Only when Louis rode his warhorse across the southern stretch of Snow Ridge and saw the Red Tide banners fluttering in the bitter wind ahead did he finally let out a long breath.
Seventeen days...
He had spent seventeen full days traveling through wind and snow with the Flamethrower Corps and the knights.
He had set out from the Red Cloud Fief and rescued Veris;
then sealed off the Brood Hive rift in northwestern Snowpeak Commandery;
severed seven insect tide routes along the way and established nine temporary fire-support outposts;
coordinated supplies of Demon Explosive Bombs through the night and reinforced mountain passes by hand;
personally led five charges and organized more than a dozen strategic rescue operations.
Now, at last, they had barely managed to "keep them outside the gates."
Though the insect corpses remained active day and night, a network of firepower had been established from the western ridges to the tundra. Louis had stationed flamethrower troops and knights at fortresses and natural defensive positions throughout the region.
Out of the chaos, he had begun to shape a frontier battle line that could be "held, withdrawn from, and reinforced."
Above the iron-built passes, Red Tide banners snapped in the wind. The Flamethrower Knight Squad and the knights took turns patrolling, with a sentry post every few hundred meters, each stocked with oil flasks, Demon Explosive Bombs, and vibration sensors.
"The northwestern gorge has been sealed."
"The fourth firebreak at Snowbreak Hill is complete."
"The insect corpses haven't breached the main line in the past three days."
His adjutant delivered the reports one by one. Louis merely nodded.
"Finally, it looks something like a defensive line," he murmured, his voice so quiet the wind nearly scattered it.
Over the past few days, faint dark circles had formed beneath his