Masked Knight

The Lightning God’s Whip was tense as they repaired the Southwestern wall of Thunder City. The few hundred captive Roland soldiers were whipped and forced to gather large rocks to strengthen the city wall. At the same time, they had to repair the city gate and to pile up numerous huge rocks at the back of the gate.

Sieg was undoubtedly a very harsh person; he showed no compassion to the captive Roland soldiers. That was why his subordinates, the Lightning God’s Whip, also did not hesitate to fiercely whip any of the prisoners who were slow.

Sieg could not be considered cruel. It was just ridiculous to show sympathy for those who invaded his homeland.

While the Southwestern wall was being repaired, on the main road about a hundred miles south of Thunder City, a large troop of Roland cavalry was making every effort to rush in.

Earlier on, after Sieg’s soldiers had broken through the second northern line of Roland defense, the Supreme Commander of the Coalition Armies of the Roland Continent in Pamir Plain had received the bad news from the returning defeated soldiers.

At that time, Tiger felt as if he had just stepped off a high overhanging cliff.

In his rage, he cut down the defeated officer into two and angrily ordered the Holy Knights, at all costs, to immediately return to the Thunder City.

No matter what, Thunder City must be recaptured.

If Thunder City was captured by the enemy, not only would Tiger and his main army lose their only escape route, their supply line would also be cut off.

"Now we can only hope that our last stronghold on the road to the north, can stop the Lightning God’s Whip!" Tiger sighed, "Perhaps, we will be able to catch up. After all, we have nearly a hundred thousand soldiers in Thunder City. It would not be so easy for the Lightning God’s Whip to win. Even if the Empire has tens of thousands of cavalry attacking us from behind, they are unlikely to capture our main defense army station at Thunder City. Siege warfare... is not the cavalry’s strong point."

Tiger had forgotten that the Holy Knights he sent out were also cavalries. If Thunder City was lost then could those powerful Holy Knights recapture it?

Three Senior Knights led tens of thousands of Holy Knights forward. They were only a few dozen miles away from Thunder City. In the distance, right in front of them on the road north, was the last military stronghold. Along the way, they found that the two earlier strongholds had already been broken through by the Radiant Empire army. Only some corpses and remains of the brutal killings were found.

"Speed up! We will reach the Thunder City by nightfall!" One of the Senior Knights shouted.

The last stronghold was about ten miles south of Thunder City. Situated across the road was the last line of defense, originally arranged by Tiger as a guarded gateway. However, the ones that were currently stationed here were the five thousand Lightning God’s Whip left behind by Sieg.

Their mission was to guard that place for a day. More than half a day had passed since His Excellency Sieg gave the order. They only needed to guard that place for a few more hours and their mission would have been completed.

The commanding officer, for the five thousand Lightning God’s Whip, was a Grade 4 swordsman named Xavi. When he heard the faint trampling of the horses in the distance he realized that the Roland army had arrived!

The large trees on both sides of the roads had already been cut down and the soldiers had placed those trees on the main road. Xavi was certain that the Roland army who would be arriving would be a large cavalry. The people of Roland Continent would be eager to recapture Thunder City. In order to move quickly, they would despatch their most powerful soldiers, the Holy Knights.

Xavi knew that it would be impossible for his five thousand Lightning God’s Whip to fight head-on against tens of thousands of Holy Knights on the wide main road. They used the Roland army’s fortification and the trees they had just cut down to form a crude line of defense. That defensive structure might not be able to prevent a large group of infantry from attacking them but it was enough to stop a cavalry charge.

In fact, Xavi’s actions were desperate. He knew that his troop of five thousand soldiers would not win this battle. He only wanted to delay the enemy. The longer the Roland army remained there the better. That was because new defenses would need to be deployed at Thunder City, which they had just captured.

The longer he held out, the stronger the defenses of Thunder City.

Xavi saw the vanguard of the Holy Knights approaching. He and his five thousand warriors had also long abandoned their horses. They hid behind the defenses and waited patiently.

The Holy Knights soon found that there were obstacles blocking the road. They had no choice but to stop. They dismounted and proceeded on foot with their shields ready.

The battle started all of a sudden as a volley of arrows rained down without warning.

At that moment, in the Pamir Plain, Tiger needed to make an extremely important decision. Should we forge on ahead or should we retreat?

Tiger placed a gag order on the information that Thunder City had been attacked. The only people who knew were all the highest ranked generals.

After that, the representatives of the coalition armies of all the ten kingdoms of Roland Continent had a fierce argument inside the large tent of the Supreme Commander.

There were two factions arguing. The first faction was of the opinion that the whole army should set out to recapture Thunder City. That was because it is their only escape route and also their supply route.

