NEC Chapter 137: Gunpowder Resolve, The First Bloom of Frost Thunder

The autumn of Sky Empire Year 1427 was the prelude to a magnificent era of great changes.

If the war at the end of last year could still be considered merely local friction between a territory or two, then starting this year, the continental situation that had been peaceful for too long welcomed a new reshuffling.

However, at this moment, as the protagonist who would later be praised by traveling bards, young Lady Frost raised her spear and saluted the nearly frenzied domain folk with a resolute expression.

Gently smoothing her hair, the young girl's ears, slightly more pointed than ordinary humans, swept back, then she indicated she needed to clean the blood from her body and withdrew to a blind spot at the mountain's base.

Old General Charles, who had been the first to charge down the mountain determined to protect his lord, had displayed amazing combat power throughout the battle.

The old man had captured a warhorse on the battlefield, following the young girl in charges left and right, pursuing Greenspine's fleeing soldiers, staying close to Frost's side throughout.

Now, the old general dutifully stood guard outside, facing the nearly frenzied Cloudmist soldiers and domain folk, providing security for the young girl. Then he heard retching sounds from the mountain hollow behind him.

Charles's smile was somewhat stiff, and somewhat heartbreaking.

He firmly gestured for the crowd to retreat, "Her Ladyship needs to rest briefly, do not disturb!"

"There are supplies in the enemy camp, go retrieve them, replenish food and water, and await orders!"

Having led the group this far, Charles held extremely high prestige in the unit. Under his continuous direction, the frenzied crowd split up under several deputy commanders' leadership to clean and organize the battlefield.

After a while, he heard a low voice from behind him.

"Uncle Charles, thank you!"

The old general's body shuddered violently as tears suddenly rolled down his face.

He staggered around and fell to his knees, his voice choked, "Lady... no! My Lady!"

Frost had dismounted from the unicorn, her small face somewhat pale, lips pressed tight, struggling to suppress the churning blood and energy in her chest.

Though Frost had personally killed some enemies when following Chen Mo out of the wilderness, those had been distant gunshot executions, far less bloody than today's charging battlefield.

Severed limbs and bones everywhere, deep red blood, any scene that would require heavy pixelation in any Blue Star footage.

When enemies were still present on the battlefield, the young girl's mind was entirely focused on defeating opponents, her sympathetic nervous system's extreme excitement leaving Frost no attention for other matters.

But once she calmed down, the direct impact exceeded the young girl's tolerance limit.

Being able to endure without collapsing on the spot was already the young girl's exceptional performance.

"Uncle Charles, please rise. The domain... how is the domain now?"

This question dragged Charles back to reality from his earlier excitement. His forehead pressed to the ground as he wailed, "The old lord... is gone!"

"Cloudmist City is also lost!"

"The eldest son fled to Resting Moon, the second son fled to Emerald, the third son... betrayed us. That traitor now calls himself lord and sits in Cloudmist's city hall..."

"I know all this!" Frost shook her somewhat weakened arms and pulled the old general up from the ground with one hand.

"Uncle Charles, I don't understand warfare. How many people do we still have, how many soldiers?"

"What should we do?"

What to do, old Charles had no ideas either.

Though theoretically, with a responsible heir's return, the domain had its backbone and soul again, the situation they faced was still too dire.

A few hundred remaining soldiers, a few thousand weak civilians, this was all the strength Frost could currently command.

What they would face was over twenty thousand regular troops from Greenspine Kingdom, plus unknown numbers of enemies still continuously advancing into Cloudmist Domain.

No matter how he calculated, old Charles couldn't find a path to restore the domain.

He didn't know if the old Lord Liuyun, were he to come back to life, would have any solution facing this situation.

While the military leaders were frowning with worry, Frost seemed to have no concerns instead.

"If we can't think of good methods, we won't think about it!"

"Send the civilians behind the pass. Warriors willing to fight can follow me into battle."

"When we encounter few enemies we'll kill them, when we encounter many enemies we'll run!"

"Killing ten per day would take..." The young girl counted on her fingers, realized time might be insufficient, so changed her words, "Um, killing one hundred enemies per day, twenty thousand enemies would take just over two hundred days, that's... that's..."

The nearby guard captain couldn't help but remind her quietly, "Seven months."

"Right! Seven months!"

