Chapter 844: Act 22 – The Warlike Knights II
They had thought that staying in Erluin would undoubtedly lead to a dull and monotonous life. This was not the Empire, with no opportunities to achieve great deeds, and no enemies such as the Hazell people, wind elves, knights of Fanzan, or even savages. Their role here was simply to carry out their duties. They were soldiers, naturally required to obey orders, but at the same time,
they were still young, passionate knights. Who wouldn’t want to go to battle and earn glory? Suddenly, an opportunity appeared before them. Although it wasn’t a fight for the Empire, at least they weren’t at odds with it. The nobility of Erluin were also recognized by other countries, and the key point was that if the Crown Prince recognized them, then they would effectively be fighting for the Cruz royal family.
Almost everyone was stirred.
Xiao Peiluo even took the initiative, spurred on by Brendel and others, to inquire about Princess Veronika and the Crown Prince’s stance. The reply he received was that Prince Rainwright was secretly staying in Erluin as the most honored guest, cooperating with the Earl of Toniger in both defense and offense, sharing glory and disgrace. Therefore, the war of the Earl of Toniger was also the war of His Highness Prince Rainwright. If the Earl of Toniger permitted it, the Broken Sword Knights could be allowed to simultaneously obey him within Erluin, though they still had to prioritize the safety of the Crown Prince.
The information revealed by this answer was too much. However, Xiao Peiluo didn’t have the heart to analyze how many conspiracies and exchanges of interests it implied, as he too was moved. They were born for war; who wouldn’t want to face the enemy? Besides clashing with their own homeland, they could engage all enemies. War was their glory, scars were their medals, and they had a name: the Imperial Knights.
Three days ago, Brendel still led all members of the Broken Sword Knights under the guise of an observation team, with even Prince Rainwright included in this so-called observation team. But Xiao Peiluo understood, their opportunity had come. As the days drew them closer to the battlefield, he could no longer restrain himself and called out to the Lord Earl.
Brendel glanced at him, a faint smile in his heart, thinking that these guys could hardly hold themselves back. When he had asked Veronika to agree to let the Broken Sword Knights remain within Erluin and to pledge loyalty to the Crown Prince while also obeying him, he played a trick, not allowing Veronika to directly share the inside story with these young men. The reason was simple; he knew that if he gave these young men a hint, they would inevitably be unable to resist. He understood these young war-mad individuals from Cruz too well—one-third of the future stars of the Empire would gather here, and these were people born for war, incapable of enduring solitude. These young knights received the strictest training, undergoing the harshest knight examinations and practical trials. They were not here for a holiday; if given the opportunity, they might serve dutifully and endure the boredom, but as soon as there was a hint of possibility, they would seize that opportunity without hesitation.
Therefore, rather than issuing commands, it was better to actively stimulate their enthusiasm. He also wanted to see just how formidable these future stars of the Empire would be.
Yet, even as he plotted this in his heart, he casually asked, “What’s the matter?”
…
The rolling hills of the Slovafwen region extended near Xilmann at the end of the Pine Mountains, and the eastern foot of the Shubli Mountains intersected here, outlining the most rugged section of the Golan-Elsen Pass. This was also the easternmost edge of the Duskwood Forest, historically where Aike and his fiancée Yula led the coalition of Lantonrand and Vieiro to ambush and defeat the army of the Blood Staff. Today, it seemed history was repeating itself, as the undead army once again entered this area in great numbers.
The sky was gloomy, and a chill seemed to permeate the entire mountains and fields. But for the undead, the extremes of cold or heat mattered not. The skeletal figures advanced along the valley, producing a crackling sound, while the forest appeared filled with gray skulls. In the distance were skeletal knights, differing from human knights, as they rarely bore any banners; their dark, heavy spears served as their emblem.
The progression of war was somewhat incredible.
Especially for the Blood Staff, since the annihilation of the White Wing Cavalry in the Xilmann River Valley, the Erluin people had fallen into complete passivity. The Vamiel Legion was forced to make large-scale changes to their defense, resulting in a decline in morale and exhaustion across the front lines. This brought severe consequences, as just a few days ago, the undead army had nearly crushed every enemy that stood in their way. The Vamiel Legion was experiencing a total rout, even worse than the defeat in the First Black Rose War. It was as if suddenly the Blood Staff found that there were no enemies left in front of them. The nearest Erluin forces still lay far away in Lantonrand, and even if they began moving now, it would be at least a week before they could reach Cru. By then, Cru would have already become a wasteland. The armies of Karasu and Vieiro were even more out of reach. By the time they captured Cru and joined forces with Count Rendener, the armies of Lantonrand would be a trivial matter.
This was something that the Supreme Being had failed to accomplish a year ago, but now it would be easily done.
