Masked Knight

It was the tenth day of the war.

"What the h*ll!" Sieg groaned as he stepped back. He had just cut down a knight but he was also slashed at by the enemy. If he had not dodged fast enough or if he had not worn such a solid armor, he would have died.

After fighting for so many days, both armies were exhausted.

Earlier, a group of knights had rushed at the city wall. These people were significantly stronger than the other soldiers from the Roland army. They looked like the elite Holy Knights. Sieg led his Wolf Fang soldiers to fight against them. Hundreds of men from both sides perished before the Roland army was finally repelled.

Rody had fought a fierce battle against the Paladin in the morning. In the end, Rody managed to slash Fielding. Several Roland Holy Knights then appeared to fight against Rody before they managed to drag Fielding away to save his life.

Rody felt a little dizzy. He was powerful and ordinary opponents would not be able to hurt him. However, he was exhausted because was not a god.

Besides fighting against Fielding on the city wall, Rody had also fought against the enemy sorcerers that morning. Now, he was only taking a breather in the city.

Rody could not remember the number of people he had killed. His body was covered in blood and his clothes were soaked in blood too under his armor. His armor was full of traces of being slashed by swords. He was just slashed at by Fielding and he was injured a little. Although he was strong, he was still injured by the Paladin’s attack. Fielding had used all of his strength and destroyed the shoulder part of the armor. Rody’s was injured but Fielding also spat out blood. Rody had confidence in his own strength. He believed that his attack was enough to make sure Fielding could not appear for half a month.

Rody removed a broken arm which had landed on his shoulder. As he watched the Roland army retreat like the tide, he felt more and more somber.

The past few days their opponents had become more aggressive with their attacks. Although Rody did not know the exact number he was certain the enemy lost at least one hundred thousand soldiers. More than a hundred thousand of the Roland army soldiers perished below the wall of Thunder City.

The whole wall looked like it had been washed with blood. The original blackish green wall had been stained a dark red color.

The number of soldiers around him started to reduce. Some familiar faces disappeared forever after a day.

An even more terrifying thing had happened the previous evening. The Roland people had brought in another group of sorcerers. The rank of those sorcerers seemed to be a lot higher. During that day’s battle, the combination of large-scale sorcery that they used was even more amazing. They had summoned a fireball. Under the ferocious explosion of that fireball, a corner of the city wall had cracked.

If it was not because of the joint defense by the Empire’s magicians, the opponent’s second fireball would probably have blown up the wall.

In the final crucial moment, Rody charged to the sky alone with his sword. He fiercely collided against the fireball, created by the opponent’s sorcerers. Rody killed two of the sorcerers before descending from the sky.

Before he could rest he had to rush out again to battle against Fielding who had arrived at the city. At that moment, Rody felt that he was completely drained of energy and he could feel a tearing pain in his lungs.

The combination of sorcery they used was too powerful!

Rody saw for himself the combined forces of the dozen opponent’s high-ranking sorcerers. Although the Empire’s magicians were also defending desperately, there were two magicians who were burnt to death. Those two magicians were Grade 4 magicians.

Even Rody almost spat out blood after a serious fight with the opponent. That was the first time Rody felt like that ever since he integrated with the Mystic Dragon’s power in the Imperial Capital.

Rody dare not imagine. If the enemy were to convene a few more higher-ranked sorcerers and if they were to launch their sorcery together, then the city wall would definitely be destroyed.

If they encounter such power, even Rody himself would not be able to hold out.

After all, he is not an immortal.

Only that abnormal fellow, Sky, could take such an attack. However, if the sorcerers were to join forces with several Saints, even Sky, who had obtained ’Domain Force’ may not be able to hold off.

Damn! How did the sorcerers of the Roland Continent suddenly become so powerful? How did their combination of sorcery inexplicably enhance their power by so many folds?

Before that, if someone asked Rody whether one plus one equaled two, Rody would have nodded. But after seeing the combination of sorcery and the multiplied effect, Rody was no longer sure that he would answer that earlier question as confidently as before.

Rody took a deep breath and went to Sieg’s side. He looked at Sieg’s injury and smiled wryly. "How is it?"

Sieg shook his head and looked at the flesh and blood on Rody’s shoulder. "Your Excellency the Duke, are you also injured?"

Rody nodded his head and replied, "That Fielding is really worthy to be called a Paladin.

The two men sat down with the support of their subordinates. The subordinates then left to find a healer. The healer was also exhausted and pale after using too much magic to heal the wounded soldiers. However, the magician can still cast a few spells. After treating Rody, the magician looked at Sieg and frowned, "Your Honor, Sieg. This is the third time you are injured. It is not suitable to heal this with magic. Please see a military doctor! Although magical treatment can heal your injury in a short time, it has a side effect on your body. To apply magical treatment multiple times in a short period, would be like an overdraft of your life. Although the wounds can be healed, the loss of blood cannot be replaced. You need a military doctor!"

Sieg laughed and loudly said, "Nonsense! Quickly treat me! The after effects are future issues. altogether. Right now, just treat this wound! Damn, it is still bleeding. Do you know how painful it is?"

The magician glanced at Rody. Rody shook his head and lightly said, "Well, just ignore him. Go and get a military doctor."

Rody then looked at Sieg, who was about to speak and said, "Your Excellency, Sieg. Do you want to throw away your life? The magical treatment is a short-term method used to accelerate the healing of wounds. It is also an overdraft on your life. If used frequently, your body would not be able to hold on.

Sieg sighed and said, "The battle is more important. Any after effects are a thing of the future. If we lose the battle, we would die and there would be no future anyway. Do you think I am a weak and fragile person like Milo?"

