Chapter 37: The Romain Standard Spear
System 12345 had been reflecting on itself. It repeatedly went through the missions it had issued in recent days and discovered a problem.
The missions I have been giving to my host have been too difficult! Conquering femme fatales is bound to be difficult, but I have been making him approach exceptionally dangerous targets.
On top of that, I only issue the mission and provide relevant information when my host is in proximity with the target. This means that he has very little time to make preparations before approaching the target.
Not to mention he has the severe disadvantage of being unable to communicate.
It would indeed be difficult for him to accomplish the mission with just his appearance buff, Empire Bewitcher.
【Mmhm, I admit I was too eager for quick success in the past. From now on, I’ll work harder to help you, my host.】
【I issued missions and provided information and strategies only when you are already in proximity to the femme fatales, and that left you little time to prepare. You must have been terribly flustered. That was wrong of me.】
【We shall go slow from this point onward.】
【Let me see… The one closest to you right now is Momoana’s Second Imperial Consort. 】
System 12345 thought about it.【We can start from her.】
【My host, I’ll indicate her position to you on the minimap. It’s all dark on my side, but you should be able to see the information.】
【Like the First Imperial Consort, the Second Imperial Consort is also a vicious beauty, but she has a tender heart deep down. She would often cry while watching shows, lamenting the tragic fates of the characters in them.】
System 12345 chuckled.
【That’s why, my host, I think you can strike from that angle. You should have recruited some servants, right? You can form a performance crew with them and put on a show for the Second Imperial Consort.】
【Don’t worry, you can trust the quality of the servants that come out from your golden finger.】
【I’ll also acquire some classical tragedy screenplays from the other worlds for you. Just practice a bit with your servants, and I guarantee you that you’ll move the Second Imperial Consort to tears! Her eyes will surely be red and swollen after the play!】
【She would definitely summon you after the performance. Her guard would be down at that point, so that would be a golden opportunity for you to make your way into her heart! Who could resist the gentle consolation of a dashing man like you during a moment of sadness?】
【By then, you’ll be able to… Ehehehe! I shan’t elaborate any further, but you get it!】
System 12345 puffed up with confidence as if his imaginations had already been realized.
【Go, my host! Conquer her heart and become her world!】
“Huh?” Shu Yichao received another notification.
There were finally some words in the notification that he could read, though the rest remained as unreadable babble.
“Conquer… everything? Is this a new mission?” Shu Yichao murmured. “There’s a mark indicated on the map? Looks like that’s my next target!”
“Huh, what are these?” Shu Yichao realized that he had obtained a couple of books as well. “What are all these moon runes on them? I don’t get it at all.”
He didn’t hesitate to toss those books aside.
“Khan!” An Elite Horse Archer galloped up to him. “We spotted something up ahead!”
…
“They are here!”
“Enemies!”
“Begin the preparations!”
When a cloud of dust stirred at the horizon, the Ottomain soldiers on Thessaloniki’s walls quickly sounded the alarm and began carrying out Pasha Callerga’s plan to kill Shu Yichao.
The Morean elites were going to surround the Khitan Caesar and his troops, so they couldn’t serve as bait. The bulk of the garrison troops stationed here were also friends and relatives of nobles and powerful officials, so they couldn’t be sacrificed either.
Thus, this glorious job fell on the shoulders of the remnant soldiers who escaped here.
They had prior experience anyway, so they would surely be able to put on a convincing act of defeated soldiers frantically fleeing from the battlefield.
Of course, the remnant soldiers didn’t want to take on the job. It hadn’t been easy for them to escape from the clutches of that demon, yet they had to head out and confront him again now? No way in hell!
But this wasn’t up to them.
After the louder ones were killed and the remaining ones had their family members held hostage, those remnant soldiers had no choice but to trudge out of the city with tearful faces while cursing Pasha Callerga under their breath.
They could only fervently pray for their safety.
“I knew it.” On the city walls, Pasha Callerga looked at the approaching blood twin-headed eagle flag and remarked, “The only thing on that Khitan Caesar’s mind is slaughter.”
He was in the mood to joke around with the Second Imperial Consort when he saw the first phase of his plan going well. “They remind me of wild dogs who have been starved for days. Drop them a slab of meat, and they won’t let go of it even if you beat them to death.”
“Hm?”
When the remnant soldiers fled back to the city with Shu Yichao and his Elite Horse Archers hot on their back, Pasha Callerga did a rough head count and was shocked. “There are only 500 of them left?!”
He had dispatched 3000 men to serve as bait!
He had expected the remnant soldiers to be defeated—the Khitans were formidable warriors, after all—but he absolutely didn’t expect the remnant soldiers to die so quickly!
“Stop running!
“All of you are going to die anyway!”
Shu Yichao roared while brandishing his scimitar. Every now and then, he would catch up with a frantically fleeing soldier, and with a cold flash of light, the latter would be sliced apart.
He realized that there were fewer mobs to farm nowadays, and their tendency to congregate in large groups had greatly decreased. It was a stroke of luck for him to stumble upon such a huge group of soldiers today, so he didn’t hesitate to give chase.
However, the opposing 3000 soldiers had no intention to fight at all. As soon as they saw him, they turned tail and ran away while screaming their heads off.
How can I let meat that’s already in my mouth slip away? All of you must die!
“Jya!”
Shu Yichao was only appeased after hacking down the final fleeing soldier.
It was then that he belatedly realized that there was another bunch of mobs waiting for him. There were around 6000 of them, and they wielded spears and wore metal armor that reflected light from the sun. They formed a tight military formation, a sign that they were well trained.
“Whew!” Shu Yichao was overjoyed. “Finally a proper battle! I was getting sick of conquering those mini fortresses.”
In contrast to the fleeing soldiers from earlier, who either hurled curses to provoke him or kept screaming nonstop, these 6000 armored soldiers maintained absolute silence.
Elites! They are definitely elites!
It was not just these soldiers who were quiet; it was quiet on the city walls too.
…
The Khitans are too vicious!
Even though he was the culprit who sent those remnant soldiers out to die, it still shook Pasha Callerga up to see those bait dying in front of him amidst terrified screams and miserable wails.
“…” Pasha Callerga gulped down his saliva and clenched his teeth. “Proceed according to plan.”
Those pawns were supposed to die anyway. The important thing is that they have served their purpose and wore down our enemy a bit. What we have to do now is to hold our defense line while slowly retreating, so as to lure the Khitans toward the pits where our cannons are aimed.
He wasn’t worried about the Khitan Caesar and his army breaching their defense line either.
Their defense line consisted of elite soldiers equipped with spears and armor intended to deal with cavalrymen, not to mention that they had the number advantage. It wouldn’t immediately crumble before the enemy’s charge at least.
But then, Pasha Callerga saw Shu Yichao waving over one of the Elite Horse Archers and taking a spear from the latter.
“What is he up to?” Pasha Callerga frowned.
Shu Yichao raised the spear, aimed it, twisted his hip, and hurled it out!
Shoosh!
The pitch-black spear was practically a blur as it whizzed forth at an incredible speed. It looked as if the Death God was greeting the mortals of the world.
Psh!
Armors shattered. Bodies skewered.
It was as if the tight formation of spearmen had been shot by a ballista. An entire column of people were bunched together by a spear. They screamed and struggled before collapsing one after another.
“…”
The battlefield fell silent.
“…Ah?”
A long time passed before a sound escaped from Pasha Callerga’s mouth.