Necromancer, What the Hell Is Summoning 055? Section 43

Only because it was wartime did the Green Pine Kingdom send a mounted patrol along the river once a day. Chen Mo made a quick calculation: as long as they chose the right time, the Cloudmist Territory party would have a window of roughly a dozen hours to force a crossing.

That was enough!

Deep in the forest, they felled six sturdy hardwood trees, split them open, and hollowed out grooves. Then they carefully wrapped essential supplies such as the gimbal and weapons in multiple layers of waterproof hide and bound them securely inside the grooves.

The party timed its move precisely, slipping into its final hiding place. Then Captain Peiwen issued a brutal order.

Kill all the warhorses.

The captain of the guard was always especially ruthless when making decisions at critical moments. He had shown no mercy in abandoning the expensive supplies and carriages or forcibly sending away the wounded soldiers and the commandery princess's maids, much less for a few warhorses.

The captured horses were one thing, but some had followed the party south and north, traveling thousands of miles. The Cloudmist Territory warriors could hardly bear to part with them, and tears glistened in some of their eyes.

Peiwen immediately had them exchange mounts and carry out the executions back to back. At his firm, decisive command, their blades fell.

"Move out!"

Six logs were pushed into the icy river. Every member of the party, including the young commandery princess, Lady Linda, Master Locke, and Chen Mo, was securely tied to the thick logs. Surrounded and shielded by the other warriors, they plunged together into the surging Crystal River.

Swordsman Peiwen charged ahead alone, every rope attached to the logs wound tightly around his broad waist.

In the night-vision feed from the drone Chen Mo had launched, the Golden Scale swordsman was like a ferocious orca, rising and falling in the water as he sped forward. Every backward sweep of his hands struck the surface like a giant oar, sending spray seven or eight meters high!

The entire party, along with the floating logs, was dragged forward by that inhuman strength, advancing in a wild fashion almost like "rowing a boat on land."

The current kept pushing every member of the party and the floating logs downstream, pulling the ropes taut in a diagonal line. But it did nothing to slow the captain of the guard. With ropes covering his body, he dragged the entire party across the River of Crystal by sheer force.

They reached the opposite bank and stopped the timer: exactly one hour and thirty-eight minutes.

The moment Peiwen stepped onto solid ground, he collapsed as though every bone had been pulled from his body, splashing mud and water everywhere. The warriors rushed over, untied the ropes from the captain of the guard, and turned him over. Even in the darkness, they could clearly see Captain Peiwen's chest heaving.

Master Locke quickly cast a variety of healing and recovery spells on him, then leaned in for a closer look. "He's all right. He just overexerted himself and ran out of strength. Some rest will do him good."

A few minutes later, Peiwen slowly sat up with the warriors' help.

At last, the group let out a subdued, muffled cheer. Led by Lady Linda and Master Locke, every member fell to their knees and murmured prayers in the direction of their territory's capital.

Whatever else happened, they had safely set foot on Emerald soil.

Among the people kneeling on the ground, Chen Mo alone stood at the back with his arms folded, somewhat out of place and shivering from the cold.

The people of Cloudmist Territory were almost home.

But where was his own home?

As Captain Peiwen gradually recovered, he forced himself to lead the party away from the dangerous riverbank and find a new hiding place.

Over the next few days, Chen Mo continued patrolling with the drone, while Captain Peiwen took several scouts out on reconnaissance. Together, they gained a general understanding of the situation around them.

Since the sudden outbreak of war, its smoke had spread across more than half the Emerald Duchy. On the vast expanse north of the River of Crystal, the two sides were interlocked and fighting each other, and any piece of land could change hands at any moment.

The area where Chen Mo and the others now found themselves was South Pass Territory in the Emerald Duchy, the domain of Marquis Menluo, a powerful great lord of the duchy.

Entrusted with guarding the duchy's southern border, South Pass Territory was unquestionably among the strongest territories in the Emerald Duchy.

In status, Cloudmist Territory was merely a count's domain, while South Pass Territory was a marquis's domain;

In strength, Marquis Menluo had been at the sixth tier for many years, while the young commandery princess Liushuang's father was only at tier five and a half;

In population, Cloudmist Territory governed four cities and thirty-two fortified settlements, with over three hundred thousand people. South Pass Territory had seven cities and over eighty towns, with a population exceeding one million.

At any time, Cloudmist Territory would have had to call South Pass Territory its big brother.

