Do you have a problem with necromancers?

Chapter 105: Fighting for the Miraculous Marquis Fahel
There were 108 Eagle Knights who broke out with Knight Max.

More than a hundred heavily armored knights with mounts could easily deal with several times more unarmored savages. A single charge would shatter the enemy's morale, and the rest would simply be a matter of chasing down the fleeing soldiers.

However, if the enemy's numbers are ten or even a hundred times greater than one's own, the situation may be completely reversed.

Maiser handed over command to Raine, and the group quickly changed direction and headed southwest.

Raine's expression remained calm, but a map of the surrounding area quickly appeared in his mind.

For players active in River Bend Province, the Serpent Mountain Range is a map teeming with high-level dungeons, a familiar place that veteran players feel like they're coming home to.

To reach the upper Serpent Mountains, one must pass through the Eagle Fortress of the Fahel family. To be precise, it is the Eagle Plains under the jurisdiction of the Eagle Fortress, which is blocked by the Raging Tide River to the north, the coastal lowland corridor leading to Sea Rock City to the east, and two entrances to the mountains to the south and southwest, respectively built with the "Great Eagle Fortress" and the "Small Eagle Fortress" to guard these two strategic passes.

“We’ll bypass Eagle Keep,” Raine succinctly ordered. “Our targets are Great Eagle Keep and Little Eagle Keep.”

"My lord," Maiser asked in a low voice, "you intend to sever the connection between the savages occupying Eagle Keep and the main force behind them by retaking Eagle Keep, right?"

"Dolowell has already drained the Eagle Hold's reserves in preparation for the rebellion," Raine said in a deep voice. "Now that these savages have occupied Eagle Hold, their food supply cannot rely on local plunder, so they will inevitably have to rely on supplies from the rear. In addition, the more prosperous and fertile lands are just north of the Raging Tide River, and their primary task is to find a way to build boats to cross the river, so they need to transfer craftsmen from the mountains."

"As long as the entrance to the Serpent Mountain Range is cut off, the savages who occupy Eagle Fortress will be isolated and helpless."

“My lord, your wisdom is beyond compare,” Maiser instinctively flattered, then continued, “but our forces are insufficient, only about a hundred men, while Great Eagle Fortress and Little Eagle Fortress can garrison at least five hundred savage warriors…”

“Is five hundred people a lot?” Renn countered. “If it were fifty thousand, perhaps it would make me frown.”

“My lord,” Maiser gave a helpless, bitter smile, “I’ll just be frank. If these five hundred savage warriors were on the front lines, we would charge in without hesitation. But now they occupy the castle and have the advantage of terrain. If they throw stones or pour oil on us while we are attacking the gates… no matter how brave and fearless our knights are, we can’t withstand it.”

To put it bluntly, sieges are paid for with lives. Whether it's a Nightblade or a Knight, everyone is equal under the fall of fire and rocks.

“You don’t need to worry about that,” Renn said indifferently. “Formulating strategies is the general’s responsibility; your task as a knight is to charge forward for me.”

"……Yes."

Mather retreated helplessly, and was quickly approached from both sides by the Eagle Knights as they marched, whispering under the cover of the sound of their horses' hooves:

"What did the Marquis say?"

"Are we really going south? Not to Haiyan City in the southeast?"

"I heard that the savages attacking Eagle Fortress are just the vanguard of the savage army. It's not that the brothers are afraid of dying, but at least they should die meaningfully."

The knights were incredibly anxious, and their clamor grew louder. Mather quickly gestured for them to be quiet, then glanced at Renn and the heroes running ahead, and said:
"Everyone, please listen to me."

“I have not been your leader for long, but since you have placed your trust in me, I will certainly take responsibility for your lives.”

"You've all been stationed at Eagle's Fortress for a long time, so you don't know this Marquis, but I am different. I was once ordered by the old Marquis to escort you to the capital—yes, that treacherous place where nobles roam the streets in groups, and you can be plotted against even when you're having a meal. I witnessed firsthand how you effortlessly maneuvered between the royal family and the nobility, not only becoming the commander of the capital's garrison but also gaining the favor of Her Majesty the Empress..."

“But that’s just political maneuvering,” an impatient knight interrupted him. “On the real battlefield, political maneuvering may not be able to defeat swords and spears.”

“No.” Maiser gestured for the others to let him continue. “I admire your wisdom immensely. He is not the arrogant and incompetent nobleman you’d expect. Although, to be frank, most Faher people are the kind who think they’re very capable but are actually quite useless…”

The knights burst into laughter. Occasionally making harmless jokes about the nobles he served was a common way for Mather to mingle with them.

