Chapter 202 Chapter Two Hundred and One No Cure
The strong and fierce demonized scorpion lion’s tail was in pain. With a flick of its tail, it charged toward George, whose body was still falling through the air. George swung out a powerful Holy Slash, and amidst the flash of white light, the scorpion tail was severed in two, and it turned to flee.
Seeing George drive away the demonized scorpion lion as expected, Jima’s tense nerves relaxed. The pain that she had been holding back overwhelmed her, and she felt her wings lose strength. After floating a few moments in the air, she fell towards the ground, the wind from below lifting her soft wings upwards.
However, at this moment, Jima did not feel much fear, and there were no signs of the soul injury flaring up.
In less than a second, instead of crashing to the ground, her back landed on a pair of steady arms. The hands sank downward, securely catching Jima.
Shakily, Jima reached up to brush aside her long hair that was blocking her eyes, and indeed, she saw George’s pair of azure eyes, which calmed her heart.
“Are you alright?”
“Not alright, let me counter the curse first.” Jima took a deep breath, and her breath was shaking, “Hurry and go find that fool Duke Karsong.”
George carried Jima in his arms and quickly leapt toward the distant battlefield.
Jima muttered a few counter-spells, suppressing the malicious curse from the Mother of All Beasts. Earlier, in a rush to report the situation, she hadn’t been able to free up her hands to suppress the curse’s power while being pursued by the demonized scorpion lion.
Finally, the curse power dissipated significantly, and strength returned to Jima’s body, but that took a toll on her magical power.
She said, “I encountered the Mother of All Beasts; she cursed me.”
“Mother of All Beasts?” Though George’s face beneath the helmet was not visible, Jima could hear the seriousness in his voice: “Is she coming to attack from behind?”
“Just attacking would be fine.” Jima said, “She wants to annihilate us.”
“Annihilate?”
“Yes, kill everyone.”
“How does she plan to annihilate us?”
“She’ll bring a large army to block us off.”
At this time, George finally reached the battlefield, and it was evident that the beastmen were in a state of despair. Many areas began to break apart, and scattered beastmen turned to flee, falling under the swords of cheering knights.
Although Jima could stand up now and wield her halberd to fight, she did not intend to get down from George’s arms. She raised her head to look at the chaotic battlefield, searching for Duke Karsong’s position in the sky.
But the battlefield was so chaotic, with thousands of knights and beastmen entangled together, all around were cries of battling. She could not distinguish which flying knight was Duke Karsong.
“Lords! This is George! I need to see Duke Karsong! Where is he?”
George’s roar came from above, his voice powerful, and Jima covered her ears.
But among the fighting knights, filled with the desire for victory, not many paid attention to George.
Jima quickly said, “Take off your helmet, and let me down.”
George set Jima down, his face flushed with anxiety.
Jima was somewhat surprised; she rarely saw George lose his composure, but then again, it wasn’t unexpected because he cared deeply about others’ lives.
George cupped his hands in front of his mouth like a trumpet and shouted, “Everyone! Quickly call for Duke Karsong; there’s an urgent matter!”
Finally, some knights noticed George. Knight Sam, riding his warhorse along with a group of knights, rushed over, their saddles hung with the heads of beastmen. Knight Sam asked, “My lord George, what is the matter?”
“The Mother of All Beasts is leading a large army to encircle us.”
Upon hearing this bad news, Knight Sam did not appear very anxious, more a sense of helplessness.
“Hurry to call for Duke Karsong; where is he?”
“He seems to be on the east front; I saw him riding a flying horse leading the troops to encircle the rear.”
“Okay, come with me to call Duke Karsong.”
“No.” Jima interrupted, pointing to the thousands of infantry soldiers who had just arrived behind them, quickly filling the few bits of “flat land” among the hills for miles, “Sir Sam, quickly command these infantry to hold back the beastmen that are about to break out from the rear.”
Knight Sam looked at Jima with confusion; in the knights’ eyes, women had nothing to do with commanding battles, let alone this woman, Jima.
George said, “Do as she says.”
“Alright.”
Knight Sam led several knights following him toward the infantry not far away.
“There’s Duke Karsong!”
Jima pointed to the east, where a patch of white wings rose among the fleeing beastmen, and one of the flying knights bore the emblem of Duke Karsong on his shield.
But there were many beastmen in between, and the flying knights were in pursuit of the beastmen. Jima became anxious and spread her wings.
George held Jima’s wings down, his face regaining calmness as he said, “Jima, you should rest first.”
Jima nodded, looking to see what George could do.
George raised his hands, preparing to release a wave, and bright red light illuminated his palms, accurately landing on Duke Karsong’s helmet.
Duke Karsong, in the midst of a fierce chase, turned his head to avoid the red light. George’s arm moved slightly; the red light followed closely, flashing madly, so much so that even Duke Karsong risked triggering his photosensitive epilepsy.
But it successfully caught Duke Karsong’s attention, and under the circle of several flying horses, he flew toward George and Jima.
Jima said, “Listen, George, you speak first. I’m just a succubus; Duke Karsong won’t listen to me. You’d better suggest that Duke Karsong directly order the troops to break out of the encirclement.”
“Which direction should we break out toward?”
“Send the flying knights to scout the way.” After Jima said this, she added uneasily, “And whatever you do, do not mention those two words, ‘retreat’; just say, ‘strategic withdrawal’ or the like.”
At this moment, Duke Karsong, riding a pure white flying horse, descended from the sky. The flying horse folded its wings and landed on the ground, walking briskly toward them.
“Dragon-slaying George.” Duke Karsong lifted his visor but did not dismount. He asked, “I hope you interrupted the ongoing righteous battle to bring me good news.”
