Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence

In the face of Hilde's desperate cries, the Allied forces were on the verge of despair.

Before the battle, the Allied forces had severely underestimated the power of a Chosen of the Gods.

Its powerful physique, heavy armor, and steel-like defenses rendered the attacks of ordinary soldiers in melee combat almost ineffective.

Even when surrounded by several squadrons, it would simply hack and slash until their morale collapsed, resulting in heavy losses.

Crucially, the monster had activated its Blood Rage skill, a powerful ability unique to Chosen units, instantly retaliating and killing any soldier who dared to attack it in melee.

This meant that even if the Allied forces were willing to throw lives away, it would be futile against such a powerful Chosen unit.

No one had imagined that a single Chaos Chosen could cause so much trouble for the massive Dwarf and Human Allied forces! Its terrifying combat power was almost insurmountable.

Even more terrifying, if it successfully met its quota of 999 heads, it would gain a second life after this battle.

To stop it without resorting to a siege was simply an impossible paradox.

At this moment, an atmosphere of despair had enveloped the Allied forces.

The Allied forces were simply not strong enough. If they had a Chosen of their own, that Chosen could hold off the demon and buy them time.

If they didn't have a Chosen, then a large enough army would suffice. With tens of thousands of soldiers, even if the demon chopped off 1998 heads, they could still overwhelm it with sheer numbers and exhaust its two lives.

But the Allied forces had nothing! Their strongest warriors were only Champion-level, and their forces numbered barely two thousand. Allowing Skarbrand Bloodwrath to slaughter them at will might just enable him to complete his bloody ritual and become an army unto himself.

So, an atmosphere of despair hung over everyone's heads. How could they possibly stop this terrifying demon?!

Yet, it was precisely in this moment of utter despair that heroes emerged. It was through courage, fearlessness, valor, and justice that a person could distinguish themselves from ordinary folk and be called a hero.

The Dwarf commander, Muradin, raised his battle-axe and, with a resounding roar, left the ranks, charging headfirst towards the Chaos Chosen.

"You damned monster, do you think your brutality can intimidate the glorious Dwarfs? No! Dwarfs never yield! Even in the face of the strongest enemy, we will fight to the death!"

With his roar, two shieldbearers, bearing shields on their shoulders, carried him forward, charging towards the monster with fearless valor.

Muradin's battle-axe gleamed with cold light in the sunlight, and the two shieldbearers, with their stout, short legs, left a trail of dust on the battlefield.

As they approached the demon, Muradin roared and swung his axe violently, aiming for the demon's legs. Sparks flew as metal collided with the demon's scale-covered thighs, creating a deafening sound, leaving a huge bloody gash on the demon's leg.

The Chaos Chosen Skarbrand Bloodwrath let out a deafening roar, raising its foot to crush the Dwarfs who dared to challenge it with its massive foot.

These Dwarfs were nothing more than Ironbreakers compared to its enormous size.

The Dwarf shieldbearers displayed an agility that belied their stocky builds, nimbly dodging Skarbrand's house-sized foot with their short legs.

Their special rule, [Officer, Watch Out!], allowed them to observe the monster's every attack from all angles.

While they dodged nimbly, the Dwarf Grudge Throwers and Thunderers were firing at full force, filling the monster's body with bolts until it resembled a hedgehog!

From afar, Su Li could no longer see how many huge bolts were sticking out of the monster's body. Some bolts even pierced its broad chest.

And that was just the bolts fired by the Grudge Throwers. Hundreds of Dwarf Thunderers fired continuously, the gunpowder smoke enveloping the entire hilltop, countless bullets and lead pellets riddling the monster's body.

The grievous wounds and constant bleeding finally enraged the monster, and it lost interest in playing cat and mouse with Muradin.

A terrifying bloody light suddenly erupted from its massive feet.

[Blood Rage - War Stomp!]

As the monster stomped down, a crimson shockwave instantly swept across the battlefield. Centered on its foot, the ground within a hundred meters shattered, countless flames, blood, and magma spewing from the cracks.

The massive shockwave greatly impacted Muradin and the shieldbearers beneath him. The two shieldbearers gripped the shields until their fingers bled, barely managing to stabilize the shields on their shoulders.

Muradin, who faced the full force of the impact, was dizzy, and the flying sand and stones made it impossible for him to open his eyes.

The Dwarfs were stunned for more than two seconds by this attack, and more importantly, the magma-filled battlefield made it difficult for the Dwarf shieldbearers to move.

Skarbrand Bloodwrath seized the opportunity. Even though it was still some distance from Muradin, it immediately hurled its chainaxe, instantly striking Muradin with its massive axe blade.

Its massive battle-axe was taller than a small hill, and this strike was no less than a huge hill crashing down!

Muradin's perfect-grade rune armor couldn't withstand it at all. He instantly lost an arm, and the huge shield beneath him was shattered to pieces.

