I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Not far to the north of Anthony and his group, 11 members of the Expulsion Group crouched on the snow, holding matchlock guns, and opened fire on Anthony and his group as they fled.

In order to ensure the most successful conclusion to tonight's operation, their anti-foreign group specially acquired 12 matchlock guns, which were said to be produced by the Mito Domain and capable of long-range attacks.

One of them ended up in Suehiro's hands, and he used it as a starting pistol.

The other 11 guns were all handed over to the team members who had been undergoing shooting training for some time.

The matchlock gun, an outdated weapon that was over two hundred years old, naturally had extremely poor accuracy and rate of fire.

Whether a bullet hits the target after being fired is entirely a matter of luck.

If more than a hundred matchlock muskets could be assembled, and the musketeers could form a tight formation and fire at the same time, then the power and accuracy would be quite considerable.

However, the Extermination Group only had a mere 11 matchlock guns... Therefore, to be honest, Suehiro and his men did not expect that the batch of matchlock guns they had gone to great lengths to acquire would be of any significant use.

Ideally, we could hit Anthony and his teammates and kill them outright.

If we miss... that's fine too, it can be used to boost morale.

Eleven scorching bullets whistled as they flew toward Anthony and his men, who were galloping toward their horses.

The matchlock gun lived up to expectations in terms of accuracy—most of the bullets either embedded themselves in the snow or flew off to who-knows-where, without hitting a single person.

However—unintentional actions can lead to unexpected and positive results.

One of the bullets somehow flew out and hit a horse that Komuro's men had gone to great lengths to bring over!

Vast and magnificent!

The horse that had been shot let out a agonizing roar.

The two guards who were dragging the horse were caught off guard by the sudden turn of events and were thrown to the ground by the raging horse.

The bullet struck the horse in a vital spot. The horse cried out in pain and thrashed about before collapsing to its side, its hooves twitching. It would likely be motionless for some time.

None of these horses were warhorses that had seen battle.

They had never heard gunshots or experienced the baptism of gunfire.

The three horses that Komuro's men had dragged over were already in extremely unstable mental states. Now, one of them had collapsed, and the other two, provoked by the gunshots at close range, were finally completely terrified.

The two horses that were still alive raised their two front hooves high and let out a mournful horn.

The guards dragging the two horses held them back with all their might, trying to calm them down.

But when it comes to sheer strength, humans can never outmuscle a horse that can be used to pull a cart and is currently in a frenzied state.

The two horses successfully shook off the guards who were pulling them and fled into the distance.

"What are you all doing?!" Komuro roared furiously at his subordinates who had failed to hold the horses back, as he watched the two horses escape.

The horses that were meant to take Anthony and his men on their escape were gone... Komuro now felt his fingertips and toes grow icy cold, and even more sweat poured down his face.

Anthony also felt like he had fallen into a cold lake.

The horses are gone... What this means, no one else needs to explain to Anthony.

Compared to the utter despair of Anthony and his men, the morale of the Expeditionary Force was greatly boosted when they saw that Anthony and his men had lost their horses used for escape.

Suehiro, who is in full charge of tonight's operation, and Yamada, who is Suehiro's deputy, have a very clear division of labor.

After the operation began, Suehiro led a reserve team of 20 people to stay at the "main camp" and was ready to lead the reserve team to the front line if any emergency occurred.

Yamada, on the other hand, was responsible for personally leading his troops to launch the attack, serving as the "frontline commander-in-chief".

Yamada is currently located not far to the south of Anthony and the others.

Upon seeing that one of the three horses was dead and the other two had fled, Yamada immediately swung his katana in excitement.

"The barbarians' horses are gone! They can't escape now!"

"Charge! The barbarians are right there! Quickly take down the heads of the barbarians and these scoundrels who serve them!"

The blood-red "ocean" appears even more imposing.

Komuro quickly turned his head and looked around.

No matter which direction you look, all you can see is blood-red haori fluttering in the air.

Komuro gritted his teeth with a force that seemed to want to crush them, then raised the knife high in his hand:

"Everyone! Get over here! We're going to break out!"

In the chaos of the attack on the camp by the anti-foreign group, many of Komuro's men had already died in the fighting.

Currently, only 28 of Komuro's subordinates remain by his side.

Upon hearing Komuro's cry, the remaining 28 people quickly gathered around him as if they had found their pillar of support.

To force a bloody path through—this was the last resort Komuro could think of.

Komuro commanded his men to form a cone-shaped formation, protecting Anthony and Elodie in the very center of the cone, while he himself took the lead, charging towards the west, where the enemy seemed to be the fewest in number!

Saito also joined the battle.

Saito understood perfectly well that he and Aoto, along with Anthony and Komuro, were now in a completely interdependent relationship.

If they join forces with Komuro and the others, they still have a chance to break through the encirclement and gain a glimmer of hope!

With nearly two hundred enemies charging in, Saito was completely unable to spare any attention to protect Aoto's safety in such a large-scale melee.

In order to concentrate on killing the enemy, Saito solemnly warned Aoto, Anthony, and Elodie to stay in the safest center of the "cone" before picking up his sword and joining the "cone peak" centered on Komuro.