“Bad news.” George replied, “The Mother of All Beasts is leading an army coming to kill us from behind.”
“That should be good news.” Duke Karsong laughed, “It saves us from retreating deep into the mountains. George, are you willing to charge with me this time and behead this mastermind?”
“Unfortunately, I fear this time we must break out of the encirclement.” George said, “The Mother of All Beasts is leading a large army, coming to surround us.”
As if to validate George’s words, behind the Bartow army, the branches of the forest swayed, and a wave of brown debris rolled out from the woods. Within this “debris,” the lower half was a large mass of flesh with centipede-like legs, representing the Mother of All Beasts, standing out starkly.
Seeing her, Jima felt a bit daunted.
The Mother of All Beasts had long hair that had turned red, and it was vaguely visible that she was holding something in her arms, breastfeeding.
“O Lake Goddess, truly a twisted evil monster.” A knight beside Duke Karsong said, “I will offer her head to the goddess, purifying her body with fire.”
Duke Karsong turned his head, smiling as he patted his horse, “Then you’d better try your best; your flying horse can’t outrun mine.”
Amidst laughter, Jima’s anxiety grew.
The reaction time of the Bartow army was something she had fought hard for, but these proud knights were joking around, acting as if they were just hunting in their own forest, wasting time while completely unaware that they themselves were the hunted.
“My lord Karsong.” George’s tone became considerably serious, “Please order the knights to gather; I will lead the charge out of the encirclement.”
“Break out of the encirclement? You mean retreat?” Duke Karsong realized George was not joking and countered.
He emphasized again: “Yes, the Mother of All Beasts is leading a large army.”
“So, as the legitimate ruler and protector of this territory, I must here exterminate the remaining beastmen and prove my bravery to the goddess.”
“But they are surrounding us, my lord Karsong.”
Duke Karsong laughed, “George, as far as combat and piety go, I have no doubt in your ability and courage, but in terms of marching and fighting, they are the ones we should fear.”
The beastmen behind on the left and right sides of the forest had already begun to gather, sealing the path that the Bartow army had come from.
“But these are not remnants.” George said, “These are their main force.”
“Really?” Duke Karsong said, “I see nothing of the sort.”
George helplessly glanced at Jima.
Jima sighed and said:
“My lord Karsong, allow me to introduce myself again; I am an excellent scout. Just now, I scouted the beastmen’s grand army in the forest, faced the Mother of All Beasts herself, and nearly didn’t make it back. There are many ambush troops, not just those in front of us but many more beastmen are rushing here, blocking all the nearby exits.”
After saying this, Jima pointed to several nearby exits that could facilitate a troop withdrawal.
“Really? I don’t believe it.” Duke Karsong said, “Everyone saw just days ago the bodies of beastmen piled high; where would they get so many?”
“My lord, most of them were inferior horned beasts; they were farmers before, and the Mother of All Beasts transformed them all.” Jima said, “While they are numerous, their essence is little, so they can be easily defeated.”
A scoffing voice came forth, and looking for the source, it turned out the black knight had arrived at some point. He lifted his visor, revealing a distasteful face and a smile that made Jima want to chop him with an axe.
“Long-horned woman, do you think the cyclops is not considered elite?”
“What if there are more cyclopes?”
“Impossible.”
“Impossible.”
The knights chimed in unison, and Duke Karsong smiled like a kind old grandpa, holding a whip and pointing toward the distant beastmen army.
Compared to the failed beastmen army of days ago, these beastmen were generally taller and stronger, and the inferior horned beasts were fewer; hundreds of minotaurs were walking among the beast herd, and the only comfort was that there were no cyclopes.
And visually, there were only two thousand of them.
“You see, where are the cyclopes? There are quite a few minotaurs.” Duke Karsong asked, “Are you sure there are more cyclopes?”
“Absolutely certain.” Jima said, “I dare say they are surrounding us; you should send the flying knights to scout around.”
“How do you know?”
“Deduction.” Jima replied, “If you send the flying knights to scout now, you will know.”
At this moment, sudden cries of victory rang out: “Victory! Victory!”
Everyone looked, and it turned out that the beastmen were in a complete rout; the knights were cheering and rushing to chase them down, along with the remaining flying knights.
Duke Karsong glanced at the nearby flying knights and asked, “Who is willing to go up into the sky to take a look?”
Several knights were reluctant, but finally, one flying knight ascended.
“Alright.” Duke Karsong said, “We should pursue the fleeing soldiers.”
“My lord Karsong, now is not the time to chase.” Jima could hardly contain her irritation, “This is clearly bait, just like the previous wave of inferior horned beast army; they are all bait, quickly sound the alarm and gather the cavalry!”
“Succubus! Mind your tone.” Duke Karsong finally could not hold back, raising his whip as if to poke at Jima, “You are merely a succubus; stay to the side and watch the battle; do not stick your hands into affairs you do not understand. Were it not for George protecting you in the army, how could you fight alongside us? And what nonsense are you talking?”
Jima was so angered that her tail stood straight, walking in circles, saying, “Fool, beyond rescue.”
“Get away from me.” Duke Karsong said coldly, “The knightly code forbids me from drawing my sword on you.”
George quickly positioned himself in front of Jima.
At that moment, a familiar sound of a giant rock falling was heard not far away, as a massive stone rolled into the midst of the chasing knights.
Two cyclopes peeked their heads over the slope from which the beastmen were fleeing.
“Cyclopes!”
The flying knights above shouted, panic in their voices: “There are many!”
“Only two.”
The third, the fourth, the fifth…
Countless cyclopes emerged from the mountain tops all around, numbering over thirty.
“How is this possible?”