Frost raised her head, lifted her pointed chin high, and surveyed the battlefield, "We killed many hundreds today! We completed many days' worth of missions ahead of schedule and can save considerable time!"

Several deputy commanders all smiled wryly. Battlefield warfare was hardly such simple arithmetic.

Besides, the young girl's talk of ten per day or one hundred per day was probably just for neat numbers that were easy to calculate.

Only old Charles stared blankly at Lady Frost's still childish face.

The old man had experienced the entire war and knew the current situation best. If Resting Moon didn't send troops and the duchy provided no rescue, even if the young girl won ten or a hundred more battles like this, it might still be impossible to save Cloudmist's fate.

Perhaps, in this situation, there really were no brilliant strategies or masterful tactics.

It was simply killing one by one, until either the enemies were all dead or they failed, that was the best correct answer.

The domain's old scribe approached and reminded the military officers, "The duchy's border city probably won't let us enter!"

"It's fine, I've already negotiated with them. I'll pay!"

Well, this was using force to break through situations.

The pass guards dared not come out to provide rescue, first because enemies were close at hand and they worried about affecting border defense, and second because there was no necessity for rescue.

Now that enemies had already scattered, the surrounding environment was safe, and a "generous" lord was willing to bear all refugee expenses plus pay high "temporary residence fees" for the domain folk, opening the gates and allocating some space wasn't a big deal.

However, before that, one more problem needed solving.

"There are definitely Mistmoon Divine Court spies in our ranks!"

"If we can't root them out, whether warriors remaining outside the pass or civilians entering within will face trouble!"

Emerald Duchy had suffered from this problem more than once or twice.

From East Ridge to South Border Territory, and now Cloudmist Domain, Mistmoon Divine Court's shadow could be vaguely seen behind each incident.

Openly, Mistmoon Divine Court used "not interfering in disputes between nations" as an excuse, restraining Resting Moon Dynasty so neither major power could send troops, but actually used the earthly divine kingdom's name to recruit traitors from various countries everywhere.

Combined with the gnome merchant guild's widespread channels and money, they could always conveniently bribe many informants and secret agents.

In short, they spoke human words on the surface but did inhuman deeds behind the scenes.

Earl Liuyun's death might also be connected to them.

Surface spies were easy to handle. After all, through this pursuit with no water or food, displaced and wandering, most spies had eliminated themselves.

But from how enemies could always track their movements and had even laid siege circles at the border early, at least one, possibly multiple experienced and determined elite spies still lurked in the ranks.

Charles had no ability to root out these "venomous snakes" capable of surviving in desperate situations.

Even the most experienced old scribe was somewhat at a loss facing this problem.

However, the young girl didn't take it seriously.

"My teacher taught me a method we can try."

"Ah? Didn't you go to study swordsmanship?"

Frost rarely showed embarrassment, "Um, I have a teacher who knows a bit of everything!"

"You see, having me disguise Big White as a horse and specially paint him black so enemies would never think of it, that was his teaching."

Paint black?

Charles looked at the unicorn that had become somewhat mottled from blood stains and rubbing against things, feeling intense curiosity.

This trick was truly devious.

Not only would others not think of it, the unicorn itself couldn't have imagined it. Look at its uncomfortable appearance, it had already knocked down several large trees from rubbing.

As Mistmoon Divine Court's signature creature, those the Divine Court displayed publicly were all pure white unicorns.

Like "Big White's" gray-white coloring was already considered impure, which was why it was assigned to high priests as a mount.

There were also rumors that the Divine Court's multicolored unicorns had to be whitened before public appearances, so whenever people thought of unicorns, they associated them with pure white, sacred, and noble qualities.

Many people knew the young girl had a white unicorn, but with head and body disguise plus full black painting, the probability of opponents making the connection was greatly reduced.

It had indeed fooled the opposing grand knight, creating tremendous intimidation through the opening decapitation.

Otherwise, if the enemy had formed defensive arrays from the start, this battle would never have been won so "easily."

The question was, which academy teacher taught such underhanded tricks?

Both Charles and the old scribe were somewhat expectant.

Sure enough, the girl provided another indescribable devious method.

All personnel, military and civilian alike, were quickly divided into groups of ten and brought in batches to temporarily designated isolation areas.

Under the cold steel of guards' strict watch, facing magic crystals capable of recording images, they had to loudly recite the text on paper:

"The Seven-Eyed God is trash, all gnomes are bastards!"

