Chapter 56

At eleven in the morning, it was exactly lunchtime.

Cooking smoke still lingered above the Round Moon Hill, yet inside the grass storage house on the south side of Crescent Castle, twenty Crescent Knights had already gathered.

All were young and strong, with an average age under thirty.

The group formed a semicircle, surrounding two people in the middle.

One was Luosen, the other was the Knight Commander, Kaodelin.

Kaodelin lowered his voice and said: "The forest spirits in the mountains are our mortal enemies, yet Ales has betrayed us and become their accomplice!"

"He helped the forest spirits assassinate the old lord, and even tried to aid those foreign tribes in enslaving us—he is the most despicable traitor!"

As soon as those words were spoken, the faces of the Crescent Knights showed a shared hatred for the enemy.

Ales's reputation on the island was not good.

He is indeed a high-level warrior with decent strength, but he is cruel to the weak and cowardly before the strong—a complete scoundrel.

They were already dissatisfied with Ales occupying Crescent Castle, and now the baron's eldest son has returned.

He is as tall and sturdy as the old baron, yet possesses a nobility the old baron lacked, and he personally infiltrated the castle to rescue Kaodelin.

This courage and ability convinced every Crescent Knight present.

Luosen stepped forward as well, speaking solemnly: "Crescent City belongs not only to my Saxon family, but also to every Crescent Knight, and to all of humanity."

"Now the foreign tribes have placed their blades at our throats; we have no retreat, only a fight to the death."

The Crescent Knights listened intently, their faces showing solemn resolve, as if they had already prepared themselves to die in battle.

But immediately afterward, the young lord shifted his tone.

"But remember, we are not fighting alone."

"When I was in Dawn City, I was favored by Mother Nature and gained the affection of the Dawn Princess."

"Now the princess's loyal warriors wait outside the city; as soon as we open the castle gate, they can charge in and fight side by side with us!"

These words left the Crescent Knights present, including Kaodelin, somewhat puzzled.

Kaodelin instinctively asked: "My lord, what does the princess's favor mean? Did the princess look after you?"

The other Crescent Knights also looked at the new lord with confusion.

Luosen shook his head: "No, the princess married me."

The Crescent Knights looked at each other, feeling as if they were in a dream.

Luosen offered no further explanation, because the upcoming facts would speak for themselves.

He continued: "Next, we will charge out, seize control of the castle gate from Ales's trusted aides, and then lower the drawbridge."

"This is extremely dangerous; anyone could lose their life at any moment, but I swear by Mother Nature that I will fight alongside you to the very end!"

"Now, for Crescent City!"

The Crescent Knights gripped their weapons tightly and responded in low voices.

"For Crescent City!"

"Move out!"

Luosen led the way out of the grass storage house.

He had taken only a few steps when the Knight Commander Kaodelin caught up, staying two steps ahead and shielding Luosen's right side with his body.

Immediately afterward, several more Crescent Knights rushed forward, tightly protecting him in the midst of the crowd.

In the simple belief of the island warriors, a knight may die in battle, but the lord must not.

A knight's death in battle is the ultimate proof of courage and loyalty, and his family will be cared for by the lord.

But if the lord dies, the knight's struggle becomes meaningless.

The group gathered together; after leaving the grass storage house, many knight attendants followed, each staying close to the knight they served.

On average each knight brought three attendants, so the fifteen‑person squad instantly swelled to sixty and became very conspicuous.

But for the time being, no one noticed them.

Because Luosen had erected a low‑intensity mist barrier.

The spell creates a white mist around the group, enveloping them and blocking vision beyond five meters.

Its concealment is inferior to that of an intermediate invisibility veil; while it hides the enemy's sight, it also obscures the caster's own view.

Yet every Crescent Knight present knew the castle's routes intimately, so they had no fear of getting lost.

Under the cover of the white mist, they swiftly crossed some narrow open ground and arrived near the castle gate.

The gate is a vital point of any castle, naturally entrusted to trusted aides.

At this moment, the gate is guarded by the so‑called 'Mountain Knights,' named thus because Sir Ales's fief is Mountain Town.

A Crescent Knight quietly introduced him to Luosen.

"The gate commander is a high‑ranking knight named Sawadi, wielding an iron spear, with superb martial skill—a formidable fighter. When he comes out, the red‑haired one is him!"

Sawadi strode out from the barracks beside the gate, gripping his iron spear, and shouted gruffly: "What the heck, where did all this fog come from at noon?"

