Caelan rode a tall black horse, following the column of knights.
This was the only remaining breed of horse on Caliban. All other colours had gone extinct.
Sarrientus glanced at Caelan's proficient riding posture. "Your equestrian skills are quite impressive. Where did you learn?"
Caelan replied, "Chogoris."
Sarrientus frowned, trying to recall if there was a city called Chogoris on Caliban.
Lion suddenly interjected: "One of my brothers taught you?"
Caelan said, "I don't need the Khan to teach me. I have psychic powers."
With his psychic abilities, Caelan could achieve a telepathic bond with his horse. Man and horse as one was just the basics.
Although cavalry had been rendered obsolete in the M3 era, it had experienced an unexpected revival in the 30K era.
Firstly, the technological regression of the Age of Strife had left many worlds regressed to feudal societies, forced to return to primitive modes of transport.
Secondly, the warhorses of the 30K era were no longer horses in the traditional sense.
The horses of many worlds had undergone biochemical treatment and genetic optimization, possessing physiological characteristics far beyond natural evolution.
They were significantly superior to their ancient Terran ancestors in endurance, speed, and carrying capacity, and could also adapt to combat needs in various extreme environments.
It was thanks to horses that Caliban's civilization hadn't regressed to the Stone Age.
For example, a major reason why the civilizations of the ancient Americas long lagged behind those of Eurasia was that they had no horses.
No horses, no cattle, no high-value livestock, meant that the Americas never developed animal-drawn ploughs or more efficient transport.
Even in the interstellar age, the technological level of transportation can be used to measure a civilization's reach.
Before mastering interstellar travel, humanity's domain was limited to Terra.
After mastering interstellar travel, humanity began to colonize the Sol System.
But only when humanity mastered Warp travel did they begin to colonize the entire galaxy.
The Calibanites had long lost the ability to travel interstellar distances. Their basic industrial system was incomplete. Having horses at all was a blessing in the midst of misfortune.
Lion lowered his head, lost in thought.
But Caelan guessed he was comparing himself to his brothers.
But he didn't even know what the Khan was like. Caelan couldn't understand who he was competing with.
Sarrientus's expression changed dramatically. He flipped up his visor. "Urgent! Ulch village is under attack by a large beast-tide. Ramil's squad needs immediate reinforcement. We must speed up!"
On Caliban, only a squad leader's power armor was equipped with the precious communication device.
But to speak with his companions, he had to raise his visor; otherwise, only muffled grunts would emerge.
No further orders were needed. The well-trained knights spurred their horses, charging onto the forest paths.
Aldurukh's road network connected the various villages, complex as a spider's web.
If you weren't a local, you'd never find the right destination; you'd easily get lost in the forest.
Worried Lion might fall behind, and that Caelan would inevitably stay with him, Sarrientus initially had Luther stay behind to help, while the others went ahead.
But soon they realized their worry was unnecessary.
Though a beginner, Lion showed astonishing talent.
He seemed a born knight, quickly mastering the unique knack of riding.
Lion said, "Don't wait for me. I can keep up!"
Seeing he was handling it with ease, Luther no longer delayed, urging his horse to catch up with the front of the column.
When they reached the outskirts of Ulch village, the air was already thick with the smell of gunpowder and blood.
The roars of beasts and the sound of boltguns intertwined, a testament to the battle's ferocity.
Sarrientus shouted to the militiaman on the watchtower, "Open the gate!"
Ulch village's defences were more substantial than Chisano's. The villagers had dug a moat outside the palisade, adapting to local conditions.
As the militiamen scrambled to lower the drawbridge, Lion suddenly reined in his horse. "We're not going into the village. We'll outflank from the side and cut off the beasts' retreat!"
Sarrientus wanted to oppose the risky plan. How could they cut off anything with so few men?
But the scene of Lion slaughtering beasts earlier flashed involuntarily through his mind. He quickly changed his mind. "Agreed. Everyone, follow me! Around to the flank!"
