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My mind raced as the battle unfolded with lightning speed.

Katherine, who had cultivated the "Emperor Martial Tyrant Technique" to the eighth or ninth level using the royal bloodline of the Lion Clan, could easily defeat most human Sword Heroes, unless they were "Sacred Cup Knights" or "Dragon Emperor Knights." Unfortunately, the barbarians' physical prowess was not far from that of the Lion Clan, and this particular Sword Hero seemed to be an elite among elites, far surpassing ordinary humans. Fortunately, he had just ascended to the Sword Hero realm, and Katherine, being a high-ranking Shaman proficient in the divine arts of the War God, managed to hold her ground with the support of totemic and war song magic. However, the original goal of the barbarian Sword Hero was to break through the Minos warriors' grand maze formation. After being blocked by Katherine, their battle gradually separated the barbarian and orc lines. With Katherine's support, the Minos warriors also managed to escape the pursuit and accelerate their retreat southward.

"Griffin Knights, charge!" Knight Hein, the leader of the Sacred Sword Knights, raised his arm and shouted. At this moment, the human reinforcements he led had yet to cross the few kilometers to reach the battlefield, but the thirty Griffin Knights flying overhead had already arrived. Although these fierce seventh-level magical beasts were few in number, their powerful physiques and dragon-like flight speeds were enough to inflict severe damage on the orcs. If the orcs' retreat was delayed, they might face a combined attack from both humans and barbarians. Therefore, Knight Hein decisively issued orders to the airborne forces.

"A-Do, sing 'Nightfall'!" Just as the Griffin Knights were about to dive, a nimble figure shot up into the sky from the ground, two golden wings sharp as blades flanking him. A red shadow accompanied him, and when it heard the command, it spread its wings and hovered in the air, revealing itself to be a large red bird, about half the size of a man. It aimed at the Griffin Knights, opened its hooked beak, and a strange sound wave spread out in all directions. The nearby orcs and barbarians felt a sudden darkness before their eyes, recovering only moments later. However, the Griffin Knights who were directly hit were not so fortunate; they began to spin like drunkards, and several fell off their mounts, dying on the battlefield.

"Hehe, sounds good, right?" Taking advantage of the Griffin Knights' confusion, the golden-winged figure displayed terrifying flight speed, transforming into a golden web in the sky. In a short time, he struck repeatedly, slaying the temporarily blinded Griffin Knights one by one. Though I was too far away to hear the sounds of the battlefield, I immediately recognized the figure—it was Siegfried, the prodigious youth of the Golden Eagle Tribe, a Sword Master who practiced wind magic and the eagle clan's "Heavenly Peng Technique." The large red bird was the key to his magical cultivation, a wind-type companion magical beast called A-Do, a Blood Kite. The sound wave that caused the Griffin Knights to go blind and disoriented was likely a variation of its unique skill, "Blood Cry."

"It seems many old acquaintances have shown up, but where are my disciples?" I thought, watching the changing battle. I had carefully observed earlier that the wolf riders in the orc army were from the Red Wolf, Gray Wolf, and Black Wolf tribes, with no members from my Snow Wolf Tribe. Years ago, during the struggle for control of the Fountainebleau Gold Trade Route, the Red, Gray, and Black Wolf tribes had conspired with the orc king against me. But after the matter was settled and I reconciled with the orc king, these three tribes turned to me for favor. However, I did not forget their cunning and greed. I used the trade route to stir internal conflicts within the three tribes and recruited poor, small tribes on the fringes into the Fountainebleau domain. If there were no unexpected events over the past two years, I should have been able to form a force of over ten thousand wolf riders. However, these outsiders could never earn my complete trust, nor did I believe I possessed the charisma to make them loyal to the death. Therefore, those who received the ultimate teachings of the "Nine Yin Manual" and advanced equipment, becoming elite wolf riders, were still the young people of my Snow Wolf Tribe. Although the main force of the Snow Wolf Tribe had been fighting in the Northern Country, leading to a smaller population in Fountainebleau, many young people should have grown up over the past two years, making it possible to form a three-thousand-strong Snow Wolf Cavalry.

The reality proved my estimation of my territory to be entirely correct. Despite the Griffin Knights being eliminated by Siegfried, the "Blood Cry" sound wave from A-Do caused the Minos warriors' formation to stall momentarily. Although the orc army successfully retreated and avoided being caught between two forces, they did not escape the pursuit of the combined human and barbarian armies. Of course, this was the strategy of the human and barbarian commanders. Elite fighters like Katherine and Siegfried, carefully trained by the five major combat races, would not make the mistake of disrupting their own formations. As the two armies charged towards the retreating orcs, three thousand elite Snow Wolf riders emerged from the western side of the battlefield, joining the mixed wolf riders harassing the flanks, forming a nearly ten-thousand-strong charging formation that split the pursuing army in two.

These elite Snow Wolf riders were not only well-equipped but had also mastered three external techniques from the "Nine Yin Manual": the "Nine Yin Bone Claw," the "Heart-Crushing Palm," and the "Sunset Sky Bow." The Bone Claw was lethal against common soldiers, the Heart-Crushing Palm could penetrate heavy armor, and the Sunset Sky Bow provided long-range archery. Unlike humans, orcs were born with natural weapons, and their mount wolves were formidable killers. Combined with the saber configuration inspired by the Mongol cavalry of a previous life, the wolf riders possessed superior shock capabilities compared to human heavy knights.

Leading the charge was my first disciple, Antara, the commander of the Snow Wolf Guard, alongside his deputy, Osviri, a young woman of the Golden Wolf Clan. Their martial arts progress surprised me. When they left, they had just reached the Sword Hero realm, but now they had reached the peak of the Sword Hero realm and were expected to become Sword Masters soon. At this rate, their future aspiration to become Sword Heroes was not a dream, a significant achievement for orcs from humble origins, akin to a peasant's son achieving top honors in the imperial examinations.

The barbarians, along with the newly arrived reinforcements, numbered less than thirty thousand. The impact of ten thousand wolf riders from the side immediately plunged them into chaos. Many of them were elderly, women, and children, who, though fierce and skilled in combat, lacked the discipline to change formations and follow orders. Thus, their entire formation was completely disrupted. If Katherine had seized the opportunity to counterattack at this moment, she would have had at least an eighty percent chance of thoroughly defeating the enemy. However, I, the Dragon Knight, hovered high in the sky, supported by a vast group of mages and clerics. Both Katherine and I knew that any delay would result in devastating magical attacks on the orcs. Therefore, as the wolf riders repeatedly charged, the half-orcs and Minos warriors of the Bull Clan withdrew from the battlefield. By the time the wolf riders retreated en masse, the allied forces had lost the ability to pursue.