Mount and Blade System: Start from Pioneer Lords

Dire wolves clashed, blades flashed like shooting stars, and in an instant, lives were lost.

The Burning Legion scout squad didn't even break a sweat against the light chainmail, easily slitting the throats of the five gnoll scouts, who fell from their wolves in terror, the mounts running dozens of steps before realizing their masters were down.

It's worth noting that gnolls have a very linear upgrade path, mainly focusing on becoming rangers.

From highest to lowest, they are: "Gnoll Commoner," "Gnoll Herdsman," "Gnoll Rider," "Gnoll Ranger," "Gnoll Raider," and "Howling Sower."

A total of six tiers of units, with cavalry starting from the second tier.

This Burning Legion gnoll scout squad, though young, mostly just reaching warrior age, had recently been slaughtering wandering wilderness bandits.

Therefore, aside from Scarface and Lamefoot, who always followed Hogg and were fourth-tier "Gnoll Rangers," the rest were all third-tier "Gnoll Riders."

The blessing of the system's power, combined with superior equipment, allowed them to easily take down the opposing five gnoll scouts upon meeting, clearly demonstrating their superiority.

The remaining seven scouts retreated in haste, truthfully, although their primary duty was to relay information, the fact that nearly half their brothers were taken down upon meeting, with the enemy not even wounded, inevitably instilled fear in their hearts.

The scout squad wanted to press their advantage, as preventing the enemy scouts from relaying information was also part of their mission, but after chasing only a few dozen steps, they saw a forest of flags and a vast, heavily guarded army.

Forced to retreat, they could only wave their scimitars defiantly from a safe distance, leaving behind mocking whistles before turning their wolves back towards Highcliff Fortress.

Both sides' scouts delivered the information to their respective leaders.

"Oh, King Harlan, may he live long," Lee Wei said, uttering a reference no one understood, stretching and causing his joints to crack like popping beans: "I've waited almost a lifetime; they're finally here."

Patting the giant iron gate beneath him, which could no longer be called a shield but was more like a slab of iron, Lee Wei revealed a satisfied smile.

He had specially commissioned this shield from the blacksmith Fede; its thickness alone was over twenty centimeters, capable of completely shielding his body, using ample materials, and even incorporating mithril.

The only threat the dragon posed to him was its dragon breath, which could melt steel, and as long as he could withstand the first blast, he was confident in dealing with the dragon, hence the creation of this custom-made shield.

If he had been worried that steel wouldn't withstand the dragon breath and had to increase the thickness, the shield incorporating magical metal gave the lord much more confidence.

Beside him lay a huge weapon resembling a harpoon, with a circle of iron chains attached to the end.

As long as the lord hit the dragon, the wickedly designed barbs would firmly lodge into its flesh, allowing the lord to control the dragon like a kite.

Then the dragon would be nothing more than a lamb to be slaughtered.

It could be said that the two methods Lee Wei came up with were not profound, even crude, but why hadn't anyone used them before?

Simply because of strength limitations.

Being able to wield a shield weighing several thousand pounds and a chained harpoon weighing hundreds of pounds, the lord was a unique case throughout history.

In the past, kingdoms captured dragons by shooting heavy iron arrows from ballistae, also attaching iron chains to the arrows' ends.

But no one had ever relied on pure manpower to launch such a weapon like the lord.

"Alert everyone and execute the planned strategy."

The gnoll messenger, upon receiving the order, mounted his wolf and headed to the various deployment locations with the warrant, and the lord's orders would be thoroughly carried out throughout Highcliff Fortress.

"I saw a team of minotaurs," Hogg said heavily, feeding fresh water to his dire wolf.

Minotaurs, or bull-men, are an extremely rare race in the wilderness, essentially bipedal bulls.

Because there are differences within the race, some look like yellow cattle, while others resemble water buffalo.

From this, some differences can be seen: gnolls and orcs, such alien races, look more like humans than beasts, while minotaurs are purely bipedal beasts.

These bull-men, although bulls, are completely carnivorous, with violent and cruel tempers, keen on war and slaughter.

Ninety-nine percent of them are either fighting or on their way to fighting.

But these are not the reasons why they are so feared by the heroes of the wilderness; the truly crucial reason is that these minotaurs are all super strongmen over three blades tall and weighing a thousand pounds once they reach adulthood!

But in terms of physical condition, they are actually about the same as trolls, weaker than giants, but…

They also have a fatal ability—semi-berserk!

Once they enter battle, they automatically enter this "semi-berserk" state.

In this state, the minotaurs' strength and endurance are greatly enhanced, and they even eliminate pain, completely becoming tireless killing machines.

But everything has its advantages and disadvantages; this berserk state also makes them lose their minds, turning the already undisciplined team into a mess, starting to fight on their own.

This also prevents them from ever reaching a grand stage; once they join a battlefield with over ten thousand elite soldiers, then they, who have lost their minds, are no different from domestic pigs with only brute strength, and being slaughtered is their only end.

But if this battlefield is just a battle between wilderness rabble against wilderness rabble, then berserking is a truly powerful skill, enough to pose a great threat to the opponent.

"Minotaurs?" Lee Wei thought for a moment and asked, "How many are there exactly?"

"There are too many people, I can't count the exact number, but there should be about a hundred," Hogg shook his head.

"Bring soldiers to block, and water to cover, what about the minotaurs, can they block a few arrows from your lord?"

Lee Wei sneered, his eyes glancing at the dense reeds by the riverbank not far away.

"Hogg, let the wolf cubs continue to scout and control every move of the enemy."

…

"Sir, the scouts sent by the other side have been discovered."

Gorgon sat high on the back of a black mountain boar, listening carefully to the information gathered by the gnoll scout kneeling on the ground.

"Even though the two tribes have been slaughtered, I didn't expect the news to still get out."

Gorgon was slightly regretful, originally wanting to catch the other side off guard, but did not expect the other side to be prepared.

But the most important thing is that their marching speed is too slow, but there is no way, a team of four thousand people cannot be fast.