Victory!

Marcus was not a narrow-minded man. If anyone else had said that, he might not have been so furious. He just did not know why Tiona's tone and expression irritated him for no reason.

Harrot quickly pulled Tiona away, afraid she would provoke Marcus further and make the two start fighting.

Although the troops had not suffered heavy casualties, they were basically exhausted after the consecutive battles. Not to mention the infantry who had fought the Centaurs at close range, even the crossbowmen's arms ached from loading and drawing their bows.

Marcus's own Bloodline Power was nearly depleted as well, so he did not continue leading the battle. He brought his troops to a high point to rest and watch.

After the nobles from both flanks led their troops in support, the Centaurs were surrounded in turn. The remaining Centaur Royal Guards were also being ganged up on by numerous powerful fighters. At last, the situation stopped getting worse.

Marcus no longer paid attention to the main battlefield. Instead, he watched the two Legendary Level battles.

After transforming, the Giant Dwarf stood five meters tall. His skin was ash-gray, and his muscles and bones were incomparably tough. His physical defense was even greater than that of top-grade armor.

The Centaur Commander possessed regeneration similar to a troll's. After being struck several times, his wounds healed rapidly.

One was thick-skinned and impervious to blades and spears, while the other had absurd vitality and seemed inexhaustible. They had been fighting forever, and they were still at full strength!

The other battlefield, however, was far more intense. The moment Marquis Prague and the Centaur Chieftain clashed for the second time, they immediately began unleashing their ultimate moves.

The Centaur Chieftain had previously used War Stomp and Thunder Spear in succession, but he was somewhat inferior to Marquis Prague when it came to using Legendary Abilities.

However, the Centaur Chieftain's vitality was more tenacious. Though at a disadvantage, he showed no fear. But just as he and Marquis Prague were locked in a stalemate, Grand Duke Lance thrust a sword into his back and pierced straight through his brain.

As a Legendary Creature, the Centaur Chieftain did not die even with his brain pierced. However, facing two opponents of the same level, he found it increasingly difficult to hold on, and his injuries worsened by the moment.

Marcus patted Harrot on the shoulder. "Organize the cavalry. It's time to hunt down the fleeing Centaurs."

Harrot nodded and began counting the men and assigning horses. Once the Centaur Chieftain fell, the Thunder Tribe's morale would surely plummet to rock bottom. They could not possibly keep fighting.

Marcus's troops had fought on foot throughout the battle. Aside from his own Magical Warhorse, which had died, all the other horses remained unharmed.

The several Transcendent Knights all had Magical Warhorses. Harrot mainly selected mounts for the ordinary soldiers. He brought along all seven of his Knight Squires, as well as several dozen soldiers who had fought bravely earlier and still had plenty of strength left.

A cavalry unit of more than eighty people soon assembled. This time, the ordinary soldiers' mounts were no longer those mediocre horses with good endurance but average speed.

They were expensive heavy warhorses that were troublesome to feed. Each weighed a full thirteen hundred jin, more than a Centaur. Their explosive power and carrying capacity were both outstanding.

Their endurance was terrible, however, and they could not run for long. They also required dedicated attendants to feed them. Ordinary hay would upset their stomachs, making them extremely delicate.

But they could hardly send out pathetic cavalry that ran slower than Centaurs to hunt them down. Marcus had spent no less on these high-quality horses than on the heavy crossbows. They were finally proving their worth.

After a brief wait, the Centaur Chieftain finally fell. Grand Duke Lance cut off his head with a single stroke. Marquis Prague raised the Centaur Chieftain's severed head high and shouted toward the sky, "The Centaur Chieftain has been slain! This battle shall be ours!"

Then he and Grand Duke Lance joined the battle together. Seeing that things had gone bad, the Centaur Commander had slipped away long ago. Once Divine Descent ended, the Giant Dwarf had been suppressed the entire time and had no power to stop him from fleeing.

At that moment, all the Centaurs saw that their incomparably powerful chieftain had died, while the enemy still had two seemingly invincible experts rampaging everywhere. They cried out miserably and scattered in defeat.

Marcus immediately gave the order to move out, leading the cavalry unit in pursuit of the fleeing Centaurs. The once-powerful Centaurs had completely lost the will to fight and became lambs waiting for slaughter.

Many other nobles led cavalry in pursuit as well. Marquis Prague and Grand Duke Lance also targeted the formidable Centaur Royal Guards one by one. Enemies like them could not be allowed to escape.

Only the semi-Legendary Centaur Commander had fled too early. They had been besieging the Centaur Chieftain at the time and had not been able to spare attention for him. By now, he had vanished without a trace.

The pursuit lasted a long time and only stopped once the horses could no longer run. Harrot alone had skewered dozens of Centaurs. Together with the experience from his earlier kills, he gained two levels in a row. Marcus's entire cavalry unit had killed nearly a thousand in total.

Tiona was particularly worth mentioning. Her two legs ran faster than four, and she killed to her heart's content. Even after everyone's horses were exhausted, she was still full of energy.

Harrot secretly clicked his tongue. Her endurance was nearly comparable to that of a Legendary Expert. He had heard that after reaching the Legendary Level, one's life level underwent a qualitative transformation. Humans who could originally only fight intensely for several dozen minutes could battle for days and nights.

Marcus, meanwhile, was extremely excited. At first, Tiona had wanted to keep a Centaur Royal Guard's head as a collectible. But apart from an orc-blooded half-elf like her, which elf could stand such a smelly, filthy, disgusting head?

The other elves all sternly rebuked her, telling her that if she did not throw the head away, she could forget about setting foot in the elf camp. Tiona could only reluctantly lend the head to Harrot for safekeeping.

