Chapter 2469: King of the Night

At this moment, the Han Army had already been stirred by the news of the Romans passing through the mire, which was good news for the Fifth Lark Legion crouched outside the Han Army’s camp.

No one knew the Fifth Lark was ambushed outside the Han camp. Not entering the camp, but waiting for the Han Army to come out to launch a surprise attack, would be more effective—incredibly effective, to be precise.

Prepared with armor and weapons, the silent Han soldiers took up their arms and gathered under the leadership of their corporals, decurions, and bozhangs, then were commanded by their generals and commanders-in-chief.

When Zhuge Liang set out with the troops, a faint trace of worry appeared on his face; for some reason, he felt he had overlooked something.

“Gongtai, do you feel there’s something amiss?” Zhuge Liang asked Chen Gong as the Xiliang Iron Cavalry and Wolf Cavalry had already left the camp, and the Trap Formation with Chen Gong was about to set out. He suddenly showed a trace of unease, and upon seeing Chen Gong, he couldn’t help but ask, while Chen Gong bore the same worried expression.

“I also feel as if I’ve overlooked something,” Chen Gong said hesitantly, looking at Zhuge Liang. After a moment’s pause, he slowly spoke, and at that instant, Zhuge Liang’s pupils suddenly enlarged. By then, he could already hear the dull sounds of large armies marching, the sound of Han Army troops preparing for battle as they set out.

“Sheni Zhengnan, rain of arrows! The Fifth Lark is just outside our camp!” For the first time, Zhuge Liang could not maintain his composed demeanor in front of others, shouting angrily in Sheni Pei’s direction, but by then, the Xiliang Iron Cavalry and Wolf Cavalry, along with the majority of Sheni Pei’s Heavy Crossbow Operators, had already left the camp.

With Zhuge Liang’s furious shout, virtually all the generals felt a chill run down their spines.

“Farewell, Marquis of Chiyang of the Han Empire.” At the moment of Zhuge Liang’s angry shout, Li Jue instinctively turned his head and heard these words in his ear. Decades of combat experience instantly activated his Legion Talent to its maximum, offering blessings to all soldiers, but…

The blade pierced through the chest, Li Jue’s eyes blood-red, grabbed the hidden assassin, and Palmyro appeared for a brief moment, smiling faintly, brushing Li Jue aside. Then, in Li Jue’s shocked gaze, he disappeared again and reappeared dozens of steps away.

At that instant, except for a few fortunate ones or elites like Li Jue, who relied on a survivor’s intuition from hundreds of battles to react at the last moment, others fell immediately under the Fifth Lark Legion’s surprise attack.

No matter if you have dual talents or are a decathlon warrior, that blade through the chest is an absolutely fatal injury. Ultimately it’s not the strength or size of the weapon that matters, but the controller—be it a short sword or a heavy spear, piercing the heart is enough to be fatal.

Li Jue’s extreme Legion Talent indeed offered maximum defense to all Iron Cavalry soldiers, but only a few could react instantly and evade the attack at the moment their defense was pierced. Even the Xiliang Iron Cavalry had nearly two thousand fall at that moment.

Zhang Liao’s Wolf Cavalry, though more versatile, couldn’t display any power against such attacks and instantly suffered their most significant blow in history—as in merely the blink of an eye, 2,700 Wolf Cavalry fell.

Even Zhang Liao’s Legion Talent, which could recover injuries, had no effect on such fatal wounds. The Skylark Legion almost annihilated an elite number equivalent to an entire Dual Talent Legion in a moment.

As soon as the sudden changes occurred at the front, Sheni Pei activated his Spiritual Talent, and more than 1,500 heavily armored Heavy Crossbow Operators fired a dense rain of arrows towards Sheni Pei’s estimated position, with the instant addition of Vanguard Will.

“Crunch!” As the rain of arrows covered the area, several dozen of Sheni Pei’s Heavy Crossbow Operators were suddenly killed, followed by dozens of figures retreating into the darkness. Almost reflexively, Sheni Pei directed the Heavy Crossbow Operators to cover that position with Cloud Qi Arrows.

“You wouldn’t still think we’re like we were the last time, would you?” Palmyro suddenly surged forward, appearing coldly three steps from the crossbowmen, speaking in understandable words.

“You still have a long way to go!” As Palmyro spoke, Sheni Pei’s flanking sword and shield infantry were already under attack, blood splattering the area around them.

As for those tons of Cloud Qi Arrows, they only extinguished Palmyro’s phantom shadow.

“In the night, we are the invincible monarchs, no army is our opponent, we manipulate light and shadow, like this.” As Palmyro unemotionally spoke, Sheni Pei’s flanking escort again suffered attacks from the side.

