Chapter 54: The King’s Return

Sun Fei’s face changed expression.

He jumped onto a high mound and looked into the distance. At the horizon where the lush green plain met the blue sky, countless silver banners suddenly appeared. The banners fluttered and danced in the wind, like roaring silver dragons. Immediately after, the ground beneath his feet began to tremble. Then, countless knights in silver armor, like heavenly soldiers, galloped furiously, surging toward Shampoo City like a tidal wave.

“Judging by their might, there are at least six hundred powerful knights… I wonder if they are the reinforcements from the Zenit Empire that Brook mentioned, or backup summoned by the Silver Masked Man?”

Sun Fei observed carefully.

He quickly noticed that when these suddenly appearing silver-armored knights saw the fleeing soldiers of the Black Armored Army, they did not slow their charge at all. Instead, to the sound of a loud bugle, they immediately began a ruthless slaughter. Where their iron hooves fell, flesh splattered; swords and spears gleamed coldly under the light. It was truly like a tiger charging into a flock of sheep. Over a thousand fleeing Black-Armored Soldiers, amidst their screams, put up no resistance at all; it was completely one-sided carnage.

“Whew… good. It looks like they might be reinforcements from the Zenit Empire.”

Sun Fei felt a bit relieved.

He thought for a moment, then jumped down from the high mound and turned back to enter the mysterious black-clothed person’s tent. He was surprised to find signs of struggle on the ground. Clearly, the Four-Star Level Mage had woken up and tried to free himself from the ropes, but failed. Sun Fei’s expertly applied bondage technique had worked—the unfortunate black-clothed Mage had suffered a severe anal injury, with bloodstains trailing all the way to the floor. Evidently, during his struggle, the ropes had tugged on the wooden stake, causing the injury, and he had passed out again from the pain.

Sun Fei directly lifted the unconscious, black-cloaked person and carried him out of the large tent. He went to the center of the now-broken camp, threw him alongside the Silver Masked Man’s corpse, and then used the Storm Piercer Short Sword to cut a piece of stiff cloth from the collapsed central tent of the Silver Masked Man. He tightly wrapped both the person and the corpse together, bundling them into a large cloth package. Then he gently placed it beside him.

After doing all this, Sun Fei stood in place, gazing into the distance.

At this moment, the brightly armored knights in the distance were still galloping back and forth, spinning and slaughtering the few remaining Black-Armored Soldiers. After a brief delay, only about twenty or so cavalrymen did not stop; they charged over, roaring toward this direction.

Just as Sun Fei was about to speak, he saw that these cavalrymen, upon spotting him, did not slow down at all. Instead, they laughed joyfully, urged their warhorses forward, and shouted loudly as they charged toward him. They raised their knightly lances, which gleamed coldly under the sun; the tips of the spears even dripped with the fresh red blood of the Black-Armored Soldiers. Their target was clearly Sun Fei himself.

“Crap, did these idiots mistake me for a remnant soldier of the Black Armored Army?”

Sun Fei didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Just as he was about to shout an explanation, the most splendidly armored knight at the front, without saying a word, suddenly laughed aloud. Using the momentum of his galloping horse, he stretched his waist and arm, and hurled his lance through the air. Under the sunlight, a cold glint flashed as the roughly two-meter-long knight’s lance whistled toward Sun Fei.

Clang!

Sun Fei’s eyes turned cold.

With a light tap from the Soul Emblem Small Round Shield in his left hand, the fiercely thrown knight’s lance was knocked high into the sky. Sun Fei estimated that the knight’s strength was not even at the One-Star Level. An attack of this level posed not even the slightest threat to Sun Fei, who was in Level 12 Barbarian Mode.

“You… you actually dare to resist? Trample him into mincemeat!”

The splendidly armored knight hadn’t expected his certain-hit throw to be so easily deflected high into the air by this blood-covered ‘fleeing soldier’. After a moment of stunned disbelief, he felt his authority had been challenged and flew into a rage. With a ‘clang,’ he drew the longsword from his waist and roared, pointing it forward. The dozen or so knights behind him, hearing his order, viciously spurred their horses with the iron spurs on their boots. The horses, in pain, instantly accelerated, roaring and charging toward Sun Fei.

Their clear intent was to smash this ‘fleeing soldier’ and send him flying.

“Wait… stop! I’m from Shampoo City, not a fleeing soldier!”

Sun Fei had no choice but to shout an explanation.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing Sun Fei’s words, the splendidly armored knight at the front, instead of reining in his horse to slow down, lowered his head and shouted, urging his horse to charge even faster. The cavalrymen behind him did the same, their faces wearing excited and mocking smiles. The way they looked at Sun Fei was no different from looking at a fool or a dead man.

“Crap, something’s wrong… these bastards are deliberately trying to kill me.”

Sun Fei’s heart sank as he realized something was amiss. Seeing the mocking grin on the knight’s face, he knew further talk would be useless. He gave a cold laugh, slung the Soul Emblem Small Round Shield over his shoulder, and then charged head-on toward the incoming knights.

“Damn it, let’s see who crashes into whom!” His anger was stirred.

