School Transmigration: I, Chosen as the Saint by Dragons at the Start-Chapter 192 --Assault on the Palace

"Me?" The woman whispered in Bladen’s ear, "I am Plum Blossom, also known as the one from over a decade ago..."

"Crimson..." Bladen managed to utter just one word before Woody saw the woman insert a frost spike into the back of his neck.

Snow King Bladen died just like that, and Woody felt no stir in his heart, which surprised him a bit.

He looked at the woman, who was also looking at him.

"Ah, it’s been a long time since I’ve engaged in the deeds of an assassin." The woman said with a smile, "This time it didn’t quite feel like an assassination, little brother. You won’t betray me, will you?"

"No," Woody scratched his head.

He said, "I’ve thought about it for a long time and finally decided to remain loyal to the empire, loyal to my big brother. By killing Bladen, you’ve also rid the country of a menace."

"But you couldn’t bring yourself to do it, right?" The woman cradled Woody’s face in her hands.

Woody nodded.

"Silly child, remember my name, Plum Blossom from the Divine Farmer Sanctuary, and don’t tell anyone else."

The woman leaned in for a kiss.

Woody closed his eyes and leaned back, feeling only the warmth on his cheek.

When he opened his eyes again, she was gone.

Scratching his head, he picked up Bladen’s body, placing it on the bed and arranging it properly.

As he walked out of the sleeping chamber, he heard the sounds of weapons clashing outside the palace gates.

It must be big brother leading the troops here, he thought as he walked towards the palace gates.

Blight, along with over thirty mid and lower-ranking officers, had emerged from the dungeon and headed straight for the ironclad army’s camp.

The sudden appearance of dozens of former officers in the camp unsettled the mercenaries.

The Fourth Centurion, Sean, was not in the camp; he had moved with his brothers to the vicinity of the palace, reportedly occupying several large merchants’ residences.

Thus, the ironclad army present in the camp was not substantial.

Blight glanced over the troops, noticing aside from a few men under the Fifth Centurion, the majority were the eight hundred who had not disgraced themselves by fleeing at Ironblade City.

Blight ordered the soldiers to assemble on the parade ground and publicly declared Snow King Bladen’s various acts of betrayal against the empire, proclaiming his intention to rid the empire of this villain.

"Those willing, follow me to storm the palace; those unwilling, disperse." Blight drew his iron sword, retrieved in the dungeon, and shouted, "Those who block me shall be shown no mercy!"

Quickly, a formation of over five hundred men assembled on the parade ground, primarily comprising the eight hundred from Ironblade City.

Blight selected two junior officers to convey orders to the city’s defensive forces and the patrolling units on the streets.

He also sent two mid-ranking officers to find the large-eared jailer and his now-disbanded Third Centurion’s guard.

Then, Blight led this loyal faction of the ironclad army towards the palace.

Along the way, more joined, and by the time they neared Sean’s temporary quarters, Blight’s force had grown to nearly eight hundred men.

On the main road leading to the palace gates, Sean appeared with a large contingent.

"Lay down your weapons and surrender," Sean commanded, pointing his riding crop at Blight. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"Those who block me shall be shown no mercy!"

"Hmph," Sean gestured upwards with his riding crop, "This is your last chance, or we’ll turn you into a beehive."

Archers hidden in the civilian houses along the road simultaneously revealed themselves, numbering two thousand strong.

Blight’s troops were completely encircled by the archers.

"Break!" Blight shouted again.

The filaments, initially in a defensive stance, suddenly exploded outwards, eliciting endless screams.

The more than two thousand archers were left without exception; those lucky were barely clinging to life, while the less fortunate lost their chance to pen any final words.

Sean was shocked, his face drained of color.

He launched two curved blades spinning into the air; achieving the rank of Fourth Centurion, he was no simple character.

Unlike Blight, a swordsman, Sean did not rely on close combat or sword energy for victory despite wielding curved blades.

