Chapter 160: The Defense of Brandenburg – Turning the Tide

Facing the shadows circling in the sky, Knight Val summoned his partner from the Heavenly Realm. This strong and elegant Sunlight Warhorse, clad in shining heavy sun armor, neighed and appeared in the mortal world.

Its name was Sewell, originally a creation of the Sun God Pelor within his Divine Realm. After making a Contract with Knight Val, it became his exclusive mount. According to records, this elegant giant has a charge speed of 720 feet per second.

Of course, this speed can only be achieved when it flies in the air; on the ground, it might crash into something! And in the air, there are ways to increase this speed even further in a short time.

However, traveling at an economical cruise speed of 450 feet per second makes it like the high-speed trains of this world. As for other common mount abilities like Darkvision, damage reduction, acid, cold, and electricity resistance, spell resistance, exceptional strength, emotional bond, improved evasion, spell sharing, shared saving throws, and commanding similar creatures, these are well known. As for anything else, that is definitely a secret kept in the minds of the few.

But in fact, when this enviable mount responded to Knight Val’s call, it appeared directly in mid-air.

To save time, Knight Val did not let it land on the tower he was standing on. Instead, he leaped directly from the tower where the Catapults were placed, starting his freefall journey.

Due to telepathy, Sewell immediately dove down like a hawk hunting a rabbit. It intercepted and docked with Val in mid-air, allowing the Knight to land steadily on its saddle.

Once seated, Knight Val extended his right arm, covered in silver armor, and conjured a bronze spear glowing with golden light. The nearly four-meter-long spear had a tip resembling a reinforced Roman gladius, with flowing cloud patterns covering both edges. The shaft was decorated with sparkling stars, and the flame ring at the hilt spread wings backward. This was Knight Val’s exclusive conceptual weapon , born from the virtue of Valor among the Eight Knightly Virtues and his resonance with the Cosmic Force when he broke through to the Legend Rank – the Red Flame Spear!

Our Knight Val sat tall on the Sunlight Warhorse, observing the flying enemies in the sky with a determined gaze. His head was held high, revealing a handsome face, and his waist was straight like a poplar tree. He held the glowing spear tightly in his left hand, the tip pointing diagonally toward the sky.

In his right hand, he held a teardrop-shaped eagle shield inlaid with a large ruby and sun motifs. This was the limited manifestation of “Sacrifice” – the Afterglow of the Setting Sun. He raised the shield to protect his chest. Then, his originally silver-white armor turned bronze, reflecting golden light, with chainmail skirts hanging over it. The whole appearance was completely different from what he had shown everyone before. This was the manifestation of Honor – the Radiance of the Blazing Sun.

The Sunlight Warhorse stepped into the air, leaving shining hoof prints – golden flames that had not yet dispersed. Pelor’s flames wrapped him and his horse in a golden battle robe, and particles of light rose from his hair, leaving a beautiful trail behind as they rushed into the sky.

From this trail, one could see his target: the largest of the enemies in the sky. At the same time, a warm, bright yellow light radiated from Knight Val, condensing into a pair of burning golden wings behind him. The Sunlight Warhorse, which was already moving at a speed close to a hurricane, gained even more speed.

The lightning-fast Sunlight Warhorse galloped, with Knight Val on its back holding the spear level. His silver-gray hair, streaked with gold, flew in the north wind. Divine Grace, the strength of a bull, and righteousness like a rainbow – his body shimmered with several kinds of white light from Divine Arts. Even under the blazing sun, he still radiated dazzling brilliance.

The man and horse combined into a dazzling golden meteor – a meteor with a long silver tail flame. Carrying an unstoppable momentum and an unshakable will to fight, the nearly thousand-meter distance vanished in an instant. The monster in the sky, unable to dodge in time, flapped its wings and collided fiercely with Knight Val’s spear.

After the two touched, the spear tip raised by Knight Val burst with a terrible, intense light. This brilliance was like the most powerful and dazzling light blooming when the universe was born. But instead of spreading in all directions like a supernova explosion, the light condensed into a sharp sword that seemed able to pierce through everything.

In this fantasy world, the power of heavy cavalry charges was far more exaggerated and expensive than in reality. Elite heavy knights equipped with super-strong mounts and fine armor gained stronger sustained combat ability and incredible impact power. Heavenly Realm horses were powerful mounts from the Upper Planes. They were taller, faster, and stronger, while being easy to control, making them the best partners and blessings for powerful Cleric players.

