Cataphracts, surviving in a world full of mods

"Ah! So you've been here all along!"

A surprised voice rang out from the side, loud yet with a strange hoarseness, like the threatening growl of a carnivorous beast. A chill ran down his spine, and his body burst forth with new strength, leaping up from the ground, covered in mud.

...A skinny old black dog stood smugly beside a mud puddle, its lame leg raised high, the end of which had become dry. The sores on its body had become more twisted and worsened, and much of its fur had become bald.

He was only momentarily confused before his blood rushed to his head, and he lunged at the black dog.

"You beast! I'll skin you alive!"

The black dog was surprisingly agile, causing the king to miss his target... But he was not the kind of fat, lazy good-for-nothing who only knew how to enjoy himself. He simply rolled over and got up again, quickly grabbing a dry branch next to the mud puddle as his weapon. He then began to beat the dog as if it were a longsword.

To his great surprise, the dry stick in his hand was actually more useful than a sword. It was balanced in weight and swift in his hands, making a whooshing sound as it tore through the air. Each strike had considerable power; it could knock down not only a skinny dog, but even a person in one blow... Yet he never managed to touch a single hair on the dog's body.

With only three legs left, the black dog was still as agile as an eel, its long, thin paws leaping lightly across the ground. It always managed to dodge the blows of the stick at crucial moments, proudly sticking out its tongue and panting heavily, but it no longer spoke, waiting for him to exhaust his strength.

As he swung the twentieth blow, his hurried, disordered breathing finally caught up with him, leaving him unable to continue. He leaned on the stick, panting, and could only glare resentfully at the annoying black dog in front of him.

"...Are you finally tired?...You've had an easy time these past two days, while I've suffered terribly."

The black dog stared at the king with a gloomy expression, circling him from a distance with its three paws, grinding its remaining teeth, its dim yellow eyes gleaming like the tails of fireflies.

"Those damn lice are constantly biting my skin, those wretched sores are gnawing at my flesh, and I haven't even been able to eat the meat that this broken leg gave me... I'm so hungry my stomach is about to catch fire, I almost died because of you, and you, you bastard, are still able to sleep!"

"I'm starving and in excruciating pain—I'm practically dead from all this torture. You haven't kept any of your promises, and you've left me like this. What am I supposed to do?..."

"What did I promise you, you mad dog?!"

The king frowned, secretly adjusting his breathing, preparing to gather his strength for another round of attacks before breaking the dog's slender waist... but his doubts at this moment were also very real.

But to his surprise, these words were like stirring up a hornet's nest, and the black dog, who had just been gloomy and irritable, completely exploded.

"You forgot?! You actually forgot!! You damned bastards, you thieves, you petty thieves! You liars!!!"

brush! !

Before the king could react, he suddenly collapsed to the ground. The black dog had somehow appeared beside him, a thick calf in its mouth, its teeth tearing fiercely at it. In no time, the skin was torn open and the bone inside was snapped into two pieces like a piece of brittle wood.

The excruciating pain in his knee finally made him realize where that leg came from.

"Let me fill my stomach first."

His severed calf fell to the ground, while the large, toothless mouth had already bitten down hard on his scalp. With a single forceful bite, it tore his hair and skin off together, the sharp teeth grinding against his skull with a clanging sound, carving several deep grooves. The excruciating pain finally made him scream in agony.

"ah!!!----……"

Sweating profusely, the king leaped from his silk bed, tearing at his hair like a madman, his face as pale as a corpse… while the surroundings bustled like a marketplace…

Chapter 482 Old Friends, Enemies (1)

Sweat soaked his clothes, his hair matted into a tangled mess, and the fearful and furious king awoke from his dream, reaching for the stick beside him... but he didn't get the stick. Instead, he grasped the cold, hard hilt of a sword wrapped in gold thread. The craftsman's meticulously forged blade possessed excellent control and balance, and upon colliding with the scabbard, it immediately emitted a crisp hum, as if it were about to devour someone's flesh.

