Chapter 198 (1/2)

Chapter 198 The sudden opening

Three days passed quickly, and the construction of the defense line had finally ended.

Roland stood on a stage far behind the front line, the same way he had done when they repelled the demonic beast during the Months of Demons. Today, he once again went to the battlefield in person in order to inspire all of the officers and soldiers of the First Army.

Due to having a special task, Nightingale had already snuck onto the battlefield, and took Echo along with her. Because of this, it was Anna who stood at his side this time and took over Nightingale’s protection duty.

Roland himself wore a coated armor together with two revolvers fastened at his waist. However, as long as the defensive line didn’t totally fall apart, allowing a rushing enemy to pass through like a fish that was escaping the net, it would be awfully difficult for the enemy to pose a threat to him.

“Currently the enemy is about ten kilometers away from here, Goo!” a giant pigeon informed him as it descended from the sky and landed on his shoulder.

“Well done, keep watching,” Roland took a piece of beef jerky from his pocket and passed it to Maggie’s mouth. Within two or three pecks she had swallowed down the whole jerky, then once more opened her wings and rose into the sky, flying eastwards.

With Lightning and Maggie taking turns investigating, Roland had a clear picture of the enemy’s movements this whole time, allowing him to set the battlefield comfortably to his liking.

When dealing with crazy drugged warriors, confronting them in a line formation wasn’t safe. He was especially taking extra care after Lightning’s report that several hundreds of them were wearing short spears. If he wasn’t wrong, then it was likely that the spears would be used as pre-emptive weapons.

General the range of throwing weapons shouldn’t be longer than 50 meters, however, this was only the case for ordinary people. But, how far they could throw them after taking the pills, Roland wasn’t sure of either. If they could reach further than 100 meters, they would become a threat to the firearm team. Because of that, he had chosen to put down a number of bunkers, and implementing urban tactics. By constructing a barricade, letting the guns stopping them from coming closer, and an artillery barrage as support, he had built an insurmountable line of defense.

Under the current situation of having a sufficient amount of cement, it was easier to quickly construct some bunkers than construct the city wall. Furthermore, the bunkers were only a building with a monolayer of bricks, making it somewhat fragile, but for the militia who weren’t using heavy siege equipment, that should still be an unbreakable fortification.

Ten bunkers forming a rhombus were built on each side of the road, forming a crossfire zone. Each bunker was stationed with twenty-four soldiers, half of whom were veterans with the other half being recruits. The experienced veterans were responsible for shooting; while the recruits were responsible for loading ammunition. Lastly, Soraya had also drawn an “optical camouflage” for the bunker. So that as long as someone was looking from a distance, the bunker would become interspersed into the surrounding environment, making it difficult to distinguish the difference between the two.

Behind the frontline there stood the artillery unit. The twenty cannons were lined up and would follow the same firing sequence as last time, adjusting the firing angle and filling the corresponding ammunition according to Lightning’s signals.

At the side of artillery positions there also stood an emergency force, with about 100 people, equipped with flintlock guns, whose only task was to protect the artillery unit and the Prince, His Royal Highness who was standing behind them.

Watching the line of defense and seeing the soldiers with their high morale and their spirits trembling with excitement, within his heart, Roland was deeply moved. The army, at first extremely weak and fragile, built out of people who only enrolled into the military with the purpose of having an egg to eat; after going through the baptism of the Months of Demons and the defense battle, now stood side by side, proudly wearing on their shoulders the responsibility of defending their home.

“Your Highness, right now the enemy is only two kilometers away from us,” Lightning, reported as she returned.

“Very well, the surveillance task will be fully handed over to Maggie; you instead will have to go into the woods and issue the signals for the artillery.” Roland nodded, then turned to the Chief Knight and said, “Pass my order, all members of the First Army should enter their alert position and prepare to welcome the enemy!”

“Yes!” Carter saluted.

*

Lehman felt it as his hand became harder and harder to move.