“Right. Milord, you previously were at the Ernst Institute with Master Linley. I heard that he fought Lord Haydson to a standstill?” the blue-haired knight said quietly.
Hearing his subordinate ask him about Linley, Reynolds couldn’t help but begin to grin.
“The only reason he suffered a slight loss was because he didn’t have enough battle-qi,” Reynolds said calmly. In his heart, Reynolds actually felt quite regretful that he hadn’t been able to go watch this life-and-death battle of his beloved bro.
Turning his head to stare westwards, Reynolds squinted his eyes due to the scorching rays of the sun. His dear brother Linley was in the imperial capital to the west.
“In a bit more than a year, my ten-year commitment will be up and I’ll be able to leave the army.” Reynolds secretly sighed to himself.
The eight-plus years of army life had caused Reynolds to truly enjoy being in the army, but Reynolds knew that per the regulations of his clan, if the descendants of the clan were able to reach the rank of legion commander or deputy legion commander, they would be permitted to remain in the army. If they did not, then they would have to return home to the clan.
Right now, Reynolds was only a senior captain. He was still one step away.
But although Reynolds did rather enjoy the army life, he didn’t want to spend his entire life in the army. He still wanted to quietly train his magic in peace. He was already a magus of the seventh rank. If he spent another hundred years in painstaking training, he still had a shot at becoming an Arch Magus of the ninth rank.
While he quietly waited, the other squads began to arrive. By around 4:50 PM, around four hundred people had gathered here, with five hundred yet to arrive.
“Hrm?” Reynolds suddenly frowned.
He suddenly had the sensation of impending danger, as though an invisible, murderous force was stealthily creeping towards them. As a magus, Reynolds had an extremely powerful spiritual force, and his premonitions were far stronger than most people’s.
“Everyone, be careful!” Reynolds suddenly shouted coldly.
“Yes, milord!” All the surrounding knights answered, but right at this moment, the sound of frantic hoof beats could be heard, drawing closer to them at high speed.
“Enemy ambush!” Enemy ambush!” That fierce shout shattered the calm skies.
Virtually all of the knights reacted very quickly, snatching up their spears and raising their shields as they all charged at high speed towards their horses. But just at this moment, sharp arrows began to rain down upon them from afar…
“Swish!” “Swish!”
The arrows rained down upon them at high speed like a plague of locusts. All of the knights immediately knelt down while raising their shields to protect themselves, while moving closer to each other.
The Empire’s shields were of very high quality. In battle, it was rare that ordinary arrows would be able to pierce through them. And indeed, many of the arrows struck the shields, but the shields would only tremble slightly as the arrows fell to the ground, spent. But ten or so arrows passed straight through the shields, as though they were made of paper…
“Pierce!”
A fast-moving arrow tore straight through a shield, then pierced straight through the knight’s head. Brain matter exploded out.
Reynolds, seeing this, felt heartsick. These knights were his personal squad, and had followed him for six years. Six years of living together had resulted in deep bonds of affection. But Reynolds instantly could tell: “To be able to pierce through shields from hundreds of meters away means they are definitely experts of the seventh or eighth ranks. And there are quite a few of them.”
“Rumble.” As those distant people moved nearer, the sound of their horses’ hoof steps grew clearer. This group of people all wore gray armor, and the hooves of their horses were covered with cloth.
In front of these people, over ten bloodstained knights were fleeing.
“Rossi.” Reynolds’ face changed. Those ten knights belonged to his squad.
“Milord, flee, quick! These are the soldiers of the Rohault Empire, and they number in the thousands! Quick… ah!!!” A bloodied knight ran past at high speed, but in the blink of an eye, an arrow went straight through his throat.
“Kill them all! Let none survive!” a cold voice rang out from afar.
“Flee!”
Reynolds shouted loudly. Fight against an opponent numbering in the thousands, while he only had a few hundred people? And what’s more, they were being ambushed, and the enemy had multiple elite warriors of the seventh and eighth ranks.
