Chapter 228: Act 161 – The War of the Traveling Mage (Part 4) (Second Update, Seeking Subscriptions)
Charles’s spell was finally complete.
A wall of light woven from countless lines unfolded before Brendel. The arriving Black Knight’s massive glaive cut through the wall with a shower of sparks. His golden pupils contracted slightly as he immediately withdrew; he had already realized upon seeing the wall that this mission had failed. There was no way he could k*ll that young man in such a short time—let alone that a wall of laws created by a seventh-ring master was incredibly sturdy, and Brendel himself possessed the strength of a Golden tier. He had thought he could win by relying on his proud speed, but unexpectedly, the other side seemed to know from the very start what he would do—this young human had resolutely abandoned support for the entire battlefield at the first opportunity, retracting all the dragoons merely to hinder his actions.
Despite having so many guards by his side, he still chose to prioritize his own safety over the greater situation. A person like that was either too afraid of d*ath or possessed frightening judgment. Regardless, he had at least outplayed him.
White lifted his head, his golden eyes burning with fire as they met Brendel’s calm light brown gaze; he even felt a sense of familiarity, as if his opponent was an old rival with whom he had fought for many years.
Of course, White did not understand that Brendel was indeed that long-time adversary. The two had clashed countless times in the mountainous regions of the Holy Knight Order’s territory, both knowing each other inside and out. Moreover, at that time, White had already gained the bl**d of the evil dragon; both in terms of maturity and strength, he was far beyond who he was now. However, Brendel’s understanding of him had remained unchanged throughout that time.
Yet, all this appeared increasingly bizarre to the Black Knight.
He withdrew, and Brendel immediately commanded, “Block him—!”
The Black Knight among the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the Scale of War and the Arbiter, White Tiamas Juoyue, although his personal strength had always lingered at the lower tier among the four, was the most talented commander among them. Brendel knew that it was this man who had overseen the strategy that had led to the conquest of Bruglas during the Second Black Rose War, and it was not in his character to allow the other side to return to Madara as a future threat to Erluin. Moreover, for him, leaving this guy here held significance equivalent to breaking Tagus’s arm, and without White, Madara’s Undead Army would not pose as much pressure in the South.
Let alone the thunderous wrath of Count Rendener that he also had to face.
But upon hearing Brendel’s words, White couldn’t help but sneer. Wanting to keep him behind? Not so easy. While he couldn’t do anything about Brendel for the moment, that was under the condition of still needing to maintain control over the crumbling noble private soldiers. If he had no concerns, and were to fixate on giving this young man a hard time, he believed the victor would remain uncertain. However, although Brendel’s words angered him, White still chose to withdraw with full force. As a strategy-focused commander, knowing when to act appropriately was an essential quality.
He twisted and slipped past Charles’s static barrier, almost like a specter, darting between two Holy Angels, finally colliding with Xi, who had just chased over from the battlefield; the whole process took only a breath’s time. Even the red-haired girl, holding a poleaxe, could only glance back to see the Black Knight’s silhouette already far beyond several meters.
“b*stard—” she ground her teeth, glaring fiercely in that direction.
Brendel shook his head.
In truth, he too internally sighed in disappointment, not expecting to actually fail—he had originally hoped to provoke this guy to stay behind, but unexpectedly, since the first Black Rose War, this guy had seemingly become just as calm as afterward. He had thought this guy, being proud and still relatively inexperienced at the time, might act impulsively and thus might be more susceptible to bait.
“Really troublesome, this freak—” Brendel couldn’t help but grumble to himself: “Torrential Rain’s design team, do you even know how to create NPCs? Can’t you think from the player’s perspective and make it simpler—d*mn it!”
But he quickly thought of another issue, turning back to Charles and saying, “Charles, go find Crenshia. He may need your assistance; I’m worried White might take Grudin away—”
“Crenshia?”
“A mercenary leader, and currently one of ours.”
“What should I do, my lord?”
“Are you a mage or am I a mage? Act according to the situation,” Brendel replied. “If that foolish girl Freya can become a Valkyrie, I believe you can too.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing,” Brendel answered seriously. “I’m just helping her plan her life.”
“Understood,” Charles bowed deeply. “It’s an honor.”
“Go ahead.” Brendel nodded. Yet, he saw the red-haired girl approaching him limping. As Charles passed her, he couldn’t help but sigh: “You really look like Miss Freya; so this is the type you like, my lord—” Just as he was saying this, he received a glaring look in return. Xi gritted her teeth, shot an eye at him, passed him by, and walked up to Brendel.
Brendel asked, “Xi?”
Xi was momentarily taken aback. “Hmm?”
Brendel looked at her.
“I’m fine,” the red-haired girl wiped the bl**d from her face and replied casually. “But my lord, Medisa, she…”
“I know.” Brendel nodded. However, it was okay; fortunately, there were still light elements available, and rescuing Medisa would not be a difficult matter.
Xi glanced at the young lord.
