prestige and ability to carry out tasks in Gale was probably even higher than that of the Faustian king.
Five years ago, when Gale was about to go to war with the Shalorian army, the illiterate Woode had created a battle song for Gale. It was called "Gale, Gale".
What made the Faustian nobles laugh at was that the lyrics of the battle song only had two words, "Gale ~ Gale ~". However, the cadence of the battle song described Woode's dedication to Gale. It contained the history of Gale's growth over the past 20 years.
Gale was currently ranked second among Faustian's four major corps.
Listening to the familiar tune, listening to the orderly pace of the armoured soldiers, listening to the neighing of the warhorses, and listening to the beating of the war drums, Woode felt like he had returned to his youth. He was so high-spirited and arrogant. He was determined to obliterate all who stood in his way.
"Gale ~ Gale ~" Marquis Wood could not help but join the soldiers of Gale Legion in singing this battle song that they had sung countless times on the battlefield.
They drew their swords and mounted their horses. Woode took the lead and rushed to the front of the entire corps.
He was the only corps commander who rushed to the front, and he was also the guiding star of all the soldiers of Gale.
Behind Marquis Wood, tens of thousands of soldiers roared to the heavens as they charged toward Ellis City.
Looking at the man who rushed to the front, Campbell, who was on the city wall, also admired this enemy commander from the bottom of his heart. It was a pity that they were enemies. Otherwise, Campbell would have liked to make a friend like Woode.
"My dear Shalorian motherland, this is the last thing I, Campbell Jones, can do for you..." Campbell murmured softly on the wall. After letting out his last sigh, he waved his hands and countless rolling stones, long hairs, twigs and kerosene appeared on the wall. This was the result of the cooperation between the Shalorian army and civilians over the past half a month after he gathered all the resources in Shalor's northern territory.
In addition, a row of people in various coloured robes also appeared at the top of the city wall. They were all the casters in the north of Shalor. Shalor's title of having the strongest magic power among the surrounding countries was not given out casually. There were a total of 15 casters standing there now. In Faustian, there would not be more than seven casters in a corps.
Of course, most of them were casters who wandered in the wilderness. Casters had a weak sense of patriotism because they were popular wherever they went and would not be given the cold shoulder. However, at the critical moment of Shalor's destruction, most casters still chose to stand up and contribute to their motherland.
Among this row of casters, the strongest one was a red-robed old man who gave off the most pressure. He was even a peak-level Lehrling. This was also one of Campbell's trump cards.
Gale's fierce siege lasted for a full four days. During this period, they had taken down one of the gates of Eilis, but it was quickly recaptured by the Shalorians.
It had been almost a week since Shalor's royal capital had announced Angelina's death. The prince's orders came one after another, and Woode could no longer bear the pressure from the royal capital and Kenzir, the commander-in-chief of the entire frontline. In the early morning of the fifth day, Woode personally led a suicide squad to launch a desperate attack on the city.
In the afternoon of the sixth day, Eilis was breached and Woode disappeared.
In the early morning of the seventh day, the resistance in Eilis continued. Many Shalorian soldiers hid in the city and fought with the Faustian soldiers in the streets. Coupled with sporadic magic attacks, the two sides fell into a stalemate again.
Until Woode's body was found in the corner of the northwest gate of Eilis.
Along with Woode's body was Shalorian Margrave Campbell, who had a huge penetrating wound on his abdomen. Campbell seemed to have been dead for a long time. Apart from that, there was also the corpse of a red-robed elder facing Marquis Woode. Marquis Woode's posture before he died was in the form of a throwaway object. Correspondingly, the red-robed elder's chest was pierced with Marquis Woode's sword.
When Woode dared to attack the city, he chose the most dangerous north gate. Not only was Campbell personally guarding the place, but there was also an impressive amount of magic there. Everyone in the Gale Legion couldn't believe that the man they worshipped like a god would die here.
Woode was still standing until his death. Tragic burns and sword wounds could still be seen on his body. This legendary margrave of Faustian didn't fall even when he died!
Following Woode's death, the soldiers of Gale either spontaneously or with the tacit consent of their officers, launched a massacre in Eilis.
When the city gate was breached, Eilis was already completely open to the Faustian army. However, due to military discipline and Woode's order not to disturb the people, the group of Shalorian soldiers who fled like rats finally ran into the city and started a street battle with them. In addition, the Shalorian citizens in the city were biased towards the Shalorian soldiers and protected them, causing the Faustian army to suffer a lot of losses.
Woode's death was a huge blow to Gale. Everyone in Gale, from the ordinary soldiers at the bottom to the division jarls at the top, had gone into a killing frenzy. They didn't spare the people, didn't attack ordinary citizens, didn't care about the elderly, women, and children. In front of the bloodthirsty Faustian army, they all deserved to die!
The bloody massacre in Eilis, the capital city of the northern province of Shalor, was carried out tragically.
The Shalorian soldiers who had been hiding in the houses and fighting with the Faustian army in the streets were found one by one. Even with the help of magic, the hidden casters couldn't stop the Faustian soldiers from searching every inch of the area. One by one, the mysterious casters were burned to death on the stake by this group of bloodthirsty soldiers.
Kill! Kill! Kill! Everyone in the Gale Legion was like a demon, slaughtering every living thing in front of them. It wasn't just Marquis Woode's death that stimulated them. The many years of war and the pressure of death had made this group of soldiers fearless after they let go of the shackles of humanity.
Woode had been suppressing them before, but now, nothing could stop this group of bloodthirsty soldiers except for a large amount of blood to calm them down.
When the news of the massacre in Eilis spread, Shalor, Faustian, and the surrounding countries were all shocked. Even the suzerain of these countries, the Aomar Empire, heard about this massacre, which was rare in the past hundred years.
A few days later, when Kenzir sent troops and commanders to mediate, there were no living creatures in Eilis except for the Faustian soldiers. There were mountains of corpses and seas of blood everywhere.
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This is the second chapter for today. To my readers who urged me to update and tipped me, I'm very grateful for your support. Without your support, I might not have lasted until now.
There would definitely be more chapters. I would write whenever I had time. I spent a lot of effort on this novel, not only for the sake of my readers, but also to give myself an explanation.
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