Chapter 219: Chapter 190: Old Si, We Came Through the Fire Together
Si Kai didn’t understand why the Baron would leave at a time like this and hand command over to him.
Although he had commanded a thousand-man Knight Order that guarded the Duke’s Inner Castle in Bailiu City, leading guards and commanding soldiers were two completely different things.
It was as absurd as asking a security guard who only ever watched the gates to go out and arrest criminals.
Frankly, Si Kai had very little confidence in himself, especially when the Lord of High Cliff Castle, a man who was practically a military genius, was right here.
Levi waved his hand, cutting Si Kai off. He said seriously, "Aside from my Centaurs and Masha, I’m leaving everyone for you."
"And you, you just need to hold on until Fujero gets here!"
"As long as you hold out until our main army arrives, no one will be able to ignore the contributions you’ve made to this war!"
In that instant, Si Kai understood everything.
’Levi could have personally led the soldiers, defended this place, and waited for Fujero to arrive. Instead, he’s giving this chance to shine to me.’
Hearing this, he was moved beyond words. "Lord..."
"Old Si, my friend," the Lord said, his voice full of meaning as he patted the Knight’s shoulder. "We’ve fought through hell and back together. Don’t you let me down now. I have very high hopes for you."
To be honest, part of him really did want to give this Knight—who’d been on the sidelines and hadn’t accomplished much since the beginning—a chance to prove himself.
But more importantly, he knew he wasn’t much use here. He might call the enemy a ragtag bunch of punks, but the fact remained that they were vastly outnumbered.
To maximize their advantage in a situation like this, he had to make some unconventional plays.
His plan was to leave Si Kai here to draw the enemy’s attention while he personally led the High Cliff Castle contingent, sneaked deep into the enemy’s formation, and executed a "blossom in the center" strategy.
When the time came, the enemy would be fighting on three fronts. The pressure would be more than they could handle.
With Panda to support him and the veteran Caster Fu Jin on hand, Si Kai shouldn’t have much trouble just holding out until Fujero’s arrival.
The two men shared a light fist bump. Nothing more needed to be said.
The column of troops set out once more. Unlike before, the air was thick with tension.
Even though these soldiers of the Thorn Corps were battle-hardened veterans, they couldn’t escape the tension that came before a fight.
The Beastman Barbarians, on the other hand, were scratching their asses and picking their noses, looking for all the world like they were heading for a picnic instead of a battle.
The moment they stepped out of Shadow Forest, it felt like seeing the sun for the first time in ages. The view opened up, vast and wide, and the sudden brightness forced everyone to squint as they slowly adjusted to the light.
As their vision refocused, the scene before them came into view. A considerable number of corpses were scattered across the endless snow-covered ground. Carrion birds and snow wolves fought over the bodies, their eyes blood-red and their bellies swollen from feasting.
Food was scarce in winter, making this a rare feast for the animals. They wouldn’t waste it by leaving even a sliver of space in their stomachs.
The bodies belonged to Wilderness People, Elves, and even soldiers from the Thorn Corps, but they had all been stripped clean of their equipment.
Even the last loincloths had been taken, likely by some Goblin to be used as a makeshift hat for warmth.
What truly caught the Lord’s attention were the corpses of several massive Tree-men, each easily seven or eight men tall. Their bodies were like tree trunks, clad only in simple grass skirts.
"These Wilderness People deserve to die," Masha seethed, her face a mask of fury as she looked away from the body of a female Elf Warrior, stripped bare. She couldn’t bear to look.
’Dying itself wasn’t frightening. What was frightening was to die and have your body left to rot in the wilderness without dignity, to be picked clean by scavengers until nothing but bones remained.’
The Lord, not entirely without a shred of humanity, waved a hand. His soldiers moved forward, cut down the sated snow wolves that showed no fear of them, and gathered all the Elven and human corpses within view. They would be dealt with properly after the war.
Levi then noticed Allen, the Elf who had been silent ever since Levi had reprimanded him. The Elf shot him a look of gratitude, but Levi merely glanced back and paid it no mind.
He looked up, his gaze stretching to the horizon.
Beyond Shadow Forest lay a vast snow plain. At the far edge of the grey horizon, where the sky met the earth, an ochre-colored wall was faintly visible.
The Lord’s eyesight was exceptional; he could just make out figures swarming on the walls. Countless black specks crawled up the fortifications like a tide of ants, and the faint din of battle cries drifted to his ears.
"We’re about two miles from the wall," the Lord said, finishing his instructions. "Even if they spot Fu Jin’s Snowbird and react immediately, it’ll take them a good while to get here. You have plenty of time to set up some simple defenses."
Then, looking at the three hundred High Cliff Castle Warriors assembled and ready to move, he gave a wave of his hand. Under the cover of the Magic cast by Fu Jin, the entire group vanished into the snow and moved off into the distance.
Masha’s Snow Concealment Technique could cover just under a hundred people. But the one cast by Fu Jin, a veteran Caster, easily hid all three hundred, and was far more effective.
BOOM!
Just as the High Cliff Castle Warriors were silently marching behind the broad-shouldered figure leading them, a world-shattering BOOM suddenly rocked them, making their eardrums ache in pain.
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