Knight Viel's eyes were bloodshot. The frustration suppressed to its limit within his chest erupted into savage power.
"You Abyss bastards! Get the hell out of my way!!!"
He gripped his badly blunted Knight's Longsword with both hands, abandoning all pretense of defense.
With unstoppable momentum, his longsword slashed viciously at the Cultists blocking his path.
Crack!
Viel cleaved through three Bone Blades thrusting toward him in a single stroke. Without losing momentum, his sword cut two Cultists clean in half at the waist!
The instant Viel carved a bloody path through them, Kairils made his move.
Kairils clamped his legs against his horse's flanks. With a piercing neigh, the warhorse charged past, skimming precisely along Viel's side.
Kairils bent low and seized Viel's armor with one hand. Veins bulged along his arm as he hauled Viel bodily onto his horse!
"Hold on!"
Kairils barked the command, and his warhorse trampled over the ice-strewn ground, charging straight toward the opening the two First-Tier Knights had torn through the enemy!
"Damn it! Those refugees played us!"
The second-tier captain leading the pursuit of Ma Lou in the distance whipped his head around, seething with rage.
As he watched the Winterhold Knights break free of the inner encirclement, his facial muscles twitched wildly. The brutality in his eyes almost seemed ready to burst forth in tangible form.
A diversion!
Those four mounted peasants had deliberately ridden out to draw their attention, serving as bait to ease the pressure on the Winterhold Knights!
The Cultist captain ground his teeth in fury. He was about to order the pursuing Cultists to turn back immediately.
But as he watched Kairils and the others draw close to reuniting, the fury on his face subsided with eerie suddenness.
A cruel sneer even surfaced in his vicious eyes.