I will be crowned king

Under the bright silver moonlight, golden-red firelight rose from the ground; under the night cover, it was like a pillar of fire that shot straight into the sky, illuminating the entire earth instantly.

No, it’s not like...

Rather, it is a pillar of fire—literally!

A pillar of fire with a radius of at least four meters and a height of no less than 20 meters, which continues to burn and spiral upward!

It appeared "out of thin air" without any warning, and appeared there extremely conspicuously. There was no sign that it would be extinguished soon, and it was still burning fiercely.

Ludwig and Roman stared at the "scene" that suddenly appeared in front of them with widened eyes filled with astonishment, and were suddenly speechless.

Draco in the cell curled up into a ball as soon as the pillar of fire appeared, looking at the surroundings with a pair of eyes.

"General!" Roman, who was the first to regain his composure, turned his head and looked at Ludwig with a stern expression:

"In this location, I'm afraid over there at the military camp..."

"Go back now, assemble the guard company and grenadiers, and suppress the army!" Ludwig nodded and gave the decisive order:

"Each regiment immediately entered the preset positions, and the artillery was in place. If necessary, I would directly send orders to the regiment on my behalf; anyone who tried to disobey the order or fled..."

"Kill on the spot!"

Roman, who was shocked all over, beat his chest with his right hand and saluted the commander-in-chief: "Yes!"

Before he finished speaking, his figure had already left quickly with his footsteps.

Ludwig turned back suddenly, the barrel of the gun passed through the cell and poked Draco's forehead, pointed at the pillar of fire behind him and growled: "What is going on?!"

"I, I, I...I don't know, I really don't know!"

The novelist shook his head desperately, his pure eyes looked so innocent: "They don't believe me anymore, how can they tell me this?!"

"Then how do you know when they will start?!" Ludwig couldn't believe his lies.

"I don't know!" Draco was so frightened that he almost cried. He could see that Ludwig really wanted to shoot:

"My guess!"

"Guess?!"

"Guess!" Draco nodded quickly:

"I know some general information. If I inquire about their route of action and find out what has happened recently, it will not be difficult at all to guess when they will take action!"

"Isn't it difficult?" Ludwig's cheeks, which were dyed golden red, twisted slightly:

"Then guess again, what do they want to do with this thing?!"

"What do you want to do..."

The novelist with a sad face looked at the pillar of fire that illuminated most of the forest, and twitched his throat hard:

"I guess...maybe maybe...some kind of...sign?"

Logo?

Ludwig turned around suddenly and looked at the fire that showed no sign of extinguishing.

Judging from its location, it appeared directly behind the southern legion camp, which happened to be the only way for the legion to go to the cliff fortress, and it was also the only road that allowed a large-scale legion to pass.

Although it can be specially placed in this position to cut off the southern legion's retreat, it is nothing more than that. It cannot cause any harm to the legion at all. On the contrary, it can provide some more vision...

Wait, vision?

Ludwig's pupils gradually dilated, and his mouth opened uncontrollably, but he couldn't make any sound.

Almost at the same time, bursts of thunder came from the distant land - countless artillery shells dragged long tail flames, streaking across the dark night in pieces, rushing towards the direction where the pillar of fire stood.

That is the camp of the Southern Legion!

At that moment, Draco Vertes, who saw Ludwig still dazed, broke free from the rope that had been secretly untied a long time ago, and kicked open the cell door - yes, the door lock had also been broken long ago. Broken - rushed forward and directly threw the Commander-in-Chief down and pinned him beneath his body.

As they fell to the ground, a scream of tearing air passed over their heads, followed by a loud sound that penetrated the eardrums; the billowing heat wave tore the cell and the surrounding trees apart like paper. , golden-red fireworks slowly rose behind the two.

Countless fireworks are rising slowly in the night sky.

……………………

"Enemy fire incoming! Everyone - get down!!!!"

Accompanied by thunderous roars and successive screams, Roman's hoarse roar was almost completely drowned out. He could only lie in the trench in embarrassment, watching helplessly as the entire legion was engulfed by the firelight falling from the sky.