Among them, Knight Val’s exclusive Sunlight Warhorse was a standout. It weighed over a ton itself and could move freely even with over 200 kilograms of armor. A Paladin riding one, man and horse combined, weighed at least one and a half tons. Just the impact force can be imagined. The enemies in front of them felt like they were being crushed by the wheels of history, unceremoniously thrown into the trash bin.

“Evil Dragon! Annihilate!” With Knight Val’s voice, which sounded as steady as ever for ten thousand years, the light sword at the spear tip pierced the chest of the nearly one-hundred-meter-long white dragon before him. It shot straight out from its back, clearing the clouds behind it.

Accompanied by a mournful scream, the white dragon’s wings stopped flapping. Before it could close its eyes, it fell downward. At the same time, its cold, emerald-blue blood spilled across the vast sky in the biting north wind. Upon contact with the air, it instantly turned into blue ice flowers.

“Since you dared to come, you shall all stay here!” With this voice echoing across the sky, Knight Val dismissed his spear and drew the sword at his waist, the manifestation of Justice – the Holy Executioner. Riding his mount, he flew toward the next white dragon. Although these white dragons were not very smart, they could clearly understand the huge gap in power between them. As one turned to flee, others scattered in different directions or hid in the clouds.

Far away at the Barbarian camp, the two observers who clearly did not belong to this race also witnessed this scene.

One of them pinched his thigh hard and said in disbelief, “Burks! This isn’t real, is it? I must be dreaming! But why does it hurt so much when I pinch my leg?”

“I don’t think this is a dream, Gloras! Although it’s not much different from a dream. But can you let go of your hand? While you are pinching your own thigh, your other hand is grabbing my forearm.” As Burks answered, he desperately tried to pull his left arm away from the other’s grip.

“Sorry, what just happened was too shocking for me.” Saying this, Gloras let go and pulled his hands back. “This is truly unbelievable. That Ancient Dragon was so majestic just a moment ago, and in the blink of an eye, it was defeated by the other side. And it looked like it was done quite easily, without much time or effort!”

“Whether there was effort or not, we certainly couldn’t tell with our level. But in terms of time, it didn’t take much. That dragon and its offspring were strong enough to fight our entire Royal Knight Order! I never thought they would be defeated so easily. I think the people back home are really out of their minds. The previous battle plan clearly didn’t have as high a chance of winning as they imagined.” Burks said with a bitter smile. What he saw today poured a bucket of cold water over this expansionist, imperial chauvinist from head to toe, making him much clearer-headed.

Gloras leaned against a pillar and sighed, “Sigh! It’s too late now anyway. The spark of fire in the Kingdom has been lit. This roaring fire is like dry wheat stubble after the harvest; it’s basically impossible to stop. And their minds are full of thoughts of expanding territory and achieving great deeds. They will definitely not listen to words from two small people like us.”

But in the sky of Brandenburg right now, Knight Val was the master. To escape successfully, those white dragons activated their innate ability, “Frost Fog.” As those white dragons flew, a thick layer of dense fog appeared over the entire sky of Brandenburg. Even more strangely, the fog seemed to be slowly sinking. Some younger white dragons did not release “Frost Fog” but used their spell-like ability “Cloud of Mist” to increase their escape speed.

“Bang – Splash! Rustle, rustle!” That was the sound of the corpse of the Ancient White Dragon just killed by Knight Val falling. Its massive body crushed nearly half a street’s worth of houses. Fortunately, the people inside had already evacuated before the battle began.

This giant, with scales of pale blue, pale gray, and white, lay there in the pile of rubble. It was impossible to see any of its previous arrogance and pride. Meanwhile, the soldiers who were on rotation and resting, under the officers’ command, began to handle this huge Loot.

However, this was not the Legion’s Loot; it belonged entirely to Knight Val. This was not only because others in Brandenburg did not contribute much to the battle related to it, but also out of respect and privilege for a Legendary Powerhouse. This was a privilege they were entitled to enjoy.

Unfortunately, the increasingly thick fog could not affect Knight Val as the white dragons had hoped. Knight Val’s two pupils turned into a true golden yellow. He immediately pulled the reins and chased after one of them in a specific direction.

Seeming to sense the enemy approaching rapidly from behind, this adult white dragon knew it was unlikely to escape. Preparing for a last-ditch struggle, it turned around, thrust its beak-like head forward, and opened its blood-filled mouth filled with sharp teeth like a great white shark, spewing its cold breath.

Facing the cone-shaped Dragon Breath coming straight at him, Knight Val could have ignored it, but he had no intention of fighting it head-on. He and his horse rolled sideways, dodging the attack at the last possible moment. Then, he appeared at the 8 o’clock position on the back of the white dragon. At the same time, the Holy Executioner in his hand was already drawn. In the next instant, one of the dragon’s wings and part of its body were completely severed.