“I don’t care what you are!” Li Jue’s eyes were red with rage, the sword blade still hanging from his chest, yet his momentum increased instead of diminishing. How many years has it been, how many years of battles, never once has the Iron Cavalry been this mournful!

“Unforgivable!” Fan Chou’s eyes were almost bleeding; more than two thousand brothers who followed them were slain without even knowing, what a tragedy!

“Go to hell!” At this moment, Guo Si’s eyes seemed to split open, blood rolled down the crevices, and the almost identical will of the three of them entwined together, the original brilliance of Li Jue’s Legion Talent was suddenly stained with blood, the radiance of Yinghuo Star!

“How foolish!” Palmyro sneered and hid into the darkness, a faint mocking voice came from the sky, “Anger only brings one closer to death!”

“Marquis of Chiyang, be careful!” Although Zhang Liao was also furious, he still maintained rationality, so upon seeing the actions of Li Jue and the others, he called out immediately, but in the next moment, the sound of Iron Cavalry charging gradually receded, and the Iron Cavalry disappeared in front of everyone.

“We are the manipulators of light and shadow, the king of the night, the embodiment of Caesar’s shadow.” Palmyro’s faintly mocking voice conveyed from afar, the Xiliang Iron Cavalry had already vanished, even the sound of hooves disappearing into the darkness.

At the instant the Xiliang Iron Cavalry disappeared, the sky began to pour with rain as if it was leaking, and the Han Army clearly saw the Iron Cavalry hidden by the darkness, not far from them, along with many invisible persons near the Han Camp were washed out, as for the Iron Cavalry was chasing the largest group.

At this time, the Roman army, still in the distance, could already see clearly with their Inner Qi Manifestation vision, the steady but unstoppable advance.

“Got you!” Zhang Liao’s eyes reddened, sweeping with his long spear, cutting down several shadows standing motionless just ten steps away, immediately causing several soldiers of the Fifth Lark Legion to perish.

“Take them out for me!” Sheni Pei commanded the heavy crossbow operators with a twisted expression, they had previously been toyed with by these bastards, especially some scoundrels who lay at the feet of their army, then using others’ light and shadow to pretend to warp away at high speed, you like to play? Kill you!

“Rainfall?” Leading the Fifth Lark Legion, taunting the Iron Cavalry, preparing to trap Li Jue and the others, Palmyro caught a raindrop with his hand, stunned. The Han Army could manipulate the celestial phenomenon, and these Roman high-ranking officials knew it, but it wasn’t a big deal.

However, when the rain poured almost instantly, Palmyro suddenly found his soldiers washed out by the rain, shocking him.

As Li Jue and the others led the Iron Cavalry roaring towards their instinctive direction, they discovered the invisible people beside them when the torrential rain fell, realizing these were soldiers from the Fifth Lark, their bodies erupted with radiance, roaring, “Trample you bugs to death!”

“Not good!” When Palmyro saw his men washed out by the rain, he realized trouble was imminent, the Fifth Lark’s abilities were all focused on concealment and suppression, the Eagle Banner’s effect was to deepen the Elite Talent’s effect, a purely supportive ability, if their forces were exposed, facing those hard-hitting legions undoubtedly led to their demise.

However, before Palmyro could manipulate the light and shadow to create identical rainfall across other locations, the Vanguard unleased tons of arrow rain, covering this position just like in the Battle of Two Rivers, as long as I can find you, I can eliminate you instantly!

In the blink of an eye, Palmyro had used Light and Shadow Manipulation to create identical natural rain falling just like other locations, but just as before, it became meaningless.

The Cloud Qi Arrows from the Vanguard almost swept through, directly uncovering over two thousand Fifth Lark Legion corpses.

But those Lark members who survived that moment immediately concealed themselves into the rain, their Elite Talent, their Eagle Banner Talent had no response to this situation, they were worthy of the King of Darkness, but as a cost, once pulled from the shadows into the light by others, it meant their end was near.

Palmyro, nearly killed by the Cloud Qi Arrows, after hiding into the environment, prepared to use his sword blade for a counter-kill against the nearby Xiliang Iron Cavalry, suddenly felt something was wrong.

Previously the assassinations of the Lark Legion using short swords, under the suppression effect of Elite Talent, could almost instantly break through the Xiliang Iron Cavalry’s defenses, but now a significant difference appeared.

Noticing his soldiers merged into the new rain environment, while using short swords to assassinate the cavalry, the opponent’s defense had become so strong that in the brief moment before breaking the defense, the long spear could block the Lark member’s attack, and then the nearby comrades would use long spears to counter-kill their soldiers.

This extraordinarily abnormal defense power and combat experience were enough for Palmyro to hesitate no more, retreating directly, besides, the Roman army had already arrived, tonight they had gained enough from the Fifth Lark, any continued waste of time was meaningless.