Necromancer, summoning 055? What the heck?

Chapter 137 Single-handedly Breaking Through the Enemy's Formation: The Unicorn Valkyrie

The fall of Cloud Mist Territory was inevitable from the moment Earl of Flowing Cloud died in battle.

A strong leader can unite those around them closely through their personal charisma and competence.

Similarly, the sudden collapse of a leader can cause the entire team to lose its core and instantly fall apart.

Moreover, this is also intertwined with a war between heirs.

Upon receiving news of his father's death in battle and the fall of the Violet City fortress, the eldest son, the first heir to the territory, immediately led his personal guards to evacuate Cloud Mist City.

His reasoning was simple: "If even my father couldn't stop the enemy, how could I possibly stop him?"

The second son, far away in the Emerald City, couldn't wait to issue a proclamation. While mourning his father, he also angrily denounced his elder brother's act of fleeing without a fight, believing that the first heir was no longer qualified to be the lord of the territory.

In addition to land, the heir can also inherit a title!

Even if the territory no longer exists, the title of Earl, even if it is downgraded to Viscount, can at least guarantee that one can continue to stay in the circle of nobles.

Even if we ever return to the clouds and mist, we'll definitely hold onto that title.

As for the third young master, after Earl Liuyun was besieged and killed, Liuchuan held his father's body and wept bitterly, angrily questioning, "Didn't you promise me you wouldn't kill him?"

Wake up, child!

"As you've seen, we've tried to persuade him to surrender so many times, but Earl Liuyun is stubborn and unyielding!"

"Without our support, you will never have a chance to become the Lord of the Clouds!"

"Do you want your father, or your lord?"

"We can't choose both!"

That's right. In fact, from the moment he decided to kneel before his opponent, there was no turning back for Rukawa. His fate was no longer in his own hands.

If anyone is to blame, it's my father, who was too shrewd. He seemed to have already guessed my ulterior motives, not only stripping me of my command of the army but also cutting off my external communications, making it impossible for me to end the war in a more peaceful way.

The father had no idea how long the Divine Court had been infiltrating the clouds and mist.

I was merely the highest-ranking inside man.

When Green Pine's defeat on the main battlefield forced these nobles to further cede rights to the Divine Court and gain deeper support from the Divine Court, the outcome of the war was already predetermined.

Whether you betray or not, the outcome is the same.

Yes, if I surrender sooner, I can keep Cloud Mist Territory in the hands of my family's bloodline.

Of course, when his father led the team to survey the terrain, facing the ambush and encirclement of six great knights and hundreds of professionals, he had secretly replaced his father's only [Eternal Song of Life] with a poison that burned blood energy, which ultimately played a decisive role.

He was praised for this!

Rukawa carefully prepared himself mentally, wiped away his tears, turned around and accepted the commission from the Green Pine Kingdom, declaring that he would inherit the title of Earl of Flowing Clouds as the highest-ranking heir to the territory and become the lord of Cloud Mist Territory.

That was something he had longed for for over twenty years, but had never been able to obtain.

The only difference is that it has changed from being a direct territory of the Emerald Duchy to a subordinate territory of the Zircon Territory of the Turquoise Kingdom.

Zircon Territory is a marquisate, and Cloud Territory is an earlate; they fit together perfectly without even needing to lower their titles.

Of course, the existence of the new Cloud Mist Territory is contingent on the Green Pine Army completely annihilating all resistance fighters and holding onto this victory.

Judging from the current situation, there seems to be no doubt about this. The Emerald Duchy did not even launch a decent counterattack, but retreated on all fronts, allowing the clouds to decay.

Of the other heirs of Cloud Mist Territory, several died in the main camp, and several more died in Cloud Mist City. The rest either went to Emerald Royal City or to the Moonlit Dynasty. It didn't matter anymore. In short, none of them were foolish enough to remain in this dead land of Cloud Mist.

Sometimes Rukawa couldn't help but sigh, perhaps it was because his father was too strong that he raised such a bunch of good-for-nothings.

including yourself.

With most of the territory's elite troops perished in the enemy's siege and the territory conquered by the Green Pine Army, the annihilation of the remaining scattered soldiers on the plains was only a matter of time.

In the third week of September, the Fifth Knight of Zircon Territory led his troops to surround the last resistance force in the mountains at the northeasternmost corner of Cloud Mist.

This was once the strongest army in Cloud Mist Territory, the White Goose Legion. As the personal guard of Earl Flowing Cloud, when the Earl died at the hands of the enemy, all other troops could surrender, but this unit had no room to surrender.

They have no choice but to fight to the death.

Then he died in battle!

Beneath the walls of Violet City, this army faced the enemy's corpse hanging high above their own fortress with its gates tightly shut behind them. Desperate soldiers fought valiantly, displaying an exceptionally high level of skill.