There was no difference whether Harrot held it or Marcus did. In any case, no one could steal this credit from him. Including the Centaur leader he had killed earlier, of the two thousand Centaurs slain on this battlefield, no one in the alliance aside from Marquis Prague had contributed more than he had.

Harrot had just been handed a smelly, disgusting head and had originally felt rather depressed. But after hearing Marcus's analysis, he suddenly found the revolting head much more pleasing to the eye.

The work of burning and clearing the corpses, as well as cleaning the battlefield, was left to the common soldiers. Harrot, the other Knights, the outstanding elite soldiers, and the nobles went to hold a banquet.

Four of Harrot's seven Knight Squires could level up. After thinking it over, Harrot promoted three of them into Northern Rogue Knights and the remaining one into an adventurer.

An adventurer's combat power was far inferior to that of a Rogue Knight, but he could continue leveling up. The next rank was the level sixty Exploration Hero, an absurdly powerful expert with thirty points in both Strength and Agility and every skill maxed out. He would probably be a whole tier stronger than Harrot himself!

Although Harrot did not know how long it would take for that adventurer to level up, at least there was something to look forward to. He would send him into battle to kill more enemies in the future, give him some good equipment, and keep him from dying. If he ever leveled up one day, that would be incredible.

The alliance's casualties had also been roughly counted. The regular soldiers and auxiliary troops had suffered terribly. Of the seventy thousand men, only a little over thirty thousand remained. Centaurs were simply too strong; if a human took one hit, he was basically finished. It was difficult to be wounded without dying.

Of the eight thousand elite soldiers, more than five thousand survived because they had stayed close to the nobles and possessed decent strength themselves. But the battle had been too difficult, and many nobles and Knights had died as well.

The left battlefield had been especially severe. After the initial complete rout, any noble who tried to reorganize the troops and take the lead was easily crushed to death by the Centaur army.

The number of Knights had dropped below two hundred, and six nobles had died. Including the one who had died during the first pioneering expedition, only twenty of the original twenty-seven nobles remained.

Two of them had been very young nobles without heirs, just like Marcus. Their families had been wiped out completely. There was nothing to say but that it was regrettable.

Harrot, however, thought that quite a few nobles would probably be secretly delighted. They had discovered the herb used to make Hero's Water, so there was no need to worry about the kingdom lacking nobles. Two fewer people to divide the pie with was a good thing.

The elves were completely unharmed. Two hundred dwarves had died, and more than five hundred were injured. It was normal for the elves to suffer zero casualties since they had barely participated in the battle. The dwarves' physiques were truly exceptional; they had stubbornly fought at the most critical points the entire time, yet fewer than two hundred had fallen.

At the banquet, injured dwarves still drank boldly, gulp after gulp, even with bandages wrapped around them. The Pioneering Alliance had not brought much alcohol. After the dwarves took most of it, only the nobles and a few Knights among the humans could drink, while everyone else had to settle for water.

Due to the limited conditions, no one could wash up properly. Some of those who had fought fiercely still reeked strongly of blood, but no one cared. This banquet was merely for relaxation and celebration; there was no need to bother with etiquette or appearances.

Tiona was especially outrageous. She had killed hundreds of Centaurs, and blood and chunks of flesh had congealed all over her body, impossible to clean off with a simple wash. The smell could be detected from several meters away.

She was driven from the elves' drinking table and came to Harrot's side to eat and drink heavily. The others said nothing when they smelled her and silently made room, especially Marcus. He patted Harrot on the shoulder to signal him to endure, then went to drink with Marquis Prague without looking back.

Tiona moved her chair close to Harrot, patted him on the shoulder, and spoke indistinctly through mouthfuls of food about the feeling of charging freely across the battlefield.

"This is where I belong. The Elf Forest is far too boring. Sparring matches do not even let you see blood. Every one of them spends all day learning magic and practicing archery. Apart from me, there isn't a single one who uses heavy weapons..."

As Tiona grew more animated, she threw an arm around Harrot's neck and insisted on pouring him drinks. Under normal circumstances, Harrot would probably have been delighted to drink and chat intimately with such a stunning beauty with an incredible figure.

But now, Harrot had spent over two hours washing himself clean and had finally gotten rid of the smell on his body. Yet Tiona smelled even worse than he had before washing.

Even the smell of wine and meat had been tainted. Harrot was starving, yet he could only eat in such a foul and nauseating environment. He practically wanted to grab Tiona by the back of the head and shove her face into the onion soup on the table!

Endure it. She's a war goddess who can crush Centaur Royal Guards. I have to endure it. If we start fighting, I'll be the one getting shoved into the onion soup!

Just as Harrot was suffering beyond measure, that cheerful, sunny elven handsome man came to his rescue. He said Elder Iltiran wanted to see him.

Harrot was finally able to escape Tiona's clutches and hurriedly followed the elven man away. Tiona had been ordered not to approach any other elves until she washed away the smell, leaving her to sit alone in boredom.

The elven man smiled at Harrot. "The elder heard that you're elf-blooded and was curious to meet you. Don't worry. The elder has no prejudice against mixed-bloods, and he likes humans very much!"

After speaking, the elven man glanced at Tiona, who sat alone, and quietly added, "Tiona has never gotten along very well with the other elves. Take better care of her. She isn't a bad person."

Harrot nodded. He could understand. The racial differences between orcs and elves were simply too great. Although Tiona looked more like an elf, there was more of an orc inside her.

More importantly, that woman had terrible social awareness and no filter on her mouth. She offended people far too easily. It would be a miracle if she could get along with the other elves.