227: Chapter 120 Conflict Escalation_2 227: Chapter 120 Conflict Escalation_2 The Wolf Family Young Master, of course, had no fear of those mindless wild beasts.
He led the Knights and Cavalry accompanying him, shouting as they charged and with a few back and forth, they had slaughtered the Walking Corpses by the roadside to near extinction.
“What on earth are these abominations?”
One of the attendant Knights reined in his spooked Warhorse and thrust his spear into a mummified body that, despite being cut in half at the waist, still crawled towards them using its arms, pinning it to the ground.
Canis looked towards the village now occupied by these monsters and immediately became livid with anger.
Although he did not care about the lives of those lowly serfs, the disappearance of a fief also meant that the family’s annual accounts would be short by dozens or even hundreds of gold crowns.
How could such a loss not infuriate him, the heir to the Family?
“Wolfenhol’s wild wolves, follow me and kill all those who dare touch our Wolf Territory,” Howled Canis as he grabbed his long sword and led the Cavalry into a gallop, charging into the village with incredible force.
The cursing and screaming attracted the Corpse Ghosts wandering within the village.
Feasting on the near-rotting carcasses of domestic animals, the Living Corpses lifted their eyes filled with Ghost Fire, sensing the presence and souls of the living.
A Black-armored Knight, who had been standing idly in the graveyard outside the village for who knows how long, turned his head blankly.
The craving for fresh flesh quickly dispersed the remaining fragments of consciousness in his soul.
His steel Hand Armor gripped the Greatsword firmly as the Corpse Demon Knight’s pace quickened into a run.
By his side, a number of fierce Duwana War Dogs instinctively followed their former master and, along with the Black-armored Living Corpse, pounced towards the Gunnar Family’s Cavalry.
The Corpse Ghost Knight’s jaw dropped open, emitting a hoarse and horrifying roar.
The Ghost Fire-filled eye sockets caught sight of the Running-Wolf Emblem on the Cavalry’s armor.
The fire of hatred completely sent its fragmented soul into a frenzy.
With a sweeping stroke of the greatsword, an unprepared Attendant Knight, along with his horse, was cleaved in two by the Corpse Demon Knight.
The spurting blood instantly stained the Black-armored Undead Knight a crimson red…
…The battle unexpectedly lasted for quite some time.
In the highlands near Aiken Village, among the hills…
Leon and the others, from a distance, observed the Cavalry unit that had just cleared the Undead from the village and quickly regrouped, moving away toward the northwest.
Using the Magic Mirror improvised by Kovis, Leon and his companions could clearly see which army the troops belonged to.
The high Swallowtail Flag of the Cavalry unit bore the Running-Wolf Emblem, signifying they were Baron Gunnar’s forces.
“Leon, why couldn’t we just go help them clear out the monsters in the village?” Olivia tilted her head, looking puzzled at her lover.
Leon shook his head, “You don’t understand.
The feud between the Gunnar Family and the Farolis Family runs deep, and given our sensitive identities, showing up before them right now would only lead to unnecessary misunderstandings and conflicts.”
They had traveled from Longka to near Aiken Village, initially only to scout out the situation after the village had been attacked, and had not expected to stumble upon the Gunnar Family’s Cavalry purging the Undead.
Had it been another noble’s troops, Leon wouldn’t have minded leading everyone to join the fight and lend a hand, but given it was the Gunnar Family, it was better to avoid trouble whenever possible.
Finally, after the Cavalry had taken their wounded and departed into the distance, Leon led his companions out of the hills, back to where their attendants were watching the horses, mounted their Warhorses, and together rode to Aiken Village after the battle.
As they walked into the devastated village, the Living Corpses strewn haphazardly by the roadside were all thoroughly dead.
Clearly, ordinary Undead posed no threat to a well-organized, elite force.
But passing by an area that had obviously seen an incredibly fierce fight, Leon was surprised to discover collapsed wooden houses and the low walls surrounding the courtyards were battered with gaping holes as if hit by some massive creature.
The bodies of several horses, freshly slain and cleaved in half by a massive blade, lay on the ground, their blood reddening large swaths of soil.
