Chapter 62: Seventh Episode: Chapter 7 (2/2)

”Murat, my division commander, we must do something now!”

”Yes, sir!” Murat pulled the tent flap back with a smile, ”I have already prepared for you, Your Imperial Highness!”

All the knights who didn’t participate in the assault teams gathered in front of the tent, their eyes wide open, their ears eager, as if afraid they might miss even a word.

”…Ranger Sergeant Gere Syston, Marksman Staff Sergeant Marius, Heavy Cavalry Captain Crody and First Lieutenant Sean, Infantry Staff Sergeant Roddiste, Staff Sergeant Boarson, Sergeant Rayleigh, Cavalry Division Commander Paladin Colonel Arcan…” Murat checked his list again after reading them out loud.

”So then, officers whose names have been called, fall out. You will be the Fourteenth Assault Team, I will be the commander, my deputy will be Colonel Arcan, His Imperial Highness the Prince and Lieutenant Colonel de Barry of Traisen Front will be overseeing the operation. Any questions?”

”No, sir!” The newly formed Fourteenth Assault Team answered.

”Good! You have five minutes to do a final check of your gears, we will leave after eight minutes. Move, move, move!” Murat clapped his hands together as he ordered.

The knights rushed into their own tents, knowing the Fourteenth Assault Team was basically the elite team from the division, gathering soldiers of all arms. It’s time for the final battle.

Murat dragged Oscar aside and squatted on the ground, he started sketching things Oscar wasn’t able to understand. The deputy, Paladin Colonel Arcan and Lieutenant Colonel of Traisen Front also joined in, forming a circle.

”We’re here.” Murat placed a pebble onto the sketch. ”And the Persians are… here, somewhere, and moving toward the east of the mountain range.”

The Cavalry Division Commander Colonel Arcan understood the sketch perfectly, all these were explanation for the Prince.

”Your Highness, we have nine Blockage Teams surrounding the enemies,” Paladin Arcan drew a circle around the pebbles representing the Persians. ”This doesn’t mean we have surrounded them though. To avoid unnecessary losses, their mission is just to limit the enemies’ movements and stop possible breakthroughs.”

”Then are we going to ask them to shrink the enclosure?” Oscar looked at the sketch, then at the Cavalry Commander of Red Tiger Division.

”Mm… I’m here for Division Commander Murat’s opinion.”

Murat shook his head after contemplated for a while. ”No, all our actions were based on the safety of our men and the annihilation of our enemies. We don’t need to give them more stress when we are so close to winning, I’m worried they might make an unpredictable move in the frenzy of seeing our forces closing in.”

”That’s one possibility.” Paladin Arcan nodded, ”Our men has yet to completely block off the whole mountainous area, if the Persians choose to breakthrough from a single direction, or if they break up into small teams and breakthrough separately, we won’t be able to wipe out every single one of them.”

”That’s right.” Lieutenant Colonel de Barry participated in several pursuit missions, but there’s a question he never fully understood, ”Why haven’t they done so? Wouldn’t it be easier to breakthrough if they split up? Some of them would’ve escaped, at least.”

”No,” Oscar shook his head, ”The Black Belt Warrior had been badly injured, I’m guessing he wasn’t even able to move his sword, furthermore, they have a very important lady in their ranks, that’s why they chose to breakthrough as a group, if they split up, these two would definitely be caught up.”

”So then… let’s move out!” Murat and Oscar exchanged glances.

”That’s right, let’s move out!” O’Neil Andrew Morisette raised his head in excitement.

***************

The sun withdrew its last ray of sunshine, plunging the sky into a dark maroon. As the avians landed to rest, nocturnal animals started to roam.

The mountains were peaceful and calm. No breeze, no pleasing noises. Wild bees were still fighting to gather their last drop of honey of the day. As they swarm past the warhorses from above, the unsettling sound of them buzzing frightened the extra sensitive warhorses, raising their hair. A populous amount of danger lurks within the woods, like the mudhole at the bottom of the century-old tree, one of the most dangerous animals in the Narcissus County, a grizzly bear! Even the fiercest of warriors wouldn’t disturb the beast on their patrols.

