Mount and Blade System: Start from Pioneer Lords.

Chapter 496 Unpredictable Events
In stark contrast to the bloody silence of Wirtz, the audience hall in the palace of Hadda, the capital of the Persian Gulf Empire, remained brightly lit.

Enormous obsidian pillars support a dome adorned with depictions of the achievements of past emperors. Gold and silver vessels gleam alluringly under the glow of magical lamps, and a strange, mixed fragrance permeates the air, a blend of the sweetness of fine incense and a faint hint of sulfur.

After concluding a court meeting, King Fern IX of the Persian Gulf dismissed everyone and went to his bedroom. A figure was already standing by the window, as dusk settled in.

Under the lamplight, the king, who was known as a tyrant, looked to be about forty or fifty years old. His handsome features from his youth were still faintly visible, but his deep-set eyes and excessively pale, even grayish-white skin made him appear sinister and cold.

He wore a deep purple velvet robe, embroidered with intricate imperial crests in gold thread.

The figure in front of the window turned around. At first glance, it looked no different from a human, but it had dark red skin and was two meters tall.

Its head was topped with giant, curved horns resembling those of a goat, gleaming with a metallic sheen. Its pair of emerald green eyes, burning with pure evil, only occasionally revealed cruelty and cunning.

No one would easily underestimate this demon lord, who commanded a three-headed hell dragon, four demon marshals, and countless demon subjects. Therefore, after the brief court meeting, His Majesty Fern set aside all other matters and made time to meet with this demon lord.

“Wilts has been taken down by them.” His Majesty Fern’s voice was hoarse. “Much faster than expected. Saffron, your men do not seem to have dealt these Western barbarians the heavy blow you promised.”

The Flame Lord Saffron let out a low, churning laugh, like molten lava, without directly answering the king's question.

“Fallen? No, Your Majesty Fern, this is only part of the plan.” Saffron’s voice was like two rough rocks rubbing together, carrying a scorching heat: “The gain or loss of a city is meaningless to the Great Abyss. What matters is enough death, enough souls, and enough despair.”

Its green eyes glanced at Fern IX, a barely perceptible hint of contempt and mockery in their depths: "In this war, whether civilians or soldiers, their souls are the finest food, their flesh and blood are excellent materials, and their deaths are not meaningless."

His Majesty Fern's expression remained unchanged.

He knew better than anyone that cooperating with the devil was like walking a tightrope over an abyss.

But for him, what does it matter if he cooperates with the dead as long as he can achieve his goal?
"Part of the plan?" Fern IX repeated. "Your plan is to turn the southern part of my empire into scorched earth and make my people your food? Now that that damned dragon knight Debe and Bernard's allied forces have cleared out Wirtz, their next step will inevitably be to head north, straight for the capital."

"Let them come!" Saffron waved his hand dismissively, as if shooing away flies. "Wilts's slaughter was just an appetizer. Those undead were interesting, but nothing more. You have yet to witness the true power of the Abyss, my dear human king."

“I see arrogance and hubris in you,” Fern said.

“Your Majesty Fern, your praise makes my men, who only know how to kneel and kowtow, pale in comparison.” Saffron showed no anger, but instead smiled.

“That dragon knight is not so easy to deal with!” Fern frowned slightly and emphasized.

"I have some knowledge of the history of humanity in the material world, and I understand very well what a dragon knight means to you. It means that he can easily sway the outcome of a war, rewrite the names of the victors, and they are present in every important war. For you humans, he is indeed the most powerful warrior in the world. Even we demons have suffered a lot at his hands. I have to admit that if it really came down to a fight to the death, I might not be his match." Saffron praised the dragon knight he had never met before, but then suddenly changed the subject: "But the so-called strongest is only because they haven't seen the wider sky yet. I can only say that the endless abyss contains power that you humans cannot even imagine."

Saffron's tone made Fern feel slightly displeased. It was easy to tell from its incredibly confident tone that this guy was elevating demons to a level that no other race could match.

"I don't care how many powerful beings you have in the Abyss, remember our agreement, Saffron." Fern IX's voice came calmly.