Before the Dwarfs could react, Skarbrand Bloodwrath shook its right arm, and the chain behind the chainaxe wrapped around Muradin. It grinned cruelly and yanked back, pulling Muradin into the air before reaching out and grabbing the roaring Dwarf general, who was covered in blood.

This scene made countless Dwarfs see red. Ignoring the consequences, the Mountain Shield array surged forward, countless Dwarfs raising their battle-axes and hacking at the monster.

The Grudge Throwers and Thunderers fired at full power, the Dwarfs unleashing furious battle cries, venting their rage on Skarbrand Bloodwrath at any cost.

But it was all too late. Skarbrand Bloodwrath grabbed the Dwarf's head and cruelly tore it in two, savoring the beauty of the Dwarf's blood spurting from the severed neck.

"Ah! Bastard! I'll kill you!"

"Bastard! The Dwarfs will fight you to the death."

"We have a blood feud with you, we will never rest until you are dead!"

With their roars, all the Humans were shocked to discover that the Dwarfs were enveloped in a black and red aura. As this aura gathered above the entire army, it formed a dense, unyielding image.

As they shouted their slogans of revenge, this dense aura gradually transformed into the head of a Dwarf King!

This meant that the hatred had been recorded in the Great Book of Grudges.

Hilde said in shock: "It's [Deep Grudge]! Muradin's death has activated the Deep Grudge trait in the Dwarf bloodline. They will become exceptionally berserk and bloodthirsty before the end of the war."

The Dwarf's level of hatred is divided into [Personal Grudge], [Deep Grudge], and [Blood Feud Awaits].

Deep Grudge was already the second level of the Dwarf's vengeance trait. Muradin's glorious death had activated the Dwarf's honor.

They launched wave after wave of furious attacks against the Chosen of Khorne!

Skarbrand Bloodwrath was even struggling to maintain its footing under this frenzied assault, forced to retreat again and again.

What does it mean to be overwhelmed by ants? These Dwarfs were actually hacking and smashing until they had chopped off half of Skarbrand's massive feet.

The bloody injuries filled Skarbrand's chest with rage, but it could do nothing about it. Even if it unleashed Blood Rage again, turning all the Dwarfs within a hundred meters into pieces, it still couldn't repel these fearless, relentless Dwarfs.

Hilde didn't have time to think about the current situation.

Hesitation only leads to defeat. Sometimes, carefully planned strategies are not as good as improvising on the battlefield.

At this moment, it was necessary to strike quickly, leaving the Chosen of Khorne no time to think, forcing it to rely on instinct to make hasty decisions.

So, Hilde also rallied her spirits and shouted: "Blow the horns, full army attack! May the Goddess of the Blazing Sun protect us in our deaths."

As the majestic and uplifting horns sounded from all directions of the battlefield, the Human knights had already made a desperate gamble. Without fighting, they would only die. A full-force attack was their only chance of survival.

Humans and Dwarfs never lacked the courage to fight to the death to win.

The army commander, Knight Earl Stein, directly activated the Glory Relic of the Blazing Sun bestowed by the Goddess of the Blazing Sun. At this moment, the treasure lost its effect of blocking ranged attacks, but it transformed the shield of every knight in the army into a magic weapon, shining with dazzling light.

And this glorious golden light finally made Skarbrand Bloodwrath feel fear.

It had unleashed Blood Rage multiple times in a short period of time. Even for a Chosen champion, the use of Chaos abilities was not unlimited.

Khorne could allow it to use the power of Chaos to chop more to its heart's content, but it would not allow it to become a waste that could only barely protect itself with the power of Chaos.

The Dwarf bolts pierced its body, the muskets shattered its defenses, the golden shields blinded its eyes, and, most importantly, the relentless Human charge forced it to stagger backward, further and further away from the Grudge Throwers!

This meant that it had no hope of victory. If it couldn't destroy the four Grudge Throwers, it would die here.

The rapidly declining health and the increasingly weakened body made it doubt whether it could kill 999 enemies before it died.

More importantly, the enemy seemed to be going mad, fighting to the death!

Even if it killed 999 enemies and gained a second life, the remaining enemies would use relentless casualties to exhaust its second life.

This meant that it was doomed to die in this battle!

The battlefield that the enemy had deliberately chosen had decimated its army. It was to eliminate the support of its Chaos servants, which had a huge impact on it.

It no longer had the faith to fight to the end, because even if it finished chopping through two lives, it would be meaningless. How could it please the Blood God if it couldn't build a huge cairn higher than the mountains?

So, amidst the Allied forces' urgent attacks, the dizzy demon finally made a wrong decision. It decided to strategically retreat, first leaving the battlefield chosen by the enemy, crossing the ruins of the landslide, and joining up with the intact armies of the demon legion that had not yet entered the battlefield on the other side. Then, it would return to defeat these opponents, ensuring that they could achieve final victory and have the right to clean up the battlefield, thereby offering blood to the Blood God and heads to the Skull Throne.