This was truly vicious!

At a glance, one could clearly see some people's forehead veins bulging.

Without ten years of mutual street cursing with Mistmoon's divine sticks, one could never think of such damaging tricks, and even if someone thought of it, they wouldn't dare use it.

Blaspheming gods, in this world where gods truly existed, was an insurmountable wall in believers' hearts.

But the Divine Court wasn't all faithful believers, some were there for profit, so the second sentence was even more malicious.

The gnome race's pettiness and vengeful nature was infamous across the entire continent.

For example, "A gnome dies, tenfold compensation!"

Well, compensation with life or money both worked, but compensation was required!

Another example, as gnome influence within Mistmoon had gradually expanded in recent years, the Divine Court now had public codes.

Not to mention openly insulting gnomes, even implications, innuendo, or being perceived as insulting gnomes in your mind were grave crimes.

Even thinking about it was forbidden!

So the more loyal the Mistmoon spy, the better they understood these two sentences' weight.

Not speaking meant a blade at the neck, physical death.

Speaking meant permanent social death in Mistmoon Divine Court for life, and once caught would still escalate to physical death.

Even family members couldn't escape.

What were people becoming spies for?

This was too difficult!

Of course, facing guards' weapons, some guys would rather die later than die now.

So "Baldy Big Horse" had the young girl leave these people a humane path.

As long as you confessed your identity and provided appropriate compensation for self-redemption, they wouldn't kill you and would let you go.

No money? Then provide intelligence. You work as spies, you can't lack valuable intelligence or lists of contacts and superiors.

When three options of "immediate execution," "cursed death," and "self-redemption for survival" were presented, the last option's cost-effectiveness appeared quite high.

Charles was somewhat puzzled, quietly asking the young girl, "What if they provide false intelligence?"

"It's fine, I have another slip of paper."

"Have them recite it!"

Same recipe again, swearing on the spot by the Seven-Eyed God's divinity and the gnome race's safety. If the provided intelligence was true, nothing would happen, but if the intelligence was false, they would have placed a malicious curse on gods and gnomes.

Never mind if the method was crude, as long as it worked.

This screening method was frighteningly efficient. In just about an hour, everyone was screened.

Civilians, wounded soldiers, and battlefield captured supplies were sent within the pass walls, handed over to the old scribe's group for management.

After brief rest, Lady Frost took the thick intelligence reports and once again embarked on her campaign.

September 21st, Greenspine Kingdom's Twelfth Infantry Regiment flank.

The earth trembled under hoofbeats as a somewhat comically painted black and white figure suddenly tore through the evening's tranquility.

Frost charged ahead, "Big White" raising its head to emit a clear neigh, the horn atop its head suddenly erupting with blinding blue-white lightning!

Crack, BOOM!!!

Violent thunder like divine punishment lashed down at Greenspine soldiers hastily forming ranks ahead! Instantly, the smell of charred human flesh spread as screams were drowned in deafening thunder.

"Cloudmist Domain! Charge!" Frost cried sharply, her long spear becoming a silver trajectory of death, leading the cavalry behind her like a blade piercing the chaotic enemy formation.

Wherever they passed, devastation followed.

Unicorn lightning wasn't unlimited. As high-tier magical beasts, they possessed certain spellcasting abilities, but this casting range was far below trained mages, reaching at most several dozen meters ahead.

Moreover, each lightning discharge required long rest periods, or... feeding high-energy mana crystals with lightning attributes.

Most mana crystals were attribute-less. Only high-level lair creatures, with special material inputs, could possibly catalyze these special-attribute mana crystals.

While not legendary divine objects, they obviously weren't cheap either, given the rarity of both special materials and special domains.

The Divine Court-sponsored Northern Magic Academy expended great effort on long-term research in Thunder Wasteland, including paying enormous costs to purchase electrical equipment from Vast Sea Territory, all to attempt expanding acquisition channels for lightning-attribute mana crystals.

After all, unicorns were the Divine Court's exclusive favorites.

Since this stuff was so precious, Chen Mo had only provided Lady Frost with a hundred pieces.

Well, if used morning and afternoon battles daily, it wouldn't even last two months.

But Frost obviously lacked concepts of "careful calculation." In enemy territory fighting alone, each day was earned! Living day by day without guarantees, where was the luxury of such concerns?

