Winter Lord: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 415 Intelligence on the Battlefield
The mornings in the Limestone Province were damp.

The torrential rain continued unabated, the raindrops pounding on the marching wagons, making a dull, even sound, as if someone were constantly tapping out a rhythm.

The carriage moved slowly along the muddy official road, its wheels churning through puddles, sending up slight jolts.

Louis woke up to this familiar shaking.

He did not sit up immediately, but simply opened his eyes and raised his right hand, waving it lightly in the air.

"Om-"

A faint whistling sound spread through the narrow carriage.

A translucent, pale blue light curtain, like a thin veil being drawn back, floated quietly in the air.

[Daily intelligence update complete]

[1: A shocking uproar erupts in the capital. The Second Prince, Karen, storms the Imperial Palace and declares himself emperor.]

Louis's gaze lingered on that line for only a moment: "More hasty than I expected. He didn't just declare himself regent, he declared himself emperor. How interesting..."

He wasn't overwhelmed by the situation; he simply gave his assessment calmly.

Kalen couldn't wait any longer.

He did not take the path of regency, did not try to influence the attitudes of various nobles, and did not attempt to maintain that precarious facade.

He skipped all the intermediate steps and placed the crown on his own head.

That's good, at least for him, it's not bad news.

If the empire had a regent with real power, the situation would be more troublesome.

Instead, it becomes a rope that restricts direct action.

"Just as I thought," Louis murmured to himself. "A mad emperor, a powerful minister in command of the army. The waters of the capital are completely murky, which makes my next move even more justifiable."

He then lowered his gaze.

[2: Kyle Raymond burned dozens of villages and cities in the north, drove tens of thousands of refugees to block the main road through Blackrock Canyon, and deployed a supervisory force in the rear, intending to use civilians to slow down the mechanized advance of the Northern army.]

The blue light reflected in his eyes failed to stir any emotion within him.

"Kyle..."

Louis's fingers tapped lightly on the carriage armrest, producing a low, clear "tap, tap" sound.

Burning villages, driving people away, and blocking roads—using hunger and fear to force crowds to pile up forward, and then using supervisory teams to block their retreat.

This is truly inhumane.

Moreover, what appears cruel on the surface is actually a form of laziness, using human lives to replace thought and planning.

“Trying to use people like mud.” Louis’s gaze turned slightly colder. “You have inherited your father’s arrogance and his animalistic nature.”

If it were any other general facing this situation, they would have very few options.

Retreating is tantamount to handing over the initiative.

Forcing the way forward would mean stepping over thousands of civilians; reputation was secondary, the most important thing was that Louis himself could never do it.

This was a dead end that Kyle had prepared for him.

Unfortunately, this deadlock is a situation for an opponent who cannot see the whole picture; for Louis…

Louis continued looking down.

[3: Five tons of Blackfire Demon Bombs have been planted on both sides of the Blackrock Canyon's rock walls. Due to the reduced alchemical ignition rate caused by torrential rain, a physical detonation method has been adopted instead. All detonation cables converge at Eagle's Beak Rock on the left side of the cliff top, where five Death Knights are responsible for manually closing the gate.]

His gaze lingered on the intelligence report, and then his lips twitched very slightly.

Because of the torrential rain, the alchemy failed, and a physical detonation device was used instead, which meant that all the detonation points were concentrated in one location.

“It might be a good idea for others, but unfortunately it happened to me.” Louis smiled and made up his mind.

[4: Due to the refugee influx completely blocking the main road, Kyle's supply convoy was unable to retreat to Grayrock Fortress. Three hundred tons of winter rations were forced to be temporarily unloaded at abandoned mine pit No. 3 on the left side of the canyon entrance, serving as rations for the supervisory team, with only rudimentary camouflage and protective measures.]

Louis's gaze finally became focused; this batch of grain might be important intelligence.

The light screen trembled slightly in the air before slowly fading away, as if it had never existed.

Louis closed his eyes, leaned back in his seat, and quickly deconstructed and reassembled the four pieces of intelligence in his mind.

A complete narrative quickly emerged, starting with allowing refugees to be driven into the canyon.

The narrow terrain, the mud after the torrential rain, and the tens of thousands of people crammed together made it impossible to move forward or backward.

They will become the most natural obstruction, completely blocking the entire passage.

Then comes the waiting.

When he was forced to halt his advance, when the supply convoys were forced to extend their lines, and when the heavy troops were engulfed in the chaos of mud and crowds.

Finally, press the detonator.

Five tons of gunpowder fell simultaneously from both sides of the rock face, and boulders and flames blocked the way.