The Blood Staff’s heart was filled with pride and arrogance. In its view, the Erluin forces of Golan-Elsen were simply not worth mentioning. It had once swept through Karasu, where the highland knights were the true opponents. In comparison, the Erluin people of Golan-Elsen were both weak and foolish; to suffer losses against such enemies was simply shameful. It seemed that the one-eyed dragon Tagus was no better; it had been said that the army that invaded Buche encountered a little trouble, and the Supreme Being of Madara, wielding the Mercury Staff, had only ascended to the throne by relying on those self-righteous vampires. Now, it appeared that her vision was limited as well.
In the Blood Staff’s heart, even the awe it felt for that Supreme Being had diminished somewhat.
Its eyes burned with a pale phosphorescence, and it swept its indifferent gaze over the rolling hills where its undead army was rapidly expanding. If it grew even stronger, even in Madara, that Supreme Being would no longer dare to act against it lightly. However, the only thing that troubled it was the dark mercenaries from the Sea of the Wailing Moon. Their greed exceeded its expectations; those beggars originally only wanted a slice of magically rich land, but having witnessed human weakness, they now began to set their sights on those great cities.
But how could it easily hand over that which contained countless bones and souls?
However, the Blood Staff was unaware that as it calculated its gains and losses, the dark mercenaries, seasoned from countless battles and almost treating combat as a natural activity like eating and sleeping, were beginning to feel something unusual. Generally speaking, when the scouts on the periphery of a large army were restricted, an inexperienced commander might take a while to realize that their reconnaissance capabilities were limited. But for a veteran, losing a team of scouts would evoke a sense of discomfort as if their neck were being choked by accumulated vigilance from countless life-and-death experiences.
At this moment, the dark lords from the Sea of the Wailing Moon were experiencing just that sensation.
For an hour, they had lost over five teams of scouts.
The entire northern part of the army seemed to have suddenly been shrouded in a layer of mist. The dark lords instinctively sensed danger and conveyed the situation to the Blood Staff, while also dispatching more skeletal knights in that direction. The Blood Staff, an old adversary of the Erluin people, came to a straightforward conclusion— the Erluin people were preparing to take a desperate gamble. They intended to confront the undead army with all their might here; otherwise, if they missed this barrier, Cru Fortress would have no defenses left.
This conclusion was endorsed by the dark lords.
After all, unlike the Blood Staff, these dark nobles from the Sea of the Wailing Moon knew nothing of Erluin. Apart from the Vamiel Legion in front of them, their only understanding of this kingdom stemmed from the white lion army far in Ampere Seale. Everything they knew about Erluin’s military deployment in the South came from the Blood Staff. Since the Blood Staff had told them that no human army remained in Golan-Elsen, they believed it without question, never considering the possibility of other ambushes.
In fact, the Blood Staff’s judgment was not entirely incorrect. According to intelligence from Madara, the southern region of Erluin was currently a disarray. Princess Grifian had united the forces from Ampere Seale, Anlek, and Toniger, but she only had nominal authority over Lantonrand, Vieiro, Golan-Elsen, and Karasu. Additionally, there were various conflicts among the lords of these regions, making a coalition before facing a real threat almost impossible. Yet, the Blood Staff never imagined that in the southern Erluin, there was a knight madman named Aike, whose favorite pastime was meddling in others’ affairs— this necromancer lord had carelessly lost his life in just such a way in the past and, at this moment, remained as stubborn as ever, repeating the same mistake.
Moreover, this time, not only was wild knight Aike intent on delivering an unforgettable lesson, but there was also a cunning presence far in Toniger that had been plotting against it for months.
…
Aike was currently frowning, focusing intently on the map before him. At this moment, he was both the representative of Lantonrand and the commander of the noble army led by Duke Kanon. Of course, he traditionally had no command skills; in fact, the entire operation plan had been revised repeatedly by Bud, Makarolo, Ouding, Yula, and the knight commanders under Duke Vieiro’s command. Of course, highland knights had contributed as well; ultimately, a small unit composed of silver-level knights, numbering around four hundred, had been sent, and while that wasn’t many, their average power level of silver upper tier made others take notice, not to mention that accompanying this knight detachment was a wizard group of the same power level numbering a third of the knights.
This luxurious configuration had left almost everyone astonished. It must be said that the highland knights had maintained a transcendent position within Erluin due to their strengths exceeding those of the kingdom.
However, when Princess Grifian informed Brendel about this, he found it somewhat amusing. He knew very well that such knight groups were scarce; only three existed, and they were elite units in their own right. The one sent this time was likely the Saint Stone Knights. However, their gesture seemed a bit strange; claiming it was a demonstration seemed unnecessary, as the current position of the highland knights was not achieved overnight. Their actions now felt excessively enthusiastic.
However, in truth, strange behavior had begun from the battle of Ampere Seale; these knights could have entirely avoided that muddy water to no benefit. If they had joined that war merely because of their grandfather’s status, Brendel felt that would be somewhat hard to believe.