Before he finished speaking, Luosen's Knight's Guardian Magic Sword shot out like lightning, aiming straight at Sawadi's unprotected neck.

"Clang!"

Sawadi swung his iron spear and, in the nick of time, deflected the sword.

As a high‑level knight, his combat reflexes were extremely sharp.

But that was all.

"Pfft~"

A rune dagger followed close behind the sword, piercing Sawadi's heart and sending the red‑haired knight down to hell.

A flash of cold light appeared again, and the sword and dagger flew swiftly back into Luosen's hand.

Feeling the astonished gazes of the Crescent Knights, this was exactly the effect Luosen wanted, for island knights most admire the strong.

He immediately shouted low: "Half go open the gate, the other half follow me in battle!"

"Yes, my lord!"

The response of the Crescent Knights was noticeably stronger than before.

At the same time, the commotion at the gate finally alerted the garrison inside the castle.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

"Woo~~~~~"

The deep conch sound was blown.

"Clack~clack~clack~~~"

Amid the sound of the wooden hinge, the heavy and huge iron bone drawbridge lowered bit by bit.

It must be lowered bit by bit slowly; if it were dropped all at once, the drawbridge would likely be snapped in two by its own weight, not only wasting effort now but also making future repairs very troublesome.

The noise of opening the gate startled all the castle guards.

"Over here~~over here~~someone is opening the gate!"

"Such thick fog, nothing can be seen!"

"Quickly shoot arrows~shoot arrows at the gate~kill everyone!"

Suddenly, a hoarse roar came from behind.

It's Ales Knight arriving!

This guy has no potion, but he still has some tricks; he actually plans to use arrows to kill Luosen while the situation is unclear.

Indeed, many archers unaware of the situation began shooting arrows into the fog.

But because the situation was sudden, the gathered archers were few, so the arrow rain was sparse, only about a dozen arrows, with at most intermediate power, and the target was unclear.

Even more strangely, a very hidden strong current appeared above the white mist, sweeping all the arrows away.

It was Levin hiding in the dark who made a move.

At the same time, Luosen dispelled the white mist obstruction, revealing his figure. He let out a loud shout.

"Crescent warriors, your lord has returned!"

At the same time, he raised the knight's magic sword and continuously shot three bursts of bright light technique into the sky.

This was the prearranged signal for action between him and the Blaze Warband.

Less than three seconds after the signal was sent, a huge thunderclap was heard coming from below the slope, which was Yuepu's reply to him.

These unexpected movements instantly stalled the archers' offensive.

Many archers originally belonging to Crescent City immediately stopped shooting arrows.

The archers of Highland Town still wanted to shoot, but most were stopped by the Crescent archers beside them.

Thus, the arrow rain became very sparse and continued to decrease rapidly.

As the white mist quickly dissipated, the situation at the castle gate became clear.

From all directions inside the castle, a large number of warriors poured in, estimated to exceed 700.

These warriors packed the narrow open space behind the gate completely full.

Our side consisted of sixty warriors, with over twenty still busy opening the gate, and another forty-plus using makeshift shields they found, or simply planks, to protect Luosen in the middle.

Kodlin Knight stood on Luosen's right side, holding a large round shield wrapped in thick cowhide, which he had found in Savadi Knight's quarters.

He roared at the oncoming warriors: "Crescent City warriors, standing behind me is the true lord, the eldest son of Baron Ted, Luosen!"

"Do you want to point your swords at your lord?!"

With that shout, at least half of the warriors in the crowd showed hesitant expressions.

The archers also completely stopped.

Moreover, anyone with eyes could see at a glance that the young man behind Kodlin was the eldest son of the Old Baron.

Because the two look extremely alike.

"They're lying, shoot quickly, kill them!"

Ales shouted from behind the garrison, urging them on.

The Crescent warriors didn't listen to him, but the Highland warriors were again stirred up to act against Luosen.

Seeing this, Luosen directly controlled Puppet #2 to take a few steps, moving to a high place, exposing himself fully to everyone's view.

He let out a loud shout.

"White Sturgeon Island warriors, do you want to attack the Supreme Lord?"

This time, all the guards finally saw his appearance clearly.

A full face, tall and sturdy body, exquisite brand-new magic armor, weapons gleaming with cold light, condensing an aura of lofty majesty.

