Chapter 480

Chapter 103: Clashing Bones and Burning Blood, Part Two

“Ga—”

A black raven spread its wings and landed on my shoulder with a gentle breeze. It tilted its head, fixing one red eye on me as it cried out, “Ga—, Ga—.”

“Stop it, stop it… be good…”

For some reason, I felt that it was somewhat panicked, so I gently stroked its feathers… wait?

The feel was wrong.

I immediately turned my head to look, only to see that the goat cheese-colored raven’s once glossy black feathers were now mostly gone from its back to half of its tail feathers. The remaining feathers were ragged and seemed scorched, as if they had been singed by flames… it was injured.

“Who did this…”

“Ga—”

“Red Fire, Red Fire! It’s so hot—”

Red Fire?

What Red Fire? Is it referring to the fires of sin…

…This bird actually answered my foolish question!

I stared at it in shock, then noticed the letter tied to the bird’s leg.

Damn, even the letter tube was burned…

“What happened?”

Behind me, Isaac’s deep voice asked. I didn’t turn around, but instead, I removed the burnt wooden tube from the raven’s leg and said, “It’s a letter, there might be news…”

But I wasn’t sure.

I took off the letter tube, pulled out the slightly yellowed, charred letter paper inside, and carefully unfolded it in front of my eyes. The handwriting was messy and partially destroyed by fire.

[I am Beaudet.

My caravan and I barely made it to Aretheon City. Half of our personnel are lost, supplies are missing… We attempted to send messages three times, but the messengers have not returned. Heretics are attacking fiercely; my father leads the remaining knights in a desperate defense. The battle is fierce… The northern wall has collapsed, and the heretics are formidable… Supplies are running low, and we have no hope of reinforcements. The Warhammer Army has rebelled, and the Third Knightly Order fights alone…]

“Where did this letter come from!?”

Isaac’s bald head leaned in.

“It’s from the Bank, from Aretheon City… They saw the Third Knightly Order…” I muttered.

The text of the letter was disjointed and hard to read, but I could understand most of its meaning. I was anxious and continued reading without blinking.

[…only about three thousand remain. There are estimated to be over ten thousand heretics in the north, south, and east of the city, mostly rebels and refugees… They attack with civilian captives… We are forced to passively engage them, trapped and demoralized… The city has been breached twice, and the situation is dire… Supplies have been cut off, and someone among the heretics can use fireballs to intercept birds, making communication difficult…]

[This is my last attempt, Miss Peyello. May your raven be safe, may Commander Isaac come to our aid, and join the Third Legion in crushing the heretics… If Aretheon falls, both my father and I will have perished… I will perish with Aretheon.]

[Addendum: Your brother Barry, I saw him, he is still alive.]

Aretheon is about to fall…

Barry is still alive!

It was hard to tell whether I was more relieved or worried. Ignoring Isaac’s inquiries, I walked back to the camp and placed the letter in front of Angel amidst the confused looks of the knights.

…

At the same time, several kilometers outside Aretheon City.

The wind blew through the damp soil, and the sound of hooves echoed. At the edge of the forest, three knights rode on horned beasts, advancing cautiously, their eyes fixed on the nearby woods. One of them suddenly raised his hand, and the other two quickly reined in their mounts, immediately reaching for their swords, “Clang, clang,” the longswords were drawn.

Whoosh—

In an instant, a blazing flame appeared in their vision, and a loud explosion sounded as the knight used his sword to shatter the incoming fireball. A faint golden light rose, and someone leaped down from a tree with a blade, causing leaves to rustle. The horned beast was startled and spun around. Amidst short laughter, another figure charged from the side, red flames wrapping around his fists, one punch striking the beast’s neck.

A large splash of blood and flesh flew out, and the horned beast let out a mournful cry before collapsing. The knight on its back rolled off covered in mud, his sword flying away. He immediately stood up, white light suddenly shining from his right fist, and exchanged a punch with the approaching heretic, resulting in a muffled thud as both were sent flying.

“Ahaahaha—”

Amidst maniacal laughter, another heretic leaped down from ambush in the tree, stabbing the knight hit by the fireball through the chest. The two fell together off the beast’s back. The heretic pinned the knight down and punched him twice in the face before being kicked several meters away by the beast’s hooves.

The fallen knight bled from his nose and mouth, a longsword stuck in his chest, and the golden light on him rapidly faded. The tall knight who hadn’t been attacked glared fiercely, shouting, “Damn heretics!” and rode his horned beast towards the fallen heretic, who rolled to avoid and stood up in the mud, palm burning with flames that he hurled towards the knight’s back.

On the other side, the young knight who had just exchanged punches got up, still unsteady, and threw his longsword at the heretic in front of him. The heretic couldn’t dodge, and the sword pierced his lower abdomen. The heretic staggered, looked down, and then laughed wildly, deep red flames rising from his blood and spreading across half his body. He lunged at the knight.

Boom—

Suddenly, a blazing fireball exploded beside them. The horned beast neighed loudly, its rear half engulfed in flames, and ran away in agony. The tall knight dismounted, brandishing his sword and clashing with the pursuing heretic three times, the fourth time knocking the heretic’s sword away. The knight murmured softly, his left hand brushing the sword’s blade, and a resonant hum echoed as the sword emitted a radiant purple light. He shouted, slashing off the heretic’s head, blood spurting out.

“Move aside!”

The headless body of the heretic collapsed as the tall knight fell to his knees, convulsing. He shouted to the young knight fighting another heretic nearby, who quickly stepped back.

