Chapter 195: Merciless Flames, The Crisis of Shampoo City

The time was one day earlier.

Outside Shampoo City, the autumn wind was bleak, withered grass stretched endlessly.

“Charge! Press on and slaughter Shampoo City!”

Four mighty knights, enveloped in various colored Battle Qi and at least at the Four-Star Level, rode fiercely at the front. Behind them were several kings wearing bright armor and golden crowns, their faces equally ferocious, not hiding their killing intent. Behind the kings were over two thousand cavalry like a black flood, their iron hooves mercilessly trampling the earth. Amid the dust, long banners with black dripping scimitars and skull patterns twisted and danced in the air like ferocious black dragons, carrying a rising black murderous aura.

The entire troop advanced wildly westward like bloodthirsty evil wolves.

Finally, the abruptly steep mountain ranges and the tranquil, picturesque outline of Shampoo City appeared in the sight of these aggressive invaders.

“Kill… chase them down and kill them all!”

“Slaughter Shampoo City… charge into the city, hahaha, spare no man taller than a cartwheel!”

Seeing Shampoo City nestled among the distant mountains, every invader, like vicious jackals smelling blood, roared and clamored insanely.

Just over ten minutes ago, two reckless individuals who called themselves Golden Knights under the King of Champoo had boldly shown themselves, only to put up a slight resistance before fleeing in terror. This further boosted the invaders’ morale and arrogance. Now, finally seeing their target appear on the distant horizon, the golden-crowned kings grinned and gave the order. Long horn sounds echoed, the black cavalry flood slowed slightly, the horse teams maintained distance, adjusting rhythm, gathering necessary energy for the final frenzied charge.

But then, a sudden change occurred—

Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh—!

A dense cloud of black arrows suddenly shot out from behind the hill on the right flank of the cavalry, carrying a shadow of despair, whistling like a swarm of hungry locusts. Caught off guard, more than twenty cavalry on the right wing of the invader forces screamed and fell from their horses, trampled into pulp by their galloping comrades!

“Ambush… it’s the Chambeau mounted archers, watch out, they’re on the right!”

“Damn it, they’ve discovered us!”

“Haha, what ambush? Only about thirty people. How dare such a small group challenge my great army? Claude, take fifty riders from the right wing and bring me the heads of these sneaky rats within ten minutes…”

The invader commanders quickly noticed the surprise attack. Seeing the number of Chambeau archers, everyone felt reassured. The golden-crowned king on the right waved his sword, and immediately several hundred black cavalry laughed arrogantly as they broke away from the main force, galloping after the Chambeau cavalry faintly visible behind the distant hills, soon disappearing into the low hills and grass.

Less than two minutes later, while the invader leaders were still expecting their soldiers’ return, suddenly—

Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!

A volley of black arrows shot out from the grass and hills on the left.

This was truly unexpected!

The black cavalry was again caught unprepared. The left wing of the black flood instantly lost dozens of riders who screamed and fell, soon totaling thirty to fifty casualties. The ambushers soon revealed themselves—another group of Chambeau mounted archers, about twenty in number. They skillfully hid in the low hills and waist-deep golden wild grass, their figures indistinct, their archery skillful, almost never missing. However, the galloping invaders didn’t notice this; they only noted the opponent’s numbers. Twenty clearly couldn’t pose a fatal threat to their force of over two thousand. The golden-crowned king on the left sneered, drew his sword, and shouted, again dispatching a hundred riders to gallop forth, intending to annihilate the foe.

But soon, the proud and arrogant invaders realized something was wrong.

Because arrows continued to rain down incessantly from both flanks, and black cavalry kept wailing as they fell from their horses. In less than ten minutes, they had unbelievably lost three to four hundred men. What chilled them more was that, whether from the left or right, the two hundred black cavalry previously sent to chase the Chambeau archers had not returned, nor sent any signals—clearly, they were probably dead.

Simultaneously, over twenty Chambeau mounted archers appeared at the rear of the army. Riding swift horses, they dashed like lightning, barely touching the ground, like an unshakable tail, continuously shooting arrows from a distance to harass. Each arrow struck down a black cavalryman.

Under such harassment, the once cohesive black flood began to show signs of disorder, with morale wavering.

“My lord, what should we do?” one golden-helmeted king, his face changing, actually shouted to the expert glowing with Battle Qi at the very front, addressing him as ‘My Lord’.

