When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1228 The Battlefield of the New Era
"Come on."

Seeing that Hanske was still standing there in a daze, Pierre grabbed him by the back of his collar and ran.

Hansk stumbled along for a while before realizing, "Why are we running backwards? Shouldn't we be heading back to camp?"

“Are you stupid? Those are vampire hunters.” Despite his age, Pierre was still able to pull Hansk along at a brisk pace. “If you go down the mountain, you’ll enter the battle zone between the two sides’ hunters.”

Jaegers are essentially professional skirmishers responsible for reconnaissance, covering and dispersing enemy skirmishers, as well as capturing key terrain.

The Hunter Corps first took shape during the Battle of Twilight Bell Mountain in the Second Thousand River Valley War.

When Pierre fired the signal flare, the surrounding hunters would quickly gather in that direction.

Both sides will then quickly engage in fierce skirmishes.

Hansk and his group were still some distance from Piana Castle, and the new chapter was becoming somewhat complacent.

Adding to the fact that it was foggy weather, a few vampire hunters actually managed to sneak up here.

"Whoosh whoosh!"

The continuous gunfire rang out, tearing the thick fog to shreds.

Footsteps echoed from all directions through the thick fog, and dark figures appeared and disappeared behind the fog.

Hanske almost instantly forgot his dream; all he could hear was his heart pounding in his chest.

Although he followed the Holy Alliance army, he was a serviceman and would only stay in the rear when the war actually broke out.

This was his first time on the battlefield.

"Snapped."

A cloud of dust suddenly rose up at his feet, startling Hanske so much that he swerved and waved his hands frantically.

“Run this way, you little brat.” Pierre grabbed Hanske’s sleeve and tried to pull him away.

But in that instant, he seemed to smell something and immediately yelled, "Get down!"

Hanske immediately dropped to the ground, and a blood-red claw large enough to cover a person's face broke through the mist, sweeping across his head.

Feeling the stench of the wind overhead, Hanske's hair stood on end, and he lay prone on the ground, barely able to get up.

He looked up and saw that there really was a vampire in front of him.

Unlike the vampires of his traditional image, this vampire did not wear a silk high-necked dress or show a pale face.

He wore a simple cloth robe with armbands and a disc-shaped helmet, beneath which was a raven-beak mask, revealing only a pair of red eyes.

On his back was a backpack about 30 centimeters square, with a pipe of unknown material connecting it to his jinx.

What kind of outfit is this?
Before he could figure it out, the vampire's blood claw technique swung down again.

Hanske urinated, and warm liquid seeped from his crotch, but he was too frightened to move.

"boom--"

A crisp cracking sound came first, and before Hansk could react, Bloodclaw was already far away from him.

The vampire hunter collapsed to the ground in agony, blue smoke billowing from the wound on his arm, his body convulsing.

Emerging from behind the large rock, the hunter put down his wind-up musket: "Which regiment are you from?"

“I am Pierre, the service commander of the 5th Army Corps Service Battalion. This is Sergeant Hansk, a serviceman.” Pierre replied immediately.

The Holy Alliance hunter, who had been nonchalant, suddenly shuddered upon hearing the name of the Fifth Army Corps' service chief.

"Ahem, then you should hide in the mountains and be careful." The hunter's voice softened. "Or... never mind, you can go back on your own."

After saying that, he bent over and walked along the bushes and groves towards the direction where the gunfire was most intense.

Despite finding it strange, Pierre didn't think anything of it and dragged Hanske up the mountain.

Since the vampires have already appeared in the back mountain and the way down the mountain is blocked, the only option is to hide in the mountain.

Stepping on the gravel, the two found a patch of low grass where hunters were lying in ambush, and only then did they dare to lie down.

As the sun rose, the thick fog had dissipated considerably.

Hanske, however, dared not take off his pants and could only lie soaking wet on the haystack, gazing at the hillside.

On the small hill next to the camp, pairs of hunters could be seen firing freely by the fence, by the bushes, and behind the rocks.

Lead bullets flew wildly, breaking branches and shattering rocks into spiderweb-like patterns, with clockwork bullets occasionally being thrown out as well.

However, as the Holy Alliance hunters and skirmishers arrived, the vampire hunters were falling and retreating one after another.

The strong stench of blood wafted on the wind, even reaching Hanske's nose.

“These vampires are more elite than we thought.” Pierre, standing nearby, pulled out a pair of binoculars from somewhere. “The hunters are all sharpshooters, and they’re using breech-loading guns. Yet, their casualties are basically even.”

