Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence.

Chapter 456 Su Li Arrives, Situation Reversed
"No!" a young warrior in the ranks roared hoarsely, filled with despair, "He...he's going to turn the sacred tree into nourishment for the undead!"

“Dozens of chosen undead…” The elderly battle priest’s face was ashen, his body trembling slightly. “Black Forest Territory… no, the entire border princely territory, even the electors of the empire… who can withstand such a force?!”

He looked at Hilder and Thranville, his eyes filled with apocalyptic fear. The main force of the Blackwood Territory might be able to defeat Jasper's undead legion on the battlefield, but that was only if the enemy didn't possess overwhelming top-tier combat power!
If old Jasper were to emerge from the Valley of Memories with a dozen, or even dozens, of Chosen Ones of Death... it would be an overwhelming catastrophe!

More importantly, the other side had only just arrived at the square in front of the mass grave, and the mass grave had not yet been dug up by them!

Although Durmst, along with the priests and knights of the Church of Mor, had dealt with a number of corpses in the mass grave, a large number of corpses remained unprocessed due to delays caused by various battles.

Once he's sent to the mass grave, he'll unleash a sea of ​​the dead, and with the help of numerous chosen ones, no one in the entire border princely territory will be able to stop him.

His undead army could wreak havoc across the entire south until he was stopped by the Imperial coalition or some legendary commander.

Before that, Hessen was the first to be affected!

Hilde's mind raced. As the steward of Blacksin, she understood the gravity of the situation better than anyone. Cold sweat instantly soaked her back. She recalled the scene of her lord leading the main force in a bloody battle against the undead army on the outskirts, the resolute eyes of the warriors as they fell, the towering walls of Blacksin Castle, and the countless citizens within its walls who depended on their protection…

“It’s over…” A cold voice exploded in her heart, “If he succeeds… the victory of the lord and the main legion will be meaningless! It may even be the prelude to the destruction of the Black Forest Territory!”

The strategic space and time gained by the main force at great cost will vanish the moment Old Jasper returns with a chosen undead army! The Black Forest Territory will be utterly destroyed by this irresistible force in a very short time! Old Jasper's undead empire will rise from the ruins of the Black Forest Territory! All their efforts and sacrifices will become stepping stones for this necromancer to the top!

The fear and despair brought about by this realization overwhelmed Hilde like a cold tide, leaving even this Chosen Sun Knight feeling suffocated and powerless.

"Run!!! Hilder! Take them away!"

Just as old Jasper was about to extend his claws of death, an unprecedentedly fierce light erupted from Thranville's icy blue eyes! The light that burned within it was not fear, but an unwavering will to sacrifice himself in order to protect his companions behind him and to fight for the last glimmer of hope for the Black Forest Territory!

She forcefully shoved the warm, smooth [Life Amber] into Hilder's hand! At the same time, the Chosen Power that had just stabilized within her body erupted without reservation!

"Om-!"

The Frost Runestone once again emitted a blinding blue light, even more concentrated and violent than before! It was no longer a defensive act, but rather a transformation of all power into an absolute, all-freezing domain! Thranville's figure advanced instead of retreating, actively meeting her opponent's attack!
"Blazing Blood - Eye of the Arctic!"

This bloodline ability, activated at the level of a chosen one, has been further enhanced. It is an ability that she can use at the elite level, which can summon a continuously rotating frost vortex that damages enemies within its range and applies a freezing effect.

“Crack!”

Almost instantly, the frost vortex flung out dozens of ice shards, freezing the corpses of dozens of monsters.

"Go!!! Take Amber back! Tell the lord! Stop him!" Thranville's voice rang out at the same time, carrying an unquestionable command and anxiety: "I'll use the Sacred Tree and the Rock People to hold him off here."

Hilde was a valiant female knight, unlike ordinary women who were indecisive and hesitant. She decisively put away the Life Amber and said sternly, "It's far from time to fight to the death. Always remember, life comes first. As long as we can hold him off, never give up on life until the very last moment!"

Before she finished speaking, she turned to everyone and ordered, "Retreat in. We'll use the time Seranville bought us to continue setting up defensive positions."

They finally found old Jasper's trail again, and Hilde would never give up on delaying him.

escape?

That was an option Hilder had never considered!

She even wanted to continue to delve deeper into the Valley of Memories, setting up more strongholds and persisting until the very last moment.

Even if we can't stop old Jasper's advance, we'll still bother him while he's performing the ritual!

