Knight Lords: Infinite Simulation and the Path of Light

Chapter 2 Demonic Dragon
The horses' hooves creaked and groaned as they trod on the grass and trees.

The knights stayed in a ravine surrounded by weathered rocks, the jagged rocks casting distorted shadows in the moonlight.

They remained silent, their muscles tense.

One thousand meters.

In another kilometer, they would reach the camp where the Church of Death was stationed.

The undead army, which did not need to hibernate, stood in a dense square formation, waiting in place.

They are waiting for dawn.

The magic of the Church of Death does not make the transformed undead afraid of sunlight.

On the contrary, they have almost no simple weaknesses except that their wounds cannot heal themselves.

The dead do not need rest, but the monks of death do.

The monks of the Church of Death are conserving their strength, waiting to launch a new offensive against Hailan Territory at dawn.

Even though there was still some distance, everyone was nervously holding their breath.

The night enveloped the entire wasteland like thick asphalt.

Haven tightened the reins, and the horse's hooves silently sank into the waist-high dry grass.

"stop."

He ordered the knights to stop there.

The night wind whistled softly through the grass, masking the faint clanging of armor against armor.

The withered thistles trembled in the gaps of the knight's shoulder armor, brushing against everyone's nerves.

The reason for stopping here is not to regroup the team.

They had just rested once, so they shouldn't be exhausted so quickly.

Knight Commander Taren looked at Havent with a puzzled expression.

"What has happened, my lord?"

"The dragon has disappeared."

Haven pointed in the direction of the Church of Death camp.

The knight commander was startled.

Indeed, they are now quite close to the enemy.

They were so close that they could see the crimson liquid flowing from the undead army with their naked eyes.

Following the direction Haven pointed, Knight Commander Taren quickly understood Haven's meaning:
The dragon has truly disappeared.

Logically, that terrifying dragon should have stayed in the camp like the undead, listlessly waiting for the death monk's orders.

But looking through the cracks in the rocks, there was no sign of the enormous figure one had imagined in the camp.

Where did the dragon go?

The knights, armed with various weapons, looked around but found nothing.

"Did it run away?"

"I asked, Sir Taren."

Haven shook his head.

This is obviously unlikely.

The Church of Death has very precise control over the transformed undead creatures, and the means of control they used on that demonic dragon were obviously no less numerous.

Just as he was pondering, a sonic boom that ripped through the night sky suddenly exploded above the knight's head.

"Array up!"

Knight Commander Taren was the first to react and shouted.

The massive body tore a rift through the dark clouds, and the dragon, with its wings spread wide, swooped down towards the group.

It remained high in the sky near the camp!

Haven suddenly realized something—

The dead do not need rest.

The dark clouds that filled the sky were a natural barrier for the dragon to conceal itself.

The reason those monks dared to station themselves here without setting up guard posts was not because they actually had no guard posts.

In fact, the undead dragon that has been hovering in the clouds is always fulfilling its duty as the best sentry!

The knights instinctively pulled on the reins to move closer to their lord.

They surrounded Haven, encircling him in the center. His Balzac horse thrashed about uncontrollably, trembling violently.

Even the dead dragon still possessed a terrifying dragon's might, and the horse's resolute character wavered slightly at this moment.

The dragon's rotting wing membranes, carrying a sulfurous aura, swept across the ravine.

Its massive wings swept across the cliffs on either side, sending up bursts of intense sparks.

The arm armor of a young knight standing in front was torn open by flying shards of stone, and the smell of blood instantly filled the battlefield.

"Elemental Resonance!"

Haven immediately pulled out the gemstone necklace and poured his mental energy into it.

"I need twenty seconds!"

The secret treasure, originally intended to be activated before the battle, was forced to be activated temporarily.

The activation of the treasure doesn't take long; twenty seconds is enough to unlock the mental imprint.

But the dragon could kill the knights in less than twenty seconds.

The undead dragon swooped down, and the shockwave from the impact instantly sent three or five knights who were relatively close away flying.

"Spread out!"

The experienced Knight Commander Taren quickly issued orders, and the troops were deployed in a dispersed formation.

This is the best solution to minimize knight casualties before the treasure is activated.

"Damn it, no wonder none of the mercenaries we sent out to scout have returned!"

Haven spat.

The gaps between the weathered rocks were rather narrow, which slowed down the dragon's adjustments.

"The resonance has begun!"

In the brief moment while the dragon adjusted its form, the family's secret treasure was finally activated successfully.

Haven activated the gem.

Several crimson streaks of light floated along the family crests on the knights' armor, and the extraordinary power that had temporarily advanced to the intermediate level coated the knights' retinas with a layer of pale golden radiance.

The dragon broke free from the constraints of the rocks on both sides and leaped back into the sky, then folded its wings.

Everyone knows what this means—

It's about to make a second dive!
Haven's left hand dug deep into the cracks in the rock wall, and a magic circle appeared.

The residual heat of the family's secret treasure, channeled through the earth's veins, transformed the entire weathered rock formation into a temporary magical barrier.

This is its last remaining value.

The magic could draw a pale red magical dome above the knights' heads.

A sharp sonic boom rang out again, and the dragon, having ascended to a sufficient height, finally began its second dive.

"Prepare the crossbows—" Knight Commander Taren roared.

The knights felt the surge of power that came with their advancement.

The knights, having regrouped, drew their bows and crossbows in unison, channeling their surging fighting spirit into their arrows.

The dragon swooped down and crashed into the barrier, the dark green pus flowing from between its scales exploding with a deafening roar—

It splashed in all directions like waves crashing against rocks.

More than a dozen arrows, infused with mid-level battle qi, lit up simultaneously, shining like morning stars piercing the night sky in the glow of the undead flames.

The dragon instantly retracted its outstretched wings, using its back to block the powerful arrows.

The barrier formed by the treasure shattered upon impact and clearly could not be reformed.

"Group one, continue loading; Group two, deploy the shields!"

With heavy shields held horizontally in front of them, the shield-bearing knights dismounted and protected their teammates who were reloading and charging their arrows behind them.

The battle aura was instantly unleashed, and several shields joined together to form a shield wall even stronger than the magic barrier from before.

The dragon swooped down for the third time and crashed into the shield wall.

For some reason, Haven always felt that the dragon's fighting style was a bit strange.

Its attacks are merely simple charges, lacking the arrogance characteristic of dragons.

The weathered rock formations crumbled under the impact, and Haven caught a glimpse of the eastern horizon out of the corner of his eye—

It was still dark there.

(End of this chapter)