Chương 125: Gobu-Pao’s Miraculous Adventure

While the mages were grinding away at constructing their magic bomb, the perspective temporarily shifts over to Gobu-Pao's side. After parting ways with Li Qinwu, Gobu-Pao first located a cave within the mountainous region to stash the heavy supply baggage that was not required for daily operations. Traveling light, he led his cavalry detachment to relentlessly harass Count Fischer's forces.

Gobu-Pao was deeply well-versed in the core tenets of guerrilla warfare taught by Li Qinwu; he never engaged the enemy in a frontal confrontation, opting instead for continuous flanking maneuvers and sudden ambushes. Utilizing the rapid movement velocity of the Mount Spiders and their absolute advantage in traversing specialized, rugged terrain, he inflicted agonizing torment upon the enemy.

The exact moment they materialized along a vulnerable sector of the enemy lines, a synchronized volley of musket fire would invariably leave a trail of corpses. Gobu-Pao also routinely executed nighttime raids, utilizing his two artillery pieces to bombard the primary enemy encampment. The thunderous roar of artillery was exceptionally loud, leaving the enemy completely unable to sleep and too terrified to close their eyes, resulting in severe psychological anxiety across the ranks.

Eventually, Count Fischer could no longer endure the stress. He ordered trenches to be excavated along the rear of the military camp, encircling the compound and issuing long spears to the infantry, commanding them to man the trenches day and night. With this configuration established, Gobu-Pao truly could no longer approach with absolute impunity to execute his bombardments.

Consequently, he shifted his focus toward targeting isolated enemy detachments—such as units entering the wilderness to hunt for game, logistics details transporting military rations from the rear, and water-fetching parties. He slaughtered these assets to such an agonizing degree that the enemy abandoned hunting entirely, halted logistics transport, and were forced to form large groups just to fetch water.

After continuing these hit-and-run ambushes for a few more days, Gobu-Pao realized that all high-value targets within operational reach had been thoroughly eliminated. The remaining assets were either completely inaccessible or simply not worth the cost of an artillery shell to engage. As a result, Gobu-Pao felt a bit bewildered: What exactly should I do next? Right then, Gobu-Pao received intelligence from his scouting assets, reporting that a transport convoy was approaching from the west.

Gobu-Pao immediately led his riders to ambush the column, liquidating every single teamster and draft animal, and systematically destroying the cargo of wine barrels carried by the convoy. At that time, over a thousand barrels of liquor were entirely poured out into the wilderness, the rich aroma of wine radiating outwards across several kilometers. Gobu-Pao naturally had his men transport a significant quantity back to their cave, and the cavalrymen enjoyed a thoroughly ecstatic drinking session!

Because Li Qinwu was not present at their side and the cavalry unit had decoupled from the primary army structure, military discipline grew somewhat lax, and the riders one by one became completely inebriated. Fortunately, they were hidden deep within the primary caverns of the dense old-growth forests; had the enemy managed to track them down, a single coordinated sweeping operation would have entirely wiped them out. Gobu-Pao had likewise allowed himself to become slightly tipsy.

However, the moment he witnessed an absolute idiot attempting to feed wine directly from a barrel to a Mount Spider—resulting in the mount collapsing into a drunken stupor—he experienced a sudden jolt of mental alertness. Damn it! I have allowed myself to be compromised by wine and indulgence, becoming so utterly listless! Tomorrow, I quit drinking! The primary issue was that they truly hadn't fought any significant engagements over the past few days, causing the unit to gradually slide into sloppiness.

If he failed to initiate an absolute change, relying solely on Gobu-Pao's verbal admonitions would be fundamentally inadequate to pull the soldiers back into shape. He had to immediately locate a high-value strategic target, force the soldiers to sharpen their spirits, and enter a strict combat mindset! Gobu-Pao pondered back and forth, and suddenly, an idea struck him. If no high-value targets could be located along the frontal battlefield, why not punch directly straight into the enemy's ancestral nest?

