Outside the walls of White Wax Town, deep in the dense forest.
The chaotic sound of horses' hooves, mixed with the meshing of gears and the friction of shock-absorbing pistons, echoed through the dense forest.
Xilǐ'er glanced back at the apprentices behind him, flicking his silver spear:
"We have entered the enemy's detection range. Be on alert."
"Yes."
The knights behind him gradually dispersed, their hands still manipulating something.
As they moved, the Hoofed Beast beneath them seemed to be stimulated and began to become excited, snorting incessantly.
Seeing the performance of these young people, Xilǐ'er's heart was inevitably stirred, even though he no longer had a heart of any significance.
Having lived for hundreds of years, this was the first time he had ever mentored a knight apprentice.
His memories of being human told him that such intense training would be enough to turn most teenagers of this age into complete waste.
But the lord had such confidence, and the rescued young children did not disappoint him.
After this period of rigorous training, these young men have basically mastered all the combat skills of a knight. What they lack now is only the experience that can be accumulated in actual combat and the power that can be gained through battle.
Such experience and personal growth would normally require decades of honing, yet the lord chose to introduce another force at this juncture to further strengthen these young people.
Looking at the armored suits on the boys and the Hoofed Beast rode, Xilǐ'er felt that he was getting old and his thinking was falling behind the times.
However, this is actually an illusion. Even if the Grand Foundry Master or the Twin Kings came here in person, they probably wouldn't have imagined that someone would be setting up mechanical colonies on the territory of the Tree Worship Church.
So in the end, Xilǐ'er's thinking wasn't outdated; rather, it was the thinking of a certain one-eyed vegetative person that was too advanced.
"Launch the attack as planned, but be careful not to drive the Blood Corpse away from the city wall area."
Based on his centuries of experience fighting Blood Corpse, Xilǐ'er calmly recounted the precautions for the upcoming battle.
"Besides ordinary Blood Corpse, an earl usually has at least three Blood Corpse with special Aberration under his command. Some of them retain certain traits of their original race, while others have undergone new mutations after being influenced by their superiors after becoming Blood Corpse Transformation. In short, such Blood Corpse are very difficult for you to defeat alone, so you must pay attention to teamwork."
"If we encounter the Earl, immediately retreat in my direction. Alright, let the battle begin."
As they were talking, Xilǐ'er and his Gungnir party had already emerged from the dense forest.
Thanks to the players' meticulous efforts over this period, a very clear dividing line has appeared in the forest surrounding White Wax Town. So, after they passed the last row of tangled, overgrown trees, what appeared before them was a city wall engulfed in flames and a battlefield that looked like a mess.
The Gungnir, in groups of two or three, began charging towards the scattered Blood Corpse, while Xilǐ'er, holding the reins, had his sights locked onto a figure wreaking havoc on the city wall through the dark observation window.
Just then, the clear sound of horses' hooves came again from behind Xilǐ'er.
The living armored knight turned its head, a hint of helplessness seemingly emanating from the dark observation window:
"You two... are you really going to join the battle?"
"That's right, I've been waiting for this day for a long time!"
The last rider in the dense forest arrived late. [ Shit Appraisal Master ] rode on his Hoofed Beast, not moving fast, but looking quite pleased with himself.
But behind him, instead of javelins and other lances, was... a person.
[ Good Times Don't Last ] Now occupying the position that belonged to the weapon, it forcibly squeezed onto the back of a Hoofed Beast along with [ Shit Appraisal Master ].
The creaking sound came along with the sound of hooves, and even Xilǐ'er couldn't tell whether the sound came from the overloaded armor or the spine of the poor Hoofed Beast.
This Hoofed Beast was already quite old and frail, and under normal circumstances, it would have been absolutely unable to support the weight of two people.
However, Ed had previously extended the life of this Hoofed Beast, making it the best animal for players to use when exploring new areas.
On the other hand, he also kept his promise and gave a set of Hoofed Beast armor as a special item to [ Shit Appraisal Master ] as a thank you for supporting his Hoofed Beast 4S store.
However, [ Shit Appraisal Master ] clearly misunderstood Ed's meaning. After receiving a set of Hoofed Beast armor, he thought it was Ed, the guide, expressing his approval of him.
So he equipped himself with the armor to transform into Hoofed Beast, then went to the Dragonborn Village to buy himself a lance and iron armor, and then happily followed Xilǐ'er and his group to begin knight training.
As a lazy rich kid, [ Shit Appraisal Master ] failed countless courses throughout his four years of university in real life, yet in the game world, he actually chose to "crash" classes in order to become a knight. Indeed, interest is the best teacher.
Although from the perspective of a medieval knight, his practice could be described as sporadic, the physique of Soul Returner was undeniable. After a week or two of diligent study, [ Shit Appraisal Master ] actually learned a move or two.
A few hours ago, Xilǐ'er and Gungnir accepted a mission to prepare for their first cavalry battle, while the comical character [ Shit Appraisal Master ] also triggered a hidden mission to join the battle.
[ The Shit Appraisal Master ] wept with joy, exclaiming that Heaven had eyes and the game designers had indeed seen his efforts. They never imagined that this might just be a conspiracy set up by a one-eyed vegetative person who wanted more bio-testing data.
On his way to the battlefield outside White Wax Town, the swaggering [ Shit Appraisal Master ] encountered his business partner [ Good Times Don't Last ].
After some conversation, the two reached a secret agreement, which resulted in the Hoofed Beast's back carrying twice the weight it had before.
Now that time has come, Xilǐ'er looks at the abstract scene of the two riding together on a single horse. Even someone as composed as him can't help but start to wonder how they plan to fight.
The two men's Hoofed Beast stopped shortly after passing Xilǐ'er, and the pretentious voice of the [ Shit Appraisal Master ] echoed through Xilǐ'er's armor:
"Get out of the carriage, Sancho Panza."
[ The Good Times Don't Last n't last long] He first said "Huh?", then realized what his buddy was talking about, so he changed his tone and asked:
"Are you about to charge, Don Quixote?"
"That's right."
[ Shit Appraisal Master ] Look at a special Blood Corpse on the battlefield ahead:
"The enemy is ahead, and I will defeat them!"