Chương 25: The Mighty Plurian General
There have been many times I have been afraid in DO.
When I was arrested in DO on trumped-up charges worried about whether I would be subjected to terrible torture.
When I had to take lessons on combat for the first time.
Or even when I finally felt what it was to die an unnatural death in DO.
None of these instances made me more afraid than I was on that rainy night.
When Bardornus came for my head.
Reginald Coulan, creator and head of House Aurellion in Dynasties Online
…..
"Stand aside, Captain!"
Bardornus said coldly, assuming that the man who was standing between him and Lucius was the royal knight's captain as he looked identical to the hundreds of other knights that had fallen to his blade as he charged through to the centre of the formation, a stream of cavalry rushing past him as they continued to pour through the gap made in the Plurian line. Fresh blood dripped from the edge of the curved blade of the steel glaive, which was held in his right hand, the point lowered towards the ground.
"It's your general that concerns me, not you. Don't waste your life; we both know that ye can't beat me even if his leadership skills have allowed you to become a master fighter temporarily."
"His Majesty's order is to protect General Lucius and Drusus at all cost, no matter the situation! This includes forcing them to leave the battlefield, and if they refuse to leave, then we are authorised to force them away from the battlefield due to their importance in his grand plan."
The deep-voiced knight captain said, not moving even an inch as he stared down at Lucius calmly, his eyes flickering every now and then to Leon, who was crazily fighting back through the battlefield towards the centre of the formation where Lucius was.
"Even if you are a master now, we both know you can't stop me. Why kill yourself when you could live and continue serving your kingdom?"
"You already have Drusus, who is a once-in-a-100-year strategist. Don't you think you're being greedy if you also have this guy to back him up? At least have some sportsmanship and give your enemies a chance!"
Bardonus said in a righteous tone as if war throughout history had always been a fair fight before continuing.
"Surly, your king would not want to lose a most trusted captain and a competent upcoming general at the same time; ye must think about what is best for your kingdom Captain."
"It's your duty as a royal knight, no?"
Bardornus said, trying to persuade the captain in front of him to stand down so he could kill Lucius without interference, worried about Leon, who he knew would rush over to protect Lucius.
"I may not be able to beat you, General Bardornus, but I can delay you until those two crazy people get here to deal with you; it does not matter if you are more skilled than me until you become a grandmaster it will take at least 10 minutes to deal with do you really think that we won't get help before then?"
The knight captain said calmly, a slight smile forming underneath his helmet, noticing that Leon was already rushing back to protect Lucius.
'Our general really is cunning, keeping that little raven close, knowing that he would be a main target to get the young mans master level fighter to protect him.'
'I don't think anyone up until now has noticed this, especially that old man, or he would never have agreed with the General and allowed Archtorius to be carried on Lucius' horse.'
'Not that the general lied. Being at the centre of the formation really was the safest spot! Just as long as you are not with the general or tied to his fate.
The knight captain thought absentmindedly while readying himself for the fight to come, as it only takes one mistake for a duel between masters to finish with one man standing and the other lying in a pool of his own blood.
'Two? Two people would come rushing? I knew that the one with the spear from this afternoon would come as he appeared to be the trusted second in command but another one.'
Bardornus thought, surprised as his eyes narrowed slightly before he noticed Archtorus limp form on the horse with Lucius seemingly unconscious.
'So he must be the reason for the second master rushing over. Bloody nobles always complicate things! If it's not their unbridled arrogance, it's their bloody master-level fighters who always seem to appear out of nowhere in a crisis.'
Bardonus sighed to himself slightly while thinking about this before his eyes became cold, and he wordlessly charged towards the knight captain, swinging his great steel curved glaive towards the muscled man.
[Powerful Strike]
[Masterful Backswing]
[Armour Piercer]
[Pluruses Persistent Protecter]
Knowing the need to end the fight quickly, Bardornus went all out, using four skills in succession. The knight captain parried the first strike, but the tremendous power in the Bardornus blade forced him and his horse to the side while the glaive curved in the opposite direction, suddenly threatening to cut the captain in half.
