"Holy Flame Thrust!"
With a sharp shout, the knightly greatsword in Amir's hand erupted into a blazing inferno. He stomped the ground and shot forward like a bolt of lightning!
"Roar!!"
Facing the Guardian Knight's strike, a massive black orc nearly five meters tall let out a senseless roar. It swung its axe downward, aiming to cleave Amir in two!
Boom!
Without any suspense, a demon with almost no intelligence could not hope to block a Guardian Knight's blow. The greatsword sliced through the orc's body without resistance.
Black blood sprayed everywhere, only to be instantly vaporized by the scorching flames.
A foul stench immediately permeated the air.
"Lord Amir, we're surrounded!!"
One of the adjutants following Amir looked at the overlapping figures closing in from all sides, his face pale with terror.
For these knights who had lived in peace for far too long, life-or-death struggles were a rarity. Faced with enemies who disregarded their own lives so completely, the knights were momentarily thrown into chaos.
"Do not break formation!!"
Amir retreated quickly, forming a defensive circle with the other knights.
"Signal the allies immediately! Prepare to break out with me!"
Amir's brow was tightly furrowed. The elites of the vanguard had already scattered to scout the surroundings.
Most of those behind him were Hope Knights around level twenty.
There were even quite a few Diligent Knights in the expeditionary force this time.
These Diligent Knights, only in their teens in terms of level, could barely defend themselves against so many demonized orcs, let alone fight back.
But they couldn't stay like this. Seeing more and more demons arriving from the distance—not just orcs, but humans and elves as well—Amir knew they would all die here if they delayed any longer.
Whoosh—Bang!
A red light shot into the sky, and Amir let out a furious roar.
"Battle formation skill—Trampling! Charge!!"
"Roar—!"
Over a hundred knights raised their lances. With a world-shaking shout, the battle formation skill was instantly activated.
With a thunderous boom, a hundred white horses reared up and slammed their hooves heavily onto the ground.
A massive shockwave radiated outward from the center of the hundred knights.
Countless demons were flipped over before they even had a chance to dodge.
However, the strength of these hundred knights was too low. Even with a Guardian Knight leading them, the power they could exert was too small; they couldn't even wound the orcs and only managed to knock them back.
But that was enough!
Under Amir's lead, the hundred-plus knights moved in perfect unison. Once cavalry began to charge, their power in the age of cold steel was no less than a tank's rampage.
Though these demons were numerous, most of them had not even reached level thirty.
As the vanguard, Amir pointed his lance straight ahead. At that moment, his white horse received a power boost, and its speed exploded!
With a squelch, the lance easily transfixed a demonized human, skewering them directly.
The knights behind him followed closely in his footsteps, charging forward with reckless abandon!
The sound of trampling hooves, the roars of the charge, and the tearing of flesh continued without pause!
At the same time, knights in the distance who saw the red signal began to rush toward the location. Those close enough tore a hole in the enemy lines to join Amir's charge.
The demons here were hardly organized; most possessed intelligence lower than that of a normal child.
Against these scattered remnants, the unit led by Amir was almost unstoppable. As more knights joined in, the situation that had been a crushing defeat took a complete hundred-and-eighty-degree turn.
It had become Amir leading his army to crush the demons.
Despite their lack of intelligence, the demons instinctively understood which was more important: life or combat.
Many demons began to scatter and flee, while the shouts and killing cries grew louder.
Seeing the scattered remnants being completely routed, Amir initially wanted to continue the pursuit, but he suddenly saw soldiers in the distance raising battle flags.
The command flags were fluttering.
"Retreat?"
Amir's brow tightened. Looking at the signal given by the command flags in the distance, he hesitated for a moment but ultimately chose to retreat.
"Entire army, follow me!"
No sooner had he spoken, and before he could even turn his horse to leave, a world-shaking roar suddenly erupted from the distance!!
"Roar—!"
At the same time, the earth began to shake violently. As a massive hand pushed aside the trees, a giant figure revealed itself.
"The giant race!?"
Amir was stunned. Before he could react, more and more massive giants began to emerge from the forest.
These giants stood at least fifteen meters tall on average, each one as massive as a small mountain.
Facing the knights, these demonized giants looked as if they had discovered delicious food. They roared and began to stomp forward.
Boom! Boom!
A massive foot slammed down onto a knight. He didn't even have time to react before he and his white horse were crushed into a pulp.
Immediately after, the giant quickly lifted its foot, picked up the knight who had been flattened into meat paste, and tossed the mixture of flesh and armor into its mouth to chew as if savoring a delicacy.
The sound of teeth grinding against metal was chilling.
Crunch—Crunch!
The giant chewed a few times before suddenly opening its mouth to spit out the broken armor and lance. Then, it reached its hand toward another knight!
Several dozen giants raised their own weapons, hacking away at the knights. Anyone who lost the ability to fight was stuffed into their mouths.
Countless knights scattered in terror.
Witnessing this scene, Amir couldn't stop trembling, his face turning a deep purple from rage.
"How dare you—!"
Seeing his former comrades being eaten like snacks by these demonized giants, fury caused Amir to lose his composure.
"Knights, charge with me!!!"
Raising his lance high, the maddened Amir turned his horse toward the giants. With a roar, he activated a battle formation skill.
"Battle formation skill—Fearless Charge!!"
As a Guardian Knight, he possessed many battle formation skills, each with different branches that could be chosen for different times and occasions.
At this moment, the skill Amir activated was the Fearless branch of the charge!
Because he saw the terror in the eyes of the knights behind him.
Only a Fearless Charge could make these knights temporarily forget their fear.
"Kill—!"
