When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1187 Big Road and Small Road
Pokkins wanted to leave tomorrow morning for a simple reason: vampires need a feast of flesh and blood.

In the past, even if a bloody feast was carried out on imperial territory, it was merely a deterrent act that added amusement without any real benefit.

But the situation changed when High Priest Servais repaired the Holy Grail with the Triple Crown and the blood of the Seven Princes.

Through slaughter and feasting, following prescribed rituals and enjoying the feast, lower-ranking vampires can finally complete the sublimation of their bloodline and ascend to higher-ranking vampires.

This vampire society is even more desperate and oppressive than human society.

At the very least, humans practice breathing techniques and embark on the path of knightly competitions, eventually reaching the rank of Imperial Knight.

Vampires are different; their abilities are fixed by their bloodline, and no matter how hard they try, they cannot break through the limitations imposed by their bloodline.

If you are born unable to use necromancy, then you will never be able to use necromancy in your life.

Even Serfaye himself couldn't break through this limitation back then. He can break through it now, but it's too late.

But the feast of flesh and blood, the feast of flesh and blood where the order is determined by military merit, is the path to advancement for vampires.

Go to the battlefield—gain military merits—get promoted through a bloody feast—go back to the battlefield—gain even more military merits…

Even if it cannot be passed down to future generations and family members, having it for one lifetime is enough.

This alone is enough to drive all vampires mad.

Under this system, the vampires' motivation and initiative were unprecedentedly unleashed, which is why Serfaye was able to quickly unify the royal court.

In the past, they wouldn't have had the motivation to travel thousands of miles to pursue Alexei and his men.

The wind swept across the hills, carrying bits of dry grass, and under the starlight, the cold wind blew the fur hats off the cavalrymen's heads.

This isn't the fault of the wool hat, but rather the fact that the bald head underneath was too smooth.

As for the cavalryman with eyeliner and a beard secured with broken sheep bones, he was too focused on the battle below the mound and forgot about the hat on his head.

His brows were furrowed, as if he were trying to decipher some kind of witchcraft he had never seen before.

The sky was a dark iron color, and the withered grass was still covered with night frost, but the black soil was turned up by the trampling of horses' hooves.

Hundreds of gray-clad cavalrymen were scattered at the foot of the gentle slope, their coarse gray blouses blending into the color of the grassland like ghosts.

They split into two teams, each with fifty or sixty people, forming two wings, like two thick thin lines.

On the other side of this thin line, however, was a patch of scarlet and bright purple.

Five or six hundred red-clad cavalrymen galloped across the grassland, their anger palpable, and a cacophony of curses in various Baroque languages ​​rose and fell.

If you look closely, you'll find that at least four hundred of these five or six hundred red-clad cavalrymen are headless knights.

They followed closely behind their master, attacking the thin line that was both so close and yet so far away.

However, the gray-clad cavalrymen did not panic.

The riders on the left wing mounted their horses in unison, the reins trembling. Fifty inferior horses, carrying their riders, galloped northwest along the riverbed, leaving a trail of gray mist behind them.

A hoarse shout suddenly erupted from the red-clad cavalry, and the riders in the front row drew their sabers.

But just as the red-clad cavalry's formation was thrown into disarray, the gray-clad cavalry on the right flank moved.

Instead of mounting their horses, they quickly dismounted, their movements so synchronized that they resembled puppets pulled by the same string.

He first knelt on one knee, held the gun barrel with his left hand, and quickly unscrewed the breech with his right hand, the brass spring mechanism gleaming faintly in the twilight.

Then came a chorus of "creaks"—the sound of the springs being wound up.

Without a command, all fifty muskets were raised in unison, aimed at the closest red-clad cavalryman.

"Bang!" It wasn't the sound of an arrow piercing the air, but a deeper, shorter explosion.

Among the red-clad cavalrymen leading the charge, seven or eight suddenly fell off their horses.

In some cases, bullets pierced the armor, and blood flowed down the seams; in others, the horses were hit, their forelegs buckled, and the riders were thrown to the ground.

The red-clad cavalrymen behind hurriedly reined in their horses, but the momentum caused the formation to scramble together, and the warhorses trampled on their fallen comrades, neighing in fright.

At this moment, the red-clad cavalry finally fired their arrows. A dense rain of arrows swept through the air, but most of them landed on the open ground in front of the gray-clad soldiers, the arrow shafts sticking out of the soil and swaying.

Several vampires stretched out their right hands, and frost condensed, creating seven or eight ice spikes that appeared out of thin air in the night.

But after flying only a few dozen steps, the ice spike veered to one side in the relentless gale of the Roaring Corridor.

The distance was too far; only occasionally could a person be hit, and at most, it would only cause them to stagger.

Most of these grey-clad cavalrymen wore light steel armor produced by the Holy Alliance under their cloaks, which, while not completely ineffective against ice spikes, was quite effective in preventing instant death.

