Crossing over mounds, river valleys, and lush forests, the cold wind in the woods cut right through the human army's beast-skin cloaks and leather armors, piercing directly into their bodies.
Large groups of human soldiers were moving through the forest. Serf infantry squads, holding long spears and swords, continued to advance along the wilderness trails within the forest, making as little noise as possible. The arduous journey was a huge challenge for these serfs, who usually didn't eat well, but not a single infantryman complained.
The soldiers all longed for military pay, spoils of war, and promotion, with war being the only means of advancement. No one wanted to give up the chance to join the military; all the serfs dreamed of sending themselves or their sons into Ryan's army to earn a chance for promotion.
In the dark life of the serfs, this was the only ray of hope—joining the infantry, being promoted to sergeant, gaining the status of a freeman, then moving into the castle, becoming a professional soldier, and thus providing their families the chance to move to town and shed their serfdom.
The serfs longed for war far more than the knights.
This was the army's second day in the forest, and they had already eliminated three bands of beastmen.
The forest was unsuitable for knightly cavalry charges; most knights were on foot. Wood elves swiftly moved between the trees, while dwarves complained continuously about the thick roots and thorns obstructing their path, and the dense fog that hindered their sight.
"Evil always resides in Charlon Forest. As night falls, goblins and beastmen lurk within the woods. They are malicious, hating all living beings. Goblins might toy with their prey before killing them, but the mercy of beastmen extends only to whether they kill you instantly or enjoy the process as you struggle and die," Bertrand told a group of witch apprentices at Veronica's request. "But even so, you mustn't think that places outside the forest are safe. Many humans have a darkness inside them far exceeding that of these wild, vile creatures, and that makes them even more terrifying."
Many witch apprentices turned pale at the bandit leader's tone, even Catherine, who had been promoted to a full witch, while Veronica watched expressionlessly. The Witch of Garon radiated with flames and a pale yellow glow, allowing her to move unhindered through the forest.
The knights, however, discussed other topics. Kingdom Knight Hex stared into the silvery white fog within the forest, feeling dizzy with every breath of cold air he took. "Not far from here is Lily Island, where His Majesty Arthur met with Lords Marcus and Silruf. It was there that the lady offered them the water from the Holy Grail, making them the second and third Grail Knights. At the time, Arthur had only three hundred men, while the greenskins had ten thousand. Yet, in the end, it was the Bretons who roared victoriously atop a pile of greenskin corpses. Lord Armand, you must have made a pilgrimage to Lily Island, right?"
"Indeed, that's where the first Knight Brotherhood of Brittany was established," Armand spoke softly, hinting at the early form of the Grail Knight Order.
What a glorious thing—the Grail! All the knights present showed looks of longing.
The silvery white fog enveloped the tranquil forest, also concealing the endless forest land. This was the resting place of warriors who had perished in ancient times. Here lay their bones, housed their souls, and guarded their damp graves, the glory of ancient kings long since faded.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, gentlemen," at this moment, the half-elf Estelle leaped out lightly from between the trees and landed in front of everyone, "We've just discovered another beastmen war band having a feast."
"Prepare to move!" the Grail Knight Armand nodded, commanding the army to slowly set off, with Anglaron having handed over all command of this troop to him. Armand didn't quite understand why, but he knew it was a sign of trust.
The army gradually approached the location scouted by the wood elves.
Gradually, a bright light appeared in the distance, a bewitching amber glow that seemed to contain warmth and flames, causing the army advancing in the cold winter to feel a bit slack. Some of the serfs' eyes even began to glaze over as they remembered the warm bedding in their rooms and the heat from the fire.
The sound of swords being drawn snapped these serf infantrymen back to reality, almost instantly waking them up. Knights and the leading sergeants took deep breaths, continuously signaling the serfs to prepare for battle.
The army gradually drew near, with hundreds of serf infantrymen, groups of sergeants, and knights approaching the place of the bright light—a bonfire, accompanied by loud shouts and screams alongside beats of drums with no sense of artistry. The noise was filled with joy, the shouting growing louder and louder.
In a clearing in the woods, a group of creatures were dancing around a bonfire, twisting their bodies, with beastly heads and huge antlers, and cursed voices. They danced, twisted, and bit at each other, their bodies like men and women, but their faces, claws, and hooves were no longer human.
The feast was so noisy that the beastmen tribe was oblivious to the outside world, unaware that the several inferior horned beasts set as sentries had already been miserably killed by the superb archery of the wood elves and Estelle.
In the clearing, many skinned corpses were laid out, some human, some animal, and the leading beastman shaman, dressed in rags and wearing a skull mask, danced ceaselessly, praying to the dark gods, uttering its pleas, unknown to anyone what it was saying, but everyone knew, another battle was near.
The beastman shaman continued to dance, continuously calling out to the gods of chaos, but no one responded.
"Whoosh!" A starfire-tipped arrow suddenly appeared from the shadows, cutting through the cold air and striking the beastman shaman's shoulder.
"Ugh~" the beastman shaman's shoulder was pierced by the arrow, it cried out in pain, just about to reach for the arrow when several more arrows flew from the shadows, hitting the shaman repeatedly. It roared loudly, struggling to rise.
The shadows then echoed with the sound of gunfire, and the dwarven lead bullet barrage shattered the body of the beastman shaman.
"Enemy... annihilated!" After this incident, the beastman war band's king finally reacted. He roared loudly, and the beastmen who were feasting at the scene began to slowly react, trying to take out their weapons and counterattack.
But the human allied forces clearly wouldn't give the beastmen a chance to react. Large groups of human soldiers emerged from the shadows, faster than them were their crossbow bolts—over a hundred crossbowmen had already loaded their dwarven hand crossbows.
