Ironvine Territory (Forty-Four)

"Your Excellency, look!"

An officer under Rusa pointed to the rocky hillside on the side of the valley, and everyone, including Rusa, turned their gaze there.

"Oh my god, what on earth happened?"

In their eyes, the rock face on the mountain began to peel away, with huge boulders falling from the rock face and rolling down the mountain.

Even from several kilometers away, Rusa and his men could hear the thunderous roar of the rolling stones.

And all of this was not only seen by them, but by everyone in the valley, whether they were Southern Noble Coalition or Ironvine Territory, whether they were all soldiers or officers, everyone saw it clearly, a scene that resembled a natural disaster.

Victor, watching the dramatic changes in the distant mountains, said to Lenster beside him, "What's going on? Are they going to go this far?"

How did you manage to do that?

Lenster was also stunned. Logically speaking, the soldiers left in the mountain cave were only tasked with clearing the waterway; they shouldn't have been able to achieve such results.

Viscount Ferry changed drastically. "So many rocks have rolled down the mountain. If this is combined with the subsequent floods, it could easily form a mudslide. This is something that boats cannot handle."

Victor and Lenster quickly realized the problem as well. At this point, they couldn't worry about the other two camps anymore; their priority was to protect the central camp.

Lenster quickly joined Viscount Ferry in informing the troops to fortify the camp and concentrate the troops in higher ground.

Victor was in a real predicament. Most of Victor troops were in the other two camps, especially the right camp, which was right next to the collapsed mountain. But even if he sent people to evacuate them now, it would probably be too late.

Victor slammed his fist on the table supporting the sand table, losing control and smashing it so hard it collapsed.

The sand table of the valley, which was originally placed in the center of the table, slid to the ground. Strangely enough, the same section of the mountain on the sand table collapsed.

Victor watched as the mud-covered mountain turned into a pile of clods that filled the entire valley. Fortunately, most of the clods fell into the lower-lying Rear Valley, and the three camps in the Front Valley were not severely damaged.

Seeing this, Victor felt a little comforted.

He looked to the right side of the valley, where the mountain wall was now obscured by dust and debris from the collapsed rocks, making it impossible to see anything.

Victor reassured himself, "Marvin is capable of handling emergencies, and Foss is willing to cooperate with him. They should be able to ensure that the troops in the right flank camp do not suffer too many losses."

Just then, Victor noticed that the smoke and dust had suddenly decreased dramatically. "What happened?"

Just as Victor was wondering, he saw a huge hole revealed by the collapsed mountain. A large amount of water rushed out from below the hole. It was this water that reduced the dust and revealed the broken mountain.

Victor's eyes widened as the water gushing from below the cave grew stronger and stronger, quickly forming a raging torrent that swept towards the valley, carrying with it pebbles and mud.

Upon witnessing this scene, both the soldiers reinforcing their camp and the retreating Allied Army soldiers wore expressions of terror.

At the right flank camp, Marvin and Foss were leading their soldiers in a frantic effort to fortify the camp, adding another layer of rock or other heavy objects to the original side walls.

The massive mudslide was moving extremely fast and had already rushed into the valley.

The first to be hit was the right flank of the Allied Army. Even though Asur had given the order to retreat as soon as the anomaly occurred, a large number of troops were still in low-lying areas. In just a moment, these soldiers were completely swallowed up by the towering, turbid waves.

Dawan, who had already retreated to the high ground, was filled with grief and rage as he watched his troops being swallowed up. He coughed up a mouthful of blood and fainted.

Asur and Melendo no longer cared about the troops that had been swallowed up. They knew that staying in the valley was tantamount to suicide. Melendo immediately pulled Dawan onto his warhorse and left first.

Asur then ordered the remaining troops to abandon their supplies and speed up their escape, hoping to leave the valley as soon as possible. Fortunately, they were not far from the valley's outskirts.

Meanwhile, Marvin's camp was slowly being swallowed by the mudslide. Fortunately, the reinforced sides of the camp slowed the impact of the mudslide and blocked most of the rubble and debris.