“However, I must emphasize this again.” Maiser quickly straightened his face, “Lord Renn Fahel is different from the mediocre Fahel people you have dealt with before. He has never experienced any defeat and always manages to turn danger into safety. Although I don’t know exactly how he does it… I have never doubted that following him can lead to victory.”

The knights fell silent.

As Maither said, the Eagle Knights had been stationed at Eagle Keep for a long time and did not know what kind of person Renn was. Therefore, they could only judge him based on their general impression of the Faher people. Following him south would definitely be a disaster. There was no sign of survival. The only option was to immediately abandon their knightly oath and turn around and flee to the Fertile Lands or even the Riverlands to become wandering knights.

But Maisser vouched for Ryan.

The Eagle Knights respected Mather greatly. Firstly, because of Dolores's rebellion, everyone feared the Fahre family would retaliate, and Mather had saved them, making everyone indebted to him. Secondly, Mather was extremely composed and approachable, easily blending in with everyone.

Legally, knights should obey their lord's summons and orders; emotionally, everyone was willing to believe that Mather's judgment was sound.

The knights then ceased their objections and gradually revealed expressions of bravery and fearlessness.

Since that's the case, let's follow this Marquis and give it our all!
Even if he ultimately dies in battle, at least he will have fulfilled the knightly oath he made and will not allow the honor he values ​​to be tarnished!
With these thoughts in mind, emotions gradually overwhelmed reason, and the knights finally gave up thinking and began to act impulsively.

We offer our hearts to His Excellency the Marquis!
A cavalry force of over a hundred men was not an insignificant unit on Eagle's Fortress Plains. A single scout riding a horse from a distance would immediately reveal the whereabouts of Renn and his men.

However, most savages don't ride horses. In places like the Snake and Insect Mountains, firstly, there aren't many horses, and secondly, most savages don't ride horses. Those who can ride are usually chieftains, and these savages would never go out as scouts.

Therefore, the savage scouts would mostly choose nearby hills and high ground, then climb trees to use their height advantage to scout the surroundings. The advantage was that they didn't need to patrol on horseback, yet they could still see all the activity in the vicinity.

The downside is that the Fahrenheit knights are aware of this, so they send people along the way to scout the highland forests, find the savage scouts hiding there, and then drive them out like wolves herding goats, hunting them down and killing them one by one on the plains.

Ryan felt this was a waste of time, as he had more effective "combination punches" in his hand.

Berthalia spurred her horse forward and set fire to the forest upwind with her Burning Cloud spell. Soon, the thick smoke would force out the savage scouts hiding there (otherwise they would be choked to death), and then Aurora's rapid-fire arrows would pierce their throats with the precision of a digital lathe drilling holes in a mold.

The Eagle Knights watched with leisurely composure. At first, some people cheered and applauded, even though archery was considered a rather unorthodox skill by the knights, much like how science and humanities students viewed art and sports students. But this did not stop them from applauding the exquisite archery skills.

But as I looked at it, I gradually started to feel that something was wrong.

Aurora's archery skills were so accurate that she could almost ignore any armor and precisely strike the throats of the savage scouts.

If leather armor cannot withstand this archery, then most steel armor will not be able to either, because apart from a few very inflexible full-plate armors, the throat area is not well protected in order to allow the knight's head to move freely. The Wood Elves' terrifying archery skills are enough to easily kill any fully armed knight, making their years of hard-earned fighting skills and ancestral armor and weapons a laughing stock.

A subtle feeling of humiliation, a sense of disgrace to one's profession, welled up inside. But it wasn't long before reason prevailed over it.

In any case, given the current situation where the enemy outnumbers us, having a companion with exceptional archery skills is ultimately a good thing. So the knights quickly came to terms with it and began to feel relieved, even smug.

The group made a large detour around Eagle's Keep from the side, and then headed south from the west, successfully reaching the territory of Little Eagle's Keep.

Little Eagle Fortress guards the western entrance to the Serpent Mountain Range. The path into the mountains from here is quite winding and difficult, so over the years, the savages have preferred to invade from Great Eagle Fortress on the east side. As a result, the defenses of Little Eagle Fortress seem crudely made and perfunctory.

The sun had set, and the sky was growing dark, but the city walls were gradually illuminated. The savages were accustomed to using fire to frighten away wild animals in the surrounding jungle, so even after conquering the castle in the Reach, each man on night patrol carried a torch, which he held high.

