Aureg led the Banished Knights freely through the Redmane Army's ranks.
One sword bore a severed head, while the other swung out to cut down the soldiers in his way.
Soldiers fell in swathes, reaped like weeds.
Severed limbs, half bodies, and heads flew into the air in a chaotic rush.
Intestines, stomachs, all manner of organs, and blood splashed everywhere.
Sturdy armor and shields were no better than paper before the Banished Knights.
They had clearly encased themselves in iron cans, which could withstand powerful bows, heavy crossbows, and sword strikes during ordinary tests.
Yet against the Banished Knights, light armor became a sheet of paper, and heavy armor was merely that sheet folded in half.
Utterly meaningless.
Added to that were the constant cries of "The Redmane commander is dead!"
Those words truly struck the soldiers' hearts like a heavy hammer, blow after blow.
Even wills of steel cracked under the pounding.
They needed a new commander to help them regroup, maintain morale, and organize a counterattack.
Barrett had originally intended to overwhelm the Banished Knights through sheer numbers.
He had let the Banished Knights in, calculating that even if he happened to die, the surrounding soldiers, including his personal guards, could surround and kill them.
There was nothing particularly wrong with that thinking.
Using himself as bait to lure the enemy deep into his ranks before killing them was the sort of plan a warrior proud of his martial prowess would employ.
But Barrett's gravest mistake had been underestimating the Banished Knights' fighting strength.
Even after the night raid, he had still underestimated his enemy.
There was no other word for it but stupidity.
The Lands Between was a place where the strong and the weak were sharply divided. The strong were truly strong, and the weak