Lord of Rot

Carrion birds circled in the sky.

Leech’s sharp eyes caught the main gate of Pebble Castle swinging open as a troop of Black Cavalry charged out.

The enemy obviously had their own surveillance capabilities. He had been detected as soon as he’d gotten within a certain range, which confirmed for Leech that they had Transcendents on their side as well.

’Philip and the others are in trouble.’

’Wouldn’t infiltrating the castle now just be a blatant, head-on assault?’

’Instead of Lady Agnes, an ambush would be waiting for them.’

But Leech had no time to worry about Philip and the others. He had to organize his troops to meet the enemy.

Over fifty members of the Black Cavalry, mounted on warhorses.

The riverbend’s terrain was uneven, with sunken paths, making it unsuitable for a charge by the Black Cavalry.

Leech didn’t understand why the castle had chosen to dispatch Cavalry.

On flat ground, they could certainly crush his forces and then ride around picking off his Soldiers. But in the riverbend, while it might be easy for the Cavalry to charge in, they would be met with encirclement and annihilation.

’Could it be they only have Cavalry?’

The moment he saw the Black Cavalry charge from the castle, Leech roared, ”Infantry, shields up! Prepare to engage! All Knights, fall back and assemble!”

It was a simple square formation. The crucial part was to hold the river channel and prevent the Cavalry from flanking them. Otherwise, his small force would be whittled down to nothing.

Only if the front line could halt the Cavalry charge would he be able to launch a counterattack.

The Knights at the rear would act as a pursuit force after the charge was successfully stopped.

Unfortunately, their equipment was lacking, so Leech could only use bodies as a barricade. ’Perhaps... in the eyes of nobles, cheap militiamen are more useful than proper anti-cavalry stakes.’

The Soldiers moved on command, completely unaware of what was happening up ahead.

At the command of their respective Knights, the Mercenaries raised their shields and the militiamen gripped their pitchforks. Then came a thunderous roar as the Black Cavalry charged, trampling over loose rocks, their figures backlit by the cold, eerie moonlight.

A thousand men facing just a few dozen, yet it felt like confronting a monstrous flood, bringing with it a sense of unstoppable powerlessness.

A hundred archers and crossbowmen let loose a volley, but the arrows glanced off the Black Cavalry’s armor, having no effect. They only served to sting the warhorses through their Soft Armor, making the Black Cavalry charge even faster.

’This men’s equipment is terrible!’

Swiftblade bit down on his whistle: ”FHWEEET—!”

Hearing the whistle, the Porcupine Soldiers sprang into action.

The hundred-man unit formed two ranks, shields raised and spears leveled.

The riverbend offered one advantage: the path wasn’t wide, so they didn’t have to worry about the Cavalry using its superior mobility for flanking maneuvers. It was essentially a linear channel, saving them the effort of defending their left and right.

The downside was that they had to meet the charge head-on.

In the blink of an eye, the two forces collided.

The Black Cavalry instantly smashed into the formation. A lance pierced a militiaman in a heartbeat.

”ARGH!!” The militiaman struggled, impaled on the lance, and was carried forward by the Black Cavalryman, knocking over several more men.

It was like a high-speed car plowing onto a sidewalk—utterly unstoppable.

Militiamen who tried to stab the horses with their pitchforks were sent flying, man and tool alike, thrown high into the air before crashing back to the ground, their fate unknown.

The fifty-odd Cavalrymen had easily taken a bite out of a weak point in the line of militiamen and Mercenaries.

The quality of our troops was on a completely different level from the enemy’s. It was easy for them to find a breakthrough point. Once the line was breached, the remaining Black Cavalry would be like wolves among sheep.

In the blink of an eye, dozens of men were already down.

The Black Cavalry didn’t linger. Having achieved their goal, they turned and retreated.

In a river channel wide enough for twenty horses to charge abreast, it was inconvenient to perform hit-and-run attacks, but if the Cavalry wanted to leave, Leech’s men couldn’t stop them.

Leech’s expression darkened. ’They plan on peeling my forces away layer by layer, like a potato.’

Each charge would shave off a layer of his men, killing dozens before they retreated. If this repeated a few more times, Leech’s forces would suffer heavy casualties, and the survivors could be easily annihilated in a single, final charge.

The carrion birds circling overhead gave Leech a direct, bird’s-eye view of the entire battlefield.

