"Your Excellency, be careful—"

Count Musaq had just stepped out of the tent when he felt a pain in his left chest, and his entire body involuntarily leaned to the left.

A burst of blood mist rose from Musaq's left chest, and even though he wore a chainmail inner armor, his face instantly turned ashen.

The surrounding guards immediately raised their round shields, shielding Musaq beneath them.

"Move aside, move aside, don't block my view."

With support, Musaq stood up and surveyed his surroundings; the cold rain from the sky seemed to pour into his heart.

The scene in front of him was filled with killing, as a squad of beastman cuirassiers galloped back and forth through the camp.

In the support and running, knights and guards who hadn't had time to don armor were brushed past by shadows, and blood arrows would shoot from their necks.

"You call this a camp explosion? You call this a camp explosion?"

Musaq couldn't help but cry out.

Unlike Count Matei, who indulged in festivities all night, Musaq was always self-disciplined and slept on time, but just as he was sleeping soundly, an attendant suddenly told him that the camp had exploded.

But upon getting up, it was nothing of the sort.

The beastman cuirassiers were scattering, continuously beating drums and gongs, trampling tents, and setting grains ablaze.

They drew the sabers hanging on them, their curved, slender blades slicing through air and cutting precisely into the unprepared bodies of knights and guards.

Unlike the Empire's commonly used Knight's Sword, this special saber was more suitable for slashing during cavalry combat.

At high speed, the curved shape was more conducive to dragging cuts.

During the slashing process, this design wouldn't get stuck due to straight thrusts, reducing the counterforce on the cavalry's wrists during a slash.

Occasionally, neatly dressed knights, not yet gathered to form a battle formation, were swarmed by the Holy Gun Cavalry.

In the midst of banging gunshots and the wailing of warhorses, they were pinned to the ground before they could even counterattack.

The entire camp plunged into chaos.

"This isn't a camp explosion; this is clearly a night raid!" Musaq scolded coldly and angrily.

"Your Excellency Musaq, what should we do?"

"Call the remaining fighters among the knights. We head to Gedi Mountain and unite with Tyrol!" Musaq gritted his teeth and decisively gave orders.

Currently, the entire camp has exploded, and some knights even lost their heads in their sleep.

In the dark and rainy night, it was impossible to establish effective communication, thus no efficient command could be established; staying here was pointless.

"Surely that old fellow Xiesidun secretly left a corner open, deliberately letting them in." Running towards the stables, Musaq still cursed coldly under his breath.

If not for that wretched Xiesidun, they wouldn't be here.

Even if there was the Lightning Witch, it would have been impossible for them to come all the way from the other side without any news.

If that were the case, the reporting knights should have arrived long ago; it couldn't have been so abrupt to appear near his camp.

Just because of some minor personal grudge, it ended up ruining Lord Mizam's mission, that Xiesidun was too short-sighted.

In fact, Count Musaq estimated the speed of a cavalry surprise attack based on two points, the first being the weather.

On such a rainy night, it wasn't suitable for cavalry assaults; weren't they afraid of not seeing the road or slipping hooves causing them to fall off the horses?

But this wasn't an issue for the Holy Gun Cavalry.

For Jeanne, seeing the ground clearly was too simple, and she could even occasionally use lightning to illuminate the path ahead and guide them.

As for the Holy Gun Cavalry, they were all Blessed, and using excess divine power to activate glowstones wasn't a problem at all.

Torch flames feared rain, but were glowstones afraid of rain?

The second point was the issue of departing after conquering a camp. At a normal speed, taking down two camps in one night would be commendable, and there's no way to hit Musaq's camp at the rear.

This was because after conquering a camp, knights would certainly seize goods and treasures.

But unlike Musaq's calculations, after taking down a camp, the Holy Gun Cavalry did not seize goods.

Or, due to the collective merit system in place, and Horn being willing to influence the operation of the Salvation Army Government, they would invest excellent accountants in the army as clerks.

The spoils and goods from war would be distributed down the line post-war, no need for the Holy Gun Cavalry to seize anything.

Achieving the first two points negated the speed impact caused by the wet and muddy ground.

This led to the Saintess's cavalry departing later than Count Matei's deserters, yet arriving sooner.

"Short-sighted Xiesidun." Musaq climbed painfully onto the saddle with his bleeding wound, "Just wait, I will report to Feiliu Castle, I will report to the Holy Seat, I will report to the Holy Seat!"

Under Musaq's organization, a squad of over thirty knights secretly sprinted towards the direction of Tyrol's camp.

But before they ran far, a rapid sound of hooves came from the side.

The hooves splattered mud and water, and lightning illuminated everything.

A cavalry squad suddenly emerged from the front-side of Musaq's cavalry, charging straight towards them.

The leader was the Lightning Witch, she held a flagpole glowing with golden light, bobbing with her galloping black horse.

"What do we do?"

"Don't get carried away in the battle! We're turning!" Musaq replied as he turned his horse around.