Killing people, setting fires, demolishing buildings, taking valuable supplies, well, these were originally Cloudmist family property anyway. The young girl took them with a clear conscience.

The cavalry vanished into the vast wilderness, leaving behind legends of "Lightning Judgment!"

Greenspine Kingdom's army fell into a troublesome predicament. Through repeated battlefield assessments, this juvenile unicorn was at least a sixth-tier creature, while Frost had reached fourth-tier Goldscale level. Greenspine's domain knights could hardly withstand such combination attacks.

Cavalry mobility was too high, often discovery meant immediate battle, and battle meant decisive combat.

There was also intelligence issues.

Though the kingdom currently controlled the situation in Cloudmist Domain's occupied areas with strong forces, essentially this wasn't the kingdom's home ground.

Most domain folk, upon seeing that Cloudmist Flowing Pattern Spiral banner, would still fall to their knees with tears streaming.

Worse still, Greenspine didn't know Lady Frost held a Mistmoon spy network list.

Well, all confessed by those moles forced into desperation.

Equivalent to the young girl now sharing some of Greenspine Kingdom's intelligence and activities from Mistmoon's spy network, but these spies dared not report being forced to confess by the young girl.

One side had unilateral transparency, the other saw flowers through fog.

September 24th, the young girl again found Greenspine's organized "puppet army" forces, single-spearing former South Border Territory Grand Knight, now Zircon Family's Eighth Knight Connor, completing a double-kill of both main culprits from that day's wilderness hunt of Paven.

She also took away a batch of original domain soldiers who switched sides, leaving behind the title "Cloudmist Sacred Spear."

Just one day later, Frost appeared ghostlike beside New Amber River, setting fire near the floating bridge transporting supplies.

Fire borrowed wind's force, instantly devouring the wooden floating bridge and supplies atop it. Towering flames reddened the river water and the horrified faces of witnesses across the river.

"Falling Star's Fury" spread along New Amber River's flow.

On September's final day, after Greenspine's three major lords threw out multiple baits that Frost bit and devoured one by one, they finally followed this trail to catch the squad's traces and launched a siege against Frost.

Because Frost was extremely vigilant, immediately retreating upon encountering larger-scale troops, Greenspine Kingdom had to adopt small-scale, high-tier warrior rapid assault tactics.

This battle was quite brutal, like the siege of Earl Liuyun that day, six grand knights with magic protection scroll ambushes faced an injured, berserk unicorn and Frost's unrestrrained use of firearms.

Ultimately Frost escaped wounded with her cavalry squadron suffering over half casualties, but one grand knight died with three wounded, and the entire camp was bombed to ruins.

Still failed to keep that little girl.

Above the ruins, the titles "Cloudmist's Fury" and "Unyielding Goddess," accompanied by blood and gunpowder, were deeply branded into every survivor's heart.

Greenspine Kingdom was becoming frantic.

Entering October, Frost became more cautious.

She no longer directly confronted company-level enemies, instead often fighting solo, appearing and vanishing mysteriously, specifically attacking Greenspine patrol squads and transport teams, destroying bridges and watchtowers, rescuing scattered controlled domain folk, burning stored grain and supplies...

She was like a delicate dagger, continuously creating small but persistently bleeding wounds on Greenspine's massive body.

The numerous titles she earned through her campaigns gradually became people's recognition and respect for this young leader's persistent resistance.

From Emerald to Cloudmist, people began respectfully calling Frost: Frost Thunder Lord!

Emerald Duchy was also stimulated into restlessness, sortied for one unsuccessful battle before shrinking back, but obviously greatly intensified reconnaissance efforts toward Cloudmist.

In stark ironic contrast, Liuchuan, hiding behind Cloudmist City's high walls and existing through a Greenspine appointment paper, had almost nothing except a traitor's infamy.

Early October, Greenspine Kingdom, harassed and suffering heavy losses yet unable to catch that wisp of "Frost Thunder," finally bowed their proud heads in helplessness.

Continuing like this, her title collection would soon be longer than purebred orc names.

Greenspine's massive army contracted entirely into solid cities and several core strongholds, temporarily abandoning control over Cloudmist Domain's vast plains.

Simultaneously, a pressure document was sent to Vast Sea in the great desert.

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