In addition, their duty was reconnaissance. They had to go back and spread the news.
The lucky survivors immediately vaulted onto their warhorses. Perhaps because their enemies wanted to acquire those several hundred horses, the arrows that had rained down on them just now had only struck the knights. Not a single warhorse had been killed.
Flee!
Flee!
The only thing on Reynolds’ mind was to flee at high speed. At the beginning, four hundred men had tried to flee, but right now, only a hundred were left. That a hundred were left was because Reynolds had used magic to intimidate their enemies. While fleeing, Reynolds was still muttering the words to even more magical spells.
With Reynolds at the center, eight swathes of flame shaped like greatswords suddenly exploded forth, scattering in every direction and charging directly towards the pursuing armies.
Fire magic – Decapitating Inferno!
“Crackle, crackle.” The blazing flames slashed down on the bodies of those knights, who immediately began to scream in agony. Their metal armor rapidly melted, and in the blink of an eye, they were turned to char. The surrounding grass began to blaze as well, and the following knights were forced to slow down.
“Chase, chase!” That blonde, tousled-haired leader stared angrily at the distant Reynolds.
If it hadn’t been for that distant magus, he would’ve wiped out this group of people long ago. But because of that magus and because it was autumn and the grass was dry, the grass had easily begun to burn and caused a huge wildfire, blocking their pursuit.
Magical force wasn’t endless.
Reynolds didn’t dare to use any actual spells of the seventh rank. All of the spells he had used were of the sixth rank. But despite that, nearly all of the mageforce in Reynolds’ body had been exhausted.
Only a single squad of three hundred soldiers of the Rohault Empire continued their pursuit, but this squad had over ten experts of the seventh rank. Clearly, this was an elite squad. And in Reynolds’ squad, there was only a single warrior of the seventh rank, and of course himself, a magus of the seventh rank.
“The City of Neil! I can see the City of Neil!” one of the knights shouted loudly.
“Neil City!” Reynolds saw the distant, hazy outlines of the city. His eyes were filled with hope, and he frantically urged his horse forwards.
“Swish!” Yet another arrow shot at them from behind, and the exhausted Reynolds once again frantically dodged while raising his shield to block. With a ‘slash’ sound, the arrow pierced through the shield and into Reynolds’ shoulder. The powerful force of that arrow actually caused the exhausted body of Reynolds’ to sway, and he nearly fell from his horse.
After running for two hours, it was almost dusk.
The walls of the City of Neil were manned by quite a few warriors, as well as a number of nobles who were on the walls strolling about aimlessly.
“Open the city gates, quick! There are soldiers of the Rohault Empire behind us. Kill them all!!!” Reynolds roared furiously.
In the blink of an eye, Reynolds and his tens of wounded surviving soldiers reached the outskirts of the City of Neil, but the gates to the city didn’t open.
“Swish!” An arrow shot out at one of the nobles on the wall.
“Don’t open it! Don’t open the city gates!” A shrill, ear-piercing voice could be heard coming from up above. “Fire yo
ur arrows! Shoot the enemies to death!”
That pursuing squad of the Rohault Empire stopped just outside of bow range. Ten of them actually dismounted, then charged directly towards the city walls. They easily dodged the arrows aimed at them from above, and all of them were covered with a sheath of battle-qi.
These were mighty warriors indeed.
“Kill that magus.” The leader of those ten men stared fixedly at Reynolds. They had chased all the way over here for the sake of killing Reynolds. A magus without mageforce was simply far too weak.
Right now, Reynolds couldn’t fight back at all.
“Open the gates!” Reynolds’ squad of knights felt totally hopeless now. Although they had several dozen people and their enemy only had ten, just from looking at their opponents’ battle-qi, they could tell that the leader of their enemies could probably kill them all by himself.
38
Grievous News on the Wedding Day
“Open the gates!”
“Open the gates!”