Are vampires really that powerful?

"That's not necessarily true. Free shooting isn't a skill; the real test is on the battlefield."

As if he had seen something, Pierre suddenly stopped speaking, only frowning as he looked down the mountain. Hanske couldn't see anything clearly, and could only anxiously and fearfully peek out from the haystack, peering down below.

The hazy mist had somehow taken on a faint pink hue, and under the morning light, it even shimmered with a subtle purple glow.

The blood mist arrived before the vampire army did.

"Let me see, let me see."

Because he had a good personal relationship with Pierre and was genuinely curious, Hanske couldn't help but plead.

Pierre, being good-natured, handed him the binoculars.

Nestled between two mountains, amidst puddles and shrubs at the foot of the mountain, lies a battlefield, interspersed with a village of several houses.

This is the current battlefield. As for the troop strength of the two sides, Hansk knows that his side has 5500 troops.

A battle group of infantry, plus 300 cuirassiers to support them.

Of course, these orderly soldiers are not included.

From afar, the vampire army could only be seen as a rising cloud of blood mist slowly approaching.

Outside the camp, the soldiers who used to sit around the campfire drinking coffee like old men seemed like completely different people.

They quickly marched out of the camp in columns, and upon reaching the designated position, immediately switched from columns to lines.

Row after row, column after column, in the blink of an eye, two intersecting battle lines, two hundred meters apart, were arranged on the battlefield.

Hanske counted twice; the Holy Alliance side had 100 people in each row and 6 people in each column.

Six hundred people is the number of personnel in a military corps after the military reform.

The three hundred men on the left were commanded by the left deputy corps commander, and the three hundred men on the right were commanded by the right deputy corps commander.

This kind of 300-person formation is sometimes referred to as a half-corps.

This allows them to break into the enemy lines and launch an attack from the left and right, forming a horizontal line and then a vertical line.

This horizontal formation is the smallest infantry combat unit of the Holy Alliance.

The current clockwork guns already have the foundation of the three-line formation from the Napoleonic era, so it is not impossible to use that kind of line formation tactic.

But Horn still insisted on using six rows because three rows were too thin for the Extraordinary Knights.

For cavalry from the original world of Horn, a three-row formation is perfectly adequate.

Because the cavalry in that world were mortals, they would only launch a charge when the infantry formation was unstable.

Otherwise, it's just like delivering food, unless it's at the level of the Ironclad Cavalry.

But in this world, knights who drink potions and receive divine spells can sometimes charge straight into a complete formation if they're in a good mood.

Moreover, based on Horn's personal understanding of their charging power, they truly possessed an extremely strong ability to break through enemy lines.

Therefore, for the elite cavalry in this world, especially cavalry units above the rank of square-banner knights, three rows are a bit too thin.

Horn couldn't assume that he would encounter squires and flag bearers in every battle, so he adopted a six-row formation.

The first five rows were musketeers, and the last row was halberdiers and axe-wielders carrying short muskets.

They rarely participated in gunfights, using them only for defense against enemy knights and for breaking through enemy lines when bayonet fighting began.

Therefore, they are also known as assault troops.

In different battle groups, different superhumans will take on the role of assault soldier.

For example, the Wolf Sergeant of the Wolf Chapter, the Shadow Raven Sergeant of the Shadow Raven Chapter, and the Armored Monk of the Faith Chapter.

Of course, they are occasionally transferred and dispatched to carry out special operations in small teams.

However, this is a new chapter, and they haven't yet developed their own unique characteristics, or they might as well be like the Black Crown Chapter, without any special extraordinary units.

As the new Holy Alliance battle group completed its formation, the opposing vampire army also came into view.

Compared to the Holy Alliance's six-row formation, the vampires were clearly more confident in using a four-row formation.

Despite being exposed to the sun, they were dressed in black, wearing hooded suits with helmets on top and masks on top.

It's not that sunlight has absolutely no effect, but at least the vampires can move around normally and fire their guns, which is already quite remarkable.

As both sides entered the battlefield, the Holy Alliance's cuirassiers were deployed, and the Royal Court's Imperial Knights charged out with a roar.

Despite it being an encounter, both sides immediately and tacitly chose to engage in battle simultaneously.

"Uuuuuu——"

"Thump, thump-thump, thump, thump-thump!"

The war drums and bugles sounded simultaneously, dust rose from the ground, and the battle lines began to move slowly forward.

(End of this chapter)