A First Glimpse of Brilliance

“This way!”

A commander with a slender sword at his waist charged ahead, followed by soldiers clad in light and scale armor. As for the heavy-armored units, since they couldn’t keep up with the pursuit, they had to form teams and follow from far behind—now, they were completely out of sight.

As the pursuit continued, commander Ross felt increasingly uneasy. Even his adjutant spoke up.

“Sir, any further and we’ll be in uncharted territory, and we’ve already used up a large amount of our potions along the way. Plus, it’s about to get dark. If we keep chasing, we might suffer serious losses.”

“Hmm…”

Hearing this, ross fell into deep thought.

He was well aware that the enemy ahead was the culprit who had killed the First Squad, but pursuing them like this was not a solution.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, a shrill caw suddenly echoed through the sky.

Caw!

!!!

The raven responsible for providing intelligence had been shot, and it plummeted straight to the ground.

Watching the raven fall, the human soldiers lost their target for pursuit. Seeing this, a nearby soldier prepared to whistle and release a second raven to search for enemies.

But Ross stopped him.

“No need.”

“Huh?”

The soldier was puzzled, but Ross offered no explanation. He just waved his hand.

“Cease pursuit! Advancing blindly is dangerous. Everyone, regroup and prepare to return!”

Ross shouted, and at that moment, there were less than ten zombies scattered around. Even if they continued to pursue, leaving aside whether they could even catch up, the elusive zombies in the jungle would already give them enough trouble.

“Regroup! Prepare to return!”

The adjutant repeated the order. Hearing this, the pursuing soldiers all halted, watching the dark figures vanish into the forest.

The troops regrouped quickly. Though it was frustrating to let these foreign attackers who had struck the Empire’s forces get away, the current situation made it impossible to keep pursuing.

“Ahhh!”

A small group of zombies set their sights on this human troop, but after several volleys from the archers and finishing blows from the melee fighters, the zombies were wiped out instantly.

“Confirm the location of the heavy-armored unit in the rear. We’ll go rendezvous with them.”

Ross gave the order, then fired a signal flare into the sky.

The green signal flare shone in the sky for several seconds, but until the light faded, there was no response from the heavy-armored unit at the rear.

“Hmm?”

“Perhaps they’re engaged with zombies and in combat,” the adjutant explained, but Ross wasn’t convinced.

He looked around at the surrounding forest. By now, night was gradually falling, and with the trees blocking the sunlight, the entire woods felt gloomy and silent.

Suddenly, ross sensed something watching him. He quickly turned and shouted.

“Who’s there!”

Ross’s shout drew everyone’s attention. The soldiers responded quickly, but with the shieldbearers lagging behind, only infantry with small shields could take the front line.

Then, under everyone’s gaze, a tall ‘man’ in a black robe walked out, followed by a squad of soldiers in gleaming silver armor, marching in formation.

Seeing their armor, ross was shocked. His first thought was—

The Otto Kingdom Royal Knights!

But then, something seemed off. Behind the uniformed, armored soldiers marched squads of troops in tattered armor, looking completely out of place.

Unable to determine their identity, ross shouted loudly:

“Who are you people?”

The other side gave no response. Feeling things were about to go wrong, ross decided to strike first, especially since the enemy had soldiers dressed in Otto Kingdom’s armor. After a hand signal, the archers began to notch their arrows.

Suddenly, the sound of clashing armor echoed again.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Hearing the noise, ross looked back to see twenty warriors in heavy black armor, wielding longswords, warhammers, and giant shields advancing toward them.

Seeing them, ross was overjoyed—it was his own heavy assault squad!

With their arrival, ross now had nearly fifty people on his side, while the other side had only about ten. With such a difference in strength, even if the enemy was hostile, he wasn’t afraid at all; he could even consider taking them out directly.

“I’ll ask one more time—who are you people!”

Ross asked, though it was only to hold the enemy’s attention. His men had quietly drawn their bows, ready to unleash arrows at a moment’s notice, to catch the enemy off guard!

But suddenly, the sound of hooves came from the forest.

Tat-tat-tat-tat!

Hoofbeats? No, that’s not right. Why would there be hoofbeats here? Empire cavalry shouldn’t be fighting in the woods, right?

But as this question ran through his mind, the owners of the hoofbeats revealed themselves.

“Charge!”

Twelve Skeleton Cavalry sprang out at the front. Though their gear was already tattered, with the enemy unable to form a shield wall, these cavalry were the reapers of the battlefield!

“Undead!!!”

The soul fire in the heads of those Skeleton Cavalry and the bone horses beneath them instantly revealed their identity to Ross.

“Archers, fire—now!”

Ross hurried to give the order, but he was too late. His archers in formation couldn’t switch targets instantly, and seizing this opportunity, the cavalry charged to their flanks.

Enhanced Charge, group Assault, piercing Charge, lethal Thrust!

Shashasha!

The Skeleton Cavalry and their bone horses howled together, their eerie blue soul fire blazing as one. The harsh, rasping sounds and their phantom-like figures filled the soldiers with terror.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Ah!!!”

The bone horses trampled through the ranks, the twelve Skeleton Cavalry scattering the enemy with a single charge. Their lances found several archers clad in leather armor.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Trampling bodies underfoot, a single charge left five men of the thirty-strong unit dead and three severely wounded!

This is what happens when infantry faces cavalry without a pike or shield wall.

“Ahhh!”

A soldier was skewered through the abdomen by a lance, falling to the ground and wailing in agony, striking terror into the hearts of the others.

“Crush these maggots who dare defy the Queen!”

With the first cavalry charge breaking up the archer unit, the black-robed man wasted no time. He led his soldiers in a fresh assault.

At this moment, the soul fire in the eye sockets of Little Black and the others shone openly as well, deathly flames blooming throughout the dim forest. At last, ross understood.

The silver-armored unit before him and the Skeleton Cavalry from before were on the same side. They’d revealed themselves earlier just to distract him.

Damn it! The enemy turned out to be undead, perhaps even the legendary nether undead. They had intelligence, understood tactics, and surely had a powerful undead lord or necromancer commanding them.

Thinking this, ross felt afraid, yet he knew he had no choice but to fight—if they ran, the enemy cavalry would slaughter them all.

So, he shouted at the approaching heavy-armored troops:

“Form up! Don’t let them break through!”

Ross’s orders were urgent and panicked, with the enemy cavalry looping back for another assault. If they suffered one more cavalry charge, it would all be over.

They had to get that shield wall up—fast!

Hearing his order, the heavy-armored unit from the rear rushed to his aid… but no one noticed the blue flames flickering in their eyes as well.

They were…

Undead!

These were not Ross’s heavy assault squad, though they wore the same equipment. As for where the real squad had gone…

Who could say?

(To be continued…)

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