But ultimately, they were outnumbered. More than half of the 4,000-strong force was killed or wounded, and the remaining troops scattered and broke through, with less than one-fifth escaping.

To the complete surprise of the Green Pine generals, this army, whose overall casualty rate exceeded 80% and which had been completely scattered in the decisive battle, was able to regroup in Cloud Mist City.

Under the command of the remaining highest-ranking officer, and led by his lieutenant, Old Charles, they organized the bewildered garrison in the city and launched a brilliant ambush against the Green Pine Kingdom.

At this moment, the Green Pine Army faced a situation where the enemy leader was killed in battle, the main force was scattered, and the high-ranking successors were either fleeing, dead, or surrendering—a truly favorable situation.

The cities within Cloud Mist Territory were pacified almost instantly upon receiving the order. The vanguard, brimming with confidence, marched towards Cloud Mist City, the capital of Cloud Mist Territory, with the leisurely pace of a vacation. Then, sixty kilometers from the city, they were swiftly cut off by the newly reorganized White Goose Legion.

The Green Pine Army was routed, their armor and weapons discarded, and corpses littered the field.

Taking advantage of the high morale of his own army, Xia Er resolutely organized the defense of Cloud Mist City without a lord.

Cloud Mist City is a standard large city with towering walls, heavy ballistae mounted on them, and a high-level protective array personally built by the court mages of the Emerald Duchy. If one is determined to defend it to the death, it is impossible to take it easily without suffering dozens of times more casualties.

After several unsuccessful attempts, the turquoise army, battered and bruised, finally found their leader, Marquis Monroe, the Zircon Lord.

This cunning and shrewd nobleman directly invoked the name of his heir, Rukawa, and began to address Cloud Mist City.

The psychological warfare was very effective. For most ordinary soldiers, the old lord's son becoming the new lord was just a family matter. Why should we resist?

Faced with the persuasion of the former third young master, now the new lord, and the allure of high-ranking positions, wealth, and beautiful women, traitors soon emerged.

Although Charles suppressed the rebellion in time, the already weakened White Goose Legion was unlikely to be able to maintain the situation in the city for long.

In a desperate situation, this veteran general, who had served in the army for more than 30 years, once again led his troops to break through the siege, abandoning the city and heading north, attempting to escape into the territory of the Emerald Duchy, find the eldest or second son who was hiding outside, and raise the banner of Cloud Mist Territory again.

However, they were already trapped.

The troops consisted not only of soldiers, but also a large number of former vassals of the duchy and their families, professionals who were attached to and bound to the duchy and were unwilling or unable to defect to the enemy, and artisans and commoners who did not understand much but could not accept the rule of the enemy who killed their lord...

They had just helped the White Goose Legion defend Cloud Mist City, and now, they were staggering and crying as they fled behind the legion.

What could Ciel do? Kill them all?

The clever soldiers have all fled; those who remain are all fools.

They could only carry their equally foolish and stumbling burdens, frantically fighting their way north.

Ultimately, they were completely surrounded by their opponents on this low hill.

"On the fifth day, the water supply was cut off, so they killed horses to drink their blood, which made them even thirstier, and many soldiers vomited."

"We have less than 500 soldiers available for battle, and our troops are at their wits' end."

"The border is only a few kilometers away, within sight, but not a single person or horse from the principality has come to our aid."

"The time has come for the clouds to dissipate; let Charles bow once more before the Lord on this nameless mountain!"

Having finished writing this final letter, old Charles, whose eyes were already sunken, held the letter in his hand, but there was no longer the swift owl to send it, and he didn't know who to send it to.

Looking around, all I saw was a desolate scene.

The scorched earth was yellow and dry, and the air was filled with the stench of blood, sweat, and decay. The emaciated horses that had been slain lay by the roadside, and the soldiers held their helmets, sharing bits of horse urine or blood, occasionally letting out a few violent retches.

The wounded soldiers leaned against the rocks, their wounds festering in the lingering autumn heat, attracting buzzing flies.
The women and children huddled together, the children emitting weak, intermittent cries, which the mothers could only pat in vain.

The crowd stared blankly down the mountain, into the distance, their eyes lifeless.
The mountain wind swept by, like mournful weeping, and faintly brought shouts from above and below.

"General Charles, the lord respects your character and is willing to spare your lives. If you surrender, the lord is willing to forgive your past transgressions and entrust you with important responsibilities!"

"The remains of Earl Liuyun are still hanging on the walls of Cloudmist City. Don't you want to go and arrange the old lord's funeral, giving him a grand burial?"

