"Oh my God... what happened here?"
A sentry arrived at the small fortress with a message. He had originally planned to rest and replenish his resources before continuing his journey...
But the sight before him made him unable to believe his eyes.
The castle's once tall and sturdy walls had collapsed in many places, with broken walls and ruins scattered around.
The city walls were covered with marks from sword cuts and scorched by magic.
What truly frightened him were the smooth marks visible everywhere on the city wall, as if something had been dug away out of thin air.
Upon entering the castle, the courtyard was in a mess.
The once neatly arranged flowers and plants were trampled beyond recognition, and blood stained the land.
The corpses were piled up haphazardly, their expressions frozen in terror and pain.
The main gate of the castle was violently broken open, tables and chairs inside were overturned, and documents were scattered all over the floor. Torches were still burning, illuminating this tragic scene.
The wall decorations were torn down, and precious artworks were smashed to pieces.
In a corner of the castle, the embers of war can still be seen, emitting black smoke.
The air was filled with the pungent smell of blood and burning.
The sentry covered his mouth and nose, his heart filled with fear and confusion. What kind of terrible attack had this place suffered to turn it into such a living hell?
He dared not linger, turned around, mounted his horse, and hastily left the ravaged castle.
"Okay... report this to them immediately..."
The sentry, who had just mounted his horse, was about to go and deliver the message, since the breach here meant that the defenses of the Sass Empire had been broken and the Kree had advanced deep into the heart of the empire!
But... he ultimately cannot pass on the message today.
He had just left the castle when he was captured by Lind's men in the forest outside the castle and brought before Lind.
"My lord, we've captured a messenger sentry!"
The soldier threw a person who was tightly bound in front of Lind.
After the gag was removed from his mouth, the sentry began to curse loudly, displaying remarkable backbone.
Lind waved his hand, gagging him again.
A soldier standing nearby handed over a set of envelopes and said:
"Sir, this was found on him."
Linde took the letter and read it carefully. After a while, Linde used a fire spell to burn the letter to ashes.
"It's all just empty talk; the real secret is still in his mouth..."
Lind grabbed his collar, activated the Deconstruction Aura, and peered into his past memories.
Soon, as time rewound, Lind found the purpose of his trip.
"Send a message to the people of Grinburg to find a way to hold out. At most, the Oak Empire's reinforcements will arrive in half a month!"
"Wow, this is indeed very important news... half a month?"
After watching Lind grope him for a while and learn the secret he had risked his life to protect, the sentry's eyes lost their luster in an instant.
"Um?"
Linde was somewhat surprised to find that the vibrant light emanating from the person in front of him was rapidly fading.
They pulled the cloth out of his mouth, but it brought out a mouthful of poisonous blood.
He actually committed suicide by poisoning himself.
Linde frowned, not expecting the sentry to be so fierce.
Leaving the dead sentry behind, Lind began to think.
Now that he knows the Orc Empire's reinforcements will arrive in half a month, he must react as soon as possible.
"Someone, quickly send this message to Earl Sutherland's residence."
Linde, now deep in enemy territory, has no intention of engaging in any unnecessary trouble. His immediate priority is to create enough chaos and casualties within the Sass Empire.
Linde opened the map, checked his remaining targets, and then crossed them out.
"We'll skip these places and head straight for these viscount castles."
"Set off!"
"yes!"
…………
Linde's troops moved like phantoms through the night, heading straight for the viscount's castles.
Along the way, they silently eliminated all the patrols of the Sass Empire they encountered, like deadly hunters lurking in the shadows.
When they arrived at the first viscount's castle, it was already dark.
At Linde's command, his men quickly dispersed and, under the cover of night, silently approached the vicinity of the city wall.
As Linde's deconstruction aura disintegrated the city wall, a large hole, large enough for two people to pass through, was revealed in what was once a perfectly intact wall.
They surged into the fortress like a tidal wave, catching the soldiers inside, still asleep, completely off guard by the sudden attack.
The shouts of battle and the clash of weapons instantly shattered the tranquility of the night.
Linde, wielding a sharp blade, weaved through the crowd, spraying blood wherever he went.
The viscount awoke with a start from his sleep, staring in horror at the scene before him.
"Who...who are you? Kree!?"
"No...don't kill me, I surrender."
After the Viscount was captured alive by Lind, the remaining resistance was futile, and the Viscount's castle was soon occupied by Lind's troops.
"Take him with you, and as for the rest, pick out some valuable little things to take with you."
The viscount also possessed a considerable amount of valuable goods. By now, Lind's troops had already amassed a fortune, and taking any more would slow down their march.
Aster came to Lind's side:
"My lord, shall we continue our attack on the other viscount castles, or do we have other plans?"
Linde looked at the map in his hand, pondered for a moment, and then said:
"We've already gained enough. Three Sass nobles are enough to make the Sassians bleed a little more. Let's retreat now."
Now Linde and his men have penetrated deep into the heart of the Sass Empire. Due to the limited number of troops, Linde cannot attack the large cities and can only target smaller ones.
The attack on this Viscount's castle was only barely successful due to using clever tricks.
Moreover, many of his soldiers have already been wounded. If things continue like this and they are tied up by the Sassians, he will be left with nowhere to run.
Taking advantage of the moonlight, Lind and his men quickly rode their horses and made a night-long raid, returning to the miniature castle they had previously captured just before daybreak.
"Take a short break, and we'll continue around noon."
"yes……"
With his revitalizing aura, the soldiers and horses would recover their energy quickly, but the mental fatigue could not be eliminated.
Linde's troops were now exhausted, and continuing would be counterproductive, so Linde decided to rest on the spot.
Unbeknownst to Lind, his retreat plan saved his life.
Outside the burning Viscount's castle, a cavalry unit clad in black robes arrived.
This was the team that Earl Sutherland longed for day and night, the one he desperately wanted to devour.
A surviving soldier, trembling, approached the leading knight and said:
"Knight... Sir..."
The leading knight said coldly:
"Tell me, when did they leave?"
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