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Conquest - Chapter 68




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Shaar frantically fled north; he didn’t know how far he ran. All he knew and cared about was that his pursuers couldn’t be seen anymore, and that their constant death threats could no longer be heard. It was only then, did he sigh in relief.

Fortunately for Shaar, the magic that was stored inside of the ring wasn’t used up yet, and had actually managed to throw off his pursuers. After noticing that he managed to flee successfully, he couldn’t bear to use his precious ring again, and took it off, carefully putting it inside of his bosom pocket once again. This type of precious magic had to be used sparingly.

Resting for a while, Shaar searched for a low-lying pit and laid in it. Lying on the ground, he stuck out his tongue and gasped for breath. Even with the support from the wind magic ring, Shaar had used all of his strength to run for his life. If they had caught him, a fate of dismemberment would await him……The moment he stopped, he felt as if his lungs were ablaze; his breath was extremely heavy, making his throat feel close to bursting.

Lying inside of the pit, Shaar was so exhausted that he couldn’t even move a muscle. This condition lasted for about twenty minutes before he was barely able to stand up.

After experiencing the Crimson Rage Ki once more, Shaar found that just like in the previous times, it covered his whole body, instantly healing any and all injuries. All of his wounds, which were inflicted by both the enemy and himself, were now healed. Even his heavy shoulder wounds, which were inflicted by a sword that had even fractured his armor, were already gone. Due to his opponent’s battle ki bursting out, Shaar’s shoulder had also been mutilated and stained with blood from his, with even his bones were broken. But, after it was bathed in the Crimson Light, only a faint, red mark remained.

Shaar held his head in his hands and thought for a little while.

(Fuck, this is just like a unique skill. It instantly heals any of my injuries, and can also emit a killing technique which completely disregards the defenses of the target……If such a unique skill could be displayed whenever I wanted, wouldn’t I be invincible?)

Shaar held the crystal in his palm, and could feel that its surface layer returned to its initial dull appearance. However, it seemed as if there was a slight difference from before……

After giving it a careful inspection, he could see that this was indeed the case. The surface of the crystal still had the appearance of an ordinary gray stone; however, when he actually looked closely, it seemed that a few thin, red lines ran over the surface of the crystal. It was sparsely distributed on its surface and they were not numerous……it resembled……
The red threads resembled the bloodshot eyes of someone who had gone without sleep for a long period of time. However, if you didn’t lean in to have a better look at the stone, the number and the thickness of the red threads were so small that it was impossible to see them!

He remembered that when he looked at this stone in the past, he never noticed this unusual change. Could it be, that because he had accidentally used this strange crimson light twice, the stone changed?

Could it be, that after many uses in the future, this stone would turn blood red?

After many uses……

Shaar could not help but to smile bitterly.

He was saved by that crimson light twice, but right now he actually still didn’t know how to correctly use this kind of thing. Although the killing technique was powerful, he still couldn’t use it easily.

It seemed that the red stone would turn crimson red only when his life is truly in danger, and only when he is beaten to point of half-death, his body covered with cuts and bruises.

This ……this approach was too dangerous!

If the stone doesn’t activate the crimson light next time he encounters such a dangerous situation, allowing him to use the unique skill… then wouldn’t his death just be too stupid?

After resting for a moment, although his hands and feet were still worn out and aching, Shaar finally recovered some energy. Since his powerful physique couldn’t even be counted as human, even with such a small rest, his strength had already recovered to a point where it was about 20-30%. Standing up to take a look at the surrounding environment, he identified his location and decided to continue toward north.

Although going south in order to meet up with the large forces led by General Adrick was the safest option, he did not go that way. The Caribou Cavalry was still chasing him it the south, so he would encounter them first before meeting up with the main force. He couldn’t expect for this unreliable crimson light to save him every time, so he could only go north to try and catch up with Kevin’s group.

Yes, Kevin that bald man, should’ve met up with the people from the third legion by now…..

※※※

Just as Shaar began moving up north, Kevin had indeed already joined up with the third legion, north of Al Bactre plain.
Under Shaar’s cover, Kevin led the 300 cavalrymen and separated from the battlefield to continue north. On the road, they met another intercepting group made of caribou cavalrymen. After they forcefully broke through, from the initial 300 cavalrymen, only about 200 survived.