From a bird's-eye view in the sky, two troops of horsemen, one spiraled to the left, the other to the right.

Seconds later, the troop spiraling to the right charged straight into the rear of Musaq's horsemen.

Lightning like a white ribbon flashed and danced swiftly among the horsemen, scorching horses and the heavily armed knights on their backs.

Their skin curled, revealing pink flesh, as pale yellow pus and blood flowed over the knights' bodies.

The knights around him were electrocuted one by one, their charred bodies falling from their mounts, splashing mud on the ground.

They had run so far, yet the Witch was still hot on their heels.

As the guards around him dwindled to about ten under the barrage of lead bullets and lightning, Musaq suddenly gritted his teeth and shouted to the other knights, "You go, I'll cover the retreat."

"Sir, you... "

"Go quickly, report the news to Matei, Hanzek, and Tyrol. If these Holy Gun Cavalry dare to come, encircle and annihilate them here!"

Leaving these words behind, Musaq, along with two attendants, turned and charged towards the leading Jeanne.

At thirty meters distance, in merely a moment of hesitation, both sides entered the most perilous zone of engagement.

"Devil!"

"Witch!"

Two angry roars sounded simultaneously, the sound of iron clashing resonating in their ears.

At the moment of engagement, a bolt of lightning flashed in the sky.

Musaq involuntarily closed his eyes, but for Jeanne, who had adapted to lightning, it was merely the Holy Father lighting her path with a fire starter.

"Boom—"

The thunderous sound woke Musaq from his daze.

A cold sensation came from his chest, he lowered his head, gazing at the lance swaying up and down in his chest.

The cartilage between his two chests was shattered, lightning permeated his body through the moisture, rendering him nearly immobile.

The sensation of the saddle beneath him disappeared entirely, Musaq reminiscing the long-lost feeling of weightlessness.

In full view, the knight without a title that everyone expected so much from was pierced in the chest and fell flat on his back.

As for Jeanne, she gritted her teeth and pulled out the bloodstained lance from her shoulder.

Musaq truly had reached the edge of titling as an Imperial Knight; she was rarely pierced in the left shoulder, blood trickled down from the crack.

"Count Musaq is dead, Count Musaq is dead!" Kolebo suddenly began shouting, and the other Holy Gun Cavalry followed suit.

Originally, it was just the Holy Gun Cavalry shouting, until the guards and knights who resisted stubbornly saw that Musaq's warhorse was empty.

The ground was filled with knights twitching and wailing, everywhere were the burning and slaughtering Beastial Cavalry.

Is Count Musaq really dead? Then what are we fighting for!

"Count Musaq is dead, run away quickly."

"Run, run, we've lost!"

The guards and knights creatively added a runaway plea to Musaq's demise, fully reflecting the creative literature of the populace.

Wherever the slogan went, guards threw down their weapons and fled, hills and fields covered with fleeing guards and knights.

Some hid in latrines, others climbed trees, some even desperately jumped into the rising rivers.

The Cuirassiers cheered, beginning to chase the fleeing guards and knights everywhere.

Riding her horse to the old knight, Jeanne reached out and grabbed the Holy Grail Battle Banner lance that Musaq had taken down.

She gave it a tug, but didn't budge it.

Blood mixed with stomach acid surged from his throat, Musaq's hands bulged with veins, firmly gripping Jeanne's lance shaft.

"Don't be smug, cough cough—" choked by his own blood, Musaq weakly roared, "You're finished, dare to penetrate here, you've been surrounded on all sides..."

"You've got a bit of humor." Jeanne slowly twisted the lance, occasionally loosening and sometimes tightening it, turning Musaq's internal organs into a mess.

It must be said, High-tier Knights are indeed hard to kill, a normal person would have died or passed out from pain, yet Musaq was not only clear-headed, but even managed to speak.

"Haha, hahaha." Even though he was in so much pain that he couldn't speak clearly, Musaq still laughed sinisterly, "To the south is Count Matei, my friend in the northeast at Gedi Mountain is Count of Tyrol, to the northwest there's Knight Hanzek...

The knights who just fled have already gone to notify them, you've been surrounded, I'm dead, yet you can't escape!"

Listening to Musaq, Jeanne's expression grew rigid, she slowly turned her head: "Kolebo!"

"Well? Am I still humorous? Haha—Haha—" Musaq laughed bloodily as it flowed from his nose.

At this moment, Kolebo rode over: "What's wrong?"

Jeanne took out parchment, pointed to two locations on it, and couldn't help but laugh as she said, "The last two camps have finally been found, send Cuirassiers quickly to scout these two sites."

"Really?" Kolebo immediately shouted with joy, "Fantastic... I'll personally lead the men."

"Okay, go quickly and return fast!"

"...Ah?" previously on the brink, Musaq lifted his head, eyes widened in an eerie semblance of recovery, "Ah?! No, no, you're lying to me, you must be lying to me!!!"

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