Chapter 174: Achilles' Heel (2)
Masked Knight
Chapter 174: Achilles' Heel (2)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The sound of horses galloping and metal clashing was endless. The silver armor of the Roland knights gleamed coldly in the sun. They raised their cross-swords1 and screamed as they charged towards the Lightning God’s Whip.
The silver armor of these knights had a white cross on it. They believed that they were fighting for their God and their faith. They believed that their truth, courage, and faith would grant them victory.
Naturally, this was only what they believed. As the infantries of the Roland coalition army scattered in all directions, Rody could no longer hear and differentiate all the various sounds. He was only focused on what was in front of him.
In front of him, the charging Lightning God’s Whip moved like black waves in a diamond formation as they fiercely clashed against the silver armored Roland knights.
The front most warriors from both sides were badly crushed. Some fell off their horses; some broke their arms and legs; some were immediately trampled by the horses; while others managed to get up holding their weapons as they roared and charged at the enemy.
Rody was at the front end of the diamond formation and was undoubtedly the strongest one there.
His Dragon Fang sword shone with a golden brilliance; a beautiful yet deadly golden brilliance.
There was a violent energy in every slash he made. This often tore apart his enemy’s armor even before his sword hit them. Blood continued to splatter in front of him as heads flew into the air. The hot red blood soaking on his body began to turn into black and red cold patches.
The Sauron Kingdom's Royal Knights were rapidly losing their fight with the Lightning God's Whip even though they had more men, they were just as brave, and they had a strong faith of conviction.
Unfortunately for them, the enemy soldiers were like demons.
The frequent sound of the horn came from Thunder City, playing a unique alternating long and short tune. The rhythm seemed to incite the soldiers of the Empire and boost their spirits. The call of the horn brought forth a spirit from the Lightning God’s Whip warriors that exceeded the extremes of bravery, approaching fanaticism. They fearlessly faced the enemy’s spears and rushed forwards, their own spears thrusting into their enemy. As long as they were not down, as long as they were still alive they would draw their scimitar and slash at the nearest Roland knight...
They slashed at the legs of the horses or used up the last of their energy to jump into and bring down the knights from their horses. Some even stood steadfast to block the horses. They did not know fear, pain or death. They were fanatics.
The Royal Knights thus started to fall within a short while. For each soldier they killed, they had to pay almost three times the price or more.
The Regiment Commander of the Royal Knights died the moment the battle started. He was a proud warrior but, unfortunately, he was at the front of the cavalry and the first person he encountered was Rody!
Truthfully speaking, this Regiment Commander was very powerful. Rody had only just lopped off the head of a Roland knight when the Regiment Commander thrust his spear and struck Rody! However, Rody’s body only shook from that mighty strike while that Commander felt like he had struck a hard stone. The Regiment Commander of the Royal Knights was still stunned when Rody easily slashed his neck.
This guy. Why is he not skewered… These were the last thoughts of the Regiment Commander of the Royal Knights.
In front of the rest of the Roland army, the Sauron Kingdom's elite knights had clashed against the Lightning God's Whip only for a short while but had almost lost... The wave of silver armors was rapidly overcome by the wave of black armors.
A ridiculous scene appeared on the battlefield. The situation was like ducks being corralled. The once proud Roland knights were chased by the Lightning Gods Whip like ducks all over the battlefield... or like sheep in the face of lions. What was even more terrifying was that the defeated soldiers retreated back to the Roland army bringing along the ferocious Lightning God’s Whip.
"Spear units! Get ready!" Tiger immediately ordered. His eyes had already turned red. What the hell! Are the Lightning God’s Whip really so powerful?
Originally, Tiger had wanted to use the forward group to hold the enemy and then send out more knights on the sides to pin down the Lightning God’s Whip. No matter the price, as long as they could destroy the Lightning God’s Whip, it would be worth it.
However, he did not expect the proud Royal Knights to actually … they could not even block... they lost the moment they made contact with the enemy! The knights that were supposed to flank the Lightning God’s Whip had only just started to rush out!