Pebble Castle hadn’t just sent out the Black Cavalry. A hundred infantrymen had charged out after them and would arrive shortly. They wore light armor and were also well-equipped.

He could observe the battle from a distance, but so could the enemy.

Without the advantage of superior vision, this was going to be a tough fight. The only good news was that the enemy truly seemed to have few Soldiers; his side had the advantage in numbers.

In a flash, the Black Cavalry’s second charge was upon them.

The noble Knights, having suffered heavy casualties from that first ”bite,” were furious. That section of the line was now being filled by Kaven’s Soldiers.

The Black Cavalry, as if sensing the vast difference in troop quality, chose to target Leech’s side for their next charge.

The first rank of Soldiers knelt with their shields raised, while the second rank stood with theirs.

Spears, planted diagonally in the ground, protruded from the gaps in the shield wall.

It was a very crude Turtle Shell Anti-Cavalry Array.

RUMBLE!

The iron-shod hooves crashed into them. A spear instantly ran through the first approaching warhorse. As the Black Cavalryman was thrown from his mount, a Soldier behind the shield raised his own spear, and the rider could only watch helplessly as he was impaled upon it.

SQUELCH!

Skewered through.

With the first body acting as a cushion, they only managed to kill three more of the Cavalry. The rest of the charging riders nearly broke through the line.

The Porcupine Soldiers gritted their teeth and held firm. They were nearly scattered several times and were pushed back again and again, but they finally managed to halt the charge and could even swing their weapons to bite back.

The Black Cavalry tried to turn their horses and wheel away again, but it was different from their first charge. Back then, they could leisurely slow down and turn to leave. This time, they had crashed hard against the Porcupine Shield Array. Their horses were spooked, and their speed was drastically reduced.

Leech roared, ”Charge with me!”

The noble Knights, their eyes already red with fury, followed Leech as he charged out on his warhorse.

He grabbed a javelin from his back.

Leech didn’t even need to aim as he put all his strength into the throw.

WHOOSH! The air shrieked.

The javelin instantly pierced a Cavalryman’s back, blasting him clean off his horse.

The noble Knights following Leech were stunned. ’Throwing a javelin hard enough to pierce armor might not be unheard of,’ they thought, ’but to blast a man clean off his horse? That strength is terrifying! And how can he be so accurate?!’

Leech grabbed another javelin. His master-level throwing skill, combined with his Extraordinary power, made his throws like shots from a ballista—and they were horrifyingly accurate.

WHOOSH!

As if it had eyes of its own, the javelin found its mark in the Night, accurately striking another Black Cavalryman and knocking him from his horse.

Leech grabbed one javelin after another. Every throw was a guaranteed hit. Even if a throw wasn’t fatal, it would inflict a grievous wound, drastically reducing the enemy’s combat effectiveness.

After Leech killed four men in a row, some of the Black Cavalry could no longer stand the harassment. They had no choice but to leave a few men behind to turn and face the enemy, while the rest continued to retreat and prepare for another charge.

Their job was to hold them back. Once the remaining Black Cavalry had regrouped and charged again, Leech and his men would be doomed.

Facing the Black Cavalrymen who had stayed behind to block their path, Leech drew his sword and charged straight at them.

But Leech wasn’t just a sniper with a javelin; his skill in mounted combat was just as formidable.

With his Extraordinary strength, he sent a Black Cavalryman’s head flying with a single sweep of his blade.

Another Black Cavalryman tried to ambush Leech, but his sword was stopped with a loud CLANG against his Dragon Bone Plate Armor.

Leech barely swayed from the impact. He reached out with his gauntleted hand, seized the Longsword, and wrenched it away with a flick of his wrist. He then reversed his grip and thrust the blade into the man’s helmet, shattering the faceplate and piercing his skull.

Blood splattered, dyeing Leech’s Dragon Bone Plate Armor red.

The corpse fell limply to the ground as its startled warhorse shrieked in panic and bolted.

Although the noble Knights who followed had no real battlefield experience, they must have trained diligently. In the pursuit, they actually managed to kill three of the enemy. One unlucky Knight was cut from his horse and fell to the ground, his chances of survival slim.

Two more were cut down in the process.

A three-for-three trade.

In total, the pursuit claimed thirteen members of the Black Cavalry—an outstanding result. Their numbers had now fallen to less than forty.