Your Majesty's money, why don't you engrave my name on it?

As if sensing Cliff's gaze, Raslaw casually slashed down yet another member of the Cold Iron Guard with his sword, then looked up at the approaching heavy cavalry. The mounts were all heavy warhorses, the riders were all burly men from Eastern Inassis, both horse and rider clad in heavy armor. Combined with the weight of their weapons, the charging mass of flesh and steel nearly weighed a ton. The Cold Iron Guard's so-called cavalry was a joke in their presence.

But should we avoid it? Leslaufer felt there was no need.

The greatsword deflected the massive hammer that was crashing down from the side, sending Raslaufer hurtling forward. Just as the lance of the leading heavy cavalryman was about to reach him, a ferocious roar erupted from Dobulle's chest. His right hand, which had been parrying, suddenly spun outward, and as his left foot pulled back to create torque, he used the blade to draw an arc, forcefully deflecting the straight lance. With the shock of the sword's movement, the already skewed lance was now completely veered off course.

This was far from the end. Raslaufer noticed his opponent was beginning to draw his spiked club, and immediately swung the flame-shaped blade upwards at an angle. As the serrated edge embedded itself in the grain, the wooden shaft was instantly severed. Taking advantage of the unobstructed momentum, Dople sidestepped the heavy club's swing, and the counterweight skull at the end of his greatsword slammed into the horse's head. The struck warhorse reared up, and using this opening, Raslaufer spun and swung, actually cleaving the rider completely off his horse!

But here, Raslaufer was not accompanied by Doble, who should have been there. The cavalry that followed swung their clubs, and Raslaufer, unable to dodge in time, was struck in the back, blood gushing from his throat. However, Raslaufer seized the opportunity, bent down, picked up the severed front half of his lance, and hurled it backward, piercing the visor of the attacker behind him!

"Come on!" One blow was not enough to break him. At this moment, Raslaufer was like a living meat grinder, standing between the charging Bonebreaker Legion, crushing everything that dared to approach him into dust, as if the name of the Bonebreaker Legion was made for him - the meaning of this legion's existence was to crush everything in his hands!

Only at this moment did Cliff finally remember the emotion he hadn't felt in years: pure fear.

But he had no room for maneuver. As a heavy cavalryman, while he was being swept up in the torrent, he himself was also being swept up. There was no possibility of backing down or turning back. And now, that Dubler was getting closer and closer to him!

"Kill him! Kill him!" Cliff roared. He saw lances thrusting towards Raslaw, and spiked clubs smashing into the man's body and even his head, but... but he was still standing there. He wasn't dead yet!

How can this be? !

Blood flowed down like rain through the gaps in his helmet, but Raslaufer paid no heed to such details. Another lance pierced through his shoulder blade, yet he only took a step back. Instead, the rider who hadn't managed to let go was thrown forward by the immense resistance, his chest crushed by his own mount.

With a sudden snap of his gauntlet, he broke the lance in half, the force traveling through the cold wooden shaft and shattering the leg bone of another warhorse. As he swung a spiked club toward his chest, the rider, who had fallen off his saddle, was struck in the face, his entire face spinning backward.

The rage fueled by the pain was eroding Raslaufer's reason, but for some reason, it could never be truly extinguished. Doppler could see more and more spirits appearing and disappearing around him, as if reminding him of something he had forgotten.

If he could just think about it, if he could just let go of everything, just like he always has, these heavy cavalry wouldn't be able to do him any harm at all, and he would become the most invincible presence on this battlefield—but he can't do that!

Even though he could easily break through that barrier! No one has ever successfully manipulated the power of his mind! No one!

Except for... this!

Cliff finally reached him, his mace slamming down relentlessly on Raslauver's head, the heavy breaths of his horse splashing onto Dople's blood-stained face. But this time, Raslauver neither parried nor dodged.

If he cannot completely break free from all constraints, then he needs... an even more thorough madness.

Chapter 590 To Live or to Die

Dobul charged forward, meeting the thunderous blow head-on. The weight of the Broken Halberd gave him the confidence to charge head-on, and the massive, heavy blade of the Black Flame Greatsword did not parry; instead, it thrust forward with the momentum of his charge, aiming for a gap in the thick breastplate of Cliff's warhorse!

