Chapter 10

Amidst the soaring flames and intense vibrations, Miasaki opened the old diary and read the words of the promise written inside.

The sky was filled with smoke from the explosion that had just occurred at the sand pirates' hideout. Ma Wei's face turned pale as he stared in shock at the hideout, now engulfed in flames and screams. His muttering was quickly drowned out by the cries of agony: "How could this be? How could there be explosives?!"

Due to Ma Wei's orders, the entire force of five hundred mercenaries had left only the cavalry and fifty elite warriors to protect him. The rest had entered the sand pirates' hideout to carry out a search mission. This sudden explosion had directly crippled at least half of Ma Wei's forces.

Ma Wei's chest heaved violently, and the veins on his white face bulged: "Impossible! How could these sand pirates have explosives?! This is impossible!!" Even now, Ma Wei still couldn't believe that the sand pirates possessed such a powerful weapon.

Kicking over the wooden chair, he paced back and forth, forcing himself to calm down. After several deep breaths, Ma Wei could almost smell the scorched air: "Organize the troops for battle immediately, they are coming out!"

Though Ma Wei was not a fighter, he understood the basics. Under his command, the highly professional mercenaries, though frightened, began to form ranks and prepare for battle.

Seeing the somewhat low morale, Ma Wei had no good solution. Clenching his teeth, he mounted his horse, which slightly boosted the morale.

Leading from the front, in such a disadvantageous situation, had a significant effect. When Ma Wei, now clad in armor and wielding a sword, reached the front of the formation, everyone's eyes fell on this seemingly frail middle-aged man.

Having lost so many elite soldiers, Ma Wei had to capture this salt well. His facial muscles were stiff, his eyes slightly red, and as he scanned the crowd, he suddenly raised his long sword and shouted: "Follow me, charge!!"

Leading from the front indeed had an effect. When the mercenaries saw a faint white glow slowly enveloping Ma Wei, the entire cavalry's spirits soared to their highest point.

The glow, like a light bulb, grew brighter and quickly enveloped Ma Wei's body. Like a descending deity, in the dimming sky, Ma Wei's body gradually disappeared into the white glow, transforming into a rapidly moving luminous entity.

Ric and the others stared in shock at this rapidly approaching luminous entity, their minds blank!

"God! This is a god!!" A border guard, seeing Ma Wei's luminous form, suddenly burst into tears, knelt down, and began to pray in the Samo language, repeatedly bowing to the approaching luminous entity!

Even the well-informed company commander was stunned by the sudden appearance of the luminous entity. His mouth hung open in shock, and his eyes, as if glued, stared unblinkingly at the mysterious luminous entity.

Ma Wei, hidden in the white light, had a fierce expression, his sword raised high, ready to harvest the lives of the barbarians.

The galloping hooves of the mercenaries behind him gave Ma Wei boundless courage. This dramatic entrance indeed had a significant effect.

The morale of the mercenaries was greatly boosted, while the border guards were stunned. Some of the barbarians even knelt down, shouting to the gods. The darkness made this simple zero-level illumination spell reach its maximum effect.

Ignorance is the most terrifying. A simple zero-level illumination spell, in the eyes of these inexperienced barbarians, became a divine manifestation.

To be honest, when Ma Wei had struggled to activate this zero-level spell, he was quite anxious. After all, this spell, which had no real destructive power and could only be used for illumination at night, could it really intimidate these barbarians?

But now, it seemed all his worries were unnecessary. Hadn't the bald sand pirate leader already knelt down, confessing his sins?

Ma Wei even thought idly that perhaps in the future, to conquer these inexperienced barbarians, he could simply use a few zero-level illumination spells at night, and wouldn't that conquer the barbarian-infested foreign land?

"Whoosh!" A crossbow bolt, gleaming with bright steel patterns, pierced through the ineffective illumination spell and struck Ma Wei's shoulder.

The diamond-shaped bolt penetrated Ma Wei's leather armor and drilled into his muscle fibers, its momentum halted by his bones.

But the impact of the bolt still made Ma Wei scream in pain, falling off his horse and nearly being trampled into a pulp by the unprepared mercenaries behind him.

Fortunately, the mercenaries' riding skills were excellent, and they managed to disrupt their charge formation to avoid the fallen Ma Wei.

"Ah!! Save me! Save me!!" The once divine Ma Wei, now covered in sand and dirt, with his hair disheveled and blood gushing from his shoulder, looked utterly wretched.

Seeing Ma Wei, with snot and tears streaming down his face, the border guards and the sand pirate leader's eyes fell on the lean, dark-skinned young man for the first time.

Dressed in a relatively clean reserve uniform, with sharp eyes, the young man's crossbow string was still vibrating, proving that the bolt had indeed been fired by him.

All words turned into a roar: "Kill! Kill the heretic who defiles the gods!!"

Ric raised his crossbow and suddenly roared, startling everyone around him.

The fastest to react were the company commander and the sand pirate leader. They exchanged a glance, drew their weapons in unison, and their angry roars echoed throughout the sand pirate camp: "Men! Follow me and kill the heretic who defiles the gods!!"

The easy moment of reaping was ruined by Ric.

So the charging mercenaries had to endure the疯狂的弩箭洗礼.

Screams, wails, the "thud" of arrows piercing flesh, the sound of bones breaking as riders fell from their mounts...

Two groups of people, illuminated by torches, collided, creating a gory splash of blood and flesh.

Sabers swung, arrows flew, intestines spilled, brains and blood splattered...

Because they were unprepared for the sand pirates to have not only explosives but also controlled weapons like crossbows, Ma Wei's newly organized mercenary force suffered another heavy blow.

But the fierce fighting style of this mercenary force also dealt a heavy blow to the border guards and sand pirates.

Before the sand pirates and border guards could reload their crossbows, the mercenaries charged forward. However, after advancing a difficult distance, the mercenaries had to abandon their charging advantage and engage in close combat with the border guards and sand pirates.

The terrain was complex, with numerous weathered rock formations blocking the cavalry's most effective charge.

So within just a few minutes, the entire battlefield turned into a brutal melee, a meat grinder of close combat.