EBE Chapter 1351 Reinforcements
Chapter 1351 Reinforcements
He struggled forward a step, the chains tightened, and his voice suddenly rose, filled with a hysterical curse: "Kill me! Otherwise, I swear by the souls of my Slavic ancestors, and by the blood of my Shakharnov family, I curse you!"
"As long as I have a breath left, as long as my father is alive, we will definitely come back! We will use the most cruel methods to make you, Xiao Ce, and all of you East Asian humiliations pay for today's humiliation a thousandfold!"
"I want to see your cities reduced to ashes, hear the cries of your loved ones, and pile your heads into a mound of skulls! Your women and your children will be reduced to the lowest of slaves! I swear! Kill me! Otherwise, this hatred and enmity will never end!"
Malicious curses and threats sprayed out like venom, echoing in the empty hall.
Rhys's face was contorted with extreme anger and humiliation, his eyes burning with a destructive flame, as if he wanted to devour Handa alive.
The surrounding soldiers looked furious, their fingers gripping their weapons tightly, waiting for Han Da's order to kill this arrogant defeated general on the spot.
Han Da remained expressionless.
This level of humiliation might not even qualify as humiliation...
He even tilted his head slightly, as if carefully listening to every syllable of Rhys's words, or as if listening to nothing more than insignificant noise.
The roar was temporarily interrupted by Reese's violent coughing due to agitation and injury!
Han Dacai spoke slowly, his voice not loud, but like a cold block of iron hitting hard ground, instantly drowning out all the noise:
"Finished?"
His gaze was as sharp as a hawk's, piercing through Rhys's rage and striking the unmasked fear deep within his soul.
"Your curses, your vows, are worthless. If cursing were effective... wouldn't we all have been cursed to death long ago...?"
When Han Da said this, there was a hint of mockery in his eyes...
Handa said calmly, "The Shahar family? The glory of the Slavs? They are being trampled underfoot by our army's iron hooves. As for you..."
Handa took a step forward, getting closer to Rhys. Rhys instinctively tried to step back, but was firmly held down by the soldiers behind him.
"You are merely a prisoner, a defeated general. Your life and death, your worth, are decided by the victors. To kill you?"
Han Da's lips curled into a faint, cold smile. It wasn't mockery, but rather a condescending indifference: "Easy as turning one's hand. But that's a blessing, not fear. I'm keeping you alive so you can witness firsthand how everything you're loyal to, and the revenge you've been dreaming of, will be reduced to ashes in the face of absolute power."
He leaned slightly forward, lowering his voice even further, yet each word was clear, each syllable like a knife piercing his heart: "Your father, Shahar, is now like a stray dog, fleeing for his life in the wind, snow, and mud, pursued by Wei Wuji's air force."
"As for his 'reinforcements'? That's nothing but the ravings of a dying man. And you, Nikolayevich Ries, all you can do is live, keep your eyes wide open and watch as your kingdom crumbles, watch as your ambitions vanish. Your hatred? It's nothing but the lament of a loser, not even worthy to be a jarring note in our victory symphony."
Han Da straightened up, no longer looking at Rhys, whose face was pale and whose body was trembling violently with anger and some deeper fear. He waved to the soldiers escorting him and his tone returned to its usual cold and hard tone!
"Take him away. Keep a close watch on him, don't let him die. His life should be saved until Xiao Shen returns, until Shahar is beheaded, to become the final sacrifice to commemorate the heroes of this battle."
"Yes!" the soldiers roared in response, and without any hesitation dragged Rhys, who was almost paralyzed with extreme humiliation and despair, away.
Rhys roared once again, his blood-red eyes fixed on Han Da's back.
"You'll regret this... You think you can secure the victory with just two wins? Naive! So naive..."
"Let me tell you... you'd better not kill me... I want to see you all destroyed... destroyed together..."
"Hahaha, you think your iron birds are so advanced... We have weapons far superior to yours... When the time comes, come and kill us, I'll see how tough your mouths really are!"
"I will watch you...we will watch your downfall..."
