Lord of Rot

Leech was clad in plate armor, a 200-pound greatsword on his back. Only the Horse-headed Eagle Rocket could bear such a weight.

Following behind him were ten nobles, also in plate armor and mounted on warhorses.

Their plate armor was not only highly protective but also adorned with exquisite and intricate patterns.

Further back were 30 musket cavalry and 300 fully armed infantrymen.

The supply wagons brought up the rear.

Gunpowder, ammunition, and dry rations were all aboard.

There was also a very strange wooden crate that no one could figure out the purpose of.

Turnip, as the standard-bearer, led the column forward, holding the Porcupine Banner high.

Although the recent road repairs hadn’t yet connected the three villages to the castle, the first half of the road from Iron Wall Castle was very smooth, greatly increasing their marching speed.

The force left Iron Valley.

A corpse bird flew out first, circled twice in the sky, then lowered its altitude to scout the nearest dock.

At the nearest dock in Waterfall Land, which bordered Iron Valley, a Monkey Banner had already been raised.

The entire dock had been shut down, leaving only rows of moored ferry boats.

Twenty-some soldiers were patrolling, but other than them, there wasn’t another living soul in sight.

"The dock in Waterfall Land has been occupied," Leech said, turning to the young nobles. "There are only about twenty enemies. Our main objective is to retake the dock."

"Yes, sir!" the ten young nobles replied in unison.

With only twenty-some enemy soldiers, it was natural to let the elite nobles strike first to get things off to a good start.

Their warhorses stepped forward in neat formation to the front of the column.

They raised their hands to their visors and snapped them shut.

CLANK.

The perforated steel visors covered their entire faces.

"HYAH!"

The troop charged out.

The distance was short, and since it was on a dock, the charge wasn’t ideal.

But no matter how suboptimal the conditions, ten noble cavalrymen in full plate armor, mounted on barded warhorses, were the most invincible force of their era.

The string of hoofbeats created a deafening, thunderous roar.

They closed the distance at a trot.

The defending Monkey Soldiers reacted quickly, but as they rushed out with weapons raised, they were met with the sight of the noble heavy cavalry kicking up clouds of dust!

Charge!

The distance closed in an instant.

A lance struck a Monkey Soldier in the chest, prying apart the scales of his armor!

The lance didn’t stop, caving in the man’s ribs.

The Soldier was sent flying by the force of the impact, soaring into the air as if riding the clouds.

THUD!

He landed on the ground and moved no more.

The other noble cavalrymen each sent at least one man flying.

One charge, and bodies were sent flying everywhere!

Observing from the sky through the eyes of the corpse bird, Leech watched as his ten noble cavalrymen effortlessly smashed through the ranks of the garrisoned Monkey Soldiers, halving the enemy’s numbers.

He could monitor the changing tide of battle in real time.

The mounted noble cavalrymen didn’t pull back or prepare for another charge. They simply dropped their lances, drew the Longswords at their waists, and began to slash.

A Monkey Soldier raised his shield with one hand and tried to stab with the single-handed sword in his other, but found the warhorse moved too erratically for him to get a clean shot. Whenever he tried to attack the horse, the noble on its back would bring his sword down with immense force.

CLANG!

He quickly raised his shield to block. The downward strike slammed into it, and the impact alone made his shield arm go numb.

The Soldier tried to use his shield to block while stabbing at the noble on horseback from the side.

It was a good idea, and he succeeded.

But it only resulted in another CLANG.

His stab had found its mark, but his opponent was wearing plate armor; his sword couldn’t inflict even a scratch.

NEIGH! The warhorse spun around, forcing the startled Soldier to back away.

Seizing the moment his shield was down, the Longsword struck.

A head was lopped off.

The entire battle lasted only a few minutes. It was a complete rout, a total domination in equipment, skill, and even unit type.

It would have been strange if it had lasted any longer.

Once he confirmed the dock was secured, Leech approached with his soldiers.

A noble cavalryman, wiping his Longsword with a piece of leather, said, "My lord, we have a prisoner."

Leech looked at the trembling Monkey Soldier kneeling on the ground.

"Where are the people from the dock?" he asked.

The Soldier replied, "They... they were all killed."

"Is that so."

Leech nodded, drew the serrated sword from his waist, and said to the nobles around him, "The enemy outnumbers us several times over, and we can’t spare any men to guard prisoners. Our marching speed would be severely affected. Therefore..."

With a flick of his wrist, his serrated sword slid effortlessly into the prisoner’s neck.

THUD. The head hit the ground, its face still holding a look of relief, as if the man had believed he would surely survive as a prisoner.

Blood gushed from the clean cut on his neck.

"...we take no prisoners!"

Leech immediately commandeered the ferries at the dock. They didn’t linger, but boarded the boats and headed north toward Longship Castle.

Just as the ferries were departing, the wooden crate that Leech had specifically ordered to be left at the dock suddenly shook.

CRACK! The crate split open.

Water spilled out of the crate and flowed into the river.

A golden figure slipped into the river along with the water.

Once in the water, the golden figure dove deeper, completely concealing itself, then swam quickly to catch up with Leech’s flotilla of ferries.

...

「Waterfall Land, Longship Castle.」

Yi Lin stood on the castle wall, clad in armor, gazing at the distant enemy encampment, where smoke rose from cooking fires.

’There are two thousand elite soldiers out there!’

It was said the Monkey Territory could mobilize tens of thousands of militiamen for a war in a single day. For some reason, they hadn’t been sent. But these two thousand elites alone were enough to drive Longship Castle to despair.

With Guy’s help, she and her sister had worked desperately to restore order in Waterfall Land and had accelerated the training of their soldiers, but they had only managed to raise a force of 300 men.

