Chapter 013: Fury

The soldiers behind Harry slowly stepped back a few paces. One of them quickly ran toward the edge of the encirclement, while the remaining dozen or so drew the crossbows hanging from their waists.
These crossbows were high-end weapons of the Gavin Empire’s military. Aside from the empire’s major legions, only the imperial city defense forces in the northern and southern frontiers were equipped with them. Yet the arrows in their crossbows were rusty, suggesting that these city defense forces hadn’t used them in years.
Watching this scene and thinking about what these city defense forces had always done, Du Fan sighed slightly. Over the centuries since the founding of the Gavin Empire, aside from the major legions, the imperial city defense forces had always been the backbone of the country’s military. Their numbers across the empire approached a million. But if every local city defense force was of this caliber, what fighting power could the Gavin Empire still have?
No wonder the Green Family’s northern legion, numbering less than a hundred thousand, could dominate the north. If the city defense forces were of such quality, even if they could go to war, they would likely be of little use.
Du Fan slowly shook his head, having lost interest in intervening. It wasn’t that he hadn’t seen the soldier who ran away—he simply felt indifferent. Bring them on! No matter how many soldiers of this caliber came, he would kill them all. At most, it would be like helping to carry out a thorough purge within the imperial city defense forces.
With his status, killing a few city defense soldiers—or even beheading the lord of Rui City—would probably not cause any trouble.
With his hands behind his back, Du Fan took a few slow steps. Since he wasn’t intervening, the Templar knights behind him naturally wouldn’t act either. Tasia wouldn’t waste her magic on these guys either. Meanwhile, Harry and his group grew even more panicked upon seeing Du Fan’s fearless demeanor. His earlier gesture had been to signal his subordinates to bring in the members of the northern legion. Normally, he hated those northern legion members intensely, but now he wished that damned Carol would arrive as soon as possible. If he didn’t, his life would likely be in danger.
After waiting for a while, Du Fan grew impatient. These imperial city defense forces were so slow in providing rescue—useless indeed. He took a few steps forward, intending to deal with Harry and the others first, but just then, the sound of horse hooves came from afar.

The sound of hooves was loud and rhythmic. Du Fan came from a martial family and was familiar with such sounds since childhood, so he could estimate at a glance that there must be about five hundred cavalrymen!
Du Fan’s expression changed slightly. Just from the sound, it was clear that the army approaching was no ordinary force. How could such a military power exist in this small border town?
He glanced back several times and saw a massive group of cavalry charging along the path they had come from, flags fluttering. The sound of their hooves almost shattered the silence of the town. What was even more remarkable was that despite moving through the narrow streets of the town, the cavalry maintained perfect formation. Although they split into numerous groups heading toward his location, their order remained impeccable.
The cavalrymen wore bright armor, exuding an aura of power, and a murderous intent filled the air as they approached.
A few Temple Knights behind Du Fan recognized the threat. This time, ignoring his attempts to stop them, they swiftly moved to stand in front of him.
Finally, the cavalry stopped. Despite their intense movement, neither the men nor the horses showed any sign of breathlessness, with only the faint sound of metal clashing remaining.
Each cavalryman rode a magnificent horse from the north of Roland Continent. The knights wore dark brown armor, along with shiny long spears and curved swords—clearly different from the useless imperial defense forces.
On their tall horses hung light armor, crossbows with faint blue lights, snow-white leather cloaks beneath the armor, and shiny eagle emblems on their helmets. Behind each cavalryman was a blood-red cloak. The color of the blood was uneven, but those with keen eyes could tell that these cloaks had originally been white, stained red from battles. The redder a cavalryman’s cloak, the more enemies he had killed.
These obvious markings meant that anyone with some knowledge recognized them as belonging to the army of the Gavin Empire.
But as Du Fan stared at these elite cavalrymen and the eagles fluttering on their flags, his face turned extremely dark…
Great! Great! My Green family has trained such an army through years of hard work, yet they’ve only been doing such evil deeds!
Du Fan slowly pushed aside the Temple Knights in front of him and stepped forward, staring at the nearly five hundred cavalrymen with growing anger in his eyes.