But it forgot one extremely important thing, that other followers of Khorne could do this without any problems. Khorne was not a mindless chop-chop-chop deity. In unfavorable situations, it also allowed its followers to reorganize the situation to ensure that they could chop to their heart's content, rather than being helplessly swept away by waves of cavalry charges in front of the Human knights.

But Skarbrand Bloodwrath was the only one who couldn't do this. It was a servant who had received the Blood God's blessing! The blessings of the Chaos Gods always came with conditions: if Skarbrand ever fled from battle and made Khorne lose face, it would turn into a Chaos Spawn on the spot.

The moment Skarbrand decided to strategically retreat and turn to flee, it suddenly underwent a horrific mutation.

Its flesh began to twist violently, its muscles and skin torn apart by invisible forces, blood and tissue splattering everywhere. Its body began to disintegrate under the influence of Chaos energy.

As its flesh disintegrated, Skarbrand's bones began to emit a piercing cracking sound as they were rewoven by the power of Chaos, forming a huge, deformed egg-like structure covered in spikes and tumors, making it look extremely hideous.

Then, its consciousness began to blur, its screams and roars swallowed by the power of Chaos, leaving only fear of Khorne and despair at the impending endless pain.

When all the flesh and bones had been completely reshaped by the power of Chaos, Skarbrand Bloodwrath was no more, replaced by a huge Chaos Spawn with only two legs left, still rampaging on the battlefield.

But like the collapse of that mountain-like chainaxe, Skarbrand had lost its Chosen-level power, and the remaining Chaos Spawn was no longer a threat to the overwhelming Allied forces.

Even elite soldiers could boldly attack it.

As Hilde leaped from her warhorse, the blazing sword light pierced down from the top of the Chaos Spawn, severing the horn of the Dwarf King, and the huge monster finally collapsed like a mountain, crashing to the ground.

As the last monster was annihilated, the soldiers finally erupted in a thunderous roar.

"We won!"

"Won? Did we really win? Did we defeat that monster who would become a demon through bloodshed?"

"Praise the Goddess of the Blazing Sun! We have won the victory! Praise the Lord, we will take our rewards in victory!"

"Victory forever!"

Countless soldiers wept with joy, tears streaming down their faces, praising the blessings of the gods and praying for their fallen comrades.

They did not weep because they were cowards, but because of their respect and love for life.

When Hilde handed the relic-grade horn to Su Li, Su Li had only slightly recovered some of his strength with the help of the Endurance Potion.

He held the horn and asked Hilde, "How are the Dwarfs?"

Hilde's face was sad as she whispered, "They are collecting the corpses of their fallen comrades. They suffered too many losses. Many were hacked into pieces, impossible to piece together. Including the Dwarf commander Muradin, the Dwarfs searched painstakingly to find his head in the pile of flesh, but it was already broken beyond recognition."

"Alas!" Hearing Hilde's description of the tragedy, Su Li couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow. This battle was truly too tragic.

Before the war, he never imagined that even Muradin, the dwarf commander, would fall in battle.

To be honest, Muradin wasn't a very likable dwarf.

He was short-tempered, stubborn, and arrogant.

It was his command of the dwarves, stubbornly opposing Su Li's tactics, that led to such a tragic end to the battle.

It could be said that if the dwarf commander had been Dogrin, willing to listen to Su Li's advice, the dwarf casualties in this battle would have been greatly reduced.

Su Li didn't particularly like Muradin either, considering him stubborn, rude, and not an ideal partner.

But no one could deny that the dwarf commander was genuinely concerned for the interests of the dwarves, fighting valiantly to defend the peace of the Grey Mountains.

In a moment of crisis when demons raged and none could stand against them, he bravely stepped forward with a spirit of 'though ten thousand stand in my way, I shall go forward,' stalling the demons and buying time for the dwarf ranged units to unleash their attacks.

It was his valiant and unyielding spirit that inspired the morale of the entire allied force, leading to the allied forces' resounding attack and the expulsion of the Chosen-level demon.

So, you can say he was ill-tempered and inflexible, but no one can deny his loyalty to the dwarves and his contribution to this battle. He lived and died with honor!

Su Li sighed and said, "The death of Muradin is a great loss to us and to Redbeard Keep. When they leave, let our territory send a diplomatic minister to Redbeard Keep to offer condolences."

With the demons, the largest force in the north, cleared and a large number of monsters in the western Grey Mountains defeated, the road from Blackwood Territory to the Grey Mountains could be considered open.

Afterwards, the territory would indeed need a talent with outstanding diplomatic skills to serve as the diplomatic minister.

