Hyperdimensional Player

Chapter 159 The Battle for the Empress

go.

In just one exchange, the dozen or so riders who had caught up were all killed. One of the elite soldiers brought by Kulin was killed and another was wounded. The wounded one was beyond saving. Light cavalrymen are prone to being disemboweled in combat, and his intestines were already spilling out. He could only finish off his brother quickly and decisively.

Several people were waiting at the city gate, and before the gate closed, Culin escorted the carriage out of Ravenna.

Quintus felt a chill run down his spine. His horsemanship was decent, but he was now struggling to even sit still. Although he had witnessed some killing and death, this was the first time he had seen such a bloody battlefield charge. Light cavalrymen were losing limbs in the face of the charge. The scene was somewhat like the final charge of the cavalry company in the TV series "Bright Sword." The combination of manpower and horsepower resulted in extremely gruesome deaths, with limbs and flesh flying everywhere and internal organs spilling out.

A group of people escorted the Queen and the Princess to the province of Gaul. After arriving near a manor, more than ten riders soon arrived. Together with Quintus’s confidants and followers, the whole group was about fifty or sixty people.

The woman in charge of meeting Culin and the others was wearing a mask. As soon as they met, the witch from Asia asked, "Can they ride horses?"

Quintus had calmed down considerably by now. He hurried to the carriage to ask and, after receiving an affirmative answer, said, "Yes."

The middle-aged witch immediately said, "When we get there, abandon the horses and leave a group of people to escort the carriage northward."

"Let them change their clothes and ride on horseback."

This is to confuse the enemy and delay the time it takes for them to catch up.

at the same time.

After successfully assassinating Emperor Valentinian III, Maximus immediately went to the palace to take control of the situation. He had already bribed many members of the Imperial Guard, and with the support of the Senate, it was not difficult for him to usurp the throne.

The Imperial Army's attitude is currently ambiguous, seemingly ready to watch them fight like dogs, and Maximus has not yet received the army's full support.

After Aetius's death, the Imperial Legion had essentially given up entirely.

However, there were exceptions, namely the Imperial Guard. This army was notorious, and even after it was disbanded and reorganized, it remained a fickle and opportunistic force. Maximus could win over many of them if he was willing to spend money.

However, the Imperial Guards no longer have that much power; at least they can no longer publicly auction off the emperor's identity.

"what?"

"The Empress and the two princesses have escaped?"

When Maximus heard the news, he was furious. He raised his whip and lashed out, roaring, "How could three women possibly escape the palace?"

"You bunch of losers!"

The commander of the Imperial Guards was covered in blood from being slapped, and dared not speak out in anger. His personal attendant cautiously said, "It was Quintus who secretly took away the Queen and the two princesses."

"He secretly deployed his men and forcibly seized the palace gates."

"We also lost quite a few people."

"The commander just sent out a cavalry unit to pursue them, but they were all wiped out. Those people are not simple; they don't seem to be ordinary guards. They might be veterans who have been on the battlefield."

The Imperial Guards rarely had the opportunity to go to the battlefield, but they were still considered an elite force, so it was very unusual that they were all wiped out.

A veteran of the battlefield?

Hearing the servant's words, Maximus calmed down considerably and asked in a deep voice, "What are their characteristics?"

Where would Ravenna find battlefield veterans at this point?

One of the guards recalled, "They felt a bit like Gauls, yes, they must have been Gauls, some of them had tattoos."

Gauls?
Could it be the British Governor Duncan?

Even Maximus felt a pang of fear at the thought of that man, given his phenomenal record—he had never suffered a defeat. Although he was still far away in the Frankish region of Europe, confronting the Visigothic Kingdom, the presence of his subordinates on the Italian peninsula still made Maximus uneasy.

Maximus made his decision to take action only after he heard that the British governor of Orleans and the Visigoth king had amassed tens of thousands of troops and were facing off, seemingly on the verge of a major war.

Both of these forces are vying for hegemony in Western Europe.

"Chase!"

"Go after them immediately!"

Upon thinking of the beautiful Queen Lysinia Eudoxia, Maximus impatiently ordered, "At all costs, immediately mobilize the Imperial Guard cavalry to pursue them!"

"We must win back the Empress and the two princesses."

"Notify the troops stationed along the way that they must be stopped and that they must not be allowed to enter the Frankish region."