"Your Excellency. That is our own people!" A Senior Holy Knight could not help but speak anxiously.
"It is too late! If we do not stop these idiots, we will be defeated!" Tiger looked back at him fiercely. Tiger could no longer try to save them. If the defeated soldiers returned and caused their own formation to break while bringing along the enemy cavalry, there would be a disaster.
At that time, another group of Roland Knights charged out from the left. They must intercept and stop the Lightning God’s Whip. If only they could intercept the Lightning God's Whip!
Rody noticed the movement on the left and suddenly turned his horse. He allowed the retreating enemy in front of him to escape and then charged towards the Roland knights on the left.
Behind him, three Lightning God's Whip men immediately waved their banners and, like a torch, signaled the new direction for the black armor wave.
"Rush at them!" Rody shouted.
"Kill!"
The black wave suddenly changed direction. They ignored the retreating enemy in front and followed their commander. Surging to the left, they never looked back. The knights that came from the left were the Roland continent’s proud Holy Knights. They were the knights of the Temple and were known as the strongest knights on the Roland continent.
These knights had different weapons compared to the ordinary Roland knights. They wore a black cloak over their armors and black plumes over their helmets. They carried spears and huge shields that could form a steel wall.
Rody’s horse rushed to the front and his eyes flashed. He suddenly raised his Dragon Fang sword and made a strange signal. The cavalry behind him then suddenly transformed!
The wide diamond formation started to shrink as the cavalry started to crowd together and the formation became narrow and packed.
Rody then raised his Dragon Fang spear and rapidly slashed out eight to nine swathes of light. The blades of light swept near the ground as it threw up a wide dust trail. It brought along a powerful force that smashed into the shield walls of the Holy Knights.
The sturdy shield formation cracked open with a few big gaps. A dozen knights were dismembered right where the gaps were. Rody then charged through that gap with his horse leading his men through.
Spears thrust relentlessly from both sides but Rody just swept around with his Dragon Fang Sword without even looking at them. Clang! Clang! Clang! The spears broke. With Rody taking the lead and the rest of the Lightning God's Whip following, they had already charged into the Roland knight's formation through that gap. One group had the momentum of a lightning charge. The other group was in the process of regrouping its formation. Thus, the frontlines of the Holy Knights were immediately broken.
Rody was undoubtedly a great path breaker. He violently smashed through the Roland army to create a passage. The Lightning God’s Whip followed closely and then massacred the disorganized enemy to their heart’s content.
However, the Holy Knights, being the strongest army in the Roland Continent, were different from the Sauron Kingdom’s knights. The Lightning God’s Whip immediately felt the difference.
This group of knights was much more powerful than the Royal Knights in terms of strength and skills. They did not scream at all and had indifferent expressions. Their eyes remained the same as they silently battled with the warriors from the Lightning God's Whip.
They were like cold-blooded killing machines. It did not matter if they were killing or they were being killed. They were completely emotionless. No anger, no sadness, no despair, no pain. Even when they were impaled by a spear, they only closed their eyes and fall silently.
This was a group of powerful enemies, equally matched with the Lightning God’s Whip.
However, the Lightning God’s Whip had already been fighting for some time and their momentum started to weaken. Gradually, their momentum was getting blocked and the wave became stagnant. The two armies have merged into each other. Whichever way the Lightning God's Whip dashed, their opponents stood steadfastly in their way.
The Holy Knights were like quicksand and managed to temporarily stall the Lightning God's Whip. Momentarily, it was a deadlock! Soon after, Rody realized his soldiers had lagged behind. The Holy Knights had blocked and surrounded them.
Rody growled and tugged the reins hard with his left hand. The horse, Garros, gave a long neigh. It turned and headed towards the back.
The blood in Rody’s chest started to boil as his body shone with a dazzling golden light. He had just slashed a knight in front into two when he felt two spears thrust at him, one from the front and one from the back.
Rody made some quick moves with his sword and managed to block the two attacks. This was the first time since that charge that someone managed to stop his fierce attacks and his swift momentum. Both armored knights were middle-aged and had long sideburns. However, these two were different from the other Holy Knights. The black cloak that they wore over their armor had a huge cross and a golden hexagram.
