Early the next morning, Daqingshan woke up to find his tongue swollen. The venom from the previous night had been too potent, and his delicate tongue couldn't handle it. He shook his head vigorously and grabbed a handful of snow from the ground, rubbing it forcefully on his face.
Perhaps the external medicine had a detoxifying effect, as Sharuo's foot seemed to suffer no major issues. Although she consciously avoided Daqingshan's gaze, she noticed the swelling on his cheeks. As a priestess, Sharuo quickly deduced the cause and softly recited a small incantation, a white light flashing by. Instantly, Daqingshan felt the usual sensation return to his face.
Both of them lowered their heads, preoccupied with their thoughts. Daqingshan led the way with the dogs and Lvr, while Sharuo followed behind like a distressed young wife.
Being novices and in such a state, they were unable to effectively observe their surroundings. Before they realized it, all the sled dogs suddenly started barking frantically. Startled, Daqingshan and Sharuo looked up.
Ahead were five knights clad in black armor, riding black horses with their faces concealed under black helmets.
Instinctively, Daqingshan raised his shield with his left hand, keeping the tip of his longsword hidden behind it. He then took a small step back, using his shield to shield Sharuo behind him. Lvr was also visibly startled, fluttering its wings lightly before quickly moving to stand behind Daqingshan.
The knight in the center spoke coldly, "Even if you have countless tricks to fool others, don't think you can deceive me into surrendering. I hope for a peaceful resolution."
Daqingshan's lips were tightly pursed as he stared straight at the opponent, slightly raising his shield.
The knight on horseback sighed briefly, raising his right hand. All five knights simultaneously drew their three-meter-long lances from the side of their horses, holding them upright. Then, with a sudden drop of the leader's hand, the five knights spurred their horses forward.
Although there were five of them, their synchronized movements made the sound of hooves hitting the ground seem uniform. Black mud flew beneath the horses' hooves. The leader seemed to have mastered a coordinated charge technique, which not only brought immense destructive power but also exerted tremendous psychological pressure.
Closer, closer, even closer.
At about 20 meters away, the knights lowered their vertical lances to a horizontal position, with the steel tips reflecting dazzling light under the sun.
"Lvr, take flight, attack with magic," Daqingshan shouted. In this critical moment, he hoped Lvr could perform beyond its usual capabilities and release a few lightning spells or other offensive magic. Although he couldn't expect to inflict fatal damage on the enemy, he at least hoped to delay some of their attacks.
Lvr slightly spread its wings and swiftly ascended into the air. Without any hesitation, the air in front of Lvr began to shimmer, and a yellow wind dragon appeared, followed by a second, third, and fourth one. In the mercenary world, everyone's summoning skills could summon up to four spirits or other creatures.
The wind dragons, riding the cold winds, spread their massive wings and dove straight down. The knights were evidently stunned by the sight, as even a first-level mage couldn't summon four wind dragons in such a short time. Wind dragons were fourth-tier magic.
The knights, who intended to create a massive impact, now faced a tremendous assault from above. With only about 10 meters left, all the knights were fully engaged, unable to halt the immense inertia of their horses. They all slightly adjusted the direction of their lance tips, aiming upwards, hoping to directly pierce the wind dragons. The knights on either side began pulling their horses to the outside, seeking more space. Otherwise, with such a dense charge formation, they couldn't possibly defend against the aerial attack, especially since the wind dragons might suddenly accelerate and attack from behind.
The knights on both sides had just created gaps, and the two knights in the middle also veered their horses, hoping to gain more combat space.
Only the leader in the center couldn't evade. Fortunately, the four wind dragons didn't seem to be targeting him, and the massive inertia drove him straight toward Daqingshan.
Wind dragons are incarnations of wind. Although not as agile as true dragons, they have a clear advantage against ordinary knights, especially in one-on-one situations. Knights excel in high-speed mobility during group combat, but in one-on-one battles, especially against aerial attacks, the coordination between horse and rider is challenging. The heavy armor hampers agility, making a knight's combat ability inferior to that of a regular infantryman.
One wind dragon suddenly broke away from circling above a knight and flew directly behind another, extending its massive hind legs to grab the knight engaged with another wind dragon off his horse. With its huge wings flapping, it carried the knight away into the cold air.
It's certain that the knight's fate was grim. A summoned wind dragon's maximum lifespan is about 10 minutes, meaning the knight would fall from the sky after 10 minutes.
Daqingshan hadn't anticipated Lvr's attack magic to escalate from lightning, a second or third-tier attack magic, to fourth-tier magic. Before leaving, Lei Ge had assessed Lvr's magic, concluding that its level was that of a first-level human mage. Now, clearly, having surpassed the Wind Song battle and with the Dragon God's help, Lvr had broken through this limitation.
There was no time to think further as the knight leader charged forward, pointing his lance directly at him.
In such one-on-one combat, a knight's lance charge holds no advantage. The ideal scenario isn't using a lance, as the immense impact leaves no room for adjustments. Even a regular infantryman could dodge a knight's lance by rolling or jumping. In direct knight vs. infantry combat, a knight's best weapon is a sabre or longsword, but it was evident the opponent couldn't switch weapons now.