The time was almost noon when Kevin finally saw the third legion, which was led by the silver-haired Butler.

The third legion was a light cavalry unit under the 13th Cavalry Army, and when Kevin arrived, it seemed as if they were already in a difficult situation.

This was special terrain, with a forest growing in the valley that they were in. Although the slopes were only about 4 or 5 meters high, it was still extremely unsuited for a cavalry unit to battle in. In the middle of the valley, there was a 200-300 meter wide stretch of flat plains – with this kind of extremely narrow terrain, as long as the Odins arranged a small amount of infantry to create a thick human-barrier in this narrow pass, then they wouldn’t get overrun by a cavalry charge.

After all, the third legion wasn’t heavy infantry, and forcefully breaking through a thick troop formation wasn’t something that they excelled at.

When Kevin arrived, the third cavalry was currently caught in a bitter struggle. Centurion Butler fortified his troops on the hillside, and used the narrow ramp to help them painstakingly defend against the Odin’s attack.

They had already struggled here for a whole night, and the third legion took heavy losses. From the 2000 people that were sent, only a bit more than 1300 cavalrymen remained with half on the wounded.

Butler regretted this outcome so much that his organs had begun to go green. He was only the vanguard that carried out the reconnaissance and cleared the path for the main army behind him.

However last night, he encountered a small team of Odin’s caribou cavalrymen. After engaging in battle with the enemy, the Odins lost more than 100 people before retreating. Butler was eager to exploit this opportunity and after this victory he decided to chase after them. During the night, the line of sight wasn’t really good and he was lured into this type of dangerous terrain by the Odins. By the time he realized, it was already too late to withdraw.

This was obviously a trap and the Odin’s clearly intended to swallow the third legion which acted as vanguard.

In the narrow terrain, the cavalrymen were unable to breakthrough and Butler immediately decided to retreat to a hillside. When dawn broke, he had finally determined that a full army of about 20,000 people were besieging him. After getting encircled and nothing went through, Butler tried to bring people for a breakthrough. He tried twice to rush downhill with the cavalry with using their sprinting power; however after killing some Odin’s they were pushed back. The Odins had gathered too much force after all and in this type of narrow terrain, as long as they had a thick infantry formation, Butler was unable to penetrate the opponent’s camp with just 1000 cavalrymen – Just like a rusty dull knife, it was unable to quickly pierce through a thick meat.

After trying to break through twice, the cavalrymen of the 13th Army fought with nothing less than bravery. However, after trying to breakthrough left and right, they were forced to return on the hillside – If they were just a little late to retreat, they probably wouldn’t even had the opportunity to retreat towards the hillside and would been directly encircled on the battlefield!

When Kevin led his troops there, he saw that there was such a dense army with countless Odins under the hillside so may his scalp started to tingle. He had only 200 cavalrymen and it would be really difficult to breakthrough in order to rescue them. 200 people rushing into a camp of 20,000 would end up them getting wiped clean in less than a moment.

However, Kevin soon discovered a strange phenomenon – as soon as his force of 200 cavalrymen entered this area, they were quickly discovered. Butler, who was standing on the mountain, saw that reinforcement arrived, and gathered all his remaining troops to organize another break through. The remaining force of a 1000 cavalrymen pledged to fight to the death, and charged forward, unexpectedly started a killing spree. They had actually forged a bloody road in the middle of Odin’s siege!

Under the hillside inside narrow terrain, there were corpses strewn about, the Odin’s sweeping over them like a tide. As Butler led his cavalry to charge, he forced the Odin’s tide to retreat.

Under this kind of situation, Kevin didn’t have a choice, and could only brace himself for impact, while taking his men to rush for support. Along the way, he crashed through Odin’s formation and massacred, but Kevin somehow gave birth to some doubt in his mind……

The Odin’s soldiers hadn’t resisted nearly as much than he had imagined!

Soon, both forces quickly join together on the battlefield then rapidly tried to withdraw back to the south to meet the main army.

