"Look there!" a member of the Black Hat Army shouted at the nearby Imperial Guard, "Do you see that?"
A bright, blazing orb of light hovered in the air, so dazzling that it was impossible to ignore.
"Isn’t that the blessing from the monk?"
"The Imperial Guard is about to have a bad day."
Many soldiers of the Black Hat Army laughed gleefully. Although the Imperial Guard was an ally, they were competitors, and in this situation, who wouldn’t laugh?
But when that orb of light descended upon the Imperial Guard, not only did the Night Guard’s smiles fade, but so did those of the Black Hat Army.
Standing there dumbfounded, Victor stared wide-eyed at the retreating Night Guards.
The holy light bathing the soldiers of the Imperial Guard seemed so close, and Kolman felt a rush of anger straight to his head as he shouted at the other side, "Hey, they’re cheating, blatantly cheating!"
"Isn’t there anyone to deal with this? The Imperial Guard is cheating, cheaters don’t even deserve to have kids!"
"Your Holiness, I’m reporting this—the Imperial Guard is cheating."
Regardless of how the Black Hat Army clamored, with the blessing’s empowerment, the Imperial Guard was like a tiger with wings, transforming their previous downturn and pressing the Night Guards.
"What do we do?" Seeing no one paid attention to them, Kolman asked Victor.
Victor gritted his teeth, "What else can we do? Take down the central army; we absolutely can’t be slower than the Imperial Guard!"
Putting aside the Black Hat Army’s increased pace of attack, Quincy rode his horse up to Jilo.
Facing Quincy’s stern question, even though he looked down on this low-ranked Militia Captain, Jilo could only smile awkwardly, "I intended to bless the Night Guards, but I didn’t expect them to retreat so quickly."
Jilo didn’t tell the whole truth. He did miscalculate the advance, but not by this much.
If it weren’t for Qianqian hiding in his arms out of fear, at least half of the Night Guards might have received the blessing.
But thinking of the warmth in his arms and the fragrance at the tip of his nose earlier, Jilo felt this mistake was—
Shooting a resentful glance at Jilo and Qianqian, Quincy had no time to say more. He rallied the remaining Armored Soldiers and charged toward the battlefield.
Now on this 100-meter-long, 10-meter-high steep ravine, one hundred soldiers and ten horses were in fierce combat.
Blood waves surged, the air filled with the sounds of battle, and spears swept like ocean waves.
On this vast battlefield, Horn’s initial revolving door tactic had turned into a double-door tactic.
The left flank was breaking the enemy and sandwiching the central army, while the right flank was breaking the enemy and suppressing their retreat. In the face of the Black Hat Army, like a mountain flood pouring out, the central army’s Peasant Soldiers struggled to hold on.
If they weren’t crowded together and unable to escape, and with the Armored Soldiers’ oversight unit behind them, they would have likely fled like the left flank.
The tragic scene made Quincy avert his eyes, and the soldiers’ murmurs were even more unbearable to hear.
By this point, Quincy couldn’t have been clearer—this wasn’t just going through the motions; they were genuinely committed.
All those days of hunting geese, only to be pecked in the back by one.
"Go, support Pico and the others."
Whipping the air with his lash, Quincy, with bloodshot eyes, pointed forward.
"Storm Gulag Monastery, and don’t sheathe your swords! I won’t take a penny from the spoils of this battle!"
Upon hearing this, the Armored Soldiers’ eyes lit up. They shouted and formed a tight, orderly formation.
In the grinding friction of chainmail iron rings, the soldiers’ expressions turned fierce as they charged toward the Night Guards, as if those people were walking gold coins.
In Quincy’s view, the central Peasant Soldiers played little role.
As long as they could defeat this strong force on par with the Night Guards, the remaining Black Hat Peasant Soldiers would crumble on their own.
These were the invaluable experiences gained from suppressing countless Secret Faction members, bandits, and mobs.
Most often, only the core group had combat effectiveness; the rest looked numerous but were mostly just cheering on.
Riding on his horse, Quincy crouched low. Fierce winds howled past his ears, and the scenery on either side quickly fell away.
