Mount and Blade System: Start from Pioneer Lords

Stars were sparse, the sky dark. A company of soldiers stood just behind the line where light met shadow, making them indistinct, like a monstrous beast lurking in the darkness, ready to devour.

"We are the vanguard. My father is still in the rear; he probably won't arrive until tomorrow morning," the bastard son of Andar said, riding his horse and looking down at the lord with a beaming smile.

"We're just doing a routine patrol. Don't take it too hard," said Levin, kicking a small stone on the roadside. The sound was crisp in the night air, punctuated only by the crackling torches.

"Understood."

Levin noticed some bloodstains on the bastard's armor. It had clearly been cleaned, but some traces remained. The helmet also didn't fit well, sitting too high and making his head look elongated.

"How is the situation to the south?"

"The demons were already dealt with by the time we arrived, so we turned back. Firstly, there was no point in staying, and secondly, we wanted to bring back the good news." After saying that, he added, "Actually, you don't need to wait for us; letters about this will reach Coln in a few days."

"Everything peaceful?" Levin continued to question.

"Everything peaceful!" the man nodded affirmatively.

The simple questioning ended, and everything seemed normal. Zart was already chuckling, scratching his backside, thinking about whether to have beef stew with potatoes or meat-filled crepes for supper.

"My lord, the warriors have braved the elements, longing for home like fledglings eager to return to the nest. Although entering the city at night is against regulations, please forgive the eagerness of those far from home."

Although the man still wore a smile, the urgency in his words was obvious.

Levin pondered. The man's answers were almost flawless, so normal that they seemed strange.

He began to analyze what felt off, and he quickly came to a conclusion—the man was lying!

The blood on the armor proved that he had been in a battle, yet he claimed everything was over by the time they arrived south.

Admittedly, they might have encountered bandits or highwaymen on the road, the kind who'd been eaten in the brains by goblins and dared to attack regular troops, but such riffraff wouldn't warrant a proper cavalry commander's personal attention!

Levin could clearly hear the slight breathing of the troops, but he noticed something was wrong. Their breathing was too rapid, as if they were trying hard to suppress something.

Moreover...

On such a dark night, they had no lights. The main force also conveniently stopped just before the boundary line illuminated by the firelight, allowing only a vague outline of the soldiers to be seen.

Had Andar's elite troops reached the point where they could march at night without lights and not have soldiers falling behind?

Even the lord wouldn't vouch for Highcliff Keep's troops being able to do that.

Most importantly... Even Andar wouldn't dare to speak to him, the Lion Hunter Knight, while sitting on horseback. How dare a nobody bastard do so?!

Besides, as far as Levin knew, this bastard never called Andar 'father'!

"May I ask, why is your head pointy?" Levin asked suddenly.

"What?" The young knight looked puzzled but explained seriously, "You must be seeing things, my lord."

"I see," Levin smiled.

"My lord, may we enter the city now?"

"I'm sorry, entry is not allowed at night," Levin gestured behind him. The barbarians still smiled amiably, but inwardly they were on alert. The Fede archers on the city wall had eyes as sharp as eagles, quietly taking down their yew longbows and nocking arrows.

"However, there is an exception for you!" The lord's voice suddenly turned cold.

"Why aren't we allowed to enter the city?"

The masculine voice suddenly became hoarse, filled with deep confusion.

"Stop pretending! I saw you weren't human at first glance!" Levin sneered. "Tell those bums behind you to show their faces!"

"Heh heh, as expected of the man whom this body's memories revere. You truly are cautious," the young knight's fake smile vanished, replaced by a blank expression. He took off the helmet, revealing his true face.

The sound of swords being drawn was incessant, accompanied by a tidal wave of excited, crazed roars.

Crimson skin, a hideous, devilish face, limbs ending in claws, a tail with sharp barbs, flesh withered, skin stretched tightly over the bones, making the body appear abnormally thin, and a face bearing the purest evil smile.

