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

Unfortunately... it was ultimately beyond their power, and the light in the count's eyes dimmed slightly: there was an insurmountable gap between the two sides in terms of manpower, financial resources, and other resources, and even the commanders were not comparable - General Philia was a veteran military nobleman who had fought all his life and was by nature suspicious and cautious, so it was almost impossible to gain an advantage from him.

Unless, Felix suddenly remembered something, and quickly looked up at Elwin expectantly: "You just mentioned that Lord Raslaufer is gathering people? He wouldn't be gathering......"

Erwin waved his hand, but he misunderstood Felix's meaning: "No, Earl Doule has just inherited Ironforge, and the maximum number of men he can spare is two hundred. Although there are many siege weapons there, it is not easy to transfer them over. Mr. Duncan said that it would be better to use the time to make them locally."

"Your Excellency Raslaufer is looking for a businessman and his family to help you. Oh, by the way, you may have heard of them, the Strongman family."

Felix made a sound in his throat, straightened up, and then, with his eyes rolling upwards, fell backwards.

It really is that Strongman family!

Chapter 604 The Mercenaries Crossing the River

Dieter, the son of the Strongman family, is a war fanatic.

Dieter himself may have loathed this notion, but it is not an exaggeration or a hypothesis, but a fact—because at this very moment, he is on his way to the battlefield with his regrouped army.

“While I am pleased that you had Lady Skadi, the lord of Ironforge, bestow upon me a knighthood, I must say this: Lord Raslaufer, and Miss Anne, I fear that spending so much money on wars everywhere is neither in my family's interest nor in accordance with our traditions…” Dieter poked half his head out of the carriage, looking helplessly at the people outside, “This is neither in my family's interest nor in accordance with our traditions…”

“Just stay in your car, Dieter…Sir,” Angelita, riding Veruna in her white horse form, glanced at him and gestured towards Dieter and the carriage containing his body. “At least that’s in your best interest.”

“Uh, actually it doesn’t quite fit…” Dieter sighed. He was about to explain, but then he suddenly realized what Angelita meant and could only shrug his head back in dejection. “Okay, it does fit my interests—but what exactly do you want? I guarantee this isn’t the mercenary style!”

A traitor who's about to be wiped out? When did mercenaries start helping this kind of person, especially without a deposit!

"And I must say, Miss Anne, you don't seem to be the person you claim to be..."

"Let's not talk about this anymore, for your own good as well."

There was no more sound in the carriage.

“I read your battle reports this morning. Erwin and his men have reclaimed quite a few villages and towns with little resistance,” the Unicorn whispered telepathically to Angrieta. “I must say, this is a good start: Count Felix has reclaimed his territory, the tyrant’s evil power has been contained, and you don’t have to vent your anger on a mere financial backer.”

“I’m…sorry,” Angelita took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, but her brows did not unfurrow. “But you know, Verunara, I have a feeling this won’t be so easy.”

If Erwin's warband could handle this, why would they have come all the way from Ironforge? And it wasn't anyone else's opinion, but rather Reslaufer's own request—to borrow money and troops from Dieter.

This is a considerable debt of gratitude, and it's not something that can be easily repaid.

“That general, Anne, he’s not easy to deal with,” Raslaufer said suddenly, as if sensing Angelita’s thoughts. “If you’re thinking about their winning streaks, you might as well think about what will happen if they fail next. You know I’m not good at these things.”

"Failure?" The girl was slightly surprised. "But how could he have failed? That Philia fought them twice, and both times he had to retreat. Later, he didn't even bother to put up any resistance. He just kept returning the areas he had already occupied. How did he plan to defeat Felix and Erwin?"

One defeat might be a feint, two defeats might also be feints, but so many consecutive defeats—those mercenaries aren't the kind who are willing to follow orders. If they clearly could win but don't fight, even a feint will become a real defeat!

Everyone is willing to fight a battle when things are going well, but no one wants to suffer a defeat.

