Chapter 378: The Sword Battle in Xiaohe City Ends

When the castle wall was breached by Hiddleston, a slaughter was already inevitable. Consumed by pent-up frustration, Baron Eunas Stonebreaker charged forward in a frenzy, leading the assault. Nearly two hundred elite Earth Knights from the two knight orders followed up with a fierce attack, killing everyone in sight.

The nameless castle, built beside the river, became the stage for a bloody battle.

Countless combat techniques were unleashed within the castle.

Choosing not to join the initial assault, Liszt continued to dismantle the castle with Hiddleston, collapsing half of the castle walls before stopping. With such an open entry point, nothing could stop the knights' charge, and the battle was reaching its peak.

At that moment.

Liszt waved his hand commandingly, ordering the remaining Earth Knights to follow up and push into the castle.

He himself drew his Red Blood Sword and leaped towards the castle. With the situation under control, securing some kills seemed like a good idea. Or rather, it was about overwhelming the enemy and reducing their own knights' casualties.

"Great Flame Wave!"

He silently channeled mana and casually unleashed a combat technique. The flame-wrapped Red Blood Sword sliced through the enemy Earth Knight's armor, leaving a deep, bone-revealing wound. With an additional ordinary attack, he instantly killed a relatively young and inexperienced Earth Knight.

In truth, among all the knights on the battlefield, his own face was also relatively youthful.

Fighting and advancing, he soon reached the heart of the castle, where he saw Baron Eunas locked in a fierce, evenly-matched duel with an opponent.

No one else could intervene.

Judging by the opponent's attire, Liszt immediately guessed that he was the lord of the nameless castle, the Baron of Small River Castle, also a seasoned elite Earth Knight. Though his castle lacked prestige and even a name, his strength was formidable. The slightly wounded Baron Eunas couldn't gain the upper hand.

"Quick end!"

Liszt didn't care for fair one-on-one duels, and neither did the battlefield. Raising his Red Blood Sword, he immediately unleashed the ultimate technique, the Heart of the Fire Dragon Drill.

Forcefully intervening in the battle.

With Liszt's assistance, the tide of the battle instantly turned. A minute later, the opposing Baron's strength faltered, his steps staggering. Both Liszt and Eunas noticed the opening, and their swords almost simultaneously struck the gaps in the opposing Baron's armor.

Pierce!

Pierce!

Mana surged, particularly Liszt's fire-attribute mana, which exploded inside the opposing Baron, causing severe internal injuries.

"Ah!"

The opposing Baron roared, unable to hold on any longer, and collapsed to the ground, dead.

Even in death, the Baron's dramatic collapse irritated Liszt, who kicked the body aside. Then, stepping over the corpse, he moved to assist other areas still under pressure. Eunas also moved around, providing support. As a knight who relied on potions, his swordsmanship was excellent, and his results were like mowing down enemies.

Twenty minutes later, the sounds of fighting and killing in the castle began to fade.

Thirty minutes later, all signs of battle had ceased.

The castle defense battle was over.

Without much drama.

"Count the casualties." Shaking off the congealed blood on his Red Blood Sword, Liszt walked out of the castle and took a breath of fresh air. The inside of the castle reeked of blood and filth.

A moment later, Captain Leiden approached him. "Lord Commander, one hundred and forty knights from the Black Knights participated in the battle, nine were martyred, and seventeen were severely wounded. The Grey Knights had sixty-nine participants, eleven were martyred, and twenty-one were severely wounded. In total, one hundred and five Earth Knights and numerous squires were slain in this battle."

Among the nine Black Knights who fell was one of Liszt's followers, the recently recruited Leslie Leafpile.

One of the severely wounded knights was also a follower of Liszt, his former classmate Rick Footprint. This nineteen-year-old son of a minor noble had recently become an Earth Knight and was still quite inexperienced. He was severely wounded just after charging into the castle and lay groaning on the ground until he was discovered after the battle ended.

In fact, in knightly battles, few are killed outright; most are severely wounded and lose their combat effectiveness.

After the battle, wounded knights are either captured as prisoners or rescued by their comrades, and the casualty rate is not usually very high. However, this time the Duke refused any prisoners, and all surviving knights from the defeated side were finished off, resulting in the complete annihilation of the knights from the nameless castle.

"Phew."

The battle at Mane City had zero casualties, while the fight for Little River City claimed nine lives.

Liszt understood that sacrifices were inevitable in battle, but hearing the casualty figures still left a bitter taste in his mouth. He asked, "Captain Leiden, what should we do with the bodies of those who fell in battle?"

"Cremate them, and may their spirits return to the glory of knighthood!"

"Then let's cremate them."

"Yes, Lord Commander!"

...

Treating the wounded, looting the castle, and resting—these tasks were delegated to subordinates. Liszt and Eunas stayed in the top room of the castle, drinking freshly brewed coffee and reviewing the battle losses.

Eunas’s face was not one of excitement; it was quite pale. "The battle was more grueling than I expected. I’m used to the raiding style of the Exploitation Order, but siege warfare is unfamiliar to me. This led to the Grey Knights being heavily devastated, and we’re now on the brink of collapse."

During the previous cavalry charge, the Grey Knights were caught unprepared and half of them were severely wounded. This siege battle had cost them over thirty more casualties.

Now, only thirty-seven knights remained capable of fighting.

"Eunas, what is the style of the Exploitation Order?" Liszt asked.

"The Exploitation Order focuses on looting. We travel between major cities with the Count, plundering resources without engaging in siege warfare. To prevent us from looting valuable resources, the knights from the castles have to come out and fight us, which gives us the opportunity to charge."

On open ground, with sword saints like Lee William of the Coral Island leading the charge, their knights were very strong. They also picked easier targets, avoiding the territories of veteran Marquises and Counts. Hit-and-run tactics, striking swiftly and leaving with spoils.

Moreover, local mercenaries would exploit the chaos to abduct people and secretly sell them to the knights of the Sapphire Duchy as serfs.

So, in the Exploitation Order, excess plundered resources didn’t need to be taken away; they could be sold on the spot.

People are always swayed by profit.

In the Exploitation Order, charges on flat ground went smoothly, with little experience in siege battles. Eunas had approached this battle with his old mindset, leading to excessive losses.

"If you hadn’t arrived with Hiddleston, I doubt I could have taken Little River City’s castle, and my lifelong honor would have been lost here!"

Thinking of the terrifying outcome, Eunas's sturdy body shuddered slightly.

Perhaps even the Count underestimated the differences between this war and the Exploitation Order.

Liszt's face was serious, but in his heart, he felt a bit relieved. "If our honor is lost, we’ll reclaim it. With Little River City’s castle secured and all opposing knights eliminated, we’ll set out early tomorrow for Greenleaf Castle in Greenwood City to assist Viscounts Trick and Levis!"

Greenwood City also had a Viscount, a well-established one with a named castle—Greenleaf Castle.