Chapter 13: The Scourge
Twilight plated the forest in a layer of dull gold. The exhausted villagers finally stopped.
Days of fleeing had drained their last ounce of strength, and the fear of the unknown was overwhelmed by their physical limits.
A woman holding a child gasped for breath.
"Let's... let's rest for a bit."
"The Village Chief hasn't woken up yet, and it's getting dark. If we keep walking, we might fall into a pit without knowing it."
"Yeah, we're already inside the Bone Forest. Those Knight lords are precious; they surely wouldn't chase us into this hellhole, right?"
Wishful thinking was like weeds, growing wildly in the soil of despair.
They hadn't witnessed the massacre with their own eyes. To them, the old Chief's warning sounded more like the ravings of someone frightened out of his wits.
Soon, someone gathered dry branches and lit a small bonfire.
The orange flames danced, dispelling some of the chill in the forest and illuminating faces that had found temporary peace.
They sat around together, sharing their remaining dry rations.
This rising column of smoke, in the forest at twilight, became a clear-as-day signpost—a deadly invitation.
On the other side, Sir Kyle, who had planned to just go through the motions and return to report, reined in his horse.
He looked at the straight column of cooking smoke rising from the horizon, the corner of his mouth twitching imperceptibly.
He turned his head to look at Hamus beside him.
Kyle thought to himself:
Bro, are you for real?
But he didn't say it out loud.
Hamus looked in the direction he was facing.
His heart was screaming.
Bro, how dare they!
He thought that even if the villagers ran into the forest, they would hide! Hide!
How did they dare to light a fire? How did they dare to stop?!
"My Lord... that... that might just be savages or hunters in the woods."
Hamus couldn't even stand listening to his own words. He tried to make a final struggle.
Sir Kyle smiled.
He didn't puncture Hamus's laughable lie. He just pointed gently with his hand.
"Go check it out."
His tone was still gentle, but it carried an unquestionable command.
The cavalry squad accelerated again, pouncing straight toward the column of smoke.
When the villagers saw Hamus's desperate face and the rows of cavalry behind him, all their wishful thinking instantly evaporated.
"Run!"
Someone shouted. The crowd exploded like a group of startled rabbits, fleeing desperately in all directions.
"Leave no one alive."
Sir Kyle issued the cold command.
The cavalrymen no longer disguised themselves. They were efficient butchers. Spreading out their formation, they began the hunt.
A woman holding a child ran the slowest. A cavalryman chased her down with a sinister grin, raising the longsword in his hand high.
The blade traced an arc of death under the setting sun, about to land on the small body curled up in its mother's arms.
Just then.
Squelch!
A pale bone hand burst out of the soft soil without warning, dead-gripping the warhorse's ankle!
The warhorse let out a cry of pain and crashed to the ground, throwing the cavalryman on its back heavily.
The cavalryman reacted extremely fast. He rolled to absorb the impact, stood up immediately, and assumed a defensive stance.
He stared at the bone hand in shock and suspicion.
Immediately after, the bone hand pushed hard against the ground, and a one-armed skeleton stood up from the dirt.
Its empty eye sockets turned to the child who was about to be hacked, then to the bewildered cavalryman.
Skele-Pride clenched his bony hand in empty air.
A bone-cleaving greatsword, over two meters long and covered in hideous barbs, condensed into form in his hand.
The next moment, he appeared behind the cavalryman. And the cavalryman, still holding his defensive posture, saw his own body in the next instant.
Split heads, separate actions! (Pun: "Split heads" literally).
A voice of extreme disdain came from the one-armed skeleton's mouth.
"Insects who don't even understand sustainable development are worthy of stepping into the Ruler's territory?"
All of this was, naturally, under Kaito's instruction.
Once he confirmed through the Skeleton Archer's vision that the strongest in this cavalry squad was only Tier 2, and the rest were mostly cannon fodder, he decided to hide no longer.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
In the forest, on the ground, in the shadows of the tree canopy, pale skeletons emerged silently one by one.
Holding standard bone swords and shields, with uniform, emotionless Soul Fire burning in their eyes, they surrounded the entire area so tightly not even water could leak through.
Sir Kyle's face finally changed.
He couldn't figure it out!
Why were there so many ranked skeletons here?!