In his sight, the downpour of artillery shells streaked across the sky like meteors one after another, exploding patches of extremely dazzling golden red on the ground; the fire mixed with billowing black smoke swallowed him up at the fastest speed. Everything visible to the naked eye made the entire southern legion immersed in a sea of ​​fire.

Roman was stunned.

Since the beginning of the war, this is the first time he has seen the Ysel elves have such a scale of firepower - even their so-called "Guard Corps", the best of the best, most of the artillery positions are not powerful. There are no more than a dozen large infantry artillery and heavy artillery, and the frontal firepower cannot even suppress the "stronger" Southern Army.

But now... the Southern Army Corps that was attacked by surprise was unable to even raise its head, let alone counterattack with artillery fire - even if the number of artillery pieces on the opposite side was estimated by the most conservative figures, it would not be less than a hundred!

What a terrifying number this is. Where did the Ysel elves get so many artillery pieces? How did they avoid the eyes of the legion's scouts and launch a sneak attack at this time? !

Amidst the constant explosions and billowing black smoke, Roman was shouting hoarse to suppress and assemble his troops. You could even see the unconcealed fear on the faces of the grenadiers behind him - they were all the earliest veterans to follow Ludwig. A dozen days ago, they had faced off against an army of Yser elves that was dozens of times their size. At this moment, they were panicking and panicking.

Even they were already like this, so it was not difficult to imagine what the other soldiers who were shelled would be like.

Although the Southern Legion, which inherited the "tradition" of the Thunder Fort levy force, has more technical experience in building fortifications than in frontal combat, after all, this is just a temporary camp - it may be barely able to block small artillery or infantry, but it can resist Heavy artillery bombardment is wishful thinking.

Collapse at the first touch is the "most euphemistic" way to describe the current southern legion's position.

Large sections of communication trenches and foxhole trenches were ruthlessly torn apart and ravaged by solid shells and grenades, and many surface fortifications were wiped out in the roar. The soldiers hiding in the trenches did not even have time to scream in agony before they were reduced to pieces. Limbs and plasma were washed up into the sky by the air waves, mixed with dust and rubble, and flew down.

Coupled with the panic caused by the sudden appearance of the "pillar of fire" in the military camp, two-thirds of the troops failed to enter the trenches and bunkers before the artillery attack. They were hurriedly assembled in the chaos, and then "greeted the enemy" on the open ground. "This rain of death.

Even without opening his eyes, just listening to the explosions and screams around him, it is not difficult for Lieutenant Colonel Roman to imagine how shocking the casualties of the Southern Army are, and they are rising rapidly every minute!

If the fight continues like this, the Southern Army may collapse without a fight!

Of course, Roman is not worried about this - apart from the fact that it is impossible for any country's army in the world to be able to fire enough artillery shells to kill more than 10,000 people on the same battlefield, it is because he is to some extent He doesn't care about the entire legion, or even his own life and death.

The only thing he cared about was Ludwig Franz.

The target on the opposite side is the life of Ludwig Franz, so the method is definitely not just a simple and crude method like indiscriminate bombing; ground troops, assassins, spellcasters... it is only a matter of time before they appear.

Fifteen minutes later, the rumble of gunfire finally became sparse and stopped. Only thick black smoke filled the burning position, and there was no sign of drifting away.

After patting the dust on his body, the stern-faced Roman pushed aside the grenadier whose body was half-broken by the bombing. He struggled to climb out of the trench that was twisted and twisted by the bombing. His eyes quickly glanced around, inspecting the areas ravaged by artillery fire. The situation in the rear position.

The original tight defenses were in a shambles. Except for the rear defense line that he personally supervised, the front lines had been completely filled with dust from the explosion of artillery shells. The flags of several infantry companies and scattered rifles could still be seen on the position, but Apart from flags and weapons, there is probably nothing left.

As for what's behind... As early as when the shelling started, the military camp was already in chaos, and all that could be seen now were patches of ruins and tents that were set ablaze by the explosion.

How many soldiers are still alive, how many have not been disorganized, and how many can persist until now without escaping, or have no chance to evacuate...all are unknown.

"Captain..."

