Chapter 125 - Fortress Battle (2/2)
One of the first groups of bandits who flanked the Light Empire army was led by the scout who was followed by Lucien previously.
The man saw Lucien"s unbelievable capabilities several times, and despite not liking and fearing him, the scout also understood that with the devil at their side, they have a chance to win.
As soon as his group arrived behind the army, they saw their captured friends. There were around one hundred and fifty of his people, tied and chained.
The scout heard someone ordering all the soldiers to move forward, so they ignored the captured bandits and headed for the battlefield, giving the scout an excellent opportunity to rescue his people.
He wasted no time, and his group went to free their friends. The scout saw a tall man among his people and recognized him as Alden, the man who sent the scout and his partner to warn others about the Light Empire soldiers.
"What"s going on?!" As soon as the scout removed the gag that covered Alden"s mouth, he asked in a worried tone.
The scout started hitting Alden"s chains using his rusty ax. "Our people are fighting!! We have to help them now!!"
Alden understood well the difference in strength between forest bandits and a Light Empire army. Even in numbers five times greater than them, it would not be easy to win yet.
"What? Are our people fighting the Light Empire soldier? This is crazy!"
The scout could understand Alden"s concern, but he didn"t know how to explain about Lucien. "We have an ally. He"s very powerful, but we have to help him."
"All right. Set the others free, and some of you come with us." Alden took a weapon from one of the bandits and led half of them towards the battlefield.
Alden does not have high charisma and leaders.h.i.+p skills like Neola and Enzo, but he is still very dear and respected among his people, so the bandits followed his lead.
His group found another group of bandits, who were flanking the Light Empire army to help Lucien.
So they hid behind the trees to watch the battlefield. Alden looked for their "allies."
Alden was sure that the "ally" the scout spoke of, is someone with an army, but all he saw were Light Empire soldiers and his people.
"Where"s our alli-" Alden started to ask in a confused tone but soon became surprised. In fact, he was extremely shocked by what he was seeing.
The battlefield was in chaos, Light Empire soldiers everywhere facing some of his people and defending themself from the arrows of Neola"s group.
The soldiers were concentrated in the middle of the clearing in front of the gate. They were clearly fighting against someone, but Alden couldn"t see who it is.
But whoever it was, is incredibly strong, because soldiers" bodies were being sent flying from the middle of the group. Some fell on the battlefield while others were thrown into the woods.
Alden looked confusedly at the scout. The man could only shrug. "He"s a monster, I know!! But we still must help him."
Alden didn"t know who is the monstrous ally, but he is fighting with a small group against a Light Empire army, to help them, so Alden already considered him his best friend.
"Ok!! Let"s attack the mages first." Alden ordered his group to attack the mages and archers who were behind the army.
Although all Light Empire soldiers used high-quality equipment, their mages and archers wore medium and light armor, so they were not invulnerable to the bandits" old and rusting weapons.
The group of bandits led by Alden ran towards the mages and archers, while other bandits came out of the woods and joined them.
"KILL THEM ALL!!!" Alden shouted, and along with him, the bandits attacked the rearguard of the Light Empire army.
The soldier who was now the new leader of the Light Empire army saw more and more bandits joining the attack.
Still, he knew they could still win. The bandits were weak, disorganized, and without equipment. The problem is that red-haired man, his woman, the elven archer, and the tigress.
He noticed that the woman and the tigress were fighting around the red-haired man. The elven archer could only kill the soldiers when his group distracted them.
That soldier concluded the red-haired man is the only one he needs to kill in order to win the battle. If he kills such a strong enemy, he would certainly be awarded the Captain rank.
"Soldiers!! With me!!" The leader called the best soldiers with s.h.i.+elds nearby him and went towards Lucien, ignoring arrows and bandits that attacked them.
In a great or small battle, whether against hated enemies or just random people, men or women would have similar feelings.
With lives at risk, the battle would always arouse emotion, anxiety, excitement, among other feelings.
Even L.u.s.t, who is a Great Demon, is not free of these feelings, so Lucien, who is under the incredible effect of Blood Rose, would suffer even more influence from these feelings.
Right now, Lucien, L.u.s.t, and Oya were ma.s.sacring the soldiers. They rotated, jumped, ran... It looked like a kind of dance of death for their enemies.
But for them, they are simple and intuitive movements. They were in a life-and-death battle, and even though they are much stronger than their enemies, the excitement of the fight is still the same.
Oya roared, bit, tore... Almost all her movements were based on instincts. And now her instinct said that nothing is more right than killing her enemies alongside her master.
With every soldier she killed, she felt better. Happy, excited, proud. She was taking lives, but it felt just as right as being with Lucien.
L.u.s.t, too, felt increasingly excited about killing the Light Empire"s soldiers. She knew that Lucien did not like these racist a.s.sholes, so she wants to kill them all, for her lover... And of course, to receive rewards later.
Even Ghilanna, who had no significant connection with Lucien yet, was very excited on the wall as she fires her arrows faster and more accurately.
Yes, the battle inevitably will provoke strong feelings in people, but L.u.s.t, Oya, and Ghilanna were feeling those emotions even stronger because they were close to Lucien.
