Drunk, shackled, and tattooed to imitate the Immaculate soldiers, the 68 captured Frey Soldiers really looked like Immaculate soldiers who were surrendering. They looked like war slaves who lost their use. With their tongue cut and their mind not functioning properly because of the pain and the liquors, Drake wasn't worrying about any of them informing the enemies when the moment would come.
A few kilometres away from Alm Checkpoint, three groups of around thirty Immaculate soldiers was preparing for a coordinated ambush that would pierce their enemies' ranks. Each was led by a knight: Yara, Lara and Lewis respectively. The Immaculate soldiers' moral couldn't be any higher. Each one of them was prepared to fight gods if their lord asked them to do so. Each one of them was ready to die.
And elite soldiers ready to die were the scariest in a battlefield.
Eventually, after a few hours, the enemy cavalry arrived in Drake's field of view.
Three hundred and twenty-one mounted soldiers could be seen, galloping in confusion towards him. All of them were incomparable with the Frey Soldiers he had crushed in the morning. This light cavalry was an elite force, one that had gone through countless battles together, an elite force that had secured the South of the Frey Territory for decades already.
Bandits, barbarians and mercenaries had been crushed by this very army.
The Governor, also known as the Knight Berret, approached Drake in a low speed. None of them expected such a sight.
"Drake Moonlight, huh. Seems like you live up to your reputation. Judging by the mountain of bodies around you, you killed quite the number of Frey Soldiers this morning. You never expected me to have the support of the Magical Court, right?", the Knight Berret laughed.
'Magical Court?'
Drake began to analyse his enemies at a crazy speed.
[Frey Soldier – Human Male – Light Cavalryman commanded by Knight Berret
Age – 28 years. Rank: ø
Status – Healthy, Peak.
Attributes:
Strength – 1.5 | Dexterity – 1.1 | Constitution – 1.8 | Internal Energy – 0.7
Skills: …]
[Frey Soldier – Human Male – Light Cavalryman commanded by Knight Berret
Age – 25 years. Rank: ø
Status – Healthy, Peak.
Attributes:
Strength – 1.9 | Dexterity – 1.1 | Constitution – 1.0 | Internal Energy – 0.7
Skills: …]
The individual strength of the cavalrymen was huge, though Drake internally smiled upon confirming that they were still inferior to his immaculate soldiers. However, the attributes of Knight Berret made him frown. He was called the Governor, so Drake expected an old man, with wrinkles and a deteriorating body, someone who would be even inferior to Paul Frey. His estimations had been off.
He couldn't compare humans and knights. Though normal humans would become weaker with age, the same wasn't true when it came to knights who practiced breathing techniques that revitalized their cells on a daily basis. In fact, the older the knight, the more skilled and stronger he would be.
[Knight Berret – Human Male
Age – 60 years. Rank: Knight
Status – Healthy, Peak.
Attributes:
Strength – 3.5 | Dexterity – 1.1 | Constitution – 3.8 | Internal Energy – 5.7
Skills: …]
As for the mysterious support of the Magical Court, it explained pretty much everything. The Magical Court had sent an acolyte to the Viscount Frey, and the latter probably noticed Drake's attacks by some sort of divinations.
[Mysterious Acolyte – Human Female
Age – 23 years. Rank: Rank 1 acolyte
Status – Healthy, Peak.
Attributes [CANNOT BE SCANNED BECAUSE OF A MAGNETIC FIELD]
Skills: (?)]
This mysterious acolyte was the only lady in the enemy's ranks. Of course, there were female soldiers among the light cavalry. However, all of them were wearing armours, hence their gender was pretty much unnoticeable. However, this mysterious girl was wearing nothing but a red robe, looking like a priestess of the Fire Church. She had tomes hanging on her horses, a wand and countless rings and jewelleries on her body.
Obviously, she was confident in surviving this encounter. It seemed that her divination skills were pretty limited as well. Otherwise, Drake's plans would have been seen through already.
It was pretty simple to imagine, after all. The bigger the variables, the more difficult it was to predict the future. Drake saw the future as a chaotic system that was ever-changing. Hence, predicting an event like a war was pretty easy. Predicting an ambush, that Drake only thought of in the last four hours…was much more difficult, if not impossible to prophesize.
"I surrender, lord Berret. I have already shackled what remains of my immaculate soldiers. I did a mistake by trying to attack the Viscount Frey, and I am ready to pay the price. If you let me return to Moonford, my father will surely reward you with your weight in gold."
The knight Berret laughed.
"You won't survive another day. You are too dangerous. Don't blame me, but the girl next to me has seen a glimpse of the future. She is only a beginner acolyte, but for mortals like us, she is similar to a god's chosen one. She has seen you, ravaging these lands. She has seen you using your army of immaculate to take the entirety of the Frey Household. Don't blame me, you are just too much of an enemy. Breaking through at 15 didn't suffice you. You wanted more, you wanted to defeat a Viscount by yourself. This was stupid of you. Perhaps, if you had taken your father's army and his infamous Black Legion, you would have stood a chance against the Viscount Frey. But it's too late to grief", Berret said.