Time seemed to freeze for a moment. The next instant, with a muffled thud, the heavy mace struck Raslaw's left shoulder blade, which was already pierced by a lance. The sound of bones shattering was clearly audible. His entire left arm went limp instantly, and blood gushed from his mouth. The enormous impact almost made him kneel down.

Almost simultaneously, the flame-shaped blade precisely tore through the weak point where the armor was attached, penetrating deep into the warhorse's chest with brute force! Hot blood mixed with fragments of internal organs gushed from the wound, and the precious heavy warhorse let out a desperate, dying neigh. But this was far from the limit of the greatsword's impact. The tip of the blade shattered the warhorse's spine, and it surged up from the horse's back, actually piercing through Cliff from beneath him, impaling him and his warhorse together!

Blood flowed uncontrollably from Cliff's mouth and nose. He gripped the sword tip that had pierced his chest, but was powerless to pull it out. At that moment, a new force lifted him and his horse off the ground, and ominous green flames seemed to ignite from within him. In an instant, he and his warhorse were engulfed in a terrifying fireball!

"Come on! Try killing me!"

Raslaufer's roar deafened everyone, knocking Lady Kree's horse off its feet. Dople, who was nearby, staggered a couple of times before regaining his footing, steadying himself with his greatsword. Like a demon rising from Aphrodite, he looked down upon the mortals around him. Around him lay the corpses of over sixty riders and horses, forming his own personal wall.

But the remaining heavy cavalry continued their charge; perhaps this was the end of his journey...?

"Old Lei, let's go!"

Gazing at the heavy cavalry that still pressed down like a city wall, Doppler couldn't help but feel a little dazed. He knew he wouldn't die here yet, but he knew he would face a heavy price. Just as he was about to completely forget about it, the bard's figure suddenly appeared from her concealment. She frantically grabbed Raslaufer's arm, and the next moment, the surrounding space distorted. When the scenery before Raslaufer's eyes stabilized again, she was already standing in front of Duncan.

"Uncle Leslaufer!" Angelita rushed up, her voice hoarse. "How are you? I'll stop the bleeding! The royal physician... damn it, where's the priest? Call a priest over here! Tie one up and bring him here!"

Daisy quickly began to cast healing spells to improve Dople's injuries, but Raslaufer's injuries were too severe this time, and it was unlikely that the power of music alone could save his life, which was still slipping away.

The simplest way is to release the suggestion spell cast on him—replenishing life force with life force is the simplest and most efficient method.

She was almost ready to do it.

“Leave it to me,” a middle-aged priest squeezed through the crowd from somewhere. As he placed his hand on Leslaufer’s helmet, a surge of divine power immediately flowed into his body, causing Dobul’s pale face to visibly regain its color. “Serak… just how much have you overdrawn? I must summon even greater power—I need to stabilize your injuries first to buy time for the ritual.”

Leslaufer was not unconscious yet, but now that he was relaxed, he couldn't utter a single word. He could only watch helplessly as the priest and Angelita's anxious, distorted faces turned pale.

He recognized the man; he remembered him—Le Corneur, it was him again.

But... why does he look so strange? Perhaps it was a near-death illusion, but in Raslaufer's eyes, the middle-aged man seemed to have transformed into something else entirely. In the blink of an eye, as the priest's healing spell took effect, he was immediately pulled out of that dubious experience, and everything he had seen before became a mirage, impossible to find.

“It’s you.” Raslaufer managed a weak smile. Although his body was recovering rapidly, he felt that his muscles were still somewhat numb and he couldn’t make any expressions.

“It’s me, Your Excellency Leslaufer,” Lecorney smiled back at him. “I never imagined it would end up like this… I think neither of us wanted this. Alas, I’m just a teacher at the academy; there’s nothing I can do, nothing I can control.”

Because those so-called nobles are a bunch of utterly stupid idiots—he's already incited the priests and even His Excellency Heinrich to attend, so how hard is it to guess which way the situation should go?!

This kind of reform can't be rushed! As long as we get those mercenaries to make a little concession first, we can gradually expand it—a mercenary's active lifespan is at most thirty years, and even he's not in a hurry, so I really don't know what these hotheads are rushing for!

Could they be planning to take control of Ironforge while they're still young, and then use their army to expand outwards?!