The demonic energy that Lucien created with pleasure is more complicated than L.u.s.t could understand. That energy increases the intensity of the emotions of everyone who is connected to Lucien.
No, the demonic energy was not controlling Lucien. He was using that energy to give himself pleasure as he grew stronger and made his women stronger.
Why not take pleasure in killing his enemies? Lucien was smiling as blood dripped down his face and armor. Not his blood, but his enemies" blood.
L.u.s.t teleported around Lucien, swinging her whip and reaping lives. The soldiers could not touch her before she turns into a cloud of purple dust.
Who wanted to approach the big white tigress? Her fangs, sharper than the metal of their weapons, penetrated their flesh and dismembered them.
The worst is the red-haired devil by far. He danced with the beautiful lady while ma.s.sacring the soldiers.
Lucien cut off a soldier"s head with a quick strike of his katana, then in the same, movement impaled another soldier"s chest.
Then he released the katana"s handle, causing the soldier to fall dead while L.u.s.t materialized in his arms.
So, he kissed L.u.s.t, and she teleported to attack another soldier while he kicked the soldier in his chest, sending the man flying several meters into the woods.
The katana appeared in his hand again, Lucien patted Oya on the head and started cutting off the soldiers" heads again... Then repeated the same sequence of actions.
The bodies of the soldiers advancing towards Lucien"s group began to pile around them. Blood flowed like a river in the middle of the battlefield.
Still, more soldiers continued to advance. The new leader kept shouting that they had to kill the red-haired devil, and they kept pus.h.i.+ng against him.
Since there were dozens of soldiers around two people and a tigress, the soldiers in the front made a circle around Lucien, and the soldiers in the back couldn"t see the macabre dance he was doing.
While the soldiers still alive closest to Lucien tried to retreat, their friends behind them shoved them and pushed them forward, only to feed the devil"s b.l.o.o.d.y blade again and again.
After a few minutes of that brutal ma.s.sacre, the new leader was able to approach Lucien. He saw piles of bodies around him.
"For the holy light!!!" The poor man"s legs cannot help shaking when he saw Lucien covered in blood next to the tigress, also painted red while L.u.s.t teleports around them.
All of Ghilanna"s arrows were fatal as the Light Empire soldiers were unable to keep up their guard, terrified by fear of the red devil.
*Woosh*
*Thud*
An arrow hit the s.h.i.+eld soldier"s head, next to the new leader. He recovered his focus and yelled at his men.
"REGROUP!!! s.h.i.+ELDS U-" The man was prevented from speaking more when his vision spun, making him see the sky.
But he didn"t die. Lucien knocked him down and stabbed the katana in his belly. The blade went through his armor and body, stabbing into the earth, and pinning the man to the ground.
*ROAR*
Before the soldiers next to the leader realized what had happened, Oya jumped on one while L.u.s.t cut the other"s throat with her whip.
Ghilanna"s crystal arrows continued to kill the soldiers, while the bandits also killed the soldiers more terrified by Lucien.
The previously five hundred Light Empire soldiers were now about two hundred, and their numbers were rapidly decreasing.
"AAAAAHHH!!! DIE YOU DEVIL!!!!" A soldier who saw many of his friends die went mad and ran towards Lucien, pointing a spear at him.
Lucien avoided the spear by a few inches and griped the soldier by the neck. "I may be a devil, but I"m not going to die here, unlike you."
"ARGHH-" The soldier tried to speak, but Lucien tightened his grip and broke his neck, killing the man on the spot.
Then Lucien kicked the soldier"s spear up, catching it, turned and threw. Killing another soldier, the spear pierced the chest of the soldier while he was trying to escape.
It was at that moment that the other soldiers who were preparing to attack Lucien stopped. They realize that they would only die going toward him.
"He"s really the devil himself!!"
"We can"t kill him!!"
"We have to escap-" That soldier was unable to complete his words because he gasped when L.u.s.t"s whip wrapped around his neck.
While the man suffocated, the other soldiers lost what was left of their will to fight.
Everyone started dropping their weapons and only kept s.h.i.+elds in an attempt to block the arrows that kept coming.
The bandits saw the Light Empire soldiers surrender and also stopped attacking because they were not really able to kill them because of their incredible armor.
Ghilanna thought it was the end and also stopped firing arrows as well as Neola"s group.
L.u.s.t materialized next to Lucien, and Oya also went to his side.
Lucien looked at the Light Empire soldiers surrendering with a thoughtful expression. He wondered if there was any chance that he could use those soldiers.
But in the end, he concluded that the racist a.s.sholes wouldn"t be good additions to his forces, unlike the bandits that he could really make loyal to him, even with the black mark.
Lucien raised his foot as he spoke slowly. "I-said-kill-everyone. Except for the old man."
*Crack*
Then he stomped on the head of the soldier who was the new leader, crus.h.i.+ng his skull in a b.l.o.o.d.y explosion.
*ROAR*
The red katana appeared in Lucien"s hand again as he ran towards the terrified soldiers alongside Oya.
L.u.s.t turned into a cloud of purple dust while Ghilanna started firing arrows again.
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