Duke Pendragon

Shiing!

“That’s…”

After throwing his last spear towards the troll, Isla turned his head. He had been concentrating on the battle, so he had not noticed the appearance of the new troops.

Beeeeep!

Isla’s griffon flew towards the new arrivals at a rapid pace. Isla narrowed his eyes after seeing several fluttering flags located throughout the thousands of troops.

“The demonic army…”

He muttered in a cold voice.

An unexpected attack by the trolls and the lizardmen army had almost annihilated the scouting party. The appearance of the demonic army was certainly a good thing.

However, Isla could not shake the sinister feelings when he looked towards the demonic army, even though they would be allies to be commanded by his master.

A unit composed of vicious criminals with no pride or honor. In addition, Baltai, the commander of the unit, was a man who led two assassins to attack his lord in Leus.

The truth was only known by himself, his lord, and Vincent. It was the plan of the lord and Vincent to have the demonic army go under the command of the lord, and even the emperor had approved it.

You used snakes to hunt snakes.

When dealing with the most powerful enemy in the South – the monster armies and the Arangis Duchy, it was only natural for Pendragon to sacrifice the demonic army in the progress. But the scapegoat had shown up without being called, at this particular moment, as if they had been waiting for it.

“A poisonous serpent…”

Isla’s eyes glinted coldly as he looked towards the flags with the symbol of intertwining demons and snakes.

As if responding to his gaze, the flock of vicious vipers slowly crept towards the battlefield, and Isla immediately turned the rein of his griffon.

“Demonic army!”

“R, reinforcements!”

The soldiers of the scouting party rejoiced after confirming the identity of the approaching large force to be the demonic army.

“Your Excellency Pendragon! Allies! It’s the demonic army!”

A knight from the 7th regiment shouted in a relieved voice while cutting down a lizardman in front of him. But Raven maintained a chilling gaze as he stared at the demonic army, which had already grown close enough to make out faces with naked eyes.

“Your Excellency?”

The knight asked with a curious expression, and Raven replied.

“Listen carefully, Sir Milton. Gather all the surviving troops together. I will make a way somehow, so retreat back to the garrison.”

“…What?”

The knight became shocked.

What did he mean, escape? Their allies had just arrived after all, right?

“I do not have time to explain. Follow your orders. Continue running without rest. For those that are lagging behind… It is unfortunate, but leave them behind. Do you understand?”

“Y, yes! Your Excellency!”

The knight recognized the somber atmosphere, then shouted after answering, blowing a whistle hanging from his neck.

“Retreat and regroup! Flagbearers! Flagbearers!”

The flagbearers quickly travelled around the battlefield to deliver the commander’s orders. The soldiers, who were still continuing to fight bravely, started to retreat little by little. Soon, they gathered in one place, forming a large circle.

There were only 300, 400 people left of the original 1000-men strong scouting party. Two more griffons had perished, and only three of the creatures were left.

“My lord!”

Isla arrived by Raven’s side.

“Elkin, I will clear the way. You will lead the troops and retreat.”

“What? What do you mean? What will you do, my lord…?”

Unlike his usual cool, calm demeanor, Isla looked a little flustered.

“You are my knight. Follow my orders.”

Isla soon knelt down on one knee.

“I cannot do that, my lord. I am your knight, and I will be with you until the end. I would rather that you cut my throat right now for disobeying your orders.”

“…..”

Isla nodded after gazing into Isla’s eyes.

“Do as you please.”

It would be almost impossible to change Isla’s mind in this urgent situation. A Valvas Cavalier was renowned for their stubbornness and loyalty.

“Yes.”

Isla rose.

Then he gathered the remaining griffons in one place.

‘I should be able to do something with the remainder. No, I must do something.’

Raven made up his mind after quickly examining the remaining troops.

“What is going on?”

Karuta ran towards Raven along with several surviving members of the Ancona Orc warriors. They all had ragged breathing. Although his eyes were still vivid, Karuta’s armor was already crushed and his arms and legs were covered with various wounds. He looked exhausted.

“Karuta, do you trust me?”

“Is that even a real question? Thanks to you, I got to enjoy such a great fight today.”

Despite the situation, Karuta unhesitatingly answered with a grin.

Raven returned the smile and continued.

“Then please do as I say. You will retreat with our current troops back to the garrison.”

“…..!”

A stunned expression replaced Karuta’s confident grin. However, he nodded after reading the silent emotion from Raven’s eyes.

“How will you create an opening?”

“You and I, and the remaining griffons and the Ancona friends.”

“We don’t quite have 10 including the remaining griffon scarecrows. Keheuheu! Not bad. To think we are going to charge into thousands with this force!”

Blowing steam out of his nose, Karuta placed his steel mace, which was covered with blood and flesh, over his shoulder.

“Your Excellency! The rear is about to collapse!”

A knight shouted in panic. It seemed that trolls and lizardmen were attacking the rear of the troops after the surviving humans gathered in one place.

“The demonic army’s formation seems strange as well!”

Another knight shouted after noticing an abnormality in the demonic army’s formation. He had thought they were allies, but the demonic army had gathered into an attack formation.

“Hoo…!”

Raven took a deep breath, then shouted after lifting his two swords.

“All troops They are not our allies! Trust in me and follow me! We will continue to fight! We will survive!”

Fwooosh!

Raven erupted the Spirit of the White Dragon with all his remaining strength, then began racing towards the demonic army, which was now less than 100 yards away.

“Uwawaaaaaaahh!”

Karuta and the Ancona Orcs roared and joined his sides.

The combination of the Spirit of the White Dragon and Orc Fear created a powerful yet heroic tricolor haze, and the griffons flew above the warriors with all their remaining strength.

“Uwaaahh!”

