Chapter 2: New Century (Epilogue)
Crimson magic cannon beams began to crisscross Budun City. The soldiers who were having too much fun almost hit Xi Wei on the other side of the city wall.
In the dim night, the entire Budun City fell into chaos.
At this time, the remaining defense forces in Budun City consciously began to organize their troops to retake the city wall.
But without leaders, they were like a pile of loose sand. Several attempts were repelled by the militia under Xi Wei’s command.
After overcoming their initial timidity, these militiamen who had just entered the battlefield erupted with high morale under the leadership of their lord and the powerful Bloodhoof Clan warriors.
They only needed to obey commands and execute them strictly to effectively repel Budun City’s scattered counterattacks.
“Alright, stop playing. Leave some people to guard one wall, smash all the magic cannons on the other walls, and the rest will follow me to loot Homan Castle.”
As Xi Wei’s order was given, everyone began to act.
At this moment, a Bloodhoof Clan warrior carrying a magic cannon walked over.
It was Carl Bloodhoof, who had fallen in love with magic cannons at first sight. Several militiamen carrying boxes of magic crystals followed behind him.
“My Lord, these magic cannons are good things. It’s too much of a waste to smash them…”
Xi Wei glanced at Carl Bloodhoof in surprise.
The magic cannon was not light. After all, it was used for defending the city, and it was difficult to bring it to the battlefield. Now, Carl Bloodhoof was carrying it on his shoulder, seemingly with ease.
He said speechlessly, “Our remaining forces are strained defending the four city walls. Moreover, this magic cannon is too heavy and inconvenient to carry. It’s better to smash it.”
Carl Bloodhoof glared with his big ox eyes and gruffly suggested,
“My Lord, can we, the Bloodhoof Clan, carry one each…”
“Shut up, Carl. Do you think everyone is as strong as you naturally are?”
Carl Bloodhoof’s words were cut short by a Minotaur Warrior behind him, and the other Minotaurs chimed in:
“Exactly. Our Bloodhoof Clan should be wielding giant axes and smashing enemies’ skulls on the front lines, not hiding in the back firing these magical contraptions!”
“Carl, you are a disgrace to the Minotaur Warriors of the Bloodhoof Clan!”
Carl Bloodhoof’s ox nose twisted with anger upon hearing this, and he roared indignantly,
“You stubborn oxen, magic cannons can play a much greater role on the battlefield!”
Neither side convinced the other. Finally, under Xi Wei’s mediation, Carl Bloodhoof carried one magic cannon himself, and two other Minotaurs carried one magic cannon together. A total of five magic cannons were taken away, and the remaining cannons were ordered to be destroyed.
Just then, Xi Wei also received a system notification of a newly refreshed Villain Mission:
“Ding! Daily Villain Mission has been refreshed.
Villain Mission 1: Seize the iron ore that originally belonged to the Budun Family.
Villain Mission 2: Loot Homan Castle.
Villain Mission 3: In the upcoming battle, kill all Great Knights and mail their heads to Earl Amper.
Completing all missions has a chance to trigger a critical hit reward. Please keep up the good work, Host!”
Xi Wei looked at the system mission thoughtfully. The system had now shed its low-level vulgarity and was positively guiding him onto the path of becoming a rampant bandit.
Homan Castle was currently experiencing a brutal spree of smashing, looting, and plundering.
“Take anything valuable!”
“Burn anything inconvenient to carry, like oil paintings and silk!”
“What are you taking plates for? They’re worthless, smash them!”
The servants and stewards of the Budun Family huddled together in a corner like quails, trembling. Anyone who dared to resist was already lying in a pool of blood.
Around them, the hurried shouts, footsteps, and sounds of breaking objects from the Eagle Territory soldiers could be heard.
A moment later, the once luxurious and wealthy Homan Castle was quickly looted clean by these bandit-like soldiers, who then left swaggering.
The stewards and servants trembled as they climbed up from the ground, their eyes meeting a scene of devastation.
Exquisite porcelain plates were shattered all over the floor, priceless oil paintings on the walls were torn to shreds, and the castle was filled with smoke from burning furniture.
“Quick, put out the fire!”
It was unclear which steward was the first to react. A hurried shout startled the stunned crowd.
Outside Budun City, all the treasures looted from Homan Castle had been loaded onto carts. Xi Wei did not have time to count them, but he conservatively estimated that the value of the treasures plundered from this old family was five to six times that of Black River Fortress.