Reynolds and his men continuously howled with anger. The enemy only had three hundred in total, while Neil City had tens of thousands of soldiers. What was there to be afraid of? After making their way back here, Reynolds and his men had thought that their lives had been saved, but now…
“Slash!” A warblade chopped down towards a knight’s neck, bifurcating him into two pieces. His intestines rolled out.
“Die, all of you, die!” The leader of the enemies laughed wildly.
Reynolds’ side was quickly decimated. In the blink of an eye, only a few were left. Staring at the enemies, Reynolds couldn’t help but feel despair.
“Am I going to die?”
Reynolds had many goals and dreams which he had yet to accomplish. But now, he was about to die.
On the city walls, a group of nobles were surrounding an ashen-faced middle-aged noble.
“Your Imperial Highness, are you alright?”
“Don’t be afraid, your Imperial Highness. The enemies won’t be able to break in.”
After continuous reassurances, the middle-aged noble slowly calmed down. This man was the administrator of the Southeast Administrative Province, the younger brother of the Emperor, Prince Julin.
Prince Julin wasn’t born with any spine or ability, but he was the younger brother of Emperor Johann, and Emperor Johann doted on this younger brother. Thus, Prince Julin was living quite a comfortable life.
He knew that it had been over a decade since the O’Brien Empire and the Rohault Empire had engaged in any large-scale battles. Thus, he had been happy to come here to ‘take a look at the borders’. His arrival had caused all the local nobles of Neil City to surround and pamper him.
But who would’ve thought that just as he was bragging about the military might of the Empire up on the wall, an arrow had shot towards him. Fortunately, the guards next to him had blocked the windows.
“Open the gates!” A desolate, angry howl from below.
The surrounding warriors’ eyes were turning red at the scene. There weren’t many enemies. If the army of Neil City were to charge out, they could definitely kill all the enemies with ease. But Prince Julin refused to let them open the gates.
“Your Imperial Highness, there aren’t many enemies below. Let me lead my men to go kill them,” a military officer begged.
“Bullshit.” Prince Julin pointed at his nose and cursed, “What the hell do you know? Can’t you see that far away, there are several hundred soldiers?”
“But your Imperial Highness, our City of Neil has thirty thousand soldiers,” the military officer argued.
Prince Julin sneered, “It is dusk right now, and in the distance, there is a great deal of tall grass. Who knows how many enemies are lying in wait? Think about it, for just a few hundred people to dare attack, surely they must have some sort of support, yes? It isn’t worth the risk and the additional bloodshed just to rescue a few dozen soldiers of the Empire.”
Prince Julin spoke with authority and determination.
“But your Imperial Highness…” The military officer didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. Clearly, this Prince Julin didn’t know anything about military affairs. Given how sturdy the City of Neil was, even if their enemy had a hundred thousand soldiers, they wouldn’t find it easy to break through the defense of Neil City and its thirty thousand soldiers.
What’s more, his side was just going to go kill the enemies below the city walls. It wasn’t as though they were going to chase and counterattack.
Prince Julin wiped away the cold sweat from his forehead.
“Isn’t it just a few dozen common soldiers? If they die, they die. I don’t want to be in any risk,” Prince Julin secretly said to himself. He immediately said with severity, “Remember, you are not to attack without authorization. Otherwise, if something happens, don’t blame me for being merciless.”
“Your Imperial Highness, the leader of those people seems to be Reynolds,” someone suddenly said.
“Which Reynolds?” Prince Julin frowned.
“The Reynolds who is in the principal line of descent for the Dunstan clan.”
“The Dunstan clan?” Prince Julin frowned, but then he laughed uncaringly. “To die for the sake of the Empire is a glorious thing for their clan. In addition, the Dunstan clan is a large one. So what if a single descendant dies?”
Prince Julin didn’t care in the slightest.
“Open the city gates!” That desolate cry rang out again. And then, there were no more cries to be heard from outside the city.
Reynolds body slumped down, falling against the city walls. An arrow was in his shoulder, and a terrifying wound could be seen in his chest. Fresh blood flowed everywhere.
