Throne of the North.

Chapter 577 Knight's Blitz (Part 5)

Suddenly, a magnificent burst of holy light erupted from the center of the punitive army, and the beam of light that shot into the sky attracted the attention of countless people. Even the chaotic Holy Light Knights turned their heads to look at the Archbishop's carriage.

A blood eagle swooped down from the sky, grabbed Griff's shoulder as he was being thrown backward, and with considerable strength, carried Griff away from the army.

The knights were still in shock as people left, until several Holy Knights rushed to the carriage with drastically changed expressions, and then screamed in terror.

"Archbishop Elliott is dead!"

Inside the carriage, the archbishop, who had just left the holy mountain after gaining power, lay there with a horrified expression, his eyes wide with confusion and resentment.

He didn't understand why he was dying, why his many divine spells hadn't worked, or why that imperial rat could ignore the divine power of dawn on him.

He was unwilling to accept this fate. He had just obtained power from His Holiness the Pope, and in the future, he might even be able to compete with Archbishop Doyle for the position of cardinal. He possessed powerful divine magic and enormous ambition, yet he died so quietly...

"Kill him! Avenge the Archbishop!"

The surrounding Holy Knights were terrified. In the Dawn Faith system, the Archbishop was second only to the Pope and the Cardinals. Although the Elders had higher status, it was because of their seniority. Before becoming Elders who managed the wealth of the Papacy, they were just Bishops or Archbishops.

The death of an archbishop is a major event, especially since this archbishop died amidst a large army of soldiers.

The Holy Knight cannot bear this responsibility.

Thinking of the terrible consequences to come, the knights' eyes gradually turned bloodshot as they watched the Imperials flee at high speed.

"Kill him!"

In the distance, Ryan was astonished to see the Papal cavalry in disarray. He had been worried about not finding an opportunity to launch a sneak attack, as this land was too flat and it was too difficult to do so.

“What did Griff do? Those people are so angry.”

Ryan was curious, but now was not the time to find out. He sent a signal to Griff and then led two thousand Bucks soldiers to hide on the ground.

The remaining less than three thousand Flame Dragon Knights quickly retreated into the distance.

Ryan's extraordinary legion is not a pure cavalry legion like the Flame Dragon Knight Legion.

It is omnipotent. Under Ryan's various blessings, the Buck Legion has superb skills in mastering various weapons and tools, as well as combat power that surpasses the Flame Dragon Knight in individual combat. The large amount of spiritual energy that Ryan once consumed is now revealing its terrifying nature over time.

The apprentice knights under his command have far higher base attributes than other apprentice knights in the empire.

What is the most effective counter to cavalry? It's lances and heavy armor.

Fortunately, the Bucks Legion possessed both of these conditions. Every Bucks Legion cavalryman carried a lance, which had been used in previous wars to throw and break enemy lines, facilitating cavalry charges. The knights, blessed by the spirit of the horse, had mastered that technique perfectly.

As for the heavy armor, as mentioned before, the Bucks Legion's knights each possess various blessings bestowed by Ryan: the deer spirit grants them robust health, the horse spirit grants them superb skills, and the wolf spirit brings them agility...

The armor they wore was much tougher than one might imagine.

Of course, Ryan couldn't possibly let his two thousand servants directly withstand the charge of tens of thousands of enemies, even if they looked chaotic at the moment.

Flat land is not suitable for hiding cavalry, and it is not easy for people to hide either, but who says that hiding means hiding out of other people's sight?
Ryan personally led three thousand Flame Dragon Knights to expose themselves on the ground, allowing these Holy Light Knights of the Church to discover them.

"They're from the Empire!!!"

The Holy Light Knight at the forefront roared, quickly reined in his horse to adjust his speed, and stared in astonishment at the slow-moving cavalry in the distance. The imperial banners swayed brightly, sending chills down the spines of all the Holy Light Knights.

They never expected to encounter an Imperial cavalry legion while chasing the Imperial scout, and it seemed that the other side had discovered them earlier.

"We almost fell for their trap."

Some of the Holy Knights were still shaken, but the next moment they realized what was happening and looked at the Imperial cavalry that was rapidly fleeing.

Wait, is the other party on the run?
"They were too few in number, and the noble coalition inflicted heavy losses on them."

"They don't know we're here either."

The Holy Knights sneered, thinking the Imperials weren't all that great. But soon, some of the leading knights exchanged glances.

They realized something crucial: Archbishop Elliott was dead. If they could wipe out the Empire's cavalry at the exact moment of his death, then...

The responsibility doesn't seem as serious as they imagined, and they won't be condemned to the abyss.

Thinking of this, the Holy Knights' eyes became eager. Yes, they now needed to quickly launch an attack on the Imperial cavalry legion that had invaded the southern lands and achieve victory.

There are still people over there.

