Chapter 137: Five Golden Knights Infiltrated the Fortress
10 minutes earlier...
"ATTACK!!!"
"KILL THEM!!!"
"DEFEND!!!"
The war cries of thousands of soldiers and knights echoed relentlessly across the battlefield, blending with the constant clash of steel.
CLANG!
SLASH!
BOOM!
Every collision was followed by bloodshed...
Or worse.
Death.
At the front lines, the knights of both armies fought a fierce and brutal battle, neither side willing to yield an inch of ground.
Meanwhile, the Ashenford archers and Aether Cannons maintained a relentless barrage, repeatedly targeting the towering iron fortresses.
Yet the results were far from satisfactory.
Most of the incoming attacks were absorbed by the fortresses deployed defensive shields. Any strike that managed to penetrate the barrier was met by layers of reinforced, enchanted steel, which endured the impacts with little more than a shower of sparks.
CLANG! CLINK! KLANG!
"Keep the formation!"
Osric’s commanding voice rang across the battlefield.
Under his orders, the Blackstone Legions advanced with disciplined precision, using the fortresses as moving cover. They struck at the enemy from behind the protective walls while exposing themselves to only a handful of counterattacks.
With every passing minute, the advantage gradually shifted toward Blackstone, as the iron fortresses continued to dominate the battlefield like unbreakable walls of steel.
The onlookers became surprised after seeing this, and some people even got amazed. "The blackstone strategy sure working good."
One noble descendant commented, on which other nodded, because while Ashenford have lost many high-level powerhouse of Bronze and Silver knights.
Blackstone still retains, most of them. And now each of them becoming helpful.
"Another barrage," one merchant from Ashenford territory, sighed after seeing thousands of arrows released by Bronze knights, which gave them thousands kills among Ashenford armies.
While onlookers were discussing the heated battle among them, Aurora and Sorin had already exchanged many blows, which results both getting injured.
’This turtle.’ Sorin cursed Aurora. As cuts covered his entire body, and blood poured relentlessly from each wound. Yet despite his heavily injured Golden Knight body, he paid no attention to them.
Aurora had also suffered numerous cuts, but unlike Sorin’s, hers bled only slightly.
Her turtle-type body possessed exceptional defensive capabilities, greatly reducing the severity of her injuries.
And due to that, he have hit her many times, but the results, she trades injury with injury.
"Huff..." Aurora, breathing was little rough, due to the intense fight.
But Suddenly she paused ’huh?’ and her face changed slightly to worried, then return back to normal, as earlier action didn’t happen.
Though Sorin was an veteran early golden knight, easily able to notice this. Still he couldn’t able to find the reason of her changed expression.
’Master has left.’ Aurora thought as she steadied her breathing.
Though the very next moment, both she and Sorin abruptly turned their heads toward the Warwalker fortress,
...Or the fortress, which had Luke on it.
***
Soren and other four golden knights, Scar, Fang, Talon, and Rook. Look toward ongoing intense battle with calm gaze, then turn their eyes toward far battlefield.
The battlefield which belongs to Golden knights, where Aurora and Sorin was clashing and each of their attacks results in catastrophic damage.
’They are really early golden knight?’ this thought, immediately comes into Soren mind, after seeing those moves.
Because even he who was once an early golden knight, didn’t have this much strength. Still he shook his head to remove those unnecessary thoughts, and saw that both of them were injured and also had spent quite a bit of aether and stamina.
"This is a perfect moment, Sir." Beside, other golden knights also said this, on which he nodded and soon each of them fixed their masks, then clothes, before turning their gaze toward the Warwalker fortress, which was heavily guarded by 1,000 Bronze knights.
"Remember, kill the hero fast and escape!"
"And no unnecessary battle!"
"Remember, no unnecessary battle at all!."
Soren repeated his last words twice to ensure they heard properly, while giving each of them a deep glare, because he knows that some members, often don’t follow the commands.
Upon hearing this, all four of them nodded casually.
Then each of them uttered a word and the next moment they vanished...or at least that’s what any normal person would see.
"Ghost Step..."
Across the battlefield, the five Golden Knights moved at such astonishing speed that none of the knights present could follow their movements with the naked eye.
Their figures flickered like phantoms, appearing and disappearing across the battlefield.
