Chapter 5: There Are Always Some Setbacks

“Haha, let those trash zombies rot in the mud!” It was still the sergeant with the short beard who spoke loudly, his expression filled with satisfaction.
The others also seemed relaxed.Neo could tell that those who had come this time, whether knights, servants, or sergeants, were all skilled fighters with experience in actual combat.
This was clearly a good thing. After all, time was always pressing forNeo. He didn’t think eliminating the watchers and that old lycan would be without risks. Even if the handsome man from the West Wind Berserkers couldn’t find the corpses right away, he might still send someone to summon him back for “assistance in the investigation.” For a former death row inmate, there was no need to fabricate any excuses, and likely no one would stand up for someone of such status.
Adrian ahead raised his sword, holding it level with his shoulder—a signal for the cavalry behind to slow their horses to a steady pace. Such orders usually came before breaking through the enemy’s formation and launching a second charge.
Their well-trained discipline was fully demonstrated at this moment. With just a gesture, everyone understood Adrian’s intention immediately. Without further words, they left the forest path and ran a short distance before turning their horses around, ready for another charge.
Neo didn’t understand Adrian’s gestures, but he knew to imitate them. And Adrian’s intention wasn’t hard to guess: break through and launch a countercharge. For those clumsy zombie troops, it would be a small surprise.
Snort! Snort! The horses snorted and stamped their hooves restlessly. Like their master, they longed to charge again.
Adrian glanced back at his followers, his gaze briefly resting onNeo. Although he didn’t seem as excited as the others,Neo’s calm composure had its own unique charm, which Adrian found quite satisfactory.
Charging through the forest path, even if unexpected, was still extremely dangerous. Especially with their small numbers, it required everyone in combat positions to maximize their effectiveness. Otherwise, it could put the entire group at a disadvantage or even cost them their lives.
The knight swung his sword, pointing firmly in the direction.
“Go!”
They loosened the reins and spurred their horses forward. The cavalry charged at full speed, mud and snow flying, blades gleaming. More than a dozen riders rushed into the forest path.
Just as over a hundred zombies and skeletons had gathered on the path,Neo’s group appeared in their sight. The timing was perfect. The low-level zombie controller, a necromancer, was about to cast a spell. Adrian, leading the charge, already slashed with his sword, creating a blade barrier. The necromancer screamed in terror and rolled to the side, barely avoiding the deadly strike that could have split the ground and shattered trees.
Thud… Thud… The dull sounds of impacts echoed continuously. Thanks to their high speed, the cavalry’s powerful charges, trampling, and swift slashes inflicted heavy losses on the zombies. It was as if icebreakers were advancing at high speed, with the zombies like broken ice waves being flung aside along the cavalry’s path.

At this moment, the disparity in strength and awareness among the cavalry became evident. Needless to say, Adrian could utilize combat energy by transforming elemental power into it—even at just level 5—he could use this combat energy to create a sword glow, making his weapon exceptionally sharp and greatly increasing its damage. With the poor defensive capabilities of the lower-level undead, such attacks would surely sever anything they touched.

The knight servants were still decent, as they had received proper knight training and possessed solid strength and skill, yielding noticeable results. However, those six sergeants were purely brute-force types lacking in strategy. Though their blades flashed frequently, their actions were mostly driven by momentary impulse. They did manage to knock the undead around, but the undead were not ordinary beings; unless struck with a fatal blow, even deep wounds meant little. Thus, aside from a few accidental hits, the sergeants’ attacks were largely ineffective. In fact, it was better to simply dismount and use the weight of their horses—nearly a thousand pounds—to crush the undead, causing broken bones and torn tendons.

Neo was the one who swung his sword the fewest times among them. During one charge, he swung his sword 17 times. Aside from one swing to parry, each of the other 16 swings severed a head. If counted carefully, he had killed just one less enemy than Adrian.

In the second charge, only three sergeants suffered minor cuts, yet they killed nearly half of their enemies, proving the charge to be highly successful.

“Dismount!” Adrian ordered, and everyone quickly got off their horses. One of the four knight servants was a medical knight who could use basic healing spells and herbal patches to treat injuries. The three sergeants who were scratched were mainly affected by the necrotic poison from the undead claws, which could cause serious problems if not treated promptly.

