Strategy game? Then I'll have to control you properly.

After marching for several hours, Attila looked up at the sky, turned to Mista, who was riding beside him, and whispered, "Let's slow down and rest for a while. Haven't the advance scouts found anything yet?"

Mista replied, "Yes, there's no news yet. By the way, was it because there were too many of us traveling together that the Guardian Deity didn't teleport us this time?"

Attila glanced around: "I feel that the lord is not watching us all the time."

In fact, Lin Miao, who usually uses the mouse to control their movement, deliberately did not help this time. It was from this that Attila realized that the great guardian was not in front of the screen at the moment.

Upon hearing this, Mista's face instantly showed unease: "Then aren't we in danger...?"

Attila shook his head and, looking at the bewildered Mista, softly recounted the busyness of the guardian deity: "That great being who can wield multiple powers simultaneously and has repeatedly protected us must be incredibly busy on ordinary days. Moreover, He will surely lend a helping hand in crucial moments."

As they spoke, their group had already covered nearly half the distance.

Just then, something unexpected happened. More than a dozen members of the team, along with their horses, suddenly rose into the air.

The power of the guardian deity descended upon them once again.

Unbeknownst to them, this was merely a casual action by Lin Miaogang as he connected the laptop and tested the system's performance. Yet, the warriors, suspended in mid-air by an invisible force, couldn't help but cheer loudly, each one brimming with excitement.

Attila watched the grass and dirt rushing past his feet, a slight smile playing on his lips, and said, "In this way, not only will the travel time be greatly shortened, but the soldiers' and horses' stamina will also be fully preserved."

Lin Miao's teleportation can only take away a dozen or so people at a time, but by repeating it several times, the entire team can be delivered.

While this ability isn't perfect, its speed is astonishing.

More importantly, the horse's stamina and the soldiers' physical strength, which should have been exhausted during a long march, can be preserved intact.

As soon as Attila landed with his first group of men, the scouts who had been waiting there immediately stepped forward.

These scouts, who had reached the nearest safe point in an instant thanks to Lin Miao's mouse control, had already thoroughly monitored the village of the Theodore tribe ahead.

The scout bowed and saluted: "You've arrived."

Attila asked, "Where is the enemy located exactly?"

The scout immediately replied, "Their village is just over that low hill. It's a large tribe of several hundred people, a direct subordinate tribe of Theodore."

The scout continued his report: "Although they're busy right now, they haven't noticed our movements at all. Their attention is probably drawn to something else; we haven't even seen a single enemy scout who should be patrolling outside."

Attila listened to the scout's report, nodded knowingly, and said, "Of course they didn't expect this. After all, they only had their first encounter with us near their own territory, so they never imagined that we would be able to reach their lair in just two days."

The speed at which the mouse swooped across the sky was beyond the comprehension of these grassland warriors who galloped across the plains all day.

The enemy could not have anticipated this marching speed, which was completely beyond what was expected.

Attila looked up at his companions flying in from the sky and gave the battle order in a deep voice: "Prepare for action. Once everyone is here, launch an attack on these unsuspecting fellows."

Before the warriors, guided by an invisible hand, arrived on the battlefield one after another and completed their full assembly, the enemy on the other side of the mountain remained oblivious, holed up in their own tribe, completely unaware of the impending catastrophe.

The regrouping didn't take long. Soon, Lillie and the others had gathered again around Attila.

A guard stepped forward and bowed to report: "Chieftain, everyone is here."

Attila nodded slightly, facing his fully armed and ready warriors, and gave his final pre-battle pep talk: "What I told you before we set out still stands. Each of us carries a sacred mission. For so long, we have been able to struggle for survival and persevere until now thanks to the grace of that great one. Everything we have done is to fulfill the goals He has given us. Today's war is no exception."

The word "mission" struck a deep chord in the hearts of everyone present.

Everyone standing here is a desperate man who once struggled to survive on the grasslands by any means necessary to get to where he is today.

Attila's voice remained calm as he continued, "Unlike them, we do not fight for plunder. Everything we do is to fulfill the obligations entrusted to us by the Oracle."

Mission and duty—these high-sounding words were originally something that only wealthy nobles and leaders would utter.

But now, these people who crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood also have their own beliefs that are worth risking their lives to protect.

This belief was incredibly powerful. For these people who always put their lives first, this was the first time in their lives that something more important than their own lives had appeared.

