Woo woo!!!
Following a long, drawn-out horn blast, Duke Forrest commanded his army of five thousand to steadily approach a city in the Disputed Lands.
Crunch crunch crunch!
The thousands of them deliberately stomped heavily on the ground, the thunderous sound of their footsteps creating an intimidating aura that enveloped the city directly in front of them.
As mentioned before, Jacaerys had to choose between Westeros and Essos.
Because both continents were simultaneously engaged in very important wars.
However, Jacaerys had a big appetite; his choice was: he wanted it all!
He rode Womax back to Westeros alone to provide support, while the temporary command of Silverwing and the other three dragon servants was handed over to Prince Lucerys.
If there were no surprises, by the time he returned from Westeros after finishing his business, the Disputed Lands should have been completely brought under the jurisdiction of the Iron Throne.
In fact, this was exactly the case; with dragons participating in the battle, the preceding wars were very smooth.
Almost as soon as they intended to intimidate them like this, many towns in the Disputed Lands immediately opened their gates and surrendered.
Creak!
The city gate not far away slowly opened, and upon seeing this, Duke Forrest's mouth immediately curved into a smile.
This situation had been encountered many times in the previous cities.
That's why he and Prince Lucerys split their forces into two groups to take down the entire Disputed Lands as quickly as possible.
Prince Lucerys had four dragons in addition to three thousand troops.
And Duke Forrest had...
Hmm?
Duke Forrest's brows suddenly furrowed, because he realized that this city did not seem to intend to surrender.
Only to see enemy cavalry riding out from the city gate, forming a battle formation below the gate.
Roughly estimated, there were about five hundred enemy cavalry.
Was this a last-ditch attempt to resist? Or was there another purpose?
A thought flashed through Duke Forrest's mind, and he immediately gave an order to the messenger next to him: "Have all our cavalry charge.
Tell everyone, since the other side wants to resist, we will not sheath our swords after taking the city. Let everyone vent properly!"
"Yes, Commander!"
Duke Forrest's order was quickly passed down, and the promise of not sheathing swords immediately boosted the morale of all the soldiers.
Of course, 'not sheathing swords' here was just a symbolic phrase; after breaking the city, they could do many other things to vent.
The thousand cavalry under Duke Forrest's command quickly completed their formation in front of the battle lines.
The traditional combat mode in this world was like this: the forces of both sides were displayed openly, and then came the seemingly blood-boiling cavalry charge.
But the enemy was not foolish; the reason they chose to abandon the city and fight with fewer numbers must have been because they had something to rely on.
Only to see two figures, one red and one black, walk out from the city gate,
The black figure among them might have been too fat; that small belly couldn't even be concealed by the loose hooded robe.
"Prepare!"
The red figure suddenly shouted loudly.
Swish swish swish!
Seeing these five hundred enemy cavalry immediately follow the order, they drew their long swords from their dragon saddles.
And upon seeing this, the red figure immediately began to softly chant a spell that ordinary people could not understand at all.
When the other party's spell ended, the long swords in the hands of these five hundred cavalry all ignited with raging flames.
Wow!
Whether it was the other soldiers under Duke Forrest's command or the defending soldiers on the enemy city wall.
Upon seeing this scene, which could be called a miracle, they let out gasps of astonishment, fear, and other emotions.
However, this was not over yet!
After the other black figure with a protruding belly took a deep breath,
She raised her hands and aimed them at the five hundred friendly cavalry around her, beginning to murmur rapidly in high valyrian.
As the spell from her mouth ended, this time a black shadow flashed in her eyes.
The eyes of the five hundred cavalry around her also instantly turned pitch black, and in the shadows of the cavalry, pairs of eyes that looked like they had been drawn with lines appeared.
"Charge!"
Seemingly feeling the power of their bodies that had been bolstered, the captain among the five hundred cavalry drew his long sword and swung it fiercely forward,
Everyone immediately rode their horses and charged towards the enemy directly in front of them.
Clip clop clip clop!
Looking at the enemy cavalry charging towards him, Duke Forrest's mouth suddenly twisted into a cunning smile,
He waved his hand and commanded: "Let the archers fire a volley first, then the cavalry will begin their charge."
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Following Duke Forrest's order, a dense rain of arrows fell upon the enemy cavalry who had charged into range.
Instantly, more than a hundred enemy cavalry were directly hit; those enemy cavalry whose vital points were struck immediately fell to the ground along with their horses.