He almost felt unfamiliar with the feel of the sword, but then he immediately noticed the commotion outside the tent. Nobles and officers were shouting in a panic, soldiers were running around with their weapons, torchlight illuminated the surroundings, and the mud on the ground was trampled into a mess.

So, naturally, he asked that question:

"What on earth is going on? What happened?!"

He suddenly stood up, stepping barefoot onto the rammed earth ground. In his panic, he even stepped into a large basin filled with well water, soaking half of his trouser leg.

Upon hearing his call, two people hurriedly lifted the tent flap and entered. They were his army's general and logistics officer. However, neither of them showed any signs of panic, which reassured him.

"Your Majesty, a disturbance has just broken out in the camp. A large group of soldiers started fighting in the camp, and the fighting was very fierce... It has been found that at least 100 people have been beaten to death or trampled to death, and more than 300 people have been injured."

"The situation has stabilized now, and those who instigated the trouble have been brought under control... but no one knows how the fight started, and the entire camp has been turned into a mess."

The king's brow twitched violently. He felt a sharp pain spreading from the top of his head to his temples, as if the teeth of a wild beast were chiseling into his skull, almost sucking out his brains... Although he was used to hearing bad news, this was worse than bad for him.

The consequences of this farce were far more complex than they appeared on the surface—it blatantly exposed the morale of the entire army to everyone, spreading the message of violence to every corner of the army… He immediately realized that this would not be a one-off event; the irritable and dissatisfied soldiers would riot again sooner or later, and they would also send a dangerous message to the enemy, making him realize the precariousness of the situation.

The things he painstakingly tried to maintain were constantly cracking and on the verge of collapse.

"...How are the Imperials doing? What have the scouts found out...?"

He rubbed his head wearily, temporarily distressed by the sharp pain, while asking his general a question.

"To be honest, it's quite difficult, Your Majesty... Our men often face death when they go out to scout. The Imperial light cavalry hunt us down like a pack of wolves. Without horses, even escape is a pipe dream, but riding horses makes us easy targets..."

"Stop giving me nonsense and complaints. Just tell me they didn't find anything. I'm not interested in knowing how many people died."

The king gritted his teeth and rubbed his head, feeling the sharp pain growing increasingly intense, which made him even more irritable, and he had almost no patience to continue listening.

"Cough cough... Our reconnaissance area is very small, so they didn't find anything. But what we can confirm is that the Imperial army has no intention of advancing further. They have just sent their cavalry to block the surrounding roads and ambush our scouts and messengers. So we now have to send more people to protect the supply lines, otherwise the soldiers here will go hungry in a few days."

"But because we set up checkpoints at key locations beforehand, they haven't been able to infiltrate the rear. They're just harassing the area around the camp."

The king grew even more uneasy. He sensed something deadly beginning to approach him from the mist, and at the same time, the pain in his head became unbearable, as if a rat was gnawing at him everywhere. He cursed and covered his head with his hands.

"His Majesty!"

"Your Majesty, what's wrong?!"

His loyal subjects immediately surrounded him, trying to do something, but he already felt his thoughts rapidly becoming muddled. Before he fainted from the torment of pain, his fingers suddenly touched some unusual marks in his hair—several healed and scabbed-over indentations, as if they had been torn apart by something sharp and then grown back.

........................

"We will launch the attack tomorrow."

At the meeting, Tersolius made the decision, and the officers accepted the order without question. They immediately began to carry out their tasks according to the previous arrangements, and the cooks also began to prepare rations in preparation for the battle the next day.

“We are only a few miles apart, and our scouts have already figured out the surrounding situation... This distance is so close that it's like two men face to face with only a fist's width between them. Even if we were to retreat, we would have to think carefully.”

The long camp was brightly lit, and the soldiers were preparing through the night, wiping their armor and sharpening their swords to prevent them from failing in tomorrow's battle... Although such things were rare, they were not uncommon, and every time, a few unlucky ones would die mysteriously for this reason.