The quality of the troops was uneven.

They had been besieged for several days now. The food supply within Longship Castle could still hold out, but the blow to morale was becoming unbearable.

Yi Lin could only hope that Baron Porcupine, for the sake of the child in Lady Jie Lin’s womb, would come to their aid.

’Even if he really comes, it’ll be useless.’

No matter how rapidly Baron Porcupine had developed his territory, he couldn’t possibly raise a two-thousand-man army in such a short time. If he scraped together a militia to send over, they would just be cannon fodder.

She was torn, hoping Leech would come, yet fearing he would only be coming to his death.

The one clear advantage was Longship Castle’s excellent geographical position. As long as the drawbridge remained up, the river served as a natural moat. This was the fundamental reason the Monkeys chose to besiege them rather than launch an all-out assault.

In the distance, a man on horseback rode up to the outside of Longship Castle and shouted, "Open the gates and surrender! We will only kill the nobles! The common soldiers will be spared!"

Yi Lin bit her lip and glanced at the Soldier beside her.

The Soldier swallowed nervously.

’This was the worst-case scenario. Although she and her sister had contributed greatly to Waterfall Land, they were still outsiders.’

’No matter how many benefits these Waterfall Land soldiers received, in their hearts, they would only ever respect the bloodline of the Wados.’

’I hope Sister gives birth to the child soon.’ She looked toward the castle keep, her gaze seeming to transcend space to see the tormented figure struggling in labor on the bed.

’Once the child is born, the soldiers’ morale will be boosted, and they might be able to hold on longer.’

’I am on the battlefield outside, and my sister is on the battlefield of childbirth.’

’We both have to fight for our lives to survive.’

WHOOSH—!

An arrow flew from the castle wall and stuck in the ground before the horse’s hooves.

The warhorse shook its head nervously.

The mounted soldier sneered. "Fine! Then wait for us to breach Longship Castle and slaughter everyone inside!"

He turned and rode away.

Yi Lin turned her head and saw that the archer was Guy.

She rushed over and demanded, "What do you think you’re doing?"

’If we drag this out longer, maybe Leech will actually arrive.’

’Guy’s arrow had provoked the enemy. If the Monkeys chose to storm the castle now, she didn’t know if Longship Castle could hold.’

"The Lord is already here," Guy said. "We don’t need to wait any longer."

"He’s here?" Yi Lin asked, confused.

SCREE—!

A sharp, piercing cry tore through the sky above Longship Castle.

The soldiers instinctively looked up.

Even in the Monkey Clan’s encampment, some of the soldiers looked up at the sound.

There really was something in the sky!

It was an eagle-headed Flying Horse with its wings spread wide. On its back was a figure in full plate armor, carrying what looked like a large iron slab.

"Is that... Lord Leech?" Yi Lin asked, her voice trembling.

Leech had actually arrived, riding a Flying Horse!

She didn’t know how to describe the feeling, but it was the same as when Leech had arrived to break the siege of Longship Castle by Wado Eighteen’s Refugees.

Upon seeing him appear, Yi Lin felt an unprecedented sense of relief.

WHOOSH—!

The Horse-headed Eagle lowered its altitude, diving to land on the walls of Longship Castle.

The fierce wind from its wings forced the nearby soldiers to squint.

Leech spoke directly to Yi Lin. "Have all soldiers prepare to sally out and meet the enemy!"

"Meet the enemy?"

’Just Leech alone? Even if he can fly, can he kill all two thousand elites out there by himself?’

Yi Lin said, "My lord, the disparity in our numbers and equipment compared to the enemy is immense. If we charge out, we might..."

’...be completely annihilated.’

Such a demoralizing statement was something Yi Lin couldn’t possibly say out loud, so she bit her tongue and swallowed the words.

But everyone present understood what she meant.

"How many men did you bring?"

"300," Leech said. He paused, then added a single word: "Elites."

’300 elites against 2,000 elites?’

Yi Lin said, "If you could draw away a portion of the Monkey Soldiers’ forces, perhaps we could first break the siege on Longship Castle."

"No need for all that trouble." Leech was supremely confident. "Don’t worry. We will win."

Horse-headed Eagle Rocket leaped from the wall. Amidst the gasps of the surrounding soldiers, it caught an updraft and rose quickly into the sky, flapping its wings.

In the blink of an eye, he was gone, soaring over the Monkey encampment.

’How could one man on a Flying Horse possibly fend off a siege by 2,000 elites?’

A Soldier exclaimed, "My lady, look!"

Yi Lin turned to look. In the distance, a banner appeared first—the Porcupine Banner.

Following the standard-bearer’s silhouette was a troop of elite, armored soldiers.

They stopped a couple of miles from the Monkey encampment and formed up in several rows. The first two rows were a shield wall of soldiers; what was behind them was unclear.

"’Are they planning to face the Monkey Clan’s cavalry head-on? How can they possibly hold them off!’"

The Monkey Clan had sent 200 Cavalry this time, along with 1,800 elite infantry.

The number of Cavalry alone could easily shatter the 300-man formation of Porcupine Soldiers.

’She really couldn’t imagine how they could win this battle.’

The Monkey Soldiers were already mustering, and their cavalry was preparing to charge. It looked like they intended to eliminate Leech’s soldiers first. Yi Lin immediately ordered, "All hands, prepare to sally out and support them!"

’No matter what, she absolutely could not let Leech and his men die for nothing.’

Besides, when she saw Leech arrive from the sky on his Flying Horse, a powerful confidence in him had taken root in her heart.

’It was as if his arrival guaranteed their victory!’

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