rune hunter

Chapter 143 The Ballad of the Knight

Under the leadership of Antonio, the newly recruited soldiers repaired the collapsed city wall on the east side at an astonishing speed. A large number of ruined bricks and stones were piled up and poured with alchemical solvent for bonding. From a distance, it looked like Piles of strangely shaped tumors.

Although there is no aesthetic feeling to speak of, and even the original city gates are not left behind, the city wall has been re-sealed anyway.Soldiers are extremely pessimistic about the protective capabilities of these temporary obstacles, but time is tight and they can't expect too much.

Katyusha predicted that Marthaine's army of undead would come in the night, but she was vague about the specific situation of that army.It's not that she deliberately concealed the truth, it's just that she thinks there is no chance of winning with Eastalen's current defense strength.The disadvantage of Istaren is that it has lost the defensive ability of the city wall, and the more deadly problem is that the military's high-end combat power has been completely lost.

The fighters of Istaron are certainly fearless, but the cruel reality is that with the strength of ordinary people, they simply can't compete with monsters of the level of obsidian-built Titans.

Antonio walked up the riddled city wall, with the bandaged Knight Leonard and the mad dog Shet at his side.The three of them came to the top of the wall and looked out. From a height, they could already clearly see the billowing dark mist on the eastern horizon, which gradually began to engulf the clear sky at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Here they come," whispered Antonio.

The marching speed of the undead army far exceeded Katyusha's judgment. They didn't wait until the night to start marching, but created a dark sky that covered the entire sky by themselves.As the black line on the horizon continues to spread, the vanguard of the undead army can already be vaguely seen.

Under the dark sky, a piece of gray and white appeared. It was impossible to detect the number with the naked eye, and there were endless skeleton warriors like ocean waves.Accompanied by the skeleton warriors, there were also countless zombies. Judging from the clothes of those dead bodies, they might be citizens who failed to escape Marseille.

Behind these low-level undead troops, some huge and bloated monsters occasionally appeared in the dark mist. Their steps were clumsy and heavy, and every breath would spit out a miserable green plague mist.

Suddenly there was a sharp neighing in the sky, everyone looked up and found dozens of skeleton griffins hovering in mid-air, with green phosphorescence flashing on their two front paws.Green phosphorescence drifted down from the body of the skeleton griffin, and disappeared into the air.

The mad dog Xie Te sniffed hard, his face changed suddenly, and he shouted: "This taste is not right, they are poisoning the sky!"

"What's left of the poison when the wind blows? They're probably the plague." Antonio calmly judged, and he ordered with a sullen face, "Stand up the bed crossbow and shoot those skeletons down!"

When the White Lion family built Istaron, they set up bed crossbows for anti-aircraft shooting on the city wall, but this advanced design has hardly been used in the 300-year history, and it was once regarded as A negative example of poor soldiers redeeming their weapons.Until today, this air defense force has not really been put into the battlefield.

There was a loud noise on the ground, and a whole row of giant crossbow bolts shot up into the sky, stringing together six or seven skeleton griffins that couldn't dodge.The surviving skeleton griffin hurriedly flapped its bone wings and fled into the dark sky.However, this counterattack by humans failed to stop the undead army, and instead made their marching speed half a point faster.

"Where did this army of undead come from? Could it be that they dug through an ancient tomb as the nun guessed?" Xie Te wondered to himself.

"No matter where they come from or what purpose they have, they are enemies that we living must face." Antonio said coldly looking at the ocean of skeletons in the distance.

The last outpost ahead lit up smoke, sending out a signal of a deadly battle, which indicated that the forward of the undead army had arrived less than two kilometers outside the city of Istaren.The atmosphere in the air became more and more oppressive, the soldiers clenched their weapons tightly, and some people had already started coughing softly.

"The plague they spread has an effect so quickly?" Shet glanced at the coughing soldier beside him in surprise, with a very ugly expression on his face.

"Shouldn't be fatal, otherwise there's no battle to fight, just wait for us to die." Antonio shook his head, and he couldn't help coughing twice.His body is inherently weaker and more likely to be infected by diseases, but at this time, he can't take care of these.

"Since they have already greeted, we should also prepare to return the greeting." Knight Leonard, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said.

"Then I'll leave it to you...Uncle Leonard." Antonio nodded.

Knight Leonard drew out his long sword, jumped off the city wall, and rode on the horse he had prepared for himself.Outside the city wall, there are three knight formations neatly arranged, and all the knights directly under the White Lion family are gathered here.The city gate behind them has been completely blocked, and there is no retreat in this battle.