Shouts of thousands of people filled the air, and hundreds of men crowded into the narrow valley. Just when those two cavalry units joined each other, they suddenly heard a monotonous sound made by a horn from a distant slope!

The sound coming from the horn was deep and solemn. All those Odin soldiers who were stubbornly entangled a moment ago suddenly quickly retreated while creating a path on both sides. They soon separated themselves from the Byzantine Cavalrymen.

“They’ll let us go?” Kevin felt doubts in his heart.

At that moment, the centurion of the third legion Butler’s body was already completely bathed in blood. On his armor, there were at least seven or eight puncture marks, and a blade was stuck on his shoulder. His helmet was lost a long time ago. When he joined up with Kevin, he saw that the surrounding Odins were retreating. This silver-haired man maliciously wiped the blood of his face and his expression suddenly changed, “Damn, we were tricked!”

As the Odin’s infantry quickly retreated, on both sides of the slopes quickly came a caribou cavalry unit after another out of the forest!

These caribou cavalrymen were conserving their strength and resting in the forest for an entire night. Seeing one caribou cavalry unit after another madly rushing down the slopes from both sides, Butler’s eyes flashed fiercely. Preparing for the confrontation, he hissed and roared, “Push to the south! Everyone towards the south!! We are breaking through this canyon!!”

However, it was already too late!!

The caribou cavalry units riding down from both slopes used their momentum, and soon smashed into the Byzantine cavalry, before stubbornly entangling with them!

Entanglement! The tactic of the Odin’s was very simple. They stubbornly stuck to the Byzantine cavalrymen, not giving them the opportunity to take a rest!

After breaking out of the siege, the Byzantine cavalrymen’s formation was completely scattered, falling into disorder. In a situation where the engaged in battle while retreating, they didn’t have opportunity to take a breather, and reorganise their formation to carry out a counter-charge.

Just like that, more than 1000 cavalrymen were being pursued and beaten by Odin’s caribou units. There were also lines upon lines of infantry in front to break through and even archers were positioned on the slopes……

Kevin had never fought such a hopeless battle! He knew very clearly that if they clashed frontally, as the most elite Cavalry unit in the Byzantine Empire, they could absolutely destroy those caribou cavalrymen!

However ……However, they were unable to turn around!!!

There was no way to turn their formation!!

 

In order for a cavalry unit to form an effective lethal technique, they had to arrange into a strong formation and use its impact to their advantage! With the army in panic-mode while being chased and attacked by enemies who were on their tails, they didn’t have the opportunity to rest. If they stopped, the Odin infantries surrounding them would sweep over them like a wave; but, even if they kept going, they wouldn’t be able to throw off the chasing caribou riders.

The caribou riders chasing after them resembled a knife, slowly slicing the Byzantine Cavalry formation layer by layer!

On a distant hillside stood a tall figure covered by a giant, leather cloak. Behind him was a large chair made of animal bones, with a thick layer of black fur covering it.

This person had the typical physique of an Odin. His broad shoulders matched well with his majestic stature, which was filled with explosive strength. He wore a gray fur coat and a bear skull on his head, and instead of a weapon, in his hand was a small flag.


His skin was fair and smooth, unlike the typical Odin’s rough skin. He appeared to be pale and weak, possessing a pair of rare blue eyes, which were firmly fixed on the distant mountain where the battle was commencing.

Dozens of Odin warriors, each with a height of over two meters, lined up behind him. Each wore thick bearskins and chest armor on their breast, with axes hanging from their belt. Their hair was extremely dense and long, which were made into numerous small braids. As all Odins knew, only the “Mad Axe Warriors” had such an appearance!

The leading Odin retreated his gaze, his mouth revealing a shallow, disdainful smile.

“Hmph, the famous Rhodelia Cavalry is surprisingly mediocre.”

He smiled lightly, and suddenly stretched out his arms, of which black iron hoops were attached. A piercing eagle’s cry could suddenly be heard from afar, before a gray-feathered scouting eagle appeared, landing on the Odin’s arm.

The Odin stretched out his finger and gently patted the eagle’s head, immediately taking out a piece of bloody meat from his pocket, and bringing it into the eagle’s beak.

“Oh……Adrick and his men and should be arriving by now……Hehe.”

