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TWL Chapter 219: A Night of Blood and Steel
🕑 Added 2024-09-22 03:19:09 +0000 UTCHenselt, seeing that the situation was becoming dangerous, tried to escape in panic, but suddenly he tripped over something. Looking down, he realized that it was the body of one of his guards.
The king kicked the obstruction away in a rage, and when he looked up again, he suddenly found that two elves were blocking the road ahead. The hatred in their eyes seemed about to burst forth in the form of blood.
[Swoosh!]
Arrows flew towards him.
Henselt's favorite thing was to personally hunt down the non-human races. Years of fighting gave him a good reaction speed. He rolled on the ground with his head in his hands the moment he saw the elves, and narrowly avoided the vital points, only adding two 'decorations' on the thick armor.
After getting up, the king panicked and wanted to find his guards to protect himself but found that the guards and knights he brought with him were all dead.
At that time, only twelve members of the Scoia'tael remained.
The king, who looked fierce on the outside but was actually scared, took a deep breath and straightened his back, unable to tolerate being embarrassed in front of the non-human races.
Knowing that he could not escape, he suddenly drew out the long sword from his waist.
"If you want my head, come and get it yourself, you damned Scoia'tael!"
Iorveth drew the weapon from the body of a fallen knight without a word and lunged at Henselt.
However, no king of the North is destined to die tonight.
Because someone won't allow it.
Once Henselt dies, Kaedwen, which has no heir, will be in chaos. Once Kaedwen is in chaos, the momentum of the North's unity against the outside world will be lost, and the results of this northern meeting will be wasted.
So even if Lann hates Henselt so much, and even has a plan to deal with him in the future, he still has to take action at this moment.
Henselt can't die, at least not now, and can't die before Cintra is recovered.
He can only die when Lann decides to let him die. And Henselt's death will also open the curtain of a brand new drama.
Seeing the two elves blocking the way, Lann sighed and raised his left hand, forming a Sign.
[Aard Sign]!
A wave of telekinetic energy transformed into a solid wall that advanced, pushing the two elves into the air.
Despite the sudden onslaught, after falling the two experienced elves quickly got up and unsheathed their swords, ready to fight.
The Sign didn't seem to do much damage to them, which was also a result of Lann not intending to kill them.
Lann also wanted to talk to the Scoia'tael about something.
Although not now.
...
Just as the two elves stood up, a blond knight in dark grey armor stepped out of the darkness. His presence was imposing, like that of a lion. They raised their swords to face him, but the knight struck them with a single thrust, sending them flying.
In front of Lann, Iorveth raised his sword against Henselt, his gaze dripping with hatred.
Lann turned his left hand and took out a crossbow from his [Inventory].
He pulled the trigger; the arrow, empowered by his Sharpshooter talent, flew like a snake, striking the blade of Iorveth's sword and deflecting his killing blow.
The clash of steel echoed; the arrow broke under the enormous pressure, and splinters of wood cut into Iorveth's cheek, leaving a wound.
"Human!"
The Scoia'tael's cry of rage echoed out.
Lann rushed forward quickly like a predatory beast, the sword Aerondight in his hand flashed with golden light, and a light rotation opened another deep and shallow scar on Iorveth's waist.
Meanwhile, in a place invisible to others, Lann's magical energy flowed through the runeblade, marking Iorveth.
This is the mark used for the [Teleport] skill. Not only can it teleport the marked person to Lann's side, but it can also bring Lann to the marked target.
After doing all this smoothly, Lann raised his foot and kicked Henselt, who was in the way, to the side without any hesitation.
The sound of breaking wind rang out, and Lann tilted his head to avoid a terrifyingly large stone. This was a sneak attack by the halfling.
Raising his hand, he firmly blocked Iorveth's slash. With Lann's current physical strength, the slash from the elf in front of him was not much stronger than that of a child.
"Human!!"
Seeing that the evil king who massacred the non-human races was about to be killed, but Lann's sudden appearance ruined everything, the remaining Scoia'tael rushed towards Lann desperately.
Lann sighed. If he killed the Scoia'tael now, he wouldn't be able to negotiate later.
So instead of a killing blow, he deflected his sword, using the back of the blade to strike Iorveth's shoulder to push him back, leaving a space for his next move.
Holding the Aerondight Sword in his right hand, Lann used his left hand to draw the scimitar [Iris] which now possessed a lion-headed hilt.
Facing a large number of Scoia'tael members, Lann is determined to quench their anger with force first!
[Whirl]!
The golden light of the rune sword mixed with the red light of the black magic scimitar in a dazzling spectacle under the dim moonlight.
[Clang! Clang! Clang!]
Lann spun and attacked continuously, moving nimbly through the crowd.
Unlike his previous sword dance, which focused on dodging, each attack this time involved a direct clash against his enemies' weapons.
With the blessing of his enormous strength now, even the light slash of the longsword was like a heavy blow from a giant axe. Every Scoia'tael who dared to confront him would retreat, staggering and panting for several seconds before being able to attack again.
