Lord of Winter: Beginning with Daily Intelligence Chapter 748 - 417: The Ignited Fuse

A brief hush fell over the throng of refugees.

An elderly man, his hair like snow, trembled as he stretched out a hand to welcome the sustenance descending from above.

Staring blankly at the piece of meat in his palm, he warily placed it into his mouth.

Abruptly, his head snapped up.

Behind them, those colossal metal behemoths remained still in the deluge, their muzzles still emitting wisps of smoke, yet no more projectiles rained down upon the crowd.

Gazing forward, the formidable Battle Commander, who had moments ago wielded his longsword, menacingly driving them back, now lay mangled in the mire, a mere ruin of a corpse.

The old man's breath grew ragged.

A stark, simple realization began to form in his dulled mind.

The mechanical giants behind them were not their executioners.

They were only directed to eliminate those who obstructed their provision.

The silence, however, was fleeting.

In the very next moment, it was impossible to discern who first emitted the guttural cry:

"That is our sustenance!"

"Seize it!!!"

The instant these shouts erupted, all semblance of rationality shattered.

Gnawing hunger, paralyzing fear, and the absolute degradation of being cornered converged.

The primal instinct for survival seized absolute control.

The terror of death itself paled in comparison to the fear of being too late.

This primal roar, like a lit fuse, detonated within the confines of the canyon.

......

Within the towering structure, Kael’s visage went utterly ashen at that precise instant.

The wine chalice in his grasp slipped, plummeting to the plush carpet, its ruby liquid blooming outward like a freshly spilled pool of blood.

"Impossible... This is utterly inconceivable..." His voice was a parched rasp, as if torn from his very throat.

Kael gestured a trembling finger towards the distant pandemonium of fire and surging humanity, his tone spiraling out of command.

"This location is a full four kilometers from the valley's entrance! Navigating through this downpour, past tens of thousands of souls... how could they achieve such pinpoint accuracy to strike the grain cache concealed within that hollow?!

Furthermore... the sheer destructive force of that ordnance, capable of breaching fortifications and transforming sustenance into such a rain..."

Kael’s intellect raced, desperately seeking any precedent, but found none.

Within his extensive knowledge of military strategy, catapults possessed neither the range nor the precision required. Standard cannons, too, fell short of such capabilities.

This was no longer a simple matter of superior firepower, but an entirely novel form of engagement, transcending known tactical limitations and Kael’s own comprehension.

A chilling thought pierced his consciousness without preamble.

No, it wasn't solely the cannons!

Kael's respiration hitched dramatically: "How could they possibly have known..."

His gaze remained locked intently on the still-smoldering hollow, his voice dropping to a near-inaudible murmur.

"How could they have known I secreted the provisions there?"

The exact coordinates of the No. 3 depot were conspicuously absent from any public supply manifest.

It was a clandestine offloading point, personally designated by him, intended solely for the sustenance needs of the Battle Supervision contingent.

Camouflage netting, deceptive markers, meticulously planned patrol routes – all modifications were temporary expedients.

An outsider could not have possibly acquired this information, unless...

Kael’s pupils contracted violently.

All the inexplicable anomalies he had ruthlessly suppressed over the preceding fortnight now converged with damning clarity.

The ambushes on supply convoys were too precisely timed.

The patrol route blind spots were exploited with unnerving regularity.

The actions undertaken by the Northern Territory forces consistently seemed to anticipate his every strategic maneuver.

"There is a traitor..."

These three words had been a chilling echo in his mind for the past fifteen days, a cold dread crawling incessantly up his spine.

He couldn't even begin to fathom whose hidden gaze betrayed his secrets.

Raw fear finally breached the last vestiges of his composure.

Kael could only watch, utterly helpless, as the carefully constructed edifice of his plans began to crumble.

The human bulwark he had so confidently orchestrated failed to even momentarily impede the onslaught, with two mere cannonballs acting as a catastrophic fuse, igniting a devastating backlash.

Those commoners, who previously wouldn't dare meet the gaze of a knight, were now, like cornered predators, launching themselves with teeth, nails, and sheer desperation at the Battle Supervision team.

By all rights, this scenario should have been impossible.

A Battle Supervision Knight, radiating potent Fighting Qi, a veteran of rigorous training, was typically capable of subduing thirty unarmed civilians without exertion, let alone these famished wretches, weakened by three days and nights without sustenance, struggling merely to remain upright.

Yet, now, their Fighting Qi seemed rendered meaningless... for it was not a solitary individual or two, but an entire, surging mass of humanity, a veritable human tide.

A Battle Supervision Knight bellowed, his spear thrusting forward, impaling a refugee through the chest with a weapon crackling with Fighting Qi. In the very next instant, however, a dozen desperate souls swarmed him, dragging him unceremoniously from his steed.

The vibrant Fighting Qi flared around him, only to be swiftly consumed.

In the desperate scramble for the sack of flour strapped to his back, the mud-and-water-soaked armored form was rapidly trampled into the earth by countless feet, devoid of even a moment to fight back.

This was not an isolated incident.

The onlookers paid no mind to whether they were struck; individuals impaled by a longspear hadn't yet succumbed, allowing those behind them to trample over them, while one whose arm was severed still desperately clutched the leg armor of a knight with their remaining hand.

The defensive formation crumbled completely within a remarkably short span.

Either a bolt from the Red Tide's position achieved a pinpoint strike, felling a knight before the engagement even commenced, or they were swamped from the front by the relentless surge of the advancing populace, rendering Fighting Energy and armor utterly insignificant.

"Insane... they've all lost their minds..." Kael's teeth gnashed together uncontrollably, "completely mad..."

That bulwark of resolve, meticulously constructed by his own hands, had been breached.

And it had fallen directly upon him, with a deafening roar.

Witnessing the torrent of humanity rushing towards the granary, and consequently, towards the flank of Grey Rock Castle.

The sheer terror in Kael's gaze rapidly subsided, transforming instead into a chilling and unadulterated malevolence.

"Since you all crave sustenance..." His voice rasped, piercing the chaos, "then descend to the underworld and feast there."