Wind blew pa.s.s Herr Mountains ridges.From the north to the south, small to big, the wind was whistling into the only valley in the mountains.
The valley was unnamed, but the fortress within wasn"t.
Lightning Fortress!
The fortress was built completely with stone bricks as a defensive measure. It cost the royal family of Warren Kingdom a total of 30 years, and a tremendous amount of manpower and money to construct it.
Since it was in the middle of the valley, it acted as a barrier for Riverdale, the imperial city of Warren.
The fortress was impenetrable, with a total of 3,000 armed soldiers stationed here throughout the year. Even the enemies from the gra.s.s plains faced countless defeats before the fortress. Every disastrous defeat made the enemy retreat in a dejected manner.
The defensive abilities of Lightning Fortress made the people of Warren believe that it was impenetrable.
However, at that moment, Lightning Fortress was about to face its greatest enemy.
The hang bridge was lifted up, squads after squads of fully armed soldiers were lining up the fortress wall. Teams of riders were on stand-by behind the fortress gate, and catapults after catapults were dragged out the armory by the soldiers.
Two hours ago, a secret order was delivered to Lightning Fortress from the military department.
"Stop anyone who wants to pa.s.s through Lightning Fortress within the day. Whoever tries to disobey, Kill!"
Fuuuuu! Fuuuuu!
The wind rus.h.i.+ng down the valley was getting stronger by the minute. The whistling of the wind was like thunder itself, blasting out deafening screeches.
The wind blew on the soldier"s face, causing a stinging sensation all over their features, but the soldiers on the wall were standing straight like a pole. They unsheathed their swords, loaded their bows and stared at a distant point with utmost killer intent.
A single figure was appearing abruptly at the valley entrance.
The black mantle was rattling loudly in the wind. The pitch black feathers on the mantle were giving out an unusual s.h.i.+ne under the moonlight.
It looked turbid and gloomy, similar to the midnight graveyard, where the ghastly fire that shed light over the tombstones.
An ominous feeling rose up in the soldier"s heart, causing their sharp killer intents to blunt out for a moment.
Just when the soldiers had a slight pause due to the sudden appearance, the figure made his move.
It was fast like a sprinting horse, charging towards Lightning Fortress" gate within a couple of breath, closing a huge distance. The figure had no intention to stop at the gate; he jumped up straight when he approached the gate and headed towards the fortress wall.
"Let loose!"
The defending commander ordered the archers to fire.
Sou! Sou! Sou!
Arrows poured down like rain; the black sky was instantly filled with cold, metallic flashes that drowned that jumping figure completely.
Thousands of arrows piercing the heart!
The defending commander and the soldiers all shared the same thought when they witnessed the scene.
Automatically, the ominous feeling that was affecting their thoughts was gone, and every one of them released a sigh of relief.
However, before the sigh could be released completely, it was stuck in their heart.
They rounded their eyes as the cold metallic flash that filled the night became messed up; the figure burst out from the rain of arrow and leapt even higher.
"LET LOOSE! LET LOOSE!"
The defending commander kept shouting at his men, but it was useless. A formless force-field barrier was blocking the arrows as they flew, causing the arrows to fall without accomplis.h.i.+ng their objectives.
Though the arrows did accomplished something; at least the figure was falling off from mid-air after exhausting his jump.
The defending commander"s face lit up in delight, but it only lasted less than a second before the figure made a second jump by stepping on the air. It broke his hopes to pieces.
"How is this possible?!"
The defending commander was crying out loud after witnessing the act that defied logic, to the extent he didn"t even react to the spider web that was fired from the figure"s hand.
It was already too late when the defending commander realized that the spider web was pulling the figure higher up to the fortress wall.
"Cut the spider we-"
Puk!
Before the defending commander could finish his words, he was slashed in half by a dark red great sword.
Kieran gripped his sword and stepped onto the fortress wall; his black pupils were scanning the soldiers before him.
After their superior was killed, the soldiers didn"t scatter around like birds and beasts. In fact, their long experience in the battlefield helped them have the fastest reaction against Kieran.
"KILL!"
The soldiers shouted almost in union.
Spears after spears were driven towards Kieran, the sharp edges capable of robbing life surrounded Kieran in a blink of an eye. However, similar to the arrows, the sharp edges of the spears were useless against Kieran; they were stopped by an invisible force when they were an inch away from Kieran"s body.
[Arrogant Word] was the opposite of those spears as it was cleaving and slas.h.i.+ng every other weapons around it.
Chang!
Amidst the metal clanking noise, spear after spear was chopped off, following the wielder behind the spears.
A bewitching s.h.i.+ne was dazzling on the blade"s body and following Kieran"s step, it was drawing red glares in the dark night.
Fresh blood quickly dyed the fortress wall completely. The bodies that was sliced in half were ditched around like trash, but the soldiers within Lightning Fortress were still pouring themselves at Kieran from front and back. They were bas.h.i.+ng Kieran like the tides from the great river, but it was still useless.
If the soldiers of Lightning Fortress were the tides of the great river, Kieran was a huge dam that blocked the river from flowing. No matter how strong the water was beating, he intercepted every inch of it. No matter how fiercely the water was gus.h.i.+ng at him, he pressed on with his powerful steps.
Until…
Chang!
Puk!
[Arrogant Word] swept from left to right, slas.h.i.+ng the three soldier"s before Kieran in half. At the same time, the soldiers from other direction successfully landed their spear on Kieran"s body.
Dang! Dang!
The loud hitting noises signified that [Primus Scale] was gone, but [Armor of Excellence] had stepped up and proved it was worthy of a Powerful rank defense.
The scene made the soldier"s feel disappointed. Even without the support of mystical power, the soldiers still couldn"t pierce through the defense of their target, and their comrades were diced and sliced like butchered dogs and chicken.
Despite the fact that they were the veterans on the battlefield, their mental stability had reached its limit as well.
[Armor of Excellence] was the last straw that broke the camel"s back for the soldiers.
The soldiers on the fortress wall were afraid. The ones that were considered elite soldiers started to back off, opening a path for Kieran.
Kieran saw the path that led inside the Lighting Fortress wall beneath him; it was wide and long.
At the end of the path, five hundred riders had completed their formation. The iron armors were dazzling and bright, the spears wear long and sharp, held up in the sky as if they could pierce the heaven. The war horses were robust and buffed, neighing loud and sharp.
Kieran then quickly jumped down on the path without pausing.
Wuuuuuu!
After the loud and heavy bungle rang, the ground started to tremble.
The riders started to charge at Kieran without the slightest intention of stopping. Their spears were laid straight at their only target ahead; they wanted to pierce every inch of Kieran"s body, and grind him into a pile of meat with their horses" hooves.
Even more so when they saw that Kieran was charging at them head-on as well. The riders felt their pride was insulted and turned the thought of killing him into their only conviction for that moment.
The ground trembled even harder, the pebbles started to dance, but it did not originate not from the five hundred riders.
It was from Kieran, or more precisely, the huge rhino mirage behind him.
The rhino mirage was roaring loudly and freely, as if the rhino had returned to his own world, the world that allowed it to run without constraints with its four powerful limbs, charging forward with every bit of strength it had and accelerating as fast as it could.
Anything within its path would be crushed, even it was thousands upon thousands of soldiers and horses!