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The pages of the paper fluttered in the dark night, and the cold autumn wind blew through the empty streets. The notice about the attack by unknown bandits in the Tosankard mining area three months ago seemed to be pulled by an invisible hand. It flapped its wings like a butterfly on the bulletin board, along with a few other wanted posters. The militia and the guards were running around the streets like headless flies. Chaotic shouts and sharp whistles resounded throughout the town in the night. The bell on the steeple of the Holy Cathedral in the center of the town finally rang. The nightmares of the night were like an omen of uneasiness, shrouding everyone's heads in an instant. However, in the midst of the panic, there were still people who treated it coldly. Chanali was wearing the uniform of the White Wing Cavalry Regiment. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall outside the city hall, coldly looking at a young couple who were parting not far away.
"Ronnie, take this with you. I heard that places like Svenfano are very cold. You'll need it." A young man wearing the uniform of the guards stuffed a thick fur coat into the hands of the girl in the carriage with a concerned look. Most of the people in the carriage were gloomy and silent. Only the girl's face was pale. She grabbed the young man's hand tightly and asked, "Evan, aren't you coming with us?"
The young man smiled and said, "Ronnie, I'm a member of the guards. I'm under the command of Her Highness the Princess. I swear to be loyal to this kingdom and the future king. It's my responsibility to protect this land and everyone. Don't be stubborn. I'll meet up with you soon. " He unsheathed his sword, and the gleaming blade sent a chill down everyone's spine. "My swordsmanship is one of the best in the guards. Those skeletons are nothing to be afraid of. Ronnie, just you wait. I'll make a name for myself just like the Bretton Knight and Count Tónigel."
The girl pursed her lips as she looked at him. Another hurried whistle sounded from the other end of the street, and the boy turned back to take a look. He quickly turned back and patted the girl's hand. "The instructor is rushing us. Wait for me at Sven Fano. Don't worry, it's just a few scattered Madara troops. Their main force is still at Bucce on the other side of the mountain. The White Winged Cavalry has already told us that this battle is not a big deal."
The girl then nodded with tears in her eyes.
Shannali watched for a while and felt a little bored. He glanced at his companion who was leading her horse and his horse out of the courtyard of the city hall. He immediately asked, "Captain, did you persuade them?" "Those short-sighted bastards." The female Knight curled her lips and replied coldly. Shannali knew that she had persuaded them, but the process of persuasion was not pleasant. They were a bunch of short-sighted bastards who only cared about the benefits in front of them. He agreed with this point, but they were the same. No one had ever said that the men of the Vermeer Legion were righteous. On the contrary, they had a bad reputation. He grabbed the saddle and mounted the horse. At the same time, he swept his hand behind him so that his cloak and the sword hanging at his waist would not fall to the side of the horse's back. He turned his head and saw Rosa doing the same.
Both of them were veteran riders who had experienced the tragic battle a year ago. Shannali still remembered the scene when he charged into the endless sea of skeletons. In the dark night, as far as the eye could see, there was only a sea of flickering phosphorescence. Such a magnificent scene sent chills down his spine. It was said that in that battle, many people were stabbed to death by spears because they slowed down in fear. But after familiarizing themselves with the battle with Madara, people gradually realized that the strength of the skeletons was not much. The strength of the skeletons was far inferior to that of an adult.
However, the army that did not know fear, fatigue, and retreat left a deep impression on him.
Shannali touched the scar on his cheek and asked, "Where are we going?"
"To rendezvous with our troops." Rosa grabbed the reins, clamped the horse's belly slightly, and took the lead in trotting out. Shanali had no choice but to follow. But suddenly, a sharp whistle swept over their heads, shaking the roof tiles on both sides of the street and causing them to fall down.
He raised his head subconsciously.
Ivan grabbed his sword and was running towards the rendezvous point. The sudden whistle made the youth stop in his tracks. He looked up in shock. In the vast night sky to the south of the town, countless specks of light were slowly rising. These specks of light rose into the air, gathered into a ball, and then suddenly scattered like a flock of birds. At that moment, the youth finally understood what it was —
"Hide —!"
A shrill scream came from somewhere. The sky was filled with arrows that fell like raindrops. There were still some pedestrians on the street who were fleeing north, but now they fell like wooden stakes under the rain of arrows. The cold arrows that had been tempered by magic pierced through the fragile human bodies. The soul fire on the arrows burned fiercely as if it was on fire. In the blink of an eye, the victims were turned into human figures struggling in the flames. Only a small number of people with fast reflexes managed to survive, and Ivan was one of them. The long-term training of the guards ultimately saved his life. He didn't even know how he reacted, and when he came back to his senses, his body was already lying in front of a pottery workshop. He looked up numbly and saw that the signboard hanging in front of the workshop had been pierced by several arrows. It was slowly being engulfed by the blue flames.