Rody shook his head. Before he could speak, they heard Milo’s cold voice from behind. "Your Honor, Sieg. What did you say about me?"

Milo walked over as he tried to straighten his waist. With every step he took, the pain at his waist showed on his face. He was slashed at the waist and almost died the day before. The one who slashed Milo was a big knight from the Roland Continent. Sieg later assisted Milo and they both killed that knight. However, Milo was seriously injured.

"Your Excellency, Sieg. Although you saved my life yesterday, I will still fight you if you humiliate me." Milo gritted his teeth, as cold sweat rolled down his forehead... painfully.

Rody looked at Milo’s waist and frowned. "Your Excellency, Milo. Did you also get the magician to heal you? Didn’t they say that it is better for you to stop using magical treatment, now?"

Milo coldly replied, "Seth, do you think other people are like you, can survive all the slashes without injury? Right now, from commanders to soldiers, who is without any injury?"

Rody gave a wry smile and did not seem to pay any attention to Milo’s thorny words.

Although the conflicts between Milo’s and Rody’s families had given Rody a tough time, Rody had to admit that Milo was a real man. Although Milo had used his family’s influence to rise to the position of a Regiment Commander, he was actually quite strong. He was a valiant warrior in battle and did not have any of those bad noble habits. Due to the grudges between them, they would occasionally attack each other with words. However, after fighting in the same camp for so many days, Rody had long been accustomed to Milo’s cold words.

Sieg also pretended not to hear Milo’s words. He reluctantly stood up and looked at the Roland barracks in the distance. He then sighed and said, "These Roland soldiers are really good at risking their lives. Your Excellency the Duke, we have four hundred thousand soldiers. Why did we not mobilize all of them from Thunder City? If we charge and fight with them, below the city wall, I believe that our army..." He looked at Milo and then continued, "And with the strength of the Northern Legion, we would not lose even if they have twice our number of soldiers."

Rody shook his head. He sighed and pointed at the distance as he said, "There are several kilometers from Thunder City to the ocean. Commander Sieg. If we were to really mobilize all our soldiers from the Northern Legion, and fight with them, we will definitely not lose. By virtue of our army’s strength, we have a good chance of winning. But..." Rody continued pointing to the distance and said, "Can you see? They have twice our number of people. Even if they were defeated, and only have a hundred thousand soldiers remaining, with a formation of that size in that position we would not be able to charge at them. This is because we would be within the range of their warship’s artillery. What I want is not to kill several hundred thousand of their soldiers. I want to get rid of their entire army!"

He turned to look at Sieg and Milo and lightly said, "I believe they will have reinforcements. By that time, I am afraid they will have more than eight hundred thousand soldiers."

"Hmph... Are the Roland people crazy?" Sieg sneered. "Are they trying to send everyone from their continent over? With so many troops, they would collapse due to the lack of supplies!"

"In your dreams!" Milo coldly said, "Collapse? They have a huge fleet in the ocean. They can continuously transport supplies from the Roland mainland by the ocean. Drag them down? Your Honor, Sieg, haven’t you personally seen their fleets?"

Sieg sighed. He shook his head when he recalled the huge naval fleet of the Roland army.

Rody pondered for a moment and lightly said, "The time is almost right... We have intercepted them for ten days. It’s almost time for us to withdraw. Let’s give them, Thunder City."

Sieg and Milo frowned. Sieg could not help but ask, "You Excellency the Duke, do you still insist on doing this? Is it really alright to give Thunder City to them?"

Rody sighed and replied, "It would be impossible to kill all the eight hundred thousand or even more than a million soldiers, at the beach below Thunder City. We can only lure them inside. Once they enter our territory... however powerful their huge Navy may be, they still cannot come ashore. Once their army has gone inland, their navy cannot transport supplies to them anymore. The land is our advantage! In the past ten days, the people from the Northern Legion must have already completed the preparations I requested."

Milo coldly said, "This you can rest assured. My men are personally trained by me!"

"Ah!" Rody nodded. He was aware of the strength of the Northern Legion: they were very strong.

In the past few days’ performance on the battlefield, the strength of Milo’s Northern Legion far exceeded the strength of the Northwest Legion during the time Rody went to the Northwest. If one did not look at Milo’s character, he was indeed an outstanding general.

"Then let us withdraw!" Rody gritted his teeth. "Our losses in the past few days are also quite severe. We have lost half of the fifty thousand heavy-armor infantries. Although the Lightning God’s Whip did not participate in defending the walls, they have also lost a lot of soldiers on the battlefield. Right now, the Lightning God’s Whip only has about several tens of thousands of soldiers remaining. They cannot be lost here."

Milo raised his eyebrows and did not speak. He was confident of his own soldiers but he still must admit that the fifty thousand Lightning God’s Whip were amongst the most elite soldiers of the Empire. As a cavalry, they are definitely the strongest cavalry in the Empire.

Sieg thought for a moment. "Duke. In that case, who would guard the rear when we retreat? The Lightning God’s Whip or the Northern Legion?"

Rody suddenly laughed. Sieg and Milo were surprised to hear him laugh. His laugh sounded somewhat evil.

Evil?

Rody had laughed evilly.

"The ones guarding the rear?" Rody lightly said, "Let the Flame Warrior Regiment do it. To begin with, this is a battle of faith. Let the devout believers put in more effort!"

Naturally, Rody also added something else in his heart but did not say it out. Didn’t the God’s religion have some kind of God’s Vanquish spell? We fought so hard against the sorcerers but why did they not use that spell? Hmph. Hiding and evading, that’s what they wish!

Perhaps, Rody has really changed.