In the Name of Empress-Chapter 535 - 333: The Sky Is Blue

After a moment of stunned bewilderment, Christine instinctively thought she should run.

Isn’t that right?

As the commander of the coalition forces, she was very clear that the defense of Val City was over.

Transcendents can hardly change the course of a battle on their own, except Sofia.

Sofia hasn’t personally killed anyone, except those unlucky ones who voluntarily rushed to their death, frozen to ice shards; she hadn’t actively killed anyone.

But she shattered the source of the coalition’s morale.

The Holy Spring was frozen, the Holy Water turned into Holy Ice. The miracles which could save severe injuries were gone.

The belief in victory of the two hundred thousand troops was also frozen.

All Christine could do now was to minimize losses.

Just as she was about to give the retreat order, Christine’s body suddenly stiffened.

From a rational standpoint, ordering a retreat after morale collapses is the best choice.

Frozen Holy Spring = Morale Collapse, that’s the thought of the average person, but she was not average.

If she ordered a retreat now, the ten thousand cavalry patrolling the perimeter could easily tear apart the unprotected infantry retreating in disarray.

Leaving Val City would mean an inevitable defeat.

After a brief contemplation, Christine made a decision that defied military common sense.

Charge, gamble with fate.

Val City is a city on the plains, and the Holy Spring is on the outskirts. Only a few thousand soldiers could see the Holy Spring frozen; on a battlefield with over five hundred thousand combined troops, a few thousand would not affect the big picture.

Christine, with a bird’s-eye view of the situation, quickly issued orders for the troops near the Holy Spring to retreat along the Rodinia River.

These demoralized troops would quickly flee even without a retreat order, so it was just as well to give them a reason to withdraw.

Christine plotted a retreat path for them not too far from the Assak Grassland Cavalry and the Prudon Black-clothed Cavalry.

These elite cavalry could easily annihilate these fleeing soldiers as long as they launched an attack.

And they would remain unaware that this was precisely the result Christine desired.

Using the enemy’s hand to eliminate soldiers who witnessed the Holy Spring freezing, to prevent the morale collapse from spreading to the entire army.

Such a cold-blooded decision could only be made by her instantaneously, so much so that the adjutant standing beside her froze upon receiving the order.

The adjutant had to inquire with Christine to confirm the authenticity of the command.

"Execute immediately!"

Christine said coldly, the Holy Mark on her fair face gaining a few traces of blood color due to rage.

She looked nothing like someone blessed by the Light at that moment, but more like a Devil walking out of the Blood Prison.

Beautiful, yet exceptionally terrifying.

The adjutant’s hands trembled slightly as she reached the end of the airship; she hesitated repeatedly, yet gritted her teeth to relay Christine’s order using signal flags.

After relaying the order, the adjutant’s face looked terrible, she even didn’t want to report back to Christine.

He can hardly accept this unequivocal act of sending warriors to their death, but he likewise acknowledged that this was the optimal solution considering no emotional factors.

He was conflicted, he was torn, until Christine’s call reached him.

The adjutant dashed over like lightning, continuing to transmit orders for Christine.

Christine’s orders were bloodthirsty and manic.

She ordered all elite troops to launch an assault directly toward Sofia’s main camp.

Judging from Sofia’s earlier showing of restraint, she seemed scrupulous about large-scale slaughter of soldiers.

Not just her, most Transcendents wouldn’t casually slaughter ordinary people.

Rumor has it that killing too many normal people could hinder advancements, although there’s no quantifiable standard for this saying, the sages who founded the Transcendent system said as much, and everyone could only believe it.

Christine’s idea was simple, since Sofia couldn’t massacre normal people wantonly, her extraordinary power would be of little use against masses of soldiers.

If Sofia was forced to take action personally, that would be beneficial too, at least consuming her energy, making Roland’s final showdown easier.

If Sofia was constrained, this desperate counterattack could entirely break into the enemy’s main camp, severing the banner representing the Empress’s authority.

At the forefront stood the third regiment of Temple Warriors she personally trained; although this troop consisted only of one thousand five hundred people, its combat power was comparable to five or six thousand.

These were her direct troops.

Christine didn’t hesitate for even a second and ordered the third regiment of Temple Warriors to launch a countercharge against the enemies in front.

Being direct troops, they couldn’t fail at critical moments, otherwise what’s the use of nurturing them.

They were at the frontline, still unaware that the Holy Spring was frozen, their morale and combat power were at peak status.

If they turned back to see the Holy Spring frozen into ice sculptures, this troop would collapse.

Meanwhile, she also issued orders to other elite coalition forces to attack the enemy’s main camp.

This order seemed unreasonable, but these chosen troops were elites of outstanding loyalty and combat power.

A thought flashed across their minds.

Marshal Christine discovered an enemy vulnerability.

When the Marshal feels it’s time to charge, we charge! 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Jes led the Imperial Guard in a charge.

The Iron Wall Corps, where Tom and Jerry are located, launched a charge.

The Jin Yuan Kingdom’s Imperial Guard launched a charge.

The Governor’s Territory’s First Division launched a charge.

The Talia Kingdom’s sole ace troop launched a charge.

...

Under Christine’s command, the elite troops found on the battlefield, like countless swords, pierced fiercely into the main camp of the Holy Alliance Army.

That’s where Sofia was stationed.

That’s where the white camellia and double-headed eagle banners flew high in the camp.

That’s where the entire coalition’s most elite troops, the Assak Grassland Mad Cavalry, were stationed.