Even the sounds of their footsteps were almost completely erased by Ghost Step, a C-rank Ascension Series, leaving behind nothing but faint ripples in the air.
Whenever a soldier or knight happened to stand in their path, they simply shifted their footing with uncanny precision, effortlessly sidestepping every obstacle without losing a fraction of their momentum.
To everyone else, it was as though five ghosts were gliding through the battlefield, impossible to catch and even harder to perceive.
So within moments, they reached the main fortress.
The location, where hero was present, without anyone noticing.
But now comes another problems, which was 10m tall fortress wall and the energy shield, on this they didn’t slow even a bit, instead raised their speed while bringing out their black daggers.
’Ghost Blade Strike.’ With one swift motion, the blade became invisible, and the next instant, a small hole appeared on the energy shield, which confused the surrounding Bronze archer knights, but the next moment it got filled by fortress energy, so they didn’t think about much and instead focused on the upcoming enemies.
The assassin Golden Knights didn’t slow down even after passing through the energy shield.
When the fortress wall rose before them, they neither leaped nor collided with it. Instead, they ran straight up the vertical wall and crossed over it as effortlessly as if they were walking on level ground.
After landing inside the fortress, they gave each other this command just by looking ’Find the target.’ and separated to check each corner for the hero.
After searching for a while, they couldn’t able to find Luke, which confused them, and they gave each other a look, which was clearly asking, ’Did you find him?’
On this, others made a slight shake. Seeing this, Soren gave each of them a look. ’Plan B.’
Though, he didn’t want to do that, but for completing their mission, this was necessary.
So next moment it happened.
BOOM!!!
The fortress wall exploded outward.
Reinforced steel plates and shattered debris were hurled in every direction as four Early Golden Knight auras erupted without the slightest restraint.
"Ughhh!!"
Agonized cries echoed through the fortress.
The explosion claimed the lives of several Bronze Knight archers on the spot, while many more were thrown backward, suffering grievous injuries from the shockwave and flying debris.
"Enemies!"
The warning rang out across the fortress.
Nearby knights immediately became alert, unsheathing their weapons and rushing toward the breached wall.
Meanwhile, the surviving Bronze Knight archers quickly retreated to safer positions. Even as they withdrew, many refused to abandon their comrades, carrying the wounded to the rear while others covered their retreat with arrows.
Amidst the billowing smoke and dust, four figures slowly emerged from the shattered breach.
"This!!!"
The onlookers who were enjoying the show, with snacks in their hands, got baffled by the sudden turn of events.
’huh?? does this was also on the script??’ and this thought, came into everyone’s mind.
Nyra, who had been delighted to see the Blackstone Legions gaining the upper hand and worried while watching Aurora battle Sorin, was completely stunned by the sudden appearance of four Golden Knights.
And she was not alone on this, because even other noble descendants, merchants, and strong adventurers, also had the same expression.
"Sis." So Nyra worriedly turned toward Octavia, pleading for help, hoping that she would intervene.
Because the place they had attacked belonged to Luke’s location, which worried her alot.
But Octavia shook her head and said, "I can’t involve myself with this, Nyra. And regarding Luke, If his life is in danger, then I would save him, don’t worry."
Hearing Octavia’s words, didn’t lessen Nyra’s worries at all, so she pleaded again.
On this, Octavia sighed and told her. "Nyra, if you are being worried about Luke, then don’t be."
Upon hearing this, Nyra gave her a speechless look, but before she could say anything, Octavia added another sentence.
"Because it seems he had already anticipated the possibility of a third-party intervention. That’s why he chose to leave the fortress. Otherwise, the attackers wouldn’t have singled him out while attacking everyone else inside."
At this, Nyra felt she was right, and her worry lessened a bit, then a thought came into her mind. ’Sir Luke where are you?’
Sadly, Luke couldn’t hear Nyra’s thoughts, because at this time, he was busy throwing huge moons at a mad giant bear.
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Author note: Huge thanks to Alphawolf3636, Aaron_Stewart_0987 ,BluuuuTea , Zanatox, Souls101 and even more... who have supported this novel so far.
Believe me, if you were not there reading this, then I would also not present here, writing this.
So thanks everyone!!!