Chapter 77 Lord of War Hasting part 1 (1/2)

Chapter 77 Lord of War Hasting part 1

Translator: Tchu

Editor: Ziltch

The sun had just started to rise in the horizon when an early, chilly morning wind blew over the Primal Wildfire wilderness. A faint twilight revealed itself with the first rays of the sunlight. The cold wind swept over the Imperial Eagle flag fluttering on the flagpole.

The camp, situated just north of Primal Wildfire Town belonged to the Byzantine’s 2nd Army which was stationed here.

The 2nd Army, which was one of the Byzantine Empire’s regular armies, consisted purely of infantrymen. It was also one of the three armies that were included in the Byzantine emperor’s battle plan against the invasion of Odins in Primal Wildfire.

In the morning, this huge military camp was still quiet, with only the night watch patrols wandering around. The soldiers who were still standing at sentry posts, tightly wrapped themselves in their fur-lined robes and huddled their heads together in this cold wind. With somewhat of a listless appearance and bloodshot eyes, it was clear that it was because they had stayed up all night. The only thought they had in mind was to hang on until the shift change came to switch with them so they could go back and have a good sleep.

Damn this Primal Wildfire, the mornings are always so cold……

The General of the 2nd Army, Pelizzoli, was already awake. Just when he walked out of his big tent, he looked at the Praetorian Guard in front of his entrance, which was acting as a night watchman, holding his spear and dozing off. This now 40-year-old imperial could only casually smile. Walking towards him, he gently kicked his Praetorian Guard and the soldier immediately woke up with a tense look. However, the general only generously smiled back at him and departed with big steps.

General Pelizzoli was 40 years old and although he came from a respected family with a prominent aristocratic status, he could still be considered a humble person of the empire. His style in the military is simple but robust and there was no shortage of courage during battles. Having been in the army for twenty years, although he hasn’t performed anything of prominent merit, he hasn’t made any big mistakes either. He was the kind of person who could be classified with “even with no merits, there is a lot of effort”.

Pelizzoli didn’t pursue the misconduct of his Praetorian Guard falling asleep while on night watch, he simply took in several deep breathes. The freezing cold air faintly stabbed within his lung, making him silently curse. Taking some of his officers with him, he began to patrol the camp with a relaxed face.

In fact, as for now, everyone in the 2nd army was the same as their general and had a very relaxed mentality.

According to the strategy for this war, they had to divide into three groups in order to prevent the Odins from invading. However, the 2nd Army received a very easygoing position; they were positioned in the middle of Primal Wildfire, with two forests’ north of their position. The dwarfs’ territory was about two days further away, and at the northeast was the Red Wilderness which was occupied by goblins.

Such a geographical position gave them a very safe feeling. Even if these Odins really wanted to attack here, they were unlikely to choose this direction. Having the Dwarfs’ and the goblins’ territory placed in front of them, if the Odins wanted to come here, they had to cross through both territories and risk conflicts with the natives. Any commander who had a bit of intelligence would most likely not order such a stupid thing, especially since everyone knew of the Dwarfs’ strong fighting force. No one would want to waste their military strength on such places; therefore the 2nd Army had the Dwarfs and Goblins as a natural shield.

In fact, the 2nd Army was not known as an elite force in the Byzantine Empire. Their strength was probably in the middle of the second class; therefore they were put in such a relatively safe position.

According to General Pelizzoli speculation, the military headquarters placed his army in this position in order to prevent any smaller Odin units sneaking through the Dwarf’s territory any opportunity to attack his allies. However, the possibility of such a small enemy force sneaking through to attack was rather small.

Nevertheless, Pelizzoli still prepared some arrangements that would, in his opinion, make their position very safe. He set up four sentry posts north of the camp, with each sentry post spacing several miles between each other. The garrison would then take turns every second day, if the Odins really wanted to send a small strike force in a surprise attack, it would certainly not escape his eyes. However Pelizzoli thought that this possibility was very unlikely, but in addition to these four sentry posts, he also sent some other measurements as to prevent the Dwarfs in the north from suddenly going crazy from some unintended provocations.

As for the Odins…… According to their previous behaviours, they should be in the Al Bactre plains in the south, which was guarded by the 13th Army. According to the empire’s conventional practice, the most difficult battles were left to this iron army.

In this silent morning, General Pelizzoli led his men around to inspect the camp. It wasn’t his custom, but he knew that after this war he would be transferred from this army. After staying in it for four years, Pelizzoli was quite attached to it. Therefore he wanted…… to have a few more good looks at it before leaving it.

After finishing a tour, his body had already started slightly sweating from the activity. He looked at as his soldiers coming out of their tent to line up in formation one after another in preparation from the morning drill. A relaxed smile appeared on Pelizzoli’s face while watching this familiar scene.

However, his smile only stayed for a short moment before it deteriorated!!

Since he saw something…..

Beacon-fire!!!

A sentry post north of their position ignited a beacon and the black smoke rose into the sky, the cold wind blew it apart after it reached dozens of meters high!

Moreover, this sentry post was unexpectedly the closest one from their camp!!

When Pelizzoli saw the beacon-fire his expression stiffened, before he had time to calm his surprised heart, his ears heard a terrifying noise……

※※※

Roooooaaaarrrr! It was the roaring of wild beasts, continuing for wave after wave. Nobody knew how many there were, perhaps it was a dozens, or maybe even several hundred? These roars, filled with vigour and violence, interweaved with each other and were brought over by the chilling wind, giving people’s scalp a tingling feeling!

The silent morning had immediately been destroyed by these dull roars.

Stunned for a moment, Pelizzoli’s expression instantly changed as he started to madly rush towards the entrance of the camp. Kicking away the soldiers who were still stunned by the roars, he quickly went up to the lookout and looked towards the north.

Subsequently, this imperial general’s face muscles immediately twisted and big beads of sweat started to roll down……

In the north, the sentry post closest to them had already become engulfed by a raging fire and a dense mass of shadows were approaching them with lightning speed on a stretch of land next to it. In the early morning’s dim light, they could see that this dense mass was increasing in numbers and swept over the hills like a dark cloud…

The roars which sent a cold chill into people’s heart came from there. Standing on the platform, General Pelizzoli quickly got a better view of these dark clouds……