The Horn Summon Ranger Corps had finally arrived!
The Gatu centurion on the outskirts shouted, "Bispa!" at that moment as well.
His voice was shrill and urgent.
The Gatu people retreated like the tide, regrouping on the flat ground below the gentle slope with their backs to the riverbank.
The Gatu centurion turned back in despair at the battlefield piled with corpses—the blood-soaked devils in the camp were still standing amid pools of blood.
Several hundred meters away, countless mounted rangers in green surcoats were galloping in, curving around as they gradually encircled them in a skirmish line.
The sound of hooves splashing into pooled water rang out everywhere.
Then, the centurion led the more than one hundred Gatu cavalrymen who had just regrouped in a charge southward.
"Wusa! Gatu!"
It was the right choice. The camp only allowed fighting on foot; even if they killed everyone inside, they would merely be trapped there.
Only the south had open ground suitable for cavalry to break through, only there lay a path to survival.
—So long as they could break through the Horn Rangers' encirclement.
"Woooo..."
The horns became more urgent. Hundreds of mounted rangers clad head to toe in green armor charged toward the Gatu people's front flank.
Behind the mounted rangers were even more troops. In the wind and rain, it was impossible to tell how many there were; all Li Ang could see were green warhorses everywhere, seeming to stretch from earth to sky.
Li Ang dropped onto the mud soaked with blood, panting heavily as he watched the battle below the slope.
Ralph, you fucking came at just the right time...
You almost came just in time to see me off!
The Gatu forces charged left and right, but they could not shake off the mounted rangers' repeated harassment. Then they began charging in ranks with their lances leveled.
A front rank of ten charged with lances. More than ten meters behind them, another squad of ten charged forward.
This was a formation meant to pierce through enemy lines. They wanted to use relentless thrusting charges to open a gap and break through the mounted rangers' encirclement.
But it was also the type of assault that caused the greatest casualties.
Amid violent impacts and every kind of howl, several ten-man squads were swallowed by the green sea of men.
The Gatu people behind them launched another collective charge, nearly breaking through the mounted rangers' blockade, but they ultimately failed to pierce that final wall.
That wall was Ralph. He wielded a long war spear, a green cloak streaming behind him, and no enemy before him could last a single exchange.
The Gatu people in gray chainmail finally all fell, vanishing from the battlefield.
Not a single one surrendered.
Yet their final desperate charge had caused at least dozens of casualties among the mounted rangers.
Kloze walked over to Li Ang. "The Gatu people are all qualified warriors... Though their discipline is poor, they obey orders and are brave without fear. That charge reminded me of the Death Squad."
Li Ang looked back at the corpses scattered throughout the camp.
Then he looked at his subordinates, every one of them wounded.
"Kloze, you can train the Charge Squad into a Death Squad too... Anyway, I'm never fighting this kind of shitty battle again!"
Li Ang gritted his teeth and gestured twice with one hand, but he still did not dare pull out the arrows embedded in his body.
He looked at Ansen, who was treating the severely wounded, and did not call him over.
Kloze looked at Ansen as well, then turned away and fell silent for a moment. "My lord, you are the noble who resembles Count of Meitengheim the most among all those I have met... You possess such great..."
"Resembles him my ass! Charging into battle is what I hate doing most." Li Ang cut him off directly, utterly dismissive of Kloze's clumsy flattery.
He still wanted to live a few more years. That Earl had reportedly died on the way to a charge.
"You just want me to teach them swordsmanship... Kloze, Kloze, I never thought even a serious-looking guy like you would suck up to people..."
"My lord, you truly understand people..."
Fine. That flattery was even worse.
Ralph had already come up the slope, accompanied by a mounted ranger without a bow on his back. They dismounted and stood beside Li Ang.
"Lord Li Ang, are you all right?"
They had not recognized that blood-covered monster as Li Ang.
Li Ang tugged at his helmet. Thick blood seemed to have glued the chainmail to his head.
He gritted his teeth and tore the helmet off, pulling out a long string of blood droplets that splattered down his body.
"I'm not dead yet..."
"Hiss... Lord Li Ang, you..."
Ralph was clearly stunned, disbelief written all over his face.
"Knight Commander Ralph, regrettably, there isn't anywhere clean. Please sit wherever you like..."
Li Ang did not rise. He looked up at the two knights in green helmets, an arrow lodged in his thigh. He had no desire to move right now.
The two green-helmeted knights frowned as they looked at the corpses and severed limbs scattered across the ground.
There seemed to be nowhere even to put their feet. The entire camp was covered in pools of blood.
"I'm sorry, Lord Li Ang. I never expected them to get out... I have never seen a noble like you either..."
Ralph seemed at a loss, as though he wanted to help Li Ang up but feared touching his wounds.
"Enough, Ralph, stop talking nonsense. The Gatu army at Brave Shield Fortress was a decoy. Take your men back to Long River Town immediately—someone has attacked your home!"
Li Ang twisted his aching neck.
"No... My lord, I know about Long River Town, but..."
Obvious fury showed on Ralph's face. "But it was done by a group of so-called rebels. And after they seized Long River Town, Duke Alma led his family knights to eliminate them... My lord, you should understand what I mean..."
Li Ang froze.
Then he reached out to signal Ralph to help him up, rising to his feet. "Duke Elfwan was killed by those so-called rebels, wasn't he? Then Alma took over the entire Elfwan household in the name of revenge?"
Ralph carefully supported Li Ang and sighed. "Most of Duke Elfwan's family was killed. Those rebels claimed it was vengeance for wives and daughters who had once been taken from them..."
"Damn! Elfwan really did that?"
"Perhaps... But, my lord, the issue is that they killed the women in the duke's household who had no formal status—the so-called stolen wives and daughters... Yet they spared Elfwan's wife, Madam Bella."
"Nothing wrong with that. Leaving his wife alive lets them take over the inheritance completely. For all we know, that old woman might give birth to a posthumous child in half a year..."
Li Ang looked at Ralph and watched his eyes turn vacant. He stared at Li Ang as though he were a god displaying miracles.
"Lord Li Ang, can you really use prophecy?"
The mounted ranger beside him wore an expression of utter worship.
"What do you mean? Oh, your bow..."
"No, no... My lord, Grand Duke Alma has indeed declared that Madam Bella, Duke Elfwan's wife, is pregnant. As his friend, he intends to raise Elfwan's child to adulthood!"
"Holy shit... How old is that madam?"
"About fifty, I suppose..."
That really was shameless hypocrisy. Even Li Ang had to admit inferiority before Alma's method of having it both ways while acting righteous.
Sure enough, cunning and shamelessness were virtues. Look at how successful his scheme had been...
Before you continue