Chapter 35: Charge at the Human‑Faced Lion Knight!

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"Please look here."

Lu Kan pointed at the winding routes on the parchment map, stopped at a small castle symbol marked beneath the capital's location, and explained to Su Ya,

"Our original route was to sail from Plymouth Port on the kingdom's southwest side to Southampton, then go straight to the Golden Iron Curtain and return to the capital for reporting."

"But now this road is impassable; as for the reason, I suppose you already understand."

Su Ya nodded,

Although he could not read this oversimplified, elevation‑line‑free, scale‑free, orientation‑less old‑style map that showed only a cluster of castles, nor did he know where he himself was on the map, and even he could not fathom how Lu Kan and Mei Li could clearly grasp and plot their next moves from such a map.

But Su Ya had just been beaten by the Macedonians.

He had personally witnessed countless Macedonian armies along the south‑to‑north route, and he had felt firsthand how treacherous that road was.

"The sea route and the straight eastern road to the Golden Iron Curtain have been completely sealed, so we can only take a detour."

Lu Kan looked at the three people gathered around the one‑legged dining table and continued,

"Now, to our north lies Sol City under Sir Bern's rule."

Hearing this, Su Ya recalled the Bern Territory they had just passed and the already deserted ruined city, and couldn't help asking:

"Wait, what's the relationship between the Sir Bern you mentioned and the Bern Territory we're in?"

Dagonite, upon hearing, immediately answered Su Ya respectfully:

"It's the same person; both places are governed by Sir Bern. He was a knight enfeoffed by the Grand Duke of Cornwall, and later bought his title from the king and the Grand Duke of Cornwall."

Then, as if fearing Su Ya might misjudge the situation, Dagonite carefully explained,

"It is now the seventh day since the war began, and the Conqueror King's army is advancing in a straight line to the southeast, so the cities north of this route have not suffered large‑scale attacks."

"Although the collapse of the first two defensive lines makes the surrounding fall inevitable, the northern Sol City is still temporarily under Sir Bern's control, and the knight should have received orders from the rear capital, working to withdraw and evacuate civilians."

"If we can reach there, we can use this temporarily opened route to get to the capital."

"This is the only route we can attempt now."

Dagonite's explanation raised no objections,

and Mei Li and Lu Kan saw it the same way.

However, Su Ya always felt something was off,

Anyone who has played strategy games knows that when besieging a city you must leave the enemy a retreat, then later block it, creating a siege‑and‑pork‑butcher scenario.

He looked up at the three, asked anxiously: "So if we go there, won't we encounter any difficulties?"

"You already said this place is already a mess—a stew of Luekeong mages, Delegates, Cross Forbidden Knights, magician assassins."

Those terms, though Su Ya didn't know what they were, sounded intimidating!

Mei Li shook her head and explained:

"Non‑semi‑heroic‑level professionals find it hard to bargain before organized armies."

"Moreover, people of this tier have basically been conscripted en masse by the Conqueror King."

"And these scattered faction professionals, when facing organized armies without a full tactical squad, essentially won't resist unless they want to die."

Mei Li thought for a moment and added:

"Although we are still few, we barely can form a magic‑shield that evades detection eyes; plus the party has two Title‑level masters, and me. If we're unlucky and meet blockers, our combat power is fully sufficient to handle the danger."

"Title‑level?"

Su Ya heard the term again, and Dagonite, who was watching his expression, immediately elaborated:

"Title‑level, what we martial artists generally call Master‑level,

it describes a person who stands out far beyond ordinary practitioners within a profession, a rank between profession‑level and heroic‑level; upon reaching it one gains some powers beyond normal people."

"But overall, this level's strength is limited: it can knock a horse down with one punch, or defeat seven or eight ordinary people in a few rounds, still far below the heroes who charge battlefields. Against a trained army, even a single charge would make us flee."

"My king, your Knight, Dagonite, and this treacherous thief are all Title‑level."

No, you look more like a thief than Lu Kan the thief!

Su Ya muttered silently,

However, although Dagonite was modest, having seen Lu Kan clash with Seleucus, he wouldn't take these non‑human self‑deprecations seriously.

As a Master‑level, Lu Kan's speed exceeds what the human eye can track, leaving only after‑images; in real combat, against such a foe, Su Ya would be down on the ground in less than a round.

No matter how many martial arts he has learned, or how many secret techniques he has picked up,

in pure numbers those are just flashy fluff!

At this point, learning that Dagonite is also Master‑level, Su Ya understood why Lu Kan had to deceive Mei Li into cooperating before daring to strike the outside Knights.

Lu Kan might be able to toy with them using his exaggerated Master‑level thief speed, but he could never stand toe‑to‑toe against Dagonite's cavalry siege, nor could he slaughter the cavalry led by Dagonite.

And now,

Su Ya finally relaxed a little.

Although Lu Kan's earlier words still lingered in his mind,

once the king's identity is exposed, both sides will target and frame him fiercely, but that is a concern for later,

for now, as long as the cavalry are kept from revealing his identity,

with two Master‑level protectors and Mei Li, who seems to hold a powerful trump card, by his side, his situation is clearly countless times safer than when he first crossed over!

However,

Lu Kan, however, spoke softly at this moment:

"My king, that said, we indeed may encounter some expected difficulties, look here—"

He moved his finger to the area in front of Sol City on the map and drew a circle,

"As mentioned before,"

"Armies only meet armies."

And unfortunately—within this range ahead of us, a powerful Macedonian army is prowling.

They come from the Egyptian region under Macedonian rule; their leader is a semi-hero who commands the human-faced lion cavalry regiment,

This person is a friend of the Conqueror King who studied together with Aristotle, rumored to be the illegitimate son of Philip II, the actual ruler of Egypt, and also a candidate for the next Egyptian pharaoh.

Human-faced lion knight, Ptolemy!

Su Ya blinked his eyes,

Ptolemy?

Holy shit, it's a pharaoh,

Or the legendary figure who founded the last dynasty of ancient Egypt!

Wait, let me slow down—what did you just say? Say it again.

Lu Kan patted Su Ya's shoulder, showing an encouraging smile:

"Your Majesty, you need to lead us in a charge against this human-faced lion knight!"

Su Ya froze, stunned for a moment, helplessly pointing at himself,

"You say—"

"Me, fight the pharaoh?"

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(End of chapter)