This young master truly has the ambition of a hero.

Unfortunately, he was also the commander of the legion, making him the most vulnerable target for the opposing Saint-level forces to be targeted and beheaded. Therefore, his life and fortune were now entirely in the hands of his fifth brother and other experts.

I wanted to hide, but I didn't dare to move!

Just then, a troop of heavy cavalry suddenly charged out from the opposing kingdom's army. The leading knight was clad in gleaming golden armor, and his warhorse was pure white with a pointed horn over a foot long growing from its head—the legendary unicorn that only pure maidens could ride.

Upon seeing this knight enter the fray, the morale of the kingdom's army soared to unprecedented heights.

"coming!"

Dick, who was engaged in a long-range "sniper duel" with the enemy mage, also noticed the commotion on the battlefield. However, he could not afford to be distracted at the moment, because the opposing Saint-level mage was clearly of the same fighting style as him. Their back-and-forth battle was evenly matched, so he could only signal the Black and White Jeanne d'Arc, who had been guarding his side, to support the central army.

He doesn't need to worry about this for now; the game of holding his pee won't be decided anytime soon, and if necessary, he still has Sister Quigant, hidden in his clothes, as a trump card to protect him.

So the two Joan of Arcs, one black and one white, immediately removed their cloaks and headed straight for the front lines.

"Roar, my wrath!"

Unlike Jeanne d'Arc Alter, who wanted to communicate, Jeanne d'Arc Alter was there to fight. Just then, the Kingdom's Guardian Saintess broke through the city walls like a dump truck and stormed in, and the two sides immediately clashed.

Although both sides are "Joan of Arc," the legitimate Joan of Arc is clearly a mounted cavalryman, while the Black Joan of Arc is an unmounted infantryman. In addition, the unicorn is clearly not an ordinary warhorse; its inherent holy aura creates an attribute advantage against the dark power, which puts the Black Joan of Arc at a clear disadvantage. She is forced to retreat repeatedly by the holy light until the White Joan of Arc arrives in front of her and barely manages to block the unusual power of the opponent.

"Damn! What's up with this woman?"

Jeanne Alter, who rushed up eagerly for a one-on-one duel, was unexpectedly rendered so disheveled by the elemental advantage in just one exchange. While Jeanne d'Arc Alter originally intended to have a proper conversation with the real Jeanne d'Arc from Earth's history, given the current situation, she could only fight first and worry about the consequences later.

Meanwhile, Joan of Arc was also scrutinizing the strange "twins" opposite her. Although she didn't recognize them, she had a vague sense of déjà vu.

However, in this situation, their enemy was undoubtedly that silver-haired woman with an evil aura who had just forced her to stop her charge, and the unicorn beneath her was making disgusted snorting noises.

Evil, violent, and damn not a virgin (Dick is entirely to blame), how disgusting!

Without a word, Joan of Arc launched another attack. The holy light surrounding her grew even brighter and more dazzling. This light seemed not to come from the golden armor itself, but from Joan of Arc herself within it.

In front of everyone present, Joan of Arc suddenly unfurled a pair of wings of light from behind, and she and her horse leaped into the air, becoming one with each other, transforming from a dump truck capable of crashing through city walls into a flying dump truck.

Dick was astonished to witness this scene. He was quite certain that this was not the power Joan of Arc should have in the official history of Earth. Otherwise, the fight between the British and the French would not have lasted for a hundred years. But who knows what kind of magic pills the Maple Dew Kingdom had given her to strengthen a village girl from Orleans to this extent!

Chapter 260: There's a cow!

Joan of Arc from the Kingdom is very strong, much stronger than Dick initially imagined. When facing the combined attack of Black and White Joan of Arc, she was able to hold her own at all, which is truly absurd.

At this time on the battlefield, the Imperial Army was clearly at a disadvantage. Due to the limited width of the battlefield, the number of troops that both sides could deploy on the front line was roughly equal.

The Imperial Guard versus the Red Guard: elite against elite, the battle is extremely close!

In some hotspots, the fighting had turned into a bloodbath. Ordinary soldiers were being cut down in droves like ripe wheat, and those who charged forward couldn't even last half a minute. Therefore, the only way to keep the front line from retreating was to send up high-ranking soldiers in squads.

Although the Black Forest Empire was corrupt, it was still a continental hegemon that had stood proudly in the world for nearly a thousand years. The Black Forest people still had some pride in their bones, and if they were really pushed to the limit, they could also show some fighting spirit.

The Second Eastern Army Corps was now fighting with its back to the river, with almost no way to retreat. The high command had also sent away those cowardly noble lords in advance, which to some extent consolidated the morale and fighting spirit of the army.

