Thirty, Dust Settles

  Two updates have been made, new book seeking votes. If there are many votes, I will strive for three updates.

  The clash of swords, the firing of firearms, the wails of the wounded, and the occasional explosion of magic hung over the entire battlefield like a nightmare. Inside and outside the small camp, corpses littered the ground, with fresh blood seeping into the mud, dyeing the earth black. To protect their newly acquired food supplies, humans had almost drained their blood around this tiny camp, but still couldn't stop the advance of the elven army's phalanx.

  In the choking smoke, Charlotte felt as if she had returned to the North Gate of Glory City, desperately pouring new life into the gap that devoured the soldiers' flesh and blood. Although there were only a few hundred enemies left, although they had taken away all the artillery and horses from their opponents, her subordinates were still being easily breached, divided, annihilated, and defeated by these seasoned warrior spirits like butter in front of a sharp blade. They were about to be driven out of the camp.

  "Is this the regular army?" Charlotte sighed, firing the last bullet in her pistol at the elf wizard who was slaughtering his own troops. Naturally, the bullet was blocked by a faint magical glow, and then an acid arrow shot towards Charlotte. She hastily dodged to the right, rolling on the ground, barely avoiding it.

  The sudden sound of horseshoes echoed from the opposite side, Major Rick Torini once again organized his cavalry, shouting and charging at the elven army that had already entered the camp gate, while nearby infantry hastily rolled out of the way.

  A large number of cavalry charging was indeed astonishing, but for the experienced and seasoned Elven army, it was not difficult to deal with. The small square formation immediately turned around without revealing a single sign of disorder.

  "Fire!"

  The bayonets of the elves rose up on the short defensive line, and the blades burst forth with a chilling light in the sunlight. The special firearms of the elven army were as long as six feet after being equipped with bayonets, far surpassing the cavalry's sabers and short spears. The battle cry immediately turned into screams, and a cavalryman who charged to the front was unable to stop his momentum, and he and his horse crashed forward, being pierced by the elven bayonets like a skewer of meat. With the help of the strengthening potion, the elven soldiers showed off their physical strength comparable to that of beastmen. Several bayonets were thrust out with force, and before the cavalryman and his mount had completely died, they were thrown into the air and heavily crashed onto the backs of the cavalrymen behind them.

  After several consecutive cavalrymen were stabbed to death, the remaining war horses all stood up on their hind legs, and no matter how hard the riders squeezed their bellies, they refused to move forward. No matter what kind of horse it was, people were absolutely unable to persuade them to sacrifice themselves for the country and nation, and die without regret. The cavalrymen suddenly crowded together, trampling each other, and the formation was in great chaos for a while.

  "Fire at will!"

  Scattered white smoke rose to meet the sun, row upon row of gun muzzles spewing sparks, and the sound of lead bullets piercing flesh merged into a single piece. Major Torini could no longer restrain his troops, the cavalry began to turn their horses' heads and flee, while the sprites bid farewell with a volley of gunfire, also throwing in a few fear spells for good measure, sending even more cavalrymen tumbling to the ground as their terrified mounts bucked them off. The bodies on the battlefield piled up another layer, and the sprite army turned around once again, slowly advancing towards the center of the camp.

  With a creaking and groaning sound, two case shot cannons were pushed onto the central path of the campsite. The gunners shivered as they pulled the lanyard, the wheels spun around, and the flint struck out a string of sparks.

  "Boom!" Two cannonballs roared out of the barrel almost simultaneously, and a deadly hail of lead shot towards the fairy's face.

  "Rat-a-tat-tat!" The surging hail of bullets was blocked by a sudden wall of ice, and after a futile barrage, they fell to the ground. The few that managed to penetrate the ice wall were greatly weakened by the impact and were deflected by the sprite's armor.

  "Mire Shot!" The gunner didn't even have time to load the solid shot into the cannon, when the magically created ice wall had already dissipated on its own, and the cannon and he himself were stuck in the softened ground. Next, several bullets accurately passed through their foreheads, ending their struggles.

  Facing the elf army that had brought out all its magical combat power, the human side, which lacked magical combat power, quickly fell into a passive beating situation. Batch after batch of warriors shouted towards the enemy array like waves, but the elf army stood still like rocks in the waves, and instead advanced step by step in the rain of bullets.

  "How's the relocation going?" Charlotte anxiously gazed at the soldiers who were transporting food and supplies like ants, occasionally turning her head to glance at the advancing Spirit Array, which was stepping on the drumbeat. "We can't hold on much longer."

  "We've moved almost half of it." Panting, the stout dwarf Bam said, he and his subordinates as well as some human soldiers temporarily changed their profession to porters, with grain sacks even hung on the pig's tail, "Just a little more time and we will definitely speed up."

  "It's too late." Charlotte saw that the elves were almost at the central tent, and finally chose to give up. "Everyone carry as much as possible on their backs and run out as fast as they can, I'm going to use my last trick."

  Idril suddenly felt something was off.

