Gospel of Blood

Chapter 286: Total Annihilation

Many years later, Charlotte still vividly remembered this battle—the first one she had personally participated in since her transmigration.

More accurately, she remembered the knights’ charge under the sunlight.

Accompanied by the low sound of horns, more than four thousand armored knights formed a wedge formation, charging towards the rebel cavalry, which outnumbered them several times over.

The golden sunlight illuminated the earth and shone on the knights’ gleaming armor, reflecting a brilliant light.

No, it wasn’t a reflection of the sunlight. The armored cavalry themselves were glowing. The complex patterns inlaid with magic crystals on the bodies of the Borde regular cavalry, belonging to the Tulip Count, suddenly lit up, shining brightly and connecting their light.

In an instant, 1,500 Borde regular cavalry formed a silver light net that enveloped the entire cavalry formation.

As the light spread to the heavily armed northern nobles, it seemed to further charge, becoming even more dazzling.

Charlotte saw the light net transform into ethereal armor and weapons that attached to the knights and their horses. Their armor seemed to merge with the light, becoming even more brilliant.

In that moment, Charlotte noticed that the aura of all the charging knights began to rapidly rise and merge. The varied extraordinary auras she could discern with her bloodborne sensitivity quickly disappeared, replaced by a new, oppressive, unified extraordinary aura.

These knights had somehow unified their extraordinary powers, becoming a single new entity. To Charlotte’s perception, they seemed to merge into one, forming a more powerful extraordinary force. The charging wedge formation resembled a giant sword of light.

With more knights joining in, the “sword of light” grew even stronger. In a moment, the knights in the formation nearly all reached the level of Starry Sky.

But this wasn’t the end. Upon crossing that threshold, the connected extraordinary aura further intensified, reaching a level that even moved Charlotte.

A more brilliant light burst from the wedge formation, silver-gray light spreading over the cavalry, soon enveloping the entire formation.

This was the discharge of source power, a hallmark of the Second Tier Silver Moon. Silver Moon… The aura of these charging knights had all reached the Silver Moon tier!

Although their aura was unstable and not enough to pose a threat to someone like Charlotte, a true Silver Moon, it still far exceeded ordinary Starry Sky.

Seeing the glowing cavalry formation charging towards them, the rebel main force instantly fell into chaos.

Although the battle hadn’t started, Charlotte clearly saw the highly mobile lancers immediately choosing to retreat, slowing down and turning around.

But it was too late. With the source power enhancing them, the charging cavalry formation moved even faster. Despite their heavy armor, they outpaced the northern lancers, famed for their mobility.

On the open plain by the river, the glowing cavalry formation turned into a giant silver battle axe, crashing into the main body of the rebel cavalry.

There were no tactics, no maneuvers—just a direct, unstoppable charge.

With her keen vision, Charlotte saw the rebel cavalry at the front get shredded the moment they encountered the formation. They were literally torn apart, as if made of paper, horse and rider, chainmail and all, smashed into fragments, bursting into clouds of blood.

Though both were cavalry, led by armored knights, the Lagrisse family’s elite were like eggs hitting stone, completely outmatched.

The battlefield was soon drenched in blood, with the rebel cavalry’s formations shredded by the glowing cavalry, resulting in a one-sided massacre. It was a total rout—bare, uncontained domination.

Blood mist spread across the battlefield, the remnants of the shattered rebel cavalry expanding with the cavalry’s charge.

Witnessing this terror, the rebel main force’s morale collapsed in an instant.

Charlotte saw thousands of cavalrymen fall into panic and chaos.

A total collapse followed. The rebel nobles desperately tried to maintain their lines but to no avail. Seeing the might of the glowing cavalry, the charging rebels lost all will to fight and began to flee.

Those nobles attempting to salvage the situation were quickly overwhelmed by the charging cavalry, disappearing into the radiant light.

The low horns sounded again, the thunder of hooves echoing in the sky.

Amidst the glow, the wedge formation transformed, gradually spreading out into three nearly straight lines, like lions hunting prey, beginning the pursuit of the fleeing rebel cavalry.

Although their light dimmed slightly after spreading out, their overwhelming advantage remained.

With the light’s enhancement, their speed far surpassed ordinary cavalry, becoming a nightmare for the rebels. Each repeated charge turned into a one-sided slaughter.

On the hill, Charlotte stood utterly stunned.

Upon seeing the number of rebel cavalry far exceed her expectations, Charlotte had imagined her cavalry might struggle and the infantry, engaged in the siege, might suffer heavy losses.

However, she had never anticipated this outcome.

It was as if the multiplied cavalry were just meaningless numbers. She never expected that the cavalry formation, primarily composed of the Tulip regular cavalry, would unleash such terrifying power!

“The magic formation… this is the power of the magic formation!”

“My lord… I didn’t know that even the Tulip’s regular cavalry could form a magic formation!”

A trembling voice filled with excitement and astonishment came from Baron Angus, who was also standing on the hill.