"The Third Young Master is ultimately of the bloodline of Cloud Mist Territory. His surrender was a last resort, done to protect the hundreds of thousands of people of Cloud Mist Territory. Why drag these people along and risk your life here?"

"There are so many innocent women and children on the mountain. The longer you resist, the more they will die. Why bother?"

It must be admitted that the other side's persuasion skills were really high. It was not just about buying them out of benefits, but also included many appeals that struck at their heart.

Raising his hand towards the direction of the lord, for a fleeting moment, Charles seemed to truly see the old lord's corpse swaying on the top of Cloud Mist City, waiting for him to collect it.

"General! You can't trust them..."

Charles waved his hand, propped himself up, and looked down the mountain, letting out a final roar. "Your new lord could watch his own father's corpse hang upside down, exposed to the sun and rain. Do you think I, Charles, an outsider, care about that?"

"Save your energy, or it'll be too tough for me to chop later!"

There was a moment of silence at the foot of the mountain, and the voices urging surrender disappeared.

Of course, the reason we haven't launched an attack yet isn't because the enemy is too soft-hearted to do it, or because they value us so much that they want to persuade us to surrender.

They were waiting for the magician to arrive.

As the "artillery cluster" of the stars, the mage legion is often needed to deliver the decisive blow in siege battles. However, their weakness is the same as that of the artillery on Earth: poor mobility.

Long hours of meditation and model-making leave most magicians with bodies weaker than modern programmers or overworked workers, only able to slowly advance behind the main force.

They've trapped themselves here, and the enemy can calmly wait for the magic brigade to arrive. A few rounds of magic can cleanly end the battle.

By any measure, we probably only have a few days left.

Suddenly, a commotion arose from behind. The observation post facing north shouted in a hoarse voice, attracting everyone's attention.

Looking out from this hilltop, the entire area is flat and unobstructed, offering a clear view of the border walls of the Emerald Kingdom.

The fortress, over nine meters high and wide, had emerald banners fluttering atop it. Small black dots crawled along the walls, giving the impression of a formidable enemy.

Although this distance would only take 20 minutes for cavalry to charge at full speed, so far, the gates of Emerald's side have remained tightly shut, and not even a single reconnaissance mission has been launched.

Charles even suspected that the enemy had deliberately placed his group so close to the border, then surrounded and slowly killed them.

If Jade doesn't come to their rescue, their group will collapse even more in despair, and may even become resentful and defect to the enemy.

If Emerald comes to the rescue, Green Pine might already be prepared, and could seize the border pass, shattering another barrier leading to the heart of the Emerald Kingdom.

Therefore, Charles understood Emerald's generals quite well. After all, saving them was only a minor achievement, but losing the border would be a capital offense!
However, at that very moment, the door that had always been tightly closed opened.

Charles suddenly stood up, took a few quick steps, and tried to get closer to see more clearly.

A cavalry squad emerged from inside the walls!
Immediately afterwards, the gate closed quickly, and everything returned to normal. Only a few riders sped along, kicking up clouds of dust on the official road across the plain.

The Green Pine Guards, who were waiting in full battle array at the foot of the mountain, burst into deafening laughter when they saw the number of people approaching.

But Charles's eyes were already filled with tears, and his hands were trembling.

Although they were still far away, he could already see the large banners that the knights were holding, fluttering in the wind.

Emerald vine longsword banner.

A flag with flowing cloud and mist patterns.

There is also a coat of arms with a long, feathered arrow.

This last flag rarely appears, but as a veteran of the territory, Charles recognized it at a glance.

This banner, with its strong elven style, belongs to only one name.

Clouds and mist, flowing frost!

Once he realized this, Charles easily found the young princess in the ranks of knights.

The knight was so small that I almost missed him at first glance.

Princess Liushuang, with her petite frame, rode a large black horse that was clearly disproportionate to her size, charging at the very front of the procession. She held the reins in her left hand and held a lance in her right hand that was almost twice the length of her body, swaying up and down with the horse's movements.

The sheer force of the massive lance made one worry that it might pry the princess's frail body away at any moment.

"Quick! It's Princess Liushuang! Princess Liushuang is back!"

"Charge! Charge down!"

Charles was shouting incoherently. He understood why only a few riders had made it out of the pass. The Emerald Duchy still hadn't sent any reinforcements, but they couldn't stop this small team, which originally belonged to the Cloud Mist Territory, from leaving the pass.

When Liu Shuang went to study in the north, she only brought a few guards with her. Now, she is riding a horse, holding a gun, and leading a few lonely people, charging towards the army formation of Green Pine at the foot of the mountain.

Charles felt that if he charged forward now and died as the last lord in the territory to still be charging, that would be the greatest fortune of his life.

