Chapter 57 (Second Commander Of The Golden Hors.e.m.e.n)
“No! We’ve not betrayed the country nor the people. The only person we betrayed is the old foolish king. On these Wild Horse Plain, we have never plundered the people nor harmed or killed any merchants. We merely lived by feeding on wild animals hunted behind the mountains or caught some fish in the river. And we used crystallites extracted from magical beasts to barter with the merchants.”
Seeing the imposing general spoke with an air of plausibility, I refuted with some shock, “The Golden Hors.e.m.e.n Regiment has so many soldiers. Don’t tell me it’s possible to feed everyone relying on just that?”
“Of course not.” Lin He face seemed grim, then he continued, “Three years ago, the Golden Hors.e.m.e.n Regiment was still a major army that contains 50 thousand soldiers, a really awe-inspiring ent.i.ty. But in these few short years, many soldiers have left us continuously. Right now, there’s not even 20 thousand soldiers remaining in our regiment.”
“Then, have you all never thought for your future development? Why are you still defying the kingdom? I think you already know, the forces of the Undead had continuously corrupted our land. Even the sawmill further up had been totally taken over. Hurricane City had fallen to grave danger. The Flying Knights Cavalry had really been sent flying while other troops can’t even take a blow. Now, the country needs you. But have you ever thought of fighting for the people, upholding the pride of knights once again?”
I almost got gooseb.u.mps giving out such a distressing speech. General Lin He was startled, and his expression changed for quite a while. And then, he finally spoke, “If we return, Drake will definitely be tied to a cross and burned to death for treason!”
“Blabbering for so long, all in vain!” I secretly cursed. On the other side, Lin He already spoke again…
“Fellow soldier! You no longer have any means to escape. However, if you can defeat me, I will release you!”
It took me a few seconds to realize. A dual-blade swordsman had always acted as infantry in wars, which was exactly the reason knights looked down on a swordsman. Since I no longer had the ability to carve an escape path out of this place, then a duel with Lin He didn’t sound too bad. Only, I had no idea if this could be a mission.
System Notification: Are you willing to accept a duel with the Second Commander of the Golden Hors.e.m.e.n Cavalry – General Lin He?
I immediately pressed “Yes”. At the same time, all the Golden Knights from before had retreated to a distance, forming a large s.p.a.ce for me and their general.
Lin He didn’t ride a horse, only wielding a knight’s sword for the duel, even his shield had been set aside.
“Hooonngggg~”
Lin He’s sword, carrying a scorching blaze of light, started to hack down onto my head directly. The ultra-high temperature told me that if I took this attack head on, it would force me into a pa.s.sive stance for the rest of the fight.
“Swish~!” Imbued with ice, my long sword landed on Lin He’s body. Immediately, his body had been frozen in the air and the vindictive blaze on his sword had been extinguished.
[Combo]! [Heavy Strike]!
After two attacks, Lin He’s health had been reduced by over 400. Followed suit, his attack also landed on my body, causing a surprising 87 damage. It had been a long time since I had received such a fierce blow. Although my avatar pain stimulation settings had been adjusted to 1% but it still stings. From what I heard, Murong Shan Shan had totally switched off the pain reception setting. It seemed like that girl feared the pain more than me.
Lin He’s attack speed was very high. Almost every slash I made was countered with one of his own. Soon, after a few attacks, I sorrowly realized that my health was reducing at a very exaggerating rate. Lin He still had 80% remaining Health, but I was actually barely surviving. All I can rely on was my superior movement speed to run around, gaining precious time to gulp down health potions. Luckily, the potions I obtained from killing monsters had reached a considerable amount, which made it possible to defeat this violent Lin He.
Just like this, the World Ranking No.6 player was chased around by an armor clad knight and even let out screams from time to time.
Until half an hour later, I had finally used up the last of my potions and successfully cut Lin He down to the ground after I used [Frozen Blade] almost ten times and nearly a hundred times of [Combo] and [Heavy Strike]. Putting it into the calculation, Lin He’s health probably exceeded 10,000. If the Second in Command was already at such a level, then wouldn’t Captain Drake be even more G.o.d-like?
Although Lin He did not die, but he still dropped an equipment. And to my surprise, he actually dropped 18 Gold Emblems. A sudden curiosity struck me. Perhaps this guy was a greedy b.a.s.t.a.r.d? So corrupted that he had even grafted gold emblems to such amount…
Taking a look at the equipment, I realized it was a blue tier helmet!
This time I’ve hit the jackpot! An armor helmet had yet to be seen so far! I swiftly opened the menu to check its attributes:
[Brave Gold Guardian] (Helmet – Blue Equipment)
Defense: 54
Stamina: +18
Strength : +16
Agility: +8
Required Level: 28
…
The attributes were really excellent! Its Defense had already exceeded my Level-21 blue breastplate, and the added strength and vitality were also quite a lot. If I were to sell this equipment, in the current circ.u.mstances, the other players would kill for it, and the price would definitely skyrocket! The rank of an item at the Auction House depended on the item’s selling price. The price of the dagger I sold at that time was raised to the top of the charts. Each time a player opened up the trading menu, the first thing they would see would be the Top-10 items on auction! The more expensive an item’s price, the more it would be speculated, and would further driving its price upwards!
Of course, I wouldn’t bear to sell off this helmet. I could hunt equipment anytime, and it wouldn’t be too late to sell after I got something even better. My level was considerably higher than most players anyway, which was just nice, as the equipment I replaced now would sell well on the market. By defeating Lin He, the experience gained brought me up to Level-28, and I rose to the fifth position on the leaderboard. I also checked few people ahead of me, [Impulsive Hotpot] was shoved down to the third while the first position was now occupied by a knight called [Release That Girl]. This immediately dispirited me. A Knight was a Cla.s.s with no high damage, how could he level up so fast?
Perhaps they had obtained a real imbalance equipment by luck! But, [Impulsive Hotpot] would soon catch up again. I knew that fellow’s personality, he would definitely not resign being inferior to others.
Lin He crawled up from the floor and spoke with his ashen face, “I’ve lost. Soldier, you may return and tell that foolish Roger, even if you’ve beaten me, that doesn’t mean he’s amazing. Against me, he could only last a few strokes!”
I smiled and said, “General, I still hope that you would reconsider, for yourself and for the sake of the soldiers. Having been out here for so long, They all must have been homesick!”
Lin He moved his mouth but didn’t say anything. He turned and walked into the tent. I had nothing more to say either, and the Golden Knights had already formed a path for me to leave.
I gave the golden emblem a quick count and there was still two piece lacking. Well, I might as well take down two more Golden Knights at the entrance, then it would be mission completed!
“Beep.” Someone called in, it was Murong Shan Shan!
“Lin Fan, come to the city! Quick!” Her voice sounded really anxious.