Often, morale is like water in a bucket; how much it can hold depends on the shortest plank.

The reason why the other three army groups collapsed so quickly was not only due to the chaos caused by the decapitation of the high command system, but also largely due to the cowardice of some lords and officers in the middle and lower ranks.

People have a herd mentality. If soldiers see their officers running away, the entire unit will collapse in morale and scatter. The fleeing soldiers will also impact nearby friendly units, causing a terrible chain reaction.

So, to avoid this situation, Reinhardt took the lead in getting the nobles to reward the army with real money and made grand promises to boost morale. He also appointed a large number of newly recruited knights on the spot. This method of boosting morale made Dick look at his elder brother with new respect.

At this moment, Reinhardt sat upright on the command platform, seemingly unmoved and displaying the composure of a great general. However, he knew in his heart that his legs were actually too weak to lift.

There was no other way! At this moment, over a dozen Saint-level experts were locked in a fierce battle on the battlefield. Both sides were trying to stay as far away from these living beings as possible, fearing they might be caught in the crossfire. To stabilize morale, Reinhard, on Dick's advice, specifically found a high vantage point overlooking the entire battlefield. He planted his massive corps commander's banner, and the opposing kingdom's artillerymen, upon seeing it, all gave him a thumbs-up.

Maple Dew Artilleryman: That's too damn arrogant, we have to give him a good blast!

So from the start of the battle until now, shells have been flying towards Reinhardt's head non-stop. He's like a "taunt unit" that has to be prioritized for attack, absorbing at least a third of the shelling.

From Reinhardt's perspective, he could see countless magical projectiles flying towards him, only to be stopped by a magical barrier less than thirty meters away – that was quite thrilling!

Reinhardt was protected by the Saint-level mage Quinn and his disciple, who formed a defensive barrier as solid as a tortoise shell. Quinn, a veteran of countless battles, had seen far more than Reinhardt, and thus remained calm and composed throughout.

With him by her side to protect her, Reinhardt felt much more at ease.

"Commander, your brother's followers are all quite powerful!"

Hearing Quinn's remark, Reinhardt's gaze swept across the battlefield. From the moment the Kingdom's Guardian Saintess appeared until now, Dick and his beautiful female subordinates had begun to unleash their true skills.

Throughout the continent, Saint-level beings are not commonplace; these powerful individuals are mostly leaders of their own factions. Ordinary small and medium-sized lords are already considered quite prestigious if they have one or two high-level warriors or mages under their command. Only the most powerful noble families can afford to support Saint-level beings, and even then, they must treat them with the utmost care, like fathers.

The situation of Dick, who is a Saint-level being and has gathered many Saint-level followers, can be described as an extremely rare exception.

Reinhardt remembered his father saying that the standard for judging a nobleman's rank was never his title, but rather his personal abilities and the quality of his staff. Dick was top-notch in both of these areas.

In comparison, he, the eldest son, was practically nothing more than a figurehead.

Just as Reinhardt was feeling melancholy, the battlefield changed again. A Saint-level expert from the Kingdom's army suddenly transformed into a giant minotaur tens of meters tall in a burst of green light. He roared and launched a minotaur charge, almost instantly breaking through the already precarious battle line.

"Master Quinn, what... what is this?"

"It is a secret technique of the Hidden Clan, a type of ancient magic."

Quinn, with his extensive experience, recognized the opponent's moves at a glance, and his expression turned serious, clearly indicating that his opponent was not easy to deal with.

However, before Quinn could come up with a countermeasure, a bright light suddenly appeared on their side. A purple-haired nun with a dejected look on her face suddenly "rose up" and rushed to the giant minotaur. She raised her hand and slapped the minotaur across the face with a large shovel. The strong wind stirred up by her swinging hand almost swept across the entire battlefield, directly sending the minotaur, which was nearly fifty meters tall, flying off the ground and crashing heavily to the ground.

The sudden appearance of the giant nun left both sides bewildered. The Empire side was stunned for a moment before realizing that she was one of their own, and they immediately erupted in cheers, boosting their morale.

The one who came to the rescue in time was Chigant, who had been hiding in Dick's clothes. Her ability was to change size at will, and the larger her body size, the greater her strength and physical strength. She slapped the minotaur so hard that he couldn't get up for a long time, and then he was hit with a series of powerful and heavy kicks.

Her seemingly fair and rounded jade feet could kick off a minotaur's horns with a single kick, and with an almost overwhelming advantage in strength, she carried out a brutal and inhumane beating on the minotaur!

"Master, what is this?"

"I've never seen this person before, but they should be one of your brother's people."