He traversed the ten-meter distance in just five breaths, his equestrian skills unparalleled.
His Armored Soldiers were truly elite, trailing just one position behind and still following him into the charge.
It felt just like the Master Knights charging against the tide-like Blood and Flesh Royal Court army.
The distant, blurry military formation became clearer and clearer, and Quincy could already see the red crosses on the Night Guards’ robes.
Hmm, why did the cross turn white? Not only white, but Quincy felt everything in front of him was consumed by a blinding white light.
The sting made Quincy involuntarily close his eyes, but then he felt as if his body was in a state of weightlessness.
When he opened his eyes again, the muddy ground was right in front of him, and he could even see the maggots crawling on the ground.
With a mournful cry, the black horse’s body stiffened, spitting out pinkish frothy blood from its mouth.
Its paralyzed body heavily tilted to one side, sliding more than two meters on the ground before coming to a stop.
Clutching his fractured teeth, tears and snot flowed down Quincy’s face.
Fortunately, the horse’s speed wasn’t fast, so even landing headfirst, he didn’t sustain severe injuries.
"You damn mountain goat..."
Just as he lifted his head to curse loudly, he swallowed back the latter half of his sentence.
In the sharp whistle, a battle flag leapt out from the bushes, upon which was a golden glowing holy grail.
The shining of the holy grail illuminated the girl cloaked in electric serpents in front of everyone.
Jeanne wore an inverted triangular white hat with a foreguard, covering her tied-up golden hair, and on her face was an inverted V-shaped mask, revealing only her eyes.
She was dressed in a tight leather armor and linen shirt, with a short sword at her waist, and all the skin exposed to the air was wrapped in linen bandages.
This was all Jilo’s doing, to prevent interference from holy water.
As a Demon Hunter, Jilo understood exactly how the Church and Demon Hunters would deal with a witch.
At this moment, the four-meter-long battle flag in her hand was rolled into a spearhead shape, charging towards Quincy.
"Hey! It’s a witch, retreat quickly!"
"Quick, call Brother Boned!"
Quincy’s wailing instantly stopped, and he crawled and rolled through the legs of the Armored Soldiers, hiding behind them.
Seeing a witch appear, the Armored Soldiers immediately halted their run.
In the blink of an eye, they transformed from a vertical formation into a 4X5 phalanx, taking iron-clad oak round shields from their backs and planting them in front of their chests.
Five round shields connected, forming a long wall made of shields in an instant, with five armed swords extending from the shield wall, directed at Jeanne.
This was the Armored Soldiers’ usual shield wall tactic. They knew that dispersing their formation was the worst thing to do against a witch, as it made it easy to be defeated one by one.
Behind them, the second row of Leather Armor Soldiers pulled out hook spears, and the third row of soldiers threw out Holy Water Grenades, forming a wall of holy water fog in front of them.
This was to reduce the power of spells if there was a witch capable of long-range casting.
In front of the fog wall, Jeanne’s charge slowed.
She squinted her eyes, even though the mask covered her, she could still feel the stinging pain in her eyes.
Before Jeanne could break through the fog wall, five flying axes sliced through the air with a sharp whistle, rushing towards her from the fog.
Of the five flying axes, two missed Jeanne, Jeanne wrapped two with her battle flag, while the other flew straight towards her forehead.
Danji thrust out his longsword, flicking away the flying axe.
Pulling Jeanne back two steps, Danji frowned and said, "You rushed too fast; they’re not like those Night Guards."
Though the little face under the mask was still somewhat frightened, Jeanne stubbornly retorted, "It was just an accident."
Despite her words, Jeanne obediently switched to a cautious gun-holding stance, waiting for the fog wall to dissipate somewhat.
Jeanne and Danji were confronting the Armored Soldiers, while Boned, at the first sight of Jeanne, apologized to Qianqian and ran towards them.
Not even Qianqian’s cries worked this time.
With a witch’s appearance, it was a big deal, and once again, Boned’s big head controlled the small head.
Watching Boned’s departing figure, Qianqian wiped away tears from the corners of her eyes, stroked the steel spine long thorn hidden in her feather fan, a rare look of hesitation appearing on her face.