However, for those fire-resistant attackers, the torches served no purpose other than revealing the guards' positions.

Fatin tiptoed up the city wall, as nimble as a monkey climbing in the jungle. The gaps between the bricks were shallow, but she always found a foothold to use, and soon reached the top of the wall.

The savage guards, carrying torches, were just leaving the place where she had set up.

Ellina and the others hid below the city wall, watching Fatin approach the savage guards from behind like the wind, unleashing a silent slaughter in the darkness, while the torches on the city wall quickly went out one by one... She couldn't help but feel a mix of emotions.

The ancient elven empire, whose magic knights flourished under Elrina, was ultimately destroyed by the Nightblade assassins of the slave legion. They exploited the constant uprisings across the land, forcing the magic knights to scatter and fight fires, then assassinating them one by one.

Of course, strictly speaking, Ellina was already nearly twenty years past the time when Fatin and the slave legions were truly active. The overall quality of the Magic Knights had indeed declined significantly, but that didn't stop Ellina from feeling displeased at the sight.

Fatin easily eliminated the savage guards, then quietly descended the city wall and lowered the city gate.

Fully armed Eagle Knights swiftly stormed the castle and began a brutal and cold-blooded massacre of the sleeping savages.

The recapture of Little Eagle Castle was so effortless that it left everyone somewhat incredulous. Especially after the knights reflected on it, they realized that if the defenders on the walls had been their own militia, they would have been utterly helpless against a top-tier assassin like Fatin, capable of night raids, wall-climbing, and backstabbing. What the hell! Where did the Marquis find so many extraordinary individuals under his command?

Of course, since they were on the same side, the knights could only suppress their surprise and fear and report their results to Rein.

The lord of Little Eagle Castle was Knight Sisel, whose head, severed by the enemy, was found by the knights in his study at the top of the castle. His hair had been shaved off in a humiliating manner, and the savages seemed to intend to use it as a chamber pot.

In addition, the remaining militia who were originally stationed in Little Eagle Fortress had long been slaughtered by the savages, and their corpses were piled up haphazardly in the castle's cellar.

Like most military fortresses scattered deep within the Serpent Mountains, Little Eagle Fortress had little farmland around it, relying entirely on Eagle Fortress for supplies. Before being killed by the enemy, Knight Cisel ordered the burning of the fortress's granaries, the charred remains of which can still be seen today.

In order to supply food to the savages at Eagle Fortress on the front lines, many supplies transported from the mountains were placed in the courtyard of Little Eagle Fortress, mostly dried fish, dried venison, dried wild fruits and the like.

Bersalia checked it over, then turned and said:

"There are no signs of poisoning, so this food is probably not a trap."

Ellina casually picked up a piece of dried venison and put it in her mouth to try chewing.

It was cold and salty, and so hard it almost broke my teeth.

"You need to soak it in water first," Aurora reminded her from beside her. "You can only eat it after it's softened. Remember to wash off the salt."

"Do wild elves eat this kind of thing?" Elrina sighed.

After the fall of the ancestral Elf Empire, a large number of elven refugees fled from the mainland to the Gem Islands. Many elves, unable to secure a ship ticket and fearing pursuit by the slave legions, had no choice but to flee into the Serpent Mountain Range, thus becoming the so-called "wild elves".

It is said that deep within the Serpent Mountain Range, the tribes of wild elves and savages are indistinguishable. Primitive, ignorant, and barbaric are the main themes of these tribes. The harsh living environment makes it difficult to pass on most profound cultural knowledge, and only hunters and warriors who can obtain food from the deep mountains can survive.

“Actually, these are high-quality foods reserved for warriors by the savages,” Maiser answered her question. “As far as I know, insects and tree bark are the most common foods in the diet of most savages.”

Ellina didn't speak; she just looked at the corpses that the knights had cleared to the side. Some had round ears, and some had pointed ears.

The unimaginable fusion of races, which has been achieved in the Serpent Mountains, seems utterly absurd.

"What are we going to do next?" To distract herself from the negative thoughts, Ellina asked Renn, "You don't expect us to be able to defend this castle with just this few people, do you?"

"The reason we captured Little Eagle Fortress, and then we need to capture Great Eagle Fortress, is to cut off the savage army stationed there from their rear," Renn said slowly. "Is there anything you don't understand?"

“I know,” Ellina said, “but what do we do after we take it? If we don’t defend it, the savages will come and take it back, and all our efforts will be wasted; if we do defend it, how many knights do you plan to leave here? We already don’t have enough manpower.”

