Kingdom’s Bloodline by Masterless Sword

FULL INDEX - COMPLETE LIST OF CHAPTERS: Categories Genre: Action, All, Drama, Fantasy, Mature, Ongoing, Psychological, Seinen, Tragedy Status: Ongoing Tags Authors: Masterless Sword, 无主之剑 Alternative names: Wang Guo Xue Mai, 王国血脉,

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LIST OF LAST 10 CHAPTERS:
Page No. 580
Page No. 579
Page No. 578
Page No. 577
Page No. 576
Page No. 575
Page No. 574
Page No. 573
Page No. 572
Page No. 571
Page No. 570
Chapter 376 - Flag

Chapter 376: Flag

Translator:

EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor:

EndlessFantasy Translation

“Very well, if no one knows…”

Kandarll looked around the area with an indifferent expression, while the merchants remained silent and the mercenaries cursed.

“…then let the duel begin as soon as possible.”

Thales felt his heart tense. ‘Sh*t!’

He clenched his fists and trained his eyes on the blue-faced orc, Duraman, who stood in the distance.

‘If worse comes to worst, if the duel cannot be avoided… How do I survive?’

Thales took a deep breath and entered hell’s senses. He observed the enemy’s condition. But suddenly a loud boom traveled into his ears and scared him.

Thales only reacted after a few seconds. ‘In the distance… These are the goods that the orcs searched for.’

When he was in the Land of Barren Rocks, his battle with the Star Killer and the Raven of Death made the Sin of Hell’s River improve significantly, and his hell’s senses had also become much stronger.

However, that was also how Thales learned a lesson. The Sin of Hell’s River can bring him supernatural perception, but sometimes, having too sensitive a perception was not necessarily a good thing.

When the countless information that was usually isolated from his consciousness poured into his brain due to hell’s senses, Thales could only feel confused, and it was impossible for him to distinguish between north and south. It was the same case as just now during the chaotic battle. With hell’s senses, the sound of the orcs grinding their teeth twenty meters away was deafening and sounded like an army marching forth. He often confused that sound with the sound of knives and axes clashing just a meter away from him. The movements of the enemies in the distance were clear, as though they were right in front of him, and it would make Thales instinctively raise his hands to defend from their attacks, but that would in turn make him overlook the nearby threat.

It might make other people envious to have good eyes and ears, but the one who did have these perceptions also had their own troubles in which they could not put into words. Even slightly louder sounds or brighter lights would make Thales feel horrible; he would overreact, and his perception would go awry.

He needed time and more practice to re-adapt to this new state.

Once he thought of this, Thales shook his head in secret. In the muddled memories of his previous life, he remembered reading stories about the people who could bring forth great power right after they leveled up, went through a complete change, or had their meridian systems opened, and they could do so without even going through the adjustment period. Perhaps these people were born to be superhumans right from the start.

He tried to concentrate the somewhat out-of-control Sin of Hell’s River on his opponent, but he could not help but frown.

The fluctuations from the orcs in sight while he was under the influence of the Sin of Hell’s River did not spread out like for humans, but were packed densely together and had a heavy feeling about it.

Thales could not find any traces of light similar to the Power of Eradication in Duraman’s body, but he saw the fluctuations in all the muscles in its body. He could hear its heavy breathing and powerful heartbeat, and it made Thales gulp.

It was completely different from humans, yet it gave him an even more alarming sense of danger.

Thales had no doubt that this Holy Guard, this blue-faced orc, only needed to lift its hand and strike, and it could bring forth a power that most supra class warriors could not bring out even with the help of their Power of Eradication.

‘No.’ He silently concluded that, just by relying on himself, who was still trying to adapt to the new power…

…there would be absolutely no chance for him to win.

‘Not to mention…’ Thales glanced at the other two Holy Guards.

Warchief Kandarll, stared at Thales coldly.

“If he loses, then all of you don’t have to live either… because it’s obvious that the Desert God does not like all of you.”

This made everyone nervous.

Right then, a strange feeling filled Thales’ heart. He raised his head subconsciously.

‘Something’s wrong.’ The prince silently muttered to himself, ‘There is something wrong with this situation right from the start. But where? What’s wrong?’

He shifted his gaze to the surroundings.

At this time, a timid male voice came from the crowd,

“I… I know…”

The captives frowned. A trembling hand rose up.

“I know… I know why the Constellatiates sent their army… mighty warchief…”

Thales was a little taken aback. Kandarll turned its head around slowly.

