Chapter 1459: Chapter 1457: The Silent Black Knights
Frank’s face turned pale.
Mario looked at Frank with both anger and fury, but he knew in his heart that this was not Frank’s fault. He glared at Frank fiercely, then turned to his subordinates and shouted, "Get the routed soldiers to retreat, the rest of you gather and prepare to fight."
"Yes."
Mario’s entire cavalry unit quickly separated from the routed soldiers and gathered on the road, gripping their weapons and looking at the charging Black Knights.
In terms of numbers, there were not many Black Knights charging, far from a complete regiment, only a mere fifty or so.
But no matter how few Black Knights there were, they were Magic Knights, while the rest were just elite cavalry.
They definitely couldn’t stop these Black Knights and could only hope the main force of the Red Maple Group would come to their aid in time.
Let’s hope...
Biting his lip, Mario spurred his horse and led the charge towards the Black Knights a few hundred meters away, already resolved to death. At this moment, he forgot all about the dithering over the attack on Shalin, with only the simplest thought of a soldier in mind—fight, either live or die.
"Charge with me!" Mario roared, leading his men toward the Black Knights, getting closer and closer.
Three hundred meters, two hundred meters, one hundred meters.
Nearing within one hundred meters, Mario could clearly see the magic runes on the Black Knights’ armor, and the glowing light emanating from them.
Sweat seeping from his palms, he tightly gripped his weapon, gathering strength and raising it high, ready to strike.
But at the next moment, his eyes widened, witnessing an unforeseen scene—the almighty Black Knights suddenly moved aside, sharply turning their horses’ heads, veering to the left side of the road, avoiding engagement with them.
Was this... did the Black Knights fear them?
Mario was momentarily stunned, quickly realizing that wasn’t the case. The Black Knights weren’t afraid; they simply didn’t see him as a real opponent. The real adversary was...
Mario looked in the direction facing the Black Knights and saw around five hundred blue-armored cavalry rushing from the direction of Reef Rock Castle, hundreds of meters away, their armor glowing with deep purple light, dazzling and dangerous.
These were indeed the magic knights from Reef Rock Castle.
His regiment was indeed the vanguard, but clearly, the vanguard wasn’t just his regiment; there were others.
Then clearly, the upcoming battle belonged to the Magic Knights, he had no right to participate as regular cavalry.
Which was good, as he still didn’t want to die just yet.
Mario settled his mood a bit, gesturing for his men to turn their horses, heading back to escort the remaining soldiers to meet with the cavalry regiment’s main force, and to inform the captain of what had happened here.
Encountering half a regiment of Black Knights here indicated that the route ahead had effectively been occupied by Shalin, caution must be increased during the march.
Thinking this, he caught, in the corner of his eye, Shalin’s Black Knights starting their charge, then colliding fiercely with the blue-armored magic knights from Reef Rock Castle.
"Bang!"
"Poof!"
Both sides fought fiercely, blood splattered, breaking through each other’s formation, charging a distance, swapping positions, and then halting.
The result of the battle showed Reef Rock Castle’s blue-armored magic knights slightly disadvantaged, suffering more casualties—nearly half of the Black Knights fell, while Reef Rock Castle’s blue-armored magic knights lost about thirty percent.
Only, the blue-armored magic knights from Reef Rock Castle, being numerous, losing over thirty people, still looked like a formidable force, while only a mere twenty or so Black Knights remained, somewhat isolated.
The solitary Black Knights showed no sign of retreat, mechanically turning their horses’ heads, launching a second charge at the magic knights from Reef Rock Castle.
The blue-armored magic knights from Reef Rock Castle met the challenge unreservedly.
"Bang!"
"Poof!"
Yet another fierce battle, ending with Reef Rock Castle’s blue-armored magic knights losing nearly twenty people, leaving only one surviving Black Knight.
The leader of the blue-armored magic knights glanced at the last Black Knight, lifted his visor, and spoke, "Surrender, and you can avoid death."
The Black Knight remained silent, perhaps not hearing, or maybe not wanting to respond.
Two seconds later, the Black Knight spurred his horse, accelerated, charged, approaching over four hundred magic knights from Reef Rock Castle, slashing down with all his might.
"Poof!"
The Black Knight successfully thrust his weapon into the body of a Reef Rock Castle blue-armored magic knight, but more longswords pierced into him.
"Poof!"
Reef Rock Castle’s blue-armored magic knights withdrew their longswords, the Black Knight swayed on his horse, fell straight to the ground, without a struggle, only turning over with difficulty, clutching his wound, died silently—not even a scream.
Mario watched these scenes in the corner of his eye, feeling a sense of alertness in his heart—seeming like the dead Black Knights were even more dangerous than the living ones.
Why?
Mario pondered carefully, finding the reason, was the Black Knights’ indifference to death in battle that left him astounded.
Maybe in a similar environment, he might face enemies several times his own number with unyielding courage like the Black Knights, but he would absolutely not remain so calm, definitely wouldn’t be without a roar, without a scream.
It was terrifying, were they still human?
Could this be the Spark people from the North Wilderness?
If Shalin’s army was such an existence, then the upcoming attack on Shalin would be very difficult indeed.
Mario felt somewhat heavy-hearted.
...
Later on.
At a temporary camp by the marching road of Reef Rock Castle’s army, inside an ordinary-looking white military tent.
Numerous staff and clerks were busy, this had already become a temporary staff department. Military God Saron stood before a hanging map, squinting at it, while a young staffer reported the latest situation behind him.
"General, according to statistics from each vanguard unit, we have currently gathered about ten thousand routed soldiers, with expectations to continue over the next few days, possibly exceeding thirty thousand eventually." The young staffer said.
Saron looked at the map, asking without turning his head, "What is the status of the routed soldiers?"
"The morale is extremely low, without reorganization and training, it’ll be hard to put them into combat," the staffer responded.
"Then disperse them to the rear, have them engage in some auxiliary work," Saron instructed.
"Yes, General." The staffer nodded, "However, General, how do we address the military rations for these routed soldiers in the coming days? We had each unit carry its own military rations this time, without surplus portions to give them, and they have discarded all their weapons, it’s impossible they kept any food with them either."
"Temporarily gather what we can, let each unit slightly reduce consumption, spare some for them. Once the supply route is established, food can be steadily sent from the rear to the front lines."
"Understood." The staffer responded, turning to leave.
At this moment, Saron turned his head to another veteran staffer, asking, "What’s the news from Sika?"
"The informant reports that regarding Shaya’s situation, and our actions, Sika is surprised, but only surprised. In the market, food prices have not risen, other goods prices are largely stable, military movements are only minor, primarily for precaution." The veteran staffer rapidly reported.
"So, with the matter happening so suddenly, Sika has yet to react." Saron raised an eyebrow, "Or maybe, they have reacted, but chose to temporarily observe—this is most reasonable, as they can hardly withstand another national war defeat, truly wanting to break the treaty, it must be when both we and Shalin suffer significant losses to be safe."