Soon, one man and fourteen horses collided head-on without any fancy moves.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

A series of heavy, dull impacts sounded, as if they had hit an indestructible wall. With looks of disbelief, the knights were flung off their galloping horses one by one, landing in disarray on the ground, crying out in pain. Especially the leader in the splendid armor, who tumbled directly to the ground, rolling like a gourd. His once-gleaming armor was now covered in dust and bloodstains; his helmet was lost who-knows-where, and his face was filthy, making him look like a grimy beggar who hadn’t bathed in over a decade.

The more than ten warhorses collapsed to the ground, struggling to get up.

Sun Fei turned around and stood still, not saying a word. He looked disdainfully at the knights as they scrambled up from the ground, his demeanor lofty, like a Dragon looking down on mangy dogs daring to challenge it. The dozen or so knights felt so enraged they could spit blood.

“You…” The lead knight angrily pointed at Sun Fei. “You dare to attack a knight of the great Zenit Empire? Aah, you’re dead… I will definitely kill you!” Though his words were fierce, not a single one of them dared to charge forward immediately. Sun Fei’s overwhelming performance of continuously knocking down over ten galloping warhorses had already terrified them out of their wits.

Sun Fei was a bit speechless.

Was this guy an idiot? You were the one who threw a lance at me without asking, and then shouted about trampling me into mincemeat with your numbers… Should I not fight back and just stand there waiting to be killed?… You killing me is justified, but me crashing into you means I’m asking for death?

The other party’s crude manners and poor performance suddenly made Sun Fei lose interest in the so-called Zenit Empire reinforcements. He picked up the cloth bundle containing the Four-Star Level Mage and the Silver Masked Man’s corpse, and without a word, began walking toward Shampoo City.

“Don’t you dare run, you lowly bastard!”

Though thoroughly frightened, the splendidly armored knight leader had a sharp tongue. Seeing his opponent retreating, his courage returned, and he pointed at Sun Fei’s retreating back, loudly cursing and provoking him.

Sun Fei stopped and turned around, his eyes as cold as ice.

“Say one more word, and I’ll kill you!”

At that moment, he truly felt killing intent. Initially, because they were reinforcements from the suzerain state Zenit, he hadn’t wanted to bother with these reckless knights. Who would have thought they’d keep pushing their luck? As he spoke, Sun Fei concentrated his will; the Storm Piercer Short Sword in his hand flashed with a golden light. If these fools uttered one more insult, he really would take action.

Instantly, a overwhelming bloody murderous aura erupted violently from Sun Fei’s body.

Repeated slaughters, whether in the World of Diablo or the real world, had seen countless monsters, demons, and Black-Armored Soldiers wailing as they fell beneath his swords and axes. These past few days, Sun Fei had almost walked out stepping over piles of corpses and through seas of blood; saying he had killed enough to fill the wilderness was no exaggeration. This had caused the accumulated bloody murderous aura on him to almost become a tangible substance, soaring skyward, sharp and fierce.

The dozen or so knights immediately shut their mouths in terror.

The one who had been shouting the most fiercely also fell silent. Cold sweat trickled down his forehead. From the other’s icy gaze, he felt the threat of death, as if he had been thrown into an ice cellar. That was not an empty threat or bluff; he had no doubt that if he opened his mouth again, he would become a corpse the next moment.

“Pah! A dog relying on its master’s power!”

Sun Fei spat contemptuously, then picked up the oversized cloth bundle and strode toward Shampoo City. Earlier, his fake-death act must have been seen by everyone on the city walls. Right now, they were probably extremely worried and sad, especially Angela and Brook—likely in complete chaos. Sun Fei needed to return quickly to reassure them.

Sure enough, as soon as he reached the broken bridge, he saw countless people in the distance crying hysterically and rushing out of the city gate. They stumbled and ran frantically toward the Zuli River. The gap in the broken bridge was already crowded with people, as if they were trying to find a way to cross over.

Sun Fei felt a warmth in his heart. He activated the Barbarian skill Leap and, like a giant bird with wings, soared through the air with successive whooshes. After a few bounds, he reached the nearly seventeen-meter gap in the broken bridge. Without stopping, he performed another Leap, clutching the large bundle, and directly jumped over the gap, landing amidst the crowd on the other side of the broken bridge.

“It’s His Majesty Alexander!” someone cheered.

“Haha, I, old blacksmith Harry, knew all along that you were still alive! Haha, how could those cowardly pieces of trash harm you?” A white-haired old man with a limp saw Sun Fei and became so emotional that tears streamed down his face.

“Your Majesty Alexander, you… you’re alright, so good! Lord God of War above… thank you, Lord God of War, for protecting our King!” Several commoners holding farming tools as weapons knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly, thanking the God of War for bringing their King back alive.

As for the white-haired Pierce and burly men like Drogba, after a brief moment of stunned silence, threw down the ropes they had been using to try to cross the seventeen-meter gap in the broken bridge. They rushed over ecstatically, hugging Sun Fei’s legs and crying. More than twenty mighty, bloodstained, armored giants—brave warriors who hadn’t even frowned when enemy swords and spears pierced their bodies—now sobbed like children.