Chapter 829: Griffins (Three in one)
Chapter 829: Griffins (Three in one)
Warm weather was supposed to return in April, but spring this session was still affected by the drop in temperature. This extreme weather had slowed down the harvest of wheat dramatically.
The farmers could no longer continue. Even the new farming techniques were not working, which made the humans even more hopeless.
On a field on newly grown wheat in the Duchy of Thunder, a team of 20,000 were stomping on top.
All the farmers nearby died with their eyes wide open, seeming like they were still waiting for their crops' harvest.
"How long until we reach the duchy of Carmel?" Prince Derek asked a head commander nearby.
"Prince Derek, in half a day more, and we will enter the domain of the duchy of Carmel!" The head Commander bowed and replied.
This powerful team of knights was led by the eldest prince Derek from the Kingdom of St Ellis. The 200 griffin knights in the sky had wiped out all creatures along the way.
Thousands of civilians and nobles were dead. More than 50 intermediate wizards set out, and this team wouldn't let anyone who saw them survive.
This team had already destroyed the Duchy of Keyen investigation system before they set out. This was what allowed them to get so close to the duchy of Carmel.
Originally, they were meant to go around the duchy of Keyen, but Prince Derek disregarded this suggestion.
He knew Harry Castle was the true core of the duchy of Carmel. If he could wipe out Harry Castle, the duchy of Carmel would be done.
Therefore, he chose to go through the duchy of Thunder directly and directly enter the duchy of Carmel.
Although 20,000 knights looked like a lot, the duchy of Carmel also had 10,000 knights. Maybe, even more, looking at how much they've grown in recent years.
Other than the number of knights, their skills had also improved dramatically.
You also couldn't ignore their resources. Normally, it would take 10 years to turn a beginner knight into an elite knight, but as long as you were gifted in the Duchy of Carmel, you can do so in just a few short years.
Head Commander Bodley was the leader of knights in the Duchy of Carmel. His leadership skills were mighty, and he had driven himself in countless battles.
Lastly were the gears. Almost all knights in the duchy of Carmel had gear made Abel. Even normal knights wore wearing armor from the dwarfs.
These were all benefits of being in the Duchy of Carmel. They were to make every knight in the 3 big kingdoms jealous. Although the duchy of Carmel would lose to the kingdom of St Elis on numbers, their power was actually about the same.
The kingdom of St Ellis had sent out all of their 200 griffin knights, which was what Prince Derek worried about the most.
The Sky Ships were too strong. If the griffin knights were not far superior in speed, they would be dominated in an air battle. Still, Prince Derek did not expect too much.
He had the most confidence in his wizards. They had almost sent out all wizards in the kingdom, and they were ready to face the wizard circle in the duchy of Carmel head-on.
The only unknown was Abel himself. He had already calculated the power of all other wizards.
Although prince Derek was against this war, his father insisted. He knew his father had no choice, and he knew Abel would not let this grudge go easily.
The duchy of Carmel was doing too well. For some reason, Harvest City could still supply food for everyone despite their growing population.
All the other duchies and kingdoms were dying for food, which made knights and nobles even more attracted to it.
Everyone wanted to become a citizen of the duchy of Carmel.
If the duchy of Carmel kept going like this, it's power would eventually overtake the kingdom of St Ellis. If they didn't stop them now, they might never have the chance.
Prince Derek turned towards the 4 luxurious carriages among the team of knights. They were each separately responsible for carrying the old man of the kingdom and 3 rank 17 wizards. He immediately felt his heart lift.
How powerful was the old man? The kingdom had gone through countless challenges over the years, and the old man had resolved it every time.
He was a rank 18 elite wizard, a god in the Holy Continent.
Prince Derek's gaze then turned to the 200 front line carriage in the supporting team at the back. They were all dragged by the strongest bull.
There were war machines of the kingdom inside. With their Cannons and stone-throwers, they had enough power to destroy a city a few times over.
Clack clack clack... a sound of horse running emerged, and a reporter from the Kingdom returned with a body full of grey dust.
"Report!" He yelled.
"Speak!" Prince Derek did not look at the reporter. Instead, he kept looking forward towards the path to the duchy of Carmel.
"There is a military camp in our way!" The reporter spoke loudly.
"What? A military camp? This is the domain of the duchy of Thunder. Since when did they gain a military camp?" Prince Derek felt a cool breeze in his heart. He never heard of a military camp in his report before.
The duchy of Thunder was already extremely weak. All of their resources have been taken by other duchies other than a few big cities.
If they weren't so close to the duchy of Carmel, they would have been wiped out already. But even though they had survived, they still lost resources left and right every day.
