A Realistic Mount & Blade Game

In the deeper darkness, a distinct, heavy thudding sound arose, as if a weighty object were striking the concrete ground, causing it to crack.

It sounded as if a hammer were pounding the ground, shattering the concrete.

The sound was heavy, approaching rapidly from the distance.

This was indeed a dangerous situation.

"Cavalry! Cavalry is charging towards us!" A Swadian recruit, startled, turned towards the sound in the darkness, gripping his long-handled scythe tightly, and shouted a warning to Zhang Caidong, his mentor: "We have to run!"

"Then run! What are you standing there for?" Zhang Caidong was already pulling Zhang Bo back as he fled, followed by the timid little sprites.

Seeing his ten Swadian recruits standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a line, raising their long-handled scythes as if to block the charging cavalry from the darkness, his face showed a mixture of astonishment, surprise, and complexity.

"Get moving! Don't just stand there! Everyone, retreat!" Zhang Caidong thought the Swadian recruits were trying to protect him, the Spirit Realm Commander, sacrificing themselves to buy him time to escape.

"Understood." The ten Swadian recruits immediately turned and, wielding their long-handled scythes, quickly followed Zhang Caidong, Zhang Bo, and the sprites towards the light.

Fortunately, they weren't far from the light, and the holy light from Deherim's torch tower could effectively penetrate the darkness. Even as they retreated, reaching a distance of forty or fifty meters, they could still see the faint glow.

This allowed them to easily find their way.

However, as they ran, the sound of heavy objects striking the concrete, the sound of cavalry charging towards them, grew closer and closer.

Anxiety was etched on the faces of Zhang Caidong and Zhang Bo, and they ran faster and faster.

They had guessed what it was: the legendary, elusive skeleton cavalry!

Generally, these skeleton cavalry rarely appeared nearby, usually appearing in the wilderness. Even if they appeared within the city limits, they would immediately retreat, as if the city held some special taboo for them.

But now that they had encountered these skeleton cavalry, they needed to escape quickly. How could they possibly withstand these undead monsters, these skeleton cavalry?

After all, they were just infantry, low-level infantry at that. Even when they had Spirit Realm creatures like gnolls as Spirit Realm followers, they didn't dare to confront these skeleton cavalry head-on.

Each skeleton cavalryman was like a skeletal warrior wielding a spear and long sword.

Their entire skeleton appeared to be made of a dark, shiny metal, with a metallic luster.

Their defense and combat abilities were stronger than ordinary skeletal warriors, not to mention the zombies and skeletons they usually encountered. There was simply no comparison.

There was no way they could have the ability to fight back.

"Wait! What's that sound in the darkness?" As Zhang Caidong and Zhang Bo led the Swadian recruits and sprites towards the light, Besitur and the Khergit Veteran Horsemen instinctively looked up, their smiles freezing on their faces. They had clearly heard something too.

"It's cavalry." A Khergit Veteran Horseman immediately spoke, identifying the heavy sound as the sound of horseshoes striking the concrete ground.

"Cavalry is coming?" Hearing the Khergit Veteran Horseman's words, the surrounding ordinary Khergit Horsemen's expressions changed drastically as they raised their nomadic bows, their faces extremely solemn.

"Spread out! Everyone be prepared!" Besitur immediately waved to the fifteen Khergit Veteran Horsemen who had come with him, and the forty or so Khergit Horsemen who had gathered around, and they all scattered.

They were light cavalry, and they also had bows and arrows. As long as they spread out and created distance, if they didn't encounter similar horse archers, they could use their bows and the Khergit horses under them to show their opponents what the Khergits were best at: guerrilla warfare.

However, as they left, they didn't forget to remind the Swadians and Blue Star humans who were still fighting the undead monsters to leave quickly.

"The situation is special, you must leave here!" The Khergit Steppe Bandits called out to them.

The executives and middle managers among the Blue Star humans looked blankly at the Swadian commoners, who in turn looked equally blankly at the Blue Star humans.

Neither of them understood what was happening.

But then, the Swadian commoners seemed to hear something, and suddenly turned their heads to look into the depths of the darkness. Their expressions changed drastically, and they recognized the heavy thudding sound as coming from cavalry.

"It's cavalry! Cavalry units! A force of nearly thirty or forty! Many cavalry units are charging towards us!"

They all warned the Blue Star humans, and with the Blue Star humans now aware of the seriousness of the situation, they quickly began to retreat.

The Blue Star humans, of course, understood the seriousness of the situation. They also saw Zhang Caidong running quickly from the depths of the darkness, his face filled with terror, waving for them to leave quickly.

"Quick, quick, let's go, let's go! Skeleton cavalry has appeared in the depths of the darkness, this is no small matter! This is not something we can handle, we must rely on Lord Shen Mu's troops to resist."

They urged everyone to leave and retreat quickly.

"Let's go, let's go." The Blue Star humans followed Zhang Caidong's footsteps, leading their Swadian commoners quickly away from the darkness, seeing the light ahead, and rushing straight into it, completely escaping the pursuit of the undead rules, the gray mist, and the skeleton cavalry.

And just as they all left the darkness, almost within reach, a skeleton cavalryman radiating a dark metallic luster, riding a skeletal warhorse, charged out from the gray mist.

He held a dark, shiny spear in his hand, and a similarly dark, shiny scimitar in his left hand.