Anthony and Osaka Joyo had a fairly good relationship, so it was impossible for Osaka Joyo to send some useless good-for-nothings to protect his friend.

Even disregarding their friendship, the fact that Anthony and Elodie were French made Osaka Jodai hesitant to send some useless people to escort them to Edo.

Komuro and his men, who were sent by Osaka Castle to serve as guards for Anthony and his men, were all top-tier elites from Osaka Prefecture.

Although Komuro is fair-skinned and chubby, he is actually a master of the prestigious Shinto Munen-ryu school and the recipient of the Shinto Munen-ryu Mandate of All Transmission.

Although he was fat, he was exceptionally agile.

Shinto Munen-ryu emphasizes practicality in combat and overwhelming the opponent with momentum and power.

"Power"—this is the most prominent characteristic of Shinto Munen-ryu.

Komuro then swung his sword like a wheel.

With each flash of the blade, an enemy was killed.

Saito, who joined the "Cone Peak" and was the only one to receive the title of "Master of All Arts," also fought bravely against the enemy.

"Leroy!" Anthony, whose eyes were now bloodshot, suddenly shouted at Leroy, "Have you seen Kiryu?! Have you seen him?! As long as Kiryu is here, we can win! As long as Kiryu is here, we can win! What are these few enemies to that monster Kiryu?!" (in French)

After asking Leroy in such a loud voice, Anthony raised his head, looked around, and stared wide-eyed, searching for Kiryu's figure.

Leroy: "Kiryu? (in French)"

As long as Kiryu is here, we can win?

What use is that old guy who is at least 90 years old and nearly 30 years older than her master?

Leroy had absolutely no idea what Anthony meant by what he had just said.

But she still quickly and honestly responded to Anthony:

“No!” Leroy shook his head vigorously. “Neither Miss nor I saw Kiryu Kazuma just now!” (in French)

"Tsk! Damn it! Damn it! Where did he go?!" (in French)

While swearing wildly in his native language, Anthony handed Elodie to Leroy, who was standing beside him, and told Leroy to protect Elodie. Then, he frantically pulled a brand-new, shiny metal pistol from the lining of his clothes.

Colt of America recently developed a new revolver: the .0.44 M1847 revolver.

This pistol was something Anthony always carried with him, specifically for self-defense.

Anthony gripped his pistol tightly with both hands, aiming at an opponent who was relatively tall and a good target not far away.

Anthony tried his best to support Komuro and his men with his little pistol.

However... his marksmanship was really terrible.

It took four shots to finally hit the most conspicuous enemy.

However, although Anthony's marksmanship was poor, the pistol in his hand could still give Komuro and his men a boost and intimidate the enemy.

Under the leadership of Saito and Komuro, both of whom are granted full access to the imperial court, the "Cone" broke through several defensive lines on the west side in one fell swoop.

However... the advancement of the "cone" ended there...

The guards sent to escort Anthony and his men to Edo were all warriors capable of taking on ten men each... but now they had almost no fighting spirit left...

Most of them... no, it should be said that all of them secretly believed that this escort mission was nothing more than a "publicly funded trip" that was neither difficult nor dangerous.

There has never been a precedent of the "anti-foreign faction" attacking foreigners with a large number of samurai guards. The idea that the so-called "anti-foreign patriots" were nothing more than a bunch of insignificant rabble has long been deeply ingrained in people's minds.

Because they all felt that this escort mission was absolutely safe, they were completely unprepared. Therefore, when faced with this unexpected enemy attack and the densely packed enemy in front of them, their fighting spirit and morale could only be described as dejected.

In a state of panic, one can only unleash about 50% of their full strength.

Whether it's Saito or Komuro, no matter how good they are at fighting, they only have one head, two hands, and two feet. Their strength is not strong enough to make up for the huge difference in numbers by relying on the difference in their individual strength.

Before long, under the dense onslaught of the Extermination Group, Saito and Komuro, unable to fight against overwhelming odds, gradually found their offensive stalled.

Under the fierce attack of the Expeditionary Force, the original "cone-shaped" formation was gradually compressed into an ellipse.

Unable to make any further breakthroughs in offense, Saito and Komuro had no choice but to switch from offense to defense.

Their defenses were frighteningly thin, given their overwhelming numerical disadvantage.

Unable to break through this dense "sea of ​​blood red", they had no choice but to switch from defense to offense, which further dampened the already low morale and fighting spirit of Komuro and his team.

Meanwhile, the morale and fighting spirit of the Expeditionary Force were fluctuating.

They launched an even more frantic attack, compressing Komuro and his men's already thin defenses.

Saito and Komuro, with their exceptional skills, managed to keep their section of the defensive line from retreating.

But the others don't have the ability to keep the defensive line from retreating, like Saito and Komuro did...

One by one, the guards were defeated and killed because they were outnumbered.

As the defenses in other areas retreated, Saito, Komuro, and the others were forced to retreat as well...

The "elliptical" defensive formation was thus squeezed smaller and smaller...

The members of the Extermination Group were getting closer and closer to Anthony, Elodie, and the others who were being protected by everyone in the very center of the "oval".