He excelled in sorcery, choosing curved blades as his talismans due to his sinister and venomous nature.

Hidden in his sleeves were various vials containing deadly poisons, intoxicants, and even aphrodisiacs, the lowest of the low.

During battle, he would use his will to push the chosen liquid into a hollow in the handle, from where it would flow into a groove on the blade.

Moreover, these curved blades were cursed with blood magic by Sean.

A cut from these blades would severely erode the spirit, driving those of weak will to madness and death.

However, now, these vicious tricks were utterly ineffective.

Sean exerted all his might to control the curved blades, which spun rapidly in the air, attempting to block the filaments shooting towards him.

With a loud crash, the blades flipped backward as if their strings were cut, and Sean barely managed to retrieve them with his will, spitting out a mouthful of blood as he did.

The filaments also vanished without a trace in the explosion.

Sean glanced sideways at Blight, revealing a twisted smile.

The jailer stepped forward and whispered to Blight, "I told you there was no hope, but you wouldn’t believe me. Order the entire army to retreat; I still have a way."

Blight looked at the jailer, unable to find words to argue.

He raised his left hand, signaling a retreat, just as the palace gates opened.

The captain of the guard emerged from within.

Seeing his elder brother and the Fourth Centurion both injured, he approached the Fourth Centurion with a grim face, turning to Blight to loudly declare, "Bladen is dead!"

Everyone present was taken aback, but the jailer’s eyes began to sparkle.

He quietly whispered something to Blight.

Understanding, Blight mustered all his strength to shout, "Those who block me shall be shown no mercy!"

With a loud bang, Sean’s head flew off, his neck spraying blood that terrified his mercenaries into immobility.

Woody turned towards them, casually pushing Sean’s body to the ground, and roared with his iron fist raised, "Those who block my big brother shall be shown no mercy!"

Seeing Sean’s men dropping their weapons and scattering or surrendering, Woody ran back to his brother, anxiously asking, "Are you badly hurt, big brother?"

"No, I’m not injured, just drained too much arcanergy." The jailer was secretly astonished: this strong man might be even more powerful than Blight.

"That ’hopeless’ jailer," Blight interrupted the jailer’s thoughts, asking, "What’s your esteemed name?"

"I’m called Messy."

"I need to recuperate for a while," Blight said.

"I request that you, along with Woody, take care of this mess."

"Leave it to me," Messy said, looking into the eyes of Blight and Woody, as if he had found new hope.

On the hundreds of miles long battlefront, the empire and the demon army faced off, neither daring to make a rash move.

The air grew tenser with news of the series of events unfolding in Mingate reaching the front lines.

Gerald’s deputy was strategizing in front of a sand table.

In the sand table, the standoff between the empire and the demon army was densely marked with red and green flags.

Various passes, hilltops, villages, and towns were either under the control of the empire or occupied by the demon army.

A single battle at any of these locations could trigger an unpredictable chain reaction.

Gerald casually placed a white flag on Mingate, having long realized that Mingate would be the fuse for the decisive battle.

Jade City was like a thorn in the back of the demon army, one they would remove at all costs.

Seventy miles north of Jade City, Glazed Pavilion remained in demon army hands.

Should the demon army attack Jade City, the imperial forces must quickly break through Glazed Pavilion, advancing towards Jade City to at least connect our controlled area with Jade City.

This strategy could not only strike at the morale of the demon army, compressing their controlled territory but also solidify our battle lines.

However, achieving this objective would not be easy once the battle commenced.

Even if Mingate could tie down a significant portion of the demon army’s forces, an attack on Glazed Pavilion would inevitably lead the demon army to respond with all their might.

Because Glazed Pavilion acts as an extension of Mingate, losing it would mean losing the radiating range north of Mingate.

The empire could then quickly reinforce Mingate.

At that point, the demon army might not even be able to recapture Mingate.

Therefore, the seemingly insignificant Glazed Pavilion could trigger an unprecedentedly large-scale battle.