Chapter 754: Competing

In stories about legends, the weather was typically nothing more than foreshadowing for the upcoming events.

A sunny day would symbolize a hero’s journey about to start. An ancient castle surrounded by dark clouds was the very symbol of an evil scheme. The climax would usually have some thunderclaps even if there were zero clouds in the sky.

Reality wasn’t anywhere near so dramatic. Major slaughters usually occurred in bright daylight because vision would be the best. True schemers typically lived in beautiful gardens. Not much usually went on when the weather was foul, as everyone would be holed up in their warm homes.

However, sometimes mortals wouldn’t have any choice in the matter. We met with the worst luck despite setting out highly motivated.

Rain was quite common when it was almost time for spring to change to summer. Bardi’s rainy season was underway right now. We were currently heading for the location where Dragon Knight Emperor Halent had first gained power—Nightrain Fortress.

Dark clouds covered the sky above us. A sudden torrential downpour paired with strong winds obstructed us from proceeding as well as ruined the visibility.

We had left Bardi’s capital one week ago. This “allied army” with Bardi at the lead had grandly begun a second major campaign against the undead.

The weather turned rather foul less than two days after we set out. The torrential downpours greatly slowed down the army’s speed. The mages were unable to gather mysterious powers from the stars through the clouds. Our luck was truly terrible.

Normally, knights and nobles would really care about their image, but military command was more important than anything on the battlefield. They were in great discomfort.

The golden-armored warriors in the very front normally seemed quite majestic, appearing just like gold warriors under the sun’s illumination.

Their weapons were enhanced with adamantite and magically enchanted. The golden paint was actually a highly valuable adamantite coating that would allow the warriors to ignore any regular arrows.

Their standard weapons were heavy spears which were almost two meters long, paired with a tower shield that was also coated in expensive adamantite. This equipment would also be magically enchanted by grandmasters.

The spears would be enchanted with “Sharpness” and “Armor Pierce”. The solid tower shields would be enchanted with “Resist Magic” and “Sturdy Defense”. The spears’ tips also had spiraling magic runes, while the tower shields had a lion and cross emblem which was a gift from Bardi’s royal family. Just the worth of one spear and shield alone would be more than enough for a mercenary to work their entire life for.

The ugly dragonhead helmet revealed only the eyes. Being covered in adamantite-coated armor all over meant that these warriors were even sturdier than mountain giants. This armor focused on practicality first and foremost. The only decoration on it was dragon scales, which could be used to block powerful impacts and stab attacks.

These troops were known as Bardi’s royal dragon knights. Although it was quite an ordinary name, this troop type had a long history that had continued through the ages.

Although they were known as dragon knights, they were actually pure infantry. Their armor was so heavy that even trained young ground dragons would be unable to handle their weight.

Being able to use such equipment meant that these warriors were strong enough and had enough of a power level on average. 10 years ago, this had been a scary group of warriors who were all at the peak of Gold.

Another one of their roles could explain how special they were—they were one of Bardi’s royal knight squadrons.

Each country’s royal knight squadron was typically the country’s ace troop type and most well-known symbol. The royalty would keep a tight grasp on the royal knight squadron, who would act both as royal guards and the final sharpest blade to fight against rebellion or external enemies. Bardi’s strongest troop type was obviously the dragon knights. However, the royal dragon knights, who numbered 13,000, wouldn’t fear even the real dragon knights.

The royal dragon knights and dragon knights were just two out of three of Bardi’s royal knight squadrons. Auland didn’t have enough foundational power, so they were still constructing a new royal knight squadron. The Mist Alliance still had to use a mix of random troop types as the royal knight squadron. Meanwhile, the ancient empire Bardi had such foundational strength that their three major royal knight squadrons, “Dragon King’s Shield”, “Bardi’s Wings”, and “Milan’s Whip”, were all at the peak of human power in historical power as well as individual power.

Yes, that was right, only the peak of humanity. Bardi had the dragon knights, after all. Comparing dragons’ strength to humans’ would be quite unfair.

Still, the dragon knights were known as “Bardi’s Wings”, the leading royal knight squadron out of Bardi’s three royal knight squadrons. Since the other two royal knight squadrons were able to equal it in status, reaching the point where the proud dragons wouldn’t be displeased and challenge the others, it was already the best proof of the other two royal knight squadrons’ power level.