“See, I knew it.” Kandarll put on a scornful smile and strode towards the other side. “As human beings, you are lazy, and what you need is just a little bit of motivation.”

Dean and Louisa frowned.

“What’s he doing?”

Dean could hardly believe his eyes. “What does he know?”

A balding man who curled up on the ground struggled to hold his own belly before he straightened his back. He could care less about the dust on his body because he was busy forcing a smile that resembled a grimace. “If I told you, mighty warchief, will you let me live?”

Kandarll stopped and lowered his head coldly to look directly at the owner of the merchant group, Seth Tormorden.

“…It depends on what you tell me.”

Thales widened his eyes and forced down the strange feeling in his heart while he tried to guess what Tormorden was about to say.

‘Could it be that…’

Duraman the orc snorted and seemed very dissatisfied with the duel being delayed.

The kneeling Tormorden shuddered. However, no matter what, his words managed to keep Thales from immediately meet his doom.

“They… Around ten days ago, in Blade Fangs Camp, I was chatting with my cousin. He was a regular soldier stationed at the Western Frontlines, under Williams, that was—”

Kandarll’s gaze turned cold. “I know who Williams is. Get straight to the point.”

All the captives stared at the conversation between the two. Their hearts were uneasy.

The orc seemed to have some mysterious force in its gaze, which made Tormorden tremble even more. The merchant began to talk faster, and he stuttered even worse than before.

“My cousin, h-he told me that those important people were going t-going to close the borders soon. So I tho-I thought about bringing the merchant group out to smuggle some goods and make a bit of money—”

Kandarll stretched out its left hand. It dragged Tormorden’s neck by the necklace and yanked the frightened merchant off the ground, causing his legs to dangle off the ground. Then, it roared with its fierce-looking mouth right in Tormorden’s face.

“The point!”

Tormorden’s screech was forced back into his throat after he heard Kandarll’s roar. The merchant was like a vole facing a viper as he stared at the orc’s hideous face. There was nowhere to run.

After a few seconds, the man clenched his teeth and said with a pale face, “Ba-Ba-Baron Williams mentioned this in a room to a few nobles serving as officials in court and my cousin overheard it. The important people seemed to have entered the desert to hunt someone…”

Thales’ breaths suddenly froze after he heard this. His expression was as calm as usual, and he did his best not to meet Dean and Louisa’s gazes.

‘Just what does this Tormorden know?! Sh*t! I have to face the threat of a duel and think of a way to get out of this situation… Now I have to face the threat of having my identity exposed?!’ Thales clenched his teeth. ‘Is today a bad day?’

He frowned slightly, and the uncontrollable Sin of Hell’s River made him sense the orc and the human’s heartbeats. The owner of the merchant group was practically scared out of his wits and Kandarll seemed fierce, but his heartbeat remained calm, although Thales did not know whether this was a unique feature of the orcs.

In the distance, the sound of the orcs scraping their war trophies continued to travel into his ears. Their actions were rough, causing an endless stream of noises and it made his head swim.

That strange feeling was still there.

‘Something’s not right. What is it?’ The young man furrowed his eyebrows even more.

While he used hell’s senses, the orcs in the camp were very noisy. Their crude whispers and the sound of their boorish movements made them seem as if they were right beside him.

The strange feeling in his heart was becoming more and more obvious.

“Hunt someone?” Kandarll said with a pensive expression and relaxed its grip. “Who?”

Tormorden shook his head vigorously. This action made Kandarll tighten its grip again. It curled up the corner of its mouth.

“It seems like you need more motivation.”

Tormorden screamed, “No, no, no! I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know!!”

He shouted with a quiver in his voice while tears streamed down his face. “I swear, I swear upon the honor of my noble ancestors! I really don’t know who they’re going to hunt!”

Dean and Louisa both sighed. Mickey who was knocked to the ground sneered with disdain.

Kandarll stared at Tormorden for a long time. A few seconds later, the orc warchief watched the snot and tears that flowed to its hands in disgust, he then loosened its grip.

Tormorden fell to the ground with a thump. The owner of the merchant group breathed a sigh of relief and whimpered as he beat his chest.

“B-but if they are as detestable as you said and refuse to spare anything in the desert, they must hate that person, just as they hate you…”

Kandarll lowered its head as it flicked its hand.

When he realized that he might have said something wrong, Tormorden lifted his shivering hands. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean it, I just, I just…”

Nevertheless, Kandarll ignored his disrespect. “Did you say that Constellation traveled all over the periphery of the desert to hunt someone?”

“That’s what my cousin heard.”

