Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 495: Assistance from Daeus
In the mountains and plains at the border of Barclay and Saint Valen, a team of elite knights in armor were galloping on their horses. When they passed a winding stream, they all reined in their horses and dismounted for a short rest.

The leading knight wore bright armor and a crimson cloak hung on his back, with a blue thorn bird holding a cassia branch in its mouth embroidered in the center - this was the family crest of the Duke of Carlo and the emblem of the Barclay royal family.

"Baron Dela, if we pass through this forest, we can get ahead of those Saint Valen soldiers. What should we do next?"

Baron Dela narrowed his eyes and said cautiously, "Those Saint Valenians possess powerful magical weapons that can penetrate even heavy steel armor. Ordinary knights can't resist them at all..."

This is why Duke Carlo approached them immediately after fleeing to the vassal territory. Baron Della was a bloodline knight trained by the Kofman family. Many years ago, due to differences in his religious beliefs, he parted ways with the royal family that tended to favor spellcasters and turned to the Border Grand Duke, who also leaned towards the church.

The combat capabilities of the Bloodline Knights are simply incomparable to those of ordinary cavalry. Although they are still wary of the power of the opponent's weapons, as long as they do not rush into a head-on confrontation, adopting roundabout tactics can still have certain results.

Duke Carlo had the same plan as him - these Saint Valen people were carrying a large amount of baggage and supplies, and they also needed to escort a large number of slaves captured from the mines. The speed of the entire team was greatly slowed down. In addition, the road back to Saint Valen was full of wilderness and dense forests. There were not even towns or farms along the way where they could replenish supplies and rest. Once they lost their way or ran out of supplies, they would immediately fall into chaos.

Baron Dela's mission was to lead fifty bloodline knights in repeated harassment, making the enemy's already slow marching speed even more difficult, starting with the slaves who were already like frightened birds, causing them to riot and flee out of fear, and directly disperse the troops of the Saint Valen soldiers... The cavalry regiment could take advantage of the chaos and tear off a piece of flesh from these Saint Valen people.

Of course, Baron Dela's team was not fighting alone. On their flank was another equally stealthy and agile knight squad led by Sir Derek, the nephew of Duke Carlo. The two cavalry units took turns cooperating to carry out successive harassments on the soldiers of Saint Valen.

In the words of Duke Carlo - since these Saint Valenciennes had caused him great losses by their surprise attack, they would naturally seek revenge in the same way.

……

The knights had finished their rest and were about to get back on their horses to continue their journey when they suddenly heard a commotion in the dense forest ahead.

It seemed like some small wild animal was frightened and running away.

A Bloodline Knight decisively drew the bow from the saddle and shot an arrow into the forest, but the strange thing was... there was no sound of the prey being hit. The arrow seemed to be shot into the void and was silently swallowed by the dense bushes.

This is obviously abnormal. The archery knight has awakened an extremely rare talent - called "sound tracking". As long as he can sense the sound made by the target within a certain distance, he can accurately hit the target with a bow and arrow.

"Everyone get on your horses and stay alert!" Baron Della raised his hand and drew his sword. The energy in his blood surged along his arm and gathered directly onto the tightly grasped sword. A hint of silver light appeared on the blade... That was his blood talent, "sharpness".

At this moment, the cavalryman in charge of scouting suddenly shouted, "Oh no! There's a magical reaction in the forest! It's a spellcaster!"

Before he could finish his words, dozens of fist-sized rocks suddenly shot out from the bushes. The knights standing nearby had not yet reacted and subconsciously raised their swords to chop at the flying rocks. The result was naturally that the terrifying impact force of the rocks shattered their swords and they were thrown off their horses.

Baron de la was furious. He pulled the reins of the frightened horse and shouted, "Get out! Damn wizard!"

What responded to him was a larger rock slab, which flew out from the dense forest and hit the baron fiercely... Baron Della didn't dare to swing his sword to block it. He could only jump off the horse in a panic and roll to the side. His beloved warhorse had no time to dodge and was heavily knocked to the ground. A large area of the horse's chest and abdomen armor was directly dented, and blood flowed out from the gaps in the armor. The horse died immediately after only two mournful cries.

More rocks and slabs flew out, and in an instant, two more knights, unable to dodge, were struck. Their armor shattered, and they fell from their horses in a bloody mess. The Bloodline Knights' powerful innate abilities prevented them from dying instantly, but they could only writhe and groan in pain. Amidst the chaos, Baron Dela suddenly noticed something amiss—these spellcasters, lurking in the shadows, seemed to be hurling rocks at them from only one angle and area, neither appearing nor relocating. This seemed utterly illogical.

An idea suddenly flashed through his mind, and he immediately raised his sword and shouted, "It's a mass spell! These damn wizards, they can't interrupt the spell while forming a formation, and they can't free their hands to defend! Avoid the flying rocks and rush into the dense forest. In close combat, they will definitely be defeated!"

The knights' morale was boosted upon hearing this. They used their agile bodies to dodge flying stones, or controlled their horses with skillful techniques and quickly approached the woods ahead with the cover of their warhorses.

Baron Della fell behind slightly, slashing the dense bushes with his sword, and his vision suddenly opened up... More than ten meters away, a group of black-clothed soldiers were blocking a group of brown-robed wizards, with several strangely shaped alchemical devices similar to dragon flame jets set up in front of them.

A muscular officer who clearly didn't look like a human suddenly broke into a sinister smile, raised his hand, and shouted, "Fire!"

A torrential downpour of gunfire immediately echoed through the woods.

The knights who rushed into the woods were hit by dense rain of bullets one after another. Their bodies immediately exploded into blood mist and they fell down in groups like wheat being cut... When the smoke in the forest cleared, only bloody and broken corpses were left on the ground.

Baron Dela was lucky enough not to be hit directly by the rain of bullets... His two personal guards suddenly threw him down and pinned him under them at the critical moment, but his left leg was pierced by armor fragments flying from nowhere, and his entire knee was cut off in half.

He struggled to push away the broken corpse that was pressing on him, and struggled to stand up with the help of his sword. He stared at the beast-faced officer with bloodshot eyes. He clearly felt the same blood power surging in the other's body - the other was also a blood knight.

The baron opened his mouth and said in a hoarse voice, "How did you find our trace?"

The beast-faced officer grinned and pointed to the sky. Baron Dela shook his head fiercely and said, "Impossible! Your flying vehicle has never appeared!"

The officer curled his lips and said disdainfully, "Do you know what optical camouflage is? It can easily fool your eyes."

Baron Dela was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly and said, "Can I ask you to do it yourself? I don't want to die at the hands of an ordinary mortal..."

Vaughn nodded, signaling the soldiers to put down their guns aimed at the enemy. However, the Baron seized the opportunity, pulled out an alchemical firework from his arms, and threw it into the sky... The firework whooshed out and exploded in a dazzling red light in the sky.

"You're on the verge of death, yet you're still trying to send a signal for help?" Vaughn was puzzled. "We can continue to hold our ground here. Your signal will only lure reinforcements into a trap."

Baron Dela shook his head and said, "No, I'm signaling them to retreat immediately. To ambush our team, you must have transferred all the spellcasters and bloodline knights from the main force, right? My flanking cavalry will immediately attack your transport team upon receiving the signal. I hope that by the time you return, all the mine slaves have not escaped."

Vaughan tilted his head, and the soldier who received the instruction suddenly threw a bloody head in front of Count de La.

"Is this guy called Sir Derek your flank cavalry?"

(End of this chapter)