Le Cornelius's only lifelong regret was that his birth prevented him from gaining a voice commensurate with his abilities, and today, this hatred has reached an unprecedented peak—yet he still can't do anything about it.

Seeing that Raslaufer's injuries had finally stabilized, Angelita felt as if her spine had been ripped out, and she lunged at Dople, who had just sat up halfway: "What are you doing?! You're going to take them all down by yourself?! You must be crazy?! You're the number one madman in the entire material world!"

She had never seen such a miserable state as Dubul. She was so frightened that she was almost dumbfounded. After screaming incoherently, she couldn't utter a single word. Only two lines of tears flowed down her cheeks like a burst dam.

“Alright, alright,” Leslaufer patted her back, his ears still ringing, making him involuntarily raise his voice to the maximum, “But maybe, maybe you’re right… Ha, ha, I’m a madman, yes, you were right back then!”

"Why did I do this... I don't know! Maybe I hate myself! Maybe I feel like I shouldn't be alive! Hahahaha! But I'm still here! Annie! Look at me! I'm alive! I survived! Even they can't take my life!"

"And they, they all must die! Every single one of them! Rise, let me rise, Anne! Where is my sword? Everyone must die here!"

Chapter 591 Heading Deeper into the Iron Fortress

“You should rest,” Duncan’s sigh came over. “We’re not so bad that you’re the only one left alive, so there’s no need for you to work so hard—you still haven’t changed your old habits.”

Angelita and Daisy quickly seized the opportunity to persuade him, which finally calmed the extremely excited Raslaufer down a little. He turned around and began to re-examine the chaotic situation in the city.

The rat horde and other mercenaries held off the Bonebreaker Legion, which had lost its leader. Although the heavy cavalry was still a threat, their morale was severely damaged after Raslaufer left alive, and this effect also affected the others around them—the number of people who had just died at Raslaufer's hands was no less than that of the Bonebreaker Legion.

On the other side, Daisy had just used magic in conjunction with siege equipment to clear the path to the city wall. Although the outcome was still uncertain, it could be seen that they were gradually driving away the stubborn defenders who were holding the city wall. If this trend continued, it was only a matter of time before the plan succeeded.

“You’ve done what you were supposed to do, now you should relax a bit,” Duncan said. “Everything is under my control. I’m better at this than you are.”

With Angelita's help, Raslaufer stood up and casually patted the armor that had just been repaired with a restoration spell: "I'm sure what you said is true, you rascal, but I think there must be some things I can still do—sorry, I just can't sit still."

“Uncle Leslaufer, you can’t go in there again,” Angelita said worriedly, “unless I go with you!”

“Don’t be so nervous, Miss Anne,” Callistra said, gazing at the streets still echoing with the sounds of explosions, without turning her head. “I just saw the Beast, and he took Heinrich with him. I think you should probably go look for them. They wouldn’t have left without a reason, would they?”

The Beast? Didn't he not come? Raslaw looked at Duncan in confusion, but the latter shook his head: "Unfortunately, it wasn't me. He explicitly rejected me."

"But he showed up here... It's really strange, to be honest, I have no idea."

Duncan's expression didn't seem fake, and he had no reason to deceive Raslaufer. So it seemed that Beast had other purposes for this trip.

“I saw them,” Le Cornelius suddenly said. “They went further in, maybe to the second floor, or maybe… to the first floor, but I’m not sure.”

"Is that the direction that woman ran in?" The devil in her heart reminded Daisy of the problem, and she quickly said, "Maybe they went after that garrison captain! Didn't Heinrich say something about a devil before? Could it be her?"

Upon hearing this, Duncan and Callista were both horrified. They had just been exchanging accusations with each other, claiming the other was a follower of the devil. But they thought they knew perfectly well that it was all just a pretext!

Heinrich is gone? Could it really be true?

"Chase her!" Leslaufer ordered immediately. "Call Mary back—I remember seeing her just now. Damn, could she be trapped inside?"

"I withdrew when the cavalry charged."

It was only then that they remembered that Mary had also participated in the battle. But before they could even start looking for her, the girl's soft voice rang out behind Duncan: "I have enough self-awareness, but... your reaction is truly disheartening."

Even so, Mary was really just complaining casually. Everyone has their own weight, and compared to Raslaufer, she was clearly not enough. Besides, she knew how to take care of herself, and even if no one was paying attention, she wouldn't be so reckless as to send herself to her death.

