Chapter 9

"King Arthur has arrived!"

At the sound of the court usher's voice, the entire Round Table fell silent instantly. Everyone respectfully looked at the golden-haired girl in silver armor who had entered the Great Hall of the Round Table.

There was no doubt that this was their invincible King Arthur, as fearless as a god of war and as beautiful and radiant as a goddess—Arthur Pendragon.

"Long live the King!" The Knights of the Round Table all stood up and bowed to Arthur, though she was a woman, they all treated her as a man, and the public was also informed of her as a man.

"Please be seated, everyone." Arthur nodded lightly, gesturing for the knights to sit down.

"How is the situation in the southeastern rebellion? Have you found the mastermind?"

After Arthur sat down, she immediately asked seriously. Clearly, the occurrence of such a large-scale rebellion under her rule was a miscalculation on her part.

"Your Majesty, the rebel army in the southeast is moving towards the capital, and the rebellion seems to be spreading northward. However, we have yet to identify the mastermind," Bedivere, the most loyal Knight of the Round Table, reported immediately. Generally, all battle reports were made by him, who was always by Arthur's side.

"How could such a large-scale rebellion happen without any prior warning? What were the scouts and spies doing?" Arthur frowned, clearly very dissatisfied.

"Your Majesty, this rebellion might have been instigated by Dagonet," said Agravain, standing up at this moment.

"Dagonet?" Arthur was taken aback for a moment, then shook her head. "I know Dagonet best. Although he is sometimes unsatisfactory, in terms of chivalry and loyalty, he is second to none here."

"However, according to a scout who narrowly escaped, Dagonet was seen in front of Sir Galahad's castle. Moreover, the initial outbreak of the rebellion was in Dagonet's territory. Even if he is not the mastermind, he cannot escape responsibility," Agravain explained immediately.

Hearing Agravain's description, Arthur frowned. Clearly, this matter was indeed related to Dagonet, and even if she wanted to protect him, it was not the right time.

"Furthermore, according to the reports of the scouts, the fleeing civilians have rumors that these rebels are not human but messengers from hell," Bedivere added.

"Messengers from hell? What do you mean by that?" Arthur's brows furrowed tightly.

"According to the reports of the surviving soldiers, these rebels eat humans and resemble corpses. Even if they are gutted, they can still move forward," Bedivere replied. However, from his uncertain tone, it seemed he also doubted the credibility of this information.

"How... is that possible?"

The Round Table erupted in chaos. Clearly, the information they had previously received did not include this. If the enemy was not human but from hell, this was not just a rebellion!

"Everyone, calm down!" Arthur shouted, and the Round Table knights, who had become somewhat restless, immediately fell silent.

"There's no need to worry too much. This is likely just an illusion created by black magic," Arthur analyzed calmly. "This rebellion has spread so quickly and over such a large area, there must be something suspicious. Therefore, I think we should send a elite force to engage them and investigate the situation!"

"Your Majesty! I am willing to share your burden!"

At this moment, Mordred, who usually kept silent, suddenly stood up and spoke loudly. His voice, amplified by his exaggerated helmet, sounded unusually deep.

"Sir Mordred, you are willing to go to the front lines?" Arthur looked at him with surprise. In fact, because Mordred was recommended by her most hated sister, Morgan le Fay, she had not paid much attention to him.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Mordred nodded forcefully.

"I am also willing to go with him," Agravain, who had a good relationship with Mordred, said at the same time.

"Since you are so brave, I will entrust the vanguard to you. However, with all your soldiers combined, you might not be safe against the rebels with black magic. Therefore, I will send you a thousand elite cavalry from my royal army," Arthur said after a moment's thought. "At the same time, the other Round Table knights should return to their territories and protect their people from being deceived by black magic and joining the rebels."

"We will not fail you!"

The Round Table knights responded in unison.

"Everyone, remember, even a lion uses all its strength to catch a rabbit. We must not underestimate this rebellion!" Arthur said solemnly.

Soon, after receiving Arthur's orders, the Round Table knights left the hall one by one. In the end, only Bedivere remained by Arthur's side.

Arthur waved her hand, signaling everyone in the hall to leave. Then, with a worried look, she said to Bedivere, "Bedivere, what do you think of this rebellion?"

"Your Majesty, I am not sure, but I have a bad feeling," Bedivere said respectfully. However, when they were alone, he spoke more casually.

"Yes, I also have a bad feeling. It seems this rebellion is aimed at me," Arthur said, frowning. As a queen and a woman, her sixth sense was usually very accurate.