“Dric, Allen, each of you take four hundred riders and clear out the Chambeau archers on both flanks within twenty minutes, leave no survivors! Gulow, take a hundred riders to guard the rear and prevent the enemy from tailing and harassing! Everyone else, ignore the Chambeau archers attacking the flanks, accelerate and charge at full speed! They are harassing to buy time; something must be happening ahead… Sound the horn! Accelerate, charge charge charge!!” Among the four experts blazing with Combat Energy Flames at the forefront of the black flood, a knight who seemed to be the leader issued rapid orders.

The other three experts riding alongside him responded in unison. Two of them waved their swords, shouting thunderously, leading over four hundred black cavalry to peel off to the flanks, eventually smoothly breaking away from the main force, galloping towards the direction from which the arrows came to attack the Chambeau cavalry.

With these two mysterious experts glowing with Battle Qi leading the charge, most of the incoming arrows were shattered by the Battle Qi, and the black cavalry suffered almost no losses, quickly closing in on the Chambeau archers hidden in the grass and hills.

Meanwhile, another expert led over a hundred cavalry away from the main force on the left flank, gradually slowing and dropping to the rear to deal with the twenty-some Chambeau mounted archers relentlessly tailing and shooting. Under that expert’s lead, they soon forced the opponents back over a hundred meters, making it hard for them to approach.

Simultaneously, the leading knight expert at the front, with the remaining fifteen hundred-plus black cavalry, spurred his horse into a frenzied gallop, increasing speed.

This leader was a strong knight without a helmet, his black curly hair flying wildly in the wind. Half of his face was twisted and deformed, nose, ears, and mouth indistinguishable, wrinkled like mud—clearly disfigured by fire burns, exceptionally grotesque and terrifying. Yet his black eyes were frighteningly bright, like an Infernal Demon.

This man appeared extremely composed, having discerned the Chambeau Army’s intent in the shortest time. A faint sneer curled his lips. As an elite knight of the Imperial Knights’ Hall, he had experienced countless battles and commanded extensively, considering himself no less than those high-ranking imperial nobles and famed generals. How could a Killing Knight like him be fooled by the ridiculous tricks of country bumpkins from a small border state?

“A cornered beast’s struggle, a clumsy performance!”

Watching the distant enemy, the scar-faced knight sneered; his sword already felt the warmth of blood.

At the same time.

On a slightly higher grassy hill ahead, Godde Brook, who had been closely watching the invaders’ movements, saw this and his face changed greatly. He muttered to himself, “There’s actually an expert skilled in command among the enemy… things are turning bad… The plan needs a slight change!”

Brook’s gaze swept around, surveying the nearby terrain, constantly calculating possible plans, comparing Shampoo City’s troops and experts against the invaders’ displayed strength. But he soon helplessly realized that within Shampoo City, there seemed to be no one fully capable of opposing the four experts in the enemy formation. If they couldn’t handle these four experts, this battle would be truly difficult. On the Azeroth Continent, experts were a major factor on the battlefield that couldn’t be ignored. A significant disparity could lead to a completely opposite outcome. Though Shampoo City’s walls were strong and tall, they couldn’t stop the invasion of four Four-Star Level experts.

“Now, the only way is to fight desperately!”

Hardening his heart, Brook finally made a decision. As Shampoo City’s top military figure, though usually upright to the point of being somewhat dull and not the strongest in combat power, at critical moments in battle, he lacked no courage, took responsibility, and had accurate judgment, quickly reaching a resolution.

This was precisely why Sun Fei valued Brook and placed him in command.

At this moment, before the crisis, Brook himself deeply knew he must turn the tide and prove with action that Your Majesty the King had not misjudged him.

…

“Chase, chase them down, we must kill them all!”

Galloping madly, sword held high, Battle Qi surging around him, this Four-Star Warrior named Dric, who was short and thin, was nearly going insane with rage. Leading four hundred elite cavalry to chase less than thirty Chambeau mounted archers should have been easy in his eyes. But who knew these opponents were incredibly cunning, with astonishingly good archery? After pursuing them, not only had he failed to touch a single hair, but his own cavalry had suffered over a hundred casualties under the enemy’s distant arrows. This was a sheer disgrace.

After a fierce chase, the Chambeau mounted archers finally exhausted all arrows in their quivers.

Mounted archers without arrows—what difference was there from hyenas with broken teeth and claws? Weren’t they just lambs to the slaughter?