Humanity’s advantage was in quantity and average balance of power… so basically mass-production and standardization.

Elven archers, mages, and so on would always have massively different personal traits and power types. The long years would help them all to learn their own specialties, and they would be better at fighting as individuals in guerilla style warfare.

Meanwhile, human warriors only had several years or a bit more than 10 years to develop at the most, but as long as they took a path that had been repeatedly proven before, their growth rate would be several times faster than that of any other species. Taking such a path would make human warriors’ power become more simplistic compared to warriors from other species, but human warriors could utilize equipment which would make up for their weaknesses and complement their strengths. Since practical strength was everything on the battlefield, a human’s power wouldn’t be any worse than that of a 100-year-old warrior from another species.

At the very least, even the dwarves’ most elite braided warriors who were all over a century old wouldn’t dare to forcefully charge at the royal dragon knights’ formation.

The royal dragon knights had outstanding attack and defense. They were all elite warriors who were chosen as one out of 10,000. These warriors were slow and heavy tanks that were impregnable machines of slaughter if they were allowed to get within melee range.

Standardized fighting techniques and cultivation shortcuts alongside specialized elite equipment and experience regarding strategies on using such a troop type. This was why humans were able to create standardized powerful troop types.

Perhaps using the term “mass-produced” would cheapen such troop types, so the word “inheritance” would mean the same thing here.

The alchemical techniques for creating the warriors’ armor, applying adamantite, and countless other industrial and craftsmanship techniques would be accumulated in order to end up with the royal dragon knights’ golden armor, silver horse armor, and cool spears.

Meanwhile, martial art techniques and combat strategies’ inheritance was even more obvious. Teachers would teach disciples in every generation, passing on the inheritance. Veteran knights would pass on their combat experience and techniques that they were proudest of. They would also record their own thoughts about using their weapons. Anything worth standardizing would become popular. The juniors would then use the veterans’ “ultimate techniques” to learn as the very basics, and then develop new “ultimate techniques” from that.

As this inheritance was passed on through the generations, it was only natural that the royal dragon knights would become ever stronger.

The longer the history of a knight squadron, the more powerful its inherited techniques would be. This wasn’t because they would have some ancient secret technique, but rather because time and real combat would polish their originally rough techniques into exquisitely practical and wondrous techniques. Humans would have figured out all sorts of methods to help this path of cultivation already, choosing only the shortest and most efficient path.

Those who hid away in forests and mountains to figure out their own techniques would usually have techniques that seemed beautiful but would never be as useful as plainer techniques which had been well-used in the battlefield for thousands of times already.

What was an inheritance? This was an inheritance. Every generation would learn, and every generation’s juniors would keep making progress by stepping on their predecessors’ shoulders. It was only natural that they would become stronger and stronger.

It was said that the golden royal dragon knights’ history was just as long as Bardi’s. Every single member had a knight title which could be inherited. If any royal dragon knight died in the line of duty, their children would be able to choose to inherit the noble title and duty. It would be possible for one set of armor to be passed down through more than seven or eight generations, having experienced countless grandmasters’ repairs and buff effects.

The children of such families would know their duties from the moment they were born. They would train in the spear starting at three years old, and train in the tower shield starting at five years old. Only after undergoing countless processes of elimination would one finally become a passable golden royal dragon knight.

A spear and shield, one for attack and one for defense. This seemed really simple, but really relied on true skills.

Out of all the high-level troop types, the royal dragon knights probably had the least and simplest equipment of them all. Yet, the Bardi Milan family’s “Dragon King’s Shield” royal dragon knights could be ranked in the top 10 of all human knight orders, no matter if it was in historical achievements or actual power level.

In this current generation, the royal dragon knights even faintly seemed to have the potential to challenge Bardi’s top-ranked knight order, the “Bardi’s Wings” dragon knights. Of course, that would only be the dragon knights from 10 years ago.

Of Bardi’s three major royal knight orders, the “Bardi’s Wings” dragon knights were royal guards in name only, and the “Milan’s Whip” cavalry focused on guarding the borders against foreign invasions, so they couldn’t be withdrawn. Thus, only the “Dragon King’s Shield” royal dragon knights would guard the capital city and act as the emperor’s most trusted ace.

This time, it could be said that Halent was gambling everything he had.

