Chapter 108: Death

The sun, having flown across the sky for a day, slowly sank to the west of the Misty Mountains, and shadows gradually shrouded the entire eastern part of Rhovanion.

The fleet led by Herbert had already traveled several dozen kilometers along the Running River; the young men had already changed shifts several times due to exhaustion, yet they could not and dared not rest.

As the two groups of men continued to advance eastward along the Running River, the trees along the riverbanks gradually grew denser. The thick, dense forest was no longer suitable for horses to gallop through. Even if they were unwilling, Baal and Akad, who led the Cavalry, had no choice but to abandon the strategy of closely following Herbert along the bank and instead went to search for other paths more suitable for Cavalry.

At this time, the north bank of the river had finally quieted down due to the departure of the Easterlings, but Herbert's nervous heart did not become calm because of the change in the surrounding environment.

On the contrary, he was even more nervous; after all, it is the unseen enemy that makes people more fearful.

Herbert knew that Baal would not give up just like that, and the speed of running on horseback along the bank far exceeded that of a boat traveling against the current; he always felt that the enemy might be waiting for him up ahead.

"Continue to advance along the south bank. Longbowmen, keep a constant watch on the movements of the north bank."

The trees on both banks grew increasingly dense as the small boats moved forward. Birds flying up from time to time reminded the people in the river that the forest on the banks was not peaceful, the river had also become more turbulent at this moment, and the environment before them had grown dimmer.

In the past, merchant caravans rowing small boats would always rest for a night on the bank after reaching this point, so as to have a good physical state the next morning to deal with the more difficult river sections ahead.

At this moment, Herbert, with his brows tightly furrowed, was caught in a dilemma. He was hesitating whether to give the order to dock and rest. On the south bank of the river, he saw a large number of traces left behind by his own clansmen after camping. The traces were very fresh, and someone had even thoughtfully left tents for those of them coming up from behind.

These various signs indicated that the previous batch of townspeople who had left were not very far from here.

Herbert did not want to go ashore to rest at this time. He knew that the enemy and their horses must need rest, but the boats did not. As long as he arranged for his men to sleep on the boats in shifts and take turns rowing, they could keep moving forward along the river, and perhaps they could rely on this method to shake off the enemy's pursuit.

While Herbert was thinking, the small boats were still moving forward slowly but firmly. The river channel gradually narrowed, and the distance between the boats hugging the south bank and the north bank was shrinking rapidly; it was now less than twenty meters, and the Easterlings' short bows could exert one hundred percent of their performance at this distance.

But Herbert, who had fallen into deep thought, did not notice this at the first moment. Having maintained a high level of mental concentration while entangled with the enemy for a long day, he was already very tired.

However, the Attendant beside Herbert noticed that something was wrong. He looked at the Lord who was deep in thought and said tentatively, "My Lord."

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~~~"

A large flock of birds taking flight from the forest interrupted the Attendant's words and also interrupted Herbert's thoughts. Following the departure of the birds, countless Easterling soldiers surged out from the forest holding short bows, led by none other than Baal and Akad.

Looking at the enemies surging out of the forest, Herbert widened his eyes, and a terrible thought suddenly appeared in his heart.

"I might die here."

It turned out that after the Easterlings lost sight of Herbert, they had luckily found a small path in the forest along the bank suitable for horses to pass through. Then, under Baal's suggestion, after galloping on this path for nearly an hour, they had far outpaced Herbert's party.

Then they laid an ambush on the bank where the river channel was narrower. Finally, before dark, they waited for their prey.

"Fire arrows! Shoot them to death for me!"

Baal looked at Herbert and the others in the river with eyes spitting fire; he had already lost the desire to capture them. His mood at this moment was a mix of anger and fear, making him only want to kill the Northmen before him as quickly as possible.

It turned out that after Ashur's envoy accompanied Akad to learn about the situation in Red River Town, he was naturally extremely dissatisfied. The military operation of more than four thousand people from two tribes had gained nothing except for an abandoned town.

The supplies, slaves, and wealth that Ashur wanted—the envoy hadn't even seen a single hair of them, which naturally made it impossible for him to answer to Ashur upon his return.

Subsequently, after seeing Baal, Ashur's envoy naturally directed his grievances at him. Baal, who had words he couldn't speak, had accumulated a considerable amount of dissatisfaction amidst the envoy's sarcastic remarks along the way.