“Very good… very good…” Du Fan muttered under his breath. “Is this the Northern Legion? This is the Northern Legion! This is the Northern Legion…”
Before he could finish speaking, the members of the Northern Legion hadn’t responded yet. Suddenly, a man rushed out from among the cavalry and pointed at Du Fan, shouting, “It’s him! He’s the barbarian spy! It’s him!”
Du Fan glanced over and saw it was the soldier who had fled earlier. He sneered and said, “Worthless scum, when did it become your turn to speak?”
With that, he raised his right hand. This time, Du Fan didn’t hide his strength at all. A streak of blue and white combat energy flashed out, passing right through the soldier’s forehead. With a soft sound, the soldier’s head exploded like a firework, leaving only half of his body, which staggered a few steps before collapsing to the ground with a thud.
Seeing this, Harry and the others paled instantly. But the cavalry of the Northern Legion didn’t move even a bit. The red-and-white liquid splashed onto one of the knights, yet he didn’t even blink.
“Sir, killing someone in front of me, Carol—do you really think there’s no one in the Gavin Empire?”
With a sharp shout, a man who seemed to be the leader among the cavalry slowly rode forward. His equipment wasn’t much different from that of the other knights, except that his snow-white robe had been replaced with blood-red one. He wasn’t wearing a helmet, revealing a slightly tired face. On his chest hung a shiny knight’s medal, signifying him as a Level 6 knight recognized by the Roland Continent Knights’ Guild.
With such strength, he would undoubtedly be a formidable figure in the empire’s military.
He carried a sword on his horse, without a scabbard, its blade full of cracks and dents. Yet even so, it didn’t diminish his knightly grace, making him appear extremely majestic.
Carol gently pulled on the reins, grabbed the broken sword with his right hand, and pointed it diagonally at Du Fan. “Sir, since you’ve killed someone, you must pay the price. I advise you to surrender. No one can escape from the Northern Legion. Though I can see that none of you are weak, it’s impossible for you to challenge the empire’s military with such strength.”
Although there was no combat energy attached to that diagonal sword, its murderous intent was terrifying.

But Du Fan took a glance, then sneered again. He sized Carol up from head to toe before saying coldly, “What a display of arrogance! What a sense of pride! Being able to lead five hundred cavalry, you must hold a high position in the Northern Legion. But instead of focusing on proper duties, you engage in such behavior? Since Duke Green fails to discipline his subordinates, I’ll have to step in today. Otherwise, who knows what kind of mess the Northern Legion will become in the future!”
No sooner had he finished speaking than a cavalryman behind Carol shouted, “How dare you! How can you dare to use the Duke’s name…”
Before the cavalryman could finish, a loud slap echoed. His helmet was sent flying into the air, and a bright red handprint appeared on his face.
Du Fan’s slap was swift and precise, leaving no trace of his movement—truly astonishingly skilled.
Although Carol caught a glimpse of Du Fan’s action, he sensed something strange in his words. He stared at Du Fan for a moment as an idea flashed through his mind.
The cavalryman who had been slapped was furious, but the Northern Legion had strict discipline. Though angry, he dared not act rashly and instead retreated with a cold expression.
After making a gesture to calm down, Carol stared at Du Fan again and said, “Who exactly are you? Please reveal yourself!”
Du Fan gave him a half-smile and asked, “Is it important who I am? Ask yourself instead—why does the Green family support you every year? And think about what you’ve done. Good! The people of the Northern Legion are even willing to resort to corruption? If you’re willing to lose your dignity for money, I still value my pride! Ask yourself what mistakes you’ve made!”
With that, Du Fan touched his ring and instantly pulled out a jade tablet. Without even looking at it, he threw it at Carol.
Carol caught it casually, turned it over in his hand, and couldn’t help but exclaim, “The third young master!”
Before he could finish speaking, he jumped off his horse and immediately knelt on one knee. Hearing this, the other cavalrymen immediately understood Du Fan’s identity and also knelt down.
Haley’s expression changed rapidly. Realizing something, his face turned deathly pale.