Led by the old general's desperate, stumbling descent, the remaining soldiers and desperate civilians on the mountain were as if injected with a powerful stimulant. They struggled to their feet, bursting forth with their last strength, crying and supporting each other, rushing towards the army formation of the green pines below the mountain like a flood bursting its banks!

The force responsible for intercepting the north was Green Pine's central army, led by an acquaintance who had once ambushed Captain Pevin's Fifth Zircon Knight in the southern border of Crystal Plains.

He also recognized the little girl who had repeatedly humiliated him, and a mixture of surprise and shame filled the Fifth Knight's entire being.

"You've got a path to heaven, but you won't take it!"

The knight commander let out a sinister laugh, mounted his horse, and took off his heavy lance.

"Cavalry! Crush them!"

At his command, more than two hundred elite cavalrymen behind him quickly deployed into a sharp wedge formation, their hooves thundering as they charged toward the enemy squad that had been drawn to them like moths to a flame.

In terms of troop strength, there is a difference of more than ten times, and Green Pine also has a large force behind it that has not yet been mobilized.

In terms of general combat strength, on the surface, it's a fifth-tier versus a third-tier. Even if Liu Shuang makes great progress in Twilight City, she can't rise to the top in one step. The difference in tiers is enough to crush her completely.

In terms of experience, skill, and strength, this was an absolute crushing defeat in every aspect.

The only obvious advantage that little girl on the other side had was that her horse was rather large.

When they were still 300 meters away, the fifth knight had already leveled his lance, with the tip pointing outwards at an angle.

He didn't intend to kill Liushuang here, and he was also somewhat reluctant to part with that magnificent warhorse. He planned to sweep the little girl off with one shot, capture her and the horse together, keep the warhorse for himself, and hand the girl over to the Marquis.

On the mountain, Charles was still running for his life, his lungs burning as if on fire, each breath carrying the stench of blood.

His warhorses had all been killed; how could two legs keep up with the speed of a charging cavalry? He could only let out futile, meaningless roars, his eyes bloodshot as he watched the unequal collision about to occur!

Two hundred meters!
One hundred meters!

The fifth knight lowered his body slightly and tensed his muscles. In a head-on charge between cavalry generals, victory or defeat often hinges on a single exchange.

Then he saw the little girl opposite him make an inexplicable move.

With a forceful pull, Liu Shuang lifted the "horse's head," revealing a thick, white horn that gleamed with a dangerous arc.

Before the Fifth Knight could react, a blinding bolt of lightning flashed towards them, a crescent-shaped arc of electricity carrying the pungent smell of burning air, striking directly at the line connecting the man and the horse's faces.

The warhorse buckled on its forelegs, and with the momentum it threw the fifth knight forward from its back, to meet Liu Shuang's four-meter-long lance.

It was indeed just one round.

It was indeed a case of overwhelming superiority based on rank.

An adult, high-ranking seventh-tier unicorn, or even a sub-adult, could easily defeat a fifth-tier knight.

The two sides passed each other, and the fifth knight's warhorse fell and rolled, while the knight himself was impaled high in the air by a lance, his blood spraying out a long mist that seemed to transform into several rainbows in the sunlight.

Then came the second and third flashes of lightning.

The massive unicorn crashed into the group of toy cars like a tank. The arcs of electricity that flashed on its long horn and the hundreds of tons of impact force it generated as it ran through the Zircon Territory's cavalry, carving a deep trench of flesh and blood across the battlefield.

On both sides, cavalrymen were knocked down by the lightning and the Fifth Knight's physical armor, resembling petals of blooming lotus flowers.

Liu Shuang didn't turn around and crashed into the infantry formation behind her again.

"Fire the arrow! Fire the arrow!"

The infantry commander shouted frantically, and a dense barrage of arrows began to fly towards Liushuang.

A gentle breeze seemed to sweep through the air, and the arrows flying in the air scattered everywhere like fallen leaves being swept away.

【Windwalker Light Feather Armor】!
It wasn't over yet. Liu Shuang waved her left hand, and a row of five or six dark, round things flew into the infantry ranks.

Yes, defensive grenades. Chen Moxin said that they are most effective when thrown into crowds.

When Charles finally reached the foot of the mountain, he saw the Green Pine Army, which had completely broken into chaos. Whether it was cavalry, infantry, or supply troops, they were all desperately trying to escape the huge figure that was rampaging through the center of the battlefield, as if they were avoiding death.

The last scene the people of Yunwu saw was Princess Liushuang, who, after failing to kill her, angrily raised her lance and flung the fifth knight, whom she had been chasing for more than half an hour, away.

A massive unicorn, a lance raised high, covered in the blood of its enemies, and those gleaming, amber eyes.

From that day on, a legend of the unicorn Valkyrie began on the southern continent.

(End of this chapter)