Knight: Becoming King of the World

The enemy’s resistance had become insignificant. Their fate was sealed.

Henry’s army demonstrated its might on the battlefield. They were not merely warriors, but conquerors.

Snow swirled through the air. The battle between Henry’s army, Ratifa’s Heavy Armor Guard, and the Inferior Horned Beasts reached a fever pitch the moment they clashed!

Squad after squad of veteran Heavy Armor Infantry advanced relentlessly, accompanied by the thud of heavy footsteps and the clang of armor.

Their shields, emblazoned with the crest of House Henry, glinted in the sunlight—a symbol of glory and a deterrent to their foes!

The archers and Crossbowmen, sheltered by the Heavy Armor Infantry, sought the best firing positions. Their longbows and crossbows were drawn taut, loosing a storm of arrows into the enemy ranks.

There were no volleys, no commands. If they saw an enemy, they shot it.

Arrow after arrow claimed the life of an Inferior Horned Beast. The archers and Crossbowmen had calm, focused eyes, like Hunters. In their view, these horned humanoids were no different from small game in a driven hunt.

The Grassland Riders and Grassland Warriors, mounted on fine steeds, moved swiftly across the battlefield, using their speed and mobility to harass and strike the enemy.

The Grassland Riders wielded long spears, brandishing their weapons deftly from horseback. Their charges were as swift as lightning, piercing the bodies of the Inferior Horned Beasts as easily as a blade through rotten cloth.

The Grassland Warriors were even more "wild." They swung their scimitars, weaving through the enemy ranks at astonishing speeds. Every slash kicked up a shower of blood and gore.

If any enemy tried to flee, they would draw their curved bows and shoot. They acted as shepherds, always keeping the Inferior Horned Beasts penned inside the encirclement.

Ratifa’s Heavy Armor Guard was another force on the battlefield. Clad in exquisite heavy armor and wielding greatswords and warhammers, they perfectly embodied the formidable might of the men from the Northern Lands of Stegia.

Under Ratifa’s command, the Personal Guard formed a wedge and charged directly into the enemy, tearing apart the Inferior Horned Beasts’ formation like a sharp chisel.

Their charge was unstoppable. Even the vast numbers of Inferior Horned Beasts could not withstand their ferocious assault.

As the battle progressed, Henry’s army began to change formation under the command of his Attendants and officers.

The Heavy Armor Infantry gradually dispersed into multiple smaller square formations to adapt to the complex terrain of the battlefield, while also providing the archers and Crossbowmen with more room to fire.

The Grassland Riders and Grassland Warriors began to flank the enemy formation, cutting off the Inferior Horned Beasts’ retreat.

And what was Henry doing? Still killing!

Whenever Ratifa glanced at Henry, she saw a whirlwind of flying heads, arms, and torsos...

Ratifa’s Personal Guard also began to adjust their tactics. They split into several small squads, each responsible for a different direction, coordinating seamlessly with Henry’s army.

The great army of Inferior Horned Beasts, once a surging black tide, was now rapidly receding under the force of Henry’s slaughter and his army’s relentless assault.

The stench of blood in the air was so thick it made one’s eyes sting. Every breath on the battlefield was like swallowing the very essence of death.

The entire landscape was nearly painted red. Blood soaked the earth, forming vast patches of crimson mud.

The bodies of the Inferior Horned Beasts piled up like mountains. Their wails and screams rose and fell, but they were gradually drowned out by the endless slaughter.

The number of Inferior Horned Beasts was plummeting, from a massive horde of over ten thousand to their current, desperate resistance.

Every second, dozens of Inferior Horned Beasts perished!

Carlos, dressed in the gear of a Senior Infantryman, was blood-crazed, his eyes red with the fury of battle.

Having experienced it firsthand, he finally understood why Henry’s troops were so formidable. ’With such a powerful leader carving a path at the front, how could his soldiers be anything but fierce?’

He had never been in such a ferocious battle. This was a truly eye-opening experience for him.