There were no corpses of Gunnar Family Cavalrymen to be found.
It was unclear whether there were no casualties or if the bodies had been collected by the retreating troops.
However, around the area, there were many Corpse Ghost Soldiers, their bodies clad in dented and damaged pieces of Armor, lying scattered everywhere.
As everyone inspected the surroundings, Leon took a closer look at the scattered chunks of Living Corpses and suddenly caught sight of a few all-too-familiar figures.
Memories of his near-fatal encounter with those huge bloodthirsty maws surfaced, and Leon stepped forward, rummaging through the remains.
Indeed, these were those unique War Beasts.
These ancient undead are…?
Leon turned and came to one of the relatively intact bodies of an ancient undead soldier, pulling at its torso, where the covering robe was nearly disintegrating into rags.
Looking at the worn and torn emblem on it, Leon recognized a corner of the Thorny Flower pattern.
A sense of ominous foreboding surged in his heart, and Leon felt a headache coming on as he got up, his gaze now fixed in the direction of Wolfenhol to the northwest.
He silently sighed, feeling that the ancient undead of the Farolis family…
were likely to cause trouble for Baron Eriv, who was just about to make a grand appearance.
“No need to look any further, let’s head back to Longka.” Turning to his companions, Leon signaled for everyone to mount up.
Right now, getting ready for a potential conflict was more important than anything else.
The noisy mansion courtyard was congested with people.
“…Wicked witchcraft!”
“This is a disgrace!”
One knight, particularly loud in his outcry, shouted, “Baroness!
We must make the Farolis pay for Sir Gab’s death!”
The body of the Gunnar Family’s knight had already been decently placed into a casket, with two attendants kneeling before it, expressions of sorrow on their faces.
a headless corpse in black armor, pierced through with several spears, lay in the middle of the courtyard square, its emblem on the shoulder shield on the left, shaped like a swallowtail flag, was dented inwards from blows by a war hammer.
Nonetheless, the Thorny Rose family emblem could still be recognized on it.
The knights of the Grey Wolf Family gathered excitedly around the black-armored corpse.
The Lady of the Gunnar Family covered her mouth and nose, staring disgustedly and confusedly at the dried-out corpse, which seemed to belong to a member of the Thorny Flower family.
With his left arm bandaged to secure his wound, Canis restrained his anger and pleaded as gently as he could to his mother, “Please grant me the authority to summon our forces, mother.
They have attacked our territory using witchcraft; this is a direct provocation and must be met with a firm response!”
I must inform your father of this first,” Lady Gunar shook her head.
Seeing her son consumed by rage, the Baroness had not lost her reason.
Her husband had already informed her in a letter that the Farolis Family’s forces had recently withdrawn from the front line, and their movements were unclear.
And the main force of the Gunnar Family was partly stationed at the newly acquired Leding Castle, and the rest were following the Earl of Buck in a siege.
Regardless, to act rashly out of anger would undoubtedly be an unwise decision.
The Wolf Family Young Master suppressed his fury, his gaze turning back to the hateful remnants of the black-armored undead.
With villages in their territory destroyed, several cavalry and a knight dead, and other knights as well as himself injured, Canis swore to himself that he would repay this humiliation a hundredfold!
The Lord Mansion of the Gunnar Family buzzed with noise due to the sudden conflict.
Meanwhile, in a servant room in the corner of the mansion…
a bit of alluring incense spread a mesmerizing fragrance…
The wife of the Wolf Family Young Master sang tirelessly beneath the “female” poet.
Until a clear, sharp cry cut through the air.
stay here any longer…
you must leave as soon as possible, my husband, Canis, he will kill us.”
Exhausted, Tayana looked up at the ceiling; her eyes reflecting a sinister purple glow, were filled with reluctance and panic.
“I’ll soon disappear from your life, Tayana…”
The androgynous “female” poet cradled the foolish woman’s face, their voice as bewitching as a supernatural spirit.
tell me everything exactly as you saw it~ it’s only a few letters~….
what do you say~ right~?…”
The poet’s eyes shimmered with a purple energy barely contained within, and on their forehead, the hostile unblinking eye of a Demon Rune glowed ominously in the dark.