Chapter 1312 - 1230: First Contact (Part 2)
"No number?" Cataloni waved his hand, and an invisible force pushed the messenger human Knight in front of him. "Are you playing me?"
"No, no, no." The Knight shook his head quickly. "That’s just how the Holy Alliance is. The new regiment doesn’t have a number."
"You’re telling me this is a new regiment?" Cataloni glanced sideways at the battlefield. "A regiment that wasn’t even formed three months ago?"
On the battlefield, classic linear tactics had already unfolded.
Lines of varying lengths segmented the battlefield, with Cuirassier Cavalry and Blood Knights, Hunters and Skirmishers, all locked in combat.
The Helical Gun repeatedly fired iron balls, raising sand, trees, and water pillars, occasionally accompanied by a series of wailing vampires falling to the ground.
In the sky, amidst shadows on the ground, senior vampires enveloped in blood mist flew or shifted, leaving afterimages.
Every swipe of their half-meter-long blood claws left three or five Holy Alliance infantry wailing as they fell.
Of course, there were also moments when a careless senior vampire was targeted by Hunters and taken down with a shot.
In such fierce conditions, the Royal Palace Guards led by Cataloni didn’t crumble, but could these new soldiers withstand the pressure?
Don’t assume that vampires aren’t afraid of death. Fear of death and cowardice are common traits of all intelligent beings.
Within both sides’ formations, there were occasional deserters, almost unavoidable.
"Your Excellency..." casually breaking the human Knight’s limbs and throwing him aside, Cataloni floated two meters above the hilltop, hands behind his back, feet off the ground.
This wasn’t flying with wings but the unique telekinesis of the Manba clan.
At this moment, Cataloni was essentially lifting himself up.
However, most of the Manba clan were weak. Their telekinesis magic couldn’t even lift an egg, let alone themselves.
Cataloni could achieve this level because he was a pseudo-Prince-level vampire.
They came from another river channel (not the Nao’an River), landing between Piano Fortress and Fishing City.
Originally, he was supposed to continue by land, heading west to Piano Fortress, but he encountered these Holy Alliance troops halfway through.
Since they met, he decided to challenge them.
Cataloni had great confidence in the Royal Palace Guards under his command.
But even if they lost, it actually didn’t matter.
Upon encountering the Holy Alliance troops, he immediately ordered the Piano Fortress army to provide support.
Not the weak Imperial People’s army, but the Royal Court’s own three thousand vampire army.
Cataloni gazed at the battlefield, stroking his chin.
He had to admit, the speed of the Holy Alliance troops was faster than he imagined.
Not only in marching but also in their speed of impact on the battlefield.
"Hmm?" After this thought arose, Cataloni suddenly violated his own rule and rose another two meters.
This scared the nearby Blood Servant enough: "Your Excellency, come down quickly, beware of the Helical Guns!"
But Cataloni still didn’t heed the advice, observing for a long time before slowly descending: "I feel something’s off; their shooting frequency is odd."
Looking from mid-air, he’d find that during their advance, the originally parallel regiments became interwoven due to various accidents.
For example, the fourth regiment now charging at the forefront, almost entering the hundred-meter range.
The thick black line writhed on the green grassland, hardly stopping.
One must know, the battlefield involved bidirectional movement.
Meaning, sometimes you move, sometimes I move, sometimes we both move, sometimes neither moves.
Both sides must form their own local optimal solutions based on the current situation and then decide—shooting or advancing.
This could sometimes create a strange rhythm, resembling a drumbeat.
But they must follow one rule: the more shooting, the smaller the movement, the slower the speed.
Now Cataloni saw that compared to the previous respective ranges, most of the black lines moved further.
In other words, their shooting frequency was lower.
This isn’t right!
The Holy Alliance’s Helical Guns have been tested, especially the breech-loading Helical Guns, with extremely fast shooting speed and extremely high accuracy.
The only drawback is the ammunition capacity of only fifteen to twenty rounds.
Vampires could often manage twenty to thirty rounds, even forty to fifty rounds of ammunition.
High ammunition capacity only indicates a high upper limit but doesn’t determine the key to victory.
If the Holy Alliance infantry is saving ammunition, then they’re saving too much?
What exactly are they doing, and what’s the meaning behind the operation of keeping only one row of Long Halberd Soldiers at the back?
"This is very strange, you know?" Cataloni frowned, "Tell the reserves to advance early and prepare to support."
"Ah?"
"Do I need to repeat myself?"
"...Yes!"
The Blood Servant immediately flipped onto their horse and galloped towards the direction of the reserve flag.
As for Cataloni, he continued to pick up the telescope, observing the battlefield situation.
Primarily, he focused on observing the regiment closest to their battle line.