Charlotte turned to see that the seasoned commander was just as shocked as she was. His wide eyes even held a hint of fear, seemingly not expecting that the combined Tulip regular cavalry would erupt with such terrifying power.

Magic formation?

Is this what Sebastian referred to as the magic formation?

Charlotte couldn’t help but look back at the battlefield, at the knights tearing through the enemy like max-level players in a novice village, feeling her understanding of warfare in this world turn upside down.

“The magic formation… is it really that powerful?”

“No, Countess, a regular magic formation is powerful, but it wouldn’t have such a terrifying effect…”

Baron Angus replied. He glanced again at the devastating battlefield and pondered.

“I think it’s partly because we faced too few extraordinaries from the Lagrisse family, and partly because many nobles and knights from our Castells also joined the formation…”

“The effect of a magic formation increases with the strength of its participants. Being extraordinaries, they naturally enhanced its power.”

“But… but…”

“But their enhancement seems a bit too great?”

Charlotte continued.

Baron Angus nodded awkwardly.

“Yes, I’ve never commanded a battle with a magic formation, nor did I expect that adding more extraordinaries would make it so terrifying…”

The rest of the battle was no longer suspenseful. In the face of the powerful magic formation, the number of rebel cavalry became meaningless. The rebel cavalry surrounded by the formation had only two fates: to be crushed under the cavalry’s pursuit or to surrender.

With their speed and power suppressed, escape became a futile hope. Except for a few distant, lucky cavalry who managed to flee, most of the rebels couldn’t escape. As the last leading rebel noble was swallowed by the cavalry formation, the remaining rebels lost all will to fight.

The surrounded rebel cavalry surrendered, laying down their arms without further resistance. Even the conscripted soldiers, used as bait by the rebels in their camp, chose to surrender when hearing the thunderous shouts from the Castell army.

“Lay down your weapons, and you shall be spared.”

From the cavalry charge to the rebels’ defeat and surrender, it took just over twenty minutes. The Tulip infantry troops hidden within the coalition forces didn’t even get a chance to join the fight.

As the glow of the magic formation gradually faded, the cavalry formation returned to normal.

Charlotte saw that many regular cavalry, drained of all strength, fell from their horses, and even some warhorses collapsed. However, the surrendering rebels were already under control, preventing major chaos.

Seeing this, Charlotte realized that the magic formation also had a cost.

“Let’s go take a look.”

She commanded Sebastian and Baron Angus.

The battle was over, and the Castell flag flew over the camp. The defeated rebels, dejected, were guarded by soldiers.

Riding through, Charlotte saw not strong warriors but mostly ordinary people, frightened and confused.

Understandably, most of these rebels were conscripts—soldiers when armed, peasants when not.

The rebel cavalry, the true elite, had become prisoners after the cavalry formation’s devastating charge. Though many Northern lancers escaped, even more were captured.

Charlotte approached the cavalry who formed the magic formation.

They were resting and exhausted. The nobles who participated in the charge were also greatly fatigued, though their status as seasoned extraordinaries left them in better shape than the regular cavalry.

Charlotte soon found Count Gaston, who, despite looking pale and drained, was in better condition than most nobles, as he directed soldiers to tally the captives.

Upon seeing Charlotte, he paused and discreetly bowed.

“Countess Castell.”

Charlotte nodded slightly, her gaze sweeping over the exhausted regular cavalry.

“Are they… alright?”

“They’re just over-exhausted, they need rest. However, they won’t be battle-ready for at least half a month. Many magic inscriptions were also damaged and need repair and replenishment, which will take about twenty days.”

Count Gaston explained.

Needing twenty days to recover from a single battle…

Charlotte nodded to herself.

Such powerful force surely had its limits. However, even with a twenty-day recovery period, the magic formation was overwhelmingly effective. She needed to form such a powerful regular force as well.

Witnessing this overwhelming cavalry charge, Charlotte was inevitably moved.

“Thank you for your hard work. Please rest well, let the allied forces handle the cleanup.”

She said.

The battle ended in less than half a day, but the battlefield cleanup took longer than the battle itself.

It wasn’t until the next evening that the coalition forces finished tallying the results.

In this battle, the coalition forces eliminated about six thousand rebels, including two thousand conscripts and four thousand cavalry. Additionally, approximately three thousand conscripts and nearly four thousand cavalry surrendered, including less than eight hundred Lagrisse cavalry and over three thousand Northern lancers.

Around six thousand warhorses were captured, along with countless armor and equipment. Over thirty nobles were taken prisoner, many of whom were extraordinaries, including even a noble from a Northern Grand Duchy.

It was estimated that about three thousand rebels managed to escape, mostly Northern lancers. As for the main force gathered by the Lagrisse family… they were utterly annihilated in this single battle.

This outcome was close to what Charlotte had anticipated, but the process was entirely different. The powerful display of the transcendental regular forces completely overturned her understanding of warfare.

The magic formation was truly a game-changer, an overwhelming force in count-level warfare. Charlotte now understood why powerful duchies and kingdoms were willing to invest heavily in maintaining such forces.

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