The white dragon, left with only one wing, lost its balance and kept rolling downward. But Knight Val knew this was not a time to be careless. Although wings were an important flying organ for dragons, they mainly served to provide balance and acceleration. Dragon flight was less like birds relying on wings and more like a special ability. So, if the opponent could adjust their state in time, they might not fall to their death. They could very well escape while Knight Val was chasing other companions.

But Knight Val would not make such a low-level mistake. The Holy Executioner in his hand seemed to be on fire. As he swung it, the firelight gradually lengthened into a small line of fire, with the other end connected to the giant lizard that had lost a wing. Immediately, the creature’s eyes became vacant, its whole body stiffened, and it began a freefall without even struggling.

Having done all this, Knight Val did not turn his head back in that direction but went straight to chase the next white dragon.

“Crash! Crash!” was the sound made by this white dragon, about ten meters long, as it hit the cliff and kept rolling down the rock face. Along with it fell the rocks it had knocked loose. As the dragon corpse rolled, more and more rocks fell, eventually forming a small landslide.

The Guards who heard the noise from above looked up and felt sweat dripping from their palms. They didn’t even care about the Catapults on the platform, grabbing their companions and running into the tunnels. Finally, just before the shadows fell, they escaped the dangerous area. Although it was a lucky escape with no injuries, the impact of this small landslide completely buried the three Catapult platforms on the cliff. The Catapults inside were severely damaged, and a material warehouse in the Brandenburg Fortress was also damaged. In this regard, the damage caused by this white dragon was far greater than that of its elder, which had been dealt with by Knight Val at the beginning. It could be said it died in the right place.

Although Knight Val drove away these white dragons without spending much time, the impact they caused was quite serious. The brief pause and shock caused Brandenburg’s firepower to stop for a moment. Taking advantage of this opportunity, many Siege Towers closed the distance to the city walls, and the Barbarians besieging the main gate made some progress – they finally cut one of the chains of the Drawbridge.

That Siege Tower itself did not seem afraid of the rain of arrows, but the Barbarians responsible for moving it had fallen one after another under the arrow storm, making its movement speed unsatisfactory. Now that they had finally found an opportunity, they naturally rushed forward quickly!

Covering his forehead with his left hand to look out, Gloras spoke, “It seems those white dragons did play a certain role. If not for them, it would have taken much longer for these Barbarians to get close!”

“This did have a little effect, but compared to the price paid to hire them, the effect is really too poor.” Burks scratched his hair hard, turning his once neat golden hair into a mess.

“Oh! Do you know how much this cost?” Gloras, who loved gossip, instantly became interested. In his view, this was good material for conversation, which he could use as a topic when talking to those noble ladies back in the capital.

“At least 10,000 Gold Coins worth of jewelry. This is just the payment for those white dragons. If you add the cost of the Mage casting the Greater Dragon Bond, it’s about 13,000 Gold Coins.” Burks said this piece of information that few knew without thinking twice.

On one hand, he didn’t think it was a secret he needed to keep from his companions who came with him. On the other hand, in this unfamiliar place, only this companion could give him a sense of security.

“My goodness! Such a huge sum of money! Even the County to the north would take several years to earn so much. This is enough to form a thousand-strong Heavy Infantry regiment, along with the supporting auxiliary troops.” Gloras exclaimed. In his view, this was completely beyond his imagination.

Gold Coins were the currency of the Kingdom of Lucia. Due to their gold content, their exchange rate with the Continent’s common currency was 0.8 to 1. In other words, they were not as valuable as the Gold Coins George and others spoke of. It was a means of internal exploitation by the Lucia Royal Family after they gained the right to mint coins.

Regarding fiscal revenue, the back of the Kingdom of Lucia was a cold and barren land. Plus, it was vast with few people, making resources hard to develop. The commercial sector was even less visited. The pitifully low income was mostly exchanged for animal skins, timber, and iron ore. Compared to Bolerum Territory, it was truly like heaven and earth. No wonder they wanted to expand outward.

Meanwhile, George on Brandenburg was also sweating with anxiety. As the Siege Towers of the Barbarians were about to reach the walls, he had no good solution. So, he could only wait for the two sides to engage in hand-to-hand combat.

But just then, Ahuatan Knight suddenly came to George’s side and said, “Isolde asked me to give this to you. He said he believes you will definitely know how to use it well.”

Saying this, the other handed George a seven-foot-long, three-inch-wide orange-red Staff. It was made of an unknown wood, carved with flame-like patterns and runes. The two ends of the Staff were bound with metal rings made of Mithril and inlaid with large rubies.