I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

The gloomy sky perfectly mirrored her mood at that moment.

It was only then that she realized, a beat later, that she was lying on her back amidst a pile of rubble.

The broken bricks and tiles on her back hurt her terribly.

—Have I... passed out...?

How she fainted, what exactly happened... Elodie had no clue about any of these things.

She didn't even have a clear idea of ​​how long she had been unconscious.

She felt as if she had been unconscious for a second, and then as if she had been unconscious for a whole year.

"Well……!"

She blinked again, mobilizing all the nerves in her brain, trying to squeeze out her memories and figure out the current situation.

However, the recurring headache made it impossible for her to concentrate.

She had never experienced such a severe headache in her life!

It felt as if several burly men were swinging giant hammers and smashing them on her head hundreds of times.

It not only gave her a headache, but also caused her tinnitus.

A constant buzzing sound emanated from deep within its ears, as if an entire beehive resided within them.

Elodie had to endure the excruciating pain and tinnitus to sort out the tangled mess in her mind.

Finally… whether it was because his consciousness returned or something else, fragments of memory finally surfaced from the depths of his mind—

A strange handcart...

A large wooden barrel emitting the smell of gunpowder...

A rocket is flying towards us...

The firelight was so bright it almost blinded people...

Elodie, remembering everything, suddenly widened her eyes.

—This is not the time to lie on the floor and sleep…!

A strong sense of crisis invigorated him.

She instinctively moved her limbs... her limbs were still intact, and there were no fractures.

She faithfully fulfilled the duty of a swordsman—never easily dropping her sword, no matter the circumstances or crisis.

She always kept Yamato no Kami Yasusada firmly in her grasp.

With a slight movement of her right hand, she immediately sensed the presence of Yamato no Kami Yasusada.

The solid feel of the handle brought her some comfort and calmed her anxiety.

She struggled to sit up, propped herself up with the knife, and then gave herself a quick check-up.

The light blue haori was stained grayish-brown, and its original color was no longer visible.

Apart from a scraped forehead and a little blood, she was unharmed.

To survive such a horrific explosion with only minor injuries is truly a stroke of luck!

After checking her own condition, she raised her eyes and began to scan her surroundings.

Despite having prepared herself mentally, the scene before her still made her gasp in shock.

In short—Akasaka Mikado's Koryo Gate is now a complete ruin!

The city was devastated... The once majestic city gate had vanished, replaced by broken walls and ruins.

Witnessing this scene, Elodie was stunned, her eyes wide with shock.

Her emotions had not yet accepted the tragedy; the feeling of "fear" was still overwhelming her mind, but her rationality had caught up with reality.

She knew very well that now was not the time to be sentimental!

So, forcing herself to calm down, she shouted anxiously:

"Mr. Kondo! Mr. Shimada! Where are you?! Is anyone still alive?!"

No one responded...

She felt a sinking feeling in her heart and quickly asked again.

At this moment, she finally heard the response she wanted:

"I...I'm here..."

With a soft "whoosh," not far from Elodie, Kondo Shusuke struggled to sit up, the sand and mud covering him falling to the ground with a soft "whoosh."

"Elodie... are you alright?"

"I'm fine! Mr. Kondo, are you alright?"

Elodie rushed to his side and helped him up.

Kondo Shusuke grinned.

"My back hurts so much... but thankfully I can still move."

Elodie nervously scrutinized him from head to toe.

She breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that the other person was unharmed, conscious, and able to stand safely.

At this moment, as if a chain reaction had occurred, the survivors at the scene awoke one by one, and various sounds immediately followed:

"Ugh... my head hurts so much...!"

"Hey! Come quick! Someone's trapped under rocks!"

"Damn it...! How could this happen...!"

"What tricks did the rebels use?! Why did the imperial gate collapse?!"

"Is it a cannon?"

"No, impossible! Cannons couldn't possibly have such terrifying destructive power!"

……

Groans, wails, screams, cries for help... the air was thick with terror.

The sudden collapse of Goryeo Gate left them in shock.

On this basis, the fact that they "did not know what methods the enemy had used" made them even more fearful and uneasy.

Elodie was standing on the edge of the gate before the explosion, so she had a very clear view.

The enemy did not use artillery, but instead used a more primitive weapon: bombs!

Those wooden barrels are all giant bombs! They'll explode if they get even a little bit of fire on them!

Elodie didn't understand military technology, but she had heard that making bombs wasn't difficult.

With raw materials such as gunpowder and sugar, even a child can make a large-scale bomb.

She was very surprised to learn that the white sugar she often ate could be used to make bombs—which is why she had a deep impression of the weapon "bomb".

A bomb that could fill eight large handcarts... God knows how much gunpowder and sugar it would have taken.

The enemy forces really went all out to destroy Akasaka Mikado.

Fortunately, this was not a massive explosion that blew the entire city gate into the sky—if it had been an explosion of that magnitude, Elodie and the others would have been reduced to ashes long ago.

The explosion just now only destroyed the foundation of Goryeo Gate.

As the saying goes, "A thousand-mile dike can be destroyed by an ant hole."

With a gaping hole blown into its crucial foundation, the Goryeo Gate's organizational structure could no longer sustain itself, leading to its direct disintegration, collapse, and ruin...

Because the collapse was gradual, it provided a buffer, which allowed Elodie and the others to escape with their lives.

Just then, a cry of surprise caught Elodie's attention:

"Mr. Shimada! Mr. Shimada! Wake up!"

Upon hearing this, a mixture of joy and worry immediately appeared on Elodie's face.

She was happy to have found Shimada Kai.

What worries her is... judging from that exclamation, Shimada Kai's current situation is not optimistic...

She ran towards the sound and immediately saw her comrade lying among the rubble.

Shimada Kai had his eyes closed and his face was covered in blood.

No matter how the soldiers around him called out to him, he remained motionless and showed no sign of waking up.

Only his slightly heaving chest proved that the flame of his life had not yet been extinguished.

After a brief period of anxiety, Elodie made a decisive decision:

"Find all the wounded! Send them to the rear for treatment!"

Her voice was filled with impatience.

The Koryo Gate of Akasaka Mikado was blown up, and the garrison suffered heavy losses... It's easy to imagine what Elodie and her group will face next!

Elodie now only hoped that the enemy's offensive would slow down, giving them a chance to catch their breath.

What a pity... her worst fears have come true.

"Kill them all!" (Russian)

"The city gates they relied on are gone! If we don't attack now, when will we? Follow me! Let's crush the shogunate's lackeys!"

Rapid footsteps, excited shouts... a large force of enemy soldiers, a mix of Russian soldiers and special forces, charged toward them!

Now that Goryeo Gate no longer exists, engaging the enemy in battle on these ruins would be the worst possible strategy.

Kondo Shusuke immediately gave the order:

"Quick! Backwards! Back to the ferry gate!"

Under the orderly command of Kondo Shusuke and Elodie, the surviving soldiers, along with all the wounded they could find, hurriedly retreated to the second gate of Akasaka-Mikado before the enemy arrived.

Although they managed to retreat to Dulu Gate in time, the real nightmare was yet to come!