“How could we not have enough manpower?” Renn retorted.

“Given the size of this castle, it would take at least sixty or seventy people to defend it,” Ellina said. “There are no civilians nearby that you can mobilize or conscript.”

Raine didn't answer, but simply pointed to the corpse in the courtyard.

Ellina was speechless: Tsk, I forgot this guy is a necromancer.

She suddenly felt a little confused. She seemed to be forgetting more and more often that "Raine is a necromancer." Could it be that he did something to her soul through the caged bird?

After thoroughly cleaning up Little Eagle Castle, Raine ordered the knights to withdraw from the castle. He then used necromancy to resurrect the savages and wild elves who had been killed as undead creatures.

These undead creatures had dull eyes and chaotic expressions, with only instinctive aggressive instincts remaining in their bodies. They were completely different from high-level creatures like Ellina who could think and perceive.

Any knight in full armor, if prepared, could take down all these ghouls without taking any damage.

Of course, wild men generally don't wear armor, and many are naturally superstitious, so it's hard to say how much fighting power they can exert after seeing these walking corpses.

Ellina watched as Renn calmly cast his spell, then suddenly asked:
"Since you've already used necromancy, why bother guarding these two castles? Why not just create an undead plague, unleash a necromancy calamity, and let the ghouls kill all the savages of the Serpent Mountain Range?"

“I can’t,” Renn replied.

"You don't know?" Ellina smiled. "Is there anything in necromancy that you don't know?"

"I've never even bothered to study that garbage, the undead plague," Renn said casually. "There are countless ways to kill, the difficulty lies in how to kill more precisely and efficiently. The undead plague is an extraordinary toxin that is beyond the control of the wizard and spreads on its own. Even an amateur necromancer apprentice can spread it, but cleaning up the mess it creates afterwards becomes extremely troublesome. I have no intention of studying such a technologically simplistic thing."

“I don’t understand necromancy.” Ellina paused for a moment, then said softly, “But I agree with your views on the undead scourge. What you just said is not wrong. There are countless convenient and quick ways to kill a person, but raising a person from infancy to adulthood is extremely troublesome. We should not create those pointless killings. They have no meaning other than making this already rotten world even worse.”

“You certainly have the right to say that,” Raine said casually as he directed the ghouls into the castle. “After all, you killed more people in your lifetime than I have desecrated, haven’t you? A foreign executioner from a thousand years ago?”

“You guessed right,” Ellina said with a faint smile, “a necromancer from a thousand years in the future.”

The silver-haired, golden-eyed, and gracefully beautiful elven princess rarely showed such a pure and genuine smile, which momentarily stunned and even bewildered Renn with her unparalleled beauty.

But he quickly regained his senses and asked:

"Why are you trying to please me?"

“No,” Ellina denied, “I was just expressing my own opinion.”

“I’m actually not interested in your opinion,” Renn said coldly.

“But I’m very interested in telling you my perspective.” Ellina shrugged. “If you want to continue using my power in the future, you should at least listen to my thoughts.”

"Sigh, you brought this on yourselves. Why should I bother preserving your will?" Renn turned around, waved his hand, and said, "I'm leaving."

Ellina realized that he had not refused, and felt an indescribable joy.

----------------

After leaving Little Eagle Fortress, the group rode eastward along the foothills under cover of night and soon arrived at Great Eagle Fortress.

Great Eagle Fortress was far larger than Little Eagle Fortress, with many savage soldiers patrolling the walls, and a moat dug around it to prevent attackers from easily approaching the walls.

What's more troublesome is that it's already close to dawn, and the sky is gradually brightening.

Without the cover of night, Fatin's assassination would undoubtedly become more difficult.

Raine did not intend to let her try again. Considering that the knights had not slept all night and were in poor condition, he decided to finish the battle quickly.

Aurora drew her bow and shot two arrows, easily severing the ropes and causing the drawbridge over the moat to collapse.

Dia also fiercely activated the true dragon blood within her body, transforming into a giant dragon in the astonished gazes of the knights. Under the command of Rein's calming spell, she pointed the dragon's head at the gate of Great Eagle Castle.

Breath!

The surging dragon flames instantly crossed the moat, washing away, burning, and exploding the closed city gates!
The stunned Eagle Knights almost forgot to charge for a moment, until Mather shouted and drew his weapon, which brought them back to their senses, and they charged toward the castle with high morale.

Although I don't know exactly what happened, but...

...Fight for the magical Marquis Fahel!

(End of this chapter)