The bear had just finished a satisfying honey meal, it was even happy they bees attacked. This pests had just the right amount of stingers to relieve it of the itches it felt. The Red Tiger Division, Fourteenth Assault Team navigated carefully through the grizzly bear’s territory, they followed the tracks left behind by the scouts on tree trunks and stones. The knights stayed quiet in tacit agreement. They all knew, the final battlefield was becoming closer.

There were no roads in the mountains, the views were relatively similar as well, but it didn’t deter the knights, the scouts had left marks at every important turn, arrow signs made of wooden planks. Wherever they point toward, that would be the path to take.

Murat had hidden himself under the metal armor. He looked at the darkening sky, before spotting the fiery gleam from the depth of the forest.

The division commander raised his shield , followed by an arrow shooting out of the woods, planting itself on the shield. Murat removed the parchment attached on the end. It listed the newest activities their enemies have been doing. The division commander didn’t show any expression after he read it, he only waved his metal-covered arm. Wordlessly, the knights started increasing their speed.

Riding a horse in the woods was a very risky activity, even the best riders among the Narcissus Knights couldn’t go full throttle in it. Due to its unpredictability, no matter what training they have undergone, the warhorses couldn’t shake off their timidity, a boulder, or even a wild animal would give the horses a good scare, and the knights riding said horse wouldn’t have a good time either.

The Fourteenth Assault Team controlled their horses’ speed, they navigated across gullies, boulders and broken wood. The team of knights don’t have a strict formation, it’s almost as if they only cruise through the woods casually, but if one took notice, it would have been observed that the knights in the outer circle were mostly carrying melee weapons, while knights with ranged weapons mostly stick together.

Oscar didn’t have a terrific horseriding skill, even though his own Raytheon scoffs at the horses trotting in front of it, its master kept pulling it back.

”Will we be left behind if we keep on this speed?” Oscar was a little worried, but he still didn’t intend to let his stallion go at its full speed.

”Sir, you have a reason to worry, but this can’t be helped. We don’t need to chase after the knights who had practically lived half their lives on their horses, besides, you need to worry about your own safety.” Lieutenant Colonel de Barry of Traisen Front offered his consolation.

”Oh right, but this is depressing.” Oscar said as he stroked Raytheon’s silky black mane.

Lieutenant Colonel de Barry watched as the last of the assault team disappeared in the woods, and sighed. ”To be honest, sir, this does feel kind of depressing. However, for maximum safety, we should go slow.”

”We can only do that, don’t we?” Oscar muttered in frustration. He didn’t realized he’s actually done quite well. To master horsemanship is not a simple task, moreover Oscar’s horse is famed for its unique temperament and difficulty to tame.

There were twelve Narcissus Knights who were guarding Oscar, including seven melee knights, three archers, a sniper, and a Paladin-to-be. They were scanning the surrounding cautiously, advancing in a tight formation. Every knight had been given a list of duties to perform, for example, as the rear melee unit, Sergeant Menke had to be constantly aware of the group’s back, so he frequently turned around to check.

A rope descended from the trees above, it lifted the hulking knight from his horse as Menke turned around yet again. Without a sound, Menke’s hanging body was rendered lifeless. His warhorse detected something wrong, but its dim-witted brain couldn’t comprehend what was happening without its master, so it marched on with the horses in front.

On the middle left were two agile melee knights, one of them wielded a broadsword, and the other had javelins filled his pouches on both sides of his horse. The two knights didn’t detect anything wrong, but they heard the blowguns that Persians always use when they ambush!

It’s too late! It was already too late when they turned their heads! Two poison needles about four centimeters long had embedded themselves into the two knights’ necks, releasing a neurotoxin that almost immediately paralyzed their nervous systems. The knights were still on their horses, not even their partners could tell they were losing their lives slowly.

”Sir, would it be possible for us to meet that impressive follower of yours?” Lieutenant Colonel de Barry suddenly thought about the mysterious man who called himself ‘Snowstorm’. He wasn’t sure if that was his real name or nickname.