“Hahaha, they’re out of arrows, charge…”

But what happened next quickly wiped the smiles off the pursuing black cavalry’s faces. Those damned Chambeau mounted archers transformed into throwing axemen in the next moment. They lifted legs to take down throwing axes already hanging on their saddles, swung their arms in circles and hurled them. Huge axes, large as door panels, whistled as they flew towards them. Unprepared black cavalry had no time to cry for their parents—it was useless. Blood and severed limbs flew everywhere; over twenty axes took fifty or sixty lives in an instant. In a flash, the four hundred-plus elite cavalry were reduced to two hundred fifty, suffering heavy losses.

Finally, after another ten-plus minutes of pursuit, the black cavalry cornered the Chambeau mounted archers at the foot of a mountain in a dense forest. Here, horses couldn’t gallop at full speed. Those slippery, monkey-like Chambeau archers dismounted and scurried into the dense woods, fleeing in disarray, soon disappearing inside.

“Dismount, chase them in, kill them all!”

The Four-Star expert leader Dric was enraged, having lost his usual judgment. He swore to skin these damned Xiangbo People and stuff them with grass.

But soon, Dric began to regret his actions.

Because the over two hundred cavalry who abandoned their horses and chased into the forest were quickly disoriented by the chaotic, maze-like woods, gradually scattering. When Dric calmed down and prepared to order the soldiers to regroup, a sturdy, burly man with a huge black sword on his back appeared before him, standing proudly.

Dric’s pupils contracted sharply.

He sensed a dangerous aura from this sturdy red-haired man.

“Who are you?”

Dric drew his sword, his green Battle Qi madly circulating, his aura continuously rising.

“Under the King of Champoo, Leo Golden Saint Frank Lampard, here to take your dog life.”

The red-haired burly man planted the huge black sword into the ground before him, stood with hands at his sides, expression calm. Slight cracking sounds came from his body, soon followed by white lightning streaking out, enveloping him like white flames. The surrounding trees and grass visibly yellowed and blackened under the scorching white lightning, soon emitting faint smoke.

“An electric element expert?” Dric was momentarily stunned, then excitedly licked his lips and grinned, “I never expected a small Shampoo City to hide an expert like you. Good, good, very good!” His green Battle Qi wildly surged and swirled around him: “My favorite thing is torturing experts to death. This sword has already beheaded thirty-six Four-Star experts. Today, you’ll be the thirty-seventh!”

“Blabbermouth!” That was Lampard’s reply.

…

Simultaneously, to the right front of Shampoo City.

In a large meadow where wild grass grew recklessly over two meters tall.

Another Four-Star expert among the invaders, Allen, encountered almost the exact same situation as his companion Dric. Leading four hundred black cavalry, his troops were nearly halved during the pursuit by volleys of arrows and throwing axes from the Chambeau archers. Enraged, he led his troops into this tall grassland, only to find it like entering a maze ocean. Deliberately led astray by the opponent, the over two hundred cavalry were almost all separated. And before him stood two burly men from Shampoo City with unfriendly expressions.

“Under the King of Champoo, Taurus Golden Knight Drogba, Capricorn Golden Knight Pierce… hehe, ugly brat, you’re dead this time!” The two muscular, mountain-like burly men introduced themselves, then cracked their knuckles noisily, grinning as they stepped forward.

“Hmph! Ignorant! Two miscellaneous fish not even at the Three-Star Level, daring to speak to me like this? Truly seeking death!” Allen shook his sword, water-element sky-blue Battle Qi flames surged, two sky-blue sword beams swift as meteor flashes shot towards the throats of the two men before him.

“Indeed an expert!”

“No match!”

Drogba and Pierce’s faces changed simultaneously as they sensed the opponent’s terrifying strength.

…

“Ready… shoot!”

Gordon Brook remained calm and steady, his sword slicing through the air. At his command, bowstrings vibrated, and a sky full of arrows, eager like hungry locusts, screamed. The sound of arrows cutting through the air drowned all other sounds, piercing everyone’s eardrums as they wildly shot towards the black tide-like enemy ahead.

Instantly, the distant black cavalry fell wailing like wheat under a scythe.

This was war.

Cruel and merciless.

Arrows fell, and bloody rain flew up amidst the sky, miserable wails echoing between heaven and earth.

Companions riding alongside them a second ago wailed as they fell from their horses, then were trampled into pulp by the cavalry rushing behind, soon ceasing to breathe.

Under this indiscriminate shower of arrows, each cavalryman could only spur his already sweat-drenched horse to run faster, hoping to reach the enemy archers in the shortest time. They leaned forward to reduce their profile while praying to the gods to avoid being hit by those bloodthirsty arrows. This kind of indiscriminate volley was nearly impossible to dodge. Except for those kings and high-ranking officers protected by experts, among the ordinary soldiers, only those possessing both luck and courage could survive.