“I don’t know, Anne,” Doppler shook his head, gesturing to those who had fallen behind to catch up as soon as possible. “But Philia is a cunning old fox, and his record includes many instances of winning after initially losing, which is why I have this concern.”

"But of course, there is another possibility: he is simply old, and cowardice, fear, and stupidity have taken over his mind. Perhaps he is also dissatisfied with their current king—who has only lived half as long as his father, but is twice as ruthless."

"But in any case, our anxiety will soon be over."

Looking at the dense forest on the opposite bank of the river, the surrounding map naturally corresponded to the actual scenery in Reslaufer's mind. After so many days of trekking, they should arrive at the rear of the Philia army 30% faster than expected. At that time, they would be caught in a pincer movement with Felix's forces. Not only would Philia's reputation be ruined here, but he might not even be able to save his own life.

But... why do I always feel uneasy about something?

Raslaufer glanced at the white horse beside him. It must be the unicorn's fault. He thought he had gotten used to its presence, but now it seemed that this process might take some time to truly end.

"Alright, spread out and find a shallow spot to cross the river."

As Raslaufer's orders were relayed, the spellcasters sprang into action, running to the front of the army and manipulating the earth or the water itself to create shoals for passage in relatively calm areas.

In order to reach the designated location as quickly as possible, Raslaufer did not have his army advance along the main road, so there were no bridges to cross the river. Fortunately, with these mages, the army's crossing speed was not too slow.

“It would be even better if there were mages who could manipulate water,” Daisy said, sitting casually on a rock by the river with her mattqin in her arms as she looked at the long line of people. “That way, we would only need one mage to split a waterway dozens of meters long at once, instead of having so many people to maintain it.”

“You mean manipulating water, little girl?” A mage near the shore chuckled upon hearing this. In his eyes, she was just an innocent girl. “Spells like that are not something ordinary people can use. To hire someone like that, even just to do the task of water manipulation, would probably cost half the price of all the people here.”

That's no simple spell. In some religious texts, dividing water can be seen as a miracle performed by a deity—except that the water bodies divided in those records are not the river in front of us, but the real ocean.

Seemingly seeing this as a good opportunity to showcase his knowledge, the monk continued his eloquent speech: "Although I've taken the money and will do as you ask, frankly, I don't think crossing the river like this is a good idea. Why don't we spend about half a day building a pontoon bridge? It won't be much slower, and it would also..."

A sharp but loud horn suddenly rang out from the dense forest on the opposite bank. This unexpected signal startled the mercenaries who were halfway across the river, and at the same time, it awakened a swarm of arrows that rained down on them!

"...Avoid...ambush?"

Chapter 605 Attacking While Crossing the River

In an instant, countless stories flooded the bard's mind, but it was clearly too late to recall them now.

The rain of arrows appeared without warning, and contained numerous magical traces, making it impossible to determine the number of ambushers. In an instant, warriors and spellcasters who had not had time to protect themselves were hit one after another, and their corpses rolling in the river became obstacles for those who came after them. The deaths of the mages who maintained the river passage caused the river water, which had been stored upstream due to the river being divided, to pour down instantly.

Even so, the mages had no way to switch to defensive spells at this moment—if they relaxed and the water-dividing spell was weakened, what difference would it make from being shot to death?

"Where are the shield bearers? Go protect them!" Raslaufer's shouts rang out from the riverbank. "Maintain the passage, speed up the crossing! Hurry, hurry, hurry! No retreating!"

If moving forward and moving backward clash again, everyone will be fish food today!

But more importantly, how could there be an ambush here?! Who set this trap?

“It’s a good idea to attack when they’re halfway across the river, Your Excellency Vilveti,” the old general Philia handed the bronze tube in his hand to the middle-aged man beside him from the depths of the forest. “It seems you’ve had quite a fruitful year on your imperial journeys.”

