Cataphracts, surviving in a world full of mods

"You despicable scoundrel, you've already succeeded, why are you still looking like you're about to cry..."

A faint sigh came from in front of him. The once sturdy and exquisite armor of the Black Torok Khan, covered in wounds, was now so badly damaged that it was unusable. The steel plates were twisted and broken under the continuous blows... They had blocked countless attacks for their master, but in the end, they could not save him from death.

Torito's scimitar was also riddled with nicks. He had been tearing at his opponent like a mad old wolf, while Black Toro's blade had severed his left hand, leaving him a cripple who could no longer draw his bow.

His desperate gamble finally succeeded... but it also failed. The bodies of his followers who had followed him north now filled the valley. He had endured countless hardships, braving ice and snow, to finally seize this opportunity for an ambush, but he still had to fight tooth and nail with the Khan's personal guards... The final situation was so dire that he, a middle-aged man with failing muscles, had to fight them.

This was the kind of warfare the Kurist were best at… bridle their warhorses, hunt at night in the most inconspicuous way, munching on cold roasted barley and milk curds, traversing jungles and meadows, creating chaos and death with the swiftest raids, accomplishing their purpose in a single night.

However, their opponents were no pushovers either. The Kiel Khan armed his personal guards with the finest armor and the best training, enabling them to fight back bravely and without retreat, even in the face of such an attack.

But in the end, he won the battle by taking advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness and paying a heavy price. The moon was about to set behind the mountains, and bright, clear daylight was approaching. If he dared to remain there then, he would only be crushed to dust by the enraged army.

"...It's not as despicable as you, my respected elder brother. It would be better to scatter more than half of our blood and bones here, rather than letting them fall beneath the fortresses of the Empire. After you die, this grassland will fall into chaos again. Everyone will want to become the new Khan, and no one will have the time to force us to fill the ditches. This is the real way out for us, the only chance to recuperate."

The dying man opposite him merely smiled and shook his head, exhaling a breath through his nose.

“I don’t think so… When I was alive, this land was still able to unite and prevent the Empire from acting rashly. But now that it has fallen apart and become a disorganized mess, they have nothing left to worry about… You will not escape it in the end.”

“Maybe.” Tori shrugged, then stepped forward, pressing the nicked blade of his scimitar against the man’s neck, and slid it forcefully to the side. “But that’s none of your business—”

Scalding blood splattered onto the grass beside him with a soft thud. He slowly withdrew the blade, still covered in bits of flesh. After pausing for two breaths in silence, Toridu finally raised his head, whistled, and summoned his men who were still searching for the corpse.

They had already left on horseback before sunrise, leaving no survivors.

Chapter 523: The End (2)

The grassland under the sun shone with a deep green that made people restless. Herds of cattle and sheep and felt tents were scattered across the grassland. Women and teenagers were busy outside, vigorously churning milk in wooden buckets with wooden mallets to separate the fat and let it float to the top. Then, they would put it in a pot to dry out the moisture and make precious ghee.

This is a meadow hidden by the wind, effectively concealed by three low hills and two forests. It would be difficult to spot unless you were very close, especially since there were already people lying in ambush in the nearby woods, ready to relay any unusual activity back immediately.

The current climate is the last vestige of autumn. The cold air has not yet completely taken over the land, and the last batch of nutritious grass seeds have not yet fallen. It is the perfect time for cattle and sheep to fatten up for winter, but they dare not drive their herds to the fertile grasslands. They would rather put in more effort to cut large bundles of hay to feed them, and they are almost never free all day long.

In the middle of these tents, in the slightly more spacious one, Tori was frowning and gritting his teeth. Large beads of cold sweat kept seeping from his pale face, sticking his hair to his forehead.

His left hand, severed by the blade, had long since been fed to some wild wolf, but the remaining wound needed to be treated as soon as possible, otherwise, if it became inflamed and swollen, it would kill him.

However, he couldn't rely on any excellent doctors and could only rely on the tribe's shaman to barely treat the situation... and this treatment was destined to be quite crude and painful.

At this moment, his forearm was bound to a sturdy birch pole, while the witch doctor with his face painted was using a knife to clean the debris and scabs from his wounds, scraping off all the leaves and dirt he had picked up during his escape.