”You haven’t heard of him?” Oscar was a little surprised. ”That’s weird! I thought people would be scared away as soon as they heard his name! Kamille Rayen did!”

”Snowstorm? Is he really that famous?” de Barry considered for a bit, ”I guess it makes sense, if it weren’t for his tracking skills, we would’ve lost them, you know? We actually only have one scout, the others were just communication officers who were in charge of passing the messages.”

”I know that,” Oscar nodded. He wasn’t surprised, those Persians wouldn’t be able to shake off the King of Assassins.

”Dory!” A scream broke out in the woods.

Oscar turned around on instinct and saw the outermost knight scraping by a tree branch, and suddenly fell from his horse with no foreboding injury! All the knights were stunned, but only for a moment!

”Enemi-” The first knight who yelled was also the first one to get hit, his throat was sliced open with a scimitar before he could finish.

Oscar spaced out, looking at the flying scimitar! His stallion started to spin in circles as soon as it felt a tension.

”Protect His Imperial Highness!”

”Tighten the formation!”

The Knights’ scream tore open the forest’s peacefulness, the sky seemed to darken, and time in this blood-strewn ground slowed down.

Oscar drew his machete and de Barry brandished his lance, still calm, even though they had no idea where the attacks came from.

The sniper located one of the attackers and shot an arrow, which hit and fell a humanoid shadow fully wrapped in leaves. To that, the forest growled!

The Persians’ roared suddenly, they appeared out of thin air surrounding the guarding formation! Oscar had forgotten to think, he only saw a sky full of flying blades and chains.

”This is the counterattack?” Oscar moaned, they really are specific! He had his machete up and stared at the direction of the attacks.

The Prince started to feel the difficulty handling the attacks when he knocked away the sixth chained sword. His eyes were not enough, because the attacks come from all directions. Oscar had no time to be distracted, but he could still hear his knights yell as they were hit by their killing blows.

”The most dangerous attacks come from the back!” Oscar had never forgotten Thirteen’s teachings, in this critical period, his senses could easily capture the silhouette that leapt from behind him.

His machete had been waiting, but the situation changed, two arrows flanked him with high speed, his opponents were experienced killers, they would not let their enemies take their time!

Oscar sighed in his heart, in that instant, he had thought about thousands of possible tactics, but none of them could get him away from the attack behind him.

The arrows had arrived, and the Prince’s machete slashed at them accurately, but Oscar immediately became confused, the critical attack from behind didn’t hit him as he predicted. However, the warmth of blood splattered upon his neck, seemingly ending everything he had ever known of.

”De Barry!” Oscar held the jousting champion who was about to fall. The champion had nothing on his hands, while his abdomen was embedded with a shamshir.

”De Barry…” The teenager had utterly zoned out, all these for him?

”Your Highness!” A silhouette of pure black appeared in the battlefield, and within a second, all sounds had muted. The battle had finished, miserable grunts had silenced. Snowstorm stood alone on a patch of grass, his sword glistening with the ruby glint of blood.

”Am I too late?”

”No! Dammit! Not the time for this!” Oscar knew danger had passed. As soon as Snowstorm appeared, no amount of danger would hurt Oscar. The teenager started screeching, ”Snowstorm, help! Oh god! Help de Barry!”

”Your Highness…” De Barry’s face was pale as ash, his forehead was glimmering with drops of sweat as large as beans, he could feel his life force leaving his body, ”Hoho, Your Imperial Highness… That idiot thought your back was vulnerable!”

”Yes! Yes!” Oscar grinned, but he knew his tears was streaming down his face, ”Yes, my dear de Barry, you’re my final line of defense, I can’t let you go just like that.”

”Of course… Your Highness… I was the de Barry who won… five times in a row… even though… with only one pierce!” de Barry’s eyes started wavering as he stared at his lance.

Oscar followed his gaze, the lance had spiked through the sneaking Persian and nailed him on a tree.

”That’s right… that’s a… a very good pierce!” The Prince couldn’t help but shook as he held the dying Narcissus Knight in his arms.

Translator’s Notes:

1. China uses Celsius, so that’s 104°F.