Amber Sword

Outside the South Gate of Ampezel Port, a gentle slope extended along the foot of Machinko Mountain, and the undulating black mixed forest came into Brand’s view. The young people from the Royal Knight Academy couldn’t help but cheer in unison. Although the crisis was far from over, the closer step towards freedom lifted everyone’s spirits.

"Finally out." Brand also breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. It was much easier to hide in the forest than to engage in street battles. Especially since Ampezel Port in Erune was considered one of the areas most infiltrated by the Flame Temple, fighting on someone else’s turf always brought a feeling of oppression.

The addition of Count Oting was a pleasant surprise for him. After asking, he understood that the other party had already met Ou Fuwei’er and had made plans. If the Princess’s entourage had chosen to go north, he would have led troops to intercept at the port north of Flada-Pes; but since they chose to go south as they did, the soldiers who had earlier been lying in wait became a wise hidden move.

Oting also brought a Druid Master named Wojtek with him. Brand recognized this person; this Great Druid was a master herbalist living in seclusion near Machinko Mountain in Ampezel, specializing in teaching Master Level herbalism formulas to players. However, Brand was not interested in herbalism; he was interested in the information itself. This Great Druid was not a friend of Oting, but was invited out of seclusion by a letter from Anderson of the Trade Wind Ring. In "Amber Sword," druids mostly remained neutral and rarely intervened in external affairs, just as the Great Elder only agreed to participate in Valhalla’s defense back then.

Now, Anderson actively wrote to intervene in Erune’s internal unrest. It’s unclear whether it was his own intention or the Great Elder’s, although the latter is quite possible. This suggests that the World Ring might already be aware of his existence and to some extent approved of his actions.

This is a great piece of good news. Unlike most people who believed that druids were scattered throughout forests on the borders, communicating through trade wind messages, their power both marginal and formidable—as long as you didn’t provoke them—Brand clearly knew of the existence of the World Ring and the Council of Rings among the druids. Gaining their approval would make many things more convenient in the future.

But the future is still the future; right now, there are significant challenges to overcome. After exchanging a few words, Brand dared not waste any more time and immediately ordered the young people from the Royal Knight Academy to disperse into Flada Forest. He looked up; the Flying Dragon Cavalry of the Southern Army was forming withdrawal sequences in batches, leaving Ampezel’s sky, while the Black Blade Legion was gradually seizing the initiative. The circling Flying Dragon Cavalry had obviously noticed their presence. After leaving the battlefield, some dived in this direction.

The pressure from the overhead attack was immense, and Count Oting’s private soldiers were immediately thrown into a panic. The archers hastily raised their longbows, but Brand doubted whether these guys had judged the distance. In "Amber Sword," the best strategy to deal with flying units is to wait until they enter the dive attack phase before launching an attack; otherwise, it would only waste energy.

"Tell them to stop attacking!" Brand immediately shouted to Count Oting: "Lead them into the forest."

Count Oting also understood that his soldiers lacked experience and feared that once charged by the Flying Dragon Cavalry, they would completely fall apart. He nodded and immediately drove his private soldiers towards Flada Forest.

Callo, Breson, and Miu Ke led the front, and upon noticing the situation behind, this Erune’s foremost of the Three Heroes tightened the reins and turned back to shout: "Mr. Brand, the Royal Knight Academy also has archery training! Let Count Oting hand over the bows and arrows to us; we can stay behind to cover the retreat!"

"No need, protect Her Royal Highness." Brand replied. He looked up at the flies above. He was not lenient, directly controlling the Wind Spirit Spider hidden in mid-air to aim in that direction—earlier, on the battlefield inside Ampezel Port, he had activated the Holy Sword to ’point-kill’ Baron Rodu’s cavalry using only twenty or thirty charges of the Holy Sword, yet over half of that round of Holy Sword Skills hadn’t been used, and now they were just coming in handy.

The crowd only saw Brand standing with his hands behind his back, when suddenly a brilliant net of death interwove in mid-air, catching two or three Flying Dragon Knights utterly off guard. They directly collided into it, turning into a blaze of ashes in mid-air. The remaining Flying Dragon Cavalry were obviously terrified, hurriedly pulling up, but even so, two of them had their wings and tails sheared off by the golden-red beams like a steel rain, plummeting from the sky.