There was pride mixed with a smile in his eyes, but before he could finish gloating, he suddenly heard rapid hoof beats approaching.

A caribou rider rushed over from a dozen of meters away before jumping down. He stumbled on the floor and immediately prostrated on the ground.

“What happened?” This Odin frowned.

The caribou rider was a tall man with a powerful build, but at this moment fear was written all over his face as continued to shiver, “Honorable Kikkan, yo-your younger b-brother……”

Kikkan curiously raised his eyebrow, “What about him?”

“Your younger brother was killed in battle! He died in the hands of a Byzantine cavalryman……We, we tried to chase down the killer, but……”

After finishing his sentence, the Rider shut his mouth after seeing Kikkan’s smoldering eyes looking down upon him. Kikkan had a sharp glint in his eye, which radiated a frightening aura!

The caribou rider’s body trembled violently – remembering that such an important figure unexpectedly died among his unit in battle, he only feared……

This rider was fearful in his heart, but the expected raging anger didn’t appear.

After staying silent for a while, Kikkan’s expression immediately showed hints of a strange smile.

“Oh……My dear brother, he died in battle? Oh, this is actually interesting news. For us soldiers of Odin, dying on a battlefield can be considered a rare honor.”

These words didn’t have any anger in them, and instead there were hints of gentleness and feminine charm – because of this, the riders who were familiar with Lord Kikkan felt their hearts going cold!!

Seeing that Lord Kikkan’s expression was getting gentler and more amicable, the rider prostrated deeper on the floor while not daring to lift his head. His body was trembling as if he was extremely ill.

At corner of Kikkan’s mouth hung a smile as he casually teased the scouting eagle on his arm with his finger. As if he was talking to himself, he said, “Ah, a son died, my honored father the great Emperor will certainly burst out in anger like a thunderstorm……Ei, this news will bring sadness to our people.”

Although his mouth was saying it like that, there was a warm smile on his face who could he claim that he was feeling the slightest sorrow?

“……Luckily, my father the Emperor has more than 20 sons. If one or two died, I am sure it won’t be too much of deal.”

These last few words could be seen as treason, and the rider wished that he was deaf at this moment. If these treacherous words were heard by him, he only feared that Lord Kekkan would certainly tie up loose ends……

After a moment of silence, Kekkan took a deep breath, instantly replacing the gentle expression with cold killing intent.

“I command you……Raise the blood flag. I must avenge my dear brother……Afterwards, write a letter to home and report this saddening news.” Pausing for a moment, his eyes flashed in a strange way, “In any case, one of my brothers died, so I must take a stance. This will be my first time personally leading an army, and I can’t mess things up.”

※※※

Kevin and Butler finally brought their men out of the lowlands, and after exiting the valley, the area finally widened. Both were wounded everywhere on their bodies, and Kevin’s claw hammer had been long been lost on the battlefield. Now, he was wielding a standard issue cavalry longsword. However, Butler was leaning against horse, as he was already unable to support himself. His back was slashed up by a Rider, and his armor was cracked. This cut almost cost his life.

Once they broke through the valley, Kevin immediately felt excited. There was no Odin infantry blocking them in the front, and the Byzantine Cavalry was much faster than the Odin Riders. Therefore, they could rely on their speed to throw off their pursuers, and after reorganizing their formation, they could organize a counter-attack! This would allow them to let those Odin caribou riders taste the might of the Byzantine Cavalry!

The Cavalry had always been Byzantine’s strongest force!!

Kevin, who was beaten with his hands and feet tied together, was full of anger. However, what made him even angrier was that once they ran out of this canyon, the caribou rider unit following them immediately stopped their chase, before quickly retreating. They actually turned around and retreated back in the canyon!

These, these bastards! When did the Odins became so cunning?!

Just when they were finally able to stop and reorganize their formation, after making a head count both Butler and Kevin almost coughed blood at the scene!
The thirst legion and Kevin’s reinforcement with everyone put together there were barely 600 people who had made it out alive!

In other words, the hit and run tactic that their opponent used was sly and annoying but it was very effective! This kind of entanglement tactic, cost Byzantine over half of their men!

