Real Mount and Blade Game

The Holy Tree Knight's mithril armor shimmered faintly in the dim moonlight, like a lighthouse in the darkness, yet its sharpness was concealed by a premonition of evil.

Shen Mu's reconnaissance team—

Ten fifth-tier Holy Tree Knights stood like silent reefs, twenty equally fifth-tier heavily armored Khergit veteran horse archers drew their bows, and thirty swift, wind-like steppe bandits filed out of the fortified east gate of New Rivading, merging into the desolate land severely distorted by darkness and the spirit world.

The air was heavy, filled with a sense of decay. The Khergit warhorses snorted restlessly, while only the Holy Tree Knight's mount remained as calm as a rock.

Their mithril horse armor seemed to soothe the fear of living beings.

Just as Shen Mu had predicted, on the edge of the darkness, several clusters of eerie green soul flames flickered erratically in the distance.

Five towering skeleton cavalrymen, clad in grotesque bone armor and riding warhorses that were nothing but massive skeletons, wandered aimlessly behind the sand dunes.

Their empty eye sockets scanned their surroundings, but they clearly failed to detect the elite humans who had deliberately concealed their presence.

"Target confirmed, Khergit horse archer, fifty paces ahead, cone-shaped arrows, free scatter, three volleys of rapid fire." Shen Mu's voice was deep and clear, transmitted through simple communication hand gestures.

The twenty experienced Khergit horse archers moved swiftly and in unison.

Their heavy lamellar armor made almost no clanging sound, and their blackened composite bows had long been replaced with specially made three-edged armor-piercing arrows.

The deep, powerful vibration of the bowstring was almost drowned out by the sound of the wind.

Twenty powerful arrows tore through the air, precisely covering the area where the skeleton cavalry were located!

"Whoosh—Pfft! Crack!"

Dull impacts and the sound of bones cracking rang out in rapid succession!
These armor-piercing spikes, imbued with the powerful arm strength of Khergit warriors, demonstrated an overwhelming advantage against bone armor.

The powerful impact instantly pierced through the relatively weak bone plate joint, shattering the cervical vertebrae, ribs, and pelvis!
After a volley of arrows, the three skeleton cavalrymen, along with their horses, shattered on the ground, their eerie green soul flames flickering violently before abruptly going out.

Although the remaining two bodies were not immediately destroyed, their torsos or mounts were riddled with piercing arrows, and their movements became noticeably stiff and erratic.

"Round Two!"

Shen Mu commanded, "Ice Cold."

Without pausing, the Khergit warriors unleashed another twenty deadly black shadows.

This time, the precise follow-up shot completely ended the remaining enemy forces.

The shattered white bones lay scattered on the sand, and the five clusters of eerie green soul flames completely dissipated, leaving only crooked bone armor remains and a few bone weapons in their place.

"Sir, target cleared," the lead Khergit horse archer reported in a low voice.

The victory came cleanly and decisively, at zero cost.

However, every Holy Tree Knight in the team was even more tense.

Beneath their helmets, their azure eyes scanned the deeper darkness with sharp intensity, and the faint glow of their mithril armor seemed to grow even more vigilant.

Shen Mu frowned as well. The shooting just now seemed...too easy?

Kujit's archery skills were undoubtedly superb, but as a bone-armored cavalryman who even Bestur found troublesome, he shouldn't have been shot dead without resistance at a distance of fifty paces.

Just as Shen Mu was concentrating on sensing, a Holy Tree Knight positioned at the front suddenly shouted: "Evil! Ahead! Ambush!"

Almost the instant he spoke, a chilling scene unfolded!
A low sand dune less than a hundred paces from where the skeleton riders had been shot down seemed to come alive without any warning!

The soft sand churned and bulged violently, and dozens or even more ordinary skeleton warriors struggled to "break out of the ground"!
Although their movements were not extremely fast, they appeared very suddenly and had a clear target—they did not rush towards the reconnaissance team, but as they stood up, they hurled their rusty swords, broken spears, and even stones at Shen Mu's mounted archer squad!

At the same time, from several hidden sand pits, three skeleton cavalrymen, also clad in bone armor but with more robust builds and wielding huge bone hammers, suddenly leaped out!

The soul fire in their eye sockets was not an ordinary ghostly green, but a chilling dark red!

The three hammer-wielding cavalrymen were targeting the Khergit horse archers who had just finished firing and were now redrawing their bows!

The enemy's tactics became clear instantly.

