"This Kasedar guy, looks plain and a bit ugly, but he is quite reliable in getting things done. Let him feign defeat, look, just like a real one."

Hidden behind the bushes, Harvin licked the split in his hare's lip, flashing a cunning smile at the attendant officer beside him.

The hills and plains were full of Knights running wildly, discarding their helmets and throwing away their weapons, dashing left and right on the tangled roads and paths.

Behind them were groups of Beastman Cavalry holding the Fierce and Terrifying Three-Faced God Battle Banner.

Due to the former wetland and swamp terrain of Langsande County, all the remaining roads are crooked and winding.

The Knights were like hares chased by hounds, constantly being divided, surrounded, and slaughtered by the Beastial Cavalry.

Yet as one Knight after another fell, Harvin's eyebrows gradually furrowed.

As blood stained the dirt roads, the attendant officer finally couldn't contain his inner doubts.

"Mr... Mr. Harvin, they seem to be truly defeated."

"I know." Harvin's gaze turned completely somber.

No need for the attendant officer to speak; he had already realized this.

At the current rate of casualties, these scattered Knights would be dead or wounded due to surrendering or killing long before reaching Canglan Valley.

The one fleeing in the front was Kasedar.

"Prepare a coffin for Kasedar." Harvin took a deep breath and drew the cold-shimmering Knight's Sword from his waist.

"He's not dead yet."

"I know." Harvin mounted his horse, "Remember, it's because of his mistake in this battle that I had to turn feigned defeat luring into a real victory, understood?"

"Ah?"

The attendant officer was still in shock and hadn't recovered when Harvin charged out with two hundred Extraordinary Knights.

Unlike Kasedar, who was a Kush person, Harvin was a Falan nobility who had migrated.

After selling all the estates in their homeland, his father bought an estate in Langsande County.

According to Empire law, nobles are not allowed to freely trade territories.

But in practice, there are still nobles using the guise of territory exchange to buy and sell land and the subjects on them.

Harvin's Freet Clan was from the South River Region's Border Count, a special title equivalent to a military commander in border areas.

However, Harvin's family first went bankrupt from colonial investment in the Green Dragon Forest Sea, then trafficked military equipment and warhorses, condemned by the then-young Prime Minister of Falan, Lorenzo.

In consideration of their long years guarding the border, the King of France gave them an opportunity, demoting them to ordinary Count and relocating the Freet Clan's residence to Langsande County.

Thousand River Valley is the resting and retirement place for all failed nobles, but their descendants never acknowledge failure.

Harvin was just like that; he was determined to reclaim the honor he once held, be it in Falan or Leia, to become that honorable Border Count again!

Though the command from Sand Sculpture Knight Nidesar was to feign defeat and retreat, he decided to wash away disgrace with a victory.

He even sent Kasedar to attack villages, aiming for this ambush rather than Nidesar's intended strategic deception of 'encounter defeat retreat.'

After all, dealing with such peasant rebels, Harvin couldn't bring himself to say it too bluntly; he could win even with his lance tightly clenched.

As for Nidesar's plan and the larger picture, who cares? All he wants is fame and the first victory against the Salvation Army!

In case it fails, he could always put it on scapegoat Kasedar.

"Follow the Freet Clan banner! Charge with me!"

The thunderous sound of hooves echoed in the ravine; at the valley's turning corner, a hundred Extraordinary Knights surged out like a tide.

Their task was originally to pretend to counter-attack then retreat, giving vast lands to the Salvation Army.

But now, they were fighting for real victory.

Witnessing those Extraordinary Knights sweep down the hill like thunder, Grush felt tense, immediately sounding a horn.

The urgent and sharp sound echoed across the battlefield, constantly summoning the 150 Beastman Cavalry to retreat.

The Cavalry seemed to be intoxicated by the bloodlust, ignoring the retreat horn.

Forming clusters, their eyes gleamed with bloodthirst, now preparing to charge at those Heavy Knights.

"Hey you there, come back, come back. It's an order!" Grush hoisted his hammer-spear following when he shouted the name of the leading Cavalry, "Li Hesi, can you just come back! Come back!"

"Mr. Grush, what do we do now?" The accompanying Military Judge rode after him, his voice partly swallowed by the wind.

Glancing at the anxious face of the Military Judge, Grush turned his head only to see those Cavalry were about to clash head-on with the Extraordinary Knights.

He gritted his teeth, turned to the Messenger nearby, and roared, "Send the signal! Red smoke!"

"Shoot the signal flare! Red smoke!" The Military Judge shouted to the rear.

The Messenger quickly lit the smoke bomb, loading it into the Rick-type signal gun.

As the trigger was pulled, a streak of blood-red smoke pierced the sky, lingering for a long time.