The appearance of giant beautiful girls and giant minotaurs made the battlefield increasingly magical, but as time went on, the battle lines continued to shrink towards the Empire.

Seeing that the entire first line of defense was about to fall, Reinhardt had no choice but to order a retreat, even though he knew that the second line of defense was not yet fully completed.

But before the messenger could wave the command flag, a violent explosion suddenly occurred far behind the Kingdom's army lines in the distance. It was suspected that something had happened to the Kingdom's artillery positions. The previously intense artillery bombardment almost came to an abrupt halt. From Reinhardt's position, a huge mushroom cloud could be seen rising behind the treeline.

"What's going on? Has it exploded?"

Chapter 261: The Kingdom's Chosen Knight

While the battle raged on the main battlefield, Black Gun, under Dick's orders, led a force of only two hundred men, all of whom were high-level knights, to flank the enemy and launch a surprise attack!

The small path the raiding force took was discovered by Dick himself when he flew out to scout ahead. It was not large enough for a large force to pass through, but it was just right as a secret passage for a small elite force.

When the Kingdom's army launched its frontal attack, the raiding squad had already arrived at their designated positions and were lying in ambush. They were waiting for Dick's signal, and after the Kingdom's army had committed most of its main force and top fighters to the frontal battlefield, they would take the opportunity to launch a strong attack on the enemy's unsuspecting back ditch.

As it turned out, the surprise attack was very successful!

When these hundred-plus burly men followed Black Gunner into the enemy camp, it was as if they were entering an empty field. Whether it was the supply troops or the artillery, when faced with high-level warriors with overwhelming individual strength, they were simply mowing down like grass.

Moreover, this group of heavily armed bandits not only went berserk, hacking and slashing people everywhere, but also protected several high-level fire mages who set fires all over the place, quickly igniting a large area of ​​camps and thus detonating the ammunition depot.

Hearing the deafening explosion behind them and seeing the mushroom cloud soaring into the sky, the Kingdom's army's offensive came to a halt.

In military campaigns, the worst thing is to be attacked from both sides. Therefore, when the Kingdom's army discovered that flames were raging behind them, their morale almost inevitably wavered. Fortunately, the morale boost brought by the Holy Maiden of the Nation prevented a major rout, but the momentum of their assault was lost.

At that moment, Reinhardt timely ordered the deployment of his last 5,000 fresh troops to launch a counter-offensive, putting considerable pressure on the Kingdom's army.

Seeing that the situation was not going well, the Kingdom's army acted decisively, and the rear sounded the retreat horn.

The three Joans, who were locked in fierce battle, finally retreated. The expressions of the black and white Joans were very solemn, because the Kingdom's Joan of Arc had not been at a disadvantage even when fighting two against one, and their strength, comparable to that of a Heroic Spirit, was unbelievable to them.

According to Dick, the Joan of Arc in the kingdom should be the Joan of Arc in the official history of the Earth world, but ordinary people on Earth cannot learn martial arts or magic unless they use some "special means".

At this moment, Joan of Arc on the opposite side also lifted the visor of her helmet, revealing a handsome and dashing face. After fighting for a long time, she was also very curious about these two "twin sisters" who were quite strong, because the two of them always gave her a sense of familiarity, but no matter how hard she racked her brains, she could not remember where she had seen them before, whether in France or in this world.

"My name is Joan of Arc, a female knight of the Empire. May I ask your name?"

"We are also Joan of Arc."

"???"

Startled by Jeanne Alter's words, Jeanne of the Kingdom felt as if her brain had crashed for a moment, but then she simply sighed.

"If you don't want to talk, that's fine. We'll fight again."

As Joan of Arc spoke, she turned her horse around and rode away.

The two sides quickly disengaged, and the Kingdom's second offensive failed, prompting a cheer from the Imperial army, as if they had escaped a calamity. Reinhard, in his excitement, tried to get up, but found his legs too weak to support him, as if all his strength had been used up elsewhere.

At this moment, Dick arrived at Reinhardt's side carrying his magic wand. He had just fought a closely matched "sniper duel" with an unknown Saint-level mage from the Kingdom's army. The two sides fought in almost identical ways, as if they had been taught by the same master, and it was impossible for him to break their moves.

However, Dick was not discouraged by this; he wasn't there to risk his life.

"Commander, the enemy's offensive has been repelled."

"Fifth brother, thank you for your hard work."

Reinhardt cast a grateful glance at Dick. Dick had contributed greatly to the tactical arrangements for this battle, especially the crucial surprise attack force, which was his idea. The female knight in charge of leading the team was also his subordinate. Although she did not reveal her strength, she was suspected to be at the Saint-level.