Han Da ignored the venomous gazes and vicious insults directed at him from behind...
He walked to the broken window of the command post, his gaze fixed on the area where gliders had been passing by...
He naturally knew that what Rhys behind him said was true...
While they still have the advantage, let's attack their territory first...
When their reinforcements arrive, the casualties on defense are always much lower than on offense...
In the distance, one can still faintly see the traces left by the hang glider as it swept across the earth like the shadow of death.
Shahar was the supreme ruler of the Slavic empire.
At this moment, he had lost all semblance of imperial majesty.
His mink cloak was torn in several places by thorns and gravel, and was covered with mud and snow. His heavy crown had long been lost in some chaotic corner, and his gray hair was disheveled and stuck to his sweaty forehead.
He rode on a stolen ordinary warhorse, which also showed signs of fatigue, with white breath coming out of its mouth and nose and its steps unsteady.
With him, only a personal guard of less than a hundred men remained, each with their helmets askew, armor askew, and wounds, their faces etched with shock and deep-seated exhaustion.
Their ranks were scattered and disorganized, many had even lost their weapons, and they were only concerned with trudging through knee-deep mud and snow, their heavy breathing and suppressed coughs the only sounds of this defeated army...
The cold wind swept across the empty fields like a knife, whipping up snow and dust that stung everyone's faces.
The icy snow water seeped into the gaps in the damaged leather boots and armor, taking away the last bit of body heat.
Hunger and cold gnawed at their remaining strength like maggots, and most importantly, the shadow of death seemed to linger in their minds, impossible to shake off...
"Faster! Faster! Get through this depression, there's a grove of trees ahead, we can temporarily escape those damned iron birds!"
A general, his face covered in blood, shouted hoarsely, trying to boost morale.
He was one of Shahar's few remaining trusted generals.
However, before he could finish speaking, a piercing engine screech, like the grim groan of death, echoed from the horizon!
"Iron Bird! The Iron Bird is here again!"
Terrified screams instantly erupted from the ranks.
The soldiers were like frightened birds; some instinctively fell to the ground, while others scurried around like headless flies, trying to find any hollow or dead tree to hide in.
Their eyes were filled with despair...
Shahar abruptly pulled on the reins, looked up at the sky, his cloudy old eyes filled with bloodshot veins and a near-collapse-like fear.
Two gliders painted with the bluebird emblem of Xiao Kingdom swooped down from the low-hanging clouds like ghosts, and the bomb bays under their bellies suddenly opened!
"Scatter! Find cover!" Shahar roared, his voice trembling with fear.
But in this open depression, the so-called cover was negligible.
boom! boom! boom!
Several bombs fell with a piercing whistle, exploding violently in front of and on the flanks of the fleeing troops!
A massive fireball soared into the sky, its scorching heatwave sweeping across the surrounding area, carrying with it mud, gravel, and deadly shrapnel!
Near the point of no direct impact from the blast, the shockwave also sent several unfortunate soldiers flying like rag dolls, crashing heavily onto the frozen ground, their fate unknown.
Immediately afterwards, the rotating cannons under the nose of the aircraft spat out deadly tongues of fire!
The dense hail of bullets swept across the ground mercilessly, like the scythe of death.
A soldier who tried to raise his crossbow in resistance was instantly riddled with bullets; a frightened warhorse collapsed with a pitiful neigh, pinning its rider beneath it; several running soldiers fell as if electrocuted, their blood quickly staining the snow beneath them...
"what...!"
"my leg!!"
"Help!"
The piercing screams and desperate howls instantly drowned out the sound of the wind and the engine.
The ranks were thrown into complete chaos. Everyone was in danger and only cared about running away, scattering Shahar and his personal guards.
All that remained were their agonizing screams; they couldn't even utter a final cry for help...
Protected by his bodyguards, Shahar crouched low to the ground, pressed himself against the horse's back, and galloped away. He could clearly feel the scorching shrapnel whistling past his head and sides, and smell the terrifying stench of gunpowder and burning flesh.