Adrian patted his beloved horse. Regular knights’ horses were not only warhorses but also trained in magic and medicine. Influenced by the knights’ own combat energy over time, they possessed high spiritual awareness. Now, obediently, the horse neighed twice and headed toward the entrance of the forest path. The other horses followed suit, retreating from the woods. Only Neo’s wolf remained by his side. The expression in its eyes bore a striking resemblance to Neo’s, showing the calm composure of an experienced warrior.

While everyone took time to tidy up, Adrian glanced at Neo. Sensing the questioning look in Adrian’s eyes, Neo affirmed, “At least half of the undead are townspeople from Tulip Town.”

Adrian nodded and surveyed his followers. “Let’s get rid of those obstacles in our way!”

“Kill them all!” the knight servants and sergeants shouted in response.

“Forward!” Adrian raised his arm, drew his sword, and stepped forward with steady strides, leading everyone deeper into the forest.

The well-coordinated team naturally formed three combat units. At the forefront was Adrian, along with the two knight servants on his flanks, forming the strongest front line. The wings consisted of groups of three sergeants each, with the knight servant armed with a large horn bow, Anqiro, and the medical knight providing support in the center. Neo and his wolf automatically took up positions at the rear to secure the retreat.

Apart from Neo, each member of the group wore armor weighing no less than 35 jin, and with their weapons on, it was as if they were carrying bags of flour while fighting. Thus, even though they were strong, they knew how to conserve energy—moving at a pace slightly faster than walking—remaining calm even when the faces of their enemies could already be seen clearly.

Under Adrian’s leadership, the group chose the woods on the right as their breakthrough point. The trees provided effective protection against arrows, but the downside was that it posed a significant challenge to maintaining formation, requiring strong teamwork from the members. From the way Adrian and his group coordinated, Neo could tell they had experience in battlefield combat.

To counter the enemy’s long-range firepower, one usually relied on their own long-range weapons. Adrian’s energy blades were extremely energy-consuming, so it was actually Anqiluo’s great bow that played a key role in suppressing the necromancer. Anqiluo carried armor-piercing arrows, cutting arrows, arc-track arrows, as well as explosive arrows whose blast power was enough to shatter boulders the size of a human head—truly formidable. The necromancer’s own arrow-shielding spell could only withstand three arrows before collapsing.

Skulls and zombies were not very suitable for forest battles, as their individual combat strength was limited and they were rather foolish. As long as one avoided rash actions and made good use of the trees and the uneven terrain, for level 3 professionals, they were essentially moving targets.

Neo had some injuries, but he was confident in handling these low-level undead in the forest. He even had the confidence to take on dozens of undead alone and wipe them out all. As for the others, though they didn’t seem as effortless as Neo—just walking, circling, and swinging their swords to efficiently kill the undead—they were still not far behind. So, the key to this battle seemed to lie with the necromancer. If they could successfully suppress him, they could easily achieve a decisive victory.

But would things really be that simple? Neo hoped for a smooth outcome, but reason told him that the devils’ elaborate plans were never simple. This forest path was one of the two essential routes to Tulip Town. Would the devils really rely on just a low-level necromancer and over a hundred undead to block the road?

Yet, even with his keen sense of smell, hearing, and sight, Neo couldn’t detect any signs of traps.

“Be careful—there might be unknown traps here.” Though there was little evidence, Neo still felt it necessary to warn everyone to stay alert.

Adrian, who had just severed a zombie’s neck, glanced at Neo with a smirk and thought to himself, “Traps? Do undead brains work that well? Even if they did, would they have the patience to wait this long? The undead are almost all dead!”

Indeed, almost all the undead had been killed, leaving less than 20, surrounding the necromancer. It was no longer the undead surrounding Adrian’s group—it was the group turning the tide and launching a counterattack.

As for Neo, who always seemed somewhat independent and aloof, along with his dire wolf, Adrian’s followers didn’t complain much. After all, everyone had eyes to see—Neo and his dire wolf killed with great rhythm and efficiency, even surpassing the killing rate of the three-soldier team by a little. They tolerated Neo’s current worries.

A few more undead died, forcing the necromancer and the remaining undead to retreat to a ruined wall, seemingly at their wits’ end. Just as Adrian prepared to deliver the decisive strike with pride, snow mist suddenly rose from the snow in the forest, and over 30 monsters emerged from beneath the snow, completely surrounding Adrian’s group.

“Demonized undead!” Adrian’s heart plummeted from cloud heights to rock bottom.

Without any confrontation or unnecessary dialogue, the monsters attacked as soon as they appeared, while Neo had already mounted his dire wolf and fled…