The burning hay rose with thick smoke, turning the evening sky of Dusk Bell Mountain into a grayish yellow.

A large number of knights, along with peasant soldiers and military officers, were carrying buckets and paddles, dousing and beating the raging flames.

They frantically rescued the hay and supplies but still couldn't contain the increasingly fierce fire.

Some might ask, why prepare dry hay when there is fresh grass in the pasture?

Because fresh grass contains a lot of water, horses quickly defecate after eating it, causing them not to be full and needing to eat repeatedly.

Considering the pasture size, with thousands of warhorses and riding horses here, the fresh grass was certainly insufficient.

Last night, Lalor and others first attacked the injured knights with clockwork rifles.

Then they set fire to the dry hay and fought fiercely to ambush the firefighting soldiers in the pasture, escaping on horseback after killing more than ten people.

After the fire broke out, Lalor and others deliberately used lamp oil to ignite the tails of a large number of horses, causing chaos.

Under the flames, these timid horses, driven by the fire-tailed horses, charged out of the pasture in one burst.

You know, outside the pasture, it's an endless Shattered Stone Plain!

With thousands of horses escaping, retrieving them all in a short time was almost impossible.

This time, the Border Knight Order launched an attack with 9,700 warhorses and pack horses, just enough for the knights and officers.

Due to the loss of war and transportation, there were only about 8,500 left.

Aside from those scattered in the camp, the largest concentration was this horse camp.

A full over 4,000 horses, over 4,000, with less than 1,000 recovered so far.

Standing at the edge of the pasture, Emmerick's knuckles on the reins were pale, momentarily not knowing what to feel.

Losing 4,000 horses was equivalent to reducing mobility by nearly half.

The once spoken words of retreat if unable to win had almost become a fantasy.

Peasant soldiers could be abandoned, but military officers could not, weapons couldn't be abandoned, and supplies couldn't be abandoned!

The other knight commanders who arrived later had even more terrifyingly ugly expressions.

"What on earth happened? How could the Guerrilla Hunters launch a surprise attack here?"

"Where is the knight guarding the pasture? Where is he?"

"Damn it, are we supposed to run back on foot?"

While the knight commanders were raging, Emmerick remained silent, only calling the stunned Cosme aside.

The two talked for almost ten minutes, during which there was a rare heated argument, then a command was issued—

"All knight commanders, gather in my tent tonight!"

...

"The Border Knight Order is going to flee?!"

Horn, who was previously sipping soup slowly, spat it out upon hearing the news.

Beside him, Lauren was shocked and asked urgently, "How is that possible? According to the staff's estimate, they should attack at least one more round before giving up."

"But there are indeed signs of retreat!" Bether, covered in dust, handed over a report.

Before Horn, the temporary chief of staff Liosmi received it and began reviewing it.

Horn, having recovered from his surprise, began to stir his soup slowly again.

According to his original plan with André, Horn was supposed to hold off the Border Knight Order's attack, bleeding them as much as possible.

Then André was to outflank the rear, cut off their grain route, and attack after crossing the river.

If the Border Knight Order intended to retreat at this time, Horn would actively delay them.

If they decided not to retreat, even better, both sides would coordinate an attack on these arrogant knights.

And now, for some unknown reason, these border knights unexpectedly ended their offensive early and prepared to flee.

It shouldn't be.

"Liosmi, let me have a look."

The document passed from Liosmi's hands over. It was a matter of procedural justice—troublesome but necessary.

Flipping through the document, Horn read ten lines at a glance and quickly finished the entire report.

The Shepherd Defenders observed that the Border Knight Order began transporting wounded soldiers and wagons in batches to the rear camp.

The Rangers noticed that main command flags, like family crest flags, were gradually moved back, and heavy supplies began to be burned.

More importantly, the military merchants on the other side, those most sensitive hyenas, were retreating in advance.

After pondering for a while, Horn turned his head to command Lauren, "Lauren, set out immediately to see if you can capture a few tongues under the cover of night."

"Yes, Your Grace." Lauren pounded his chest and waved as he marched off.

"Bether, go inquire about the situation at Dusk Bell Mountain and see if they have any leads."

"...Yes, Your Grace." Bether pounded his chest but felt awkward, unable to wave naturally like Lauren.

Having arranged the necessary matters, Horn began pacing in the room alone.

An unexpected outcome must have unexpected factors.

No issues arose on the front battlefield; Horn hadn't even used plasma bombs and grenade launchers. No new tactics or weapons could have intimidated the opposition.

The only possibility was that the Guerrilla Hunters at Dusk Bell Mountain did something unexpected.

Around 7 PM, shortly after Horn finished dinner, he received news.

"A Guerrilla Hunter squad sneaked into the Border Knight Order's horse camp at night?" Upon hearing this news, even Horn was stunned for two seconds.

The roads in this forest were complicated, with Border Knights' sentries and patrol teams lurking around.

Traveling at night, a slight mistake might lead to falling off a cliff or stumbling into the Border Knight Order's camp.

"How did they manage to get to the rear horse camp?"

Bether and Liosmi both looked constipated: "The messenger said they first went downhill, met a patrol, went back uphill, met another patrol, went downhill again, and somehow just..."

What kind of luck is this?

In the most densely patrolled area, navigating the visual obstruction of night and randomly maneuvering to avoid patrols all the way?

"Pa—" Originally dazed, Bether suddenly slapped his forehead and shouted, "I understand now."

Under Horn's curious gaze, Bether plunged into the document pile and retrieved a battle report from yesterday: "Look here."

After reading the brief from the Dusk Bell Mountain side, Horn slapped his thigh too: "So that's it."

The night before, the camp of the Border Knight Order experienced a breakout, with a massive exodus of peasant soldiers and military officers.

It seemed like only a hunter squad was moving at night, but in fact, they had a large group of "accomplices" covering them.

Even if they didn't escape at night, following the original plan would have been fine.

Because that day, a lot of sentries were killed by fleeing peasant soldiers and military officers, there was absolutely no lack of those slain by Lalor!

Through mistaken ins-and-outs, this hunter squad inexplicably made its way to the far rear.

Reminiscent of Rudilo leading the vanguard out of Daze Village, only to end up at the army camp outside Mayo Town by the same accident.

"This, really is..." This time, it was Horn's turn to smile wryly.

On this battlefield, anything could indeed happen.

This horse camp was not a supply camp, merely storing horse-related materials, yet it greatly weakened the mobility of the Border Knights.

Clearly, this struck a nerve with the Border Knights, especially the senior officers.

The reason they dared to undertake huge casualties in attacking cities was precisely due to their freedom of movement.

But losing mobility made it much harder to come and go as they wished.

They'd rather wear the title of lady knights than be forced to retreat.

The problem was, André was still on the road, possibly only near Salt Beach Station, far too late to intercept them.

Though they achieved great merit, this hunter squad inadvertently did a disservice by causing the Border Knight Order to retreat prematurely. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"Your Grace, what should we do now?" Liosmi asked in a low voice.

After pondering for a long time, Horn turned and sat back at the table: "Summon all the Corps Commanders, emergency meeting."