The Battle

Within the Battlefield enclosed by wooden railings, the knights did not hear the conversation above; they only knew that the flags for preparation had been raised.

This signaled that they were making final adjustments; the battle was about to begin.

The crowd outside the arena also knew this was a signal that a battle was about to begin, and their discussions were even louder than before.

Soon after, on the high platform, Count Ian threw a stone toward the center of the Battlefield, and the soldiers nearby immediately changed their flags.

The sound of stones hitting the ground was clearly heard by everyone, a sound that reminded them—the battle had begun.

Knight Eric was the first to react, bracing his legs against the horse's belly, and the horse, with all its might, charged forward with heavy momentum.

Neither of his two attendants had horses, as it was extremely difficult to find horses capable of supporting such a heavy load, so he had to have them fight on foot.

His two attendants quickly positioned themselves to fire their crossbows and looked toward Finley's group.

Eric and Cliff, who was also urging his horse forward, exchanged a glance and charged toward Finley in perfect unison.

The other knight also realized the seriousness of the situation. If Finley fell, he would be left to face the attack of the two men, so he spurred his horse forward as well.

In an instant, Finley saw three knights charging towards him, causing him to break out in a cold sweat.

If he hadn't spoken with another knight beforehand, he would now suspect that all three of them were there to attack him.

In this situation, Finley's strategy was very useful: to run.

There was no way around it; Finley himself wasn't very good at mounted combat, which was evident even though the other knights were wearing heavy armor while Finley was wearing light armor.

However, light armor also has some advantages; its speed is greater than that of these knights.

"You guys go and deal with those minions on the other side first; you probably won't be able to get involved in the rest of the battle."

Finley quickly spoke to Fran and Stefan behind him.

At this stage, the knights present tacitly abandoned their followers, and the four of them engaged in a chase on the field.

Although Finley's horse didn't have any enhancement drugs, it was lightly equipped, so it ran the fastest.

Of the other three, Cliff's horse was the second fastest, partly because it had abandoned protective gear and was more aggressive.

The current scene is Finley circling the arena, keeping the three knights behind him at bay, occasionally firing an arrow from his bow behind him.

Knowing his arrows couldn't penetrate heavy armor, he aimed and fired at Cliff's unprotected horse.

Cliff knew his horse was in danger when Finley drew his bow, so he quickly slowed down and, while taking the hit from another knight, shielded Eric in front of him.

When Eric, fully armed, walked ahead, Finley's bow and arrows became useless. He simply fired an arrow, which struck the armor without leaving any mark.

Finley then focused on maintaining a speed that wouldn't allow them to be overtaken from behind, but wasn't too fast either, as he led the four men and four horses in a chase across the field.

The perspective shifts to Fran, who, along with Stefan, did not act immediately but instead carefully observed the situation on the field.

Stefan was somewhat frightened. He looked at his own thin armor, then at the fully armed entourage of his opponent, swallowed hard, and said fearfully:

"Elan, why don't we just lie down and play dead?"

He initially thought it was no big deal; it was just a fight, and he'd been on the Battlefield a few times before. But when he saw the opponent's superior equipment, he immediately had the thought of backing down.

Fran didn't turn her head. From the beginning, she hadn't expected the other party to be of any use. During the preparation process, she already knew the other party's level.

However, she was currently observing the situation on the field, trying to figure out where she could quickly launch an attack and eliminate the enemy's minions before the knights could react.

She glanced at the field. Cliff's entourage had already engaged the entourage of the knight standing on their side, while Knight Eric, due to their cumbersome size, was still aiming their crossbows at Finley and the others who were running.

Some of them were hesitant to fire their crossbows, fearing that their arrows might hit their own masters, which would be disastrous. Therefore, they preferred to do nothing rather than make a mistake so easily.

Fran didn't even turn her head, and said directly:

"Just find a rock to lie down on."

Without waiting for a response, she patted the Black Horse, urging it to charge towards the two followers holding crossbows.

Her actions immediately attracted the attention of the people in the stands above, and a minor nobleman smiled and said to the crowd:

"If I were him, I wouldn't do something so reckless, riding my horse directly towards two enemies with crossbows. It would be practically damaging my own horse."

No one responded immediately to his words, because after he finished speaking, Fran had already rushed to within five meters of the two enemies.

They watched Fran's charge intently, eager to see how it would end.

The two followers showed no fear in the face of Fran's charge. They had already tested the armor's defensive capabilities and were confident that they could withstand such a charge thanks to the armor's cushioning enchantments.

The two did not fire their crossbow bolts easily, but waited until Fran was closer and had almost no room to dodge before pulling the trigger.

With a 'whoosh', two arrows shot towards the Black Horse beneath Fran.

The two attendants' plan was simple: the two arrows might not be able to harm a physically strong person, but an unprotected horse would hardly be able to withstand such damage.

As the arrow was released, both attendants could already picture the Black Horse losing its balance and falling to the ground.

However, reality was not quite what they had imagined. One arrow struck the Black Horse directly in the head, and the other struck its soft abdomen below the head, both arrows being fired from places the two men could not see.

The arrowhead was blocked by the Black Horse's stiff mane, breaking into several pieces and shattering on the ground.

One of his followers stood in Fran's path of attack. Just as he was wondering why Fran's horse was still running, he saw Fran extend a silver longsword.

His pupils reflected the flames that erupted from the longsword in that instant, turning the entire sword red.

Fran used the Sunflame Breathing Technique, imbuing her longsword with Sunflame and wiping it towards her opponent's shoulder.

Before the attendant could react, he felt one of his arms go numb, and his entire upper body lost its balance, causing him to fall to the other side.

A piercing pain shot through his shoulder. Looking down, he saw an armored arm lying on the ground, its blade cleanly severed and charred, as if it had been struck by a laser.

[You used Sunflame to incapacitate a heavily armored soldier. Sunflame Infusion Proficiency +2]