Hilder's command was cold and clear, instantly piercing the dark cloud hanging over the ranks! Her words contained no hesitation, no hint of giving up, only an iron will and a clear tactical objective—delay! Harass! Hold on!
"Yes, sir!" The eldest battle priest was the first to react, his fighting spirit rekindled in his eyes. He raised his holy symbol and began to chant a defensive prayer in a low voice. A faint golden halo enveloped everyone, trying to resist the omnipresent chilling death aura.

"Follow me! Quickly!" Hilder roared, golden divine grace of the sun burning around her like a moving shield of fire. She charged ahead towards the shadowy passage behind the sacred tree, leading deeper into the Valley of Memories. The soldiers instantly broke free from their fear and followed closely behind with practiced ease, while the mages, as they ran, began to gather magic power, preparing to set up arcane traps at the next node.

However, would old Jasper let them regroup so easily?

"Hmph, a death throes!" Old Jasper let out a dry sneer, his eyes flickering with a cruel, mocking light, like a cat catching a mouse. His withered, bony hands slowly rose, his fingers slightly bent, as if grasping something invisible in the void.

"Life ultimately returns to death...the soul dissipates!"

There was no earth-shattering sound, no dazzling magical light. Only one thing... a silent decay!

As his withered claw seemingly casually closed—

"Ugh—!"

"No... my heart..."

In the ranks, over thirty soldiers, already weakened by the previous battle and the corrosive influence of death energy, suddenly stiffened! The color drained from their faces instantly, their pupils dilated, filled with indescribable pain and emptiness. There were no wounds, no bleeding, yet their life force was forcibly extinguished in an instant! Their bodies slumped down like broken puppets, their skin rapidly turning a deathly gray. Even more terrifying, dozens of extremely faint, terrified, and resentful transparent phantoms (remnant souls) struggled to escape from their fallen bodies, emitting silent shrieks, instantly swallowed by the gray death energy surging in Old Jasper's palm, becoming part of his power!

"Bastard!" Thranville's eyes were bloodshot, her icy blue pupils practically spitting fire! Her comrade had been so easily killed before her eyes, his soul unable to find peace! This instantly ignited the fury and fighting spirit within her to their peak!
"Old man! Your opponent is me!" Thranville roared, holding nothing back! She unleashed her Chosen-level frost power to its fullest extent!

"Blazing Blood - Eye of the Arctic - Unleash!"

The Frost Rune Stone on her chest erupted with an unprecedentedly brilliant blue light! The swirling frost vortex instantly expanded several times its original size, and at its center, it seemed as if an "ice eye" composed of millennia-old ice, filled with a destructive will, had opened! The vortex's rotation speed suddenly increased tenfold! Instead of flinging out ice shards, it spewed out countless ice crystal spears, as thick as an arm, with tips gleaming with a chilling light, like an out-of-control ice storm!
call out!call out!call out!call out!
A dense whistling sound tore through the air! These ice spears, imbued with Thranville's extreme rage and divine power, rained down on old Jasper and the more undead minions emerging from the thick fog behind him!
"A mere trick!" Old Jasper scoffed, waving his withered claws. Instantly, a gray-black psionic shield composed of countless wailing vengeful spirits materialized, easily blocking most of the ice spears. The ice spears struck the shield, exploding into countless ice crystals, the cold and death clashing violently and annihilating each other. But the abominations and skeleton mages behind him weren't so lucky. Several cunning ice spears pierced through them, their movements becoming sluggish and stiff, large sections of their rotting flesh frozen solid.

Just as Thranville was unleashing her full power, trying to buy Hilder and the others more time to advance deeper, while simultaneously exposing herself to the threat of an even stronger counterattack from old Jasper—

A sudden change occurred!

"Roar--!!!"

"Ouch-ouch-!!!"

Several violent, chaotic roars, filled with the ear-piercing noise of rocks grinding together, suddenly exploded from the piles of collapsed Rock People "corpses" around the Sacred Tree, which had been frozen by Thranville!
The ice on the monster corpses frozen by Thranville's "Blazing Blood: Eye of the Arctic" was cracking inch by inch under some kind of violent force! It wasn't melting, but being shattered by the force erupting from within!
Immediately afterward, to the slightly astonishment of Thranville and old Jasper, seven or eight slightly smaller rock monsters, also made of broken rock and surrounded by crimson chaotic energy and faint soul fire, actually stood up unsteadily from the ice shards and dust!

Chaotic blood flames burned in their empty eye sockets, as if they had been completely "awakened" by the overwhelming ice storm from Thranville and the nauseatingly dense aura of death emanating from old Jasper!

These newly awakened rock-dwelling monsters seem to still retain some fragments of their instincts from their previous lives, especially their extreme aversion to "death," which is a desecration of the natural cycle!

Their "gaze" instantly locked onto Old Jasper, who stood out like a beacon in the arena with the strongest aura of death, and the undead minions he had summoned!

