The Tide Turns

“Rumble!”

The games played by those at the top always brought nothing but misery to those at the bottom.

Wails, roars, and the clashing of steel echoed through the air.

Under the flash of cascading lightning and behind a curtain of rain, the wild earth was stained a deep, vivid crimson.

It was the color of blood.

Amidst the chaotic battlefield, Iron Bull cleaved through yet another enemy with his sharp battleaxe.

The simple-minded minotaur was incredibly excited.

Lacking a bird's-eye view of the battlefield and having received no further information, he assumed all the invading enemies were just like the fragile, weak grunts before him.

He had originally expected war to be a grueling, difficult ordeal, but now it seemed like a walk in the park.

Under the leadership of those powerful Black Knights, this was nothing short of a slaughter.

Iron Bull couldn't help but look at those who possessed distinct draconic traits, leaping and slashing their way through the battlefield.

A deep sense of yearning welled up in the minotaur's heart.

He, too, wanted to possess such tide-turning power.

He was far from the only one who felt this way.

With the illusion of an imminent victory right before their eyes, their morale soared to new heights.

Snapping back to reality, feeling the hot blood on his face that even the torrential rain couldn't wash away, Iron Bull raised his dripping axe high. His eyes shot with crimson, he roared into the storm:

“Strength and honor!”

Answering him were coarse, savage roars—the battle cries of countless half-beastkin and beastkin warriors.

“For Your Grace!”

“For the tribe!”

“For the God-Forsaken Land!”

“For our home!”

“Kill!!!”

In stark contrast to their blazing morale, the human side was filled with constant whimpering and weeping.

Trembling as they clutched their farming tools and dull shortswords, these humans had only one conviction in their eyes—

To survive.

Without a doubt, this was a one-sided slaughter.

It was an unfair war.

These commoners, conscripted on short notice, were not facing fellow forced conscripts from some other kingdom.

Nor were they facing weak, cheap goblins.

They were up against warriors fighting for themselves, for their faith, and for their homes.

Moreover, mingled among them were over ten thousand dragonborn who possessed strength akin to mini-supermen.

Facing such an army, they could only watch helplessly as those around them fell. Their despair was beyond words.

Under this crushing pressure and driven by pure instinct, a human soldier finally succumbed to cowardice upon witnessing the gruesome death of yet another comrade.

He threw down his weapon and turned to flee toward the rear.

Once the first fled, a second naturally followed.

Humans were sheep; it was like a chain reaction.

More and more people threw away their weapons and began to flee in a panic!

Seeing the enemy route, the soldiers of the God-Forsaken Land erupted with even greater morale.

Raising their weapons, they chased after them with thunderous roars.

To these simple beastkin and half-beastkin, victory in this war was practically within their grasp.

Before long, they would be able to return home and brag to their wives and children about their glorious achievements.

However...

They would soon be forced to change their minds.

The ground began to vibrate!

The shaking was so violent that despite the chaos of the battlefield and the howling wind and rain, no one could ignore it!

Some soldiers instinctively looked into the distance, only to see what looked like a dark cloud crackling with lightning hurtling toward them from the edge of the black horizon!

Upon seeing that dark cloud, the human soldiers who had just escaped the battlefield turned right back around and charged back without hesitation, running even faster than before.

Yet, the terror on their faces had not dissipated; instead, it was replaced by an even deeper despair.

Long, drawn-out wolf howls echoed behind them.

With a sickening, squelching sound of tearing flesh...

A human soldier desperately fleeing backward was instantly impaled by a cold, gleaming lance that pierced through the curtain of rain.

The immense momentum propelled him forward, and with a shrill shriek, the lance skewered yet another human soldier.

They were threaded onto the lance like candied hawthorns!

Under the howling wind and the washing of the freezing rain,

Two vibrant lives were thus reduced to cold corpses...

Only then did the army of the God-Forsaken Land finally see clearly.

That was no dark cloud; it was a cavalry troop riding giant wolves!