In his haste to clean up the mess and escape, he didn't even bother to properly bandage his wounds. He simply tied them with a rope to make sure the bleeding stopped and then ignored them. Now, he was truly suffering the consequences... He could almost clearly feel the rhythm of the blade digging and slicing through his bones and marrow.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, when he was already in a daze, the slow-moving fellow finally finished cleaning the wound. Then, he took a mouthful of strong liquor smuggled from the south and sprayed it onto the wound, causing the man to flinch. Immediately afterward, he struck while the iron was hot, scooping out a dark, gooey substance from a small bowl that was heating on the stove next to him and smearing it onto the wound.

The weathered Tori's face contorted in pain, sweat pouring down his forehead like ripped veins. He gasped for breath and gritted his teeth, enduring the intense pain for a long time before collapsing onto the carpet, completely exhausted.

The clumsy shaman retreated, leaving him almost alone in the tent. The sounds of his people working outside were so distant they were barely audible, but the faint weeping from inside the tents still pierced his ears, giving him no peace.

Most of the men who went with him to fight were killed or wounded. Almost every one of them who returned alive was leading a warhorse carrying corpses. They searched the battlefield several times to make sure nothing was missed and that no one could leak the news... Whether they succeeded or not depended on these next two days.

If things get chaotic on the grasslands as he predicted, that would be ideal... Otherwise, he'd have to find a way to deal with it quickly.

Those who leave their hometowns already live a miserable life, let alone the old, weak, sick and disabled. The slightest mistake could lead to their death and the extermination of their clan. This is especially true for him as the leader, who cannot tolerate the slightest error or recklessness.

But in any case, he managed to get through the crisis... Compared to crashing into the Imperial fortress and dying, he would rather his warriors' blood be spilled on this grassland, at least there would be a glimmer of hope, a glimmer of hope that could continue.

A gust of cold wind blew into the tent, making his beard flutter and his face go numb with cold in an instant... Winter here came much earlier and was much crueler than he had expected. This was not the still relatively warm Kurist Grassland. To survive here, they had to be even more ruthless.

An indescribable loneliness and desolation welled up in his heart at this moment, causing the already aged man to open his mouth and begin to sing their song. The clear and melodious vibrato spread in all directions like an eagle soaring into the sky, just like the regretful last sigh of a dying person.

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

Leather is a very useful material in most cases, and it has accompanied human civilization for almost every moment... Primitive people who killed their prey with stones learned very early on to wear their fur to keep warm, and in the days that followed, this tough and durable material has always been inseparable from people.

Generally speaking, the best shoe soles are made of leather. To make them wear-resistant and slip-resistant, steel or copper nails are driven into them. They are also polished several times with high-quality oil and the stitches are fine enough to handle wet surfaces. They can also be made lightweight and flexible to cope with hot climates.

In the steamy marble bathroom, it was almost impossible to see anything more than a few meters away. The hot steam clung to his skin, making Tersolius shake his hands uncomfortably, and he looked at the strappy sandals on his feet with a puzzled expression.

These shoes consist of a sole made of several layers of leather stitched together and several leather straps. When wearing them, the straps are tied along the ankle all the way to the calf. Although they are sturdy and durable enough, they are hardly convenient... Of course, he usually doesn't focus his attention on a pair of shoes unless he can't remember when he put them on.

Not only his shoes, but he was also wrapped in a thin white silk robe, without even a belt. It was simply draped over his body, and some parts of it were damp from the moisture, outlining his well-defined muscles.

This was clearly an outfit for going to the bathhouse, but no matter what he did, he couldn't connect the scene before him with his memories, as if someone had deleted a part of his memories, leaving him completely baffled.

Then, after looking around, he was even more surprised to find that the large bathroom in front of him didn't even have a door! There was only a wide floor and a large bathtub surrounded by luxurious and ornate carved stone tiles, as well as towering marble pillars and exotic flowers and plants swaying in the steam.

"What are you daydreaming about? Come here quickly."