The other faction felt that they should ignore Thunder City. They felt that they should immediately focus their entire military strength and confront the main army of the Radiant Empire. Once their enemy was defeated, Thunder City would no longer be important as they could then obtain as much supplies as they need from the Empire’s territory. As long as the main army of the Radiant Empire was defeated, then they would also be able to take advantage and break through the defenses on Pamir Plain. From there, they could capture one or two big cities in the North and the problem of supplies would be solved.

The military officer who adhered to that faction was very bold. His reasoning was that since they had sent a cavalry to attack Thunder City, then it must be their strongest cavalry, the Lightning God’s Whip. They should take advantage of the fact that the Lightning God’s Whip was not around to defeat the main army of the Empire.

Tiger felt very conflicted. In his heart, he actually preferred the latter solution.

Go back, immediately? Would the enemy’s main army just allow hundreds of thousands of our troop to fall back so easily? They would definitely not let go! They would tail us! The current military supplies would last for only ten more days. Of course, if an order to limit the distribution of supplies is given, then it would last for more than twenty days.

Within a twenty-days time frame, tens of thousands of his army had to recapture Thunder City. The journey back would also take up a few days as not all of the soldiers were cavalry. There were infantries and also the slow supply carriages. After that, they would need to break past the solid city wall guarded by the Lightning God’s Whip.

Could all this be accomplished in twenty days?

But, Tiger was surprised that the Holy Knights insisted on returning to Thunder City. Paladin Fielding, in particular, was especially insistent and unyielding.

Tiger could, perhaps, ignore the noisy representatives of the small kingdoms. However, the Holy Knights represent the Temple. That was something that Tiger needed to consider carefully.

As a result, he had no choice but to first dispatch the Holy Knights to quickly advance to Thunder City. However, Tiger knew that even if he does not give the order, the Holy Knights would have gone there on their own.

Fifty thousand Holy Knights had already set out for two days, yet Tiger still refused to withdraw.

In front of them was the entire force of the enemy’s main army in the North. If they could break through that line of defense, then the big piece of land in the North behind the defense line, Kaka City, the capital of the Northern Province... there would no longer be any defense in the North.

As long as they occupied the opponent’s Northern province, then the problem of supplies in the army would be resolved. When that time comes, they would think of ways to recapture Thunder City. After all, they would still get reinforcements from Roland Continent and it would not be difficult then to capture Thunder City with a pincer attack.

Tiger persevered for two days. In those two days, he ordered his soldiers to attack the Empire’s strong line of defense.

One after another, the infantry regiments charged in. However, the soldiers of the Empire hid behind their defenses and refused to come out. Tiger realized that the Empire was trying to delay him. The Empire intended to wait until they gave up and were forced to withdraw. Then, his opponent would have won.

The defenses at Pamir Plain were attacked by wave after wave of Roland soldiers. Tiger hardened his heart and dispatched the elite soldiers of Sauron Kingdom. He no longer tried to conserve his military resources. The situation no longer warranted that.

The Sauron Kingdom was known as the most powerful kingdom of the Roland Continent. His army was naturally much stronger compared to the armies of the other kingdoms.

Groups after groups of soldiers sacrificed their lives at the Empire’s defense line. The trenches in the defense line were filled with corpses.

Meanwhile, in the Duke’s tent behind the defensive line, Randt sat there gloomily, pulling off his hair.

He was extremely bored for the past three days, staying in the tent. The loyal Randt followed the orders of His Excellency the Duke and did not even step out of the tent.

When the military officers outside asked to see the Chief Commander, Randt replied, "No!"

When somebody outside reported that the Roland army attacked, Randt pinched his throat and gave the order, "Defend."

When someone outside reported that the enemy’s attack was extremely aggressive, Randt shouted before they could finish speaking, "Go and ask His Excellency, Milo."

The fierce attacks lasted for two days. Both armies had fought until they had no time to clean up the battlefield. Countless corpses fell in the wilderness. Layers upon layers of corpses even blocked the Roland army from attacking.

Tiger was extremely agitated and had not slept for two days. If his men had not stopped him, he would have personally led the attacks.

However, two days later, the Radiant Empire’s defenses were still strong. Although it was breached at noon, the gap was eventually plugged with flesh and blood by the Radiant Empire soldiers.

Tiger gritted his teeth and looked at the distance. He was not looking at the scattered corpses in the wilderness. Instead, he was looking at the defenses of the Radiant Empire.

Almost there! Almost there! The enemy would also not be able to last much longer!

Tiger was very confident. Although the opponent’s defenses were tight, the defenses on the plains could not be stronger than the defenses in the solid city wall. He believed that after so many days of fighting, his enemy would also have heavy losses.

"It only looks strong!" Tiger gritted his teeth. "Just give me three days... If I have three days, I would be able to break through their defenses!"

"Three days..." Tiger murmured before he suddenly laughed. His face showed a crazy smile filled with desperation and nervousness. Right. Three days! However, would those guys believe me and give me three days?