Queen Lycinia possessed dual imperial legitimacy; she was not only the empress of the Western Empire but also a princess of the Eastern Empire. One of the most important conditions for Maximus to successfully usurp the throne was to force Queen Lycinia into marriage and seize her.

In the worst-case scenario, he would have to take one of the two princesses as his concubine, but Queen Lysinia was undoubtedly more suitable.

After all, Maximus still hoped to gain recognition from the Eastern Empire, even if it came at a price.

It didn't take long.

A cavalry force of several hundred men was dispatched out of the city in pursuit. Upon learning that the Queen and the two princesses had fled, the Imperial Senate was somewhat panicked. Many members sent private legions to assist Maximus in the pursuit, and the cavalry force suddenly grew to nearly a thousand men, which were then dispersed into several groups to intercept them along the way.

Fortunately, Quintus had planned for this day for a long time, and he had people to meet him along the way. Cullin's guards changed horses along the way and managed to buy time and widen the distance.

At this moment, the group had arrived near Provence. A large river was not far ahead, and hundreds of pursuers appeared behind them. If they were caught up now, Cullin's men might not be able to escape.

The carriage had long been abandoned.

The Roman noblewomen were quite capable; Queen Lysinia and the two princesses could all ride horses, though their riding skills weren't very good, and the bumpy ride made the three pampered women feel nauseous.

"Get them across the river first!"

Kulin glanced at the approaching pursuers in the distance, wiped the blood from his face, and said to his personal guards beside him, "Gallic warriors, follow me!"

They had just faced off recently.

Kulin killed about ten scouts, but unfortunately he couldn't kill them all. One skilled rider escaped, and soon a large force of light cavalry caught up with them.

Quintus watched as a group of people escorted the queen and princess across the river and immediately wanted to ride after them.

Sonorous.

But then Kurin held a knife to Quintus's neck, his eyes cold, and said, "You're the last one to leave."

“Stay with us and cover our retreat.” Upon hearing Kurin’s words, Quintus felt a chill run through his body.

Kulin remembered Anya's last instructions: if anything went wrong, Quintus was on the list to be dealt with. There were too many pursuing enemies; even a barbarian chieftain's guard of twenty or thirty men couldn't possibly withstand so many light cavalry.

Quintus is a real scoundrel; if all else fails, he has to be eliminated, otherwise he might defect to Maximus in order to save his own life.

Who knows what he'll say then?

At this moment, the cavalry at the forefront had already charged forward. Kulin arranged his elite riders into a dense formation and charged directly at the enemy, creating a time gap. This fierce counter-charge indeed made the pursuers hesitate. In just a moment of engagement, more than ten people were killed. The Imperial Guard had not been on the battlefield for a long time, and their reaction in battle was not as good as that of the local army.

The first few dozen men, eager to make a name for themselves, were easily scattered by Kulin and his twenty-odd men. Seeing that they were no match for the enemy, they immediately turned their horses around and tried to join up with the pursuers behind them.

Kulin did not pursue, but instead rallied his men to cover the Queen's retreat.

"Wait for the others."

On a high slope not far away, a commander of the Imperial Guards looked at the fierce Gallic guards ahead and said with a solemn expression, "They may be the personal guards of a barbarian chieftain."

"A direct assault would not give us much of a chance of winning; the troops behind us will be arriving soon."

The enemy was too fierce; it would take at least five times the manpower to win. He hadn't encountered such a brave and highly skilled opponent in a long time.

This was only because Kulin and his men were escorting the Queen to escape without heavy armor; otherwise, it would have taken at least two or three hundred light cavalry to take them down.

Only ten times the number of troops could suppress these barbarian chieftains' guards.

At this moment, Queen Lysinia had already boarded the ship and docked. Beside this beautiful queen were two beautiful young girls who were terrified and pale. They had never seen such a scene before and were already quite frightened.

Only Queen Lysinia, who had regained some composure, immediately ordered, "Leave now."

"Don't worry about them."

Since we're going to stay behind to cover the retreat, we have to be prepared to die in battle.

Beside Queen Lysinia, the tattooed Gallic warrior glanced at her coldly but did not obey orders. Instead, he ordered the ship to turn around and bring Cúlin and the others over as well.