This did not even include the five magic cannons.
These treasures would be escorted back to Winter City by one Minotaur Warrior leading five hundred soldiers.
Xi Wei, with a group of Bloodhoof Clan warriors, hurried to the main battlefield near the iron mine.
Viscount Budun was naturally suspicious. If he suspected that the Eagle Territory’s army was stalling for time, he would immediately launch an attack. The battle had likely already begun some time ago.
However, in reality, the situation on the main battlefield was even more grim than Xi Wei had imagined.
The battle had already begun for an hour.
Viscount Budun launched a direct and fierce assault as soon as he approached the Eagle Territory’s army.
After a brief engagement, he had quickly assessed the strength of the Winter City army. Now, he no longer intended to merely capture the iron mine; he was going to attack Eagle Territory!
On the battlefield near the iron mine, even though Winter City had a greater number of ordinary knights, they were gradually falling into a hard fight under the encirclement of nearly thirty Great Knights from the Budun Family.
In a corner of the battlefield, two ordinary knights in the Winter City formation were fighting fiercely with one Great Knight from the Budun Family.
Although they successfully depleted the Great Knight’s Qi through their tacit cooperation, their own Qi was also exhausted.
Next, it was a test of physical strength, but the two of them combined were still no match for the Great Knight.
They were now knocked to the ground, and the Great Knight was approaching with a grin, his sword in hand.
Just as they thought they were surely going to die, several Winter City militiamen suddenly charged forward and attacked the Great Knight.
They fearlessly used their bodies to block the Great Knight’s advance. Soon, some were killed by the Great Knight, but others immediately replaced them.
The Great Knight, with a gloomy expression, swung his sword, looking extremely annoyed.
His uncontrolled emotions led to a momentary lapse. His sword-wielding hand was grabbed by a militiaman, and then more militiamen swarmed forward, tackling him to the ground.
But the Great Knight was still a Great Knight. Even in such a predicament, his entire body could be used as a weapon.
He headbutted, kneed, and elbowed, and two or three militiamen vomited blood and fell aside.
“Sir Knight, kill him quickly! We can’t hold him!”
“Hurry!”
A militiaman turned his head and shouted with all his might.
Seeing this opportunity, the two knights struggled to get up and picked up their long swords from the ground.
They helped each other up and stumbled towards the crowd. The horrific scene before them made their souls tremble.
The Great Knight of the Budun Family had bloodshot eyes, was panting heavily, and let out angry and unwilling roars.
But his body was firmly pinned down by several militiamen.
Some militiamen were bleeding from all seven orifices and were clearly close to death.
More had ferocious faces and blood splattered everywhere.
They had no free hands to wield weapons. They could only gnaw at the Great Knight’s face with their teeth, hug his arms with all their might, and struggle fiercely with the Great Knight on the ground.
Bodies lay scattered around them, all militiamen.
The two Winter City knights, ignoring the shock of the scene, raised their long swords to stab at the Great Knight, only to find there was no place to strike – the Great Knight was almost entirely covered by the militiamen’s bodies.
The two knights could only circle to the other side and, under the Great Knight’s fearful gaze, stab a sword into his eye socket. With a forceful twist, the Great Knight, whose brain tissue had been destroyed, instantly fell silent.
Only then did the militiamen heave a sigh of relief and roll off the Great Knight’s body, lying on their backs and gasping for air.
The two knights looked at the militiamen on the ground with complex expressions and said hoarsely, “…Why…?”
One of the militiamen who had recovered his breath looked up and smiled, saying,
“We are just a group of farmers, but the knights are an important force under our Lord.”
“Our Lord pities us and reduced our taxes. We have nothing to repay him with, so we will use our humble lives to ensure our knights survive.”
“Sir Knights, please protect Winter City well! Protect our Lord!”
Similar scenes were not just happening here, but also all over the battlefield.
Winter City militiamen and Sword Shield Soldiers fearlessly protected their knights, causing immense trouble for the knights of Budun Territory, as their militiamen would not protect them and would consider themselves lucky to not flee the battlefield.
In the chaotic battlefield, old notions began to quietly change. As the darkness dissipated, the eternal stars would shine brightly.
The nascent military spirit, tempered by flesh and blood and the fires of war, would shine brighter and brighter.