Before launching the charge, Attila turned to Maureen, a porter accompanying him, and gave her the order: "Maureen, distribute horse armor to the assault team."

In fact, with their reserves, they could have equipped all the horses with horse armor before setting off, but no one did so. After all, there was no reason to let the horses expend extra energy on a long march.

Maureen immediately accepted the order and, following Attila's instructions, unloaded the heavy pack from her back and distributed the items inside to the team members responsible for the first wave of the assault.

Those objects, only the size of a fist, are the props for horse armor.

Thanks to her profession as a porter, these heavy suits of armor were transformed into lightweight, small items, allowing Maureen to carry the entire team's equipment all by herself.

As Maureen distributed the food, she shouted, "Here you go!"

Just like distributing items to teammates in a game, Maureen tossed the horse armor item in her hand to the ground with a whoosh. The moment it touched the ground, the horse armor item materialized, and the assault team members immediately rushed forward to quickly drape it over their warhorses.

At this moment, everything was ready. Just as the sun was about to sink below the horizon, the warriors, all mounted on their horses, spurred their mounts forward, leaped over the low hills, and launched a thunderous charge towards the enemy army, which had not yet completed any battle preparations.

According to the usual practice on the grasslands, this is a scene that should not occur at this time.

The tribe's lookout was the first to spot the approaching force, and a heart-wrenching cry shattered the tribe's tranquility: "Enemy! Enemy attack! A large enemy force is charging from the east!"

The tribe members, caught off guard by the surprise attack, were instantly plunged into horror and chaos.

Only two days had passed since their initial encounter with the Aurora cavalry. Whether it was the time it took for the scouts to return and report, the time it took for the tribe to assess the situation and prepare its forces, or the time it took for the enemy to march back, it was all physically impossible.

Oren, the tribal chief who was leading his warriors in preparation for coordinating with Theodore's main force to fight against Cinta, widened his eyes instantly upon hearing the shout. He sprang to his feet and roared, "What a joke! Is it really those guys?!"

But when he rushed up the watchtower in a panic, a well-organized regular cavalry unit had already appeared at the other end of the hill.

Their equipment style was completely different from the messy and casual attire of the steppe tribes, which were pieced together through trade and plunder. Their well-organized armed forces were exactly as described by the scouts who had fled back from the brink of death.

Oren immediately urged the panicked warriors sharply, "Form ranks! The enemy is charging in! They don't outnumber us, what's the panic!"

His personal guards, their voices trembling with tears, cried out, "But...but it's too late! Let's retreat back to the tribe and hold out to the death!"

Chief Oren's stern rebukes were utterly ineffective in quelling the chaos in the camp.

Meanwhile, the assault team, led by Lillie, had already reached the tribe's fence.

It's already too late to start organizing a direct confrontation now.

In the midst of the chaos, they were forced to make an extremely humiliating choice: to abandon the advantage of cavalry and rely on the obstacles within the village to wage a defensive war.

The tribe's garrison shouted, "Fire! Fire!"

In the rush, countless arrows were shot out, raining down on the charging troops.

Whether it's a man, a woman, or even a young child, the arrows they shoot are equally deadly.

The soldiers in the charging column immediately shouted, "Arrow rain is coming! Raise your shields!"

Arrows, tearing through the sky, rained down on the charging troops.

For cavalry charging head-on, breaking through this hail of arrows is a price they must naturally pay on their way to the charge.

Lillie, who was at the forefront, did not raise her shield. Instead, she raised her longsword high in the face of the rain of arrows.

In her eyes, these arrows, devoid of any magical power, were utterly insignificant compared to the devastating attacks spewed by monsters in the game.

The Oren tribe's warband commander, who was standing behind the fence urging his soldiers to fire arrows, froze on the spot as if struck by lightning upon seeing this scene, exclaiming in disbelief, "How is this possible... This, this is impossible..."

As Lillie swung her longsword toward the sky, the skill she unleashed unleashed a crimson cross-shaped slash. At first glance, its power seemed to resemble a legendary technique that only warriors who had reached the highest level of martial arts could use.

The assault team soldiers shouted, "We've broken through the lines! Charge!"

Just as the defenders were stunned by the slashes and there was a lull in the rain of arrows, Lillie, leading the assault team behind her, accelerated again and broke through their makeshift defenses.

