Chapter 350 253: Seeing Panda Again

With excited roars, the Beastman Warriors surged through the breach in the gate and into Kolon City, as if they had just spotted a magnificent feast.

To them, this was a true Gift of the War God, a chance to increase their power.

After all, High Cliff Castle's elite Berserker unit had only two members so far, both incredibly rare. They would often show off their Berserk state—which looked as awkward as holding in a shit—in front of the other Barbarians, making the rest of them green with envy.

Now, every single one of them was chomping at the bit, eager to kill more enemies and ascend to the rank of Berserker.

This eagerness spelled immense suffering for the Mercenaries they faced.

Facing the enemy's spear formation, the Barbarians sneered and drew the Fine Steel Javelins from their backs.

No orders were given, no signals were shouted, yet they moved as one. The next moment, countless Fine Steel Javelins flew through the air in unison, blotting out the sky.

The Mercenaries' carefully prepared formation proved completely useless. They could only stare in stunned disbelief at the Javelins hurtling toward them.

A monstrous wave of blood erupted into the air as severed limbs flew everywhere, accompanied by unending, shrill cries of agony.

Like pitiful stalks of wheat before a farmer's scythe, the Mercenaries were cut down in droves.

The Barbarians didn't stop there; they didn't let up until they had thrown all five of the Javelins each of them carried.

The result was that the dense ranks of Mercenaries were instantly reduced by more than half. Only a few of the more agile ones survived by throwing themselves to the ground.

Before the two sides had even clashed in close combat, the Mercenaries had already suffered catastrophic losses.

"Damn."

The Lord, Broadsword in hand, stared at the cleared passageway. 'Feels like my XP packs were just stolen.'

He felt these Mercenaries were even more pathetic than the City Guard Army from Black Stone Castle. Then again, he figured he shouldn't have expected much from them in the first place.

Never mind these Mercenaries, who were a step weaker than a regular army. Even a regular army couldn't face the Barbarians now that they were High Level Soldiers in the system.

After all, a single High Level Soldier, as defined by the system, was skilled enough to serve as the top Martial Arts instructor for an entire legion. Now that they were here in force, their advantage over ordinary soldiers was terrifyingly vast.

From the moment they faced the forces of High Cliff Castle, these Mercenaries were like pitiful praying mantises trying to stop a chariot. Their only possible fate was helpless despair.

After dealing with the guards at the gate, the Lord gestured for his men to follow. He planned to head up to the walls to help Monvert, secure that entire section, and then, depending on the situation, either reinforce the main army or proceed to the Inner Castle alone.

However, he had barely taken two steps when a large group of Kolon soldiers appeared, rushing toward them from a street in the distance. They wore armor emblazoned with the symbol of a tulip; they were clearly Kolon's regular army.

The two forces stared at each other, dumbfounded.

There was no need for questions or tentative probes; the commanders on both sides immediately gave the most direct orders.

"Hold the gate! Hold the gate! Drive these Northern Guys back!" the arriving Kolon officer roared himself hoarse.

Unfortunately, if volume equated to combat strength, then every last Beastman Barbarian would be a Dragon Slayer.

This time, the Lord charged into the crowd himself. He swung his Broadsword in a vicious arc. With a crisp SWISH, as if slicing through watermelons, his path was instantly cleared. The soldiers of the Kolon Guard Army suddenly found their upper bodies parting ways with the lower halves that had accompanied them for years, landing on the ground alone.

"Sweet!"

Listening to the ceaseless experience notifications pinging in his mind, the Lord let out a hearty laugh. Like a tiger among sheep, he began to hack and slash with wild abandon.

"A Demon! That's a Demon!"

"Heavenly Lord, why must you let us be tormented by this Demon!"

This absolutely terrifying display made the thousand-odd reinforcing soldiers from the Guard Army shriek in horror. They dropped their weapons, turned tail, and fled for their lives, scattering in every direction in their panic.

In just a moment, the rabble had completely vanished, leaving behind only a few dumbstruck young men who sat paralyzed on the ground, their eyes totally vacant.

"Shit."

Looking at the reinforcements who had broken and fled after he'd cut down only a hundred of them, the Lord realized he'd missed an opportunity to make a name for himself.

'If I had just announced my title,' he thought, 'these fleeing grunts would have spread the word about the power of the Lion Hunter Knight for me—a peerless warrior who routed a Thousand-Man Squad all by himself.'

'I might have even earned a title like "Levi, the Peerless and Valiant" or something.'

But that was just a fleeting thought for Levi. In the present age, perhaps few could match his individual prowess, but a thousand years ago, there were warriors who could single-handedly topple nations.

Without a doubt, he had missed another chance to boost his reputation, a loss that pained him more than losing a Hundred Gold Coins.

He resolved that from now on, he would always announce his title before starting a fight.

He finally understood why those Knights with mediocre abilities went through so many tedious rituals and insisted on announcing their titles before a duel.

'A classic case of a bad student having the most stationery.'

'Now I get it. It's all for show... no, wait, it's for building a reputation!'

With no one left to stop them, the Lord successfully led the Beastman Barbarians onto the city wall, where they rendezvoused with Monvert. In the span of just two hundred heartbeats, the two of them cleared all the Mercenaries from that section of the wall and seized control.

The enemy apparently realized that the wall was lost for good and that they couldn't retake it. They stopped sending soldiers to this section and began to contract their defensive line, falling back toward the Inner Castle.

This created a strange situation. The main Northern Territory army was still locked in a fierce struggle—one they likely wouldn't win anytime soon, even with the help of the Ice and Snow Mages—yet the defenders they were fighting had inexplicably begun to retreat toward the Inner Castle.