Tersolius looked at the bustling scene before him, walked to the tent entrance with his hands behind his back, held a bread stuffed with cheese in his left hand, and took a big bite while looking at it, eating half of the bread in one go.

The high-quality cheese immediately burst forth with a rich milky aroma, melting in the mouth like cream and spreading like a thin mist. Soon, even the nose was filled with the rich milky fragrance, causing him to squint his eyes slightly and slow down his chewing.

Despite having just made a decision that would affect almost the entire empire's future, he remained calm and composed, as if on a leisurely outing. This gave his subordinates boundless confidence that Tersolius would continue to bring them victory.

"This cheese bread is delicious, and it can be stored in a cool place for a while. Maybe we can buy some when we go back."

"Okay, I've got it. If we have time then, we can take care of it ourselves."

Tarina, whose memory far surpasses that of ordinary people, simply nodded—simple matters like this can be handled flawlessly with just a little effort; only complex and important information requires the help of a notebook.

How long can our food supplies last?

"It has been 7 days since the last replenishment. We currently have enough to last for 4 days, but if we reduce the supply, we can extend it by 3 days while maintaining the army's combat effectiveness."

"There's no need to cut back; let everyone have a good meal. This is an old tradition."

He finished the bread in two quick bites, then patted the crumbs off his hands.

"As for the rest... after we defeat the rebels, will we starve on the land of the Empire? ... I'm just a little worried about the Kiel. Even if these guys are defeated, they will scatter like locusts everywhere, causing us countless troubles."

Talina frowned in distress as well... When the rebels in the north allowed these Kiel to enter the empire's lands, it meant that such trouble would inevitably spread to the heart of the empire. When these guys were defeated, they would inevitably become raiders, causing destruction everywhere on this land. It would take a lot of effort to completely eliminate them.

Without him noticing, the girl picked up a cheese bread and started taking small bites next to him. She then handed him another one. The two of them stopped talking and just stood there quietly, looking at the moon in the sky.

As hurried footsteps sounded from the side, they turned their heads almost simultaneously... causing the approaching attendants to pause for a moment before immediately bowing and reporting:

"Sir, our scouts have captured a strange prisoner... He claims to have news of old friends in the north that he wants to tell you."

Chapter 483 Old Friends, Enemies (2)

“An old friend… oh, it’s him.”

After a moment's thought, Tersolius realized who this so-called old friend was—Torrid, the old Khan of the Curist, had once turned the Empire's Chrysonas into a wasteland, but was later defeated and annihilated by the legion he led, barely escaping with his life.

In the subsequent development of the eastern lands by the empire, in order to avoid possible retribution by the empire, he led thirteen tribes willing to follow him north to the land of the Gil people... To do this, he needed to cross the snow-capped mountains in the north.

To achieve this would be a near-death experience. Even with ample supplies and thorough preparation, leading a large force across the snow-capped mountains would not be without casualties, let alone being hastily driven away like this... To be honest, he originally thought that the survival of a third of them would be considered lucky... But now it seems that this former adversary has exceeded his expectations.

Silently elevating Torid's importance in his mind, he turned and ordered his guards to bring the prisoner up. He then turned and walked to the center of the tent, where the chair he had brought all the way from the south stood. The sturdy chair, once made of rough tree trunks, had been cut, polished, and reassembled by craftsmen into an imposing high-backed chair. The armrests on both sides had an upward curve, and the backrest closely followed the curve of the spine. It was still very simple, but he liked it very much.

In just a few dozen breaths, a thin boy was dragged into the tent by his guards... It was clear that the boy wanted to walk on his own, but his guards would not allow anyone of unknown or suspicious identity to move freely in the tent. They held onto his arms the whole time, carrying him like a monkey.

About ten steps from his seat, the filthy boy was forcibly pushed to the ground, with two guards standing behind him holding halberds, ready to cut him to pieces if necessary.

"Greetings to the esteemed Great Khan General of the Empire. I am here on the orders of Khan Toridu to deliver his greetings and wish you good health."