Five cannon fodder are used as bait to attract ranged fire and expose the archer's position. Ordinary skeletons lurk and approach to launch disruptive throwing attacks. The real killing move is three powerful bone armor cavalry that are lurking deeper and waiting for the right moment to launch a thunderous attack during the archer's most threatening and vulnerable attack gap!
Their tactical ruthlessness far surpasses the chaotic instincts of low-level undead!

"Bandits, spread out on the right flank! Archers, counterattack the enemy infantry! Kujit, sheath your bows, draw your swords and retreat!" Shen Mu reacted with lightning speed: "Holy Tree Knights! Charge with me! Target: Giant Hammer Cavalry! Shield formation!"

Upon receiving the order, the well-trained elite troops of the legion immediately carried it out.

Like a flock of startled birds, the thirty grassland bandits instantly scattered to the right flank of the column. As they nimbly created distance, they nocked arrows with their short bows and unleashed a rapid volley that accurately covered the group of skeleton infantrymen who were throwing weapons.

Although it could not inflict devastating damage, it successfully disrupted their attack rhythm, preventing them from establishing sustained long-range suppression.

The twenty experienced Khergit horse archers displayed the qualities expected of elite veterans. The moment they heard the order to "draw their swords and retreat," they drew their bowstrings, pulled out their Khergit scimitars hanging from their saddles, spurred their horses on, and spurred them back in unison to increase the distance between themselves and the charging giant hammer cavalry.

At the same time, Shen Mu and the ten Holy Tree Knights around him were like ten mithril colossi that had suddenly been activated!

"For the Holy Tree!" The leading Holy Tree Knight roared in a deep, thunderous voice, his mithril lance pointing straight ahead.

Ten lances, radiating a divine glow, were simultaneously laid flat, and ten heavy mithril kite shields instantly formed an indestructible, silver-glowing mobile wall on their left arms!

The ten men moved as one, their hooves suddenly accelerating, transforming into a silver torrent as they charged head-on against the three giant bone riders wielding massive bone hammers and exuding a violent aura of death!

"boom--!!!"

The dull, soul-shaking impact instantly drowned out all the fighting!

The Holy Tree Knight's mithril kite shield slammed into the undead cavalry's massive bone hammer!

The expected shield shattering and death did not occur! A piercing tearing and scraping sound accompanied by a dense burst of sparks rang out! Mithril's amplifying effect against evil damage was on full display at this moment!

The Bone Knight's massive bone hammer, imbued with immense power, struck the mithril shield. Instead of breaking it, the shield melted and charred at the point of contact, much like a branding iron meeting ice and snow.
The mithril shield is incredibly smooth, and most of the enormous impact is dispersed by the exquisite force-dissipating techniques and the shield array, while a small portion of the force is consumed and offset by the mithril's own holy burning effect on evil energy!
The Holy Tree Knights' lances, with unparalleled precision, pierced out from the gaps in the shields like venomous snakes the instant the shields clashed!
These spear tips, coated with mithril, effortlessly pierced the seemingly sturdy breastbone and ribs of the Great Hammer Bone Rider!
Like ice water poured with boiling oil, the pierced bone armor and bones emitted thick black smoke and made a sizzling corrosion sound!
"Roar!!!"

The dark red soul flames in the eye sockets of the three giant hammer-wielding bone riders flickered wildly, emitting silent, twisted roars!

Their power was severely weakened by the suppression of mithril and holy power!

One of them was pierced in the core of the sternum by two lances at the same time. The bones were charred and shattered over a large area. After struggling violently, the soul fire was extinguished with a "poof". The heavy skeleton collapsed with a crash! The other two were also severely injured, and their bone hammer swings seemed powerless.

But that’s not the end.

A Holy Tree Knight, positioned at the innermost edge of the charge, rammed into an enemy and destroyed one of their riders, while simultaneously drawing his mithril-wrapped right hand with lightning speed from the knight's sword hanging on the side of his mount!

The knight's sword, imbued with the full power of a fifth-tier knight and an extreme hatred for evil, flashed like a thunderbolt, striking the head of another giant hammer-wielding bone knight who was being pierced by a lance and attempting to retaliate!

“Crack—crash!”

The head, which was restrained by the power of the sacred tree, was instantly cleaved in two!

The dark red soul fire exploded and dissipated instantly, like a light bulb being smashed!

The blade continued its momentum, smashing and slicing through arm bones and sternum, completely destroying the upper body of the skeletal cavalryman!
Only the lonely lower body skeleton and the broken bone horse remained in the same place.

The charging formation of ten knights almost effortlessly crushed the three bone-armored cavalrymen!

In a single clash, thanks to the superior equipment, perfect teamwork, and the restraint of divine power, three enemies were instantly annihilated!

