I came over late at night to check and found a thousand fresh flowers again. Here's a chapter~
"No, we haven't betrayed the country and its people. We've only betrayed the Old King. On Wild Horse Plains, we neither plunder the people's property nor rob passing merchants. We only eat the grind-beasts, birds, and fish from the mountains, and trade the grind-beasts' crystals with merchants for grain."
Seeing this imposing general speak so self-righteously, I said with some surprise, "Can so many cavalrymen of the Golden Knights Order be sustained by just that?"
"Of course not." Lin He's expression darkened slightly before he continued, "The Golden Knights Order boasted 50,000 troops three years ago, how magnificent that was. Over the past few years, soldiers have continuously left, and now there are fewer than 20,000 remaining in the Order."
"Then, have you ever considered future development? Will you continue to contend with the Kingdom's army like this? I think you should already know that the power of the Undead is constantly eroding human territory. The Lumber Mill in front of you has been completely occupied by the Undead, and Hurricane City is also in peril. The Flying Knights have truly 'flown away,' and the other Knight legions are simply no match. Now the country needs you. Have you considered continuing to fight for the people and uphold the dignity of a Knight?"
I spoke such sour words that I almost gave myself goosebumps. General Lin He across from me paused slightly, his expression changing for a long time before he said, "If we return to the country, Dack will surely be tied to a cross and burned to death for treason!"
"Talking for so long, useless effort!" I muttered angrily to myself. Lin He across from me was already making a move... "Infantry! You can't escape now. If you can defeat me, I can let you go!"
It took me a few seconds to realize that dual-wielding swordsmen originally served as infantry in war, which is also why Knights despise swordsmen. Since I couldn't break out now, a duel with Lin He wasn't a bad idea. I just didn't know if this was a quest.
System Prompt: Do you wish to duel Lin He, the Vice Commander of the Golden Knights Order?
I immediately clicked "Yes," and at the same time, many Golden Knights stepped back, leaving a large space for me and the Knight general.
Lin He wasn't on horseback; he simply carried a Knight's Sword to duel me, even throwing his shield aside.
"Hoo~!"
Lin He's Knight's Sword, carrying a scorching flame, cleaved straight down from above my head without any fancy moves. The extremely high temperature made it clear to me that taking this sword head-on would put me in a very passive position for the rest of the fight!
"Pfft~!" The longsword, adorned with ice flowers, landed on Lin He's body, and his body was directly frozen in mid-air. The battle qi flames on his sword also extinguished.
Combo! Heavy Strike!
After two attacks, Lin He's health immediately dropped by over 400, and his attack then landed on me. The 87 points of damage startled me; it had been a long time since I had taken such a fierce blow. Although the pain was set to 1%, it still hurt quite a bit. I heard Murong Shanshan always turned off her pain, so it seems she's even more afraid of pain than I am.
Lin He's attack frequency was very high; almost every time I struck him with a sword, he could quickly counter with one. After only a few attacks, I sadly realized that my health was dropping at an exaggerated rate. When Lin He's health bar was still at 80%, I was almost dead. I could only rely on my faster movement speed than Lin He to drag my sword and run, while drinking health potions. Fortunately, the health potions dropped by monsters were quite numerous, and with the health regeneration, I should have a chance to take down this tough guy, Lin He.
Just like that, the sixth-ranked expert in the world was chased and hacked at by a heavily armored Knight in a crowd, occasionally letting out pig-like screams.
It wasn't until half an hour later that I finally used up my last medium potion and knocked Lin He to the ground. In total, I unleashed 10 Ice Seal Slashes and nearly a hundred Combos and Heavy Strikes. Calculating it, Lin He's total health should have reached over ten thousand. If the Vice Commander was already like this, wouldn't Commander Dack be a god-like existence?
Although Lin He didn't die, he still dropped a piece of equipment, but what I cared about more was that he actually dropped 18 golden emblems. I was immediately curious; could this guy also be a greedy one? Even embezzling so many golden emblems... I looked at the equipment; it was a blue armored helmet!
I hit the jackpot! I hadn't seen anyone drop a helmet until now! I quickly checked the attributes:
[Golden Brave's Protection] (Head - Blue Equipment)
Defense: 54
Stamina: +18
Strength: +16
Agility: +8
Required Level: 28
...The attributes were excellent. The defense already surpassed a level 21 blue breastplate, and it added a good number of points to Strength and Stamina. If I were to sell this item, it would definitely be hyped to a sky-high price given the current situation. The Exchange ranks daily by transaction volume. The dagger I sold back then was hyped to the top of the rankings, and every player could see the top ten auctioned items as soon as they opened the Exchange interface, which was very HIGH! The more expensive an item, the higher price it would be hyped to!
Of course, I couldn't bear to sell this helmet. Equipment can be farmed again, and it wouldn't be too late to sell it after getting something better. Anyway, my level was already more than a little higher than the mainstream players, and the equipment I replaced was exactly in high demand. The experience from defeating Lin He had already raised me to level 28, and I had risen to fifth place on the rankings. Looking at the people ahead, Power Hotpot had already been pushed to third, and first place was occupied by a Knight named "Let Go of That Girl." I was immediately annoyed; the Knight class doesn't have high damage, so how did he level up so fast?
He's probably a lucky fellow who got a divine artifact or something! But Power Hotpot will catch up very soon; I know his habits well, he won't be content to be below others.
Lin He got up from the ground, saying with a dusty face, "I lost, infantry. You can go tell that idiot Roger that even though you defeated me, it doesn't mean Roger is anything special. In my hands, he still wouldn't last many moves!"
I smiled and said, "General, I still hope you can consider your soldiers. After being out for so long, they must be homesick!"
Lin He moved his mouth but said nothing, turning and entering the tent. I also said no more; the Golden Knights had already made way for me.
I counted the number of golden emblems; I was still missing two. I casually took the lives of two Golden Knights at the entrance. Quest complete!
"Beep~" Someone called, it was Murong Shanshan!
"Lin Fan, come to the city quickly! Hurry!" Her voice was very anxious.