From this perspective, the fifth brother, who separated from the family and established his own household, might have a more luxurious retinue than the Best family.

Soon, the raiding force successfully broke through the encirclement and reunited with their friendly forces, retreating back to the fortress.

The troops had already informed their subordinates that the fire in the enemy's rear was the work of the raiding party, and their return was warmly welcomed by the entire army.

Especially when she removed her helmet, Black Lancer Artoria won the most applause with her strength and beauty. Some of the knights who fought alongside her even developed a crush on this powerful female knight. However, Black Lancer Artoria completely ignored their flirtatious glances and went straight to Dick. Then she dismounted and knelt on one knee to greet her master.

"I have fulfilled my mission, Master!"

"Well done."

"Your subordinate is eagerly anticipating your special reward!"

"Ahem, so many people are watching."

The master and servant exchanged a knowing smile. Black Gunner had contributed greatly to the battle, and replenishing her mana was an essential part of ensuring that her combat strength did not decline.

And it's not just her; all of the others who are fighting today will receive a substantial "reward"!

Meanwhile, the Kingdom's army suffered two consecutive defeats. Although this did not cause their morale to plummet, they no longer had the initial momentum.

Especially during the second wave of attacks, when they were ambushed from behind, Joan of Arc and her generals, who had retreated, only then realized that the attackers were just over a hundred horsemen. The direct casualties caused by them were not significant, but the fires they set were truly deadly.

Not only did they destroy their artillery positions, but they also burned down a large portion of their camp and about 40% of their supplies.

The fire magic cast by a mage is not ordinary fire; it is usually extremely hot and difficult to extinguish quickly by conventional means.

Their previous surprise attack on Charles City of the Empire, where they burned the grain, was set by a magician; now the tables have turned and they are the ones suffering the consequences.

Some generals were very dissatisfied. In the second round of the offensive, they were really just one step away from victory. If the morale of the army had not wavered at that time, and the soldiers had gritted their teeth and continued to attack, then it wouldn't have been a big deal if half of the camp had been burned down, or even if the entire camp had been burned to the ground.

But there are no "what ifs" in war. It's impossible for both sides to retreat dozens of miles just because you're not satisfied, and then fight again.

Joan of Arc sat silently at the head of the military tent, casually removing her helmet and handing it to the knight squire beside her. However, she soon realized that the feeling of receiving it was different. Turning her head, she discovered that the person who had taken her helmet was a beautiful blonde girl of about fifteen or sixteen years old. Upon seeing this, Joan of Arc quickly stood up and knelt on one knee to greet her.

"Your Highness, what brings you here?"

"Her Majesty the Queen has sent me to the front lines to comfort the soldiers and also to see my knight of destiny. If there is anything I can do to help, please don't hesitate to ask, Lady Joan of Arc."

Chapter 262: Xiao Ai, who wanted to "invite the wolf into the house"

As night fell, the imperial military camp was filled with the aroma of meat.

In the two battles fought during the day, the soldiers of the Second Eastern Army withstood the attack of the Kingdom's army. As a result, Reinhard ordered that the little meat left in the supplies be used to reward the soldiers, just to maintain the morale and fighting spirit that had been rekindled in the face of adversity.

Meanwhile, inside a large tent in the southeast corner of the military camp, a hand-to-hand combat battle between one and three was taking place.

Dick vs. Black Lancer Artoria, Black Jeanne d'Arc, and Giganto.

The four bodies intertwined like mating snakes. Fortunately, there was a soundproof barrier, otherwise someone's shouts would have made Dick achieve another form of "bravery over the three armies".

At this moment, Bai Zhende sat at the entrance of the tent, her rosy cheeks showing signs of unease.

As a Heroic Spirit, Jeanne certainly knows that a sufficient supply of mana is important, but the way to replenish mana should not be limited to "intense physical contact". It can't be because it is more efficient, right?

Out of a sense of girlish modesty, Bai Zhende did not join them. Instead, she chose to sit at a distance that was close enough that she wouldn't feel awkward (at the tent entrance), admiring the dazzling night sky while slowly recovering her magic.

Just as Bai Zhende was staring blankly at the sky, a cup of hot drink was placed in front of her. Coming back to her senses, Bai Zhende turned her head and saw that the person who came was the girl named "Xiao Ai" from the group.

"Hot cocoa, it's delicious."

"Thank you."

Joan of Arc took the cup from Xiao Ai and took a sip, while Xiao Ai sat down next to her and started chatting with her.

Xiao Ai says that in her original world, she was just an ordinary (ordinary?) high school girl, so she admires great heroes like Joan of Arc.