A middle-aged man with short, dark brown hair and a sculpted face took the binoculars, but didn't look at them directly. It was as if he knew what was happening on both sides of the river even without looking. He was none other than Verviti, the leader of the September Mercenary Group. However, for some reason, he, who was always rumored to be still fighting as a guerrilla within the Empire, was now in Central Inasas.

“If I could, I would rather not have these gains. I have paid too high a price for them,” Verveti said indifferently. “Besides, it was not an imperial trip; I am an imperial citizen.”

"Ha, whatever, I won't argue with you about this," Philia scoffed, unconcerned. "Don't worry, as long as you can quell this rebellion, His Majesty the King will be generous with his money. You can have as many gold coins as you want. Once you've regrouped, with your talent, why shouldn't you be able to take revenge?"

Verveti suddenly gave Philia a strange look: "General Philia, do you think I traveled all the way to Central Inasas, crossing the entire west, just to ask your king for gold coins?"

Isn't that right?

The veteran was taken aback for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Then you..."

“I have heard all sorts of things about the king you serve. I don’t want to find him. The person I really want to find is you,” the man said, narrowing his eyes slyly. “To be precise, it’s your granddaughter.”

This left Philia completely bewildered—he admitted that he did indeed have a very beautiful granddaughter who had just come of age, but… for this?

What on earth is this bastard trying to do?!

Although Philia was eager to know the answer, Verveti did not intend to give him one. He changed the subject back to the battle at hand: "Alright, General Philia, let our mages start to play their role. Not too many, just two or three rounds of bombardment will do. Try to push back all those who have landed. Don't let them go more than a hundred meters away, as that will hinder the subsequent ambush."

As they spoke, two people completely shrouded in black robes emerged from behind Verviti and strode towards the mage's position without hesitation. In less than ten seconds, Philia saw two enormous, cold, dark clouds gather above his side of the riverbank. Rock-hard hail replaced the rain of arrows, overwhelming the projected fireballs and lightning, and thunderously bombarded downwards.

The spell was so powerful that even hiding here, the old general could feel his joints stiff with cold, and a thin layer of frost had begun to form on the grass and trees around the forest.

This is the source of Verveti's confidence in standing alongside Philia despite having lost his mercenary group—two powerful arcane spellcasters! Philia even suspected that Verveti might be able to complete his plans even without any mages under his command!

With such a powerful mage, those ordinary soldiers have absolutely no chance of reaching the shore; they will all probably die in the river today!

Although Philia believed this, Verveti's face did not show any joy. On the contrary, he kept one hand raised as if he was counting down to a certain point in time, ready to execute the next step of the plan as soon as it appeared.

Raslaufer… he’d heard so much about him, about Inasas, and about the Empire.

He came here partly because of him.

"Lord Raslaufer, we simply cannot continue to maintain the river!" A mage, with an arrow stuck in his shoulder, continued to maintain his spells under the protection of his shieldbearer, but he was clearly running out of steam. "That's an ice storm, and there are two of them! The mages on the other side are far more powerful than us!"

If both sides were to line up and fight head-on, they might be able to regain some advantage by virtue of their numbers. But the problem is, they now need to cross the river!

Dubul looked grimly at the opposite bank, where frozen corpses lay scattered along the shore, and from the dense forest, countless shadowy figures gradually emerged—it seemed they were preparing to press their advantage and kill as many of the remaining river-crossers as possible on the other side or in the river.

The number of people who successfully crossed the river and the number who died while crossing it were almost equal, but if the enemy were allowed to continue to hide in the forest and carry out their activities, the remaining half would be lost no matter what.

"Daisy!" Doble grabbed the bard who was still helping the soldiers advance and seize the position as quickly as possible. "Give me some magic, can I get directly to the other side?"

Since the enemy is preparing to engage in close combat, he must immediately get to the front!

"Huh? But the other side..." Daisy wanted to say something, but she gritted her teeth and nodded, "Okay! But I have to come over with you, so you have to protect me!"