She vaguely understood the relationship between the Silver Elf Princess and this young man; while it was somewhat strange, she nonetheless nodded and refrained from asking further. As long as she confirmed that Medisa was safe, it was all that mattered. Even though Brendel hadn’t answered, she had already gleaned the answer she sought from the young man’s face, as she knew Brendel was not the kind of person who would be indifferent towards the safety of his subordinates.
The situation on the battlefield was changing; in fact, the mercenaries had already crossed the last defense line of the noble private army before the inner city.
After White retreated, he immediately ordered the noble forces to fall back to the inner city. Yet, he never imagined that because of this order, the situation on the battlefield would become even more chaotic in an instant.
The Black Knight had become accustomed to commanding the Undead Army in battle; although he understood human tendencies, when it came to grasping human nature, he ultimately could not compare to those genuine human generals. As the torrent formed by the mercenaries swept over the scattered bones and, losing the support of the Undead, Grudin’s private army was left with no standing ground. The already wavering morale dropped further, and under the command to retreat, the noble private soldiers lost all confidence, collapsing along five streets as if driven like ducks all at once. This was still Brendel hoping to drive these people into the inner city, giving specific orders to Husher to tell Crenshia not to hurry with the k*ll—otherwise, it was estimated that those normally haughty noble private soldiers would have long since been crying out for help, leaving only a few behind—
And in response to this, our Sir Tiamas could only feel dumbfounded.
In fact, when the Black Knight mounted his horse, he just happened to see the large army in disarray, and he couldn’t help but curse, “Fool!”
However, cursing was meaningless, and White knew this well. He lifted his head and saw those light points in the night sky, which seemed to be patrolling, occasionally shooting one or two beams of light toward the ground, eliminating the remaining noble private soldiers who were still resisting or the scattered Undead squads. The Undead General’s eyes revealed a look of slight interest—this young human had given him more surprises than he had imagined: a Summoner?
However, the Summoner did not possess such bizarre summoning spells; there was also the possibility of ancient magic. The magic system during the era before the Dark Dragon was indeed quite different from now. Just like the ancient string magic used by the Dragonkin, it was a completely different concept from modern string magic. He narrowed his golden eyes slightly, thinking that it would be great if Lord Tagus’s main force was here; the Specters and High-tier Necromancers would be very effective against these aerial units. However, he understood that this was merely a delusion, as Lord Instalung had more important tasks in the South and needed his main force to confront the remnants of the Southern army of Erluin; it was impossible for him to appear here.
He knew that Tagus privately assigning him a portion of the Bone Spike Legion was already the limit. However, he shook his head; that young man’s actions had already caused him to lose nearly ten percent of that army’s strength. Thankfully, they were merely skeletal spearmen.
Yet to say he had won, that was not so simple.
In the inner city, there were still dozens of guards, most of whom were knights fostered by Grudin, and relying on them could indeed buy some time. But given the current circumstances, the safest method was to take the Baron with him. Whether they could hold out until the army arrived was still difficult to say; he didn’t want to take risks. The Black Knight thought of this and silently turned his gaze westward.
“Young human, our confrontation continues.”
The Black Knight’s Nightmare steed crossed the fleeing soldiers, entering the inner city at the fastest speed—
He swept in like a streak of black lightning across the drawbridge, issuing commands for the knights inside the gate to raise the drawbridge and shut the city gates. He decisively abandoned the plan to reorganize those burdensome troops behind him. Not to mention whether that young human would allow him the time to do so, White was not going to let these people rush into the inner city, for fear of giving the opponent an opportunity.
As for whether those humans outside were alive or dead, what did it matter to him?
However, when the Undead General of Madara donned his new armor and reached the city walls, he found Brendel and his mercenaries had already arrived beneath the inner city, moving faster than he had even imagined. Those fleeing soldiers were scattering along the sides of the Firburh castle, making no effective resistance at all. He turned back to see Grudin standing beside him, dressed in a silk robe, his complexion pale.
“Sir Tiamas?” the Baron could not help but ask.
“They definitely won’t stop them here,” the Black Knight glanced below and coldly replied. “If you want to stay alive, you must come with me.”
The Baron was taken aback.
“What about my men?” he asked in a soft voice.
“Do you even care about them?” The golden eyes beneath the metal mask swept over him coldly.
Grudin fell silent.
He was about to say something when he suddenly heard a scream nearby. Both men looked back simultaneously and saw a young man in a robe, with three golden patterns on his sleeves, walking out from among the mercenaries. He held a short staff and pointed forward; six golden lines immediately extended from the street to the inner city walls.
Grudin froze. But White already growled, “That’s the great mage, block him!”
But it was too late; Charles had already lowered his hand and spoke, “Material Conversion, Law: Equivalent Exchange.”
“Iaz U?” The gem on the staff’s head lit up. (Ancient language: Exchange material?)
“Mana.”
The six golden lines flickered slightly and extended into countless golden threads downwards, behind them materializing three massive stone bridges out of thin air.
A profound silence—
…
(PS. If it doesn’t move, there will only be two updates; let me rest today, my gallbladder is tired and needs to be cut out quickly.)(To be continued. For more chapters, please log in, support the author, and support legitimate reading!)