Without a doubt, this was the Blood Demon seen publicly at Black Stone Keep. Of course, its real name was actually Babau. 'Blood Demon' was just a colloquial term based on its appearance.

Perched on the head of this bastard knight was a palm-sized, spider-like creature with a string of egg sacs that triggered the lord's obsessive-compulsive disorder. Its eight sharp legs were embedded in the knight's head.

Babaus were cunning and treacherous. When they decided to ambush an opponent, they usually skillfully employed their multiple attack and sneak attack techniques.

Therefore, the truth was obvious.

"It seems my good brother, Earl Andar, and his army have fallen into your hands," the lord took a deep breath, his face a bit pale.

When that guy left, he started with zero frames and accumulated flags all over his body. He wanted to stop him, but it was too late.

Now, he can only hope that he will be more careful in his next life.

"That's right. We took advantage of the opportunity to ambush his army. Originally, I wanted to control his body; that would definitely increase our chances of success, but his will was really strong. In the end, I could only eat his strong body bit by bit amidst curses, until I finished his delicious brain. Only then did the wonderful sounds end," the knight licked his lips, making a vivid and terrifying smile despite being dead.

"The thin, rough tongue was devoured by these Babaus. To be honest, because it was so sweet, these bastards fought each other to the point of bloodshed."

"Damn undead thing!" Zart cursed first, holding his steel battle-axe and guarding the lord, ready to chop it into mincemeat at a moment's notice.

He had a decent relationship with Earl Andar, often going to his camp to freeload meals. Now, seeing him defeated and tortured like this, he was furious.

"Although you are cautious, you are also stupid. Being so close to us, you have little chance of winning," the man said confidently.

It seemed that, as the intelligence reports said, this unknown demon could absorb some memories, so its intelligence was actually the same as a human.

"It seems you forgot to absorb the most important memory," the lord sighed, calmly gripping his sword.

"What?" The knight was even more puzzled.

"It's that you are too close to me."

As soon as he finished speaking, a flash of silver light appeared. Before anyone could react, a good head rolled off.

"Someone keep an eye on this ghost for me. The rest of you, grab your weapons and follow me."

Unfortunately, as soon as Levin finished speaking, the unknown spider demon on the head instantly lost its color and turned into a lifeless object.

"Damn it, it's that damn magic again."

The lord, who had been diligently supplementing his magical knowledge with Heather, saw at a glance that the one controlling the person was not the demon itself, but a type of mental magic.

The Babaus, who had been ordered to pretend to be soldiers, began to run madly towards the city gate.

All sorts of howls converged, filled with bloodlust and greed. These demons, like evil ghosts, surged towards Coln like a tidal wave across the plain.

"Retreat to the city gate."

He didn't know the other side's details yet. Even if he thought Highcliff Keep's strength was now world-class, the lord didn't plan to confront them head-on.

A series of teeth-aching string-pulling sounds rang out, followed by a volley of arrows falling like rain. The Babaus in the front row, with their scarlet skin, were instantly cut down like wheat.

When the Fede archers shot upwards from below the city, they could almost achieve infallible accuracy. Not to mention that they now occupied a favorable position, shooting downwards from a height.

The bowstrings were pulled rapidly, and the other side was constantly losing numbers. Hot blood splashed, flowing from their bodies and gathering on the ground, forming small streams.

Levin led the barbarians calmly back from the passage to the city gate. As the heavy city gate closed layer by layer, the demons were completely blocked outside the city gate.

Having fought all his life, this was the first time the lord and the Highcliff Keep troops had fought a siege defense.

These demons were like ants crawling out of the ground, densely covering the plain. Their charge was chaotic, even worse than a rural militia, but it was crazy enough.

The sight of monsters charging desperately as far as the eye could see was enough to make one's heart tremble.

However, the Highcliff Keep troops felt extremely at ease. The barbarian warriors even had the leisure to point and comment.