Yet more than two-thirds of that big brother's land had now fallen. At least six invading legions from different territories of the Green Pine Kingdom, each under its own banner, had closed in on South Pass from several directions like greedy hyenas, fiercely assaulting the remaining defenses.

South Pass Territory's field forces had largely been scattered. The remaining troops could only hole up in several major towns, struggling to hold out while sending constant requests for aid to the duchy.

Had the enemy forces from the various territories not begun fighting separately after gaining an overwhelming advantage, South Pass Territory probably would not have lasted this long.

This was another gap in Chen Mo's knowledge.

The leaders of the Cloudmist Territory party were somewhat speechless at Chen Mo's severe lack of basic knowledge about the nobility, but no one intended to probe further. Peiwen stepped forward to explain.

The Starry Continent's feudal system was nothing like what Chen Mo had imagined, with a king grandly declaring, "My loyal subject, your service has been great. I grant you this fertile land, to be passed down unaltered through your descendants forever."

What ruler in his right mind would grant away land he could control himself?

In the early years, when the continent was still relatively primitive and uncivilized, lords were known as pioneer lords. Kings would indeed draw a circle and grant a vast tract of land to a lord under them, but those were all "lawless lands" overrun by magical beasts and occupied by other races.

Take it, and you were a lord with a fief. Fail, and you were a knight with nothing to your name.

As the untamed lands available for settlement on the continent grew scarcer, today's lords were more properly called "war lords."

Only land seized from an enemy kingdom, a hostile territory, or, of course, a hated faction in one's own country could become one's own domain.

Under those circumstances, once South Pass Territory had fallen into an overwhelmingly disadvantageous position, the basis for cooperation among the invading forces fell apart. Each surrounded an area it had set its sights on, and they even had to guard against one another.

The chaotic situation left the party in an even worse position than when it had been operating inside the Green Pine Kingdom. They did not dare show themselves or approach the besieged cities.

They could only move at an extremely slow pace, traveling under cover of darkness from one hiding place to the next.

Until one day, Peiwen saw an old acquaintance through the drone's camera.

Chapter 71: The Captain of the Guard Strikes

As the days passed and the party ventured deeper, small-scale clashes within their surveillance range grew more frequent.

The countryside of South Pass Territory had become a living hell. As far as the eye could see, there were burned villages, abandoned fields, and headless corpses lying by the roadside.

Green Pine Kingdom cavalry rode unchecked across the countryside, hunting down scattered Emerald soldiers or turning their blades on unarmed civilians fleeing in panic.

Long lances hoisted Emerald warriors into the air, wailing in despair, before other cavalrymen surrounded them and sliced them to pieces with their sabers;

Young children were caught in nooses and dragged by galloping warhorses along roads strewn with jagged stones, leaving long, long red trails of blood and shredded flesh;

Severed heads were strung together and hung beside saddles, swinging and knocking against one another like enormous wind chimes;

And, of course, there were the atrocities never absent from war: the wanton abuse and violation of women...

The stench of blood and death filled every inch of the air.

Dark flocks of scavenging birds circled throughout the sky, conveniently concealing the drone's movements. But as scenes like these appeared more and more often in its camera feed, Chen Mo's heart filled with a savage anger.

If Captain Peiwen had not firmly stopped everyone from acting, Chen Mo felt he might not have been able to resist grabbing his rifle, charging out, and firing a burst into those bastards.

But a pursuit in the early hours of the morning caught Captain Peiwen's attention.

"It's Knight Commander Kangna!"

On the feed, a battered cavalry squad from the Emerald Duchy was fleeing for its life. The knight leading them was powerfully built, his armor shattered and his body drenched in blood, yet he remained exceptionally fierce as he fought a retreat along the rugged slope.

Armed with only a lance, he fought to sweep aside the arrows fired by their pursuers, doing his utmost to cover the rear. Ahead of him were six equally wounded soldiers.

Pursuing them were two well-equipped cavalry squads from the Green Pine Kingdom.

The knight's warhorse was foaming at the mouth and nose, its hoofbeats heavy and uneven. Clearly, it was at the end of its strength, leaving them unable to shake off their pursuers.

Peiwen studied the scene intently for a moment, then sprang to his feet. "Knight Commander Kangna is Marquis Menluo's ninth knight. I dealt with him when I was in the royal capital. He's a Mystic-Armor Knight and an extremely powerful fighter. His horse is holding him back right now, or those common soldiers could never have put him in such a sorry state."

"Judging by their direction, they may reach the main road up ahead in a few dozen minutes!"