Cavalier Leonard rode his horse to the front of the phalanx, pulled up the battle flag of the White Lion Family from the ground, raised it high, and shouted to the knights:

"Warriors of Istaron! Invincible white lions! Raise your spears! Follow me! Charge forward!"

The knights raised their spears high at the same time, and roared with all their strength.

Leonard Cavaliers are not good at words, and there is no need for more words at this time.In front of you is the enemy, but behind you is your hometown.This is the simplest reason, the reason why we must fight.No matter where the enemy is, no matter how many enemies there are, no matter how terrifying the enemy is, what the knights have to do is to charge, to charge forward!
"Woo——" all the horns on the city wall were blown, and amidst the sound of the horns resounding through the sky and the earth, the knights put down their spears and let go of the reins to let the horses run slowly.

Knight Leonard held the battle flag of the White Lion Clan, and patted the head of his war horse with the other hand, showing an aftertaste smile for the first time on his face.

"Old man, did you hear that? It's the clarion call for Istaron's expedition. Have you seen these young children? They didn't lose to their father and brother at all. I really miss it. Back then, my brother led us to sweep the northern borders." The scene at that time. Little Tony did a good job, and the backbone of the White Lion family is still..."

He laughed and let go of the rein, and the old horse under his seat gave a long hiss as if in a heartbeat, threw off his four hooves and ran, and rushed directly to the front of all the knights.

Cavalier Leonard threw away his helmet, and the smile on his face grew brighter. Amidst the horn and the sound of the knight's charging hooves, he seemed to have returned to the time when he was in high spirits, and the pain on his body seemed to gradually disappear.He opened his mouth and cleared his throat, found the key and began to hum a song.

Through Fred, Dorne, and Greenmoor forests,

Six thousand knights crossed the north,
Pave the king's road with flesh and blood,
From Istaren to Flolk!

…………

This is an ode written to commemorate the pioneering king of the Kingdom of Auckland who opened up the northern border, and it is also the most familiar ballad to the northerners.Knight Leonard just started singing, and the knights around him also sang along.It didn't take long for almost all the knights to join the chorus, and their singing voices gathered together, even overwhelming the thunderous roar of horseshoes during the charge.

There are enemies on all sides,

The fire burns on the earth,
Timberwolves broke their fangs,

The white lion has worn out his claws,

The wild boar rubbed off the fat,
The black bear can no longer find a home!

…………

Ahead is the vanguard of the undead army. Skeleton warriors and zombies are mixed together. Without any formation, they just move forward unconsciously.At this distance, the knights can already distinguish other undead monsters hidden in the dark sky with their naked eyes. Behind the skeletons and zombies, thousands of ghouls are closely followed, as well as those bloated abominations, and armed Lich of the Bone Staff...

Most knights have never seen such a wide variety of undead creatures in their entire lives, let alone understand their advantages and disadvantages.But in the face of such fear, none of them slowed down, and the singing of the knights continued.

The knight rides the horse,

The sound of horseshoes spread across thousands of miles,
The blood goes to silence,

The song goes on and on!

…………

"For Istaron!"

Knight Leonard shouted loudly with all his strength, the horse under his crotch jumped up, and the half-moon-shaped sword brilliance turned hundreds of skeleton warriors blocking the front into fly ash. A [-]-meter-long passage was cut on the queue.

The human knight and the undead army crashed into each other.

…………

"So-called chivalry is disgustingly stupid."

Behind the undead army, at the source of the dark sky, a middle-aged man in a black silk robe looked at the crystal ball and whispered.Holding a crystal ball projecting war images, he sat upright on an altar with a strange style, and the altar was full of cursed believers of all walks of life kneeling below the altar.

"My lord envoy, these knights will cause serious damage to our assembled army." A cursed priest raised his head boldly and said: "Istaron is the most powerful military fortress in the north of the Kingdom of Auckland. , It is not a wise choice to fight recklessly with these determined fighters. As long as you wait patiently for the plague to spread..."

The middle-aged man didn't finish listening to the cursed priest's persuasion. He stretched out a finger and released a dissociation ray that directly pierced the cursed priest's head.

"I'm impatient, and my lord doesn't have the patience to wait for your little tricks. The apostles have come, and it's a great time to expand my lord's domain. What we lack now is time, not troops. It doesn't matter how much those bones and corpses are consumed, Yi Aren't Stallen's fighters the best material for soldiers?"

No one dared to refute his opinion anymore, and all the Cultists of the Curse pressed their heads tightly to the ground, not daring to show any dissatisfaction.

(End of this chapter)