The captain quickly dodged the backswing; however, part of the glaives blade still caught on his breastplate cutting through the armour like paper and leaving a nasty gash which stretched from the man's right shoulder to his waist as blood began to trickle down his chest if the captain was even a second later he would have become two halves of flesh strewn across the ground like so many of the Chavarian knights who had faced Bardornus before him.
The knight captain's breathing became heavy, a chill running down his spine, a sensation he had not felt in years. Looking on with fear as Bardornus did not stop after blowing him away, the middle-aged general's eyes locked on Lucius' figure, who was just before him the glaive raised in two hands to kill Lucius in one blow.
"Protect the general!"
"Protect the general!"
Two voices cried out as two Chavarian knights charged in front of their general, putting themselves between Lucius and Bardornus, stabbing their spears towards Bardornus, having been able to break through after killing two of Bardornus' dwindling elite knights.
In three quick strikes, two spurts of blood emitted from the two brave knights who were swiftly cut down by Bardornus, but their sacrifice delayed Bardornus finishing blow on Lucius for a few seconds allowing the knight captain, who was blown away by Bardornus' first blow to reengage Bardornus the two duelling with mesmerising skill.
[Royal Knights Determination]
[A Captains Duty]
Bardornus was surprised at how well the knight captain was doing in the fight despite being injured by him, as he could see the bloody gash on the knight whose armour had been ripped open. Little did he know that it was only after activating two skills and relying on Lucius' leadership skills that he was able to start fighting on a more equal footing with Bardornus.
They continued for the next minute, the captain bringing out all of his strength while adrenaline pumped through his body, lessening the pain from his injury as he seemed to go into a trance-like state while keeping up with Bardornus.
'Just a bit longer! I just need to delay for a little bit longer!'
The captain thought, gritting his teeth, the fire of determination in his eyes, as he parried another one of Bardornus' strikes, his arm visibly straining under the weight of the middle-aged general's blows.
The exchanges continued for four more minutes, every swing defended by the captain becoming more challenging than the last the strain from defending against Bardornus' powerful blows forcing the captain to use his sword with two hands until Bardornus finally managed to disarm the knight captain, the steel sword in his hand clattering to the ground as he cried out in pain and grabbed his right wrist which ached from overuse.
"Impressive to be able to use Lucius' leadership skills to gain the insight necessary to become a true master and not just an expert who will be bedridden for a few days after forcefully fighting at the master level."
"Don't underestimate master fighters! The gap between an expert and a master is like the difference between heaven and earth."
"And heaven is not an easy place to climb up to or to live in."
Bardornus said, his glaive cutting sideways, aiming to sever the knight's captain's head from his body as the man coated in sweat, head down, breathed heavily the screams of dying men and horse hooves resounding through the battlefield but for the captain, at that moment the battlefield was silent his eyes closed as Bardonus' steel glaive descended.
'Forgive me, your majesty, for failing to carry out your orders and hindering your grand plan.'
The knight captain thought all strength sapped from his body as he resigned himself to his fate.
"Shing!"
The sound of metal striking metal woke the captain up; his eyes opened to see a spear appear between Bardornus' glaive and his body as he looked over to see Lucius holding the shaft of the spear, stopping Bardornus from being able to give the final blow.
All through the duel, Lucius had been watching in fear, unable to escape due to not being confident enough in his combat capabilities to break out on his own as most of his bodyguard was dead, and there were still 10 Plurian knights stubbornly fighting off any Chavarian that tried to save him and afraid that Bardornus would find an opening to kill him in one swing.
It was only when the knight captain was about to die that he intervened, his body moving subconsciously on its own as he blocked the finishing blow that was aimed at the captain's head. Perhaps it was survival instinct that kicked in, or maybe it was the want to save a master that could be useful in the battle later; it did not matter. The result was Lucius finally overcoming his fear and fighting Bardornus, refusing to die without a fight.