The remaining floodwaters that rushed into the camp were manageable for Marvin and his men. Using the boats they had prepared in advance and the high platforms, most of the troops were saved, although they had to abandon supplies and equipment.

At this moment, the turbid waves in the valley were still surging, continuously flowing deeper into the valley.

On the central camp side, Rusa witnessed his troops, which he had sent out to attack the central camp, being swallowed by a mudslide during their retreat. He swayed and almost fell to the ground, but fortunately his men caught him immediately.

"Governor, let's run! Fortunately, the mudslide is slowing down. If we hurry, we should be able to get the rest of our troops out of the valley."

Rusa could only suppress his grief and indignation and quickly ordered a retreat.

The mudslide was still spreading inside the valley, but its speed had slowed down considerably, and Victor also noticed that the water flow in the exposed cave in the mountain had decreased significantly.

The central camp, being the highest point and having undergone emergency reinforcement, was largely unaffected by the mudslide; only a few high points on the periphery were washed away.

Victor's heart skipped a beat; he deduced that the mudslide might have reached its peak and was about to recede.

He immediately informed Lenster and Viscount Ferry, and the group began trying to communicate with the other two camps. The enemy had already retreated, and although they didn't know the extent of the damage to those two camps, they had to find a way to leave the valley, or who knew what might happen next.

However, the mudslide completely covered the valley, destroying everything including the roads. Although they managed to send several groups of brave messengers to the two camps to make contact, the situation remained unresolved.

But now Victor and his men were faced with a situation where the army could neither retreat nor advance, and the ships and rafts they had prepared were completely useless.

Lenster was extremely frustrated. "I really underestimated things at first. I actually thought the flood would flow according to our plan. I never expected it to turn out like this. I was just too naive."

Victor patted Lenster on the shoulder and comforted him, saying, "Lenster, just as we said at the beginning, no plan can go perfectly. The result so far is acceptable; the enemy suffered heavy losses and had to retreat."

Viscount Ferry chimed in, "Yes, but we should stop worrying about the enemy now and try to get our troops out of the valley."

Fortunately, the mudslide stopped after a few hours. The group came up with a solution: they used the camp's wall to build a makeshift pontoon bridge across the mudslide-swept road, connecting the other two camps. Their plan was for all troops to slowly evacuate from the left-hand camp via the pontoon bridge.

Victor and his men finally learned about the losses at the other camp. "Fortunately, although a lot of supplies were lost, the casualties caused by the mudslide were not significant, aside from the combat casualties."

Viscount Ferry also breathed a sigh of relief. The troops in the other two camps were reinforcements brought by Victor. If they suffered too much loss because of this plan, he would have a hard time explaining it.

"Our camp behind the valley was spared from the mudslide, and there's plenty of food there, so the troops' supplies should be secured for now."

Victor nodded. "In that case, let's retreat quickly. The morale of the troops is not high right now, and we can't cross the mudslide to pursue the enemy."

There are at least 20,000 enemy troops buried beneath this valley. A plague is sure to break out soon, and this place will become a dead end in no time.

The sooner the troops withdraw, the safer they will be.

The other two agreed with Victor's opinion, and the troops quickly crossed the pontoon bridge and began a slow withdrawal.

Meanwhile, Rusa, who had retreated to the outskirts of the valley, summoned the commanders of the left and right wings of the Allied Army and learned from them about the losses suffered by his troops.

Adding to the losses from previous battles, the entire Allied Army lost half of their troops and the vast majority of their supplies. This figure made Rusa so angry that he vomited blood.

"Where are those traitors? Bring them to me immediately, especially that Regimental Commander Suas?"

But soon his men told Rusa that before the retreat, the Independent Regiment of the Ironvine Territory rebels had been swallowed up by a mudslide, and the officers of the independent Allied Army had also been left in the valley.

Now Rusa couldn't even find anyone to vent his anger on, and he simply fainted.