Kandarll snorted. “Who is it? To be worth the entire army from the Western Frontline to be mobilized… and they won’t even stop when the sand is dyed red and corpses are strewn all over the ground…”

At that moment, Thales jolted!

‘So that’s it!’ The young man suddenly understood where the strange feeling came from! The prince’s chest heaved and his gaze changed. ‘So that’s the answer to this mystery.’

It was their only chance of surviving the hands of these brutal and cunning orcs.

Kandarll was still interrogating Tormoden, but the prince could no longer spare any attention to listen to them.

While everyone’s attention was on them, Thales sensed his spirit and moved his lips slightly.

“Dean.” The young man tilted his head and whispered to the captive near him, “The orcs are searching through your goods.”

“Of course, they like human loot.” Dean was a little worried and hesitant. He watched Kandarll interrogate Tormorden through the corner of his eyes. “Listen, Wya. It won’t spare us no matter what, so you—”

Thales shook his head.

“No, Dean, listen to me. Although they’re searching through your things, they are casting away all the valuable items like drinks. Instead, they’re hastily gathering all your food, drinking water, and even medicine.”

Dean was stunned. “What?” the bald mercenary asked in a puzzled tone, “How do you know?”

As he listened to the sound of movements traveling to his ears, Thales paused for a moment before he said, “I heard them… I walked last in line so I saw it. They’re looking for necessary supplies.”

‘Looking for supplies…’ Dean sank into deep thought.

On the other side, Tormorden was again scared to tears by the orc.

Thales continued to whisper, “Dean, when we picked up our weapons to fight just now, there were around ten orcs at most that attacked us, right? But based on what the warchief said, they only lost a few warriors, right…?”

Dean pursed his lips “What?”

“But they… they amount to around the tens and even the hundreds, and almost half of them are wounded.” Thales gestured to the orcs in line with his chin. “That includes the warchief himself, his armor also has blood stains and new tears on it.”

Dean’s gaze froze.

“Louisa said that in order for them to hide themselves and launch an ambush against us, they deliberately chose not to equip themselves with heavy armor and attacked us with light armor, but what if it’s not intentional…? What if they were forced to do so?”

The bald mercenary felt his spirits lift. “Are you saying…?”

“They’re not in as good a condition as they said they were, Dean,” Thales said with hope burning in his eyes. “They’ve been through a battle not long ago. They’re moving forward hastily while equipped lightly. They’re short on food and clothing, and they’re in desperate need of supplies… They’re…”

Thales looked at Kandarll, then at the heavily damaged armor under his fur before he said his next sentence. “They’re running for their lives.”

At that moment, the atmosphere between the two became different. The dark night seemed to have become much brighter.

Dean was silent for a while. “That means…”

Thales nodded. “We just have to find a way to get them—”

He did not get to finish his words, because the next moment…

*Bang!…”

A thunderous noise suddenly appeared, causing the people to sway!

Regardless of whether it was the orcs or humans, merchants or mercenaries, the warchief or the prince; at that moment, they all turned their heads in panic towards the direction where that loud sound came from.

In the darkness, a terrifyingly huge fire burned not too far from them in the camp. The raging fire even rose up high into the air, about ten meters tall. The fire illuminated all the sand dunes around them, making them look incredibly distinct in the night.

Thales and Dean stared blankly at the flames in the distance and looked at each other.

One of Holy Guards, Yaku, looked at the burning tent in astonishment, grabbed its black bow, and hurriedly said something to the warchief, “Kandarll…”

“Hurar—” Warchief Kandarll howled, but it still turned its head and waved its arm. Yaku nodded and led a dozen orc warriors to investigate the fire.

The orc warchief turned back and grabbed Tormorden, who was equally as scared, and pointed at the flames in anger. “What happened?!”

“I-I-I…” Tormorden waved his hands frantically, trying to show that he was innocent and that he was willing to cooperate.

“The army has been mobilized frequently over the past few days in Blade Fangs Dune, and they move in large groups. They have been very busy and the management is a little lax with them.” The merchant put on a mournful face. “So I took the opportunity… to ship some military goods—such as a little bit of Eternal Oil. Your people may be plundering… I mean, were careless when they were searching…”

“‘A little bit’?” Lying on the ground, Mickey repeated the sentence with a mocking tone as he watched the fire on the sand.

Kandarll looked at the flames, and then at Tormorden. Its face was angry, its cheeks were twitching, and it clenched its teeth so tightly that it had practically shattered them.

