I only wanted to retire, but I ended up becoming an extremely popular character.

"Warrant Officer Cassius, Warrant Officer Hitis!" Zod looked at the two of them, then solemnly gave the order:

"The military situation is dire. The Holy Kingdom's divisions are currently reinforcing the city of Sarlom. We can no longer proceed along our original route."

"We need to find a faster route."

"Although the road may not be easy, if we cannot join up with the main force of the 'Imperial Blade' Legion and report the relevant intelligence to Colonel Xavier before the Holy Kingdom's army reinforces Sallom City, then all our efforts will be in vain."

"Lieutenant Zod, I understand!" Hitis nodded solemnly. "You must have a concrete plan in mind regarding that shortcut!"

"Yes!" Zod replied affirmatively.

After all, he had memorized the map of the area around Sarlom City thoroughly in order to ensure the smooth progress of his escape plan.

A shortcut was within his grasp.

Cassius looked at Zod with admiration, secretly praising him: "As expected of Lieutenant Zod, he considers everything so thoroughly."

Besides, the route that Cassius and Hitis originally took was planned by Zod.

At that time, Zod did not choose the shortest path, but rather a relatively safe and roundabout route.

At the time, he did not want his troops to rush to the city of Sarlom to their deaths so quickly.

Now, he's simply changing the detour back to the shortest path.

……

……

The fighting in the city of Sarlöm continued until dawn.

In the darkness before dawn, the sounds of artillery fire and gunfire never ceased for a moment.

After breaking through two lines of defense, the imperial army was in high spirits and prepared to crush the Holy Kingdom's third line of defense in one fell swoop and take over the city completely.

However, when they encountered the main force of the "Black Sheep Holy Head" division, their offensive momentum was abruptly halted.

That defensive line was as solid as cast iron, and it stood firm no matter how the imperial army attacked it.

The battle lines were thus locked in a stalemate.

After that, the Empire made some minor progress in certain areas.

Imperial troops captured several barricades, eliminated several firing positions, and even briefly penetrated the defensive line.

But these victories were not enough to shake the entire defense.

The "Black Sheep Holy Chief" division's defenses remained tight, with soldiers fighting to the death and showing no signs of retreat.

The only significant progress was made outside the battlefield.

Colonel Xavier had taken the unfinished giant cannon fortress into consideration when formulating the battle strategy.

Although the fortress is not yet fully completed, once the railway is laid, the Holy Kingdom could transport the Gustav Cannon to the front lines at any time, posing a devastating threat to the Imperial army.

Therefore, after capturing Segner, Xavier secretly dispatched an elite squad to bypass enemy lines and penetrate deep behind enemy lines, with the mission objective of completely destroying the fortress.

Some setbacks occurred during the execution of the task.

Before the squad succeeded, the Holy Kingdom urgently transported a Gustav cannon to the fortress and fired two giant shells toward the city of Sallom.

Those two shells caused considerable losses to the Imperial army and even triggered panic at one point.

But in the end, the giant cannon was destroyed by an elite squad sent by the "Imperial Blade" legion.

With a deafening roar from the unfinished fortress, one of the greatest threats on the battlefield of Sarlom was finally eliminated.

Meanwhile, on the main battlefield, the clash between Colonel Xavier and Brigadier General Olgat has temporarily come to an end.

The two fought for dozens of rounds without a clear winner, neither gaining the upper hand.

Xavier knew he couldn't take down his old rival anytime soon.

Olgat understood that continuing the stalemate would only put both sides at a disadvantage.

Moreover, each of them has tens of thousands of soldiers to command on their respective battlefields.

So, after a collision, the two of them simultaneously distanced themselves from each other.

There were no words, no farewells.

Xavier turned and swept back to his own lines, while Olgat retreated into the shadows of the Holy Defense Line.

The outcome is still undecided, but the battle continues.

……

……

In an alleyway on the south side of the city of Sallom, the sounds of gunfire and shouts of battle mingled together.

This is a battlefield that will go unnoticed.

It was outside the core war zone, and the Empire's main forces were focused on breaking through the front lines of the "Black Sheep Saint" Division, leaving them no time to attend to these remote alleyways.

However, if left unchecked, the Holy Kingdom's garrison hidden here could launch a surprise attack from the flank at any time, posing a threat to the attacking forces' flank.

Therefore, the Empire only assigned a small force to the task of capturing this alley.

Even if we can't take it down, at the very least, we shouldn't let that damned Holy Kingdom army get out of the alley and interfere with the Imperial army's offensive.

It was a narrow and winding alley, with dilapidated stone houses on both sides. Collapsed walls and piles of sandbags formed a simple but effective defensive line.

A Holy Kingdom lieutenant stood behind a broken wall, shouting orders to his soldiers to hold off the advancing Imperial army.

"Hold on! Wait for them to get closer before you attack!"

His voice was drowned out by the dense gunfire.

The Holy Kingdom soldiers, relying on the fortifications, propped up their rifles between the sandbags and the holes in the walls, and kept firing towards the alley entrance.

With each volley, figures fell in the flames.

Two light artillery pieces were positioned in an open area slightly behind, and the gunners quickly loaded and fired them.

The shells whistled as they crashed into the narrow alleyway ahead, exploding in the path of the Imperial soldiers.

Debris flew everywhere, smoke filled the air, and the screams of Imperial soldiers were swallowed up by the explosions.

The imperial army's offensive was firmly suppressed outside this alley.

That Imperial squad lacked both the elite combat power of the "Imperial Blade" legion and sufficient heavy firepower support.

The commander of that Imperial squad was Lancelot Kruger, a second lieutenant, who belonged to the 56th Army.

He had just been promoted to this rank before the war, and strictly speaking, he had not yet fully adapted to his new identity.

They were simply following orders from their superiors to capture the alleyway.

But facing the Holy Kingdom's army, which was blocked in the alley and stubbornly resisted by relying on fortifications, Lieutenant Lancel did not have many options and could only organize his soldiers to launch one charge after another.

But the Holy Kingdom's firepower was not weak. Every charge by that imperial squad was ruthlessly repelled, leaving only corpses lying on the gravel road.

The bodies of more than a dozen imperial soldiers lay silently on the halfway they failed to cross.

Lieutenant Lancel, as the commander, could only hide behind a wall at the street corner and pound his thigh with his fist.

The pain brought him to a slightly more awake state, but it did little to change his predicament.

He also considered leading the charge himself.

Leading from the front is the proper posture for a commander, but the dense barrage of bullets and the constant falling shells made his legs feel as heavy as lead.

In addition, his subordinates were also trying to dissuade him, saying that it was very reckless for a commander to lead the charge.

Of course, the most important factor was Lancel himself; he didn't have the courage to face the enemy's dense barrage of bullets and artillery.

He had only been wearing his second lieutenant's uniform for a short time.

He thought his promotion from warrant officer to second lieutenant was just a change in rank, but he never expected to encounter such a tough battle as the Battle of Sallom on his first mission.

He hadn't even truly experienced the joy of becoming a second lieutenant.

He was just a minor figure with the rank of second lieutenant on the battlefield; he was not the protagonist of the novel.

The alley was so long that he feared that once he rushed through it, he would never be able to come back.

Just as Lancel was caught in a cycle of hesitation and self-reproach...