It wasn't just refugees who were crushed to death.

And the knights and armies forced to the front lines in the North, even those steam-powered chariots that were not yet fully deployed, were no different from those trapped in the canyons in the face of rockfalls and flames.

What appears to be a defensive maneuver to stop the enemy is in reality a desperate gamble, using civilians and their own war knights to exchange for a annihilation.

Louis made his own assessment in his mind.

Foolish, malicious.

The refugees are stuck in the canyon because of hunger and fear.

Fear came from the explosives on the cliff and from the knights guarding behind him.

Hunger... Louis's thoughts lingered there.

The three hundred tons of winter rations were buried not far from the entrance of the canyon.

Right under the noses of those who had been starving for days.

The moment that fear eases even slightly, briefly filled by hunger, the situation will descend into complete chaos.

Louis slowly opened his eyes.

Outside the carriage, the torrential rain continued to pour down, and the gray rock castle in the distance was faintly visible through the rain.

A bold yet precise plan quickly took shape in his mind.

It's not a high-stakes gamble, and it doesn't need a miracle.

With a single, steady cut, Kyle made his way down the gap he had left himself.

He turned his head to look at the guard knight who had been keeping a respectful distance from the carriage: "Will."

Weil immediately spurred his horse closer and bowed his head in response, "My lord."

“Get Thomas over here,” Louis said calmly. “Now.”

Weil didn't ask any further questions, simply nodded briefly, then turned his horse around and galloped towards the back of the group in the rain.

…………

The strong wind, carrying large raindrops, pounded hard against the rock face.

Rainwater rushed down the cracks in the rocks like uncontrolled streams, making the entire cliff face cold and smooth.

Visibility was reduced to less than five meters, and thunder rolled and echoed through the canyon, swallowing up all other sounds in its roar.

Thomas lay on the rock face, his fingertips gripping a protruding rock edge tightly.

Rainwater trickled down the edge of his goggles into his eyes, only to be pushed away by his blinks. He didn't look up, but pressed himself against the rock face, slowly adjusting his breathing to bring his heartbeat back to a controllable rhythm.

This kind of weather actually made him feel at ease.

The lord's intelligence is never wrong, and the torrential rain before us is proving those calm judgments right.

In such humidity, the delicate alchemical fuse is like a damp match.

Let alone stable ignition, even the reaction itself is difficult to guarantee.

If Kyle really wanted to detonate those five tons of Blackfire Demon Bombs, the only way was to go back to the most primitive methods: manpower, ropes, and iron.

Thinking of this, Thomas's lips almost curled into an inappropriate smile, but he quickly suppressed it.

Thomas was not the only one accompanying him on this trip.

The more than twenty figures climbing along this cliff all belonged to the White Night Knights.

This is a special knight squad personally assembled by Lord Louis. It has no official designation and is not incorporated into any regular knightly order.

Their very existence is to carry out missions that cannot fail.

Each member is an elite selected from several knightly orders under the Red Tide banner, possessing at least the strength of a transcendent knight.

Thomas is the captain of this squad.

Rather than explosive power and fighting spirit, he is better at judging timing, analyzing situations, and completing a task successfully in the shortest amount of time.

They were scattered on the rock face, without any formation, yet they maintained a distance from each other.

The soft armor on her body was soaked by the rain and clung to her body. All the metal fasteners were covered with leather, and even her breathing was deliberately suppressed.

There was no external release of battle aura, because at this distance, even the slightest extra fluctuation could be detected like a spark.

The White Night team climbed up the long-abandoned herb-gathering trail.

That path, which was originally used secretly only by the frail mountain people and was known to few, has now been almost completely washed away by torrential rain.

The Knights of the Night seemed to have memorized every foothold; every time they raised their hands or changed their feet, it was an instinctive reaction after countless rehearsals.

Like a group of geckos clinging to a cliff.

After an unknown amount of time, the slope of the rock face finally became gentler.

Thomas raised his hand to signal, and everyone stopped at the same time.

He first leaned out halfway over the top of the cliff, then immediately lowered his center of gravity and lay flat on the cold, wet rock surface.

The sound of rain is more urgent here, but also more chaotic.

He looked up and saw that the sentry post he had set up in the distance was brightly lit.

But their target wasn't there; Thomas's gaze slowly shifted to the left.

In the darkness a kilometer away, a giant rock protruding outwards resembles the curved beak of a raptor, firmly embedded on the edge of the cliff—that is Eagle Beak Rock.

Below the rock, a faint but steady alchemical lamp was being cut into intermittent patches of light by the rain.