Our side suffered no casualties! The team broke through the undead's carefully designed counterattack like a wedge.

Shen Mu did not join the core clash of the charge. Instead, he rode his horse to the rear of the formation, his sharp gaze sweeping across the entire battlefield.

The Khergit archers had already completed their retreat and regrouping at the same time the Holy Tree Knights launched their charge.

Under the sustained pressure of the bandits' archers, the ordinary skeleton infantry, though numerous, were slow-moving and weak in attack, posing no real threat. On the contrary, it was the rear of the column…

"Squeak—!"

A sharp, piercing, teeth-grinding twang of a bowstring suddenly came from the deeper darkness! The target was aimed directly at the flank of the Holy Tree Knights, who had just completed their charge and were not yet fully dispersed!
They're skeleton archers!
At least an elite archer clad in skeletal armor! This incredibly long-range arrow was aimed at the weakest point in the Holy Tree Knights' formation!
A close call!
One of the outer Holy Tree Knights, with his keen sense of foreseeing evil, instantly sensed the deadly threat locking onto him. Almost instinctively, he swerved his mithril shield sharply in the direction of the approaching threat!
"clang--!!!"

A thick, heavy bone arrow, its arrowhead gleaming with an eerie, cold light, slammed into the edge of the mithril shield, which had just been deflected, like a battering ram!
The immense force caused the heavy mithril shield to tremble violently!
The arrow tip grazed the edge of the shield, sending up a trail of blinding sparks and leaving a deep scratch!

Although it failed to penetrate, the powerful impact caused the Holy Tree Knight to lurch to the side on his horse, nearly falling off!

His companions immediately spurred their horses closer and used their shields to protect his flanks.

"Stealth! There's a high-level undead archer lurking in the shadows!"

Shen Mu's voice was filled with icy anger, and his eyes, like those of a hawk, locked onto the general direction from which the arrows were coming from the darkness.

He did not order a pursuit of the hidden sniper.

This precise long-range strike, along with the complete tactical chain of decoy-lurking-counterattack-sneak attack that was just revealed, all clearly demonstrate one point.

Behind the army of the undead, there is indeed a command core with considerable wisdom and great battlefield insight!

This commander is calm and ruthless, knowing how to use low-level cannon fodder to wear down and probe, and then use elite units to find an opportunity for a fatal blow.

"Retreat! Use the bandit's arrow rain to cover the skeletons and provide cover for the rear! Khergit, Sacred Tree, maintain formation and take turns providing cover as you withdraw from the battlefield! Target: New Rivadin!"

Shen Mu decisively issued the order to retreat.

The reconnaissance objective of this operation has been achieved.

This confirms that there is indeed an elite, terrifying, and intelligent undead force capable of commanding and coordinating combat among them!

It is not advisable to engage the enemy's main force in the dead of night when the enemy situation is unclear, especially since the enemy also possesses ranged attack capabilities that could threaten the Holy Tree Knights.

The value of intelligence far exceeds that of a risky pursuit.

The bandits' arrows rained down even more intensely on the group of ordinary skeletons trying to catch up. Although their lethality was limited, they effectively slowed down their pursuit.

The Holy Tree Knights and the Khergit veteran horse archers calmly retreated in a standard battle group alternating cover formation.

The Khergit horse archers sheathed their scimitars, drew their nomadic bows again, and aimed their cold arrows at the darkness in all directions.

The Holy Tree Knights' mithril shields always formed a solid, mobile barrier, guarding against possible stray arrows or new charges.

When the flickering lights of the city walls of New Rivadin reappeared in his field of vision, Shen Mu glanced back at the shadowy battlefield shrouded in death and darkness.

Night fell deeper, but the evil will hidden behind the bone armor and sand dunes, like a cold, venomous snake, had already locked onto New Rivadin.

The first round of probing clashes between the two sides has ended. The Deherem Legion won a minor tactical victory thanks to its superior preparation and elite combat power. However, a more brutal battle for control of this isolated frontier city has only just begun.

The undead commander's patience and precision foreshadow an even fiercer next round of battle.

He needs to quickly transform this invaluable intelligence, obtained at the cost of his life, into practical defensive countermeasures.

The walls of a fortress can be rebuilt, but against such a cunning and powerful enemy, the advantage of information is sometimes more crucial than steel barriers!

"Just as I suspected, as the Spirit Realm begins to alter the Blue Star world, stronger enemies are appearing faster, more numerous, and more common!" Shen Mu took a deep breath of the decaying air, then flicked the reins, maneuvering his warhorse, and led the team back towards New Rivadin. (End of Chapter)