Bardornus grinned when he saw what happened and swung his great bloodied glaive towards Lucius as the latter blocked it again, the great strength of the blow blasting Lucius back as with lightning speed, Bardornus' glaive like the scythe of death swung down towards the Chavarian general's head.
A sword blocked the strike, an old wisened man deflecting the blow aimed at Lucius' head as he rode in front of him, putting himself between Lucius and Bardornus, saying in a gruff voice.
"What was it you said again? That's right, don't underestimate master-level fighters."
"And don't threaten my young master."
Sorrell said coldly, looking at Bardornus with hatred.
"Took you long enough, old man! Your young master and I almost died, you know."
Lucius said, finally relaxing, seeing the old warrior arrive and voicing his disapproval at how long it took for him to arrive.
"Is that the way you talk to your saviour? I can still leave, you know."
The old man said calmly, and this was not an idle threat as Lucius fully well knew as the man's priority was Archtorius, not himself.
"I ran into one of his vice generals along the way turned out to be thornier than I thought though now he is just another victim in this age of war."
"He made me a bit late."
The old man said nonchalantly as if he had just casually squashed a bug instead of a vice general.
"Thank you, master Sorrell, for saving us! Are you sure your old bones can handle him? He's already gone through 1 master fighter, you know?"
Lucius said shamelessly, changing his attitude a bit to something a bit more respectful.
"You call that pipsqueak over there a master fighter?"
"Bardornus, was it? What are you trying to do? Give us master-level fighters a bad name? How did that newbie fight you for so long? Surely you didn't go easy on him? That's quite irresponsible of you! Don't let your feelings come before duty to your kingdom!"
Sorrell scolded Bardornus, trying to infuriate the man.
"Why don't you try fighting him? Save me the trouble! He was quite a troublesome fellow with a surprisingly high endurance."
"So you managed to dispatch Alric then. He always was one to bite off more than he could chew seemed he challenged the wrong beast."
Bardornus sighed loudly, returning to his usual calm after experiencing the hundreds of battlefields he was well aware of the insults that fly around most to anger people into doing something stupid.
"General, get the captain to escort you away alongside everyone else! I'll stall this feisty young lad and make sure to keep my young master safe, or your head will be the next one I chop off!"
Sorrell threatened as he rode towards Bardornus, blocking the Plurain general from attacking Lucius, sword in hand. The knight captain quickly grabbed his sword from the ground and called for Lucius to follow him.
"General this way."
The man's deep voice said as he killed the last remaining Plurain knight who was holding off four attackers by stabbing him from behind the sword being held weakly in his right hand.
Quickly, the few Chavarian knights that had not broken through the Plurian lines alongside the horse archers in the back escorted Lucius through the holes created in the Plurian lines though there were far less than expected, the Plurian light cavalry dealing far more damage than Lucius expected, whether it was by the javelin or sword when the light cavalry attempted to flank the right side of the Chavarian diamond formation engaging in melee at the same time as the knights clashed with each other.
However, Sorrell, who was at the back of the formation, quickly went and helped to fight off the flanking Plurians killing their vice general in single combat and routing the light cavalry who attacked from the side, though at great cost to his own men.
After that, he rushed to the aid of Lucius, seeing the captain struggling to fight against Bardornus and arrived just in time to save Lucius.
"Did you teach Lucius his manners? You seem to be surprisingly similar in the way you talk."
Bardornus asked, regret in his eyes as when he tried to make a move to stop Lucius, Sorrell got in the way and blocked him.
"Nope, that was all him nothing to do with me."
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO 
LaziestDragon
LaziestDragon Sunday's chapter though released very late.
Thank you to everyone who continues to support my novel.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter.
Tomorrow I should release the last of the three chapters that were promised late Saturday or early Sunday as long as nothing changes.
Discord link to kick this lazy ass author up his ass if it doesn't work comment and ill sort it out.
https://discord.gg/kzT7hrnFYp
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