"What happened?"
He turned around and saw a patch of weeds suddenly growing on the flagstone streets. It was the tail feathers of arrows, corpses, residents who were scared to the point of collapse, and burning wreckage. It was as if the entire town had turned into a scene from hell in an instant. Evan looked at all of this with his mouth agape. At this moment, a second shriek swept across the sky above the town, causing the ground to tremble slightly. In his vision, a winged creature that he had never seen before flapped its wings and flew up to the steeple of the holy temple in the center of the town.
…
The Knight Captain Gage of the White Winged Cavalry's 7th Squadron froze there. He wanted to grab his commander's sword several times, but he could not grab it. Less than a hundred meters in front of him, countless skeletal arms were lifting up the soil and reaching out from the ground. Then came skulls with phosphorescent eye sockets, then collarbones, shoulder armor, and the entire upper body. Countless skeletons were climbing out from the ground one after another. They shook off the dirt on their black Nether Steel Chainmail. With longbows in hand, they stood up one by one and walked forward to a predetermined position. They then raised their longbows. The arrows on the longbows were burning with a faint flame. It was as if in an instant, a complete formation of longbow archers had appeared in front of him.
Almost all the Knight beside Gage were at a loss. Because when they looked around, this scene was not just happening in front of them. It was happening everywhere in the front of the Silman Valley. Under the night sky, the phosphorescent light on the arrows of the skeleton archers formed a continuous belt of light. This belt of light stretched from west to east. There was no end in sight.
But the crux of the problem was, where did they come from? Where were the scouts, where did they die? How did these damned skeletons get around the defensive line? Could it be that it came from underground?
Everyone's heart was filled with these questions.
But to Gage, these questions had converged into one main problem.
What to do?
When the second wave of arrows rained down from the sky, the White Winged Cavalry's vice captain Walter finally reacted. He finally realized that this was not some harassment. Even during the War of the Black Rose, he had never seen so many skeleton archers. The Dark Lords of Madara liked to divide their army into small squads, each squad commanded by their own. Normally, a squad of liches would command 10 to 12 skeletons. It depended on the number of liches and black Knight under the Dark Lord's command. This kind of battle style was like a Knight leading his squires into battle. Only in large scale battles would one see hundreds and thousands of liches commanding tens of thousands of skeletons to charge forward like a tsunami. That was the scene that the human army was most afraid of. But fortunately, this kind of opportunity was rare even for the Roman Black Rose. First of all, gathering thousands of liches was a difficult matter. It required the cooperation of many Dark Lords to accomplish it. But this was precisely the hardest thing to happen in Madara.
So when Walter saw thousands of skeleton archers on the long line of battle, his first reaction was that he had been fooled. There were at least three to four Dark Lords fighting side by side, and they were working together seamlessly. At this time, even if he was stupid, he would have realized that Seelman's path, which looked more difficult to attack, was precisely Madara's main direction of attack. After realizing this, he immediately thought: What should I do now? How should I resolve this battle? Can I still resolve it?
The only thing he was thankful for was that he was commanding the cavalry. Compared to Madara's regular skeleton warriors, the cavalry at least had the advantage of mobility and impact. Although Madara had black Knight as well, they were too few in number. They could not play a decisive role in this battle. The deputy commander quickly calmed down. Madara's attack was too sudden. These damned skeletons suddenly appeared from the ground and appeared in front of them almost instantly. There was no time to react at all, and a brigade of his cavalry was finished. Although the cavalry was not completely annihilated in the beginning, but they were scattered around the battlefield. There was almost no organization between them, and they were not connected at all. Soon, they would lose the will to fight. Walter was very familiar with his own men, so he did not expect any miracle to happen. But he still had two brigades.
That was enough.
"Dispatch!" He finally made up his mind and shouted.
One order after another was relayed amidst the chaos. When the remaining two cavalry clans in the Silverman Valley gathered to launch an assault on the skeletal archers' left flank, just as Walter had predicted, the First Clan of the White-Winged Cavalry had fallen into utter chaos. The first brigade's Knight commander, the Gold-ranked Great Knight Garin, was shot in the eye socket by the first wave of arrows and died on the spot. Then, the skeleton army suddenly crawled out from the ground and directly dragged the first brigade into the chaos. The battle had only lasted for half an hour, and the fourth squadron was completely annihilated. The seventh squadron's Knight Captain Gage was killed, and the eighth squadron's Knight Captain Opam was seriously injured and unconscious. The remaining supreme commander fell to the head of the eighth squadron's vice-captain, Portland. This person did not have much of a mind of his own, so he simply led his troops to retreat to Owl Town. Thus, Madara's army was completely unobstructed.