"Roar!!!" The leading Rockman let out a deafening roar. Without even glancing at Thranville, who was right in front of it, it took heavy steps, shattering the ground, and charged towards Old Jasper and the Abominations beside him with the ferocity of a mad stone rhinoceros, carrying a crushing aura! The other awakened Rockmen followed suit, letting out chaotic roars and clearly targeting the undead creatures that reeked of deathly stench!
They weren't entirely without hostility towards Thranville; occasionally, stray pebbles or chaotic currents would splatter at her. However, the intensity and frequency of their attacks were worlds apart from their relentless, almost instinctive, frenzied slaughter of the undead! The pressure on Thranville instantly lessened!
This is an opportunity!
Thranville's icy blue eyes flashed with a sharp light! Without any hesitation, she didn't even waste a second thinking about why these rock people would prioritize attacking the undead!

Taking advantage of the moment when Old Jasper was surrounded by several frenzied Rock Golems, and the Black Knight was forced back by the Rock Golems' massive rock fists, causing the necromancer's death magic to be less effective against the Rock Golems and his formation to falter slightly, Thranville's frost power surged within her. Her figure instantly transformed into a pale blue streak of light, almost blending into the environment, skimming the ground like a ghost as she evaded the chaotic battle from the side! She narrowly avoided several death rays attempting to intercept her and the pebbles thrown by the Rock Golems, or used her ice armor to withstand them. Like an arrow released from a bow, she shot towards the shadowy passage leading deeper into the darkness from which Hilder and the others had disappeared!

"Damn rocks! Annoying scum!" Old Jasper was thoroughly annoyed by the relentless attacks of several rockmen. Although he could easily dismantle or corrode them with his powerful necromancy, he was still delayed by a few precious minutes! He watched helplessly as Thranville's icy blue figure disappeared into the darkness of the passage, his eyes burning with fury!
"Chase! Don't let that half-elf get away! The rest of you, crush these broken stones!" Old Jasper gave a sharp command. From the thick fog behind him, more powerful undead of various forms surged forth. Some rushed towards the rock people who were still attacking frantically, while others, like a black tide, followed the direction in which Thranville had disappeared and surged into the passage!

……

Deeper into the passage, the light grew even dimmer. Hilder was directing the battle priests to set up a makeshift holy light barrier, while the mages inscribed explosive rune traps in the narrow passages. The atmosphere was heavy and tense, everyone straining to hear the terrifying roar of battle echoing from behind.

suddenly!

A figure in icy blue, exuding a chilling aura, burst out of the passage they had come from like a cannonball. After rolling on the ground to dissipate the force, it suddenly came to a stop!
"Thranville!" Hilder exclaimed with a mixture of surprise and delight, and immediately went to greet her.

Thranville was slightly out of breath, and several new cracks and signs of corrosion appeared on her ice crystal rune armor, but her eyes remained sharp as knives: "They... those rock people have awakened! They're attacking the undead! I took the opportunity to rush out!" She said succinctly.

"Great!" Everyone's spirits lifted; this unexpected turn of events was like sending charcoal in snowy weather!

"How are the defensive positions set up?" Thranville asked quickly, while warily glancing towards the entrance of the passage, where the distinctive, teeth-grinding smell of rotting bones and decaying matter emanated.

"Initial completion! That's going to give them a run for their money!" Hilde's eyes flashed with determination as she pointed her longsword at the passage. "Prepare to meet the enemy! Let these bones know that the warriors of Blackforest Territory never retreat!"

"At the same time, remember to protect yourselves; life is paramount. The lord is on his way to provide reinforcements! Our mission is not to completely stop this powerful monster, but merely to delay it until the lord arrives!"

The soldiers in the group shouted loudly, their fighting spirit soaring. They all knew that if old Jasper didn't die, they would die! So they were all determined to fight this old man to the death.

While this force was putting up a fierce resistance against old Jasper's army, determined to fight to the death with the enemy, these loyal soldiers had no idea that their lord was actually only a stone's throw away from them.

However, Su Li was not in the Valley of Memories, but was flying above the Valley of Memories on a green dragon – probably less than 5000 meters away from their location.

At the speed of the green dragon, it would only take a few breaths to get there and provide support.

The thick, inky fog of the Valley of Memories obscured the stars in the sky, as well as the dragons and griffins flying behind the clouds.

When these powerful monsters remain silent, the people on the ground cannot sense their presence at all.

After all, these powerful monsters are not only mounts but also natural predators, naturally able to conceal their presence and only charge and hunt when they are close enough to their prey. If their presence is detected by their opponents more than 10 miles away, they would not need to hunt at all; they would have starved to death long ago.