The young man pressed his forehead to the ground, but what he said was utterly speechless, even causing Tersolius's lips to twitch for a moment... However, considering that a boy of this age probably didn't understand the difference between the Empire and the Northern Territory, he didn't dwell on it too much:

"First of all, I am not a Khan... Although I am not exactly an old friend of his, I have at least met him once... But that one meeting will not prevent me from cutting off his head after seeing him. So to make a long story short, tell me his most basic point."

The boy nodded, appearing surprisingly composed.

“My Khan knows that the General is troubled by the incursions of the Kiel. Although they are not enough to stop your advance, they can still bring disaster to this land. My Khan’s people are also suffering from the oppression and coercion of the Kiel, and have long been unable to bear it. Therefore, he is willing to agree with you to launch a joint attack and strike at the Kiel’s vitals.”

"This would be beneficial to both of us... With the Kiel's rear attacked, they would certainly have no intention of staying in the Empire to raid and fight. Your pressure would also be effectively relieved. With your legions eyeing the border, they would certainly not dare to withdraw all their forces. This would give my Khan an opportunity. I hope you will seriously consider this matter."

His words were well-organized, logical, and composed, yet there was a hint of unnatural stiffness and rigidity in them, like a student reciting a teacher's words and subtly doubting himself.

This made him chuckle, but at the same time, he had to admit the boy's quick wit and audacity—daring to approach a large army camp alone, risking having his head chopped off at any moment, and maintaining considerable calm and composure in an extremely dangerous and unfamiliar place.

With just that kind of temperament, he is already far superior to many people... Tori's choice of him to deliver the message was a sure thing, and now he has undoubtedly completed his mission.

“That makes some sense… but I’m more inclined to believe that doing so would create even bigger problems for me. Tori is a capable and ambitious guy. I can’t let him get too fed and then grow into a new threat. That would be like feeding an even more ambitious wolf with the carcass of an old wolf. It might solve the current problem temporarily, but it would ultimately be like raising a tiger to cause trouble.”

Tersolius deliberately narrowed his eyes and made his voice cold and authoritative, sounding like he was beginning to harbor dissatisfaction... and everything around him immediately began to change with his voice. Even his guards became stern, and some invisible but real pressure began to act on the boy, making his previously calm face stiffen.

"Rather than allowing the remnants of the Kurist people, whose bones have been broken, to grow stronger again, I would prefer to command my own legions to solve all the problems and kill every Kiel who enters Imperial territory. This may take more time and cost more, but it will also have the least potential risks... What do you think?"

After saying that, he silently leaned back in his chair, patiently waiting for the other person's reply.

The boy frowned and scratched his head:

"To be honest, I don't understand either, sir. I'm just a shepherd boy, how could I possibly know as much as someone as important as you... But before I set off, the Khan told me something like this."

Without waiting for permission, he opened his mouth and continued speaking:

“He said it doesn’t really matter whether you agree or not, as long as you know that he is preparing to launch a war behind the Kiel’s lines, it will definitely help him… In short, my mission is already accomplished. Even if you order someone to cut off my head now, it doesn’t matter. My Khan is now more confident of success.”

"He believes you would never miss such an opportunity... As for what happens afterward, that's up to you."

........................

In the dark forest, a disheveled boy wolfed down a chicken leg, tearing the tender, boiled meat from the bone. He ate with gusto, his mouth greasy and his stomach rumbling, before finally settling down to sneak back into the night, completely satisfied.

Just as he said, his mission was already complete, and he didn't even need to report back immediately. Tori would naturally seize the opportunity to make his move, and all he had to do was escape this chaotic vortex and slowly return to the north.

The hospitality he received before leaving was truly unexpected, but the boy had never known what politeness was, so he stuffed his sheepskin robe full without hesitation and ate until his stomach was almost bursting. He could hardly walk anymore, so he chose to walk back slowly in a comfortable and relaxed way.

No one would have noticed that he had left his sleeping place for a while. Just in case, he didn't even ride a horse and ran here on foot... Now, go to your hut and get a good night's sleep. This may be the last night he can get a good night's sleep in the next few days.