After all, he was also a Warlord in charge of a tribe of several thousand people.

But Baal did not dare to talk back at all. Moreover, he believed that the priority at this moment was that he could not leave Herbert alive. If this guy were captured and taken back, and he were to say a few nonsense words in front of Ashur, claiming that it was Baal who tipped them off and let the people of Red River Town run away...

Then he, a Warlord of the Bartra people, might really have to flee for his life. Baal, who had climbed to his current position with such difficulty, could not allow such a thing to happen.

Following the order to fire, over a hundred arrows flew out from the north bank of the Running River, striking toward the position of the Northmen. Caught off guard, one-third of the Longbowmen who were preparing to draw their bows to fight back died miserably under this wave of arrow rain.

Herbert, standing in the center of the formation, was extremely lucky to have dodged this volley. Looking at the Longbowmen falling into the water one after another beside him, he shouted hoarsely, "Go ashore! Quickly, go ashore!"

At this moment, Herbert was burning with anxiety. He knew deeply that engaging in a shooting match with so many enemies while in the river was definitely a dead end. They had to get to the bank and use the advantage of the Longbows' longer shooting range to pull away and engage the enemy, only then would there be a possibility of resisting and entangling the enemy.

However, before this old man of nearly fifty years could issue further orders, a pitch-black arrow with barbs pierced through his chest. Herbert looked down at the chest he had instinctively covered with his right hand, and his body went limp, slumping onto the boat.

Every breath brought intense pain from his lungs, making Herbert's vision go black in waves. Gradually losing consciousness, he felt his body seemingly being dragged by someone, and many anxious shouts reached his ears.

But he could no longer hear clearly what his subordinates were saying. Still worried about the safety of his clansmen, he could only exhaust all his strength, and at the very end of his life, he issued his last order in an extremely weak voice: "Run... notify... the clansmen... run."

Before the words had even faded, this Lord of Red River Town lost his breath in the arms of his subordinates.

Looking at Herbert, who had been shot, Akad, with his dark skin and messy hair, put down the strangely shaped Longbow in his hand and chuckled coldly. He knew that that man no longer had any possibility of survival.

Akad did not have as many thoughts as Baal, but he understood the principle of capturing the ringleader to capture the bandits. The person who was clearly issuing orders was naturally the leader of these few dozen people; killing him first was definitely not wrong.

Baal looked at Akad, who had shot and killed Herbert beside him, and a little bit of gratitude suddenly appeared in his heart. After all, if Herbert had run away, it would have been an endless source of trouble for him.

"What are you looking at, trash? Why aren't you chasing yet?"

Akad felt a wave of disgust as he watched Baal staring at him. He looked down on this guy, whose heart was full of schemes, not at all. He always wondered, as an Easterling, why did Baal always dress himself so cleanly? Did he want to be the boss's son-in-law? Was it his turn?

This sentence directly caused the little bit of gratitude Baal had for Akad to vanish completely. The face that was about to show a smile returned to calmness once more. After a cold snort, Baal turned and walked toward the small path they had discovered.

At this time, the few remaining Longbowmen of Red River Town could no longer care about their grief. Carrying their dead Lord on their backs, they quickly fled into the dense forest on the south bank and ran frantically toward the west. They still had the mission their Lord had entrusted to them to complete, but how could they, on foot, outrun these Easterling Cavalry?

But they could not care about that either. The death of their Lord had thrown their hearts into chaos; at this moment, being able to execute Herbert's final order was already fully sufficient to prove their loyalty.

After eliminating the thorn in his side, Baal had completely relaxed. He suggested that everyone rest on the bank for the night, and Akad and Ashur's envoy agreed to this suggestion.

After all, the Cavalry had been entangled with the Northmen for a day and were already very tired; the horses also needed to rest and eat some concentrated feed to recover the physical strength consumed during the day.

The next morning, the Easterlings, having finished their rest, once again pursued westward along the Running River. Baal did not believe that there was only this one fleet in the river channel; he boldly speculated that the slaves, supplies, and wealth were very likely just a short distance ahead.

Yet the facts were just as he thought. That very afternoon, they caught up with the fleet Herbert had been determined to protect. It was hundreds of townspeople piloting dozens of small boats, sailing on the Running River.