Reynolds had already lost consciousness.
“Senior captain?” Reynolds’ armor revealed his status.
The leader immediately grabbed Reynolds, tossing him onto his shoulder, then shouted to his men, “Let’s go.” As he spoke, those ten men left as fast as lightning.
From start to finish, aside from shooting arrows atop the city walls, the defenders of the City of Neil didn’t open the city gates or engage the enemies in battle at all.
The Dunstan clan possessed tremendous influence in the military. Soon, the news of how Reynolds’ entire unit had been wiped out, while Prince Julin had given the ridiculous order that his men were not to leave the city and engage in battle, reached its way to the Dunstan clan.
Not long after Prince Julin returned to his residence, his subordinates told him something shocking.
“Your Imperial Highness, that Lord Reynolds who died in battle was an extremely close friend of Master Linley. The two studied together at the Ernst Institute, and their affection for each other rivals that of real brothers,” a bearded middle-aged man said respectfully to Prince Julin.
“What? Master Linley? The two are as close as real brothers?” Prince Julin instantly jumped to his feet.
“Those… those bastards! Why didn’t they tell me up on the wall?” Prince Julin said frantically.
“Your Imperial Highness, there aren’t many people who know of the relationship between Linley and Reynolds. Even in the imperial capital, only a few nobles know. How could those distant nobles of Neil City know about this?”
Prince Julin immediately began to frown.
He wasn’t afraid of offending the Dunstan clan. No matter how powerful the Dunstan clan was, they relied on being in the good graces of the Emperor. It was just one clan member, after all. All he had to do was to say something to the Dunstan clan, and this matter would definitely be at an end.
But offending Linley was something else entirely.
“Immediately reach out to the Dunstan clan. Also… prevent any news from coming out of the City of Neil. Don’t let the information get to the imperial capital, especially to Linley. Just say that Reynolds' death was in battle and in service to the Empire.” Prince Julin was truly beginning to panic.
Yulan calendar, year 100
09. September 15th. This was the day when Wharton and Nina were going to get married. Wharton was the younger brother of the world-famous Master Linley, while Nina was an Imperial Princess.
Their grand wedding was naturally an incomparably important affair.
Within the palace, beautiful music wafted throughout the halls like flowing water. All the nobles were toasting each other while chatting and laughing.
“Emperor Johann, excuse me,” Linley said with a calm laugh as he nursed his cup of wine.
Linley truly was not accustomed to dealing with these nobles. After saying a few words to a few people, Linley left the main hall and headed towards a garden, with Delia soon following him there.
“What is it, Linley?” Delia laughed.
“Not comfortable.” Linley chuckled.
“It seems that today you aren’t in a very good mood.” Delia saw that an unhappy look was on Linley’s face. Linley nodded. “I don’t know why, but for some reason, I feel anxious and irritable.”
When one’s spirit had reached Linley’s level, it was quite rare that one would feel irritable and uncomfortable.
“Today is Wharton’s grand wedding. Be happy,” Delia consoled.
Linley let out a long breath and nodded.
While Linley and Delia were in the garden, Emperor Johann received a secret letter. His personal attendant said in a soft voice, “Your Imperial Majesty, Reynolds of the Dunstan clan died in battle.”
“Reynolds died? Which Reynolds?” Emperor Johann glanced at his personal attendant. Why did a single person’s death have to be brought to the attention to the Emperor? Did he, the Emperor, have nothing better to do than to worry about this?
“This was a classmate of Master Linley’s at the Ernst Institute. He is on extremely good terms with Master Linley,” his personal attendant said in a quiet voice. “Your Imperial Majesty, this matter involves his Imperial Highness, Prince Julin.”
“Julin?”
“According to our reports, Reynolds and his men were pursued by the soldiers of the Rohault Empire to the walls of the city, but Prince Julin ordered his men not to open the gates and to strictly defend only.”
Baruch Rising_Book 3 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 30
