Chapter 165: Chapter 127: One Against Ten Thousand, Advancing to Gold
Normally, a 30% casualty rate is enough to make an ordinary military unit completely collapse and lose the will to fight.
And yet, the fatality rate for the Reilly Clan’s forces had already surpassed 30%, but the remaining soldiers were still throwing themselves into suicidal attacks, like moths to a flame.
Roy didn’t know what Kevin Reilia had promised these soldiers when they retreated from the Royal Capital.
But he had to admit, the ferocity of this force showed him why the Reilly Clan had endured for centuries without falling.
Compared to this army, the Iron Blood Castle Guard and the Ice Wind City Guard had no real mettle to speak of.
However, the actions of the Castle Guard and the City Guard were understandable.
The Clan Knights and soldiers of the Castle Guard had personally witnessed him kill the Ironblood Duke in a single strike.
As for the City Guard, their morale was low because the one they had sworn allegiance to was gone from the start.
The one they had sworn allegiance to was dead.
It was asking a bit much to expect them to keep fighting to the death.
Though the ferocity of the army before him exceeded his expectations, Roy didn’t hold back. Instead, he increased the efficiency of his slaughter.
’The best way to respect an opponent is to defeat them with all your might!’
...
「An hour later.」
Roy stood upon a bloody battlefield paved with more than ten thousand corpses. He gazed up at the sky, a profound look on his face, and dispelled the Fighting Qi·Destruction Swords from his hands.
’It’s over!’
’The Dark Night Knight’s final battle in the Laine Kingdom is officially over!’
From Kevin Reilia and the others with the blood of the Reilly Clan in their veins, down to the last knight and soldier, he had spared none of them, granting them true and total annihilation.
Once the fatality rate reached 50%, he had crushed the ferocity they displayed with sheer, brutal slaughter.
And when the fatality rate hit 80%, he had utterly broken the army’s spine.
Kevin Reilia, along with the remaining knights and soldiers, scattered and fled, having lost all will to fight.
Though only one man, Roy was like a shadow of death, hunting down the scattered groups and cutting them down one by one.
Roy had thought that completely annihilating this army would exhaust his Fighting Qi.
As it turned out, he had underestimated the full extent of his Fighting Qi reserves.
Even now, he still had about half of his Fighting Qi remaining.
If Kevin Reilia and his men hadn’t scattered, he would have had another twenty percent or so of his Fighting Qi left.
In other words, if the enemy had fought to the death without retreating, annihilating an army ten thousand strong—one that included five Bronze Great Knights and over thirty Black Iron Great Knights—would have only consumed about thirty percent of his Fighting Qi.
To any other Silver Great Knight, this would have been an inconceivable feat.
And yet, he had not only done it, but he had done so with ease.
After a moment of quiet reflection, Roy turned his head and looked toward his three o’clock.
A kilometer or two away, there was a scout squad composed entirely of Official Knights.
He had spotted the scout squad five or six minutes ago.
However, he hadn’t moved against them.
He recognized the scout squad as belonging to the army of the Kalin Kingdom.
Never mind the fact that just a few hours earlier, he had reached a non-aggression pact with the Flying Dragon Knight between the Northern Territory and the Kalin Kingdom.
Even without that pact, he wouldn’t have been interested in attacking this scout squad.
This scout squad was his only audience at the moment.
If he killed them, the news that the Dark Night Knight had single-handedly annihilated the Reilly Clan’s army of ten thousand would take some time to spread.
But if he spared their lives, the news would spread throughout the entire Kingdom in a day or two.
While Roy sized up the scout squad, its knights were also watching him from a distance.
"Captain, if we signal the nearby troops right now, do you think we’d have a chance of taking him down for good?"
"It looks like he doesn’t have much Fighting Qi left."
A brown-haired knight in his early twenties, who looked rather simple and naive, spoke up.
"If you have a death wish, you can go challenge him yourself. Don’t drag the rest of us to our deaths with you."
"Even if he doesn’t have a single shred of Fighting Qi left, he’s still a Silver Great Knight. Crushing a few of us would be no harder for him than crushing ants."
The middle-aged knight, the squad’s captain, shot the brown-haired knight a vicious glare and said sharply.
"I was just talking, Captain. Don’t be mad. I would never drag everyone to their deaths."
The brown-haired knight replied instantly.
That’s what he said, but his thoughts were another matter entirely.
’If I could kill the Dark Night Knight, the military honors I’d receive would be enough for His Majesty to make me a Count!’
’Then, even if Baron Hayes can’t stand me, he’d have to agree to let Ava marry me!’
The middle-aged knight could tell at a glance that the young man hadn’t given up on the idea of fighting the Dark Night Knight. He immediately raised his right hand and smacked him hard on the back of the head.
"Snap out of those unrealistic fantasies. What good are military honors if you’re not alive to enjoy them?"
"How to deal with him is for the Flying Dragon Duke and His Majesty to worry about. It’s not our place to decide."
"No more wasting time. Back to camp to report!"
With that, the middle-aged knight wheeled his warhorse around, dug his heels into its flanks, and began the ride back to camp.
The brown-haired knight and the others followed without hesitation.
Before long, they disappeared from Roy’s line of sight.
Once the scout squad had departed, Roy also began the journey back to Iron Blood Castle.