Blood Moon Horn

An eerie horn sounded, and the rebel soldiers, already bloodthirsty to begin with, grew even more frenzied. Their eyes held nothing but slaughter, as though they could no longer feel pain.

A closer look revealed that every rebel soldier was flushed red, as if they had eaten too many chilies.

Most bizarre of all were the rebels' eyes, which emitted an eerie green glow, like Demons from hell.

The Rebel Army had entered a state of madness, much to the misery of the Noble Allied Forces. Seeing the Crimson Knights charge earlier, everyone had finally worked up the courage to counterattack, only to be beaten senseless once more.

What could they do against an enemy unafraid of death?

Just as the formation was about to collapse, Hudson had been preparing to slip away when the banners appearing in the rear made him abandon that thought.

Another noble's private army had arrived. It did not matter who they were or how strong they were. As long as reinforcements joined them, it was good news.

The addition of fresh troops allowed the Noble Allied Forces, which had been on the verge of collapse, to stabilize their lines once more. Although they were still being forced back step by step by the rebels, Hudson was no longer worried in the slightest.

Once the first noble's private army had joined, there would be a second, a third... Fundamentally, they were all grasshoppers tied to the same rope.

The Crimson Knights had already taken the field, and the battle had now entered its final stage. If the Noble Allied Forces suffered a crushing defeat, then the entire Southeast Province would struggle to halt the rebel advance.

Sooner or later, the flames of war would reach their own lands. No one could remain untouched. If they did not fight desperately now, it would be too late to do so later.

Seeing the battlefield gradually stabilize, Hudson, who had been slacking off during the fight, finally had time to think.

The enemy had only become this frenzied after that mysterious horn sounded. There had to be some connection between the two.

Though he did not know what the mysterious horn was, he could be certain it was no good. Any method that drastically stimulated one's potential was bound to have side effects.

The rebels' condition made that clear. This was no longer merely stimulating their potential—they had plainly lost their self-awareness.

There was no need to think about it. Even if these people somehow survived the battlefield, they would likely be crippled for life.

"No wonder they're a cult. Their methods really are extraordinary!"

After silently sighing to himself, Hudson raised his guard against the Skull Society. These lunatics were far too dangerous, far more destructive than those cults... whatever they were called in his previous life.

"Blood Moon Horn!"

Count Pierce cried out in shock.

"Impossible! This is impossible! The Blood Moon Horn was sealed in the Papal State three hundred years ago. How could it have fallen into the Skull Society's hands?"

Having recognized the source of the eerie sound, Count Pierce still found it hard to believe. An evil artifact sealed by the Church for three hundred years had somehow appeared in the hands of the Rebel Army.

At that moment, he suddenly understood why the rule of the nobles in the counties of Wighton and Light had been so easily overturned by the rebels.

With the evil artifact known as the Blood Moon Horn aiding them, even obedient serfs could be turned into killing machines. Their combat strength might not be impressive, but enough ants could still kill an elephant.

Just like now, those fighting bloodily at the front of the rebel ranks were all serfs hastily gathered together or poor residents from the cities. No matter how many died, the Skull Society would not feel the slightest heartache.

The Noble Allied Forces were different. Everyone was using their own strength to fight the rebels to the death. If their losses became too severe, their families might decline as a result.

This was especially true for Count Pierce's Crimson Knights. Every cavalryman had been carefully selected and then subjected to years of rigorous training before becoming part of the order.

The expenses involved were by no means insignificant. Even a regional lord found them burdensome.

Despite their formidable combat strength and reputation as one of the kingdom's ten great knight orders, they maintained a force of only a little over a thousand men.

It could be said that every casualty made Count Pierce's heart bleed. Yet now he had to use this elite force to trade losses with the enemy's cannon fodder. No matter how he looked at it, it was a terrible loss.

Even the wealthy Dalton Family could not afford to keep fighting like this forever, let alone the other small and mid-sized noble houses.

"Send the signal. Have every unit in the fortress attack at once. Raise the Blood-colored Battle Flag! In this battle, I will fight the Skull Society to the death!"

Count Pierce roared.

There was no other choice. The Skull Society, now in possession of the Blood Moon Horn, posed far too great a threat. If they did not destroy it before it grew powerful, it would become much harder to act later.

Three hundred years ago, the Blood Moon Cult had used this evil artifact to throw the entire Aslant Continent into chaos. The once-mighty Cister Empire had fallen because of it.

In the end, only when the Church took the lead and the nations of the continent joined forces were the Blood Moon Cultists completely wiped out.

As the Blood Moon Horn was a divine artifact, it could not be destroyed. In the end, the Pope of that era used divine magic to seal it within the holy land of the Papal State, where the Order of Judgment Knights was tasked with guarding it.

Now that this hot potato had appeared on his own territory, if he did not deal with it quickly, all the major powers of the continent would be drawn here.

Forces from every side would gather and fight over the Blood Moon Horn. Just imagining that scene made Count Pierce's scalp tingle.

All he felt was regret. If he had known the Skull Society possessed the Blood Moon Horn, he would have led the knights to kill them the moment the rebels rose up. He would never have allowed them to grow this strong.

There was no medicine for regret, but remedial action still had to be taken. To avoid the worst possible outcome, Count Pierce decided to go all in.

The Blood-colored Battle Flag, representing a fight to the death, appeared, and the Noble Allied Forces erupted in an uproar. Everyone knew that something major had happened.

From this moment onward, there would be no retreat in this war. Either they successfully annihilated the rebels, or they were annihilated by the rebels. There was no third possibility.

Every noble present would receive the same treatment. Anyone who fled would not only be publicly disgraced, but also hunted down by the kingdom, with even their family implicated.

Of course, those on the battlefield were not the only ones who would suffer. Nobles who failed to arrive at the battlefield on time would also be held severely accountable by the kingdom afterward.

This shocking development made Hudson cry out inwardly that Count Pierce had gone mad. Going all in right from the start left him utterly speechless.

As a lofty count, he was actually gambling his entire fortune and life like some street gambler. It was far too reckless.

Unable to understand it, Hudson could only accept it passively. After all, he was merely a rookie knight.

Hudson was quite satisfied with his current life. As long as he worked a little harder, he had a chance to become a landed noble.

Then he would have a house, a carriage, and money all at once, with girls coming to his door as well. He could simply coast through the rest of his life.

Unless absolutely necessary, he had no desire to give up his current identity, hide his name, and start over somewhere else.