Each explosion sent shivers down his spine, making his heart pound as if he would be torn to pieces at any moment.
Humiliation, fear, and the pain of losing his son. He felt that after his son was captured, given Reese's temperament, he would definitely be torn to pieces...
And then there was the despair of the mysterious man's reinforcements never arriving, which gnawed at his heart like a venomous snake.
He was initially full of confidence, but their pursuit speed...
He had absolutely no doubt that even if the mysterious man's reinforcements arrived, his kingdom was doomed...
A glider seemed to have its eye on him, a relatively conspicuous target. With a graceful roll, the machine gun locked on again!
"Protect His Majesty!!"
A loyal captain of the guard rushed forward, shielding Shahar's horse with his body, and simultaneously lashed the horse's rump with his whip. The warhorse, in pain, bolted forward.
Puff puff puff!
A dense series of bullet holes instantly covered the captain of the guard's chest and back. Before he could even scream, he collapsed like a tattered sack of cloth.
Hot blood splattered on half of Shahar's face.
The Tsar let out a low growl like a wild beast, whether it was out of grief or fear, or it was unclear what he was cursing.
He dared not turn back, and could only grip the reins tightly, letting the cold blood flow down his cheeks, mixing with his tears.
The horse beneath him also sensed the threat of death and unleashed its last potential, struggling to move forward through the mud.
The two gliders seemed to have run out of ammunition, or perhaps they felt that the remaining troops were no longer a threat. They circled once and headed back towards the fortress, the sound of their engines gradually fading into the distance.
The depression returned to its deathly silence, save for the howling wind and the painful groans of the wounded...
Around the explosion site, more than a dozen more mutilated corpses and dying wounded lay scattered, like bloody flowers blooming on the snow.
Shahar reined in his still-shaken horse and looked around.
After the attack, he had fewer than thirty men left, all of them ashen-faced and with vacant eyes, like walking corpses.
Many men's armor was stained with the blood of their comrades or themselves. The cries of the wounded sounded particularly shrill and piercing across the empty snowfield.
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty..."
An officer, his face covered in soot and his shoulder wound trembling, asked, "Where...where else can we go? When...when will reinforcements arrive?"
His voice was filled with confusion and the last glimmer of hope.
As Shahar looked at the wasteland shrouded in death and despair, and at the few remaining soldiers who had escaped with him, now frightened like startled birds, an unprecedented sense of desolation and powerlessness overwhelmed him.
The Iron Wall Fortress, the fortress he had placed so much hope in, was reduced to ruins after only a few hours!
The elite army has been wiped out, and now even their escape is so miserable, like prey being chased by a hunter.
"Reinforcements..."
Shahar murmured, his voice dry and hoarse, like a traveler who had trekked through the desert for a long time, praying for rain...
"Yes...they will definitely come..." Shahar said, as if answering his subordinates, but more like hypnotizing himself, forcibly suppressing the immense fear and doubt in his heart!
As he spoke, Shaha rallied himself: "Everyone, you must hold on... I know a mysterious person who possesses superhuman strength... Their weapons are more powerful than Xiao Ce's mechs... As long as... as long as we can hold out until they arrive..."
His words lacked conviction, and his eyes flickered. He recalled the mysterious man's cold voice, the promised stronger weapon, but also the man's emotionless gaze, as if he were looking at a tool.
"When will he come...? How much longer do we have to be on the run...? I need medicine..."
Another soldier said desperately that his leg was bleeding, but he didn't even have a bandage.
Shahar took a deep breath of the cold, blood-stained air, forcing himself to calm down. He pointed to the sparse grove of trees ahead, which offered only a little shelter: "Go there first! Treat the wounds, gather anything usable! Send out scouts to find the nearest village or abandoned outpost! We...we're not finished yet! As long as we live, there is hope! The Tsar's will never yield!"
He tried to boost morale, but his voice sounded so pale and weak.
"As long as we dodge this wave of attacks and get back to the next fortress, our soldiers are waiting for us there... We're fighting them to the death!"