The remaining two cavalry brigades were instantly exposed to the enemy's attacks.
When Walter saw this scene from the high ground, he was so angry that he wanted to curse. In his heart, he had already dragged Opam out and beheaded him many times. Unfortunately, his anger was useless now. It was too late to withdraw the order now. He could only hope that Madara's reaction was not that fast, and they could not change the direction of the battlefield in such a short time. Or perhaps, his men were better and could withstand one or two waves of attacks. As long as they could kill their way into the skeleton archers' camp, then the rest would be easy. They were cavalry, and the enemy was just infantry.
If this was the War of the Black Rose, perhaps the White Winged Cavalry would have already collapsed. Fortunately, it had been a year since the war, and this year was enough for everyone who had experienced that terrible war to lick their wounds. Those terrible undead were now just ugly skeletons in the hearts of the veterans, and they were no longer synonymous with death. Other than being dull and fearless, they were even worse than ordinary human soldiers. Without the fear that originated from the root, the Roman Tuo's Black Rose was just a slightly special opponent.
Walter thought of this and pursed his lips. "Bless Martha. Time has not only changed Madara," he thought silently in his heart.
And it was indeed so.
Balls of illumination magic exploded on the battlefield, illuminating the hundreds and thousands of cavalrymen and the last distance between them and the skeleton army of Madara. Among the slowly advancing cavalrymen, mages flew up from behind the Knight one after another, leaving the back of their horses and floating in the air. Although their spells would expose the White Winged Cavalry to the range of the skeleton archers, the cavalrymen were preparing for the final sprint. It was almost impossible to carry out such a tactic in the dark. Although legends said that some cavalrymen might be able to do it, the commanders of the White Winged Cavalry knew that their men were capable of it.
The Knight Captain Vance of the Second Cavalry Brigade felt that the good lads on horseback were overtaking him one after another. In fact, the entire Second Cavalry Brigade was in a state of acceleration. About a hundred meters away was the First Cavalry Brigade. The cavalrymen under Valerie's command were a little ahead of them. Their task was to open a path in the sea of skeletons so that they could slaughter the necromancers behind them. Vance suddenly felt his body become lighter. This was a sign that a wind spell had taken effect on him and his horse. Thanks to all kinds of strange magic, the cavalrymen were able to charge in such a rugged terrain at night. These tactics were summed up in the War of the Black Rose.
Before that, the kingdom's army had been following the experience gained from the first Holy War. They were conservative and old-fashioned, and in fact, were not suitable for war.
War was fair to both sides. The Madara in front of them might be stronger than before, but they were not the same. "Just wait and see, damn skeletons!" He waved his longsword excitedly. Cavalry tactics were the greatest invention in the history of civilization. When you personally participated in it, you would be surrounded by horses and armored Knights with swords in their hands. When all of these formed an irresistible torrent of steel forward, every participant felt as if they were personally controlling this extraordinary power. It was an addictive feeling.
For Vance, it made no difference.
The rain of arrows began, clanking as they fell on the armor, but it did not cause any damage. The horses of the cavalrymen were not close relatives of the draft horses, and the tamed monsters were closer to the unicorns in terms of bloodline. Although they were not as powerful as their relatives in the forest, they were still far stronger than ordinary beasts. Therefore, after the impact of the arrows was reduced by the thick armor, the impact of the arrows was transmitted to them was negligible.
The Knight at the front had begun to let out strange cries.
At this distance, it was time to prepare for the lich's spells. However, the mages at the back were also ready to attack. This was the last hurdle. Once they broke through, the skeleton army would be in front of them. In the War of the Black Rose, not many armies dared to face the sea of skeletons head-on. But now, it was different. The mysterious cloak that was draped over the army had long faded due to the accumulation of time after the war. Especially for the veterans who had participated in the first war, the skeletons in front of them were just skeletons. New and old grudges were in front of them. They held their breath and wanted to teach the enemy a lesson. The lower ranking officers were also shouting to encourage the new recruits. Everyone understood one thing. They were cavalry, and the other party was only infantry. Regardless of whether the charge failed or not, infantry would not be able to pursue the cavalry.
The only thing to worry about was not being held back.
There was also the Black Knight.
But fortunately, the skeleton army was scattered, and the enemy's commander did not seem to have much experience. And Vance did not see the shadow of the Black Knight. The Black Knight and his Nightmare Horse were very conspicuous in such an environment, and there was no need to worry about where they would hide. The whole valley was open, and the nearest hill was a thousand meters away. There was no need to worry about them suddenly appearing. Vance looked around and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The only thing that puzzled him was.
The expected magic attack did not come.
"What's the commander of Madara doing?" He was a little puzzled and could not help but raise his head to look in Valerie's direction. "They're about to miss their last chance …"
…
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