The reason... was naturally that Coln's twenty-eight-blade-high city wall finally showed its true use.

These demons looked frightening. Even if they braved the rain of arrows and managed to reach the city wall, they could only stare blankly at the towering city wall because they had no siege equipment.

Originally, their plan was the same old routine: to trick the city gate open, but they didn't expect the human garrison here to be unusually cautious.

Even so, they could have rushed in before the city gate closed, but the other side's archers were also terribly sharp, aiming their arrows at their legs or eye sockets.

As a result, they could only watch helplessly as the city gate was closed.

"It seems something must have happened at Bone Fortress. The situation may be more critical than they said." The earth goblin, Leyton, didn't know when he had come to the city wall. He looked at the demons below with great worry.

He had obviously just fallen asleep and was hurriedly called to come. He was still wearing a pointy wool hat.

His sleep was light, and the Highcliff Keep camp was near the main city gate, so when he heard the shouts of killing, he knew something must have happened. He casually put on an old leather armor and rushed over.

"Coln is at least several castles away from Bone Fortress. I wonder if these demons detoured or have already reached here." Levin's face was calm, with no expression. This wasn't because he wasn't worried at all, but because the words and actions of a general would affect the morale of the soldiers. So even if he was worried, he had to pretend to be strong and able to withstand any disaster.

"If it's the latter, it's indeed a bit troublesome. After all, to reach Coln without any warning, the griffon knight regiments to the south are completely useless!"

"However, these demons are much weaker than I imagined," Leyton commented objectively, looking at the demons below.

The 'Abyssal History' recorded these demons called Babau. These demons were cunning and cruel.

They were about one blade and nine in height and weighed about one hundred and forty pounds, so they looked unusually thin, but their strength was definitely not weaker than that of an adult.

One-on-one, it was hard to say whether an untrained adult could defeat them.

If the demons were only of this level, there was nothing to fear, but the fact was that they were almost at the bottom of the entire demon family, only slightly higher in status than Quasits and Imps.

If it were a Marilith, or a Balor who was a lord, then the result would be completely different.

Soon, Montvert also arrived, and the Wolf Island soldiers he brought immediately joined the battle.

"Levin, what's going on? I was patrolling when I heard the fighting here." He looked serious, still wearing leather armor.

"Look, you'll know," Levin pointed to the bottom of the city.

The Wolf Island Earl was instantly shocked and speechless, feeling extremely dry in his mouth. "These demons came to Coln, how did we not receive any news at all?!"

What really shocked him was that, whether it was Damon before or the griffon knight regiments later, the entire information transmission seemed to have disappeared.

They had no idea about the situation in the south, so these demons suddenly arrived at Coln.

The problem inside, a little thought made people feel cold.

"I want to know this more than you do," Levin aimed at the most densely populated area under the city and raised his hand to throw out a log used for defending the city.

The whistling sound roared. With the blessing of abundant power, the log weighing a full thousand pounds killed seven or eight demons upon landing. This log was made of solid materials. After landing, it did not break, and it continued to roll into the crowd unabated. For a time, blood and flesh flew everywhere, and broken limbs were crushed all over the place.

Even though he had long been aware of the strength of this Lion Hunter Knight... no, now Marquis Levin, Montvert couldn't help but twitch his eyelids when he saw the other party throwing a log weighing a thousand pounds, which required at least two or three strong men to hug with all their strength, as easily as throwing a small stone.

As time passed, under the archers' wanton sniping and the barbarians' efforts to throw stones and block with logs, these demons looked at the twenty-eight-blade-high city wall, knowing that it was impossible to break through the city. Therefore, they could only leave a ground of corpses and retreat into the darkness like a tide, watching the city in the dark.

"Leyton, I'll leave this to you first." After instructing, Levin patted Montvert's back. "Let's go find Frina."

The two looked at each other and then headed towards White Fort.