Charlemagne's Army Formation and Great Witch Magic: Man-Eating Flower Secret Realm Garden

Downstairs, after the Black Wolf Demon Hunter discovered the enemy's intentions, he immediately removed the crossbow from his back. Through the wall that had been cut open by Knight Swords, he fired repeatedly at the four Formal Knights leading the group outside and the Knight Attendant at the very front.

Manuel Boar, the leading Formal Knight, caught the incoming short arrows with his left hand.

Formal Knights possessed terrifying dynamic vision. Their superhuman physiques allowed them to catch arrows barehanded.

"It's a Five-Shot Crossbow made in the Clockwork Marquisate. One of these is worth two standard Knight Swords."

"Good. Didn't expect to find something like this. It's mine."

He sneered at the archer, then suddenly realized the man was dressed as a Demon Hunter. Only then did he notice that the short arrow's weight was wrong.

"This is..."

"A Griffin School Potion Trap... How is that possible..."

"This isn't something an ordinary Demon Hunter could make! Everyone, throw away the short arrows in your hands!"

But it was too late.

Because of the knights' exceptional dynamic vision and reflexes, they had all caught the short arrows aimed at their faces with their bare hands.

And hanging from the tails of those arrows were potion bottles no larger than a fingernail.

Then they exploded.

These potion bottles were a fusion of chemical and magical technology. Once they exploded, they produced shockwaves spanning ten square meters.

The four Formal Knights and seventeen Knight Attendants of the Boar Knight Order had remained too close together in order to preserve their formation while destroying the inn's load-bearing walls. When the five shockwave potion bottles exploded, the knights were blasted from their horses.

The Old Witch's headless body came down the stairs. Without her head, she couldn't see.

However, her head was at the Fourth Floor window, where it could observe the scene below. Naturally, her body could react accordingly as well.

She saw the panicked Drinkers in the inn, as well as the Hunchback Old Man and the innkeeper Leili hiding in the corner.

She also saw the Boar Knight Order. With her fingers, she traced lines of words through the air. The words resonated with the air's vibrations and produced sound.

"Griffin School Potion Trap..."

"How many of the Demon Hunter's Nine Trials have you passed?"

"No, that can't be right. Someone like you couldn't possibly follow a down-and-out noble. Looks like you're not so honest either."

"Let's cooperate. This is Your Grace's will. If they disturb Your Grace, things will get troublesome."

"These people aren't even one ten-thousandth as terrifying as Your Grace's wrath."

Manuel Boar of the Boar Knight Order climbed to his feet. He pulled down his helmet's visor, revealing a face twisted hideously with rage. "A Demon Hunter and witch alliance, huh."

"I knew Demon Hunters were no good."

"Ignore those two."

"The witch's head isn't here, and she must have hidden her heart too. Killing a body here is meaningless. She can simply find another body."

"Her head must be upstairs."

"The plan has changed. Stop destroying the building. Cover me—I'm going upstairs to kill that defenseless witch's head."

Black Wolf and the witch were both alarmed.

Yveta was upstairs, conducting the ritual.

They absolutely couldn't let them go up!

Manuel Boar mounted his steed and blew a whistle. At once, twenty warhorses charged into the inn.

At the same time, the knights and Knight Attendants threw away their excessively long Knight Swords, drew their Off-hand Weapons—Hand-and-a-half Swords—and followed behind the herd of warhorses.

This tactic of horses as the vanguard and warriors following behind came from the battlefield.

This was a genuine battlefield tactic!

Black Wolf the Demon Hunter drew his greatsword and cut off the heads of three horses charging at him, one slash each.

The horse heads fell to the ground like sacks, splashing blood everywhere.

Black Wolf frowned. "These are excellent warhorses bred from ordinary horses and Magic Beasts. Why are they being sent to their deaths?"

The Old Witch's remaining left hand was gesturing. In truth, it was her head at the Fourth Floor window that was chanting, but it was her headless body that cast the spell.