Fortunately, they could already see the enemy, isolated on the low hills two hundred meters away.

A defensive formation of less than a hundred people, pitiful like helpless, stiff scarecrows. This scene, like a woman stripped naked, aroused every invader’s male hormones, making each invader believe that with just one charge, they could trample the weak opponents into pulp. Then, like a gale, they would charge into Shampoo City, killing, burning, freely raping women, plundering everything in sight—making their lives seem more meaningful.

Closer and closer…

Less than fifty meters remained between the two armies.

Black cavalry with better eyesight even saw the panicked expressions of the distant opponents and their trembling legs forced by officers not to retreat. This scene further incited their savagery. Everyone roared madly, frantically spurring their horses, wildly brandishing their weapons, anticipating the moment they’d whoosh past and lop off enemy heads.

Only the scar-faced knight leader at the very front, both he and his horse shimmering with silver flames, frowned slightly. Seasoned in slaughter, he finally sensed something unusual at this moment.

Unnoticed, the air began to carry a strange, familiar pungent odor. And the tall, black-haired enemy commander on the distant hill, facing enemies many times their number, stood firmly like a nail under a strange banner bearing a double dog-headed axe and dripping blood. The firm light in his eyes inexplicably made the scar-faced knight leader feel a shudder of fear deep inside!

“Something’s wrong, there’s a plot…” The scar-faced knight’s mind raced like lightning. Combined with the pungent smell, he instantly thought of a terrifying possibility.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

Twang twang twang twang—!

Just then, another rapid series of bowstring twangs sounded.

The scar-faced knight leader abruptly looked up, his pupils contracting sharply. What imprinted in his eyes were exactly twenty fire-element Magic Arrows, like twenty meteors, carrying blazing flames, shot head-on into the black flood.

Then, in the next second, something unbelievable happened—

With a roar, the entire earth began to burn.

Yes, the entire earth.

The half-meter-deep wild grass under the black cavalry’s feet almost instantly turned into deadly flames reaching out from Hell. Yellow-red flames erupted from the ground like a volcano, mercilessly licking at the galloping cavalry. Pungent odors and black smoke rose to the sky. The flames spread swiftly as if alive. Even more incredible, in less than thirty to forty seconds, the fire spread with lightning speed across almost a square kilometer of grassland. All cavalry were engulfed in roaring, high-temperature flames.

The God of Death descended suddenly and without warning at this moment.

Merciless flames devoured everything.

Countless cavalrymen who were arrogantly grinning and shouting, brandishing weapons a second ago, turned into wailing, struggling fireballs the next. Dropping their weapons, they desperately beat at the spreading flames on their bodies. The fire mercilessly consumed their bodies, clinging like the world’s most passionate lovers. In an instant, vivid lives tragically perished in the flames.

The scene was vast and terrifying, almost comparable to some legendary fire-element forbidden spells.

However, the scar-faced knight leader clearly knew this wasn’t any forbidden spell.

Because the initial volley of fire Magic Arrows carried flame elemental fluctuations he was very familiar with—definitely just the simplest low-level fire-element magic arrows. The real reason the entire grassland ignited was only one—someone had beforehand spread large amounts of fire phosphorus in the nearly half-meter-deep wild grass. Fire phosphorus, a strange mineral powder with a pungent odor, that could blaze into roaring fire at the slightest spark. This was the source of the pungent odor in the air earlier, the cause of his unease, and the sole reason the fire could spread instantly.

Unnoticed, the wind picked up.

The fire, fueled by the wind, grew larger and larger, rising high. Everywhere was filled with smoke, miserable wails, struggling fire figures, pitiful horse whinnies… everywhere was flame!

The scar-faced knight leader madly circulated his Battle Qi, forcing the scorching flames away from his body by three meters.

“Everyone, hear my order! Do not panic! Accelerate… accelerate, charge out of the fire sea at full speed! There’s a great river ahead!”

In his rage, the scar-faced knight leader roared furiously, commanding the cavalry to charge forward madly, trying to break through the fire sea in the shortest time. In this situation, only charging ahead offered a slim chance of survival—because the wind blew fiercely southward. Only ahead, less than fifty meters away at the Chambeau Army position, no flames burned. If they could charge past the enemy position, they could escape the fire sea.

Charge through, kill all those damned Xiangbo People!

This was the only thought in the scar-faced knight leader’s blood-filled brain now.