Action

The assassins of House of Saluzzo raced through the mountain forests, the shriek of shells sounding behind them—followed by violent explosions that seemed ready to reduce all of New Basilicata to rubble.

That was the combined work of the airships and the English artillery. At this rate, the mountain city, lacking reinforced concrete and supported only by magic arrays, would sooner or later have its hard shell pried open.

Cherinina's beautiful eyes were filled with worry. "The enemy has already climbed the walls."

Valentina chuckled softly. "This is probably exactly the battle your father envisioned: forcing an enemy with superior weapons and equipment into Urban Warfare, where the wolves' close-combat abilities can be brought out to the fullest."

It was a helpless choice, but also one of only two options available to the Texans. The other was to retreat into the wilderness, use the mobility of the cowboy cavalry to carry out constant raids and guerrilla attacks, and force the English to compromise through the exorbitant costs of maintaining order.

But without Lothar's help, neither plan had much chance of succeeding. After all, the English had always been experts at fighting security wars.

Valentina gently patted the girl's shoulder. "All right, stop watching. Leave the frontal battlefield to those people. Honestly, I never dreamed that one day I'd fight alongside the Radiant Knight as a comrade."

As terrifying as she was as an enemy, she was just as dependable as an ally.

"How could those Englishmen's worthless rabble possibly be a match for the Radiant Knight?"

Her absolute certainty gave Cherinina confidence. They quickened their pace, and in a little over a quarter of an hour, they had reached the mountainside.

Across from them, separated by a stream and a neatly marching English unit advancing up the mountain, lay the