  After receiving emergency treatment from the military chaplain, the old major general finally regained his mobility with great difficulty, but after all, age is not forgiving, and his body was still very weak at this time. Various internal injuries had not fully recovered, and he could only move forward with the support of others. So for now, the battle was still commanded by Colonel Gilbert. Moreover, in the major general's view, until now, Gilbert had been commanding quite well, and the humans' repeated futile counterattacks had all been successfully crushed. Moreover, their own side had not paid much of a price. Even he himself could command battles to such an extent at most, it seemed that these years of teaching him had not been in vain, and it seemed that he could be allowed to independently lead troops for a try in the future.

  However... it seems a bit too quiet now, he tried hard to observe the situation around him, but due to the tent and various obstacles blocking his view, he only saw some dwarves driving wild boars with full bags out, and some humans retreating while putting guns towards him. However, under the protection of more than 20 mages, there was basically no success, and the cavalry outside the camp just circled around, seemingly without any intention of launching another charge, maybe they were afraid, Idriel thought, using his dizzy brain to think for a moment, he felt his head ache as if it was pricked by needles, so he stopped thinking.

  Seeing the enemy had largely withdrawn from the camp, Gilbert finally dispersed the tight formation. The soldiers of each squad held rifles with bayonets and rushed to key positions according to their own judgment. Idriel also slowly walked into his tent with the help of the pastor, sat on the campaign bed, and immediately dismissed the pastor, starting to look around.

  "It seems like nothing was moved, but there's a strange smell." He sniffed the air, trying to get up. But a sudden jolt sent him tumbling back onto the carpet.

  The entire camp erupted with a deafening roar, the ground began to shake violently, and orange flashes suddenly rose from all sides, a scorching wave carrying a pungent smell spread out in all directions.

  "Damn it, they've planted timed explosives in the camp!" Idriel struggled to get up, looking at the flames rising rapidly outside. Humans had apparently set up flammable materials such as incendiary gel in many places, and the fire was spreading at an astonishing speed, with occasional explosions of ammunition. Many elves were running around on fire, setting off fires in places that weren't originally burning.

  "Put out the fire!" Idriel panicked, just about to rush out of the tent, only to find that his own camp was burning at an incredibly alarming rate, almost in the blink of an eye it had turned into a huge ball of flames. He finally understood the source of the strange smell, this tent had been doused with oil!

  "So that's what they're trying to do, burn us alive!" Idriel covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve, wanting to rush out of the fire scene, but found himself inhaling too much hot air and smoke, already unable to stand up, could only shrink under the bed helplessly watching the flames approach.

  He thought, struggling to pull out a blue sapphire necklace from the pillow, which stored a short-distance random teleportation spell.

  The great Druid felt a sudden burst of dazzling light on top of his head, he raised his head and strangely saw the magical six-pointed star shining with dazzling white light in mid-air, then something that was emitting smoke fell from there, about to hit him right on the head.

  Daru didn't mean to hit his head, he slapped the thing flying without thinking, then rushed to where it fell and carefully observed what it was.

  A corpse? And an elf at that? The great druid looked closely at the elf's charred clothes and pointed ears, his mind full of question marks. He couldn't fathom why the elf would come here (the elf didn't want to either, but this was random teleportation after all). However, leaving this guy to be eaten by beasts was really too pitiful. So the kind great druid started digging a hole on the beach with all his might, planning to bury the elf.

  However, this elf gentleman seemed to have no intention of being buried in the sand pit at all.

  Bang!

  A lead bullet shot out of the smoking gun barrel and hit the buttocks of the Great Druid, but was easily bounced off by the thick bear skin. For a physique as strong as the Great Druid's, ordinary lead bullets were not enough to harm his body, but the pain was enough to make the Great Druid go berserk, who had already been holding back his anger from not being able to eat breakfast.

  "Ahh!"

  The great Druid turned around with red eyes, first slapping the gun out of the elf's hand, and then under the elf's terrified gaze, he stepped on his thigh. With a "Ka Cha" sound, the elf fainted very neatly.

  The still fuming Druid was just about to stomp on the sprite that had dared to ambush him, when he suddenly noticed another dark figure charging towards him. The enraged Druid immediately jumped up, unintentionally snapping the sprite's other leg in the process.

  The great Druid roared and charged at himself, the man was so frightened that he sat down on the sand with a thud, waving his hands wildly, "Mr. Vini, stop! Don't be impulsive! I'm Fili!"

  Ferli? The Great Druid stopped, straining his near-sighted eyes to examine the newcomer, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't match the black figure before him with the pink silhouette. Fortunately, he still had a keen sense of smell, and after sniffing twice with his bear-like nose, he caught the scent of the person from the smoky smell, letting out a low growl as he sat down. When Ferli took out wine and dry rations from the spatial ring, the Great Druid was overjoyed, yelling out in excitement, ignoring Ferli as he began to devour his food with abandon.

  Fili let out a long sigh, he really thought he was going to be eaten by the big bear with the lieutenant colonel's epaulets (Mr. Vinnie wouldn't eat raw meat, would he? Little Griselda protested). After a while, feeling pain all over his body, he wanted to beg Mr. Vinnie to treat his burns, but his gaze fell unintentionally on the nearby spirit who was unaware of the situation, especially the dazzling golden four-star badge on the spirit's shoulder!

  "Idril·Lirien!"