As they circled to the battle's flank, they witnessed dozens of beasts assaulting the village. Several beast corpses had turned the moat red, but others, using their immense bulk, still forced their way across, even breaking through the palisade.
A blood-soaked knight was leading militiamen in a desperate defence at the breach. Piles of beast corpses lay at their feet, but compared to the sheer number of the beast-tide, it was still a drop in the bucket.
Bang!
Thunderous gunfire. Bolt rounds exploded outside the wall.
The knights charged straight at the beast-tide, trying to draw their attention away from the crumbling defences.
A giant eagle-like beast, with a wingspan of at least seven meters, circled low, screeching, then dove like a meteor.
Sarrientus ordered, "Aim for the sky! Bring it down!"
Flying units were more mobile than any other type, and also the most threatening.
The knights quickly raised their boltguns, ready to bring down the raptor with concentrated fire.
But Lion was faster than their reactions!
He leaped from his horse, soaring seven or eight meters into the air, catching the giant eagle's talons like a great bird spreading its wings.
The giant eagle, obviously not expecting its prey to fight back, beat its wings furiously, trying to shake Lion off.
But using the weight of his descent, Lion swung the eagle by its talons and smashed it hard into the ground!
CRASH!
The eagle's massive body slammed into the earth, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Lion landed steadily. As the eagle still struggled, he drew his power sword, its blade glowing with a cold blue light.
The eagle's head fell with a thud. Scalding blood sprayed over Lion like a fountain.
He flicked the sword, a gesture full of wildness.
The battle fever was rising in Lion. He threw himself recklessly at the beast-tide.
A flash of cold steel, and another beast's head flew high, crashing into the dust.
Blood poured down like rain. Lion stood bathed in it, but frowned almost imperceptibly.
In the heat of battle, getting spattered with enemy blood was unavoidable. But he was used to keeping his body clean.
This sticky gore clinging to his skin was intensely uncomfortable.
Anger burned in Lion's chest. His sword strokes grew even fiercer.
'Why do you defile me with your blood?'
'I must kill you all!'
Nearby, Sarrientus was fighting a beast with a fallen comrade's chainsword.
His peripheral vision caught Lion's fight. A flicker of approval showed in his eyes. It wasn't in vain that he'd given Lion his power sword. The sword was doing far more good in Lion's hands!
While an ordinary knight could fight a beast, the standard for knighthood was to hunt one alone, they still had to be cautious. Facing multiple beasts at once, they would be hard-pressed. Only senior knights could barely hold their own.
Lion far surpassed senior knights. He was completely at ease even in the midst of the beast-tide, as if he were in empty territory.
It seemed less like the beasts had surrounded him, and more like he had surrounded them.
Lion's efficiency in killing beasts far exceeded the combined total of all the other knights.
Few beasts survived a single blow from his sword. Even those much larger than him, which he couldn't behead with one stroke, took at most two.
Knights fought long, hard battles against beasts, where a single mistake could be fatal.
But Lion slaughtered them as easily as chopping vegetables. Even Luther, though no longer a first-time witness, still watched with wide-eyed astonishment.
When he killed a beast in the fierce fighting, the pile of corpses at Lion's feet was already a small mountain.
The knights gradually fell silent, even at a loss.
Because Lion alone was blocking all the beasts. None were getting past to them.
Rushing forward rashly wouldn't help; it would only disrupt Lion's rhythm.
They could only stand frozen, quietly watching Lion's performance.
Luther's gaze shifted between Caelan and Lion. Finally, he asked hesitantly, "Is he really your son?"
Caelan raised his head proudly. "Yes, he is."
Luther fell silent.
The father and son, no matter how he looked at them, seemed completely unrelated.
Caelan was restrained and humble, his every move that of a refined scholar.
Lion, true to his name, was like an untamed lion cub, radiating wildness and fierce energy.
They didn't look alike at all.