A grenadier with a rather immature face came up behind Roman, with a hint of hope in his frightened eyes - in his opinion, the most important thing was to quickly find the commander to cover the retreat when the legion was like this. .

"Military bugle."

Roman, who had his back turned to the grenadier, suddenly spoke.

The young grenadier was stunned for a moment: "Huh?"

"Blow the bugle." Roman repeated without any emotion:

"Assemble the troops and prepare to fight - the artillery of the Ysel elves is not at the level of the empire. When the sound of the artillery stops, it means that the infantry is about to start attacking the position."

"Speed ​​up, we don't have much time to waste!"

"Uh...yes!"

Although they were full of confusion and confusion about the commander's order, the grenadiers still instinctively carried out the order and found the bugle from the veteran whose body was blown off in half on the ground, but they were unable to snatch it from the body. Come down.

After several unsuccessful attempts, the impatient young grenadier cut off the corpse's wrist with a bayonet and raised the bugle hanging from one hand.

The loud rallying call sounded over and over again in the position where smoke was billowing and illuminated by fire.

………………

"Haven't all these shells killed them all? Damn the Clovis people - that's all money!"

Looking at the Clovis battle flag rising again on the smoke-filled battlefield, a Yser elf general who was luxuriously dressed, wearing a gold-plated breastplate and an eagle helmet couldn't help but curse, and was so angry that he threw away the pure gold in his hand. The telescope fell directly to the ground, causing the servant beside him to pick it up in a panic, and had to be kicked by him at the same time.

In order to collect so many artillery shells, the inventory of the entire kingdom's arsenal was almost emptied. Even nobles like him reluctantly dug into their pockets - there was no way, the Ysel elves' little industrial logistics could handle it. Cope with small-scale riots and border skirmishes.

Once there is a large-scale war, the inventory will last for one or two battles at most, and then it must be imported from Clovis or the Empire, and the price will definitely be unimaginably expensive.

"These are just expected things, aren't they, Uncle Aldalbert."

A sweet and soft voice sounded behind him, but there was no sign of being influenced on the Elf General's face. Instead, his expression suddenly changed, and his expression revealed a look of fear at a speed visible to the naked eye.

He turned around suddenly and said, "Plop!" He knelt down on the ground with an extremely humble attitude in front of an elf girl wearing a three-cornered hat and dressed like an imperial knight:

"Yes, your lesson is absolutely right. Such foresight really makes me ashamed, Your Highness Princess Freya!"

"Really?" The gentle elf girl blinked her eyes, holding the hilt of the gold-plated knight's sword at her waist with her right hand, and approached the prostrate elf with concern:

"But I just said some very common things."

"For you, of course all this is normal, but for us..." Aldabert swallowed hard, and his fearful eyes swept past the long sword at the girl's waist:

"That is truth! It is wisdom! It is something that is simply unimaginable!"

"Yeah?"

"Yes, yes! It is precisely because of your wisdom that we were saved from being annihilated by the Clovis people, escaped with our lives, and had a chance to recover..."

"no!"

The girl's voice suddenly became cold: "It's Louis!"

"It was Louis who sacrificed himself and voluntarily became the bait to lure the Clovis people, so that you bunch of worthless scum can survive until now - you can still stand here and breathe, all because of me. He gave it!”

"Without him, you would have been hacked to pieces by the Clovis!"

"Yes Yes Yes……"

Aldalbert shivered, his head falling on the ground and stuffed into his chest.

"So... dear Uncle Aldalbert, and you stupid and incompetent scum, my men."

Freya Moses Field slowly looked back, her cold eyes scanning the trembling and frightened faces: "This once-in-a-lifetime moment has finally arrived to show your bravery and loyalty."

"I need you to lead the soldiers and attack the Clovis legion that has been destroyed by artillery fire; ravage them, annihilate them, kill them all."

"If anyone thinks this is too difficult to achieve, I can lower the requirements...allow the honest gentleman to die with the enemy."

"So, if any Clovis interferes with me while I'm done with Ludwig Franz... I will annihilate you all together."

"Did you hear that clearly?"

The eyes of the soft-spoken elf princess turned blood red at this moment.