He then suddenly shouted: "TWO HUNDRED GOLD COINS TO THE ONE WHO GIVES ME HIS HEAD! MASSACRE THE IMMACULATE SOLDIERS! MASSACRE HIM! BLOOD SHALL FLOW TONIGHT!"
However, as his shout pierced the sky, the sound of a charge could be heard from a distance. Lewis, Yara and Lara had begun their charge.
Drake never expected this scenario. Usually, nobles were treated as precious prisoners by the enemy, since ransoms were pretty lucrative.
'1 minute…I have to survive for one minute!'
Drake suddenly took off his cape, revealing a heavy armour and his elven sword and shield. He retreated a few steps back and started to mount his war horse.
Drake no longer looked like a surrendering enemy, but rather like a proper knight. His Darkalion horse was obviously superior to the enemies, but unfortunately, it was unable to outrun several hundreds of enemies blinded by greed.
After a few seconds, a dozen enemies had caught up with him, trying to poke his armour with spears.
Drake parried in the incoming strikes, but he could already feel the pressure.
He suddenly stopped his horse with incredible horsemanship, and the cavalrymen who were following him, unable to stop their horses in such a fashion, ran towards Drake. Bashing the incoming spear thrusts and cutting the enemy's head, Drake managed to kill six cavaliers in a matter of seconds.
Eight cavaliers managed to survive by turning around in desperation. Drake didn't stop there, taking out throwing knives and injuring them. However, when Drake thought he had a window to breath, he saw over forty cavaliers rushing towards him.
Drake couldn't believe his eyes. The acolyte woman was flying in the air, commanding the cavaliers and telling them how to trap Drake in his current position, while preparing of formation to properly defend against the coordinated attack of Lara, Yara and Lewis. At this rate, the ambush was not going to be successful.
The Knight Berret was among Drake's pursuers.
Killing intent was radiating from his body.
Drake readied himself. He entered a state of full concentration, focusing on one thing: cutting down his enemies.
He couldn't just focus on surviving. At this rate, his immaculate soldiers were about to be completely massacred by the enemy's numbers. They had been trained for cavalry fights. They might not have the advantage against a heavy cavalry, but with their numbers, it wasn't much of a problem.
Drake faked an escape, then turned around to charge at the knight Berret, shocking pretty much every pursuers he had. Drake was charging at full speed against the Knight Berret.
If Drake received a single couched spear, death would be inevitable. He knew that better than anyone. However, he still charged. He had a heavy armour set, and a shield, as well an unbelievable confidence.
Unnoticeably, his sword started to shine in a dim light.
From a distance, the acolyte seemed to have sensed something wrong. She was about to say something, but Yara, having identified the biggest enemy threat, shut her up with a rain of arrows. She was an elf after all. She knew how to use a sword, but she had mastered archery a long time ago.
The arrow didn't kill the acolyte, however. It seemed like the air stopped the arrow. The defensive spell seemed to have cost her a lot of energy, however, as she lost control of her flight, and fell on the ground, screaming in pain as her arm was broken in the process. Several men started to tend to her wounds, but she was pointing at the Knight Berret, trying to warn him…in vain.
*SPLASH*
Drake's sword cut through the wind and sliced Knight Berret's horse along with his body. The other pursuers, too shocked to understand what had just happened, were killed a similar fashion. Drake varied his strikes with thrusts, cuts, slice, vertical slash, horizontal ones. Each one of his moves was unpredictable, and his enemies were being cut down by the minute.
With the fall of the Knight Berret and the female acolyte, the Frey soldiers were confused, and didn't know how to react facing the unbelievably fearsome army of Immaculate soldiers. At first, they didn't look very intimidating with their numbers, however as they became closer, they could see heads of their fellow brothers hanging on their waist.
The sight terrified them.
*CRASH*
A bloodbath took place.
Lewis was throwing axes at his enemy, and beheading those who came closer, creating a veritable hole in the enemy's formation. The breach only got wider as the triangle formation taught by Drake took effect. The immaculate soldiers' charge unmistakably killed over thirty men upon impact.
Yara was having a bit more problem, having trouble piercing the formation. An archer shot an arrow at her horse, which made her fall. She thought she had failed her lord, but for some reason, the immaculate soldiers weren't affected at all. They continued to charge, and pierce a hole in the enemy's formation by themselves. Even when they fell from their horses, the immaculate soldiers were just as fearsome. Parrying strikes with their shields, and thrusting whenever their opponents showed an opening, they thinned the enemies' soldiers at a crazy rate.
As for Lara, she had perfectly fulfilled her role of commander, using her two swords to cut down the enemies. After successfully piercing the enemies' ranks, she, jumped on the ground, killing the enemies, moving like a shadow, stealthy and lethal.
Drake continued to strike his opponents, until the moment a man managed to land a spear on his shoulder, impaling him. Three more spears impaled him, but Drake didn't stop, killing those who injured him. He killed the eight remaining pursuers, before falling on the ground…bleeding a lot, yet smiling.
He had single-handedly killed over thirty soldiers, including a knight.
This battle was a complete victory…if he survived, that is.