In the mountain forest on the other side, a green smoke column rose simultaneously in response.

When Grush finally reached the frontlines, the Beastman Cuirassiers were almost at close quarters with the Extraordinary Knights.

Grush, having regained command, knew that a frontal confrontation was tantamount to seeking death. He brandished his war spear and roared hoarsely, "Swing to the right, quickly! Those who disobey will face Brother Huo's wrath!"

Upon hearing this, the Cuirassiers reluctantly began to execute the order, and then Grush witnessed a scene that filled him with despair.

The Cuirassiers indeed turned their horses, but some turned to the right, while others to the left!

In the thudding crashes, horses neighed, fell, or tossed their riders off.

Despite their agility and sense of balance, the Beastman split into two groups like butterflies flitting through flowers; one group swung left, the other right.

But behind them were seven or eight comrades who had fallen off their horses, clutching their thighs and arms, howling in pain.

Seeing the topsy-turvy Cuirassiers, Harvin almost laughed out of anger.

He truly did not understand why, when facing such an enemy, they insisted on employing a so-called lure enemy deep into their ranks strategy.

Knights north of Jinhe Town, who hadn't been tempered by the bloodbath at Black Snake Bay, had standards and purity that were too low.

"Quick step, extend! Raise your guns! Charge!"

Closer, finally getting closer, the left and right groups of Cuirassiers did not maneuver around but instead initiated a pincers attack on their own.

In the instant the silver flood collided with the gray flood, the sound of splintering lances was incessant, wood chips flying, even piercing skin.

A dozen Cuirassiers in the first row couldn't evade this strike, watching helplessly as the lances thrust out, piercing through the leather armor and armed suits right to their hearts.

A dozen bodies flew off their horses, and from the blood holes in their chests, broken, slick hearts laced with bluish-purple veins were exposed.

"Clang!"

The tremendous shock that came through the weapon made the Cuirassier's eyes widen, almost causing him to drop his saber.

The armor of the Ibe Knight, who galloped past, bore only a hair-thin white scratch.

In the first round of charge, all one hundred Extraordinary Knights survived, while of the one hundred and fifty Beastman Cuirassiers, only one hundred and twenty-five remained.

If not for the Beastman Cuirassiers' extraordinary natural abilities, equivalent to being constantly dosed with "Khan Potion," casualties would have been even heavier.

The Beastmen looked at their chipped blades and then at each other, their faces stained with blood.

"Run!" This time, without Grush's order, they knew themselves it was time to flee.

But it was a little late; Harvin had no intention of letting them off.

"Pursue them! To Sour Melon Town!"

Wiping the bright red blood off the blade with a handkerchief, Harvin's body trembled slightly from excitement.

Following the Cuirassiers, the Extraordinary Knights grinned wickedly as they discarded their broken lances, drawing their Knight's Swords, and charged at the Cuirassiers.

"Damn devils!"

"Ahhh—"

"My back hurts so much, damn it, I can feel my spine!"

The Knight's Sword swung like the Reaper's scythe, bringing down a Beastman Cuirassier with every swipe.

Occasionally, one or two desperate Cuirassiers would charge back, twirling their scimitars like hurricanes, yet they still couldn't penetrate the Extraordinary Knights' armor.

The scimitars sparked off the armor, while the Knights' casual sword strikes inflicted deep, bone-revealing wounds.

With a single horizontal cut, half a skull and two beast ears flew off, as Harvin disdainfully wiped the brain matter off his sword onto the corpse's collar.

Without the support and coordination of the Holy Gun Cavalry and the Salvation Army Infantry, they had become akin to ordinary light cavalrymen.

The previously accompanying Knights returned, helping their Lords to encircle and contain the targets, herding them like a hunt.

"These rebels' morale is quite high."

From Harvin's perspective, fighting to this extent, these light cavalrymen should have retreated, yet not a single Cuirassier had surrendered so far.

Remarkably, in their retreat, under the command of the officer with the war spear, they had faintly reformed into formation.

But what of it? My Knights are invincible under heaven!

"Sir Harvin, should we keep chasing?" A Kush Knight urged his horse faster to squeeze in.

Harvin glanced sideways at the Knight, not even bothering to speak, merely nodding towards the front, urging his horse on.

Amidst the surrounding whispers and laughter, the face of the Kush Knight flushed slightly, and he nodded towards Harvin, biting his lip, "Then I shall withdraw."

"Mm." Harvin responded with a muffled voice from either his nose or throat.

This black-haired Kush Knight slowed his pace, his hands gripping the reins as if to pinch blood from his palms.

Damn it, you outsiders dare to lord over us!

Watching Harvin's back, the Knight suddenly turned to look aside.

Atop a five-meter-high wrinkled mound of earth, was that the corner of a black and red flag he saw?

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