Their formations had been completely shattered. What was once an orderly host was now a chaotic mess.

Although the Inferior Horned Beasts would fight to the death without fear, even they understood the importance of retreat when faced with such overwhelming power.

Unfortunately for those trying to retreat, the Grassland Warriors had already blocked their escape routes.

The speed and agility of the Grassland Warriors allowed them to easily intercept and surround any Inferior Horned Beasts attempting to flee.

The scimitars and bows in their hands were the Inferior Horned Beasts’ worst nightmare!

The Inferior Horned Beasts’ retreat turned into a futile struggle. Their numbers continued to dwindle while Henry’s army relentlessly advanced!

The phalanxes of Heavy Armor Infantry were like moving castle walls, constantly compressing the Inferior Horned Beasts’ living space.

The battle entered its final stage. Henry’s army and Ratifa’s Personal Guard formed a massive encirclement, trapping the Inferior Horned Beast army within.

The Inferior Horned Beasts’ resistance grew weaker and weaker, and their formation began to collapse. Henry’s army and Ratifa’s Personal Guard gave chase, offering the enemy no chance to breathe.

These humanoid creatures were nothing more than monsters in the eyes of the Imperials, just like Half-Beastmen.

To put it bluntly, even if the nobles within the empire turned on each other, there would be no sense of guilt over a large-scale slaughter. An enemy was an enemy, and they were meant to be killed.

However, under the Emperor’s suppression and management, it had been a very, very long time since any large-scale internal wars had broken out within the empire.

The most recent one was the Battle of Akakarat, which Henry himself had fought not long ago on the eastern grasslands.

Under the combined assault of Henry’s army and Ratifa’s Personal Guard, the army of Inferior Horned Beasts was utterly routed.

Countless corpses and broken weapons littered the battlefield, and amid the joy of victory, Henry’s army and Ratifa’s Personal Guard began to clean up the site.

The bodies of the Inferior Horned Beasts on the battlefield were piled high. Their lives were over, but their heads had become the most "precious" spoils of war.

Each Inferior Horned Beast’s head was proof that could be exchanged for a bounty.

The Inferior Horned Beasts’ weapons were mostly crude iron tools, some even just cobbled together from scrap metal.

In Henry’s eyes, these weapons were not even worth mentioning. His army was well-equipped; the weapons of these Inferior Horned Beasts didn’t even meet the standards for the Militia in his castles and villages.

But for sizable bands of robbers, bandits, and rogue armies, these weapons and armor were a precious resource they could only dream of.

The Inferior Horned Beasts’ armor was even cruder, often just beast hides or simple metal plates pieced together.

In Henry’s opinion, this so-called armor was almost useless. It offered little real protection in an actual battle and was more of a symbolic decoration.

Nevertheless, for the factions on the fringes, these spoils of war were still a considerable fortune.

In the borderlands of the empire, especially the frontiers of the Northern Lands, resources were scarce. Any means of arming one’s forces was valuable.

Thus, even the worn-out weapons and crude armor of the Inferior Horned Beasts would be treated as treasures by some factions to equip their troops.

Henry’s army bustled about the battlefield, not only collecting the heads of the Inferior Horned Beasts but also gathering the other spoils of war.

Although Henry looked down on this equipment, it was still valuable to others.

At the very least, Ratifa wouldn’t pass it up. This "scrap" could be used to arm more Militia and Recruited Soldiers.

The cleanup work was tedious and grim, but Henry’s soldiers performed it in an orderly fashion.

They had done this sort of thing too many times. Ever since they became soldiers under Henry, they had never tasted defeat on the battlefield.

As the sun moved across the sky, the cleanup of the battlefield gradually neared its end.

The headless corpses of the Inferior Horned Beasts were gathered and burned, while the spoils of war were piled neatly together.

Henry stood at the edge of the battlefield, gazing at the scene. "Are you telling me," he asked in disbelief, "that the enemies the First Prince is facing are all of this caliber?"