The fourth regiment followed the drumbeat, taking neat steps forward.
Lead bullets whizzed past them, occasionally taking down a comrade, yet their steps remained unbroken.
Why haven’t they started shooting? They’ve entered the firing range already, just like those Falan infantry exchanging fire.
What are you doing?
Two hundred meters, one hundred and fifty meters, one hundred meters.
Upon entering the hundred-meter mark, the Fourth Corps finally came to a halt.
The soldiers in the first row suddenly advanced two steps, then half-knelt, while the second row soldiers took a step forward with one leg bent.
The soldiers in the third row maintained a standing posture but suddenly shifted half a step to the side.
"What’s this for?" Cataloni couldn’t help but ask loudly.
Just as the vampires were equally puzzled, they saw the clockwork rifles on the shoulders of the Holy Alliance infantry finally lower.
The low-positioned first row, the mid-positioned second row, the high-positioned third row, and the fourth and fifth rows resting their gun barrels on the shoulders of the front-row soldiers.
Huh?
Wrong!
"Prepare for a three-round volley!"
"Praise the Holy Wind!"
"Praise the Holy Wind!!"
"Praise the Holy Wind!!!"
Within twenty seconds, the praises for the Holy Wind resounded almost every six seconds.
The soldiers mechanically opened the loading hatch, latched the cocks, turned the clockwork, and pulled the triggers at the instant the Holy Wind was released.
The continuous bang-bang sounds seemed to drown out all other sounds on the battlefield, leaving only the creaking of winding clockwork and the whoosh of lead bullets being fired.
With each praise, lead bullets were simultaneously fired from all five rows of gun muzzles from high, mid, and low positions.
It wasn’t a downpour, but more like a waterfall that submerged the Vampire Army’s front-line troops.
Six seconds is a clever time; it just allows a person or vampire to fall twitching, exposing the comrade behind him.
Twenty seconds ago, there was still a six-row thick line-up of bloodbound guns in the middle of long spear soldiers in front of the Fourth Corps.
Twenty seconds later, the six-row formation looked as if it were chewed up, scattered all over.
Looking around, only three to five dumbfounded lucky ones remained in the first row of the Vampire Army’s line-up.
The second row collapsed, with less than half remaining.
The third and fourth rows also had scattered vampires falling, only the fifth and sixth rows were relatively intact.
Over one-third of the troops were rendered ineffective at once, with nearly 40% instant casualties!
Even if these vampires were Royal Palace bodyguards, they couldn’t help but tremble on their feet at this moment.
Are these even humans?
Even Cataloni was momentarily dumbfounded, staring blankly.
Even Michelle was slightly dazed, as it was his first time using this tactic on the battlefield.
No wonder it was the tactic personally ordained by the Saint’s Grandson—close-range shooting and bayonet charge.
Despite being equipped with clockwork rifles, most soldiers, apart from a few elite troops, normally maintained five or even three shots per minute.
Some new recruits were indeed limited by their mana, more so it was due to considerations of total mana reserves.
Fifteen to twenty shots are basically the ammunition limit for a clockwork rifle soldier, what happens after firing them all in a minute?
When previously fighting against the Imperial People, this problem didn’t exist because the enemy was utterly inexperienced.
The infantry could completely fire all at once, as the enemy had no long-range counterattack means.
But now it’s different, as vampires have the ability to counterattack, so ammunition must be conserved even more carefully.
The most concentrated rain of bullets must be placed at the most critical and powerful moments.
Moreover, when clockwork rifles are firing, they are essentially depleting the soldiers’ mana.
Thus, excessively continuous high-frequency firings can easily lead to spirit shocks among the line infantry.
Mildly, they might faint; severely, they might go into shock or even become vegetative.
Due to terracotta alchemical clockwork boxes drawing mana less fiercely than the original, this easily leads to losing self-control.
Over the past two years, new recruits have become vegetative from shooting too fast each year.
Not everyone has as much mana as the Saint’s Grandson to fire continuously.
Of course, that refers to mana.
Thus, this tactic becomes quite apparent, using various methods like shooting, covering, advancing, and flanking to close in on the enemy.
In ensuring their morale, they aim to minimize shooting as much as possible.
Then at a killing position, within a short period, say half a minute, launch an extremely dense volley.
Thanks to the excellent performance of Kanni Di 1453, the best display of the Holy Alliance infantry is five volleys in thirty seconds.
Calculating with 100 clockwork rifles per row, 2500 lead bullets are fired within thirty seconds.
This ensures the enemy is overwhelmed in a flash and upsets their formation.
Then, the next task becomes very simple.
"Fix bayonets!"
"March into a run!"
"Charge!"