“You may not know much about the characteristics of Eternal Oil, and what I have may just be more than a little bit…” Tormorden looked at the fire and immediately forgot about how terrifying the orcs were. He said in agony, “So, if you want to put it out, you should use a lot of sand—”

Kandarll roared and threw away the unlucky Tormorden.

Sure enough a minute later, Yaku the orc came back with a dozen warriors. With a solemn expression, it shook its head at Kandarll who had an unpleasant expression. Kandarll roared angrily as it watched the burning tent.

The great warchief turned to command its orcs in their language and many of the lightly-equipped orcs immediately moved towards the tent.

The flames were still burning.

“It seems like Tormorden’s greed and cowardice still helped us.” Dean narrowed his eyes and said softly, “They are preparing to retreat. Your guess is correct—we have a chance.”

Thales pursed his lips.

While handling the unexpected chaos, Kandarll seemed to have finally remembered its group of human captives.

“It’s a pity…” The orc warchief turned to them as it stroked the sharp iron fork on its hand. “We’ll have to end this early. I was looking forward to talking to all of you for a while longer.”

The captives suddenly changed their expressions.

Kandarll snorted as he looked at Thales. The illumination of the fire caused shadow and light to overlap each other on the orc’s face. It looked even more ferocious. “You know, secca, I really wanted to see how you would handle Duraman.”

Duraman roared and slammed its spiked mace into the ground. Thales grew nervous.

‘Not good…’

The orc warchief approached him slowly and looked directly at Thales. “Especially after I had just figured out many things…”

At that moment, sparks rose from the ground and made a piercing sound in the air.

*Whizz!* Bright light and piercing sounds.

Everyone including Kandarll instinctively looked in the direction of those sparks. A few seconds later, at the place where the sparks appeared, several noises were heard from the other side of the sand dune.

*Clip clop, clip clop, clip clop…*

Dull and quiet, rapid yet quite rhythmic. The sound drew closer.

Almost at the same time, the scream of an orc warrior came from the other side of the sand dunes. “Kerol—”

The sound ended abruptly, and whatever the orc was trying to say, it did not manage to finish because its shout turned into a pained scream. “NARGHHHHHHH—”

Before Thales could register what was going on, the orcs around them had changed their expressions. The pained scream from the warrior had not disappeared.

Nevertheless, Kandarll had let out a furious howl and turned fiercely to its soldiers. The tribe’s warchief swung its powerful arms without hesitation and roared with the loudest voice ever since it came, “MUSA!!”

In the next second, all the orc warriors roared and unsheathed their weapons faster than Thales could blink. They strode forward under Yaku and Lusana’s guidance, formed groups on their own, and moved!

Except for Duraman. Agitated, it pointed at Thales who was among the captives and said something to Kandarll.

This orc who had a blood feud with Thales seemed to have already made its decision to end things in this place and take revenge for its brother’s soul.

Thales’ heart sank.

“Don’t worry,” Dean said in a whisper by his side. “I’ve already spoken to Louisa. We’ll find a chance to strike back.”

But his words of comfort did not bring about any effect because Kandarll was shouting even louder and more angrily at Duraman. In fact, it had even punched the Holy Guard.

In the end, Duraman cast Thales a resentful gaze before it turned around and joined its the ranks of its comrades.

The captives stood in the center of the area. They watched the zealous expressions on the busy orcs while remaining bewildered and surprised. With heavy footsteps, the orcs ran past them in rows, heading in the opposite direction of the sparks!

They practically did not have time to care about the captives.

“What..?” came from the surprised Louisa.

The next scene told them the answer.

On a sand dune not too far away from them was a tall figure, and he moved across the sand which hampered his travel. In the night sky, he rushed forth and appeared under the illumination of the firelight.

It was a cavalier. A horse and a person. His feet were placed in the stirrups and held the reins in his hands.

He made the horse gallop swiftly, and with experienced movements, he had his entire body pressed close to the horse’s back. As he charged forward his body rose and fell, and he rushed down the sand dune.

Two orc sentinels on the dune saw the cavalier. They roared and raised their terrifying weapons. With fear-inducing footsteps, they dashed towards the invader with their strong bodies!

The cavalier on the horse ignored the incoming threat; he only bent his body and increased the speed of his charge. Both parties drew closer until they were right in front of each other.

The orcs’ roars were laced with hatred. One held a heavy hammer, and the other a greatsword. These weapons drew dangerous arcs as they brandished them in their hands. The swings of their weapons charged forth with a murderous momentum, terrifying strength, and the shrill whistles of death, and they looked as though they were about to slice the horse’s stomach open.