This appearance is truly outstanding, giving the feeling of a natural-born lord.

In contrast, Ales Knight in worn leather armor is nothing but a destitute country vagrant.

The Crescent warriors already didn't welcome Ales from Highland Town, feeling deep shame inside.

Now the legitimate heir has returned, looking so imposing, and they all felt their hearts sway at once.

After a moment's pause, at least half of the Crescent warriors defected on the spot, turning their weapons against Ales Knight.

The remaining half of the Crescent warriors also lost their fighting spirit.

Ales Knight's retainers, those Highland warriors, also ceased attacking, their faces showing much anxiety.

After all, the opposing side is the legitimate baron lord; even if they were useless it would be fine, but now this greatly undermined their morale.

Thus, the forces of Luosen and Ales Knight shifted from 60 versus 700 to over 200 versus over 500 in an instant.

Ales still seemed to have some advantage, but not an absolute one; in morale he even had a great disadvantage.

Both sides faced off in the open space before the gate, while the castle gate's drawbridge had already been lowered halfway.

As the situation increasingly favored Luosen, suddenly a loud "Snap!" came from the guards, and an iron arrow shot through the air, tracing a faint red battle-aura, straight for Luosen's chest.

It was actually a deadly cold arrow.

"Clang~~~~"

Another booming sound rang out.

Luosen stood his ground without dodging, using only the magic sword in his hand to deflect the cold arrow sideways with one hand.

"Mmm~~~"

Everyone instinctively let out a gasp of astonishment.

Blocking a cold arrow head‑on with a melee weapon is the most flamboyant yet most dangerous maneuver on the battlefield.

This new lord not only succeeded, but did so with ease, leaving everyone unable to help but admire him.

If such a lord were still considered worthless, then everyone present would be worthless! Therefore, this baron's eldest son ought to be the Supreme Lord of White Sturgeon Island.

Luosen sensed the subtle shift in the island warriors' attitudes, and this was exactly the effect he wanted.

He looked over the guard crowd, where a knight with gray‑white hair had not yet had time to lower his iron bow.

His face was written all over with shock.

Kaodelin Knight immediately rushed forward, shielding Luosen behind him, and roared angrily at the gray‑white‑haired knight.

"Gudeman, you despicable, shameless traitor!"

That man was none other than Gudeman, one of the three commanders of the New Moon Knights.

That vile cold arrow, together with Luosen's formidable act of deflecting the arrow with his sword, instantly caused eighty or ninety percent of the New Moon warriors to side with Luosen.

The numbers on both sides became 400 versus 400.

Only about 300 mountain warriors, the two betraying New Moon Knight commanders and their few die‑hands still stood beside Knight Alesi.

The forces of both sides were nearly even.

But this was not a good thing.

Because the venue was very narrow, if the two sides really fought, it would easily turn into a bloody meat‑grinder battle.

Luosen did not want his loyal New Moon warriors to be needlessly wasted.

For the true enemy is the Forest Spirit in the mountains.

Thus he again turned his gaze to the stocky short man behind the castle guards and shouted, "Uncle~~ under what pretext are you opposing your lord?"

Knight Alesi looked at Luosen with a complex expression.

He wanted to say you are worthless, but that excuse had already gone bankrupt.

So he actually had no legitimate grounds to oppose Luosen.

He could have used Luosen's mother and sister as hostages, but they could not be found.

Or he could have taken the Dragon's Blessing to forcibly kill Luosen, but that potent potion had also disappeared completely.

So he knew he had already failed.

But he also clearly understood that, given what he had done, there was no room to retreat; laying down his weapons would mean utter ruin.

In the flash of his thoughts, he also saw Luosen's worry and gave a grin.

"My dear nephew, since you've returned and have learned a fine set of skills, I can finally rest easy."

"You are the new lord; I will immediately take my warriors back to High Mountain Town."

As he spoke, he gripped his weapon tightly, adopting a posture ready to fight to the death.

If Luosen truly returned alone, then unless Levin launched a covert sneak attack, the course with the least loss would indeed be to let Alesi go.

But Levin is Luosen's biggest trump card at present, and he will not reveal it publicly unless absolutely necessary.

But he did not come alone, and he had already written an ending for this convenient uncle.

Only a loud "Boom—" was heard, as the castle gate's iron drawbridge was fully lowered and the gate slowly opened.

Outside the gate stood the neatly arrayed Blazing Flame Warband.

(End of chapter)