“Of course.” The demon lord seemed to be sneering. “The Abyss never forgets its promises. Be prepared, Your Majesty Fern. Soon, you will witness the true Abyssal Catastrophe.”

Saffron's figure gradually blurred, eventually disappearing silently from the bedroom, leaving only the nauseating smell of sulfur and the name of Fern IX.

Fern stood alone by the window, looking down at the bustling street outside, remaining silent for a long time until the horizon turned blood red, at which point he suddenly spoke.

"How's the Medusa group in Fallen Spring Forest going?"

"Your Majesty, Ifra's petrification is difficult to deal with, but it won't be long before it's over," a voice came from the darkness.

"Hurry up! Bring me what I need."

……

“Levi, based on the reconnaissance results of the past few days, only a small number of demons are roaming the northern provinces of the Persian Gulf Empire. It has not fallen completely as we had speculated.” Bernard came to Levi’s side with a military map, on which were densely covered with tiny characters written in oil paint.

After defeating Wirtz's demon, the expeditionary force set off northward once again.

The army of Debe, the mages and magic swordsmen of Tyrsey, the soldiers of the Holy Sith Kingdom, and the troops of High Cliff Fortress totaled about 100,000 men.

In reality, the entire expeditionary force of the Persian Gulf Empire, plus the support troops brought by the lord from various countries, numbered at least 500,000.

However, it was impossible for the important cities and castles in the southern provinces not to be garrisoned. With this layered distribution, Bernard only had about 300,000 troops at his disposal.

This time, they were the vanguard, clearing the way, so 100,000 men were more than enough.

"Have you found out why our scouts can't get back?" The lord took a bite out of the apple in his hand, then threw the core on the ground. A giant that was pulling a cart in High Cliff Fort immediately bent down, picked it up, and threw it into his mouth, covering his mouth and grinning foolishly as he ate it.

Bernard had previously sent out griffin scouts, none of whom returned, so he temporarily halted his reconnaissance of the northern provinces of the Persian Gulf Empire.

Now that their army has set off, with the addition of the Griffin Knights from High Cliff Fortress, the situation has changed dramatically. Not only have they gathered intelligence, but they have also retrieved information about the enemy that previously blocked their scouts.

"According to the scouts' intelligence, it should be a group of two-headed dragons wandering around Lion Mountain ahead. They discovered the remains of a griffin on this mountain."

"So you're saying that these little bastards ate all our scouts, right?"

The lord is conducting an experiment on a group of orcish barbarians who are all at the sixth rank. These three hundred elders who were the first to follow him have finally all advanced to the sixth rank and become berserkers after Wirtz killed countless demons, and fifty of them have met the requirements to upgrade to Dragon Vein Berserkers.

Therefore, he has been getting more than a dozen oak barrels filled with dragon's blood from Sersney over the past few days.

They poured the dragon blood into the wagon bed lined with a tarpaulin, and then had all the barbarians jump in for a bath.

Now these barbarians' bodies are as red as boiled shrimp, they're grimacing and their faces are full of pain.

However, the effect is obvious. The words "Dragon Vein Berserker" in the system panel are getting brighter and brighter, proving that bathing in dragon blood is indeed one of the conditions for advancing to become a Dragon Vein Berserker.

“Yes.” Bernard nodded slightly.

"Very good." Li Wei snapped his fingers, then suddenly turned to the griffin riders who were watching the barbarians' humiliation with glee and shouted, "All of you, get on your mounts! Our target is Lion Mountain, a hundred miles ahead. Bring back all the two-headed dragons there and make them into wine!"

They now hate those two-headed dragons from Lion Mountain. They've made it impossible for them to see the barbarians suffer a humiliation. These big guys usually rely on their strength and are quite domineering, so they rarely get the chance to be humiliated.

The fun was over. The griffin riders immediately grabbed their weapons, climbed onto the griffins with murderous intent, and, under Skye's command, took off together, flying into the distance.

“Li Wei, bathing in dragon blood does have a chance to give other creatures a trace of the dragon’s power, but throwing them in so crudely is a stupid method. The elemental power contained in the dragon blood will cause their bodies to explode.” Sersney stood to the side, arms crossed, and sneered, her tone very unpleasant.