“Perhaps you should join me,” Kalista smiled from behind her mask, then waved to the group that were about to chase after Nalovisa. “Although I would like to come along, I have to stay here, otherwise Duncan and those rats will blow up half of Iron Keep.”

"Go ahead, and remember to capture that Lovisa if possible, bring her back alive—but I think that mission might be a bit difficult, isn't it?"

Her gaze returned to the battlefield ahead, and a moment later, she suddenly leaped nimbly into the crowd. Her lantern-shaped shield moved like a cunning alligator snapping turtle through the chaotic streets, reaping life after life. Until, right before her, stood Goliath, her target clearly obvious.

“It’s you…” A mocking smile appeared beneath Tiflin’s cat-face mask. She suddenly jumped up, her boot landing precisely on the massive hammer that had crashed to the ground. “You’re the one who distracted Raslaufer a lot, aren’t you? Heh, now it’s my turn to play with you.”

Her figure vanished the instant Nior raised his hammer, and the next moment, she appeared behind him like a ghost, quickly escaping after her failed attack, only to reappear shortly afterward.

Nior began to sweat profusely, but he could only grit his teeth and continue fighting the mercenaries pouring out of the mercenary guild while dealing with the elusive, scorching spikes.

Callistra knew she couldn't fight this burly man head-on, but she had no intention of doing so—she just wanted to drag Nior to his death on the battlefield!

Meanwhile, Reislaufer and his group had already traversed several streets, heading straight for the deeper parts of Ironforge in pursuit. Since his energy hadn't fully recovered, Angelita temporarily took over the vanguard role. The Long Poem of Wisdom constantly shifted between sword and shield in her hands, leaving the scattered obstacles utterly helpless. Even those who understood the gaps in the sword-and-shield transformations couldn't have imagined that this girl, who looked well past twenty, was also a master of magic; her attacks and defenses were completely unpredictable!

Seeing that the rabble could not be stopped and scattered like birds and beasts, leaving the unguarded road to Raslaufer and his group, Angelita couldn't help but sigh with some disappointment and quickened her pace.

She still has so many skills she hasn't had a chance to use! She wants to be as powerful as Uncle Raslaw—why won't these people give her that opportunity?

Suddenly, her gaze sharpened, and emerald flames trembled above the long poem of perseverance. But the object of her gaze was a gaunt man who had just emerged from his stealth state. He raised his hands in surrender, seemingly having no intention of fighting.

“Please don’t make a move! I am the Beast Master’s apprentice,” he introduced himself. “Come with me. You must want to know where he went. The master instructed me to wait here and take you there.”

Chapter 592 Releasing the Tiger Back to the Mountain

Lovisa Richter was surrounded by her supporters, looking at Heinrich with perfect composure.

"Master Spegor, after observing me for so long, you should have come to a conclusion by now. Tell me, am I, Lovisa of the Richter family, a servant of the devil?"

Sweat beaded on Heinrich's graying forehead: "This... I need to confirm this further."

“You’ve confirmed it many times, ‘Master’,” Lovisa said with a hint of sarcasm. “If you’re sure I really am, then hurry up and judge me. If I’m not, then please step aside as soon as possible—your evasive delays are likely to make you seem like you have some connection with those mercenaries, aren’t they?”

"I heard that Leslaufer once saved your disciple. You wouldn't be thinking of using this opportunity... um?"

Lovisa snorted and straightened her collar. "Believe me, Master, you wouldn't want to hear this rumor. Imagine if everyone knew that even the usually impartial demonologist had his biases, then who would believe your theories...?"

If the devil is real once, then the second time is very likely to be real as well; but if he is real once and false once, how much credibility will be left for the third time? Reputation is another kind of currency besides gold and silver. If it is exhausted, then Heinrich can be called a beggar on another level—especially for someone like him who does not have to worry about food and clothing.

“Aren’t you also wasting your own reputation?” The Beast stood beside Heinrich, his hairy face expressionless. “I saw it all clearly: who the beggar with the smoke bomb came from, whose carriage he got into, and who pushed him off. Compared to Your Excellency Heinrich, your reputation is like a hair on my body.”