Thomas squinted and crouched down even lower to get a clearer view.

It was a heavy, black iron winch, firmly fixed to a rocky base.

The winch has a rough but sturdy structure, with several thick steel strands wound around the axle. The surface is coated with grease, so rainwater slides down the cable but cannot seep into it.

These steel cables, like a spider web spreading downwards, disappear into the rock crevices below the cliff.

Thomas didn't need to look to know what lay at their end.

Five tons of Blackfire Demon Bombs.

Five gray rock assassins were guarding the winch.

They stood in even positions, without talking or making any unnecessary movements.

Everyone is like a stone statue nailed to the spot, only slightly adjusting their center of gravity when necessary to withstand the gale.

Thomas quickly concluded in his mind that he was not an extraordinary knight.

Indeed, this kind of job doesn't require any skill; all you need to do is press your hand down at the last moment.

It's a real waste to have an extraordinary knight do the detonation.

His gaze eventually settled on one of them.

The knight stood directly to the side of the winch, his right hand gripping the safety bolt tightly, yet his grip remained steady without the slightest tremor.

If he presses down, the winch will loosen, the hammer will fall, the primer will be ignited, and the entire canyon will be lifted into the sky.

Thomas took a slow breath.

Rain dripped down his chin, hitting the rocks, and was instantly swallowed by the sound of the wind.

He raised his hand and made a short, clear gesture behind his back.

The movements of the White Night Squad quietly came to a halt at this moment.

Everyone was waiting for his next instruction.

Thomas then raised his hand and made a few short, clear gestures in the rain.

Ignore everyone else, prioritize the winch operator.

It must be a fatal blow; he shouldn't have even half a second to press the safety pin.

The gesture flashed in the darkness, yet was accurately captured by every White Night Knight.

More than twenty figures quickly responded with hand gestures and quietly adjusted their angles from their original positions, each locking onto a target.

Their breathing was suppressed to a minimum, their fighting spirit remained dormant within their bodies, without a trace leaking out, completely blending into the rainy night, leaving only their calm and focused gazes.

Just then, the dark clouds in the sky began to churn violently.

A blinding bolt of lightning tore through the night sky, illuminating Eagle Beak Rock and the black iron winch in a stark white light.

Immediately afterwards, thunder rumbled and accumulated deep within the clouds.

Thomas knew the time had come and silently counted down in his mind.

Three, two, one.

"BOOM—!!!" A thunderclap exploded in the sky above the canyon.

Just as the thunder engulfed everything, Thomas moved.

His fighting spirit suddenly surged, and his figure transformed into a pale blue afterimage. Using the thunder as cover to cover the cracking sound of the mud beneath his feet, he instantly traversed a distance of tens of meters.

The assassin holding the winch seemed to sense something in the lightning and instinctively turned his head.

But his reaction was ultimately a step too slow.

"Duh."

The dagger pierced through his palm from bottom to top, pinning his hand, which was fastened to the safety bolt, to the winch handle.

Before the scream could even escape, another flash of cold light had already streaked past.

The blade sliced ​​through the rain, precisely cutting across the throat.

The blood was quickly washed away by the torrential rain, and the knight's body lurched forward, crashing heavily against the winch, and then fell silent.

Almost simultaneously, the other four Gray Rock assassins were also approached.

The glint of the blade vanished in the lightning and rain.

There were no roars, no collisions.

Four bodies collapsed one after another in the torrential rain, sliding softly onto the rocky ground, without even a warning being sounded.

These elite knights were ultimately no match for the extraordinary knights, and were all wiped out in a single exchange.

Crisis resolved.

Thomas kicked the corpse in front of the winch aside and his gaze fell on the taut steel wires.

This is Kyle's most powerful trump card, and also his most insidious conspiracy.

He took out the alchemical hydraulic shears from his waist and secured the shear blades to the guide cable.

"Bang!" The first steel cable snapped.

"Bang." The second one then broke off.

"Bang." The third one.

The steel strands, having lost their tension, suddenly sprang up and then quickly plummeted back down, like several severed dead snakes, retreating into the darkness below the cliff.

The five-ton Blackfire Demon Bomb, capable of destroying everything, became a dud at this moment.

Thomas put away his tools and looked up at the sky.

The thunderstorms have not yet stopped.

Thomas stood on the edge of Eagle's Beak Rock, letting the torrential rain wash over his armor and bloodstains, looking down at the dark canyon below.

There, tens of thousands of refugees are crammed into narrow passageways, trembling with hunger and fear.

Further away, Kyle waited expectantly to press a button that no longer existed.

(End of this chapter)