As he spoke, a pair of spatial rifts appeared almost simultaneously on both sides of the river. The poet grabbed Raslaufer, and the two vanished from their spot in an instant, reappearing face-to-face with the charging soldiers.

"Fire! Fire!" Mary temporarily took command on this side, trying her best to regroup the archers who hadn't yet crossed the river. "Push them back! Lord Raslaufer will create a buffer zone for us to land in. We must hold on—Anne?!"

Mary's braid suddenly swung in a wide arc, and in a place Mary couldn't see, Angelita spurred her horse forward, rushing swiftly towards the now extremely narrow river passage.

"Come back quickly!" Mary almost jumped up. "The enemy hasn't been defeated yet, you can't—"

Her words were almost immediately drowned out by two powerful storms that descended upon the river.

Chapter 606 The Counterattack on the Riverbank

"Reporting, sir, target hit precisely!"

On the mage's position in the forest, a man in black robes raised his head and loudly reported towards Vilveti: "Under the impact of our Storm Orb, there is absolutely no way she could survive..."

He no longer needed to swallow the rest of his words, because at that moment, a magical whirlwind swept through the entire forest, silencing his voice in its howling.

Right in the middle of the river covered by the storm orb, streaks of silvery-white light shone through the storm. With a clear, long neigh, the soldiers of Philia and Vilveti were horrified to see that the white horse beneath Angelita, which was originally brightly colored, leaped up and landed steadily on the riverbank with incredible leaping power.

Beneath its hooves, the frost and ice scattered by the icy storm melted away, and the raging winds became as docile as lambs, swirling quietly around it. And atop the head of this "white horse," a crystal-clear, spiraling horn had appeared out of nowhere, emitting a faint golden light—it seemed all the strange phenomena originated from this very horn!

Veruna let out another long neigh, raising her two front hooves towards the forest. With her movement, the neigh instantly transformed into a clear, deep female voice, resonating in the hearts of the two men in black robes:

“You reek of Aphrodite… How dare you commit such vile acts in the sacred woods?!”

"A unicorn?!" General Philia nearly dropped his binoculars, but what surprised him even more was the girl on the unicorn's back, also protected in a silvery-white glow. He instinctively turned to look at Verveti, "So, you're planning to..."

"It's probably too early to talk about this now, General!" Verveti shouted hastily to divert attention. He raised his hand, drawing the old general's attention to the surrounding plants and trees that were gradually becoming "alive." "I'm afraid we'll have to launch a general offensive. That beast is affecting our hiding place!"

Unicorns are not "beasts".

General Philia disagreed inwardly, but he had to admit that Verveti was right, and quickly ordered his officers, "Leave the woods immediately and attack the enemy!"

“But my lord…” Veruna’s sudden appearance shocked everyone. Some people instinctively wanted to object—making enemies of celestial beings was definitely not a good idea.

"We'll take care of that unicorn!" The two men in black robes exchanged a glance, their voices turning cold as they vanished from their spots. "This isn't its lair; it can't win!"

From within the dense forest, more soldiers began to charge—or rather, flee—and launch an attack on the mercenaries on the riverbank. Veruna's eyes flashed; instead of unleashing the pent-up gale directly upon these mortals, she redirected it, slamming the storm into the river. The powerful storm immediately tore through the water, revealing the dry riverbed to everyone.

"Soldiers!" Seeing this, Angelita put one arm around Verunara's neck and raised the Long Ballad of Will high with the other, shouting to the mercenaries who were still hesitant and in shock on the riverbank where they had come from, "The gods are watching us, our cause is righteous—follow me, charge!"

"Kill!" "Attack the enemy!"

Mary naturally responded first, but unexpectedly, Dieter suddenly stood up from the carriage, his eyes bloodshot, and shouted at the army in front of him: "Whoever brings me the head of the opposing commander will win ten thousand imperial gold coins!"