The cavalrymen on horseback drew their bows and fired arrows that flew back and accurately pierced the soldiers who tried to block with their shields; those defenders who stepped forward with spears were directly knocked away by the galloping warhorses and trampled under their hooves.

The infantry tactics of these steppe tribes were already clumsy and incompetent. From the moment they decided to dismount and abandon their cavalry advantage, the outcome of the battle was already half-determined.

Just as Lillie led her assault team to break through the enemy's defenses, the main force following closely behind also pressed forward.

With the defenders' lines completely collapsed, there was neither a dense barrage of arrows nor any semblance of organized resistance, and the entire village instantly descended into a chaotic melee.

Roche and Bruno, who were participating in such a large-scale battle for the first time, were also among the charging troops. They were not forced to participate; as official warriors of the tribe, they were tasked with clearing out the enemy's elite soldiers who were putting up a last-ditch resistance.

Although Lin Miao used the giant hammer that fell from the sky to eliminate most of the enemy's main force on the outskirts of the battlefield, there were still many remaining enemy warriors in the tribe who were putting up a stubborn resistance.

An enemy soldier wielding a longsword roared at the charging Rose, "You woman! You're asking for death!"

As Rosie, riding alongside the other cavalry, suddenly leaped into the air from her horse's back the moment she approached the enemy.

The enemy was first startled by her sudden leap, and then he was taken aback by this completely illogical action.

As she leaped into the air, Luo Xie gritted her teeth, her mind filled with only one thought: it was no different from the usual training content.

She drew two short swords from her waist with a backhand motion. In terms of weapon length alone, she was already at a significant disadvantage against the taller warriors wielding long swords. However, only when she held these short swords could she unleash the full power she had honed over many years.

Rose's magic suddenly erupted, unleashing a skill she had used countless times against monsters in the game—a move from the Dark Souls assassin class: the Shuffle Step.

The opposing warrior swung his longsword at her, blankly cleaving through the afterimage in the air. But Rose, who had already flashed behind him, flicked her wrist, and two short swords flashed across, instantly slicing the terrified enemy to pieces along with his leather armor.

Looking at the enemy lying in a pool of blood, Rose breathed a long sigh of relief, her heart filled with indescribable joy.

The weakling who used to only turn and run away when danger came has now finally defeated an enemy far stronger than himself with the strength he has honed.

This feeling is completely different from the sense of accomplishment you get when you defeat monsters in a game.

Just then, Bruno's urgent shout came from behind: "Danger!"

Rose turned around in alarm, only to see an enemy soldier raising his battle axe and bringing it down hard on her head.

"Well……"

Just as the battle axe was about to fall, a blazing fireball hurtled towards her, striking the charging enemy soldier and knocking her to the ground. It was Bruno, riding on horseback, who had urgently cast a fireball spell, saving her life.

The scorching heat made Rose wrinkle her face, and she quickly raised her arm to shield her face.

Bruno quickly spurred his horse closer, his voice filled with panic as he asked, "My attack didn't hurt you, did it...?"

Rose lowered her arm, looked at Bruno's tense face, grinned, brandished the blood-stained short sword in her hand, and said, "Not bad. Keep following me. With you covering my back, we definitely won't lose."

"Wait, wait a minute! Don't rush too fast!"

Bruno urged his horse on in frustration, hurrying after Rosie, who had already turned around and charged forward again.

On the other side, Chief Oren's mind went blank, with only one thought remaining: What exactly is going on?

The Aurora Assault Team, which stormed into the tribe and rampaged through the territory, used a fighting style that was exactly the same as when they plundered weaker tribes in the past.

Oren gritted his teeth, staring intently at Lillie, who was clad in women's armor and whose identity as a knight was immediately recognizable. He watched as she wielded a longsword burning with magic, slaughtering his soldiers one after another, his eyes practically spitting fire.

As the strongest warrior in the tribe, he finally realized that he was facing the core vanguard of this team.

Oren gritted his teeth and growled, "That woman must die!"

He gripped his spear tightly, suppressing the chilling fear that made the hairs stand on end on his back, and mounted his horse. He spurred his mount forward and charged towards Lillie, who was alone at the forefront and had already broken away from the main force.

At this moment, Lillie, having ventured deep into enemy territory alone in her attempt to break through the defenses, was struggling to cope with attacks coming from all directions and was completely unaware that a deadly attack was already brewing from behind.

Oren's eyes were bloodshot as he roared, "Die!"

Lillie only turned around abruptly when the gleaming spear tip was already close enough to touch her.