"I'll try to go and help him. If Knight Commander Kangna works with us, perhaps we can find a way to leave this place as soon as possible!"

Leaving two warriors to guard the hiding place, Peiwen quickly prepared the remaining eighteen to march. Before leaving, he gave them another reminder. "Stay hidden and be careful not to expose yourselves. Wait for me to come back!"

They raced to the appointed spot and set an ambush. As the captain of the guard had expected, the fleeing party and its pursuers reached the main road where Peiwen lay in wait a little over ten minutes later.

Once again, he opened with the familiar Charge, but Captain Peiwen added a throw this time.

He hurled two grenades with precision into the ranks of the two pursuing squads. Muffled explosions sounded, followed by a chorus of anguished whinnies, and the pursuers' mobility was shattered in an instant.

The Golden Scale swordsman slaughtered enemies in every direction, his longsword flashing and blood flying. At the same time, the squad led by Knight Commander Kangna turned around and joined the sudden reinforcements in wiping out the Green Pine Kingdom pursuers.

A few short minutes later, every enemy had been killed. Only the bodies of men and horses and the lingering stench of blood remained on the main road.

After the last Green Pine cavalryman was pierced by a lance while fleeing, Knight Commander Kangna leaped from his horse and removed his bloodstained helmet. He strained to pull up the corners of his mouth at Peiwen, forcing a smile like that of someone reunited with an old friend.

"Peiwen! I never expected to meet you here!"

His voice was somewhat hoarse. "Weren't you supposed to accompany the young commandery princess of Cloudmist Territory south to Creek Moon? Don't tell me... you fought your way all the way back from Creek Moon?"

"The War God be praised! If you hadn't appeared in time, my life today would probably have..."

"Stop!" Peiwen took half a step back and roared, "Form up!"

The Cloudmist Territory warriors had only just finished fighting and had yet to catch their breath. Though they were startled for an instant, years of rigorous training were ingrained in their bones. Without the slightest hesitation, swords and shields clanged as the eighteen men instantly divided into three groups of six, raising their weapons in unison and taking fighting stances.

Knight Kangna's smile grew somewhat stiff. "Peiwen, what... what are you doing? It's me, Kangna, Kangna of South Pass!"

"We met in Emerald Hall. Have you forgotten?"

The knight commander stumbled over his words as he tried to explain. "I was carrying a message to Horseshoe Fort on the count's orders, and the enemy caught up with me. Horseshoe Fort is still in our hands. Hurry and bring Commandery Princess Liushuang here. Once we get into the fort, we'll be safe!"

Seeing that Peiwen still said nothing, Kangna scanned the area urgently. His gaze repeatedly lingered on the forest at the foot of the mountain, then returned to Peiwen's eyes again and again, as though trying to discern something.

"You got here so quickly. That means your camp is nearby, right? Quick! Take me to see Her Highness..."

"Enough, Kangna!" Peiwen raised his longsword at an angle, taking the opening stance of Firmament's standard military swordsmanship.

"Kangna, do you know how ugly you look when you smile?"

"You're a Mystic-Armor Knight, and those small fry chased you all over the place? Do you take me for a fool? Fine, you're safe now. Get lost! Get lost, now!"

"Otherwise, I won't mind sending you to join them in death!"

From the moment the fighting began, Peiwen had sensed something was wrong. Those Green Pine cavalrymen were too weak. Against him, a swordsman who had undergone a class change, they had been utterly incapable of resisting.

How could two squads of ordinary soldiers have forced a Mystic-Armor Knight into such a sorry state?

Besides, Kangna was a man who never smiled. He was always like a hard lump of stone; even at the duchy's grand decoration ceremony, he had merely pulled back the corners of his mouth at most.

When Kangna gave him that smile, uglier than a cry, every hair on Peiwen's body stood on end.

When something abnormal happened, there had to be something abnormal behind it.

Sure enough, under Peiwen's merciless rebuke, the smile vanished completely from Knight Kangna's face. In its place appeared a strange, melancholy and weary expression, tinged with both nostalgia and regret.

"Peiwen, you're as clever as ever. Back in the royal city, you were the most outstanding of our cohort: excellent swordsmanship, perfect tactics!"

"It's just a shame you followed the wrong person!"

"The same goes for me..."

"Sorry! Hand over the young commandery princess. Don't worry, the lord will take good care of her!"

A mocking smile appeared on Peiwen's face. "The lord? Which lord? Who's your new master?"