Chapter 52

A few days ago, when Leonard received the news of Made's death, he opened a bottle of moon juice wine that he had been saving for many years.

It was a specialty of the elves, made from moon juice berries watered by the water of the moon spring, aged for over fifty years, with a rich flavor that tasted like moonlight.

In recent years, Leonard had almost turned the Holy Spear Army into an ironclad organization, from the quartermaster to the common soldiers, all of whom he had brought under his control. Those who did not submit were either transferred or failed in their missions and "sacrificed."

The reason he said "almost" was because there was still a small circle led by Made that he could never bring under his control.

Made had a short temper and spoke without restraint, but he had a way of winning people's hearts. The holy knights under his command were loyal to him, and he had a smart and handsome deputy.

Although Made was only a seventh-level holy knight, when a team of holy knights acted together, even a Sword Saint might not be able to defeat them.

Upon receiving the news that a Sword Saint was in the plane where the essence liquid was produced, Leonard knew his opportunity had come.

By concealing key information and giving a few slightly contradictory orders, he could make the hot-tempered and arrogant Made abandon the main force and act alone, sending himself to his death.

Leonard was not entirely sure if this plan would work to kill Made, as the team of holy knights was too strong, with warhorses and group combat skills. Even if they couldn't defeat a Sword Saint, they could easily escape, making it hard to kill them.

But it didn't matter; if it didn't work this time, he could try again. After all, as a leader, he would have plenty of opportunities to deal with his subordinates.

Unexpectedly, good news came quickly. Made and his deputy were surrounded by the Sea of Skulls. Made fought to the death, and the deputy died covering the retreat. Out of ten holy knights, only eight escaped.

Leonard was overjoyed. The death of the deputy was the best possible outcome.

Compared to Made, Leonard was even more wary of his smart deputy, who was the most likely to see through his plans. Because of this deputy, Leonard had not dared to use more aggressive means against Made. Now it was truly excellent that they were both dead.

With the blind ones gone, what needed to be done now was to firmly control this abyssal plane and secure this source of wealth. So he brought out all his best cards.

The light from the teleportation dissipated, revealing Leonard and the large warhorse beside him, as well as the twenty heavily armored warriors following behind him, like iron cans.

Seeing this formation, the people who had been eagerly awaiting reinforcements were stunned.

"Is... is this the first batch? Who are they?" someone murmured.

The number was too small. With the scale of the Holy Spear Army's planar teleportation array, it could transport about a hundred people at a time, or about 150 tons of supplies. Now only twenty-one people had arrived, a significant waste of the teleportation capacity.

Moreover, apart from Leonard, no one recognized the other heavily armored warriors.

The Holy Spear Army already had a formation of heavy shield soldiers, but the armor of these heavily armored warriors was thick, old, and full of various usage marks, like second-hand goods from somewhere.

However, the quality looked very good. Unlike the heavy shield soldiers, who were called "heavy" but whose armor was lighter than Made's knight armor, with only their shields providing any real defense.

Made had once strongly suspected that someone had embezzled the budget for the heavy shield soldiers' equipment, bringing in these inferior "heavy" armors, which led to several of them being cut down in a single encounter with Luther.

The armor of these iron cans, however, was of excellent quality, with the right areas thickened, the right areas lightened, the right areas riveted, and the right areas made flexible, considering all aspects and being very practical.

In addition, the heavily armored warriors carried small round shields on their arms and wielded two-handed heavy swords.

Such a set of equipment weighed at least sixty to seventy pounds.

However, this was not the main point; the main point was that no one recognized these people. The heavily armored warriors pulled up their visors, revealing only two narrow slits, making the priests feel uncomfortable and detecting a faint odor.

Leonard smiled slightly, pulled down his visor, and mounted his horse. He lightly waved his hand, and the heavily armored warriors behind him marched forward, breaking into a jog after a few steps, running toward the open area of the camp.

The soldiers of Ice City, led by Luther, surged forward and collided directly with these heavily armored warriors.

Luther, with his great skill and courage, was always at the forefront. Seeing these iron cans, he swung his sword without hesitation.

Yes, he did not slash but struck, using the flat of his sword to hit. This was the best way to deal with heavily armored warriors. With Luther's strength, a strike could cause internal bleeding or a concussion.

The first heavily armored warrior was struck solidly, *bang*—the armor even resonated and sank under the impact.

The person inside the armor was completely unaffected and swung his sword with both hands.

Luther felt a sense of discomfort, as if he had used the wrong amount of force. Such a blunt impact should have been impossible for the enemy to withstand. Even if it didn't cause internal bleeding, it should have at least numbed them for a while, unless the opponent had eighth-level strength and could withstand it with mana. But the opponent clearly did not have that level of strength.

Using the wrong amount of force was like hitting himself, which was extremely uncomfortable.

He drew his sword back, deflected the opponent's two-handed sword, and kicked out with a powerful kick, stomping on the opponent's chest, sending the iron can flying.

This kick further confirmed to Luther that the opponent did not have eighth-level strength. In that case, this kick should have caused internal bleeding, right?

However, it did not. The heavily armored warrior got up as if nothing had happened and ran toward him in the same manner as before.

Luther, a first-level Sword Saint, could not defeat the enemy in one move, let alone the others. They felt as if they had collided with an armored tank.

The heavily armored warriors swung their two-handed swords, slashing and sweeping. These two moves were not sophisticated and were rough, completely ignoring the attacks that landed on them.

But those who stood in their way were either slashed away, cut in half, or knocked down and trampled into the mud.

Like armored tanks, except for the one stopped by Luther, the other nineteen heavily armored warriors plowed a bloody path through the thousands of Ice City soldiers.

Leonard, on his horse, was in high spirits, drawing his long sword and pointing it at the distance: "I have come! Flatten this world, my warriors!"

At the end of his sword's point, a skeleton was holding holy light and applying it to another skeleton.

There is one more chapter, I will try to update it by midnight.