Chapter 1

As the deafening cries of battle gradually faded away, the battlefield on the northern slope of the forest in Handanar County was strewn with bodies lying in all directions.

The leaf litter of this forest was abnormally soft, and three thunder rhinos, heavily laden with military supplies, slowly made their way up the slope, leaving three rows of huge footprints in the forest paths cleared by hundreds of lumberjacks. These thunder rhinos, nearly twenty meters long and over nine meters tall, resembled three-masted sailing ships on land, each carrying a variety of supplies.

These thunder rhinos had four thick, powerful legs, and with each step, their heavy hooves would sink deeply into the soft soil. The footprints were over a meter in diameter and half a meter deep, resembling pits specifically designed to trap cavalry.

A group of soldiers in metal armor followed behind the thunder rhinos. They belonged to the Fourth Battalion of the Fifty-seventh Heavy Infantry Regiment under the command of Duke Newman. They had been withdrawn from the front line a week ago and, after a week of rest, were now tasked with clearing the battlefield on the northern slope.

The task of clearing the battlefield was thanks to the battalion commander, Baron Sydney. If he were not the brother-in-law of the regimental commander's wife, such a desirable task would never have fallen to the Fourth Battalion. The bodies of the fallen soldiers were uniformly carried to the corpse wagons, and their armor and weapons, marked with the regiment's steel stamp, were registered as regimental property.

These weapons and armor could be repaired if damaged, and if beyond repair, could be replaced by the logistics department. However, during the battlefield clearance, these items could not be claimed as spoils of war. As for the personal belongings of the fallen comrades, the soldiers clearing the battlefield would not keep them for themselves, unless they were part of a mercenary force or a private army of a local noble.

The removal of the identification tags from each fallen soldier's body signified their official death. The tags would be sent along with their personal items and a compensation to their hometowns.

The only way for the soldiers clearing the battlefield to gain any benefit was by looting the dead enemies. After the front-line soldiers killed the enemies and took their heads and the most valuable items, auxiliary troops would follow to loot the battlefield. By the time the infantry regiment arrived to clear the battlefield, it was already the third or even fourth round, and the benefits to be gained from the enemies' bodies were not many. However, a thorough search would still yield many valuable items.

The regiment that engaged the Infernal Legion on the northern slope of the forest was the Fourth and Seventh Constructed Knight Regiments, the Fifty-seventh Heavy Infantry Regiment, and the Fifty-ninth Heavy Infantry Regiment of the Brotherhood, all under the command of Duke Newman. Duke Newman had gathered nearly a thousand constructed knights and about three thousand heavy infantry at the edge of the forest to annihilate a search party of less than three hundred infernals.

In the early stages of the battle, under the cover of the heavy steel arrows from the longbowmen of the heavy infantry regiment, the three hundred infernals were surrounded by a thousand constructed knights. As the constructed knights employed wolf pack tactics to gradually wear down the infernals, another group of infernals, drawn by the distress signal, quickly arrived and broke through on the western side of the northern slope, allowing the remaining infernals to escape.

The Seventh Constructed Knight Regiment pursued them, leaving hundreds of infernal bodies along the way.

...

Several vultures circled in the blue sky above the white clouds, and the air was filled with the smell of horse manure.

Suldak carried a square shield on his back, a black-wood-handled steel axe at his waist, and a large, bulging hemp sack on his shoulder. The sack, soaked in blood, seemed heavy, and with each step, he left a deep footprint in the soft, decaying leaf litter of the forest.

The other members of his squad were moving the bodies of the human soldiers from the battlefield. After the squad leader confirmed their deaths, experienced veterans would hastily tidy up the remains, gather any scattered limbs, and piece them together, wrapping them in linen like mummies. The identification tags and valuable personal items of the fallen soldiers would be placed in standardized linen bags and tied to the bodies for transport back to the camp.

Perhaps due to the repetitive nature of the task, the veterans' faces appeared somewhat numb.

Veteran Sam would mutter phrases like "You are dust, and to dust you shall return..." while wrapping the bodies. These words were not to comfort the souls of the deceased but to comfort themselves.

Suldak found these words tiresome, but his task in clearing the battlefield was not to handle the dead human soldiers. As the only soldier in the squad skilled in skinning, Suldak was responsible for collecting the bodies of the fallen infernals.

Although the heads and the precious black-patterned magic skin on the chests of these infernals had been cut away, their bodies still contained many valuable materials. These parts required the expertise of a skilled skinner like Suldak.

About twenty meters away, a three-meter-tall infernal corpse lay on the ground. Its deep purple blood had completely coagulated, and the wound on its neck looked like it had been cleaved by a broadsword. The wound, though not neat, showed no further signs of cutting, indicating that an experienced warrior had decapitated the infernal and taken the head.

Suldak held a bloody ox-horn dagger and cut through the infernal's armor, revealing a steel-gray shoulder. Along the shoulder muscle, there was a palm-sized black enhancement magic pattern.

Suldak sighed, feeling lucky to have found five such small pieces of black-patterned magic skin so far. He knelt down and carefully cut into the infernal's skin, which was tougher than rawhide. After making a one-inch incision, the ox-horn dagger could no longer cut through.

Suldak pulled out the dagger and took a fist-sized whetstone from his pocket, sharpening the blade a few times. This made the skinning process much easier.

The blade was almost worn down, and Suldak was very careful when sharpening it to extend the life of the skinning knife. The knife needed to be sent to a blacksmith to have its edge re-tempered, but the blacksmiths in the camp had mediocre skills and charged exorbitant fees. Suldak planned to return to Handanar Town with the regiment and find a small blacksmith shop there, which would save him at least three silver coins.

Suldak's hands were covered in thick, dark purple blood. He placed the bloody black-patterned magic skin in a bag and continued to search the headless infernal corpse for other valuable materials. The large black-patterned magic skin on the back had already been removed, and the black pattern on the infernal's buttocks had not fully formed, so it did not form a complete pattern. He sighed and then focused on the infernal's ...

He grabbed one of the infernal's arms and tried to flip the body over to expose the chest and abdomen.

However, the body was too heavy, so he called out to Sam, who was nearby, moving a body: "Hey, buddy, come and help me. I want to flip this big guy over. Maybe there's a complete black magic pattern on his abdomen..."

Sam's face was covered in brown freckles, and he had a mouthful of rotten teeth. He put down the linen roll and walked over to Suldak, saying, "Dak, are you still half asleep? If there were a magic pattern on the abdomen, this infernal wouldn't be lying face down in the mud."

Although Sam spoke in a teasing tone, he did not stop walking and went straight to the infernal's body, grabbing one of its legs to help Suldak flip it over.

The large piece of magic skin on the infernal's chest had been cut away, leaving a bloody mess, and several broken ribs protruded from the flesh, emitting a nauseating odor. Suldak was so focused on the infernal's body that he did not notice the unusual situation nearby.

Sam released the infernal's thick leg and pointed to a human body that had been pinned under the infernal, exclaiming, "Heavens, who is this?"

He instinctively stepped forward and lifted the face of the person buried in the mud. When he touched the person's bearded chin, his eyes widened, and he shouted, "He's still breathing! Come quickly, there's a survivor here..."

The second squad soldiers, scattered in other areas, heard Sam's call and quickly dropped what they were doing to run over.

The person had only a faint breath, and the soldiers gathered around the survivor, discussing, "He's not wearing a uniform, so he's not one of ours."

"Then where did he come from?" Another young soldier with a scar on his face, half-knelt on the ground, asked curiously.

... Wake up...