Light Cavalry Harassment

The panic that Derek had barely managed to suppress with bloodshed was instantly shattered by the sight before him when he looked up at the hillside again, turning into a bone-chilling cold.

The "servants" he had imagined, the ones he used to intimidate people, were no longer the indistinct silhouettes on the hilltop.

They surged like a deep blue tide, overflowing the mountaintop and continuing to flow out as if there were no end in sight.

One row, two rows, three rows... The horizontal formations widened, and the vertical formations deepened. In the morning light, there were countless helmets, breastplates, and shoulder armor, gleaming with a cold metallic luster; there were steel spears held horizontally or pointed diagonally like a forest; there were shield arrays as thick as walls; and there were dark, chilling muzzles of muskets peeking out from the gaps in the shields and between the ranks.

These weren't just dozens or hundreds of "household guards"; as far as the eye could see, the hillside had become a moving, desolate steel forest!

The number is definitely well over five hundred, possibly even close to one thousand!

Derek's heart sank to the bottom. His last glimmer of hope—that he could defeat the servants and cause the ragtag army to collapse—was ruthlessly crushed by reality.

This is clearly Carnford's main force, all out in force!

Immense despair and fear, like a plague, once again spread wildly through the Sauron defenses.

The morale that had just been forcibly boosted by Derek's threats of spoils and death was as fragile as thin ice under the sun in the face of such overwhelming troop and equipment superiority.

No... no...

"So many people..."

"We can't win... we'll die..."

Whispers turned into suppressed gasps, and some people began to retreat uncontrollably, their eyes darting around in panic, searching for possible escape routes.

Beside Derek, an old soldier with gray hair and old scars on his face, clearly a seasoned veteran who had seen much fighting, had also completely lost his will to fight. His face was pale, his lips trembled, and he suddenly turned around, dropped the Wooden Spear tied to it, and tried to disappear into the village.

"Stop!!" Derek's eyes widened in fury; he knew all too well the destructive power of the first to flee in a situation like this.

Once someone starts it, panic will spread like a burst dam, instantly shattering everyone's remaining psychological defenses. The battle will be over, turning into a one-sided massacre and rout.

Absolutely not!

In a split second, the instinct for survival, the obsession with protecting their territory, and the extreme fear of defeat overwhelmed the last shred of pity for the fellow villager.

Derek let out a beast-like growl, dragging his injured leg, and pounced with unusual speed!

The Battle Axe in his hand, its blade chipped but still heavy and sharp, drew a piercing arc in the air!

"Pfft--!"

With a crisp, muffled thud, warm liquid suddenly splattered out, covering Derek's head and face.

The veteran seemed to sense something and turned around in horror, only to see a rapidly enlarging axe shadow and Derek's bloodshot, demonic eyes.

Before he could even scream, his head was severed from his neck, rolling to the ground with an expression of disbelief and terror. The headless corpse swayed, gushing blood, before collapsing into the dust.

In an instant, the entire noisy front line fell into a deathly silence.

All the Sauron soldier, whether from their own village or from outside, seemed frozen in place, staring dumbfounded at the bloody and horrific scene.

The splattered blood stained the nearby ground and the leather armor of several soldiers, and the strong stench of blood permeated the cold air.

Derek's face and beard were covered in sticky, warm blood, which, combined with his already fierce appearance and single eye, made him look like a bloodthirsty demon crawling out of hell.

"Look carefully!!" Derek gasped for breath, his voice hoarse like a broken gong. He raised his still-dripping Battle Axe high, blood droplets sliding down the blade. "Anyone who dares to take another step back, anyone who dares to run away! This is what will happen!"

His single eye swept over the faces contorted with fear, his voice like a chilling wind. "Run? Where can you run? The Southern Barbarians ' cavalry are right outside! Can two legs outrun four? Running out of this village means certain death! You'll be chased and slaughtered like rabbits!"

He pointed his axe sharply at the slowly advancing steel array on the hillside and roared, "See that? They won't leave any survivors! Think of your women! Your children! Think of the homes behind you!"

"We have no choice but to fight! We have no choice but to fight to the death! We must fight our way out, or kill them all! Only then can our families survive! If you don't want your whole family to perish, pick up your weapons and fight to the death!"

Extreme fear intertwined with worry for the safety of his family, forming a twisted and insane drive.

Many Sauron soldier, their eyes red, let out howls like trapped beasts, gripping their weapons tightly once more. Although their bodies were still trembling, at least for the time being, no one dared to turn around again.

Derek knew that threats alone wouldn't work, so he immediately yelled at the few young, somewhat clever boys around him, "You lot! Go to the back of the village! Tell all the women, the old folks, and the children not to take anything, and to run immediately down the path behind the village into the mountains! Run as far as you can! Hurry!"

The children were terrified, but upon hearing the order, they scrambled and crawled towards the back of the village.

Watching their disappearing figures, Derek felt a surge of sorrow.

This might be the last glimmer of hope left for the family, though the chances are slim.

At this critical juncture, when people were filled with anxiety and the situation was barely holding on, things were in a state of flux.

"Cavalry! Southern Barbarians cavalry! They're coming from both sides!!" A soldier's terrified scream suddenly came from the flank.

Derek's heart tightened, and he immediately turned around to look.

Sure enough, a small squad of cavalry charged out from the edges of the sparse woodland on both the left and right flanks of the Carnford Army.

The number of people was small, with about ten riders in each team, totaling about twenty riders.

They were not heavily armored knights, but lightly armed cavalry, yet their horses were exceptionally fine, and the riders were agile and skilled at controlling their horses.

Instead of charging straight at Sauron's formation, they formed a pincer movement, rapidly flanking from both sides and heading straight for the two flanks of the fence at the entrance to Gray Wolf Valley!

"Don't panic! Stay calm!!" Derek forced himself to remain calm, pushing through the crowd to the front, his eyes fixed on the rapidly approaching cavalry. "They outnumber us! They don't dare charge directly! They're trying to harass us, to test our defenses! Archers! Slings! Aim at them! Fire!"

Upon receiving the order, the already extremely tense Sauron ranged soldiers immediately sprang into action.