After all, no one would be in a good mood if they saw their blood being used to bathe someone else, especially a bunch of smelly orcs.

"Just watch, every single one of these guys will definitely obtain the dragon vein." The black dragon queen naturally had no idea where the lord's confidence came from.

"By the way, you should rest well these days. Don't stay up all night with Heather and the others. Those girls have nothing better to do than drag you to play mahjong every day. It's really too much." Li Wei looked at Sesni with great concern and said caring words again and again: "I asked Swain to catch a few Monvi behemoths for you. These guys are all high-level magical beasts, and their bodies contain rich iron elements, which are very suitable for replenishing blood."

Logically speaking, the two of them always bicker when they meet, and in the end, the lord says that the other party is shameless, which makes Sersney so angry that she falls silent.

However, considering that the Black Dragon Queen has indeed made great contributions recently, and that the Lord is not a heartless capitalist, he will naturally take good care of her.

Women are indeed very weak and irritable during the days they bleed, and they need to be well cared for.

Sersne rolled her eyes without hesitation. She knew perfectly well why the other party's attitude towards her had changed so drastically, but for some reason, she didn't feel too bad about it.

So I didn't continue with my sharp tongue.

The two-headed dragon is a high-ranking demon from the abyss, with its two heads capable of splashing acid and breathing fire.

So it's not hard to understand why the scouts Bernard sent out in the past could be dealt with by them. After all, their strength was no weaker than the griffin riders under Bernard's command. Not to mention that scouts usually travel in small teams to hide their whereabouts, and their numbers are much smaller than these two-headed dragons.

But as the saying goes, comparisons are inevitable. Just as the orcish barbarians were still undergoing their baptism at lunchtime, the Griffin Knights of High Cliff Fortress returned in triumph, with not a single member missing except for a few drops of blood on their bodies.

"My lord, although these two-headed dragons are a bit larger than griffins, they are really too small, not even as big as my finger, so we didn't bring them back." Soon, Skye came to the lord to report.

"Damn, old Sikai, I'm rich, do I need this stuff?" The lord was speechless. He didn't expect that Sikai, an honest man, would actually believe him when he just said it casually.

"Ahem, but how small is it?" the lord then asked curiously.

Logically speaking, body size naturally determines these innate traits. For example, the giant roams around all day without feeling ashamed, but rather proud of it, which makes the already timid rabbit-woman maids cover their eyes and dare not look, for fear of being scared to death.

The lord could no longer tolerate this prevailing trend in High Cliff Fortress, so he made these giants wear pants and whip them if they didn't behave, which finally curbed this bad practice.

If it weren't for the fact that these giants are excellent at hard labor, and that they could reproduce more in the future to contribute to the construction of High Cliff Fortress.

The lord has long treated them like goblins.

However, these idiots have an IQ no different from that of a three-year-old child; they simply find it fun.

"It's not even as big as my little finger." For some reason, Sky felt a little proud, as if his virility had returned.

Li Wei gave a thumbs up, marveling at how extraordinary these creatures of the abyss truly were.

Just then, a commotion arose from the edge, accompanied by the sound of weapons being drawn and shouts from soldiers.

Levi and Bernard stood up at the same time and looked over.

A group of weary cavalrymen, their armor badly tattered, were being held back outside by the orc warriors of High Cliff Fortress. They waved white flags and raised their hands to indicate they meant no harm. The lead knight shouted in Common, his voice thick with northern accents: "We mean no harm! We've fled from the north! We want to see Lord Livy! We want to see the Dragon Knights!"

If these guys hadn't been waving a white flag, weren't numerous, and weren't armed, they probably would have been riddled with bullets from hundreds of paces away.

Li Wei raised an eyebrow and waved to Zart over there: "Let them come over."

The orc warriors made way, and the cavalry, a dozen or so men, staggered over. As soon as they reached the fire, they almost collapsed and dismounted.

Each of them wore an expression of extreme exhaustion and fear, their armor stained with dried blood, clearly indicating they had endured an unimaginable and brutal battle.

(End of this chapter)