Luther felt Lion was more like a wild child Caelan had found, not his biological son.
Caelan, keenly detecting the suspicion in Luther's eyes, said, "Just because we're not related by blood doesn't mean we're not father and son."
"Blood ties are just one form of kinship, not the whole story."
While a lack of blood ties doesn't guarantee a harmonious relationship, a father might not accept a child born to his wife but fathered by another man, the existence of blood ties doesn't guarantee affection either. The galaxy is full of examples of father-son discord. The relationship between the Emperor and some of the Primarchs, for instance, is far from harmonious.
The leaders of the two knight squads walked towards each other, each removing their blood-spattered helmets.
Sarrientus asked, "Brother Ramil, what are the casualties?"
Ramil's hoarse voice held a hint of weariness. "Thanks to the moat, our losses weren't heavy. But if you hadn't arrived in time, few would have survived."
The moat had only bought them time. Without reinforcements, the beasts would eventually have breached the defences, and the villagers would have been doomed.
The moat and wall had blocked the beasts' attack, but also the villagers' escape.
Even if they had broken out, the beasts in the forest would have hunted them down one by one.
Without the knights and the wall, they couldn't have run.
Sarrientus frowned deeply. "Beasts usually only hunt within their own territories. Now they're attacking ours like mad. What's prompted this?"
The Calibanites had been fighting monsters for millennia. Over that long time, they had learned much about these terrible creatures' habits.
'Monster' was actually a very broad term. They weren't a single species, but a vast group of creatures with diverse forms.
Their shapes varied widely, encompassing all the birds and beasts of Caliban. Their only common feature was their terrifying, immense size.
But monsters, like ordinary wild animals, had strong territorial instincts.
If they inadvertently entered each other's territories, they would often fight to the death.
According to the Order's ancient legends, Caliban possessed an ancient, twisted "wisdom". Its evil power permeated Caliban's vibrant forests and wildlife.
People believed Caliban's forests were alive, and that this "wisdom" catalysed the wildlife into becoming savage monsters.
But monsters were also larger and more twisted, seeming like a patchwork of many species.
Monsters typically inhabited the deepest, most shadowy parts of the forest, where something seemed to attract them.
Human settlements were all on the forest's outskirts. The Order regularly cleared monsters from around the settlements, maintaining a relatively safe zone.
The Order also understood the reason for the periodic beast-tides every few years:
When the monster population exceeded the ecological carrying capacity of the forest's core, younger or weaker individuals would be driven out by stronger monsters competing for limited resources.
These displaced monsters were forced to migrate to the forest's periphery, invading human villages rich in high-quality protein, forming the periodic beast-tides.
But it had only been four years since the last beast-tide. The next one wasn't due for another five years.
So this mass invasion was highly abnormal!
The abnormality suggested danger. Something was likely happening deep in the forest, forcing the monsters to leave early.
Either a particularly powerful monster had seized much of the territory, driving others out of the core area,
Or the monsters' reproduction rate was far higher than usual, causing the population to hit the ecological carrying capacity in just four years.
This would mean beast-tide cycles might shorten from nine years to four, their frequency doubling.
Either scenario meant the balance between humans and monsters had been broken. Their living conditions would only worsen.
Passive defence was not a long-term solution. They needed to change the situation.
But they could only treat the symptoms after finding the cause of the abnormal migration.
And all hope rested on Brother Amadis, who was leading an elite knight squad deep into the forest heartland.
Until he sent word, the others could only wait patiently.
"This..."
Ramil started to thank the blood-soaked Lion, but was interrupted by Caelan's voice, full of disgust. "Go wash in the moat. You're filthy."
Lion shook his blood-matted blonde hair defiantly. "It wasn't my fault I got dirty. They insisted on spraying blood on me!"
Caelan said, "If they sprayed, you caught it? Why didn't you dodge?"
Lion didn't argue further. He leaped into the cold water of the moat.
What's done is done. First, take a bath.
....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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