Currently, the primary human army was entirely concentrated around Poloia, meaning the enemy's rear territories were bound to be exceptionally hollow. His 100 riders possessed terrifying speed and immense combat effectiveness; the soldiers could discharge firearms, while the Mount Spiders could utilize their two powerful forelegs to slaughter targets. Operating in this manner, 100 riders could easily function with the efficacy of 300.

When the time came, he would crush the weak defensive garrisons of the rear, and then duplicate his Boss's methodology—upon encountering a castle, he would blast it open with demolition tubes and set it ablaze. He would slaughter every noble he encountered while liberating every serf he found. Under such circumstances, would the enemy forces at the frontline still be capable of maintaining peace of mind?

Gobu-Pao immediately issued a strict command for everyone to dump out all remaining alcohol; when he said he was quitting drinking, he meant it. Then, carrying all their military baggage, they launched a furious advance toward the west—directly targeting Count Fischer's ancestral homeland. They spent two days traversing out of the Poloia administrative jurisdiction, encountering their very first castle. Stolen story; please report.

Precisely as he had anticipated, the enemy's home-defense forces were exceptionally minuscule. For a medium-sized castle, it would normally be perfectly standard to have a garrison of 500 men stationed within, yet after Gobu-Pao breached the stronghold, he discovered that the defenders numbered a mere forty-odd individuals, all of whom were second-line infantry equipped only with padded gambesons and arming doublets. Gobu-Pao utilized demolition tubes to breach the gates.

He barely even needed to fire many gunshots, relying purely on the two forelegs of the Mount Spiders to skewer and eliminate every single defender. Following the slaughter, Gobu-Pao executed all the nobles present, reduced the castle to ashes with a massive conflagration, and then surged westward along the primary highway.

Any merchants or nobles encountered along the road were systematically liquidated without exception, because the Boss had explicitly stated: Those who dress in magnificent attire are precisely the individuals capable of mobilizing societal resources; they are our fundamental enemies and must be resolutely put to death.

Conversely, the serfs dressed in tattered rags were to be released entirely; they would transform into volatile elements of instability for the enemy, and leaving them alive yielded absolute strategic benefits for the Alliance. It had to be said that this simplistic method of differentiation was remarkably accurate.

Gobu-Pao slaughtered a vast number of merchants and aristocrats, causing a wave of intense panic to circulate across the upper echelons of the Halyin Province, triggering a wild outbreak of rumors everywhere. Gobu-Pao continued his westward advance, burning down 5 castles, shattering 8 agricultural manors, and executing a multitude of nobles—virtually all of whom were the immediate family members of the commanders serving in Count Fischer's frontline army.

Once the intelligence regarding their homes being systematically backstuck reached the frontlines, there was no telling what level of chaotic collapse those commanders would descend into. However, Gobu-Pao's grand performance did not conclude there. As he continued westward along the primary highway, his eyes suddenly fell upon a stretch of hardened pavement road!

He clearly remembered that back within the Alliance territories, the Boss had desperately desired to construct a paved road linking Gobu-Burg and Iron City to facilitate seamless communication between the two nodes. Gobu-Pao instantly realized that by following this hardened road to its absolute termination, he would invariably locate a major metropolitan center! And you better believe it! This primary highway linked directly to the principal urban center of Count Fischer's domain—New Xiya.

This was a massive urban center boasting a standalone municipal population of 90, 000 people, marking it as the most critical heavy stronghold in Halyin Province second only to Poloia. Gobu-Pao led his 100 spider cavalrymen in a frantic 3-day sprint, successfully arriving beneath the walls of New Xiya. This sudden apparition scared the living daylights out of the New Xiya garrison garrison. Has Lord Count suffered a total defeat? Has the primary vanguard of the Demon Army already pushed into this theater?