The kingdom did not tell the duchy of Keyen about their operation this time. They didn't want them to leak their information, but most of all, the duchy of Keyen couldn't do anything about it anyway.
Ever since the 5 big duchies had gone to war with the duchy of Carmel, they had become so weak they were on the verge of dying.
"Your Majesty, that military camp was not built by the duchy of Keyen. It had the duchy of Carmel's symbol on it!" The reporter bowed and said.
"How is that possible. Where did they get the information? Didn't our investigation department already destroy their investigation system?" Prince Derek mumbled.
If the duchy of Carmel were not prepared, they would be able to destroy Harry castle in no time with large amounts of war machines, 50 intermediate wizards, and 4 elite wizards.
But if the duchy of Carmel were expecting the attack, both sides would need to fight a horrific war. Even if the kingdom won, they would take a big hit.
At that moment, Prince Derek almost wanted to bring his troops back to the kingdom, but he had no choice.
He was the leader of this battle but not the one waging war. They had also brought so many weapons with them, so their troops could not move away quickly.
War was inevitable. He had just not expected his plan to be broken.
"Everyone stop, set up the camp!" Prince Derek ordered.
The troops soon halted on command. They were well all trained, and soon the set up began.
The knights flashed with combat qi, and large amounts of wood were carried forward at immaculate speed.
Prince Derek turned to the 4 luxurious carriages.
"Old man, we have a change of plans. The duchy of Carmel troops are waiting upfront. Their camp has been built!" He bowed in front of the 4 carriages.
"Derek, you direct the troops. I won't question it. My 3 brothers and I will only show ourselves to kill Abel!" The old man was very calm. It was as though nothing could make him afraid.
Prince Derek regained his confidence and bowed.
"On command, get the cannon and stone-throwers ready. Send out more patrols and all the griffin knights. I need to know how many troops the duchy of Carmel sent out!" He walked and turned to a head commander.
He already decided to fight a big war with the duchy of Carmel. There was no return.
On the other side, Abel was listening to a report from his own griffin knight. He had been waiting here with 10,000 knights for days.
It was a rare opportunity to test out his troops. Fighting a real war was a rare experience.
Abel was not planning to unleash a surprise attack. It was not possible considering how many griffin knights, intermediate wizards, and patrols the prince had.
He needed to win perfectly. He needed to show anyone who wanted to mess with the duchy of Carmel how powerful they were.
Head Commander Alibi was a Griffin knight. He had mastered how to ride a flying mount and became one of the 14 griffin knights of the duchy in a short period of time.
Griffin knights were the most prestigious knights of their Duchy of Carmel. It was the easiest for them to obtain war glory. Because of this, 400 hungry griffin apprentice knights were waiting for their opportunity in the Duchy of Carmel.
Now they had an opportunity. As long as an official griffin knight had grown weak, an apprentice griffin knight would step up.
Head commander Alibi also used to be an apprentice griffin knight, but he had become an official one after years of hard training.
An official griffin would be granted a bow named after the palace, the Harry Bow. As well as the best training conditions.
He cherished his identity, so he was pleased that the kingdom of St Ellis decided to go to war.
As long as he could get more war glory, he would become a noble of the Duchy.
He was not the only one with this idea. In fact, most knights in the duchy of Carmel had been yearning for this.
The idea of losing never even came across their minds after seeing the scary Sky Ships and the power of the legendary king Abel.
It was at that moment. Head commander Alibi sensed danger through the griffin under him.
He quickly gazed around and discovered he was getting surrounded by ten griffin knights from the Kingdom of St Ellis.
Those ten griffin knights were all very experienced. They almost locked down every direction head commander Alibi could go.
However, they missed one thing, they did not know how powerful the Harry bow was.
A head commander led that team of ten griffin knights, and the other nine were commanders. On paper, they could destroy commander Alibi.
However, he unleashed his first arrow when a griffin knight was just around 400 meters from him.
That griffin knight was about to dodge. With the speed of his griffin, that shouldn't be a problem.
Griffins had undergone arrow dodging training, so an arrow shouldn't be able to do anything to them in 400 meters.
But not a Harry bow. With Abel's forgery skills, the quality of his Harry bow had increased.
They were also made with the best materials. Even without a gear, just pulling on an attributed Harry bow would make a head commander afraid.
Commander Alibi had a gear, so he only needed to use 80% of his force to pull on the Harry bow. This allowed him to shoot out 100 arrows without stopping.
Under such power, arrows almost vanished as soon as they were shot. The air sounded like it was getting penetrated and was soon followed by the screams of griffins. A griffin knight from the Kingdom of St Ellis was shot.
The second arrow followed immediately before the second griffin knight could even react.