Daqingshan also couldn't dodge. Sharuo was right behind him, and if he evaded, she would face the shining lance directly. Clearly, Sharuo didn't have such nimble reflexes, and Daqingshan didn't want that to happen. He raised his shield high, angling it outward at the moment the lance struck, causing a piercing sound as the lance scraped across the shield. His longsword immediately flashed from behind the shield, a silver light gleaming.
The sword slashed directly at the horse's neck. Knights in full armor, once dismounted, were effectively useless and struggled to combat other units. The knight on horseback calmly used the back of his lance to block, deflecting the sword.
Chi Hanfeng often sparred with Daqingshan, who, without a mount, was well-versed in single sword and shield combat against knights. Though unable to defeat phantom beast knights, he had considerable experience dealing with regular black horse knights.
As the knight galloped past him, Daqingshan didn't hesitate. He raised his shield high with his left hand to guard against the rear leg of the approaching horse from the left, while using the momentum from his deflected sword to arch his body and dive under the horse's belly. The black-clad knight's lance was out of reach, and Daqingshan slipped from the left side of the horse to the right, slicing a long gash under the horse's belly with his sword.
Watching the gushing blood, Daqingshan exclaimed in relief. If it had been a phantom beast knight, his strike would have been futile, as the phantom beast would have lifted off on its own.
With a mournful whinny, the horse galloped a few meters before collapsing with a thud. The knight was thrown off by the massive inertia. Daqingshan hesitated, refraining from pursuing further. A wind dragon swooped down, grabbing the knight's back with its powerful claws and smashing its head against the knight's helmet, the faint sound of breaking bones confirming the knight's demise.
The battle ended exceptionally quickly, with all five knights slain within about 10 minutes. Soon after, the wind dragons shimmered and disappeared into the air.
Daqingshan wiped the blood from his face and waved to Lvr, who was still circling above. Despite being generally reticent, he couldn't help but pat Lvr's head and say, "Well done, impressive."
Lvr wore an expression that seemed to say, "You should acknowledge the power of the sacred dragon clan." It then nudged its head into Daqingshan's backpack, clearly indicating that it valued material rewards like dried lizard snacks much more than spiritual praise.
The black knights might not have been great fighters, but they were decent at logistics. They found 500 gold coins and a heap of healing potions on the four bodies. Daqingshan was particularly pleased with the four sturdy black horses. Unfortunately, time was tight; otherwise, they could have stripped the armor from the corpses to sell. However, given Daqingshan's character, even with ample time, he probably wouldn't have had the heart to do such a thing. If it were Emi, she'd likely strip even the dead man's long hair to sell to a fertilizer factory, no matter how tight the schedule.
Even if Daqingshan had such thoughts, it was impossible now. Sharuo stood there, dazed, looking at the four bodies with her lips moving slightly, clearly fulfilling her priestly duty by praying for the souls' swift release.
Trouble arose when Daqingshan was about to mount a horse, and Lvr suddenly rushed over and bit him. Only then did Daqingshan remember Chi Hanfeng's words: dragons despise dragon riders approaching other mounts, and even if a dragon is sick, it won't tolerate such things.
But time was of the essence, and Daqingshan, hoping that the holy dragon clan would be reasonable, began negotiating with Lvr. Eventually, he secured this one-time freedom in exchange for 100 dried lizard snacks, promising it wouldn't happen again.
Two hours later, the gates of Snowfield City appeared ahead. Daqingshan and Sharuo slightly slowed their pace and charged straight into the outer guards' post.
The dozens of Hamir soldiers guarding the city hadn't encountered such brazen foreign riders for a long time. They all drew their distinctive curved swords from their sheaths. Hearing the commotion outside, a leader emerged from the guards' post, asking in the standard Frozen Continent common language, "What are you doing, barging in like this?"
Sharuo, who grew up in the church and later served as a special envoy to the Ami Empire, was well-versed in official communication. She took out two tokens from her bosom, one gold and one blue, and handed them to the leader, "We are envoys from the Ami Empire and the Holy Church, here to receive the phantom beasts. We were attacked by enemies in the Snow Forest and broke through to seek aid from the Hamir Kingdom. Please take me to see the highest-ranking general guarding the city."
The tokens representing their countries had the desired effect. Led by the city guards, Daqingshan and Sharuo rode swiftly into the residence of the city's highest-ranking general—Baron Minas.
Upon receiving the report, Baron Minas, a Hamir man in his forties, personally came out to greet them. He quickly mobilized 500 snow wolf cavalry and charged out of the city gates with Daqingshan.
"Nothing will happen, for sure," both Daqingshan and Sharuo silently prayed.
The 10-kilometer plain was swiftly traversed, and ahead lay the dense forest. According to the previous arrangement, Emi and the others should have lured the enemy into the forest here.
To everyone's surprise, Daqingshan signaled Lvr to descend and asked it to fly high again to search for traces of Emi and the others. Lvr soared into the sky.
Soon, under Lvr's guidance, Daqingshan and the others discovered many hoofprints in a slightly open area of the forest, but nothing else was left behind.