Yet, he couldn’t fathom the highland knights’ thoughts, so he made no mention of related content in his letter.
What he was concerned about was something else— the entire operation plan was fundamentally his work. He had finally managed to persuade everyone through Princess Grifian to target the Blood Staff as the primary foe. It must be said that the people of this era seemed to hold a deeply rooted prejudice against Madara, believing that the dark kingdom excelled only at petty skirmishes along the borders. Even after experiencing a Black Rose War, most still thought the same way. In fact, during the war a year ago, the undead indeed had not penetrated Erluin’s borders; the flames of war ended up only remaining on the border regions, and only the Vamiel Legion really faced off against Madara, alongside a handful of southern armies and highland knights. Thus, in the eyes of most, including those who had battled it, Madara was comparable to bandits and robbers.
Whether royalists or Duke Vieiro’s supporters, most looked towards Count Rendener. They believed their task was first to defeat Count Rendener, and naturally, the Blood Staff would retreat once it lost its internal support. Even the highland knights shared this view, as they had engaged with Madara the most and held the deepest prejudice. Although the Blood Staff had once swept through Karasu, the truth was that such claims were exaggerated; the Blood Staff’s presence had not swept across half of Cardriggo area, having been repelled west of Silver Horse City by highland knights, then circled south to Golden City before returning to Madara. They were well aware of the limitations of those mere skeletons.
In contrast, Count Rendener was an inner threat to Erluin; should he be defeated, half of the chaos in the South would be settled. As for Duke Vieiro, there was also a private grudge between him and Count Rendener.
The only one supporting Brendel was Aike, but the knight madman simply did not wish to engage in a civil war; in his view, they should first teach the invaders a lesson.
In the end, however, Brendel convinced everyone with the reason that even if Count Rendener were defeated, he could flee to Madara.
Although Count Rendener’s escape would have little impact on Erluin, this reasoning persuaded Duke Vieiro, who was decidedly not keen on seeing Count Rendener escape freely. The hatred between the Vieiro family and the Rendener family had been established for generations and could be described as a blood feud. Since Duke Vieiro had turned to support Brendel’s plan and with Aike advocating from Lantonrand, the highland knights no longer opposed it, leading to unanimous approval of Brendel’s plan—
To prioritize ambushing the Blood Staff.
This operational plan was basically a copy of Aike and Yula’s coalition ambush against the Blood Staff on that day, with the ambush site still chosen at Slovafwen, the most advantageous terrain. Moreover, it could be said they had an even greater advantage now than in history, as historically Aike had been unable to find a route into the Xilmann region and could only infiltrate from the north of the Duskwood Forest, wasting substantial time. Yet this time, Brendel had convinced Kewen and his group to open the gates for them. Now, the hills of Xilmann were virtually under their control, and they could stealthily position a large army right beneath the Blood Staff’s eyes at any moment.
However, it was at this time that Aike encountered trouble.
According to the original plan, the coalition of Vieiro and Lantonrand was to wait until the troops of Toniger had arrived before launching an attack on the Blood Staff. But now there were still several hours before the assault time, and the knights under Duke Vieiro were already becoming restless. Aike hadn’t yet figured out why this was happening when Makarolo and his group sensed the problem; clearly, the knights under Duke Vieiro had taken the Blood Staff for easy prey. They believed that the operational plan proposed by Earl Toniger was merely meant to take credit from them. The reason was simple: the military strength of Lantonrand plus Duke Vieiro’s forces was nearly twice that of the Blood Staff, and it was common knowledge that undead forces were actually weaker than human armies in one-on-one combat.
In a situation where their forces were twice that of the enemy, and with the advantage of mental fortitude, defeat was impossible. Hence, there was no need to wait for the troops of Toniger to arrive.
Consequently, when the Blood Staff’s army entered their sight, the lords’ knights from the local regions began to move restlessly.
When Makarolo and the others informed Aike of this situation, this knight enthusiast instantly felt overwhelmed. He had never dreamed such a thing would happen; in fact, it wasn’t just him, even Brendel had not anticipated it. Brendel had solely remembered the ambush battle in history, forgetting that the nobles of Erluin in this era were not the same as the army that Princess Grifian constructed after the establishment of the Kingdom alongside Freya, many years later. More crucially, in history, the coalition of Lantonrand was indeed led by Aike; but this time, due to his and the princess’s involvement, Duke Vieiro’s army was far larger than in history, making it questionable whether Aike’s words still held weight on the battlefield.
It should be noted that this was not a normally constituted army; it was a coalition of nobility. Usually, even during conflicts between dukes, subordinates often acted independently, let alone now with a coalition of two duke territories. In fact, before the news even reached Aike, the knights under Duke Vieiro had already begun taking action.
…
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