Thus, Lann, enveloped in golden and red lights, launched dozens, hundreds of punches, the sound of clashing metal echoing endlessly.
During all this time, no one had died, and Lann even found time to increase his speed and agility, throwing ever faster blows.
On the other hand, the Scoia'tael began to feel the weight of combat; many halflings attacking from the edge were unable to hold their weapons after just a few attempts.
Iorveth on the side was already stunned. He was a tactical leader, with outstanding skills, but he was not an exceptional warrior.
Had he actually survived an exchange of swords with a swordsman of such caliber?
Thinking about this, Iorveth's mental clarity quickly brought him back to reality. While Lann dealt with his companions, he turned his vengeful gaze towards Henselt.
The sound of a long sword breaking through the wind suddenly sounded, and Iorveth raised his sword to block it like a conditioned reflex, blocking a scimitar with a glowing red light.
Lann seemed to have discovered Iorveth's intention. He rushed out of the crowd again and attacked Iorveth with more strength.
Not only that, seeing that Iorveth was entangled with him, Lann waved his hand to stop him from attacking Henselt again. The storm of swords forced Iorveth to retreat continuously until he and his companions gathered and joined forces.
So... let's keep spinning!
[Clang! Clang! Clang!]
The sword dance continued, overwhelming the Scoia'tael.
'What is that human gentleman doing? Is he mocking us?'
Iorveth roared wildly in his mind.
However, his reason quickly led him to calm down. Remembering clearly, if that warrior had really wanted to kill him, he would have died more than once already.
Such a calm, resolute and powerful knight could not be someone who likes to play tricks on the enemy. A swordsman who likes to play cat and mouse will never have the chance to grow up and will die in a corner of a battlefield or a dark alley.
Then there is only one answer. The opponent is holding back, and he wants to let him, and others go.
Why? On a battlefield of this level, why would a human knight risk his life to let the Scoia'tael who assassinated the king go?
Iorveth couldn't figure it out. But he didn't have much time to think. There were gradually footsteps of the army behind him. Obviously, the support of the kingdom was coming.
He had to make a choice. Should he take the opportunity of the swordsman's mercy and retreat, or continue to assassinate Henselt regardless of life and death?
"Scoia'tael!"
The roar of the soldiers came from the dark, and the knights in different armor rushed over together. First Aedirn, then the United Kingdom of Lyria and Rivia, and finally Redania and Temeria.
Then they were stunned by the scene of Lann fighting ten people alone.
"Retreat!"
Iorveth knew that the situation was hopeless when he saw this, and decisively gave up the mission.
It happened that they had reached the edge of the fortress platform with the help of Lann, and with a command, they retreated directly along the way they came. With the help of ropes, they disappeared into the darkness with a few rises and falls.
Then, a series of loud and sharp whistles like bird calls sounded rhythmically around the Hagge Castle. More slender figures rose and fell in the darkness, running away from the military camp towards the forest, leaving only the monsters still fighting with the army.
"Lann!" Queen Meve strode forward and commanded her knights to surround Lann to prevent any sneak attacks from the Scoia'tael.
"How are you, are you hurt? Where are your witchers? Where are your servants? Where are your soldiers?"
Lann shook his head, breathing heavily to calm himself. With a movement, he placed the Iris scimitar back into its sheath, leaving only the striking Aerondight sword in view.
"I asked them to help the soldiers below. Normal people have no experience dealing with these monsters, it would only increase casualties. My men, on the other hand, are quite experienced."
Henselt was still in shock, and at this moment he seemed to have just come to his senses, shouting in exasperation: "Lannister!"
"You actually let these Scoia'tael escape? You didn't kill a single elf! All my guards are down, and this is all you accomplished?!"
Lann panted and looked over coldly. Although there was not much blood on his body, he carried the aura of the great power just now.
Henselt, seeing her gaze, felt as if his voice had stopped. He couldn't help but take a step back.
After hearing Henselt's accusation, Meve was even more unceremonious: "Enough, Henselt! He fought ten elven assassins for you alone, one sword against ten swords, and he saved your life! What else do you want?"
At this moment, the other kings also slowly walked out from behind the protection of the knights.
"It's twelve weapons." Demavend exclaimed. "I have never seen such a swordsman, nor such a reliable ally."
Henselt hummed a few times and fell silent.
Lann looked away, adjusting his breathing as he looked out of the castle. In the distance, at the edge of the forest, flames and wind roared, and every now and then the sound of alchemy bombs popping, and flashes of golden light could be heard.
That was the direction where the ancient Leshen was, where Letho and the others had gone.
Longsword in hand, Lann turned and began walking, his auburn griffin cloak billowing in the night wind as the knights made way for him.
"Lann, where are you going?"
"Keep helping! None of these monsters will leave here alive tonight!"
Comments
Axell
Thanks for the chapter π