The soldiers of the scouting party followed behind the charge of their supreme commander while crazily shouting as well.

***

“Heuheuheu! I’ve finally got you trapped like a rat, Alan Pendragon.”

Baltai smiled triumphantly when he saw the surviving members of the scouting party gather in one place. It was very convenient for them to have gathered together. Now he could kill them comfortably without expending much effort.

But it was obviously a natural choice for them.

They would have thought the demonic army was advancing towards them as allies, to help them and obey Duke Pendragon’s command.

“Surround and annihilate them. Spread out.”

Doong! Doong! Doong!

Baltai spoke with glaring eyes full of killing intent. Large drums resounded and the flags moved towards various locations. The demonic force, which was composed of various members with different attire and different equipment, spread out wide on the riverside.

When 3,000 troops spread thin to form rows, they looked much more intimidating than when they were gathered.

Shing.

Baltai was riding on a horse equipped with a bone helmet similar to his own. He took out his favourite weapon, a giant halberd. The weapon weighed around 30 pounds, but Baltai easily spun it in his hands with a playful expression, then gave a faint laugh while pointing the weapon straight ahead.

“Keheuheu! Now, let’s go wipe out the bloody dragon and those pathetic mess of soldiers. All forces, ad… Huh?”

Whooooooh!

Baltai narrowed his eyes.

A few men suddenly jumped out from amongst the scouting party, then began to charge. The entire army began to follow suit like madmen.

Besides…

“Heup!?”

As soon as Baltai saw the spirit at the forefront of the charging army, he widened his eyes. Silver-white wings seemed to rise over the shoulders of the person in the lead.

Memories of Leus overtook him.

“Ueeh…”

The flames simmering in the eyes of Duke Pendragon seemed to penetrate his body and mind. Baltai did not want to admit it, but he was struck with fear, but at the same time, killing intent. He opened his mouth and shouted at the top of his voice.

“All forces, charge! Kill them allll!”

“Kwaaahh!”

Three thousand demons revealed their fangs of death towards the hundreds of soldiers led by the master of the White Dragon.

***

Shing!

Two blades containing brilliant energy spit the waist of two demons.

Pwaahk!

As the human figures separated into two, blood and intestines splattered in the air.

“Kuwwwwogh!”

The Ancona warriors’ steel maces fell like lightning towards the heads of the demons.

Thuuud!

Necks were broken, chests sank, and legs and arms flew away. Five or six soldiers of the demonic army rolled on the ground several times, looking like a broken marionette.

With the first clash, Raven, Karuta, and the Ancona Orc warriors disposed of dozens of people. They continued their attacks like a storm.

“Uaaaah!”

“Keuk!”

Two swords and steel maces danced in a brutal, violent matter, and the dance was fast and intense. In an instant, Raven and the Ancona pierced through 30 yards of soldiers in an instant, and one side of the demonic army’s formation was completely broken.

“You fucking retards! Surround them! Get around them!”

Baltai shouted loudly. The drums sounded urgently, and the flags moved in a confusing motion. However, the demonic army was unable to move as Baltai ordered.

With 3,000 soldiers spread out into thin lines, it was difficult to quickly surround the opponent when they had concentrated their power like a sharp spear and broke through the ranks.

“You stupid bastards! Come with me!”

Baltai rode his horse forward with a thunderous cry.

Five companies under his direct command rushed along behind him and attempted to stop Raven and the Ancona Orc warriors. The enemies had just penetrated through the formation.

Kiyaaaahk!

Three griffons struggled through the air and interfered with the companies.

“Use your bows!”

Having observed the griffons flying towards them, Baltai issued an order.

Tung! Tututung!

Hundreds of arrows flew towards three griffons.

Kiyaaahk!

Normally, they would have dodged using agile movements or flapped their large wings to deflect the arrows, but they had expended all their energy after flying with all their strength and having fought an extended battle with the trolls.

Boom!

The griffons fell to the ground and flapped their wings helplessly, and a storm of blades and spears poured down on the creatures.

In the meantime, Baltai neared the collapse in the formation along with his troops. At this rate, it was certain that the hundreds of troops from the scouting party would be surrounded and killed.

However, not all of the Pendragon Duchy’s griffons were dead.

Shhh!

Although somewhat exhausted from the long battle flight, Isla’s griffon was relatively fine, as it had not dealt with the trolls directly. It flew at a rapid pace.

The griffon charged towards the demons with its wings folded, and Isla’s long spear drew a dazzling line of light.

“Keugh!”

Dozens of the demonic army’s soldiers were devastated by a single charge. But there were too many of them.

With hundreds of people throwing their spears at the griffon, several large holes were made in the wings of the griffon.

“Ha!”

The griffon lost its balance and started to descend at an angle, and Isla jumped into the air using his saddle as a springboard.

Booom!

The griffon crashed down, sweeping the ground along its trajectory.

Isla was also forced to roll about a dozen times on the floor, failing to overcome the momentum of the flight. In an instant, the soldiers from the demonic army surrounded the griffon and killed the creature before charging towards Isla.

“…..*

Isla’s neatly combed hair became disheveled, and his whole body was covered with dirt. One side of his shoulder had been dislocated by the impact of falling, and it was drooping.

“Hehehe!”

The soldiers of the demonic army gave a wretched smile at the sight.

Craack!

However, the laughter disappeared from their faces along with a strange sound. Without so much a moan, Isla had corrected his dislocated soldier in a single movement.

After swinging his neck from side to side, Isla swung his spear.

“Suaa…”

Isla took on a unique spear stance of the Valvas Cavlier, and a restrained breath escaped his lips.

“Elkin!”

A voice called out his name, an act that was only permitted to one person in the world.

“Lord!”

Shshing!

The subject of Knight Elkin Isla’s loyalty ran towards him while wielding two swords.