Full-Scale Assault

Before reaching the Red Waterwheel Village fortress, Maria's only clear idea of what a battlefield was like came from the oil paintings hanging on the walls.

The warriors in those paintings usually had stab wounds or arrow wounds, with a trickle of blood. There were never wounds with torn flesh exposing organs and broken bones, twisted or charred corpses, dark-red earth, let alone the nauseating stench of decay.

At last, Maria understood why, whenever she asked Frederick to tell her about his experiences on the battlefield, he always gave vague answers and quickly changed the subject.

The battlefield was no subject for satisfying curiosity. It was a brutal place filled with pain and death.

When Snellman saw the Rhine Alliance forces leave the fortress and launch a counterattack, he snorted and ordered, "Send in all the Bear Cavalry! Hit them from the flank!"

The war bears of the Kingdom of Suomi were kept half-fed. If they ate too much, they would hibernate; if they were too hungry, they would have no strength. This way, they stayed at their most ferocious.

The thousand Bear Cavalry were Snellman's trump card. If they crushed this counterattacking force, they could shatter the Rhine Alliance's morale completely. The fortress would not be able to hold out either, so this was the perfect moment to commit them.

The Bear Cavalry surged forward in an overwhelming wave, like a sea of roaring bears, unstoppable.

"Roar!"

The war bears at the front suddenly stopped, as if something ahead terrified them. No matter how hard their riders prodded them, they wouldn't take another step. The bears behind piled up against them, bunching together in a crush.

At that moment, the whistle of incoming fire cut through the air.

Following the coordinates Theodore had provided, Reiner saturated the spot where