After packing up the captured spoils, the convoy continued its journey, with everyone becoming noticeably more cautious. After all, given Ursus's established military style, this recent failure would not make them retreat; it would only make them more ferocious and vengeful.
This time, the convoy rearranged its formation. A specially equipped mine-clearing vehicle was placed at the very front to lead the way. With so many heavy vehicles and a predetermined, predictable path, the enemy was highly likely to lay extensive minefields on the convoy's route. In such a situation, not having the mine-clearing vehicle lead would be nothing short of courting death.
Flandre Scarlet, acting as the primary scout, would sweep the dangerous areas ahead whenever the convoy reached a safe spot to pause. Since the attacking teams typically numbered between fifty and a hundred, they were originally just meant to sow panic and attrition within the convoy. However, they had unexpectedly encountered Flandre. This specific number of enemies was precisely within her "comfort zone"—large enough to be a target, but small enough to be wiped out before they could coordinate.
By the time they stopped for rest on the first evening, she had already cleared three separate ambushing enemy groups along the way, annihilating about a hundred people in total.
The news only fully reached the Ursus command headquarters in the evening. Actually, the loss of personnel was not viewed as a significant issue; in the Ursus military machine, death is a common currency. But the troublesome part was that today's losses were not just those hundred or so people. There were also the weapons and equipment they carried that were now in the hands of the enemy.
Among them, the most headache-inducing losses were the three mortars, a drone squad, and its control console. The rest were minor things like crossbows. The merchant caravan, adhering to the principle of filling any available space, had taken all these weapons with them. Especially that drone squad—it was perfect for taking over Flandre's long-range reconnaissance duties. Although they couldn't be used as freely as she could due to battery and fuel consumption, they could still cover many of the convoy's blind spots.
At this moment, the Ursus staff officers were looking at the route with deeply troubled expressions. Their initial plan had been confirmed as a total ruin. The reason, naturally, was Flandre. Originally, if not for her, even if everyone in the merchant caravan—from the drivers to the guards—were military elites, they wouldn't be able to withstand Ursus's continuous, grinding small-scale attacks.
However, this team happened to have a monster capable of single-handedly changing the physics of a small battlefield. Unless they could defeat or contain her, their plan was completely unfeasible. But it was precisely when their numbers were small that they couldn't deal with her. If they couldn't deal with her, the entire interception plan would fail. However, increasing their numbers to a full-scale deployment would contradict the political nature of the plan, and they couldn't mobilize an entire division at once without sparking a regional war.
After a heated discussion, the group decided to activate the backup plan: consolidating their forces. They would gather the scattered personnel from each area, forming groups of five hundred to seven hundred people. Then they would ambush the convoy with concentrated numbers. Moreover, every single soldier would be equipped with long-range crossbows. This arrangement was made because Flandre was too elusive in the air; too few people simply couldn't generate enough suppressive fire to keep her away. If she couldn't be suppressed, they couldn't attack the merchant caravan. If they couldn't attack the caravan, the battle would fall back into that previous dead loop of failure.
Waking up the next morning, Flandre stretched lazily. "Nothing happened last night!"
The others also nodded, though they looked tired. In their estimation, Ursus would most likely launch a night raid under the cover of darkness. However, an entire night had passed, and the perimeter had remained silent.
"Don't relax your guard. The Ursus people are not that easy to deal with. They are like hungry wolves; they won't easily give up on prey like us," Zhang Wei said, scanning the surroundings before speaking to warn the group. Everyone nodded, and the convoy continued forward into the morning light.
During the morning, the convoy passed several likely ambush points without encountering a single Ursus soldier, which made many members start to relax. In their view, perhaps yesterday's losses were too great, and the enemy had no immediate solution.
But Zhang Wei didn't think so at all. He had engaged the Ursus army several times in his career and knew their temperament and dark persistence. It was precisely because of this experience that he was entrusted with the important position of guard captain. He completely disbelieved that Ursus would simply abandon the attack. In his opinion, the calmer Ursus was, the bigger the storm they were brewing behind the hills.
In the afternoon, the convoy approached a valley again. Because they hadn't been attacked for several hours, the vehicles instinctively tightened their formation and got a bit closer this time. Flandre had just flown out of the vehicle door, and before she could even set off on her scout path, she heard a series of sharp, piercing shrieks approaching from a distance.