She suddenly wrote characters through the air with her left hand. The characters vibrated with the air and made sounds.

"This is Charlemagne's Army Formation, designed specifically to deal with powerful lone fighters. Damn it, this is battlefield tactics. Watch your front left."

The witch's warning came too late.

A Knight Attendant suddenly sprang out from beneath a warhorse's belly and stabbed his sword into Black Wolf's thigh.

Then another Knight Attendant darted out beside a warhorse, driving his sword into Black Wolf's left arm.

Black Wolf was a highly experienced Demon Hunter, but he was only accustomed to dealing with monsters. He had never fought on a battlefield.

The members of the Boar Knight Order, however, were completely different from him.

They were accustomed to fighting heretics, cultists, merchants, and every kind of enemy force.

And the art of war was something individual combat could never compare to.

Black Wolf the Demon Hunter cried out in pain and used his greatsword to parry several blades aimed at his vital points.

But his body was already covered in wounds.

The witch rapidly wrote several more lines with her left hand. "Luckily, they didn't bring bows or crossbows. Charlemagne's tactics consist of Vanguard Cavalry, warriors fighting in the middle, and then people in the rear firing hidden arrows."

"Centuries ago, Charlemagne used this method to kill many professionals."

"But bows and crossbows are strictly forbidden by the Church in the Black Magic Forest. They're only permitted when fighting heretics."

"The Boar Knight Order took the Church's money, so they most likely won't openly defy Church orders."

"And now, my spell is ready."

The Old Witch suddenly straightened her left arm, raised it high, and spread her five fingers.

A Dark cloud gathered indoors above her palm.

With a wave of her hand, thousands of seeds fell across the stairs, wooden floor, bar counter, beside the Drinkers hiding nearby, and among the horses and knights.

The Dark cloud followed them, and rain actually began falling inside the room.

This was the Great Witch's innate spell—Man-Eating Flower Secret Realm Garden.

As the gray rain fell, sprouts emerged from the wooden floor.

The seeds took root and germinated, rapidly sending up shoots. In an incredibly short time, they became Giant Flowers—Man-Eating Flowers taller than grown adults.

The tops of these Man-Eating Flowers glimmered with an eerie purple light, as though draped in a beautiful veil of mist. Their mouths were filled with shark-like Fangs that grew inward.

In an instant, the inn's first floor became a vast garden of Man-Eating Flowers.

The hundreds of Giant Flowers swallowed the precious warhorses whole, one bite each, while attacking the knights.

"Our warhorses have been eaten by the Man-Eating Flowers! Those horses... were worth a fortune!!!"

"Dammit, these Man-Eating Flowers are attacking us too! Defend yourselves, don't break formation! No matter how valuable the horses are, our lives are worth more!"

"Defend! Defend! Defend! Don't let the formation fall apart!"

"Someone's been swallowed! We can't save him! What the hell are these things? I'd rather fight a Formal Knight than a witch!! I don't want to become flower fertilizer!"

The Man-Eating Flowers lunged at the knights. Yet their discipline was indeed strict; even while retreating in panic, most of them suffered only minor injuries.

Only five Knight Attendants who hadn't made it back into formation in time were swallowed by the Man-Eating Flowers.

Their reverse-growing teeth ground their bodies to pieces like stone millstones.

These Knight Attendants only had Seeds of Life in their bodies and had yet to form extraordinary organs. Their defenses weren't much stronger than ordinary people.

That was why they needed armor.

Unfortunately, these Knight Attendants couldn't afford Chainmail or plate armor. Most wore only helmets, along with cheap padded Cotton armor stuffed with cotton and scraps of cloth.

They were all cheap goods, nothing compared to the full-body armor of Formal Knights.

Now that they had been swallowed by the Man-Eating Flowers without reliable protection, their chances of survival were truly slim.

After all, this was a Great Witch.