One of the Holy Knights said that they were very elite. When they saw the Imperial cavalry, they did not charge blindly but gathered their troops. They were able to spot even Griff before, let alone such a large target as two thousand people on the ground.

"The banner of Earl Edwin?"

Sky knights took to the air and then saw an army not far from them. The army seemed tense, as their warhorses huddled together on the ground, awaiting a possible attack.

The Sky Knight glanced at it and saw the emblem belonging to a certain nobleman.

"The Imperials are about to run far away."

“They didn’t know we were here. They ran away when they saw us. It seems they came here to deal with this noble army.”

It's not surprising to see armies from the south rushing to aid the north across this land.

"We saved their lives."

"That's not important, the Imperials are about to run away."

"Hurry up and chase!"

The Knights of Light disregarded the infantry, and the Archbishop's death made them desperately need this victory to cover up their responsibility.

Seeing the Papal cavalry legion quickly chasing after the Flame Dragon Knights, Brand breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, he couldn't imagine Lord Ryan's audacity. Fortunately, the noble banners they had captured earlier had really fooled them.

"How could they be so stupid as to believe we were Earl Edwin's army?"

"I'm so excited," Bogeld said, her eyes widening. She had almost thought she was about to engage in a bloody battle with tens of thousands of people.

"It's not that they're stupid, it's that they never suspected anything."

"Moreover, there should never have been a case of a noble being impersonated in this world before."

Egil licked his lips; this cunning tactic was too wolfish, and he felt excited.

"But what if they don't believe me?"

"Then we can kill them all too."

Brand answered the question by saying that compared to Bogeld's belligerent and reckless madness, his courage came from self-confidence.

With two thousand stag legion knights and squires facing tens of thousands of Holy Light knights of the Papacy, he felt he would not lose.

Lord Ryan dared to command in this way because he must have considered that even if things went badly, the Bucks wouldn't lose.

Each of them could fight against three or more knights of the same rank, even those Holy Light Knights blessed with the Dawn Divine Art.

This confidence became even more pronounced with the increasing blessings of the Eagle Spirit. Fortunately, things didn't escalate to that point, or rather, the Holy Knights never considered that there would be infantry among the Imperial army roaming the southern lands.

Of course, they were still waiting for the war to begin.

On the other side, Ryan glanced behind him, roughly estimated the number of pursuers, and confirmed that the cavalry had not split up.

He breathed a sigh of relief, mainly because he was worried about potential losses for the Bucks.

In the previous war, his five thousand cavalry had already lost several hundred men, and as his extraordinary legion, he certainly did not want the Buck Legion to suffer even greater losses.

What Ryan had to do was simple: lead the tens of thousands of people behind him in circles.

Cavalrymen can't just turn around whenever they want; turning is difficult, and going in circles is equally challenging, so the circle is quite large. Fortunately, the Blood Eagle in the sky had already provided Ryan with a suitable route.

So the Holy Knights were surprised to find that they had reappeared at the place where the two sides had first met.

"Oh no, they're going to the archbishop's!"

A Holy Knight shouted, and the others reacted quickly, their faces tense, while simultaneously casting divine spells to enhance the speed of their warhorses.

If Ryan had heard this, he would have said he had no such idea, but as the carriage came into view, Ryan realized something was wrong.

A large number of priests and missionaries gathered together, with hundreds of knights of light guarding the perimeter.

"Something seems to have happened?"

He had not yet made contact with Griff and was unaware of the archbishop's death. After considering whether this was an opportunity, he abandoned the idea of ​​directly charging and crushing them.

The established strategy cannot be easily changed, otherwise Brand and his team will become very passive.

Ryan continued to lead his pursuers in circles, and as time went on, the army of tens of thousands of Holy Knights behind him grew longer.

Tens of thousands of cavalrymen were not meant to advance in unison, and because they were running at full speed, some of them would naturally slow down.

These knights weren't copied and pasted; each one had their own differences, and the warhorses they rode were also different.

The Holy Light Knights in front couldn't care less about those behind them. They were furious at the Imperial cavalry's avoidance of battle and only wanted to catch up with them, leaving them behind so that the Holy Light Knights behind them, who had slowed down, could catch up.

So, at a point when both sides were feeling exhausted, and in a perfectly chosen location, the Holy Knight spotted Count Edwin's army not far ahead.

The imperial army in front did not approach, and because they were at the very front, they were still some distance from the 'Count's army,' but the tail behind them was gradually getting closer to the 'Count's army.'

Brand looked for an opportunity, and the two thousand knights and squires behind him began to breathe heavily. They were no strangers to the impact of a cavalry charge.

The leading knights charged forward from a distance of a hundred meters on the flank of the Buck Legion, while the tail behind them had to sway slightly to the side because of Ryan's encirclement. In addition, Brand and his men were also walking closer to the rapidly advancing cavalry with tense breathing.

When they reached the three or four thousand Holy Light Knights, they were already very close to the 'Count's Army'.