They fought side by side on the battlefield, sharing life and death, and would never easily abandon their comrades given the chance.

On the other side of the river, Kulin seemed to have noticed as well, and couldn't help but curse angrily, "Idiot!"

"You'll ruin the Governor's important plans."

Those who stayed behind to cover the retreat had long since disregarded their own lives.

Queen Lysinia originally had about twenty guards with her, but now only half of them remained. Quintus, on the other hand, was overjoyed and immediately ordered his trusted followers to escort him across the river. He had truly sensed that Cullin wanted to get rid of him.

Just then, nearly a hundred cavalrymen suddenly rushed over from the upstream direction of the river. There seemed to be a military garrison there. The light cavalrymen were dressed differently from the Imperial Guards, like foreign mercenary riders.

not good!

There were still pursuers.

Maximus and the Imperial Senate wielded more influence in Italy than one might imagine; they were even able to mobilize local legions stationed there.

Queen Lysinia was terrified and shielded her two daughters tightly behind her.

But that's it.

The sound of galloping hooves came from the direction of the woods not far away, followed by a heroic and imposing figure riding a warhorse. There were only twelve riders behind him, and even from a distance, one could feel an overwhelming killing intent.

Without a doubt, these men were elite cavalrymen who had survived countless battles.

call out!
The arrow pierced the sky.

The valiant leader drew his bow and unleashed a barrage of five arrows, instantly felling several enemies and startling the pursuing foreign cavalry. He raised his dark spear, its menacing aura directed at the horde of enemies ahead, and commanded in a deep voice, "Crush them!"

These twelve riders charged straight at the hundreds of enemies!

boom.

For a moment, people were on their backs.

Queen Lysinia's position offered poor visibility. By the time she mounted her horse to survey the battlefield, the valiant leader had already taken the lead, slaughtering the enemy. The twelve riders, like a whirlwind, pierced through the enemy formation, leaving corpses strewn everywhere they went. The spear in his hand danced like a dragon or snake, each flash of cold light instantly killing an enemy. When a dozen or so cavalrymen attacked from the left and right, the spear swept across like a whirlwind, knocking several men off their horses. The warhorses neighed in agony, their necks snapped, and they collapsed with a thud.

"It's the Governor!"

The morale of the guards who were originally protecting Queen Lycinia was greatly boosted, and they actually abandoned the mother and her two daughters and rushed towards the battlefield to join the fight.

Governor-General of Britain - Duncan?!
Only the mother and her two daughters remained on that hillside. Queen Lysinia gasped in shock, covering her mouth as she watched the man slaughtering in the distance. The British governor was even more valiant than the legends suggested; his twelve riders routed nearly a hundred men in a single charge, leaving waves of enemies fleeing in panic.

It seems their morale has completely collapsed.

Warhorses neigh!

Duncan reined in the reins with one hand, glanced at the Queen and the two princesses not far away, and said in a deep voice, "Go protect them."

After saying that, he charged towards the narrow part of the river without looking back. As his warhorse leaped into the air, it was as if man and horse were one. Duncan's figure suddenly exerted force and soared into the air, while his warhorse fell directly into the river, and he himself traversed twenty or thirty meters to land below the rocks on the opposite bank.

Clang!
Mars shattered.

The spear, like a dragon emerging from its cave, pierced through the rock, leaving him suspended in mid-air above the riverbed with a five-meter drop. The spearhead penetrated more than ten centimeters into the rock. Then, Duncan suddenly exerted force, and the spear shaft, like a bent war bow, unleashed an astonishing arc with its powerful resilience, propelling him out of the water.

The rock broke apart.

One man, one gun, and he landed on the flat ground on the opposite bank of the river.

At this moment, Queen Lysinia covered her mouth in a daze, and behind her, the two young princesses were also filled with shock. What had just happened was beyond their previous understanding. However, soon, a trace of fear appeared on their faces, because directly in front of them, dust billowed, and hundreds of enemy cavalry had surrounded them.

Governor Duncan of Britain leaped across the river alone, solely to rescue the Gallic Covenant warriors who had stayed behind to cover their retreat.

At this point, Krillin was completely insane!
Blood streamed down his right arm as he led more than ten people in a desperate fight to carve a path through the crowd and raced toward Duncan's position.

………………

(End of this chapter)