Although there was still a sliver of time to react, if she couldn't respond immediately, the sharp blade would instantly pierce through her body.

"Well."

But in that critical moment, before Lillie could react and block, Oren, who was charging at full speed, was suddenly hit head-on by a terrifying force, and he and his horse were slammed into the ground.

Blood burst forth instantly, causing the ground to tremble.

A semi-transparent giant hammer descended from the sky, landing precisely beside her, shielding her from the fatal blow and protecting her safety.

Lin Miao, who had been watching the entire game intently with her eyes glued to the laptop screen, bit her lip, the veins on the back of her hand holding the mouse bulging, and silently thought to herself: It was definitely the right thing to keep this move in mind.

After the war began, he refrained from using the Hammer skill on the stubborn enemy troops, partly to save the limited number of uses of the Desktop Smash function, and partly because he believed that his villagers could hold out until the moment when they really needed the skill to save the day.

This iron hammer that fell from the sky was like a precision-guided weapon, not only defeating the enemy's strongest fighting force, but also instantly shattering the morale of the defending troops.

Oren's warriors were about to swing their swords at the lone Zhen Dan soldier when they were struck by a series of iron hammers falling from the sky. Some were killed on the spot, while others were seriously injured and collapsed to the ground, twitching like dried rat meat.

Of course, the number of warriors from the Oren tribe far exceeded the number of iron hammers Lin Miao could use, but the warriors from Zhen Dan were not idle at all.

Oren watched as his tribe, which he had cultivated for many years, was gradually devoured and defeated by this army, which was far fewer in number than his own. Enraged, he gritted his teeth and roared at Attila, who faced him directly, "How dare you use sorcery! You blasphemous bastards!"

Attila simply sighed and shook his head, calmly replying, "This is not sorcery, but a blessing bestowed upon us by the gods."

Attila, seeing Oren's crazed state, offered a final chance: "You can still surrender now. I don't know how Theodore has treated you, but we will take better care of your people."

Oren scoffed, rejecting Attila's offer of surrender with utter disdain: "Ha, that's easy for you to say. Who would believe such nonsense?"

He barely managed to retain his position as tribal chief by surrendering to Theodore in a humiliating manner, after which most of his spoils and tributes were taken away.

How could this man, who held the belief of "better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix," possibly give up everything he had to obey Attila, who had suddenly appeared?

Attila, who had already made up his mind to unite the steppe tribes, showed no intention of relinquishing tribal rule, and this final negotiation naturally broke down completely.

Attila looked at the stubborn Oren and calmly said, "Since the chieftain insists on this, there is nothing I can do. However, all tribal members who are willing to lay down their weapons and surrender will be properly cared for and will not be harmed in the slightest."

Oren's personal guards watched in horror as Attila raised his staff, screaming, "Witchcraft... He really is an evil wizard..."

Before he finished speaking, Attila's staff suddenly lit up, and the Druid's skill was activated instantly.

Oren, who was holding his sword on guard, along with his personal guards and soldiers, were suddenly entangled by thorny vines that sprang from the ground, letting out shrill screams.

The battle was nearing its end. After Attila killed Oren, the tribal chief who had put up a stubborn resistance, the tribesmen, having lost their leader, threw down their weapons and surrendered.

This war has now come to an end.

Having fully unleashed his spearman skills, Mista strode excitedly to Attila's side and shouted, "An overwhelming victory, Chieftain! We defeated the many with the few! We won!"

Attila, however, remained grave and asked, "What is the situation regarding our casualties?"

Mista's excitement faded slightly, and he immediately replied, "It has been confirmed that more than ten brothers have been killed or wounded."

Attila shook his head and said in a deep voice, "Unfortunately, we have no time to rest. Until these surrendered soldiers are completely loyal to us, we must keep a close watch on them at all times and not relax our vigilance in the slightest."

This was the first time they had directly annexed another tribe through war, especially since the other tribe was originally far stronger than them.

Although the tribes on the grasslands are accustomed to submitting to the strong, they must remain vigilant and not be careless until they safely return to their villages with the surrendered soldiers.

Attila announced Oren's death to the surrendered tribesmen, ordering them to lay down their weapons and submit to control. He then gave his soldiers his final, somber command: "It's not over yet. Everyone maintain formation and keep a close watch on the surrendered soldiers. No one is allowed to relax their guard until we are safely back in the village."