And the nearly thousand cavalry under Duke Forrest's command, after the arrow rain, launched a mass charge together.
Although their charge distance was short and the momentum they carried was not enough.
But their numbers were nearly three times that of the enemy cavalry who had been baptized by the arrow rain.
However, as the distance between the two sides continued to close, the cavalry under Duke Forrest's command immediately realized something was wrong.
Most of the remaining three hundred enemy cavalry had arrows stuck in them and were bleeding, but they ignored it and continued to charge.
Bang bang bang!
Cavalry charges are always accompanied by various bloody scenes. Blood, severed limbs, and corpses constantly increased.
Continuous wails and screams began to sound on the battlefield.
However, these wails were all coming from the cavalry under Duke Forrest's command!
Even if those enemy cavalry were pierced by steel lances and cut down by sharp swords.
But as long as their vital points were not hit, they would continue to fight without a sound, covered in blood,
They looked completely like ghouls, appearing very terrifying.
"They're not human!"
"Devils, they're devils!"
"Run!"
The morale of the nearly thousand cavalry under Duke Forrest's command directly collapsed when they lost about a third of their numbers.
The remaining two-thirds of the cavalry shouted loudly and rode their horses to flee towards the location of their main army.
Behind them, the remaining nearly three hundred Dragonstone cavalry, covered in blood, continued to pursue them.
"The enemy wants to escape, full army charge!"
Seeing their cavalry win with fewer numbers, the enemy Commander immediately raised his arms and shouted, issuing the order for the entire army to attack.
"They're all useless! All infantry line up and prepare for battle, archers aim at the enemy cavalry and fire flat!"
Seeing their cavalry defeated, Duke Forrest cursed fiercely and immediately commanded his army to begin the battle.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
The archers under Duke Forrest's command began to draw their bows and fire flat.
At this moment, due to the very close distance, these archers were somewhat flustered, causing the effect of this flat shot to not be particularly obvious.
After firing this round, they completely ignored checking the results and slowly retreated into their infantry formation.
Bang bang bang!
After suffering further casualties, the enemy cavalry, whose numbers were now only over two hundred, showed no fear in the face of nearly five thousand enemy soldiers.
They actually still maintained their previous speed and charged towards the formation set up by Duke Forrest.
Rip, rip!
A large number of warhorses and enemy cavalry were pierced by the lances of the spearmen in the front rank of the formation.
But what made them terrified was that these enemy cavalry, covered in blood and hanging on the lances, as long as their heads, hearts, and other vital points were not injured,
They still continuously swung their weapons to attack.
A small number of enemy cavalry charged into the formation, immediately causing a wave of panic.
Even though these ghoul-like Dragonstone cavalry were hacked to bloody pieces by the enemies in the formation, they could still struggle and take down many enemies.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Even though these enemy cavalry were very terrifying, in the face of absolute numbers, their numbers were rapidly decreasing.
However, those enemy cavalry who had fallen to the ground earlier in the middle struggled back to their feet.
And then charged towards Duke Forrest's army like that.
Tear, tear!
The soldiers under Duke Forrest's command had been completely stunned by these enemy cavalry, who were like ghouls.
Because the formation, which had become somewhat scattered due to the enemy cavalry charge, was showing signs of collapse.
"Hold the line! Hold the line...
Damn it, charge with me!"
Seeing his formation starting to collapse, Duke Forrest immediately shouted loudly, wanting to stabilize the situation, but it had no effect at all.
Finally, he even wanted to draw his long sword and lead the charge.
Whoosh!
Just then, a black mist floated from the front, heading straight for Duke Forrest.
"My Lord Duke, be careful!"
When the black mist suddenly condensed into a black shadow with a clear human face,
The two personal guards beside Duke Forrest immediately shouted a warning, while also drawing their long swords as quickly as possible.
Clang!
The two long swords in the hands of the two personal guards successfully blocked the black long sword that the black shadow had condensed from the black mist.
Whoosh!
But when the two personal guards parried the black long sword, they immediately counterattacked, directly swinging their swords back at the black shadow,
But this black shadow was too Agile, and in an instant it turned back into an invisible black mist and floated behind the two personal guards.
Rip, rip!
When the invisible black mist floated behind the two personal guards, it condensed into a black shadow again, and at the same time it condensed two black short daggers on its left and right, stabbing into the back of the necks of the two personal guards.