"I think you need not worry, Your Majesty. Under your leadership, our army is strong. This rebellion will surely be quelled peacefully," Bedivere said immediately, though he did not understand what Arthur meant. After all, every rebellion was aimed at Arthur, who else?

"Never mind, I think you don't understand. Lead a cavalry unit and infiltrate Mordred's forces. If anything goes wrong, report back to me immediately," Arthur sighed lightly.

"I will not fail you," Bedivere said respectfully.

Arthur nodded in satisfaction, then stood up and walked back to her study, which was behind the Round Table hall. Even without this rebellion, as a queen, she had a lot to do to ensure her people lived well. So she needed to work even harder.

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Time passed quickly. Mordred and Agravain, who had received the order to suppress the rebellion, led an army of nearly ten thousand to the front lines. This army included most of the soldiers from their territories, Arthur's royal cavalry, and a large number of volunteer soldiers recruited along the way.

However, the enemy they faced today outnumbered them by far. From a distance, they could see that the enemy was at least three times their number.

"The Round Table knight leading this expedition is Mordred, my master," Dagonet immediately recognized the identity of the knight with the exaggerated mask at the front. At this moment, he was with Loki, who was mixed in the center of the zombie horde.

"Mordred? He seems to be a formidable knight?"

Loki was somewhat surprised, feeling that the name was very familiar. However, having not paid attention to the FATE series for a long time, he could not immediately connect the dots. It seemed he needed to catch up before entering the next world.

"Yes, Sir Mordred is very strong and can be ranked among the top five in the Round Table. However, he is still far from the top-tier knights like Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawain, and Sir Galahad. His lack of combat experience is a point that Your Majesty can exploit," Dagonet said immediately, revealing his cunning nature.

In fact, in life, Dagonet, though cowardly and lazy, was quite intelligent and skilled in manipulating knights and Arthur. He could become a Round Table knight without relying on his martial prowess, indicating that he had exceptional abilities in other areas.

"Is that so? Then let's make him your ally first!" Loki smiled confidently, clearly having a plan to deal with Mordred.

"Sir Mordred, what do you think of the rebels' momentum? Should we take the initiative to strike first?"

At this moment, Agravain, looking at the vast crowd, frowned. Although their side was stronger, he did not dare to act rashly without knowing if the enemy had reinforcements.

Thinking of this, Agravain frowned. The dozens of scouts he had sent out a few hours ago had not returned. These were his elite scouts, and the fact that they had not returned suggested that something was wrong. He would need to reorganize his scout unit when he returned.

"Very well." Mordred nodded, his voice muffled. "They are keeping a distance from us. I don't know what they are up to. I will lead a detachment to investigate!"

"Sir Mordred, you are truly leading from the front! I will go with you!" Agravain looked at him approvingly. Among the Round Table knights, he saw the most potential in the young Mordred. Though not yet favored, Mordred was very promising. By following him, Agravain believed his status in the Round Table would rise.

"No, someone needs to stay here to coordinate." Mordred shook his head. "When the time comes, you will come to support me."

However, before Mordred could gather his troops, the zombie horde on Loki's side began to move. One by one, simple catapults creaked as they were moved to the front of the zombie horde.

"What is that?!" Mordred asked in confusion. In this era, while there were siege weapons like catapults, they had not seen Chinese-style catapults. Loki's catapults, based on the famous Chinese thunderbolt catapult, were completely unfamiliar to them.

"Sir Mordred, what is this?" Agravain also looked puzzled.

"From the structure, it seems similar to a catapult. Could it be a siege weapon?" Mordred guessed. While marveling at the construction of the catapult, he was also puzzled about its use on a plain. In Arthur's time, catapults were only used to breach the thick stone walls of castles, and on a plain, they would be of little use. Moreover, the distance between the two armies was too great for such small catapults to reach them.

"Load the ammunition!"

At this moment, with the catapults in position, Loki, who was in the zombie horde, gave a low command to the secondary zombies controlling the catapults. Although the lower-level zombies had no intelligence, the secondary zombies were very useful. All twenty catapults were constructed with the help of the beautiful female zombies he had personally infected.

Following Loki's command, large human flesh balls were loaded into the nets of the catapults.

"Bad, they are loading the catapults!"

Seeing this, Mordred felt a sense of foreboding. Although he was not sure if the rebels' attack would be effective, the sight of the ammunition, which seemed to be made of corpses, filled him with a sense of dread.