“You’re just a shady goblin,” Lovisa’s expression shifted for a moment, but quickly returned to normal, completely ignoring Heinrich’s astonished look. “Ha, after this, the golden age of mercenaries will be over. Who do you think will listen to you? The garrison will be the only authority!”

"Now, get out of the way! I'm much busier than you are!"

"Busy going to fetch reinforcements?" The goblin was not angered by the other party's mockery of his race. Instead, he shook his head in disappointment. "Since you're so confident, why do you need any reinforcements?"

"Timing? Scale? Origin? Whatever your reason for trying to summon them, you seem to be using what you haven't even touched yet as your trump card—if you were a mercenary, you would at least abandon such unrealistic fantasies."

Lovisa glanced back in the direction she had come from. The familiar flags on the city walls were becoming fewer and fewer, and the machines were beginning to turn around, with some even starting to bombard this area.

If things had gone according to plan, she should have arrived right now with the city lord's personal guards to completely suppress the mercenaries' counterattack!

But now these two guys have blocked the way!

"Attack!" Lovisa's expression suddenly turned ruthless. She couldn't wait any longer, so she immediately ordered her followers to attack Heinrich and the goblin bear. It was as if illusory wings grew from her boots, carrying her as she leaped up and raced towards the lord's castle!

As long as the city lord's personal guard launches an attack, everything will be alright—

Meanwhile, even though Heinrich was exceptionally strong, he couldn't just directly use excessive force against these noble youths. And that lone beast, true to his name, always acted alone; he could at least hold them off for a while. She shouldn't have given Heinrich that face in the first place!

But just as Lovisa thought she had escaped their entanglement, as she leaped up again and ran wildly through the street with three times the jumping ability of an ordinary person, a sharp sound of wind breaking suddenly came to her ears—some kind of hidden weapon was faster than her movement, and it grazed her ear in the blink of an eye!

"You can't escape."

Lovisa hurriedly turned her head to look, but the figure that appeared behind a window was a guy she had never seen before. Looking back at the place where she had jumped, there was no longer any "lone beast". Instead, six or seven hooded figures emerged from some corner and now surrounded her followers!

Heinrich, whom she feared most, didn't even need to lift a finger!

Who are these people? Why is there absolutely no record of them in her intelligence reports?!

“A lone beast…” Heinrich withdrew his gaze from Lovisa, abandoning his plan to intercept her at the suggestion of the goblin bear. “I see. Although people say there are no wrong nicknames, it seems that a deliberate one should be an exception.”

He had noticed earlier that the other party had left someone behind to wait for Leslaufer, and now he could certainly guess that these were also subordinates trained by the bear goblins.

Unexpectedly, this seemingly uncivilized savage actually harbored such cunning thoughts.

“But why didn’t you let me stop her?” This was the only thing Heinrich couldn’t understand. “She looks so confident. If it’s for your victory, she should have been kept here. Isn’t that why you came to me?”

A gash on the goblin's forehead, slashed by the short sword, seemed to ignite his ferocity. The unfortunate man who had swung the sword was instantly pierced through the chest and abdomen by the spear. The goblin rushed forward, grabbed the man's head with both hands, and twisted it violently, snapping his neck. Only after doing this did he regain his composure, shrugging at Heinrich with a blood-stained face.

"No, staying is one thing, stalling for time is another, and for that woman, mobilizing reinforcements in advance and making a move later are also two different things—look over here, my great scholar, Duncan and the others have already gained the upper hand. Getting that guy to spit out what he's eaten is harder than getting him to grow limbs."

With just a slight time difference, the scales of victory could no longer tip in their favor. However, a simple victory was neither what Duncan and Raslaw wanted, nor what he wanted; if he was going to do it, he had to do it thoroughly.

“You mean…” Cold sweat crept up Heinrich’s back. He just wasn’t knowledgeable in this area, but the goblin had already gone this far, so how could he not know what the other party was planning?

If we capture Lovisa here, the investigation can only go this far, just like with Scheinhailig before. But if she gets the Sinking Iron Fortress Lord's personal guard, it means they can expand this conflict to its maximum!

This extends to the vast majority of nobles, who are implicated because they were the ones who initially recommended the city lord!

Chapter 593 You Can't Pass

These mercenaries don't just want a victory to protect their interests; they want more than that!

Heinrich opened his mouth, but found himself unable to say anything: Even so, what did it have to do with him?