Every single one of them managed to terrify themselves to absolute panic, causing wild rumors to flood across the entire interior city. Within New Xiya, there were a mere 1, 000 regular troops stationed. Even when factoring in the local militia and civil guard units, they could barely scrape together a force of 2, 000 men.

Fortunately, they possessed a 15-meter-high fortress wall, and coupled with the propaganda and pacification efforts broadcasted by the high-ranking officials within the city, the psychological state of the populace gradually began to stabilize. The citizens pondered and realized it made sense; what was there to panic about? New Xiya was protected by towering fortress walls. Could a mere detachment of the Demon Army genuinely possess the capacity to directly shatter the masonry and charge straight inside?

And then the wall was blown to high heaven. Gobu-Pao piled every single demolition tube he possessed against the base of the masonry, blasting open a massive, yawning crater. The Mount Spiders swarmed inward through the breach, surging into the urban sectors to slaughter assets and set fires. This was an absolute mental breakdown for the populace. The existence of a fortress wall was far more than a physical defense line—it functioned fundamentally as the psychological anchor of the people.

The Demon Army hadn't even been present for a single day before the fortress wall was completely shattered; who the hell could emotionally withstand such a shock!

All manner of wild fabrications began to spread like wildfire: claims that an immense horde of magical beasts had breached the lines and was preparing to butcher the entire population; that Count Fischer's primary army had been utterly annihilated; that Count Fischer himself had been completely barbecued; and that the garrison guarding the walls had already abandoned their posts and fled in advance.

It was an absolute textbook case of self-induced terror, plunging the interior city into a boiling pot of chaotic mess. The very first to believe the rumors and execute an immediate escape were the aristocrats within the city. Dragging their households and packing their wealth, they piled into carriages and streamed out of the city gates. Witnessing this spectacle, the civilian populace completely lost their remaining composure. Even the noble lords have fled; the rumors are absolutely true!

Consequently, a massive civilian riot erupted across the municipality. Multitudes sought to flee the city, jamming into the gates in a disorganized, suffocating bottleneck. Seizing the opportunity, malicious opportunists began smashing, looting, and burning properties at random, compounding the absolute chaos. Upon entering the urban sectors, Gobu-Pao did not lock into a protracted engagement against the regular military forces.

Instead, he directed the Mount Spiders to sprint through the residential quarters, setting fires and liquidating targets left and right. The maneuverability of the Mount Spiders within a complex urban environment was preposterously broken. Confronted by a single-story building, a spider merely needed to plant its forelegs onto the roof, exert force with its hind legs, and the entire arachnid structure could scale the building instantly.

Close to a hundred spiders operated exclusively across the rooftops, discharging their muskets from positions of absolute tactical safety down toward the human regulars attempting to pursue them along the primary avenues. Following seven or eight successive rounds of fire, the human soldiers found themselves completely unable to even touch the spider cavalrymen. Upon losing a mere 5% of their active personnel to musket rounds, the formation completely broke and routed.

The moment the regular military collapsed, the auxiliary defense forces similarly dissolved into a rout. As these elements fled, they carried the terrifying fabrications along with them everywhere they ran, compounding the chaos over and over again. Fires erupted across every quadrant of the municipality, and a massive volume of the population streamed out of the urban boundaries.

For a grand metropolitan center of that scale to be thrown into such absolute systemic disorder by a mere 100 riders was a truly rare and bizarre anomaly. At this moment, Li Qinwu—who was still stationed back in Poloia—could never have imagined that Gobu-Pao, whom he had fundamentally classified as a mere harassment detachment, had just delivered such a spectacular performance, plunging a vicious blade straight into the deep rear of Count Fischer's heart and laying down an absolute foundation for future victory.

However, it was a massive pity that right now, a fire had also ignited at Li Qinwu's own rear. Deep within the urban sectors of Poloia, a clandestine special faction was actively manipulating public opinion, attempting to spark a localized rebellion among the residual population remaining in the city. Furthermore, this shifting wind showed distinct signs of blowing toward the ranks of the Civil Security Army.