The reason Su Li did not enter the Valley of Memories below was that he was waiting for his mobile forces to assemble and arrive.

Old Jasper was terrified by the vanguard battle and made the worst decision he could ever make: he abandoned his main force and led his elite troops to launch a surprise attack on the Valley of Memories.

Reich Marshal Leopold's words are truly a golden rule of military strategy: a mediocre strategy is better than a constantly evolving one.

According to Jasper's original plan, he personally led the main force to fight Su Li, and then Mhava led a large number of envoys to the Valley of Memory to launch a surprise attack.

He has a chance of succeeding in both of these directions.

After all, his own contribution to the Nightwalker Corpse's combat strength was immense. Su Li fought with all his might and only managed to hold his own against his main force. It was only with the support of the dwarves that they were able to surround the skeletons.

As a result, in the first battle, Su Li led his troops to decisively cut down his skeletons, which terrified the old man so much that he made a very serious misjudgment.

Then, surprisingly, he changed his mind at the last minute, made adjustments, left the main force to hold off the Black Forest troops, and went to the Valley of Memories himself.

This resulted in Su Li suffering only slightly over 400 casualties in this battle, thanks to the Black Forest Territory's powerful equipment and logistical system! This was negligible compared to the scale of the battle.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that there were not many free militia in this battle, and all the participants were elite infantry and cavalry from the Black Forest Territory. These professional armies were all well-equipped and well-trained, and each person was also equipped with a large amount of medicine.

They will not die in battle unless their sturdy armor, powerful amulets, effective potions, and the protection of all the battle clerics in their party are gone.

Otherwise, the remaining 2000-plus wounded soldiers would mostly have shattered armor or injuries of varying degrees.

After the war with Blue Mirror Territory ended, Su Li devoted himself to recuperation and military development, and finally saw results in this battle!

With so much sophisticated weaponry, he was able to defeat the main force of the Night Wanderer Corpses in one fell swoop.

This was Old Jasper's biggest mistake. After Su Li dealt with the main force of the Night Wanderers, he immediately led all the air cavalry to rush towards the Valley of Memories.

Old Jasper underestimated Su Li's mobility. Without the main force of Night Wanderers hindering them, Su Li's air cavalry could easily relocate at high speed.

At this moment, above the Valley of Memory, there were more than 30 powerful air cavalrymen, and more dwarven helicopters and powerful monster cavalrymen were rapidly approaching.

The most important impact is that the Spear of Order and Law in Su Li's hand has not yet been used up.

Previously, Bradley had only used it to fight those undead monsters, and had not yet fully activated it to penetrate this land.

This means that Su Li was able to inflict a severe blow on Old Jasper and his elite Night Wanderer Corpses in the Valley of Memories!
This was Jasper's second fatal mistake.

He shouldn't abandon the main force of the Nightwalkers and stay with Mhawa. That ancient human chieftain has always been ambitious. Although he is dominated and taciturn, he will betray Old Jasper once he is seriously injured and take back the power that belongs to him.

This is one of the most important pieces of intelligence that the intelligence system has revealed to Su Li.

Unfortunately, Su Li possessed the crucial item [Spear of Order and Law], which could reliably inflict a severe blow on Old Jasper.

If this is a strategy for defeating a boss, then this item means that he can skip phase 1 and phase 2 and deal massive fatal damage to the boss as soon as the battle starts, forcibly putting him into a weakened state.

In order to hunt down this weakened BOSS, Su Li brought more than a dozen Chosen Ones.

To be honest, even if Jasper were at his strongest, facing a melee attack from over a dozen Chosen Knights would be extremely dangerous. Admittedly, his attacks and magic are more lethal, and a few successful hits could kill a Chosen Knight instantly.

However, these dozen or so Chosen Ones also posed a deadly threat to him. If they cooperated seamlessly, the risk of Old Jasper's demise would be extremely high.

Even so, Su Li continued to reinforce his troops and increase his strength for victory!
As the chosen one of the Goddess of the Sun, he was naturally accustomed to achieving victory through overwhelming tactical advantages.

From the air, he could see the occasional bursts of psionic flashes and the golden light characteristic of the followers of the Sun Goddess in the Valley of Memories below, as well as various scorching blood energies and arcane missiles streaking across the gloomy battlefield, which meant that the resistance below was still ongoing!
Riding on the back of the green dragon, he turned to Orstein and asked, "My marshal, how is the assembly of our army progressing?"

"Good news, my lord. His Highness Deathclaw has completed his destiny and grown into a Chosen Griffin. The messenger set off ahead of time, and at Deathclaw's current speed, he is expected to arrive here in less than half an hour."

(End of this chapter)