The girl's cheerful voice pierced through the steam in front of him, reaching his ears. It was clear and lively, yet carried a strange sense of familiarity, causing him to involuntarily frown…

Chapter 524: The End (3)

The voice was so familiar that Thesolius momentarily doubted his own sanity... If his usually keen ears were not mistaken, it was clearly the Emperor's voice! Only it was more languid and gentle, like a feather, lightly stirring his ears.

The mist in front of us was so thick that we couldn't see anything more than a few steps away. The tiles on the ground were fairly slip-resistant thanks to their intricately carved patterns. Apart from that, everything looked like a hazy fairyland, making us wonder what lay beyond the mist.

It's easy to tell that this is a bathroom, and a magnificent one at that, a place that exudes power and authority. The subtle yet arrogant carvings also suggest that owning this place is far more than just wealth.

So even though he had never been there before, he immediately guessed that this was the emperor's bathroom and understood that the voice calling him was most likely the emperor himself... However, he was still puzzled as to why he was here. But even his last memories of the past had become blurry.

“Come here, don’t stand there in a daze, Tersolius.”

The voice called out again, sounding slightly reproachful, causing his heart to race for a moment. He could barely control himself as he imagined what the emperor would look like behind the steam—no one would enter the bathroom wearing heavy, ornate robes, after all, even he didn't know when he had changed into suitable clothes.

Although the situation still made him uneasy, Tersolius quickly realized that he didn't have many options... to respond or to stay put. After a moment's thought, he quickly chose the former and started walking towards the direction from which the sound came.

With each step forward, the moisture accumulated on his skin, slowly and continuously nourishing his lungs and gradually making things that had seemed blurry clear... and soon he saw the face of the person who had called him.

In the spacious bath, the pale green water was steaming, and a beautiful woman with a smile on her lips revealed her snow-white arms and shoulders. Her long, wet silver hair was spread out on the marble, and she looked like a work of art carved from white jade.

And this face was undoubtedly Clautina's; even the tiny mole at the corner of her eye was identical, perfectly matching the image in his mind. Even the kind expression was exactly the same, almost making him subconsciously continue forward.

But then, in that instant, as if lightning had suddenly struck his mind, he shuddered, and a chilling feeling shot up from the depths of his heart, desperately warning him—this was not the person he knew, absolutely not!

He didn't know where this feeling came from, but he had subconsciously believed it. He immediately stopped his movements, tensed his body, and let his steel-wire-like muscle fibers begin to accumulate power, like a tiger ready to pounce.

"What's wrong, Tersolius? Why are you acting so strangely? I've been calling you for ages. Come on over and take a bath."

He lifted his snow-white arm from the emerald green water. The other person was still calling to him, but their brows were slightly furrowed, as if puzzled by his inexplicable actions.

"You've been fighting a war for a whole year, I bet you haven't been to a proper bathroom much, have you? This is the emperor's private bathroom, it has everything you need... Or are you just surprised by all this?"

"That's normal. I was also taken aback when I first came here. After all, who would have thought that a bathroom for one person could be so spacious? But once you've tried this place, you won't want to go for any other bathroom..."

The other person continued talking fluently, their expression calm and friendly, just like every other conversation they had had before, without any difference. But that nagging feeling of dread lingered, growing stronger and stronger, like cold steel pressed against his spine, until he finally could not bear it any longer.

Where did she go?

"Hmm? Who are you asking about?... Are you referring to those capable assistants under your phone? Or are you talking about Christina? -- I've arranged for them to be in a more suitable place; today it's just you and me here."

The emperor in the pool smiled, but this smile contained a subtle provocation and charm, completely different from her usual majesty. But it was precisely because of this that it was so captivating, almost irresistible.

"Clautina, my friend, my Majesty...where is she?"

Are you kidding me?

The other person's brow furrowed even deeper, and even Thesolius wondered if he was going mad... but some intuition, something from his heart, urged him to continue speaking:

"I'm not joking. Whoever you are, you're clearly not an ordinary person, so you should understand what I mean: let's stop playing these games... Where is she?"

The other person's expression stiffened, and an ominous feeling began to gather on his face. In this country, this was a symbol of bloodshed and violence, often meaning that someone would shed blood and be punished, enough to make many people tremble with fear... and enough that he was familiar with it, so familiar that he couldn't help but feel a slight self-doubt.