Their speed is no longer as fast as it was at the beginning.

"Get out of the way!!!"

The Holy Knights behind them were furious. These nobles' army was so blind; they didn't even run away when they saw them.

But they weren't surprised, because it was all too normal. In the wars they had experienced, there were armies that had become headless flies because of their fear of the Holy Knights of the Holy See. Those armies were like idiots who didn't even know how to run, and often, they would unconsciously run towards the sharp blades.

He had also heard that when the Imperial cavalry had recently launched a blitzkrieg against the noble coalition, many of those noble coalition soldiers had simply run right up to the Imperial warhorses and been killed by them.

Just like this 'Count's Army' right now, they shouldn't be called an army at all; they're just a bunch of incredibly stupid slaves.

The Holy Knight thought to himself that it was precisely because of the existence of these foolish noble armies that the Holy Knights shone as brightly as the Lord.

He couldn't help but look up and squint at the great sun. The Lord's glory seemed so close to him. Perhaps in the future he too could become a member of the eternal kingdom of heaven, a servant of the Lord's angels, fighting for Him...

The Holy Knight felt his body become much lighter. He could no longer feel the powerful muscles of his warhorse, and the reins in his hands seemed to have lost their weight and were floating in the air.

Floating in the air...

The Holy Knight suddenly awoke, finding himself suspended in mid-air, plummeting toward the ground at an incredible speed.

What happened? I fell off my horse? How could that be?

Everything happened so fast that the Holy Knight didn't even have time to react before Brand's longsword had already severed his head.

The head that fell to the ground had a dim gaze. In his dying moments, he suddenly realized that this 'Earl's Army' was far too well-equipped. Their armor was not half-armor, and their spears were not made of wood with worm-like shafts. They even wore knight's longswords at their waists...

Thousands of spears flew from the hands of the squires of the Stag Legion, knocking down a large number of Holy Light Knights. The shields and armor of the Stag Legion knights were more than capable of withstanding the impact of the horses that had lost their charge and the Holy Light Knights that crashed down upon them.

At the forefront, Brand, Bogerd, and others had already charged out. Ryan had left all these powerful followers behind for this very moment, and their performance on the battlefield... was simply too dazzling.

What cavalry units fear most when charging is when the cavalry at the front loses speed, while the cavalry behind cannot stop.

When the hundreds of Holy Knights in front suddenly fell to the ground, the cavalry behind them had no way to stop and could only watch helplessly as they got closer and closer to those terrifying enemies.

Until a deafening roar, they crashed into them with terrifying force, and then felt an even more horrifying force pierce through their bodies, even tearing their warhorses apart.

Extraordinary power, extraordinary knights are just that unreasonable. Even charging cavalry can only be torn to pieces along with their horses in front of Brand and his men.

As for the Holy Knights who could stand up to Brand and his ilk? Sorry, their strength doesn't allow them to be the 'tail' of the Holy Knight army.

Cavalry charging forward cannot make a 180-degree turn, let alone a 90-degree turn. So even if the Holy Knights in front noticed the sudden change behind them and wanted to turn around to help, they would already be hundreds of meters away.

Just then, Ryan had already turned his horse around ahead, looking at the pursuers behind him who had been forced to slow down.

The Flame Dragon Knights Legion is Earl Clayton's extraordinary legion, a knightly legion that has already stepped into the ranks of the Familiars. They are as useful as an arm, and they absolutely obey the commander's orders. So when Ryan ordered a charge against an enemy force twice his size, all that responded to him was the heavy breathing of his warhorses.

They were exhausted; Ryan had led everyone on a run that was too far and too wide. But the knights of the Papacy were in much the same boat.

"That damned Earl Edwin dared to betray the Holy See!"

Even now, these people still haven't reacted, angrily denouncing the nobles' betrayal, and then looking at the Flame Dragon Knight Legion with murderous intent in their eyes.

"kill!"

In an instant, the leading Holy Knights made their decision and launched their own charge. The distance of several hundred meters was covered in the blink of an eye, and tens of thousands of soldiers from both sides, who could be said to be the most elite soldiers of this era, clashed head-on.

The cavalry charged at top speed, then reduced their speed from 100 kilometers per hour to zero in less than two seconds.

In the instant that men and horses were thrown about, the knights who could control the charge had already stood on the ground and launched their knightly combat skills at the other side. As for the knights who could not control their horses and fell down, there was no way they could get up from under the dense iron hooves and longswords.

Cavalrymen are supposed to avoid head-on charges, but that's not the case in this extraordinary world. Terrifying power is enough to destroy mountains and rivers, and war without ordinary people causes even iron armor to shatter and fly.

"kill!"

Ryan roared and cleaved a Saint Knight shrouded in a barrier with a single sword strike. Three thousand against six thousand, knight against knight, he remembered only one thing.

Count Clayton said that all three thousand Flame Dragon Knights could be wiped out in battle!

(End of this chapter)