‘No, their strength is too great.’ Thales felt his heart seize in fear. He instinctively wanted to open his mouth and yell a warning…

…but the cavalier only whistled.

At that moment, the steed beneath him turned around nimbly, moved its hooves, and changed direction with the weapons barely grazing its body.

Right when the cavalier turned around, the observant Thales noticed the picture on the cavalier’s shirt: a crow. A dark blue crow with only one wing.

The cavalier barely avoided the orcs’ barricade and the two murderous weapons… but things had not ended just yet.

A light and sharp spear shot out from the horse with accuracy and pierced into one of the orc’s neck. As the two orcs roared, the cavalier retrieved the spearhead. Then, with great horse-riding skills, he fled far away from the area, leaving a trail of his enemy’s blood behind him as well as several inches of the horse’s tail.

“That symbol… That is the Kroma Family’s Raven Whistle Light Cavalier.” Old Hammer could not suppress the excitement in his heart. “It’s the famous Crow Guards’ second shock brigade, the Lightning Ravens!”

A thought came to Thales. ‘Kroma Family… Kroma Family? Sounds a little familiar…’

The orc that had its neck pierced through roared continuously. With terrifyingly heavy footsteps, it pursued the cavalier with its comrade, not caring about its gushing blood… but they could not catch up.

The cavalier rode in an arc, riding further away into the sand dune, and went faster with each passing moment. Once the orc with the pierced neck had run quite the distance and had almost dyed all the sand red, it finally collapsed into a heap.

Once every drop of its blood was emptied from its body, the orc—who had been persevering through its great vitality—lifted its weapon to the cavalier’s drifting figure… but its weapon was too short. It could not hit the cavalier.

As it thought of this, its thick arm shuddered in the air before falling limply to the ground in the end and it moved no longer…

Warchief Kandarll watched its warrior fall to the ground in the distance while it stood under the sand dune. It roared in anger and grief. The orcs shouted with it, venting the hatred in their hearts.

“Hey, mixed breeds of Shattered Stone. It has been two days since we met!”

The human cavalier stared at the burning camp not too far away, then at the raging orcs under him. He made his horse come to a halt. He stopped on the sand dune and his laughter came echoing from the distance, landing on every orc’s ears.

“The Day of Holy Pursuit isn’t even here yet and you’re already setting up a bonfire and having a party…? Isn’t it a bit too early?”

The other orc sentinel screamed before it rushed at the cavalier, but it never reached its destination…

*Thump! Thump!*

A second cavalier rushed forth from another direction on the dune. When the orc turned its head around, he drew a saber and ran past it.

As Kandarll roared shrilly, the second orc’s head flew into the air with eyes were filled with anger and the unwillingness to admit defeat.

The captives were stunned silent. The orcs roared in anger and sadness.

Thales stared at this scene in a trance. The orcs, despite their ferocious strength, died one after another. Kandarll’s shouts became more anxious and quicker.

Under its command, the nearly one hundred orcs quickly split into two groups. With a frightening presence, nearly twenty orcs lifted heavy weapons and took a step forward to settle into formation, turning themselves to face the sand dune where the cavaliers were.

The remaining orcs shouted their battle cry, then gritted their teeth in hatred. They put away their weapons, turned their bodies around, and dashed forward madly in the opposite direction.

“What are they doing?” Quick Rope looked surprised.

Old Hammer shook his head. Since he had a vast pool of experience, he knew what was going on. He answered curtly,

“They’re fleeing.”

Thales was about to ask a question only to discover that in the next moment, a huge orc had grabbed his neck!

“Wya!” As Dean and Louisa shouted, Thales was pinned under Kandarll’s left arm.

The orcs watching the captives did not move. They stood coldly behind the humans’ backs, suppressing all those who tried to fight back.

Thales wanted to exert force… only to find that his opponent’s strength was the most terrifying out of all the opponents he had seen in his life. “You—”

He did not manage to finish speaking, because in the next moment Kandarll’s iron fork had pressed down on his neck.

“Quiet!”

The orc Warchief seized Thales’ neck and stared into his surprised and bewildered eyes. It said coldly to the captives, “This will end soon. I don’t want the situation to become too ugly.”

In the next second, Kandarll pressed its mouth against Thales’ ear, then at a volume only the both of them could hear, it said, “Tell your father, as well as Morat… that I was the one who found you first, and I also know who you are.”

Then, Thales froze up completely.

Dean and Louisa were still shouting something agitatedly, but that was no longer important.