However, against necromancy spells like the death ray, the steel armor becomes largely ineffective.

But the Death Ray is a spell of vampire duke caliber; you're lucky if you can cast it three or four times a day, so how can you use it casually?
The bald cavalryman was genuinely puzzled; he had witnessed far too many cavalry clashes. Whether it was the Empire's heavy cavalry or the steppe's light cavalry, saber against saber, bow against bow, lance against saber, lance against bow... he was used to it all.

I've never seen such a tactic before—running around while firing from a distance, yet managing to put an enemy force six times your size in a difficult position.

Alexei's tactics are quite interesting.

"Whoosh—" He whistled, and a boy emerged from behind the bushes.

He whispered, "Tell His Excellency Kutuyov that there are no problems with Prince Alexei. Just let him focus on his own affairs."

"Okay." The young boy immediately led out a horse, which quickly disappeared into the night.

Alexei smiled as he watched the frantic vampire cavalrymen in the distance.

Although the royal court is strong, it is still lagging behind the latest tactics of the Holy Alliance.

Many archers can ride horses and fire guns, but they don't know how to fight on horseback. Riding horses and fighting on horseback are two different things.

Even if you can ride a horse, it will take two or three years to learn riding tactics, which is just as complicated as the Holy Alliance infantry tactics.

Therefore, Alexei simply had them ride horses first, and then dismount and shoot when they arrived at their destination.

Upon seeing the enemy approaching, they would remount and flee. Since they weren't wearing heavy armor or any miscellaneous cavalry equipment, they could run very fast.

This tactic would have been absolutely impossible to execute in the past.

To give a very simple example, with the earliest models of Canneddy, loading alone could not be done on horseback.

Not to mention the limited range of the clockwork gun, which meant that getting too close would result in being detected.

With the launch and activation times taken into account, it's impossible to fire a shot and run away, then fire again once you're far away.

But now, the hundred-plus cavalry he led were using the latest breech-loading spring-loaded guns.

After the Holy Armory acquired the clockwork lathe, it was able to mass-produce spiral firing rods. The Exorcist Armory even created pointed spiral steel bullets, which were specifically designed to counter White Crystal Steel Armor and Great Knights.

Now let Ravul charge in and see what happens. Use a breech-loading rifled sniper rifle and fire a single pointed spiral armor-piercing bullet to send him straight to hell.

You're still wearing layered armor? Times have changed!
These weapons are still in prototype form, and the Ordnance Department mainly hopes to have them tested on the battlefield.

Otherwise, even if they manage to build it, those warbands probably wouldn't use it.

This is a deadly thing. The older models have been tested in war; if it's still usable, don't touch it.

Even if the new gun is good, what if it malfunctions on the battlefield?
Seven-day no-reason return policy? Are we at war?!

Therefore, the Ordnance Department's outdated equipment for Alexei also included 150 moderately advanced breech-loading spring-loaded guns.

Of course, this has absolutely nothing to do with Groyev being a drinking buddy of Khakuto or the army's largest beef supplier.

The Cold Spring Gazette's attack on Cardinal Harcourt was completely unfounded and has been officially refuted.

Regardless, Alexei was still very grateful to Groyev, who drank until he vomited blood.

After several rounds of fighting, the six hundred cavalrymen did not suffer any particularly serious damage, but they were disgusted by the situation.

Weren't they supposed to be harassing the enemy? How did it turn into them being harassed by the enemy?

Regardless, the vampire commanders made the decision to retreat temporarily.

Looking at the retreating vampires, Alexei was momentarily dazed. He had actually defeated a vampire cavalry force six times his size with just over a hundred untrained cavalrymen!
Normally, it would take an equal number of extraordinary knights to contend with vampire cavalry.

He lowered his head and looked at the breech-loading spring-loaded gun in his hand.

This thing is much more useful than magic!
We need to import more in the future, including seeds of Holy Favor. Anyway, Fran has lowered tariffs on the Holy Alliance, restricting large-scale contact, and is importing large quantities of monster flesh and blood.

The price of Favored Seeds will definitely drop, and once the price drops, Bear Castle will be fighting vampires, so there will be demand, right?
Later, after he has trained a reliable cavalry force, he will equip them with breech-loading spring-loaded guns.

Not to mention those stubborn old guys at the Fatty Beef Burger, even the vampires probably wouldn't be a match for guns and cannons.

Of course, all of this is predicated on the premise that they can survive now.

Thinking of this, Alexei seemed to realize something, and he turned his head sharply to look at Groyev to the side: "What time is it?"

Groyev was puzzled: "9:30? What's wrong?"

"No, let's search along the main road for a while. Never mind, I'll do it myself."

A short while later, Alexei disappeared in a cloud of dust.

About half an hour later, he returned to his original spot with only a few cavalrymen.

"Everyone mount up! Everyone mount up!" he shouted. "The vampires didn't take the main road, damn it, they went straight for the Wind Chaser Path!"

(End of this chapter)