The third legion was completely crippled after this battle! They were unable to create a formation and display the combat strength of a legion for all the following battles, and could only wait for their reconstruction again after the war.

Butler was bleeding in his heart. As the commander of third legion, all these cavalrymen were personally recruited and trained by him. After losing more than 70% of their military strength, how could he not be overcome by grief?

It could said that if the Odin’s plan was to swallow the third legion, then their goal was mostly achieved. Out of the 2000 cavalrymen from the third legion, only less than 500 were able to make it out alive. They lost 70% of their forces, and those who managed to come out alive were all wounded. Only around 300 people were still capable of fighting.

In this war, although the third legion wasn’t annihilated, they were effectively crippled.

Butler’s face was now devoid of any trace of heroism. It was as if he aged 20 years while leaning against his horse’s back. Blood dribbled out of the corner of his mouth as he stubbornly clenched his teeth.

Kevin’s heart was also full of sorrow while looking at the remnant of this force……

(It was too bizarre. The Odins’ fighting style was completely different compared to the past. Previously, the Odins were the symbol of barbaric and courageous people. They excelled at frontal attacks in battle, and wouldn’t lure the enemy into traps nor besiege them while overwhelming them with reinforcements. Moreover, they certainly haven’t ever used such sly tactics as stubbornly entangling themselves with the enemy!)

Apart from that, the most important thing which didn’t give Kevin and Butler peace in their minds was that:

The army in front of them, although they were 20,000 men strong however, from the quality point of view they weren’t Odin’s elite troops and were just an ordinary second tier army. Regardless of battle efficiency or each individual fighting abilities they were far below the standard of Odin’s elite!

It wasn’t as if the 13th Cavalry Army never suffered heavy defeat in the hand of the Odins, but that was only to the Hasting’s elite army. However, this time, they unexpectedly suffered such a heavy blow from a single ordinary army of Odin Odin army……

Both of them had been in the army for a long time and were war veteran. They could approximately estimate that the losses of the Odins this time was about 3000 to 4000 men.

In proportion to their losses, it wasn’t too grim.

However, let’s not forget that they were one of Byzantine Empire’s most elite armies!! Furthermore, they were the most-powerful unit, the cavalry!!

“Fuck, the Odins actually learned how to use the terrain and even strategies ……Was the general of the opposite force Hasting?” Kevin fiercely spat a mouthful blood on the ground.

“It’s not.” Butler’s face was full of grief, “It’s not like we never saw Hasting’s black flag Army. If they changed the commanding generals, then with Hasting’s prestige in Odin Empire, it should be absolutely impossible for him to be downgraded enough to command a regular army. The only explanation is, another powerful military general appeared in Odin!”

Pausing for a moment, although this veteran was beaten half dead, he still clenched his teeth to issue an order.

Since those Odin didn’t continue their pursuit, then they had not need to immediately retreat. They fortified themselves in this position while sending out a messenger and waiting for the main force to catch up before joining them.

“Wait until the general arrives with our men. We’ll hit them with everything we got!”

※※※

Shaar didn’t dare to walk on the main road, and seemed to have returned to his days of hunting and surviving in the wild of the mountain’s forest. Cautiously sneaking around on the complex hillside, he deliberately made big circles, careful to not leave any tracks. He made a roundabout for more than ten miles, and quietly closed in the prior predetermined location.

Around noon, Shaar finally arrived at this valley and because he skilfully avoided the main road he didn’t encounter Kevin’s force which was fortified south of the valley, waiting for reinforcements. He closed in from the right side and quickly approached the right side of the mountain slope.

When he approached the forest, Shaar heard faint voices behind him. From his experience, the dull, messy hoof beats the resounded clearly did not belong the Byzantines. Like a monkey, he immediately fled up into a tree before seeing a squad caribou riders slowly passing.

After seeing the opposite party’s number, Shaar didn’t dare to breathe, with the fear of revealing his location.
Afterwards, he curled up on the trunk and quietly shrunk his body. Hearing a loud voice coming from the forest, he saw one squad after another of Odin’s army emerging from the forest and lining up just outside of the woods…..

(Shit!)

Shaar, who was still hiding in the trees, suddenly had his retreat cut off.





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