Once undead of this scale appeared, shouldn't they have been exterminated by nearby Knight Orders or the Adventurer's Guild long ago?
What made his scalp tingle even more was that he could feel the aura radiating from a few of the skeletons far exceeded Tier 2!
That was Tier 3! Professional-class powerhouses on the same level as the true big shots behind him!
How could several Tier 3 skeletons appear simultaneously in a remote, broken forest?!
Hamus looked at the hellish scene before him.
Without hesitation, he yanked his horse's head around, whipped its flank viciously, and galloped back the way he came without looking back.
Seeing Hamus flee, Kyle reacted instantly and shouted back:
"Break out! Retreat!"
"Too late."
A squad of Skeleton Cavalry, shrouded in the aura of death, had already blocked their retreat.
Leading them was the Tier 3 Skeleton Knight, Skele-Wrath.
He ignored Kyle, simply issuing an order to a normal Skeleton Cavalryman behind him.
The Skeleton Cavalryman acknowledged the order. Its skeletal warhorse turned into a white bolt of lightning, chasing down the direction Hamus had fled.
Finding his retreat cut off, Kyle actually calmed down.
He was, after all, an Imperial Knight with formal training.
He immediately rallied the scattered cavalrymen to form a tight circular charge formation.
The remaining few dozen cavalrymen let out a final roar.
"For the Empire! Charge!"
They converged into a small torrent of steel, attempting to chisel through the seemingly fragile wall of bones.
The cavalrymen's longswords could easily shatter the bodies of Tier 1 Skeleton Soldiers, but it was meaningless.
The shattered bones would reassemble in the next second, standing up intact to rejoin the battle.
On the cavalry side, however, whenever someone was stabbed off their horse by a bone sword, their corpse wouldn't even have time to cool.
It would stand up again amidst the black light of [Undead Resurrection].
Soul Fire would ignite in their eyes, weapons would turn, and they would hack at their former comrades.
"Ruler Immortal, Subjects Undying."
This was the Domain Authority Kaito awakened after advancing to Tier 3 Undead Ruler.
As long as he didn't die, his undead were an undying legion.
After several charges, not only did they fail to break out...
They watched helplessly as their companions turned into enemies one by one, and the bone wall grew thicker and thicker.
Despair spread through the ranks like a plague.
Kyle knew it couldn't go on like this.
As the only formal Knight here, he had to step up. Capture the bandit leader to capture the bandits!
He locked his target onto the one-armed skeleton wielding the bone-cleaving greatsword.
That guy was the skeleton resurrecting the undead!
"Hah!"
Kyle channeled his mana (battle aura), turning his body into a stream of light, charging at Pride.
The Knight's longsword in his hand traced a fierce arc, aiming straight for the opponent's skull.
Pride merely sidestepped nonchalantly, causing the sword strike infused with the full power of a Tier 2 Knight to hit empty air.
If not for the Ruler's order to capture this man and his two Tier 1 squires alive, this man would already be a pile of crushed bones.
Pride's Soul Fire flickered, filled with contempt.
Seeing his strike miss, Kyle twisted his wrist, smashing the pommel of his sword viciously toward Pride's ribs.
The move change was extremely fast.
However, he only saw a blur before his eyes.
A bony foot imprinted itself on his flank with speed several times faster than his own.
THUD!
A loud bang. Kyle flew backward, smashing heavily into a large tree. A clear footprint appeared on his sturdy armor.
He tasted sweetness in his throat and spat out a mouthful of blood, propping himself up with his longsword to barely keep from kneeling.
He lost.
Lost thoroughly, without suspense.
At this moment, Pride raised his single arm.
With a casual wave of his bony hand.
Inside the encirclement, aside from Kyle and his two squires who had also reached Tier 1...
All other cavalrymen still resisting were instantly drowned by skeletons outnumbering them several times over.
The screams stopped abruptly.
Moments later, those cavalrymen stood up again, transformed into new Skeleton Soldiers, and silently retreated into the army formation.
The entire forest clearing fell dead silent.
Kyle looked at the comrades who had once fought by his side.
Now they had become members of the enemy legion. His mind went blank.
He and his two squires became the only living things left in this feast of slaughter.
Surrounded by over a thousand skeletons, they were literally birds in a cage.