"Artillery attack! Everyone, take cover quickly!"
Flandre looked up at the black dots falling from the sky and raised her hand, firing several Magic Bullets in rapid succession. The shells were detonated dozens of meters in the air. However, even though the shells were intercepted, the danger did not subside. These were not standard gunpowder bombs; they were Originium shells designed to pollute a large area and spike the Originium concentration.
After the bombs exploded in the air, a thick cloud of Originium dust began to spread in all directions. Seeing this, Flandre directly performed a "Great Wind Blow," her magic forcibly changing the original south wind into a violent northwest wind. This caused the toxic dust to fly directly back toward the hidden Ursus positions.
The Ursus people ambushing in the mountains immediately had to abandon their cover and charge forward to escape their own dust. Meanwhile, the enemy mortars continued their assault, forcing Flandre to fully focus on dealing with the aerial projectiles. Just then, the infantry entered firing range and began shooting at the merchant caravan. The caravan members could only hide behind the reinforced plating of their vehicles, using them as cover to retaliate.
Zhang Wei looked at the few men nearby who were frantically tinkering with their captured mortars. "How much longer? The enemy is almost on top of us!"
"Two minutes, just give me two minutes!" the man setting up the mortar shouted over the noise.
"Alright, everyone pay attention! Free fire, hold them back! Flandre, don't worry about us—go directly for the enemy's mortar team! Only by clearing them out can we fight without restraint!" Zhang Wei shouted at the top of his lungs.
Flandre, who was currently dodging and shooting to clear the air, split herself into four. Two rushed toward the enemy mortar positions, while one stayed behind to continue blocking the incoming shells. The last one jumped to the top of a massive tree nearby.
"Good position! I'll provide suppression fire!"
Flandre shouted, and a giant magic circle unfolded behind her. Then, a massive torrent of Danmaku flew out like a wall of rain, covering the sky and the mountainside.
"No, retreat! Retreat quickly!" Facing Flandre at full power, the enemy commander understood in an instant that if they didn't leave now, everyone would be annihilated. He unhesitatingly ordered a retreat while calling for support from even more distant, heavy howitzers.
The two Flandres who rushed the mortar positions found that the enemy was very vigilant. They had dispersed their mortars in a wide fan shape across the terrain. This meant Flandre's plan to eliminate them in one blast wouldn't work; she had to take out each strongpoint one by one.
Fortunately, the Flandres were in perfect sync. They pounced from the left and right, brandishing the flaming greatsword Laevateinn. Where the sword passed, nothing survived—the flames incinerated the crews and the equipment instantly. Even so, it took several minutes to clear all the points because of the sheer number of defending troops.
Just as she finished, an even sharper shrieking sound echoed from above. She looked up and realized the enemy's distance was greater than she imagined. Cannot pursue! she realized. She couldn't leave the convoy defenseless to chase a distant artillery battery.
She rushed back to the trucks. The four Flandres synchronized their power, completely covering the northern sky with Danmaku. Because these new shells were moving incredibly fast, she used the most "clumsy" but effective method: quadruple firepower saturation. The sky was filled with Magic Bullets until every incoming shell was detonated mid-air.
"Beautiful!" someone cried out.
The Ursus army, seeing their ultimate artillery threat countered so easily, unhesitatingly left behind over a hundred corpses and retreated in total disarray.
The news returning to headquarters brought another long period of silence. What now? That monster could split into four, and all four were terrifying. From the footage, her combined firepower could suppress an entire regiment.
"Henceforth, with the exception of the final location, all other attacks are to be abandoned," said Viscount Kerk, the overall commander. "Send the Lookout and Ironlily to ambush there. If she wants to compare firepower, I'd like to see if she alone can withstand two High-speed Battleships."
The orders were final. The two High-speed Battleships, usually patrolling the border, rushed toward the final ambush point. There, Ursus engineers had spent a day and a night laying a five-kilometer-long minefield. If they couldn't seize the supplies, they would turn them to ash and establish their prestige.
The mobilization did not escape Leithanien. The Twin Empresses remained silent, merely instructing their spies: "Monitor everything."