Ride and Cut

A lightless night with dim stars and moon, a night perfect for intrigue.

No one in the Pompeii army would have thought that an inconspicuous side door of Cold Winter City was quietly opened at this moment. In the darkness where you can't see your fingers, only a few guards raised the pine oil torches to "beep" and burn, and the brightness was limited to illuminate the square inch behind the city gate.

"My lord, they are here." Berna bent down slightly, signaling to the old man beside him.

Needless to say, Seedorf had long noticed that a team was gradually coming out of the unknown, shrouded in darkness, and appeared in the firelight.

They stopped at the dividing line between light and dark, and only the leader continued to move forward.

This is an officer wearing full knight plate armor, with a black feather stuck on the top of the helmet. This must have been a mighty warrior who once drew his sword against some rare vermin, colored his plumage with black blood after victory, and stuck it on the crest of his helmet as a symbol of honor and valor.

He raised an arm to shield his eyes, preventing his eyes adapted to the darkness from being stimulated by the firelight.

"We are the Fury of Thunder, coming from the capital, please let us enter the city." The voice was very hoarse, as if a lot of sand was rubbing against each other in the vocal cords.

"But I heard that there will be three legion reinforcements." Seedorf was not in a hurry to let go.

A full set of verification has been carried out before opening the city gate, and there is no doubt about the identity of the other party. It's just a habit, a habit developed over the years in the army.

"They have encountered some troubles. I am afraid that we are the only ones who can get there tonight."

"Pompeii?"

"yes."

Seedorf noticed bloodstains on the officer's armor, which was still fresh, glistening with a liquid luster under the light of the torch, obviously having experienced battle not long ago. Of course he knew that crossing the blockade of the army was extremely dangerous, and it was just a naive delusion to expect it to be completely smooth.

In the event of an accident during the whole process, it is normal that all the reinforcements cannot be in place.

Everything is normal, and Bernard already has a welcome smile on his face, but...

Seedorf was already an old man, and on such a cold and bleak night it was inevitable that he would be mentally weak and unable to keep his concentration as he had in his youth. But even so, he still had a vague feeling that something was wrong, and his decades of experience in the army were frantically warning him.

He closed his eyes, carefully filtering all the information captured by his senses in his mind. What was wrong - Thunderfury was too quiet, when he closed his eyes, he almost thought that there were only a group of dead wooden stakes in front of him.

They remained almost completely still, without making a sound.

Not Normal - A sufficiently disciplined team might be able to ban gossip. Soldiers will definitely pant after marching, which is an unavoidable physiological reaction. But at the moment nothing, nothing.

Seedorf's ears are still good, and with a high degree of concentration, he can hear the slight breathing of the guards of Winter City ten steps away, and the patrolling soldiers further away are stomping their feet to keep warm. But he couldn't hear the breathing of the Thunderfury soldiers who were close by.

And, on such a bleak night. The opponent neither had any lighting nor took any measures to prevent the soldiers from falling behind!

"May I ask, is there any personnel left behind in your army?" Although his heart was already turbulent, Seedorf's voice could not hear any emotional fluctuations, like a very common routine inquiry.

"Some of them were originally supposed to reach 4,215 people, and about 200 people were left behind, but this is something that can't be helped."

"There is really no way." Seedorf sighed softly, and the white mist slowly drifted away in the night sky.

Considering the difficulty of marching at night, the straggling rate of less than one-twentieth is no longer just "excellent".

A detachment so quiet and able to march smoothly without needing lighting, of course, could easily pass through the blockade in the dark, and the enemy would hardly spot them twenty paces away. But the question is—how could there be such a team in the world?

Seedorf suddenly discovered that under the seemingly peaceful night, there seemed to be a deep murderous intent that he could not see through.

"My lord, can we enter the city?"

"Even for an elite army like Thunderfury, I'm afraid it will be difficult to save the current predicament." Seedorf made a gesture behind his back, and a guard immediately left quietly, "The fall of Winter City is only a matter of time, there is no need to continue to increase unnecessary casualties, Your Excellency, please lead the team back."

"Soon there will be dragon knights coming to help, you don't have to be so pessimistic."

"Oh? Who is the dragon knight general?" There were originally three dragon knights in the empire. One of them led a team to encircle and suppress the evil dragon and died in an accidental battle not long ago. Now there are only two left.

These two dragoon generals are old friends of Seedorf, no matter who comes, it is good news.

"Corleone, Earl Corleone, Golden Dragon Knight."

"But... as far as I know, Lord Corleone is dead!" Seedorf opened his eyes suddenly, his sharp sword-like gaze burst out in the dark night, "Can a dead person rush to help Winter City?"

"Why... the dead are not allowed?" The hoarse voice was mixed with deep doubts.

"Even if the light of the torch is a bit glaring, you should get used to it after such a long time. Why don't you put your hand down," Seedorf said coldly.

"Hey... As expected of Panshi Seedorf, you are really cautious."

The arm dropped inch by inch, revealing the face under the helmet.

The sound of knives and guns being unsheathed was joined together in an instant, and the sharp copper whistle sounded immediately.

Blackened and rotting skin, shriveled and dilapidated eyeballs, only a few teeth left on the gums, and the dry flesh clings tightly to the skeleton. Even by the most tolerant standards, this is by no means possible to be reduced to the category of human beings.

It is not difficult for people with a little knowledge to see that this appearance is very similar to the legendary undead. It's just not clear whether the undead pretended to be Thunderfury, or the Thunderfury Legion turned into undead.

"It seems that the other two legions fell into your hands?" Seedorf slowly pulled out the family heirloom sword from the scabbard.

"Yeah, we took advantage of their unpreparedness to launch a sneak attack, then ate their flesh and drank their blood—it's a delicacy!" The monster grinned with a terrifying smile, enough to cast a shadow on the most daring children for life.

"Despicable!" Bernard spat on the ground, the blade of the sword in his hand had already begun to glow with vindictiveness, and he stepped forward to guard firmly in front of the commander.

"It seems that something unknown must have happened in the capital, can you tell me?" Seedorf asked calmly.

"You don't need to know because you're going to die soon too."

Behind the monster, the eerily quiet Thunderfury soldiers started running towards the city.