After three days, the remaining supplies would only last for less than five more days. In the past two days of fierce attacks, although a lot of his soldiers had perished, Tiger believed that his opponent had also suffered heavy losses.

However, the consumption of supplies was extremely fast during the battles.

The cowards would not allow him to have three more days.

Even the sorcerers of the Temple had also insisted on retreating.

"Hahaha..." Tiger could not help but laugh. His subordinates behind him were surprised to see the actions of their Supreme Commander. Tiger then roared loudly, "Retreat? Retreat? Are you saying that we must retreat after losing so many people? The people from the Temple are now so insistent on retreating. Why did they start the war in the first place?"

At first, he had placed his hopes in Reuenthal from the Northwest. However, Tiger had long been disappointed. What Wolf of the Grassland? He is just a fool!

What do you mean armored cavalry of the grassland? They are all just a group of trash!

They could not even make any progress against the defense of the Northwest Legion, whose strength was considered second-rate.

On the third day, Randt was sitting in the Duke’s tent when someone called out to him.

"The Roland army seems to be retreating. What should we do?"

"Hmm?" Randt jumped up. Had he not remembered the Duke’s orders, just in time, he would have already called out.

He desperately suppressed the excitement in his heart and replied in a hoarse voice, "Go and ask His Excellency, Milo!"

During the time when Tiger was being pressured to withdraw, the Holy Knights, who were less than ten miles from Thunder City, had finally broken through the strong defense line.

The five thousand Lightning God’s Whip men were totally wiped out. They were confronted by a group of dismounted Holy Knights, armed with shields and swords. With their shabby fortifications, they stubbornly held on for six hours.

After shooting all their arrows, the soldiers took out their scimitars to engage in melee combat.

The five thousand soldiers fought against tens of thousands of enemy soldiers from evening until dawn.

The hopelessly outnumbered Lightning God’s Whip remarkably completed their mission. They had delayed tens of thousands of enemy soldiers at that line of defense.

When the last Lightning God’s Whip finally collapsed, there was no living Empire’s soldier left on that defensive line.

In the beginning, the Holy Knights abided by the Knight’s Spirit and no longer harmed the injured soldiers. However, they soon discovered that that was a fatal mistake. Even if the Lightning God’s Whip soldiers were seriously injured and were lying on the ground, as long as they could still move, they would hold on to the legs of their enemies. Their companions would then take advantage of that moment to cut down the enemies.

Enemies like those were extremely dangerous as long as they still had not breathed their last breath.

The Holy Knights were forced to give up their Knight’s Spirit. When dealing with any Lightning God’s Whip, whether they were alive or seriously injured, the safest way was to cut off their heads. That was to confirm that the Lightning God’s Whip had really died and they could rest assured.

The face of the man leading the knights was covered in blood. He had just personally killed a particularly tenacious officer amongst the Lightning God’s Whip. It seemed that person was what the heathens called a Grade 4 or a Grade 5 swordsman. Under normal circumstances, if we were to fight, I can still defeat him but I will need to take a while. However, when we fought just now, that guy was already seriously injured and I only needed six strikes to successfully stab his chest...

However, the Senior Knight did not escape unscathed. When his sword stabbed one of the enemy soldiers he thought that that was the end of that enemy. But that soldier suddenly hugged him like a madman. The two men struggled and fell to the ground. During the struggle, the knight’s helmet also came off. At that moment, that soldier from the Lightning God’s Whip opened his mouth and bit the knight in the face!

Although that soldier finally died after exhausting his energy, the Senior Knight was extremely shocked and terrified.

Madman! That guy is insane! The bite just now was so painful that my tears almost flowed! He had already bit off a piece of flesh from my handsome face! Luckily, he had already lost his sense of reasoning and did not bite my neck, where the blood vessels...

The knight tore out a piece of cloth from his clothes to cover his bleeding face. He then shouted with a hoarse voice, "Advance! Advance! Advance immediately!"

Was he frightened? Perhaps, he was more shocked or astonished.

Even when faced with tens of thousands of Roland soldiers, the Lightning God’s Whip still managed to delay the Roland soldiers for so long with just such simple fortifications. Besides that, the Lightning God’s Whip had also caused the Roland people to suffer heavy losses.

The losses suffered by both sides are almost equal.

Although the combat effectiveness of the Lightning God’s Whip was slightly better than that of the Holy Knights, the Holy Knights had more people and had the advantage.

That Senior Knight threw the cloth that was soaked with blood onto the ground. He then looked at the ground full of corpses and said, "Leave ten men behind to bury these bodies."

He paused for a while and then continued, "It does not matter if it is our men or theirs. Bury all of them!"

Yes, they are our enemies. They are strong enemies. However, at the same time, they are warriors worthy of respect.