There were 13,000 royal dragon knights in total. 11,000 royal dragon knights had come with us on this anti-undead campaign, leaving behind only the oldest soldiers who were now teachers and the newest recruits who had less than three months of experience. Even fresh soldiers who had only completed the first year of training had been sent out on this campaign. This could basically be considered the full force.

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This heavy infantry squadron marched in formation without a single person speaking. All that could be heard was their heavy footsteps due to the heavy equipment they wore.

“Fight to the death and never retreat.”

This was the royal dragon knights’ combat motto and style.

To them, only retreat would cause their formation to be broken and expose their weakness. As long as they didn’t retreat and their formation wasn’t broken, even if one of them died, an ally would surely take revenge for them.

Their orderly footsteps all mixed together in unison. This scary sound was flaying the land as if a pack of Titans was silently proceeding forward. However, the royal dragon knights were the most pitiful of all right now due to their past training and strict military discipline.

The sudden torrential downpour caused visibility to reach almost zero. These experienced warriors weren’t confused by the rain at all. They persisted in maintaining their formation through the downpour. Not a single warrior panicked.

Their superb armor was superbly heavy. They kept creating deep muddy pits as they walked, which must have been quite uncomfortable.

If this was still tolerable, the next part was even worse.

The rain was far too heavy. Water kept pouring into the armor through every crack and airhole. Since water filled up the inside of the armor, the excess water started pouring out from the cracks afterward… Yep, they seemed just like armored sprinklers who spouted water everywhere.

“I really want to give them background music, what should I do? For instance, the classical Chinese song ‘Good people will live blessed lives.'”

“Bear with it. Otherwise, you’ll be dragged out and beaten to death.”

I didn’t know what they were feeling right now, but I felt that it was already quite uncomfortable whenever my shoes were soaking wet. Just imagining having to wear heavy armor filled with water and then walking while maintaining formation without falling over sent chills down my spine.

“…Harloys, if I throw a piece of soap, or a banana peel in front of their formation, causing one or two to trip over, would that cause a chain reaction afterwards like with dominoes?”

“It wouldn’t be of any use. Their shoes are all enchanted with ‘Haste’ and ‘Anti-slip’… but it’s hard to say with how large the rain is right now. You really could try. If they fall over, they probably wouldn’t be able to get up right now. Dying to a banana peel is so amusing. It could become a headline for the fairies. Right, you can ask ‘All-purpose Box’ Johnny to teach you. His proudest personal spell is an AOE banana peel spell, which he modified from the classic ‘Oil Slip’ spell.”

Although I knew that mages would do more ridiculous things than anyone when they were bored, this archmage named Johnny must have had far too much free time to especially research such a spell.

Unlike Bardi’s military which cared about face more than anything, I was currently traveling with the Mage Country’s mage team, drinking coffee while watching the troops outside march in the rain.

In order to preserve the mages’ unreliable stamina, it was an unwritten rule of the battlefield that no matter where, as long as the conditions permitted it, mages would always be transported in horse-drawn carriages.

The rain was far too heavy. Visibility was almost nil, so the mages unhesitatingly all got into the horse-drawn carriages to watch everyone else trudge through the rain.

I was already being quite respectable by only drinking coffee and chatting. Some mages were even playing cards, while others started performing what seemed like amazing magical experiments. There was even a space magic expertise archmage who simply vanished through a teleportation portal. There was also a summoner who summoned a horde of beasts and started having fun with the beasts… Although this performance was still rather normal, I felt a familiar sensation from this summoner. Perhaps this summoner was one of Beifeng’s worshippers. Maybe we should secretly approach him from behind and drag him away to beat him to death.

Military honor? Military discipline? Mages were accustomed to ignoring such things.

If this procession only had Bardi soldiers, or perhaps only Bardi soldiers teamed up with the Mage Country’s mages, then the Bardi royal dragon knights wouldn’t have forced themselves like this.

It was well known that vigorous exercise in the rain would likely lead to catching a cold. But sometimes, military persistence was about face, especially when all the allies were competing with each other to show off.

Not far away from the golden heavy infantry was another military force which was proceeding forward slowly.

As if their colors were arranged to be in contrast to the golden heavy infantry, this group was silver-colored light cavalry. While Bardi’s royal dragon knights went with the simplistic route for their equipment, that light cavalry’s equipment was ridiculously complex.