"Whiz, whiz, whiz~" The
dense arrow rain first harvested swathes of horned beasts and inferior horned beasts. The powerful dwarven hand crossbows shot arrows that were accurate and fast. The first wave of beastmen who reacted immediately suffered heavy casualties, with dozens of beastmen dying on the spot.
"Charge..." The beastman king had just shouted when he immediately drew the attention of the human army. Grail Knight Armand pointed at the beast king and shouted to the dwarven engineer, "The beast king is over there!"
"Alright! Watch this!" Dwarven Engineer Dugan-Ironhand took his long dwarven firearm from his back, aiming to fire.
"Whiz~" A dozen starfire-powered arrows were faster than the dwarf's aiming speed, continuously hitting the beastman king. His chest, shoulders, abdomen, thighs, wrists—he initially endured the pain until an arrow pierced his skull, making him collapse to his knees: "Woo woo woo~"
"Dwarf stuff just doesn't cut it, heh." Wood Elf Lord Oglaros put down his recurve bow, mocking the dwarf's slow actions, and the new wood elf soldiers laughed along.
"Boom~" The beastman war band's king died, but the remaining beastmen had gradually approached the allied forces.
"Retreat!" Hex shouted. "Form a spear line!"
"Yes!" the serf infantrymen responded loudly to the knight's command. The crossbowmen all retreated, and then a large group of spear infantry surged from behind, forming a dense spear line. All beastmen attempting to charge the spear line were impaled, their bodies torn apart.
With an unfavorable start, the beast king and the screaming shaman both dead, the beastmen's morale was greatly undermined. Attempts to breach the spear line failed, and the remaining beastmen's morale severely wavered as they tried to retreat amidst cries of despair.
Olivier and the Dwarven Clan Chief Swin-Novigrai had already led the walking knights and dwarven warriors to the beastmen's flank. The kingdom knights drew their long swords: "Charge! For the lady!"
"For the lady!" The serf swordsmen and sergeants' morale soared. Many of them had previous experience participating in knightly wars with Ryan, so they weren't particularly afraid of these fierce beastmen, and the dwarves even less so.
The fighting power of the knights was not to be underestimated. These professional soldiers, holding shields and long swords, charged into the beastmen's ranks from the flank, engaging in intense combat. Dwarven warriors, wielding battle axes or hammers, beat the beastmen into continuous retreat.
The beastmen faced attacks from three sides, their morale plummeted, and on this cold night, these beasts immediately lost the will to fight, beginning to try to escape.
Sparks exploded in the belly of the beastmen army; several witch apprentices together released a fireball spell, smashing a few leading large horned beasts. The wood elf forest guards continuously drew their bows, the serf crossbowmen and spear infantry collectively advanced, and this beastmen war band met its doom.
"Burn the bodies, clean up the battlefield! Move quickly, take everything we can carry!" A small battle ended, another beastmen war band completely annihilated. Grail Knight Armand moved among the crowd: "Hurry up, soldiers! We must reach the Big Stone Pile before dawn!"
"Yes, Lord Armand!" the serf soldiers responded loudly. They cleaned the battlefield, lighting piles of beastmen corpses on fire. The greedy serfs searched for any possible spoils; like many animals, the beastmen also liked shiny things. Many serf soldiers quickly found a small bag of silver coins, their smiles blooming.
"Kill all the beastmen, kill every beastman you see, show no mercy or compassion. If you don't want to see these beasts storming into your fields, killing your family, and burning down your house next year, then kill them all!" Sergeant Bertrand shouted among the crowd: "Anyone who lets a beastman escape will be beheaded, execute immediately!"
"Yes, Bertrand is right, execute immediately!" some knights loudly echoed.
Seeing some beastmen cubs, some serfs still showed reluctance, but after hearing Bertrand's words, they finally made up their minds. Several beastmen cubs, still in swaddling clothes, with fluffy fur and horns, were pierced by swords and spears, then cremated.
We won't allow these beasts to ruin the good life we've finally obtained!
"Another glorious victory." A few kingdom knights stood on a tree stump, discussing the next steps in their battle plan: "We are gradually approaching the Big Stone Pile, Lord Anglaron."
A large map was spread out on the stump, showing that this army had penetrated deep into Charlon Forest.
"Good, the soldiers' combat strength is quite impressive, we've captured a lot along the way," Anglaron nodded in satisfaction. "But our highest priority plan is still to try to obtain the orichalcum from the hands of the greenskin tribes, just keep advancing along our planned route. Lord Oglaros, scouting is still up to you."
"Understood." Wood Elf Lord Oglaros proudly lifted his chin: "Nothing can escape our eyes, the forest knows everything."
"Continue fighting! The mighty dwarves will surely win!" Dwarven Clan Chief Swin shouted.
"It's been a long time since we've had such a satisfying fight," Grail Knight Armand somewhat sighed. "Almost thirty or forty years ago, knights often entered the forest to clear out these beastmen, many knights eager for new lands to distribute, and dukes also hoped to open up new territories."
"But decades have passed, and now only the most daring dukes would consider reclaiming those lands lost in the forest. Most nobles no longer have the ability to organize an army of this scale to expand their territories. Lord Ryan's emergence has given us hope." Armand seemed spirited.
The kingdom knights all nodded, and Veronica seized the opportunity to teach these witch apprentices practical combat skills.
"A greenskin transport team is advancing not far from here, and their destination seems to be the same as ours, behind the Big Stone Pile at the greenskin stronghold," Estelle returned with a few Eternal Guards to report the scouting situation.
"Good, soldiers, follow me." Anglaron raised his great axe.
"We've got business with the greenskins."
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