I only wanted to retire, but I ended up becoming an extremely popular character.

Chapter 94 Advance

Zod was leading his soldiers at full speed toward Lieutenant Patrick's location.

The dense footsteps pounded on the parched earth, raising a trail of yellow dust.

Cassius and Hitis stood guard on either side of Zod, leading their troops in a wedge formation as they charged forward.

All the soldiers followed closely behind the figure charging at the forefront.

Their eyes scanned their surroundings constantly, alert to any potential threats.

Suddenly, Hitis's pupils contracted slightly.

As a sniper, she has an extraordinary sensitivity to subtle changes on the battlefield.

On the flank, several figures were moving quickly. Although they tried their best to hide by using the terrain to their advantage, she still managed to spot them.

"Lieutenant Zod!" Hitis lowered her voice and spoke rapidly, "A small force of Holy Kingdom troops is flanking us from the flank, it seems they want to outflank us!"

Bad news keeps coming one after another.

Cassius gritted his teeth, his brows furrowed: "Let me take a small team to deal with the trouble on the right wing!"

"If we engage in frontal combat and then their flanks are harassed, the consequences will be unimaginable!"

However, Zod did not stop and shook his head decisively: "No, we are already at a disadvantage in terms of troop strength, and we absolutely cannot rashly divide our forces."

Even before Hitis's reminder, Zod had already noticed that two Holy Kingdom squads were attempting to flank O from both sides.

However, he didn't say it at the time because he didn't want to shake morale.

Zod paused, his gaze sweeping across the left and right flanks, before calmly analyzing, "The enemy has clearly underestimated us. If they don't divide their forces and instead send all their troops forward, this battle will be very difficult for us."

"But he deliberately divided his forces, which means that the pressure on our main battlefield will be greatly reduced."

"Although our flanks will be harassed by the Holy Kingdom, as long as our offensive is fast enough to crush them head-on before their flanks can close in, victory will be ours."

At this point, Zod's lips even curled up slightly: "In a way, the enemy commander did us a great favor."

Zod's words sounded somewhat risky, even sophistical.

Because all of this is based on the premise of "quickly defeating them head-on".

If Zod cannot lead his troops to quickly defeat the enemy forces in front, they will be attacked from three sides, and that will be when they are truly in dire straits.

But Zod had no other choice at this point.

He cannot divide his forces, as that would only further disperse his already thin strength, making it even more difficult to quickly break through the front.

If the war drags on, reinforcements from the Holy Kingdom, perhaps an entire division, will arrive in droves. By then, leaving this battlefield alive will be a pipe dream.

Rather than waiting for reinforcements of the Holy Kingdom's commandery level to arrive, Zod would rather take some risks and defeat the Holy Kingdom's army head-on, opening a path to survival for the town of Segner.

Upon hearing this, Cassius's tense expression finally relaxed a bit, and he let out a long breath: "As expected of Lieutenant Zod, he had planned this all along."

Hitis remained silent, gazing at Zod's resolute back, silently thinking: Indeed, as long as Lieutenant Zod is there, all dangers seem so insignificant.

The troops continued to advance, getting closer and closer to the Holy Land Front.

Lieutenant Patrick lay prone behind the slope on the reverse side, his binoculars pressed tightly against his eyes.

Through the telescope, the outline of the Imperial squad became clearer and clearer: 300 meters, 250 meters, 230 meters, 200 meters...

rice----

Lieutenant Patrick did not order his soldiers to fire because he wanted to get closer. On the one hand, the accuracy of the rifles would drop significantly at a distance, and on the other hand, shooting at a long distance would prematurely reveal their firing positions.

However, when the Empire's army was about 200 meters away from the Holy Kingdom's lines...

Zod suddenly shouted, "Warrant Lieutenant Hitis, Warrant Lieutenant Cassius, you two immediately lead your teams to disperse, maintain skirmish formation, and advance under alternating cover."

Before the words were even finished, the originally dense ranks quickly spread out, the soldiers lowered their bodies, spread out from one another, and leaped forward in an irregular skirmish line.

"Damn, this lieutenant isn't completely useless!"

Lieutenant Patrick watched helplessly as the Imperial army suddenly scattered about two hundred meters from their position, their once dense formation turning into a loose skirmish line. He couldn't help but curse inwardly.

He had originally planned that the enemy would charge straight at him, and once they were within a hundred meters, a volley of gunfire would take them all down.

But now, the squad's commander has actually made the right tactical choice at a crucial moment.

but----

Patrick smirked coldly: "So what if you scatter? My advantage will remain unchanged."

Like a hunter patiently waiting for its prey to fall into its net, he lay in ambush behind the reverse slope, his eyes fixed on the figure leading the charge.

The distance is rapidly closing: 150 meters, 100 meters, 80 meters, 70 meters —

Lieutenant Patrick took a deep breath and reached for a rifle beside him.

He pulled back the bolt, pushed the bullet into the chamber, braced the butt against his shoulder, and steadily aimed the sights at the Imperial lieutenant running at the front.

Aim, hold your breath, pull the trigger—"Bang!"

A blinding flash of light shot from the muzzle, smoke billowed, and the bullet tore through the air, flying straight toward Zod's forehead.

For a well-trained shooter, a distance of forty meters is but a fleeting moment.

However, just as the bullet was about to pierce Zod's forehead, a longsword suddenly appeared in its path.

The crisp sound of metal colliding exploded in the air.

Sparks flew as the bullet slammed into the sword, its trajectory abruptly altered, whistling as it flew diagonally away, its destination unknown.

"This Imperial lieutenant does have some skill."

Although Lieutenant Patrick felt a slight displeasure that the bullet had missed Zod, he was not too surprised.

"when!"

His gaze fell on the arm of the young officer who was leading the charge.

From the armband on Zod's arm, he knew that the Imperial lieutenant in front of him belonged to the "Imperial Blade" legion.

If even a lieutenant in the "Imperial Blade" legion doesn't have this much strength, then he would be extremely disappointed.

Patrick sneered, his contempt slightly diminished, replaced by an even stronger fighting spirit.

The more challenging the prey, the more satisfying the hunt.

Almost at the same instant that Patrick pulled the trigger, the Holy Kingdom soldiers lying in ambush on the slope opened fire in unison.

A barrage of gunfire erupted, and smoke billowed up, weaving into a gray-white fog.

Bullets rained down like a storm, tearing through the air and hurtling towards the charging Imperial army with deathly screams.

The Imperial soldiers at the very front suddenly froze, blood mist splattering from their chests or heads, before collapsing straight to the ground.

Some people staggered forward two steps after being shot, and finally knelt down helplessly, their rifles slipping from their hands and falling to the ground.

The blood quickly seeped into the parched earth, leaving dark brown stains.

However, no one stopped.

The soldiers behind them did not hesitate to step over the still-warm bodies of their comrades and continue forward.

There was no sign of retreat in their eyes; on the contrary, their fighting spirit burned even brighter.

Before them stood a banner that would never fall, and that banner was Zod!

The imperial soldiers also raised their rifles.

As they charged, they returned fire to the Holy Kingdom's positions on the slope.

The gun muzzles spewed bursts of fire, and the bullets flew in the opposite direction, kicking up clouds of dust from the earthen mound in front of the Holy Kingdom soldiers.

Many Holy Kingdom soldiers were also shot and lying on the slope, unable to get up.

The battlefield was instantly filled with gunfire, shouts of battle, and smoke.

Sunlight filtered through the billowing smoke and dust, dividing this desolate landscape into a battlefield of interwoven light and shadow.