And the crackling lightning was actually the battle qi enveloping their bodies!

This was...

“Wolf cavalry!”

Iron Bull's already massive eyes widened even further.

His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed the salty saliva in his mouth.

Instinctively, he tightened his grip on the tower shield in his hand.

It was his only reliance, the only thing that could offer him a sense of security.

He couldn't be blamed for being so tense.

The sheer momentum of five thousand wolf riders charging in unison was far too overwhelming.

It was something tens of thousands of conscripted rabble could never hope to match.

This was the true military might of the Duchy of Reny, their real elite force!

Time stopped for no one. In just a brief moment of distraction on the battlefield, these armor-clad figures riding giant wolves had already sliced into the fray like a cold, glittering blade.

Just as a pale-faced Iron Bull braced himself to withstand the charge of these ferocious-looking riders,

amidst the pouring rain and as the wolf riders drew closer, the Black Knights scattered across the battlefield actively broke away from their skirmishes. Under the orders of their respective squad leaders, they quickly formed a defensive wall at the very front!

Shouts and commands echoed through the heavens and earth:

“Black Knights, move forward! Prepare to intercept the cavalry!”

As elites, they naturally knew what kind of force they were facing. The sharp senses granted by their dragon blood also made them acutely aware of the enemy's strength.

Yet as Black Knights, as warriors handpicked from the tribes, they still stepped forward voluntarily to face this terrifying charge.

Over ten thousand Black Knights bared their fangs without a shred of fear at the charging five thousand wolf riders.

Only at this moment did Iron Bull and the other beastkin and half-beastkin on the field breathe a sigh of relief.

To them, these individuals who had received His Grace's bloodline gift and transformed into dragonborn were symbols of invincibility. They would surely be able to easily handle those riding the giant wolves.

But soon, their hopes were brutally shattered.

For the Black Knights and the wolf riders had clashed.

With a sickening, heavy squelch of piercing flesh,

a kobold dragonborn standing at the very front was instantly skewered by a lance. The massive kinetic energy tore his body apart, sending shredded flesh and blood splashing in all directions, mingled with the rain.

These Black Knights, who had previously reaped lives like berserkers in an empty field, finally felt a deep sense of powerlessness before these true knights.

Even though thin dragon blood flowed in their veins,

and even though they were completely unafraid of death,

when faced with the combination of massive frost wolves and well-equipped knights, their advantages were like a thin sheet of paper. Against those sharp lances, they were effortlessly run through.

Even if some managed to dodge the lances with agile movements, being struck by a frost wolf still resulted in broken bones and shattered limbs.

This was because these massive beasts could weigh up to a ton; at full sprint, their impact force was comparable to a speeding car.

This was a despair born of pure physical dominance.

The advantages and disadvantages of cavalry versus infantry were laid bare in the most brutal fashion.

The Black Knights were divided and surrounded, quickly isolated from the ordinary soldiers.

The pressure on the human infantry suddenly eased. With the powerful intervention of the cavalry, they erupted with even greater combat prowess.

All at once, the tide of battle tilted rapidly toward the human side.

Wet, squelching impacts echoed continuously across the battlefield.

Amidst the spraying blood and shredded flesh, vibrant lives were mercilessly snuffed out by the lances.

Faced with all this, Iron Bull's somewhat slow mind struggled to process what was happening.

With the battle turning so suddenly, the hot blood that had rushed to his head cooled instantly, leaving him dazed.

He didn't understand how those powerful dragonborn could be killed so easily.

The wounds he had unknowingly received on his body began to throb with pain.

Within his line of sight, his companions were falling one by one with agonized wails.

The roles of hunter and prey had completely reversed.

Just as he stood there lost and helpless, a hoarse shout suddenly rang out by his ear:

“You stupid bull, get out of the way!!!”

The honest minotaur barely managed to snap out of it, but what greeted him was a point of cold light rapidly expanding in his vision.

That was...

A charging wolf knight!

He had been targeted!