The great knight slashed through the air, and the purple light suddenly detached from his sword, transforming into a blade of light that cut through the soil and flew towards the last disciple, cleaving him in half at the waist.

Swoosh—

Bloody innards scattered across the muddy ground. The heretic who had been cleaved in two fell down, grabbing at the dirt with both hands, dragging his upper body forward, a vicious grin on his face. In the next moment, his body rapidly inflated.

“Let’s go!”

The young knight vaulted onto the beast’s back. The tall knight mounted the dead knight’s rearing horse. He glanced back one last time at his fallen comrade, then rode off with the young knight. Immediately afterward, there was a deafening explosion, and scarlet flames engulfed everything behind them, toppling several large trees. A fierce wind and heat wave suddenly swept over them, and the two knights lowered their bodies on the beasts to rush out of the forest.

“Cursed lunatics…”

In the blink of an eye, the battle had subsided, leaving only a trace of scarlet behind. The two knights continued riding for quite some time until they reached a hill on the edge of the woods. Just as they were about to turn, a dark shadow suddenly appeared in their line of sight.

“Watch out—”

The tall knight reacted swiftly, grabbing a hook spear from the saddle. He swung the spear, readying himself, but the dark figure moved like lightning, almost ghost-like. It seemed to be dozens of meters away, yet in an instant, it charged directly at the knight. As it passed, the very soil was displaced and scattered. He leaped high, and just as the knight swung his spear, he slashed at him with his blade.

Whoosh—

Blood sprayed everywhere.

The tall knight was knocked off the beast and rolled countless times on the ground, blood splattering across the mud.

“Aaaaah—”

The young knight roared in anger, turning his mount toward the falling figure. At the same time, his right hand blazed with golden light, standing up from the beast’s back, preparing to attack.

But in the next moment, a cluster of fireballs flew from the shadows of the hill, “Boom,” exploding and sending the young knight and his rearing horse flying nearly two meters into the air before landing. The rearing horse thrashed its hooves, and soon after, fresh blood began to spread. The young knight’s upper body was pinned under the massive creature, and his half face was smoking, already a mess of blood and flesh.

He screamed in agony, struggling to free himself. Soon, a shadow abruptly appeared in his vision, blocking out the sunlight.

In his final moments, the young knight saw the opponent raise his large sword.

“F*** you—”

Plop.

The longsword pierced his chest.

His vision blurred, and he couldn’t make out the opponent’s face before losing consciousness.

Behind the hill, several figures emerged, all men dressed in unusual attire. They looked at the fallen rearing horse and knight, slightly shaking their heads. The black-clothed man leading them held a single-edged knife, his expression calm as he looked at the figure who had just killed.

“You should have left one alive, Wethemir.”

The heretic named Wethemir frowned slightly. “The knights usually travel in teams of three. There are only two here, so the third might be nearby…”

The black-clothed man with the single-edged knife shook his head.

“Haven’t you heard the explosions? They ran so urgently; they must have already clashed with our people earlier. Most likely, one of them died, and the others fled. Now, this area should be full of scouts. Clearly, they want to gather information about Alethean City. What does this mean? It means that the First Order Knights are closely following you, arriving nearby. These people are different from those hiding in the city. You just returned from the Silent Fortress, so you should know this too… Who is leading them?”

“Isaac.”

“Oh…”

Hearing Wethemir’s response, the black-clothed man nodded. “That’s a bit troublesome. Anyone else?”

“There’s also a little girl.”

“…A little girl?”

“The Frost Order.”

“Frost… Is that the girl called Silviga? She’s said to be only sixteen years old?”

“From a distance, she looks about that age.”

“Mm, that’s not something to fear…”

“But the First Order arrived faster than we expected. I wonder if J’s plan will still go smoothly… In any case, we need to step up our efforts and try to prevent them from taking any news back. If we can take care of the knights in the city by dawn, it will be almost certain success.”

Wethemir wiped the blood off his longsword and chuckled.

“Perhaps not even by dawn…”

…………

Dozens of kilometers away, in the ruins of a village.

Isaac, clad in golden armor, rode his massive rearing horse up to the collapsed stone platform.

“My brave knights!”

He shouted to the dense group of warriors below, his voice rampant and loud, his smile as terrifying as a devil’s.

“The moment to slay the rats has come. They’re just a dozen kilometers away!”

“There are over ten thousand rats, surrounding Alethean City! Our Third Order brothers are fighting back valiantly! They are on the brink of collapse—”

“What happened at the Silent Fortress is still vivid in my mind, and I won’t forget it, nor will any of you! Those pitiful women, those criminals driven to the brink! Devils use despicable and cruel methods to expand their ranks! All the consequences! The masterminds behind all this! We can crush them with a mere flick of our fingers!”

“No matter who they are! Clowns, Wethemir, they are all just worthless creatures! Whether it’s ten thousand, fifty thousand, or even a hundred thousand, your task is to bury them all here, in this land! With your swords, your spears, your miracles, your hands, your feet, your teeth! Make them pay for their crimes! Let their blood and bones flood your ankles!”

From atop the high platform, Isaac’s resounding voice carried on the dust-laden wind, rumbling like thunder throughout the land.

He raised his right fist.

“The Fist of Judgment!”

Below, the knights who spread out across the view straightened up, their iron fists pounding their chests. Over a thousand voices roared like a tidal wave.

“God is with me—!!!”

At this moment, the earth trembled.