‘What? Father? Morat? Found me first? Knows who I am? Just… what does this mean?’

Kandarll turned Thales’ head towards it and its bright yellow eyes were fierce.

The very confused Thales stared at Kandarll. He suddenly realized that its expression was incredibly stern; it no longer looked jovial, and that sad and enraged face from moments ago was gone as well.

There was only calm, a rarely seen calm look on its face.

“So, Jadestar, I fulfilled my promise.” Kandarll lowered its voice and said, “What about you?… We’ll meet again, secca.”

In the next moment, Thales felt pain on his forehead and he instantly had a mouthful of sand enter his mouth.

“Wya!”

Several seconds later, the surprised and bewildered Thales was lifted to his feet, courtesy of Dean. With shock and puzzlement in his heart, he watched the orc warchief leave into the distance. Kandarll and his warriors joined his tribe’s team and ran into the distance.

‘What’s going on?’

“Are you okay? What did it do to you?”

Thales did not answer him. He only blinked while his face was filled with shock.

‘Its promise? Jadestar’s promise? I don’t understand. This orc… Just what is it…?’

“My god.” Quick Rope blinked incredulously, then yanked Mickey up from the ground. “We survived… They left!”

Dean watched the orcs fleeing into the distance, then at the orcs who stayed behind to form their formation. His expression was complicated.

The cavaliers charged down the sand dune whistling. There were around a dozen of them now. They nimbly moved away from the orcs who were already standing in formation and pursued the fleeing Kandarll.

As the orcs left, the captives regained their freedom, but they did not have the time to celebrate their luck because soon, the next occurrence completely attracted their attention.

Waves.

During that second, Thales thought he had misheard things… but he was not wrong. He did hear waves. The barely discernible sound of waves crashed into his ears.

*Whoosh… Whoosh…*

“What is that?!” Quick Rope asked in fear.

“This is bad…” Old Hammer’s expression was dark.

Under the illumination of the firelight, the captives looked fearfully around them, but they did not see anything, only the dark horizon. However, the sounds of waves had not disappeared.

*Whoosh…*

Around a dozen seconds later, those wave-like sounds drew closer and louder. They became frightening billows!

*Rumble… Rumble…*

In the next instant, the captives looked at the ground in terror, then at the distance.

“F*ck me!” Dean cursed.

Everyone sensed it; a tremor they could not ignore was traveling continuously to the area beneath their feet. The tremor moved up their spines and shook their chests as well as their hearts.

*Rumble…*

The tremors in the ground became greater, more prominent, and more frequent.

*Rumble…*

Thales even felt as if his organs were about to be shaken out of his body.

*Rumble…*

But the unease brought by the raging billow went away in the end because in the next instant, countless black figures appeared simultaneously atop the sand dune in front of them, right at the spot where the sky and earth connected to each other.

*Rumble…*

As the fire crackled, the black figures formed a long, continuous black line.

They were like densely packed ants, but also like a black wave charging towards them. They covered the sand dune from top to bottom, dyeing the fire-illumined sand black, making it resemble the night.

“Oh heavens, that’s…” Louisa narrowed her eyes, and her face turned stark pale.

Thales could not help but hold his breath. He saw the black figures clearly now. They were people, or rather, they were cavaliers.

‘One, two, ten, one hundred…’ The prince counted in shock.

Cavaliers. So many cavaliers.

*Rumble…*

As their horses rode forth on their iron hooves, they spread out over the land with an astonishing momentum, like black magma, about to devour all living beings, spilling forth swiftly from the mouth of a volcano, and flowing towards the small camp at a rate that could not be stopped nor blocked.

Thales watched this scene in a daze.

A cavalier who looked like a commander appeared at the top of the dune—in the area where the fire could illuminate him—and he shouted his orders.

The cavaliers responded to his orders uniformly, but Thales did not pay any attention to him. What he saw was another cavalier charging forth from behind the commanding cavalier. In his hand he held a flag and raised it high into the sky.

As he rode forth, the flag was completely spread and was illuminated by the fire. Thales stared at the flag in a daze. He stared at the picture, one he no longer knew whether it was familiar or unfamiliar to him, and a myriad of emotions rose in his heart.

‘That’s a… a…’

A flag with white borders and a blue background… with double cross-shaped silver stars.

In the next second, the commanding cavalier raised his sword high, pointed at the camp with an air of superiority, and with a stern face, he then shouted loudly,

“In the name of King Kessel… do not leave anything with less than four legs alive!”

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