From their eyes, a faint blue soul fire emanated an extremely intense icy aura. Similarly, the eyes of the skeletal warhorses beneath them blazed with this same faint blue, icy soul fire, creating a terrifying display of power.

Even after they charged out of the darkness and the area governed by the necromantic rules of the meeting place, arriving in this place protected by holy light and illuminated by the rules of Calradia, they didn't immediately die or burst into holy flames.

Instead, a thick black smoke billowed from their bodies, and a black mist appeared within them, seemingly engaged in a fierce confrontation with the holy light shining upon them.

These skeletal knights even possessed the remaining strength to eye the Swadian recruits just seven or eight meters ahead, contemplating urging their skeletal warhorses forward to slaughter these living humans with their right-hand lances and left-hand scimitars, turning them into undead.

Just then, a series of sharp, whistling sounds suddenly erupted before them.

In front of these skeletal knights, a series of black shadows instantly appeared; the Khergit Steppe Bandits and Steppe Bandit Elite, who had spread out twenty or thirty meters away, had all raised their nomad bows and fired their arrows at them.

This forced the skeletal knights, who had been about to charge forward and engage in battle, to halt their advance, instinctively raising their hands to shield their heads, preventing the incoming arrows from striking the soul fire within their skulls.

These skeletal knights knew where their vital points were and understood where to protect.

Thus, amidst a flurry of crackling sounds, the four or five skeletal knights who had charged out stood their ground and began to defend.

The incoming arrows struck the skeletal knights directly, creating cracks in their dark, metallic-sheened bones, even knocking off some of the more fragile, smaller bone fragments.

However, these skeletal knights were not fundamentally harmed. Instead, they watched as the barrage of arrows gradually weakened, raised their heads, and looked at the Khergit Steppe Nomads in the distance who were still drawing their bows, preparing for the next volley. They then turned their skeletal warhorses and retreated back into the darkness.

Then, as the heavy sound of hooves striking the ground gradually faded, they disappeared from the vicinity.

"Skeletal Knights," Beshtur said, lowering his nomad bow, his expression turning somewhat grim.

"Those fellows don't seem to be afraid of our arrows. But that's right, they're just skeletons. As long as we don't harm the soul fire in their heads, they won't die." Behind Beshtur, several Steppe Bandit Elite with whom he had a closer relationship rode up to his side. Looking at the nomad bows in their hands, their expressions were also quite unpleasant. "Beshtur, I think we should tell Lord Shemm about this and head back now."

"Yes, that's right, let's go," Beshtur nodded with a somber expression.

Previously, they had only encountered flesh-and-blood creatures. Even when they encountered some undead monsters, they could easily defeat them with their powerful combat abilities and nimble fighting skills.

This was the first time they had encountered such powerful skeletal knights, and he had also noticed that these skeletal knights even knew to raise their hands to block the arrows or lean to the side on their skeletal warhorses to evade them.

If that weren't the case, then some of their arrows would definitely have struck the heads of those skeletal warhorses or the heads of these skeletal knights, shattering their skull bones, piercing into their heads, and destroying the circuits of their soul fire.

That would have been equivalent to killing these undead monsters.

But none of that succeeded. They just watched helplessly as the three or four skeletal knights turned their horses around and left this place illuminated by light.

Returning to the darkness filled with the necromantic rules they were most familiar with.

"Moreover, these skeletal knights seem to be able to move around in places illuminated by light, which is much stronger than those skeletons and zombies that start emitting thick black smoke and spontaneously combust as soon as they enter," another Steppe Bandit Elite said, voicing his observations.

"That's indeed the case." Beshtur also noticed. He remained silent for a moment, then immediately said to the Steppe Bandit Elite behind him, "Continue patrolling with the Steppe Bandits you lead and don't relax your guard. I'll return to Dhirim myself to report to Lord Shemm. If you encounter those skeletal knights again, don't engage them in conflict. Immediately retreat behind the low wall and maintain a certain frequency of patrols."

"We understand." These Steppe Bandit Elite immediately nodded, then spurred their warhorses, taking the Steppe Bandits with them, and resumed their patrols.

However, compared to their previous relaxed demeanor, they were now noticeably more serious.

After all, having seen those skeletal knights, they had become quite concerned.

Beshtur then jerked the reins, riding his native Steppe Horse quickly towards Dhirim. As for the Blue Star humans and Swadian civilians behind him, their task was complete once they had entered the area illuminated by holy light.

His main task now was patrolling and discovering enemy activity. Now that he had discovered enemy activity and an abnormal situation, he needed to quickly return to Dhirim to report.

Soon, Beshtur arrived at the gates of Dhirim, and amidst the shouts of the Lake Rat Gang Scavengers who had spotted him approaching from afar, the city gates were opened to let him in.

He arrived at the entrance of the noble manor.

A Holy Tree Knight stood guard at the entrance, resting on his spear. Seeing him approach, he directly raised his hand in a gesture to stop him from proceeding: "Lord Beshtur, Lord Shemm is resting. Please do not proceed."

"I have something to report," Beshtur said.

"Is it urgent?" the Holy Tree Knight asked.

"Not urgent. In that case, I'll come back after dawn, after Lord Shemm wakes up." Beshtur hesitated for a moment, then turned his horse and headed towards the separate governor's residence next to the noble manor.

Anyway, the governor's residence and the noble manor were practically one and the same.

He would rest for a bit, then report this matter to Lord Shemm directly after dawn. (End of Chapter)