As the light of the battle formation skill lit up, the fear on the knights' faces vanished instantly.
Having lost their fear, they looked at their former comrades being devoured by these demonized giants, and rage... followed closely behind!
Rumble, rumble, rumble—
The sound of hooves rose. Though they were a unit of only two or three hundred men, they displayed a momentum no weaker than a thousand.
Amir led the way, being the first to face a demonized giant. His lance became like an indestructible blade at that moment.
In an instant, he pierced a giant's ankle. Immediately after, the knights behind him also raised their lances.
Facing the demonized giant that had lost its balance because its ankle was pierced, the lances thrust out in unison!
The giant's massive body fell forward.
The moment the lances touched the demonized giants' bodies, the holy energy carried by the weapons pulverized the flesh instantly.
In an instant, a black mist of blood shot into the sky!
The body of a massive demonized giant was turned into meat paste and blood mist, scattering in all directions.
The knights who had activated the Fearless Charge had forgotten their fear. Under Amir's leadership, they pierced through more than ten demonized giants in a row.
Amir did not take the opportunity to leave. Instead, he turned his horse once more.
The knight army followed suit, the entire force moving like a long serpent, leaving an arch-shaped trail on the ground as they launched another charge!
"Fearless—!"
Amir raised his lance and let out a world-shaking roar.
At the same time, countless knights responded, raising their lances and shouting with earth-shattering fury!
"Charge—!"
Rumble, rumble, rumble—
Seeing their kin being easily torn to shreds by the knights, the demonized giants showed no sign of fear. Some even wore silly smiles, opening their bloody maws to reveal half a severed arm—who knew whose it was—stuck between their teeth.
They raised their massive weapons and swung them down toward the knights!!
Boom!!
Giant hammers slammed into the knight regiment. Knights who couldn't react or who could react but couldn't resist were instantly crushed into meat paste. The other demonized giants also began their slaughter of the knights!
In this single charge, the two hundred-plus knights only managed to kill three demonized giants, but they themselves instantly lost over fifty knights.
The difference in combat power was clear at a glance.
Watching his comrades be so easily slaughtered and then stuffed into the mouths of those demonized giants, Amir clenched his teeth, his eyes bloodshot!
But... the gap in combat power was not something his individual rage could bridge. While he could kill over a dozen demonized giants in single combat, his individual prowess was diluted in war.
He could indeed face a dozen demonized orcs without fear, but if the knights behind him continued like this, the entire army would likely be wiped out.
Even if he killed a dozen giants himself, the remaining twenty or so giants could still easily crush the knights behind him and eventually turn the exhausted Amir into a meal for their gaping maws.
"Entire army, retreat!!"
Amir's resentment and fury were... abandoned for the sake of his comrades.
However, his adjutant suddenly let out a cry of alarm:
"Lord!! It's too late!"
Amir instinctively looked back and saw the demonized orcs, humans, and elves who had previously scattered and fled. Seeing the tide of battle turn, they had all come back.
These weak demonized creatures actually wanted to take advantage of the chaos while the demonized giants crushed the knights.
There were at least several hundred of those demonized creatures. Combined with the fifty-plus demonized giants ahead, the knight regiment of fewer than two hundred men had lost all hope of breaking out.
Seeing this, despair appeared in Amir's eyes.
At this moment, he suddenly realized... his one wrong decision had completely stripped these two hundred knights of their chance to live.
He shouldn't have charged just now; he should have followed orders and chosen to retreat.
But it was too late for regrets now.
The demonized giants chuckled, raising their massive weapons to crush the knights.
The nearby demonized creatures also began to close in, constantly reducing the space the knights had to maneuver.
Once cavalry was surrounded and lost the power of their charge, they were in some ways even worse off than infantry.
Seeing the demonized creatures closing in from all sides, Amir took a deep breath.
The adjutant behind him shouted urgently:
"Lord, give the order!!"
"Entire army! Retreat with me!!!"
At this moment, Amir had no more thoughts of charging again. Continuing to charge would only result in more lost soldiers.
Now, he would save as many as he could!
Thinking of this, Amir raised his lance and roared!
"Battle formation skill—Frenzied Charge!!"
"Roar!"
The knights raised their lances. A massive amount of holy energy began to gather, blessing every single knight!
Rumble, rumble—
As the sound of hooves rose again, the remaining one hundred and fifty knights began their charge!
Amir took the lead. With a fierce swing of his lance, the demonized human in front of him was instantly shattered at the waist. The knights behind him followed closely, raising their lances.
Everywhere they passed was like a sea of blood!
However, many demonized creatures also rushed forward at this moment.
Some jumped up to grab the knights on horseback, while others directly struck down the horses.
Any knight knocked off his horse was instantly swarmed by dozens of demonized creatures. Following a heart-wrenching scream, they finally drew their last breath.
When these demons scattered to pursue other knights, all that remained on the ground were bloodstains, messy armor, and... a few white bones.
The brutality of the battlefield was fully revealed at this moment.
The knights charged outward like madmen, while the demonized creatures rushed toward them with equal frenzy.
Amir, leading the charge, was covered in blood, unable to tell if it was his comrades' or the demons'.
Though he kept swinging his lance, killing demon after demon, the demonized creatures ahead continued to appear like endless weeds, popping up one after another.
Amir gritted his teeth and kept swinging his lance, while instinctively glancing back.
Behind him now, where were those hundred and fifty knights? Fewer than ten remained!!
Seeing this, the fury in Amir's eyes vanished completely, replaced only by a deep despair.
"God... why is it like this?"
In the next second, a black shadow covered his vision.
It was an iron hammer, drenched in blood.
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