Raslaufer, who was charging ahead, was drawn to the commotion behind him. He turned around and his pupils contracted slightly: Angrita sat atop a unicorn, both she and her horse enveloped in a holy glow. She turned and called out to those behind her, and the remaining two thousand soldiers responded with a roar, shouting as they waded across the river.

Doble looked around. Of the soldiers who had landed earlier, only a few hundred remained, and most of them were wounded. When Raslaufer turned around, they all stared at him with different expressions.

“We were the ones who stood here first,” Raslaufer sneered, looking at them. “Are we supposed to wait for them to come and save us, led by a child?!”

"They've laid an ambush for us; it shows their cowardice, and their strength is no match for ours. I know most of you aren't Duples, but choose whichever you prefer—those who come with me will all receive double pay!"

Having said that, Raslaufer ignored the soldiers and charged ahead of the entire enemy line, crashing into their formation like a cannonball. Behind him, the soldiers followed suit and launched their own charge!

"Beautiful!" Leslaufer shrugged, shoving a spearman to the ground. He caught a glimpse of this out of the corner of his eye and roared, "Kill them!"

The black flame greatsword danced around him like a whirlwind. This heavy weapon, nearly two meters long, was like a meat grinder in Reslaufer's hands, slashing in all directions. Even dozens of men couldn't get close; limbs were severed beneath its blade. Even if these soldiers exhausted all their methods, they could hardly limit Reslaufer's power, unless...

"I've got him—ah!" A mercenary with a severed leg lay on the ground, his face contorted as he suddenly grabbed Reslauver's leg while taking advantage of a moment when Reslauver wasn't paying attention, all the while screaming for help from his companions, "Quick! Subdue him!"

"I've caught him too!" "A few more men, this isn't enough!" "Take his sword!"

The wounded man's reckless act momentarily slowed Dobulle's advance. In a small-scale battle, this would be insignificant, but here, over a hundred soldiers surged towards Dobulle, determined to surround and kill this unstoppable force. Reslaufer felt as if his limbs and neck were covered with armored soldiers, each weighing over a hundred kilograms. Even he was hampered, making it difficult to continue wielding his sword, and even movement itself became incredibly difficult.

"He's about to die!" Amid the chaos, Leslaufer vaguely heard such an excited shout. "Hurry! Take him down, there must be gaps in the armor!"

Just as Leslaufer appeared to be teetering on the edge of the crowd, the soldiers, who were eagerly preparing to "pry open the cans," heard a sarcastic laugh from deep within:

"You're really trying hard, but if I were to be killed like this... you wouldn't even have a chance!"

"kill!"

Chapter 607 The Little Devil's Poisonous Sting

The hill, built of steel and living people, trembled.

The source of this trembling was not the soldiers' shivering or fear, that was irrelevant. The only reason it began to change was that the deepest part of Raslaufer was forcibly turning everything around it!

"You think you can... kill me?!"

The soldiers used every trick in the book, prying open every piece of metal and every joint on Raslaufer's body, hoping to stop this living creature, which was even more terrifying than a golem, from operating. But to their horror, they discovered that their power was fading away over time, while Dople's power remained unchanged, without the slightest loss!

If they failed to kill him initially, then they were simply wasting their time, because it meant they would never be able to kill him!

"Get out of my way!" Within Raslaufer's body, the blood from purgatory boiled like magma. With a sudden tremor of his arm, an unprecedentedly strong sulfurous odor burst forth, filling the nostrils of most of the surrounding soldiers. This pungent smell made them instinctively try to dodge, but even this insignificant exertion allowed Raslaufer to break free in one fell swoop, forcefully throwing them all away at the same time!

The Black Flame Greatsword remained under his control, and no one could take it away. Reislaufer, who had just escaped, casually tossed it around, and the positions of the skulls on the tip and hilt instantly reversed. Without a moment's hesitation, the hideous skulls began to smash wildly at the bodies and heads of those who had no time to dodge.