The Easterlings, finally seeing their prey, became excited in an instant. They had a Cavalry of over a hundred men; just by catching up to the fleet ahead, they could rely on the bows and arrows in their hands to force these Northmen, who only knew how to farm, to stop, even if these Humans ran to the south bank out of fear, they would not be able to escape their grasp.

After all, these Easterlings and the Rune Horses beneath them were not incapable of swimming.

However, just as Baal and the others were driving their horses forward in extreme excitement, a huge roar erupted in the forest to their northwest. Their mounts all stopped in their tracks in terror at this roar, and the horses' heads began to sway nervously in the tense atmosphere, seemingly wanting to find the creature that had emitted such a terrifying sound.

Subsequently, a black bear with a ferocious, massive face appeared from the direction of the roar and quickly lunged toward them. Following behind the black bear were dozens of Wilderness Town Light Cavalry holding Throwing Spears.

Facing a behemoth they had never seen before, the Easterling Cavalry's mounts issued terrified neighs one after another and began to run around in the forest uncontrollably, wanting to stay far away from the terrifying creature.

As for the Easterling Cavalry riding them, they were indeed worthy of being the elite under Baal and Akad. Except for a few who were thrown off their horses in the panic, most of the others managed to calm their mounts in a short time. Then they looked nervously at their leaders; a few soldiers, unable to suppress their fear, had already begun to turn and flee.

"Run!

!"

With a great shout from Baal, the Cavalry under his command were the first to rein in their horses and flee frantically along the path they had come, as if the Black Knight, who inspired extreme fear, were behind them.

Akad, who was a step later, also drove his men to start fleeing with a look of unwillingness after a brief moment of hesitation.

He had never seen such a massive black bear; the momentum of that charge directly filled Akad's heart with fear. If even the strongest of them was like this, let alone his subordinates who were far inferior to him.

Akad knew that this battle was simply impossible to fight.

However, it was this short moment of hesitation that allowed the extremely fast Grim to catch up to them; the speed of the panicked horses was far inferior to Grim at full charge, and having transformed into a great bear, he did not actively attack these enemies running along the narrow path, but any horse he approached would stop in its tracks at his roar and crouch on the ground, remaining indifferent no matter how their riders urged them on.

These Easterlings, unable to drive their horses, were quickly overtaken by the Light Cavalry of Wilderness Town led by Cress, and one Throwing Spear after another was thrown from the hands of the cavalry, flying toward those enemies who wanted to run into the forest, subsequently piercing their bodies and taking their lives.

After throwing the Throwing Spears in their hands, the Light Cavalry drew the sabers at their waists, bypassed the riderless horses, and continued to charge toward the enemies ahead; the steeds between their legs had long been familiar with Grim's scent and would not collapse to the ground like the Rune Horses at this moment.

Grim, in a high-speed charge, was now following behind Akad, but as time passed, the Rune steed beneath Akad gradually recovered, and his massive size also consumed a great deal of Grim's stamina, so his speed was gradually unable to keep up with the enemy before him.

At this moment, the sweat-covered Easterling Warlord looked back at the great bear that was getting further and further away, his heart settling, and then he thought of his elite subordinates who had all died miserably, suddenly feeling hatred for Baal, who was running further ahead.

"If it weren't for his suggestion, if it weren't for him running so fast, how could I be in such a sorry state? When I go back, I will definitely make this guy pay."

However, before the hate-filled Akad could think of a way to make Baal pay, a white steed actually overtook Grim at this moment and rushed rapidly toward Akad, followed immediately by three Flying Daggers that flew out with a "swish, swish, swish," pinning themselves into Akad's occiput, neck, and back respectively.

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This Easterling Warlord, whose vital points were suddenly attacked, felt his vision go black, and soon he could not control himself; in extreme unwillingness, he tumbled off his horse to the ground, and then he watched helplessly as a massive figure pressed down on him, followed by the sound of bones breaking, and Akad lost consciousness at this moment.

The one who shot the Flying Daggers was naturally Cress; the top-grade steed she rode, named "Sapphire," did not excel in other aspects, but speed was its forte, and on flat ground, it could even run on par with an Elf Horse.

At this time, Cress, who had reined in her horse to a stop, looked at Baal and the others who had run far away and waved her hand to stop her subordinates who were preparing to continue the pursuit.

"Forget it, don't chase them. Clean up the battlefield and return to camp."

After all, her purpose in coming this time was to save those Northern Men in the river channel, not to kill all these invading Easterlings.