Chapter 159

"How much time is needed?" The tribal chieftains frowned slightly, distrustful of these cunning nobles.

They feared the delay might be too long, and that the nobles might have other schemes.

"At most one hour!" Narsy, observing their reactions, dared not push too far.

"Fine. I give you one hour. During this time, only a few of you may go retrieve your people; the rest must remain under the watch of our tribal army!"

…

"Commander Narsy, what should we do now?"

"Of course, we must search with all our strength for the force that captured the tribal heirs!!"

"But if we don't even know who did it, or where they are!" The nobles looked deeply worried.

"Find them even if you don't know where! This opportunity is like a divine blessing—if you find them, not only will you bear no blame, but you'll earn merit!"

"Of course, if you truly fail to find them, it will still be our last hope for breakout!" Narsy said.

The nobles understood this logic well, so they wasted no time and immediately organized a elite force of three hundred men.

If the search failed, this elite cavalry unit would launch a surprise attack from outside, becoming the key to breaking the encirclement.

Of course, the success rate was low, but still far better than their previous situation.

As for why not send more—it was because three hundred was the maximum allowed by the tribes.

"Go! Everything rests on you!"

The nobles gave final instructions to their trusted knight subordinates.

Boom! Boom!

Then, the three hundred cavalry surged out of the gap opened in the tribal army's encampment.

…

"My lord, aren't we heading to the main army's encampment? Won't the noble forces be wiped out by the tribal army?" In the darkness, the Storm Legion marched on.

The rear guard dispersed immediately after they left the camp.

Knight Mi Gen and the other knights were puzzled by Gervas tying up the heirs yet doing nothing in this wasteland.

Wasn't the plan to save the main army?

If we don't move now, we'll only find the corpses of the main force, won't we?

"As long as the tribal chieftains care about their heirs, they won't destroy the noble army!"

"Conversely, if the noble army is truly wiped out, it means the tribal chieftains don't care about these heirs—so if we don't enter the camp now, we haven't walked into the encirclement!"

"My lord is brilliant!" After Gervas explained, his subordinates were awestruck.

Of course, the reason Gervas had not immediately gone to the main camp was because he first needed to rescue two groups.

"My lord, look over there—it seems to be a fierce battle!"

At that moment, Lei Meng suddenly pointed toward a distant valley.

The valley was filled with dense torches, accompanied by continuous cries of battle.

Gervas knew—that was one of the forces he needed to rescue: the encircled Violet Army.

"Let's go see!"

…

"Damn Viscount Beckert! He abandoned us at this critical moment—how despicable! My lord, we're surrounded!"

Meanwhile, in a valley one li ahead.

The Violet Army now numbered fewer than six hundred—this single night, they had lost over four hundred men.

Of course, by current standards, losing four hundred men wasn't much—but they were likely to be completely annihilated by the tribal forces in this valley.

The Viscount Beckert cursed by Mien was none other than the Viscount Beckert, Gervas's half-neighbor.

Earlier, when the tribal army deliberately opened a gap, the Violet family's forces had luckily broken through.

At that time, many other noble families had also successfully broken out.

Viscount Beckert was one of them; seeing the Violet family's strength far exceeded that of other baronial houses, he had voluntarily approached and proposed joining forces to retreat together.

With life and death at stake, and unaware of Beckert's vile character, the Violet family naturally did not object.

Soon, a temporary alliance was formed.

Originally, their advance had gone smoothly, with no large enemy forces pursuing them.

But just over twenty minutes later, a tribal army of over a thousand suddenly emerged ahead.

At that moment, Viscount Beckert suddenly led his troops away during the battle.

The Violet family's army, still engaged with the enemy, was caught off guard and left alone to face the thousand-strong tribal force.

Under such circumstances, the Violet family could not hold out—they could only retreat further and further, until they were driven into this valley.

Though this avoided being attacked from three sides.

It also cut off their own escape route.

Thus, Catherine and Mien and the other vassals knew—they were likely doomed.

"My lord, we will fight to open a path—you prepare to flee alone!"

After cursing Beckert, Mien suppressed his rage and finally began considering Catherine's safety.

Catherine was everything to the Violet family—so she must live, no matter what.

If Catherine died, even if they had heirs, their right to inherit the lands could no longer be guaranteed.

Therefore, sacrificing themselves to let their lord escape was the most advantageous course.

"No, Mien—you flee yourselves! I'm tired. Let me stay here and fight to the death with the army!"

Unexpectedly, Catherine proposed this outright.

"My lord, if you don't leave, we absolutely won't leave!"

Baron Mien and the others were extremely shocked, never expecting that Catherine had actually refused to escape.

However, recalling that after learning of the disaster befalling the left army, Viscount Catherine's mood had seemed low ever since, this led Baron Mien and the others to vaguely guess something.

"My lord Viscount, I believe Lord Gervas would certainly hope you could live better; after all, if you give up on escaping, then you would be betraying the sacrifice he made to save you last time!"

Upon hearing these words, Catherine's body trembled slightly.

This gave Baron Mien and the others hope, so they pressed their advantage: "My lord Viscount, prepare yourself; we are about to break out. At that time, we will hold the enemy with our forces!"

Having finished speaking, without waiting for Catherine's reply, Baron Mien waved his long sword and launched a charge. "Everyone, for glory, kill with me!"

"Kill!"

A roar of battle cries erupted from the Violet Army; Baron Mien and several of his vassals, covered head to toe in blood, charged at the very front.

Just as they thought they were about to open a gap for Catherine, they suddenly heard several low, guttural roars from tribal warriors.

"Bloodline power!"

Buzz buzz buzz!

Then, five tribal warriors bearing patterns of glowing crimson light blocked their path ahead.

"Bloodline warriors, and there are five of them?" Baron Mien and two of his knight vassals turned ashen.

"Haha, you damned nobles, wanting to escape? Dream on!"

Amidst the mockery of the five tribal bloodline warriors, they launched a counterattack, immediately forcing Baron Mien and the others to retreat step by step.

The hope of finally opening a gap was directly blocked.

"You damned scum!" Baron Mien roared in frustration, attacking the enemy fiercely, but it was to no avail.

Seeing this, Catherine's face actually calmed down. "Perhaps I can see him after death; that would be just fine!"

However, just at this moment, a battle cry came from the distance.

"Storm Warriors! Charge!"

"Kill!"