Bang bang!
The two personal guards, who had suffered fatal attacks, covered their necks which were gushing with blood and fell heavily to the ground.
The black shadow, no longer obstructed by them, once again held short daggers and stabbed towards Duke Forrest.
Bang!
The air in front of the black shadow suddenly showed a strange fluctuation, and then suddenly exploded.
The black shadow, which could turn into an invisible black mist and was not obstructed by anything, was directly blown away by this air explosion.
The air beside Duke Forrest fluctuated again, and Ela, wearing a magical mask inscribed with strange runes on her face, appeared out of thin air just like that.
Only to hear her casually ask: "Shadowbinder, whose apprentice are you?
It's my working time now, and I'm protecting this person, so you should leave quickly!"
Hiss!
The black shadow seemed to want to communicate with Ela, but it only let out a meaningless hiss.
"Heh, can't speak? It seems your shadow magic isn't very skilled!"
Ela listened to the black shadow's hiss and let out a mocking laugh that seemed somewhat disdainful.
The black shadow seemed to be angered by her and immediately turned into black mist and floated towards Ela.
Seeing that her strategy of provoking the enemy had worked, Ela, wearing gloves, immediately clasped her hands together and began to cast her magic towards the black shadow directly in front of her.
Bang!
The air between Ela and the black shadow showed a strange fluctuation again, and the air, which contained nothing, exploded again, making a loud sound.
However, this time only half of the black mist was blown away.
The other half of the black mist, without knowing when, bypassed Ela and condensed into a black shadow with only its right side, rushing towards Duke Forrest behind her.
"Humph!"
Snap!
Ela, who had caught a glimpse of the other party's trick out of the corner of her eye, snorted coldly and directly snapped her fingers without turning her head.
Crack crack crack!
Only to see the air beside Duke Forrest emit a series of crisp sounds, and the black shadow, which had just condensed into its left side, was directly blown into a thousand holes.
Both assassination attempts were blocked by Ela, and the black shadow seemed to understand that it couldn't kill Duke Forrest without first dealing with Ela.
So, these two pieces of black mist wriggled and merged together, and surged directly towards Ela.
"Seeking death!"
Although she couldn't see Ela's expression, she only began to take it seriously now.
Between them, she extended her hands and formed an equilateral triangle, facing the black mist that was floating towards her.
Accompanied by a rapid chant of high valyrian spells, the nearby air showed waves of fluctuations like ripples in water.
And when the black mist came before Ela, it was as if it had suddenly hit an invisible barrier and could not move forward at all.
The black mist immediately wanted to float backwards, but it also could not do so.
Its current state was as if it was trapped inside an invisible container.
Whoa!
Ela reached into her clothes and took out a tinderbox, and after blowing it alight, she gently aimed it at the black mist that was fixed by the 'air prison' directly in front of her.
The orange-red flames burned fiercely, scorching the air prison that Ela was continuously injecting oxygen into.
Sizzle sizzle sizzle!
The black mist, which continuously emitted scorching sounds, twisted and expanded, and at this point, it could be seen in the air.
A square air grid filled with orange-red flames appeared, and the black mist was finally burned away in these two air grids.
Puff!
At the city gate, the black-robed figure's small belly had disappeared. After she suddenly spewed out a large mouthful of blood onto the open ground in front of her,
She said to the red-robed figure with a face full of disbelief: "How is this possible? The other party actually recruited a Cloudsky mage?
Damn it, my shadow assassin magic has been broken, and now I have been cursed by magic and cannot continue to use magic.
Let's escape quickly!"
"Being able to fight with you for so long, that Cloudsky mage basically has no magic left.
Don't worry! We still have so many shadow puppets!
And I still have nearly half of my magic left and can cast multiple flame divine spells.
This battle will definitely be our victory."
Just as the red-robed figure was speaking, a fire tornado suddenly appeared on the battlefield.
Those cavalry who had been turned into shadow puppets were immediately swept away by the fire tornado.
"What? The other party actually has such a top-tier transcendent?
Run, run!!!"
Just like what Duke Forrest hadn't finished saying earlier, Prince Lucerys had four dragons, and he had the top-tier sorceress Ela here.
After this war, the Disputed Lands had already become a one-sided situation, and the remaining cities had almost no power to resist.
After obtaining the Disputed Lands, King Jacaerys could truly say that he had gained a foothold in Essos. (End of this chapter)