“Auland is so rich. Their White Wolves squadron has changed out its equipment entirely.”

The White Wolves squadron were Auland’s royal knights, as well as Auland’s ace that they placed their hopes on for surpassing other mega empires.

Back in the day, the White Wolves’ armor had been made out of mythril alloy. This was a light alloy that could provide stronger defense than even heavy armor. Mythril was also highly resistant to magic. Not only was the cavalry armor’s design a top secret, even the mythril alloy’s formula was top secret in Auland.

“Yet you still managed to scam it for yourself.”

“Cough, cough, how could you call that scamming? It was simply military communication, ordinary military communication. How could that be referred to as scamming?”

Back in the day, the White Wolves were equipped with explosive dragon spears, explosive javelins, and explosive swords. These were all high-quality alchemical products. The name made it obvious that these were explosive weapons. Every White Wolf warrior would be a moving explosives unit. This was the result of Auland’s high skill level in alchemy.

If the Bardi royal dragon knights were legendary warriors from ancient times, then the White Wolves would be a modern troop type that kept updating itself with the times.

Compared to before, the White Wolves’ equipment was far newer. Only a few knights riding in the front were still equipped with the long explosive dragon spears. The explosive javelins and explosive swords all seemed completely different from before. Judging from the obvious Olivia’s Magic Boxes, I could tell that magical engineering had influenced the new designs.

Every single White Wolf warrior was equipped with at least three backpacks. There were obvious magical wavelengths emanating from these backpacks, so there was probably some new toy inside.

Still, the greatest change was with their steeds.

They had directly abandoned their powerful horse breeds from before. Every single warrior was actually equipped with an Iron Horse motorcycle. Although the White Wolves had been a troop type that relied on alchemical products and explosives to begin with, without needing to rely on the steed’s power, it was still unexpected that they would be determined enough to directly abandon their original standard horses.

The royal dragon knights proceeded in silence with heavy footsteps, while the White Wolf squadron was filled with the sound of motors.

I wouldn’t be so surprised if that was all there was to it.

There were also iron turtles slowly proceeding in between all the Iron Horse motorcycles. Each iron turtle was about three meters long. They had five wheels of different sizes and thick iron armor to protect the fragile heavy artillery. Although the iron turtles’ speed was really slow, I located at least four artillery openings on each iron turtle.

“These are actual tanks!”

The design was quite rough, but I was quite certain that these iron turtles’ design was similar to that of first-generation tanks from my original world. It was simply about putting heavy armor on an automobile so that the people inside could attack from safety.

I wasn’t bored enough to try and help others with ideas like this. Human wisdom couldn’t be underestimated in any world. Thanks to the inspiration of Iron Horse motorcycle engines, others naturally managed to develop mechanical tanks on their own. Not to mention, tanks were still a useful combat unit in this current generation.

Auland’s frighteningly powerful shipbuilding and alchemical industries were more than sufficient to transform any ridiculous concept into reality.

There were many of these “turtle tanks”. There was about one for every 10 knights. There were also horse-drawn carriages dragging large objects covered in oil paper. I couldn’t see what was inside, but I could guess that it was yet another powerful weapon.

Bardi with its long inheritance that was also trying its best to keep up with the revolutionary times, and Auland, a nouveau riche which had grabbed on to the magical engineering revolution to rapidly develop. Both sides had long wanted to compete with each other. Now, both sides’ royal knight squadrons, representing honor for each side, had met each other, so they naturally started competing with each other.

Even modern vehicles from my original world might still develop problems in adverse weather, not to mention Auland’s inventions that were only prototypes. On the way, I witnessed three turtle tanks smoking to the point where they stopped moving. There were even more tanks which got caught in the mud. In the end, the White Wolf knights had to personally start dragging many of the tanks.

Both sides remained silent, but it was obvious that they were competing with each other to see who would be unable to take it anymore and ask to stop first.

“Military folk…”

I could only helplessly shake my head. It wasn’t convenient for me to deal with this, as I was only a guest. Since we were still far away from the battlefield, then I might as well let them play around.

“Honestly, they’re adults already, yet they’re competing like children. Wouldn’t it be bad if the undead came at this time… Fine, Harloys, put down that eggplant, I’ll shut up by myself.”

“Enemy ambush!”

A ear-piercing shout shattered all the silence. I quietly took the eggplant from Harloys and stuffed it into my mouth…