Su Li thought Hatzkling was a good choice. The old halfling always held a pipe and was amiable.

Moreover, she was flexible and knew how to appease all parties. Crucially, she was a halfling, naturally possessing the characteristic of intimacy with people. Traveling in the Grey Mountains, she might be able to establish good relations with the dwarves, ogres, and mountain tribes.

Hild nodded and said, "I will arrange this matter later, and also send a caravan to Redbeard Keep."

After arranging this matter, Su Li asked with concern, "What about our casualties? Have they been tallied?"

Hild slowly replied, "They have been tallied. Our knight casualties are not high, with a total of fewer than forty knights killed, including eight elite knights. But the losses among the armed attendants are very heavy. Facing the powerful warriors of Khorne and those bloodthirsty demons with mortal bodies, the armed attendants suffered nearly two hundred casualties. Even with the full efforts of the medical knights and the Sisters of the Dawn Church, the losses will exceed one hundred!"

Su Li's heart ached!

No wonder since ancient times, war has been the most wealth-consuming thing. Feudal dynasties would avoid fighting if they could.

After a major battle, the spoils of war simply couldn't make up for the huge expenses of the war.

How many troops did Su Li have now? After a bloody battle, the lost knights, warhorses, and equipment alone amounted to nearly 10,000 gold crowns!

Especially the loss of rune armor and star iron armor, the wealth was no less than the loss of the knights.

But Su Li had never even gained 2,000 gold crowns in any war.

Obviously, compared to this extremely risky war, Su Li preferred to huddle up and farm.

So, Su Li showed his Eastern small farmer mentality at this moment, hugging Hild and saying sadly, "This battle has almost wiped out our family fortune!"

Su Li finally understood why, after the Battle of Xiaoyao Ford, when Ling Tong's 300 retainers were all killed, this dignified seven-foot man, the valiant Jiangdong Tiger General, would cry bitterly.

This was really the foundation of a general!

Su Li had only a little over a hundred knights directly under his command, and even with the knights of the Knight Order, there were only barely three hundred. As a result, more than 40 died in one battle.

This could not be replenished in a short period of time.

To have such a large army, it took him half a year of hard work to accumulate!

And would the Green Dragon give him another half a year?

Don't dream, there are less than two months left before the Green Dragon awakens.

Hild gently took Su Li's head into her arms and comforted him, "Lord, think of the good things. We have gained a lot in this battle."

"I have successfully broken through to the Champion level, and Knight Orstein has also broken through to the High Champion level. Defeating strong enemies has bathed each of us in divine grace. Perhaps before the Green Dragon War comes, we will have two Chosen-level knights."

Hearing Hild's gentle comfort, Su Li finally perked up and his mood improved.

Although the Goddess of the Blazing Sun is not the most generous of gods, her believers in this battle illuminated the sun and moon, their courage was magnificent, and they fearlessly charged, even defeating the powerful Chosen of Khorne. In this case, she would definitely bestow divine grace. If the territory worshiped Yurick, the White Wolf God, the divine grace bestowed in this situation would be particularly strong.

Therefore, after the divine grace blessing, although the number of knights decreased, their strength became more elite.

Su Li asked, "How many people have been promoted?"

Hild shook her head slightly and said, "The specific number has not yet been tallied, but it is certain that we have two more Champion knights in this battle."

"Two more Champion knights?" Su Li asked with concern, "Besides you, who else?"

"Lionheart Roland."

"Lionheart Roland?" Su Li laughed excitedly and said, "Doesn't that mean that the territory finally has its first Champion-level Demigryph knight?"

Although the territory had Champion knights before, none of them had Demigryph mounts.

Foot knights didn't rely on mounts, but nearly half of the combat power of those shock knights came from their mounts!

The combat power of a Champion knight riding a warhorse and a Champion-level monster cavalry riding a Demigryph was vastly different.

If Su Li had a small team of Demigryph knights under his command, he would dare to directly besiege the Green Dragon!

As one of the strongest cavalry in the Empire, Demigryph cavalry is the mainstay of human force.

Roland was the knight who wielded an 8-meter-long halberd and pierced Skaven's thigh. This strike not only severely injured Skaven, but also earned Roland a very large amount of divine grace, so he was able to stand out and be promoted to Champion knight. Even the Demigryph under his crotch benefited, becoming larger, more robust, more ferocious and stronger.

It's just a pity that in this battle, humans still played a supporting role, and the main force was the mountain shield array of the Grey Mountain Dwarves. Otherwise, the Goddess of the Blazing Sun might have directly descended a strong divine grace and bestowed a new relic of glory upon Blackwood Territory.

Successfully completed the achievement of writing 10,000 words a day for a week.

Take a break and accumulate some manuscripts before continuing.

Future chapters will be combined chapters like this, changing from the previous 3,000 words in two chapters to 6,000 words in one chapter, to increase the average order.