But then, just as hot water washes away the snow, his expression, which was about to turn angry, quickly melted away, and a smile as warm as the spring sun appeared on his lips. However, this did not make him lower his guard at all; instead, he subconsciously took a step back.

The emerald green water was illuminated by the molten gold light, and the emperor's newly opened eyes seemed to burn with the sun, radiating intense light and heavy majesty. An unimaginable sense of oppression washed over him like the ocean. In an instant! The surrounding marble mosaic tiles began to shatter one after another, centered on the pool. The crisp cracking sounds were incessant.

It was as if the magnificent bathroom had been trampled by dozens of war elephants; in the blink of an eye, it was a complete mess. The once sturdy and durable tiles and marble pillars were now riddled with terrible cracks. Only the clear, turquoise water remained unchanged, now being gently scooped up by a fair hand and then trickling down the cracks.

When did you make that decision?

Every word resounded like the striking of a great bell, making him dizzy. Something ethereal and divine made the words sound like they weren't spoken by a human being, and it made it impossible for the listener to feel any will to disobey.

He had never faced such a challenge before, but it wasn't insurmountable. So, after taking his third deep breath, he forced himself to lift his head and look at the other person.

"Now."

"Oh...so you weren't even sure if I was the emperor you knew, haha, aren't you afraid she'll be angry about that? After all, no matter how sentimental an emperor is, he's still an emperor, a monster driven by power."

Tesorius shrugged slightly:

"Maybe a little... but she will forgive me, and she is by no means a power-driven monster... rather, you want to turn her into a monster."

The "emperor" turned his head in surprise, but his reaction was slightly exaggerated.

"It seems you already know who I am."

"Of course, after all, you didn't mean to hide anything just now, and I'm not stupid enough not to see it by now."

Chapter 525: The End (4)

"Hum~"

The man with the face of an emperor chuckled softly, while Tersolius remained cautiously in place... Although he knew it was futile, his instincts were still driving him.

"Then what are you still standing there for? If I really want to do something, do you think you can run away? You might as well be honest and come over and have a proper talk with me."

Tersolius was taken aback at first, then relaxed, all his muscles went at once, and he walked forward calmly. In the process, he took off his sandals, but under the teasing gaze of the other party, he couldn't bring himself to take off his clothes as well, so he simply jumped in, splashing a bunch of water.

The emerald green pool water was not just hot spring water flowing from the depths of the earth; it also contained herbs added by the physicians. He didn't know what their effects were, but they certainly wouldn't do any harm... The most obvious one was the pleasant, faint fragrance, enough to make one feel relaxed and refreshed without being distracting.

The perfect temperature permeated his skin and bones, almost irresistibly relaxing him. His bones were practically creaking – the fatigue accumulated from long battles wouldn't completely disappear, but rather lingered in his bones, only spreading out like clotted blood clinging to a blade at this moment.

"...So, are you really a god?"

After a few brief breaths and a few words, he asked a rather subtle question, which the other person seemed to have anticipated, maintaining their playful smile:

"To be precise, I am not. I am not omniscient or omnipotent... I am just a being at a higher level than you, possessing greater power, observing the world from a completely different perspective, and even existing in a different way within time. But my power is ultimately limited."

"But at the same time, I do know a lot of things, such as some of your interesting memories... from another world."

Thesolius's hand jerked upwards suddenly, then slowly relaxed:

"I knew this couldn't be hidden from someone like you, after all, a soul from another world would be quite conspicuous."

"Another world?... That's true and it's not. Your soul doesn't come from another world; it's a native of this world. So you don't need to think of yourself as some kind of 'transmigrator' who is not accepted by the world."

"How could this be... I clearly remember what happened before I came here..."

"That's because you exist in both worlds, Tersolius... or rather, Xu Ning. The time you experienced was exactly the same. You are both Tersolius and Xu Ning, essentially no different. It's just that you come from a peaceful and prosperous world, so you didn't develop the temperament and skills of Tersolius."

"But you are him, and he is you... Your current state is more like the consequence of an accident."