ALL NOVEL In one of the passes in the Alps…
“Is there a need to be so serious?” the soldier, who had just arrived to take over the shift, saw the soldier before him staring nervously at the white snowfield, so he asked mirthfully.
“The Scourge of God is now rampaging in the Holy Romain Empire,” the soldier on shift replied worriedly. “They are all saying that once he’s done with Holy Romain, he’ll set his eyes on Italy. We, the soldiers guarding these passes, will be the first to bear the brunt of the impact.”
“Surely not,” the soldier taking over the shift replied, “Even if the Scourge of God attacks, he should be attacking from the Venezia Giuliana area. It’s currently snowing heavily! The Scourge of God will have to fly to cross the Alps under such weather!”
“…”
“Hm?” The soldier taking over the shift noticed that the soldier on shift was shivering, so he passed a sack of wine over. “Are you cold? You should have worn more. Come have a swig to warm yourself up. I’ll take you out at night to find fun. I saw a beautiful farmer’s daughter just now. We can scare her with a knife and…”
Psh!
The soldier on shift failed to take the sack of wine, so it fell to the ground. With a trembling finger, he pointed outward. “T-that…”
The soldier taking over the shift was stunned.
Surely not! This is the Alps, the treacherous snow mountain!
He quickly looked over, but instead of a huge army, he saw a single person on horseback, but this single person was more than enough to intimidate him.
“It’s the blood twin-headed eagle flag!” they screeched in horror.
A dashing white steed was charging across the steep snowy cliff. Its rider was carrying a glaring crimson flag that made their hearts race in fear.
“It’s the Scourge of God!”
Shoosh!
While galloping across the snowy mountain, Shu Yichao raised his Jeweled Bow and released an arrow.
Tak!
The arrow pierced through one of the soldiers’ eyes.
“Help!”
Watching his comrade being pinned to the wall horrified the other soldier. He quickly ducked from the battlement, fearing that he would become the next victim to Shu Yichao’s arrow.
The horrified soldiers raised their weapons with shaking hands. None of them had the guts to go out and confront the Scourge of God.
“Close the gate! Don’t let him in!” a commander roared.
The soldiers gathered all kinds of miscellaneous objects to jam the pass’ gates.
Unfortunately, there was no point in them bolstering the defense of their gates. This quickly became evident to them when a shadow leaped across the towering walls, casting a shadow over them.
The soldiers’ widened their eyes.
“May they rot where my arrows rain!”
From the air, Shu Yichao unleashed a barrage of arrows.
It took a mere moment for the pass to be cleared.
Shu Yichao didn’t linger. He continued galloping through the snowy mountain on Galewind. Sophia, who was wrapped in a thick blanket in his arms, was already shocked beyond words.
How does Shu Yichao intend to invade Italy?
Answer: Directly, in a straight line.
He couldn’t be bothered to make a detour to Venezia Giulia or whatever so that he could take the main road; rather he chose to scale the Alps.
Thus, Sophia watched in utter shock as Shu Yichao abandoned the hundreds of Metal Fortresses, thousands of Elite Horse Archers, and ten thousand new army soldiers in the Holy Romain Empire to charge alone into Italy.
My Caesar, that’s not how you fight a war! Even if you have the valor of a thousand men, surely you can’t solo an army of 400,000?
But what Sophia witnessed rendered her speechless.
Shu Yichao might have really struggled if it had been flat ground, but the meandering mountain range was the perfect location for exploiting bugs!
One unique aspect of Beacons of the Otherworld were players flying across mountain ranges, as well as countless steeds falling to their deaths—there were bound to be some who failed to exploit the bug.
So, Sophia watched with dazed eyes as Shu Yichao’s steed accelerated across sharp cliffs before leaping from mountain to mountain. He looked like a majestic eagle unfurling its wings to dominate the sky.
It was as if the treacherous mountains, the steep cliffs, and the slippery snow didn’t exist at all!
Shu Yichao’s previous maneuver could still be justified with him being an indomitable general, but this phenomenon didn’t make sense at all!
By this point, Sophia had stopped thinking.
White horse. Archery. Flying.
Could it be…
“Hu, another smooth leap!” Shu Yichao gently landed on the ground.
Looking at the surrounding lush grass, followed by the imposing snow mountain behind, Sophia could hardly believe her eyes. The Alps had been Italy’s natural barrier since ancient times, but they crossed it just like that?!
“Caesar,” Sophia weakly called out, “We might have reached Italy, but we don’t have soldiers.”
“No problem. We just need to buy some.” Shu Yichao was unbothered.
He wouldn’t have fought this battle in such a manner under normal circumstances. Even if he managed to slip into the Apennine Peninsula, he wouldn’t have enough money to buy enough Metal Fortresses to win the war.
He could try plundering nearby towns, but Metal Fortresses were too expensive for him to build a sizable army within a short time.
Fortunately, there was always a resource airdrop before a major battle.
The game had highlighted Eternal City Rome on his map, provided him with Italy’s map, and a huge sum of money… The money, if used sparingly, should be enough for him to end this war.
“Buy what?” Sophia didn’t understand.
She saw Shu Yichao tap the air, and countless poofs of smoke appeared around them. When the smoke dissipated, they were met with an army of heavy cavalrymen dressed in thick armor from head to toe… and the army stretched into the horizon.
This was a sight that would strike fear in any enemy.
“…”
Sophia trembled.
Shu Yichao usually summoned new troops within his army, so others didn’t notice anything amiss. Spies couldn’t hope to sneak into his army either—most didn’t have the guts to do it, and those who did never lived long.
Due to that, no one knew for sure just how huge Shu Yichao’s army was. If there was a disparity in his army strength, they attributed it to reinforcements and casualties.
The consensus was to not probe too deeply into the Khitans’ affairs, or else they might think that you are up to no good and reason with you with scimitars in hand. Even when the Metal Fortresses appeared in the fight against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, most people simply thought that Shu Yichao had opened a land channel with the Khitans and brought in another army from his homeland.
However, Sophia knew better now.
So his troops pop out of nowhere!