Naturally, Rody did not understand the meaning of the pattern on the cloak. That pattern symbolized the knight's honor and respect — the mark of a first-class knight in the Roland continent! But no nonsense could be tolerated on the battlefield and Rody was not willing to waste any more time. He was the commanding officer of the Lightning God’s Whip and also their assault charge banner. He could not allow them to obstruct him and slow down his momentum.
Rody then quickly slashed a few times, on the right and on the left. Clang! Clang! Clang! Swords and spears broke all over. The knight on the left groaned and his body shook. His hands were also red with blood. The horse also retreated a few steps. The knight on the right growled and swept his spear at Rody. Rody sneered and slashed his opponent on the shoulder without even looking at the spear.
Ping! Chi! Two sounds rang out. One sound came as a spear slammed into Rody. Rody just shook his body but grabbed the spearhead with one hand. The knight was shocked. This attack could have even smashed a stone wall into pieces. But this guy had firmly blocked the attack with his own body!
When he saw his opponent grabbing the spear, the knight was stunned. Before he had a chance to react, Rody’s sword had already found its mark.
In that instant, a golden flash ripped into the knight’s throat and bright red blood splashed out. The knight felt his throat turn cold and a salty taste in his mouth.
He knew that it was his own blood. His final thoughts were: It tastes salty.
The other knight roared and swung his spear. The black fighting energy on the spear caused his cloak to flutter. Rody lowered his spear and jabbed hard into the enemy's spear. The impact made the knight feel like he was struck by lightning and shook violently. Immediately, Rody slashed rapidly several times. His opponent then raised his spear to defend himself. Clang! Clang! Clang!
The sword and the spear continued to clash. That spear was a sturdy first-grade weapon. But, it could not withstand the Dragon Fang Sword attacks and started to ring with a sound hinting that it was almost breaking up.
Finally, Rody slashed the spear into two. The blade continued its momentum and cut off the knight's arm. The arm flew off and blood splashed into Rody's face.
Rody reached out and grabbed the knight from the horse. He held the knight’s neck in his hand. The knight fainted before he could even groan.
With a prisoner lying across in front of him, Rody whipped the horse hard. Garros then cried out and rushed back into the killing crowd.
Sieg and Milo were stunned as they witnessed the entire battle.
Even the Roland Coalition Army Commander, Tiger, was stunned.
Seeing it with his own eyes, the proud Milo later commented, "I have never met anyone that could fight like that! No. He is not human! On that day, on the battlefield, he is a god!"
On the other hand, Tiger later said with a little bit of envy, "On that day, if it were not because the useless Royal Knights had retreated and destroyed our formation, I would not have been too busy reorganizing the troops to dispatch a military unit to tangle with the Lightning God’s Whip. At that time, only death would await the Lightning God’s Whip. Unfortunately, I could only watch the opportunity disappear in front of me.
However, Tiger later also revealed some of his real thoughts especially after he was drunk. "On that day, even if we could defeat the Lightning God’s Whip, we would not be able to kill that man. As long as he is on the battlefield, it is impossible to kill him!"
Rody’s golden fighting energy was wrapped around himself and his horse. From afar, Rody and the horse looked like a huge ball of light. The light ball moved back and forth within the Holy Knight’s formation and extracted the Lightning God’s Whip, one squad at a time. Rody broke through all those that obstructed his way. Bit by bit he led his scattered squads out of the Holy Knights' tight encirclement and gradually his squads again formed a black wave ...
Rody had been slashed countless times and had been shot at by about eight arrows. However, none of them could injure him. Everyone had tried to stop him but in the end, none of them could withstand his assault.
The Lightning God’s Whip started to move again. Under the leadership of the golden figure, they broke through the encircling Holy Knights and returned to Thunder City.
Translation Note:
1 "cross-shaped' sword: A Chinese word search did not turn up anything that looks right. I would presume it is just a sword with a cross-shaped hilt.