The third, and the fourth. Not a single griffin knight could dodge the arrows.
The griffin knights needed to rely on their griffin's own ability to dodge, and they could not block.
Because they needed their griffins to be as fast as possible, they couldn't wear any heavy armor, let alone a heavy shield. Most of them only had bows and arrows, as well as a long spear for close-range battles.
Also, since they were expecting the Sky Ships from the duchy of Carmel, they needed to rely on their speed even more and keep their defense to a minimum.
Therefore, all of them were hopeless against an attributed Harry bow. In a few short breaths, only four out of those ten griffin knights remained. The only one who successfully blocked an arrow was the head commander.
Although the Harry bow was powerful, it was not enough to penetrate the head commander's ice combat qi armor.
"Quick, get out of here. Report that the enemy has a powerful weapon!" The griffin head commander yelled and turned.
There were 200 griffin knights from the kingdom of St Ellis in the sky, and 20 of them had dropped dead already. The kingdom has lost the sky battle. They lost in weapons.
The griffin knights from the duchy of Carmel were very careful, they were warned not to hurt the griffins if not necessary, so they all aimed at the knights.
As the griffin knights from the Kingdom retreated, they realized the griffin knights from the Duchy of Carmel did not chase after them. Instead, they returned to the duchy of Carmel's camp. They had gotten the war glory they wanted anyway.
"What's happening?" The griffin head commander couldn't understand why the griffin knights from the duchy of Carmel would retreat as well. They were clearly winning.
A whistling sound set off, and all the griffin knights front the kingdom of St Ellis gathered into a battle formation in the sky.
Although 20 griffin knights were dead, their griffins were still alive. Just like that, a battle formation of 200 Griffins was formed in the sky.
Through their combat qi, an ice armor emerged on the body of every griffin knight.
They were still extremely powerful. They were used to being invincible in the sky, so they would normally attack in small groups. They would gather into a big formation like this.
They were still knights at the end of the day. Formations were crucial.
The mission they got was to investigate the enemies, so they did not get into a formation front he started.
Abel gazed up at the 200 griffins in the sky with eyes full of greed.
Although he already had 40 griffins, they had only bred 2 extra griffins for Abel, and those 2 griffins still couldn't fly or form combat qi faster years of training. It seemed like they needed another 10 years of training.
"Blue dragon Emmanuel, I want those 200 griffins!" Abel said to Blue Dragon Emmanuel, who was eating beside him.
Since the blue dragon had come for a visit, Abel brought the chefs along with him to the camp.
"Griffins are so weak. What so good about them!" Blue Dragon Emmanuel shook his head and jumped to the sky.
As a blue dragon, Emmanuel had the natural ability to control air. That's why he could still fly in human form. Although it was not as fast, a short acceleration shouldn't be a problem.
The griffin knights from the kingdom of St Ellis were shocked to see a human flying out from the camp of the duchy of Carmel. That human looked strange. His skin was shining in blue light under the sun.
"Get ready to attack!" They yelled. The ones responsible for documenting the military power of the duchy of Carmel put away their lambskin parchments and held up a bow.
"Ants!" Blue dragon Emmanuel gazed coldly at the griffin knights formation. Although their combat qi was getting brighter and brighter, he was not worried.
An arrow engulfed in frost short out from the bow of those griffin knights' leaders. It was at that moment. Blue dragon Emmanuel let loose a strand of his energy.
As the ruler of the ocean in the Holy Continent, his power was undeniable. If he unleashed all his energy at once, not many humans on this battlefield would still be alive.
Therefore to satisfy Abel's demand. Blue dragon Emmanuel only let lose a tiny bit of energy, just a tiny bit.
Suddenly, the griffin of the leader of those griffin knights began to lose control. Knights could not sense the dragon energy, but griffins could.
The energy of a giant dragon had driven all of those 200 griffins insane. They had no choice but to obey.
The griffins then began to attack their owners with their beaks. It seems like the dragon vigor of blue dragon Emmanuel and Abel was a totally different level.
Abel could make the griffins go insane, but he couldn't control them to attack their owners. At that moment, those griffins had to offload the unbearable dragon vigor they sensed with their owner, so Blue Dragon Emmanuel could easily make those griffins attack their owner.
Most of the knights would not expect their griffins to turn on them, as hundreds of them had dropped from their griffin at an instant. Afterward, those griffins began to attack other knights.
In a short while, 200 owner-less griffins were up for grab in the sky. Even commanders could not survive when being dropped from such height. Only 10% of them had survived.
Blue Dragon Emmanuel couldn't care less about the griffins, so he flew back to the camp.
"Blue dragon Emmanuel, you are amazing!" Abel said with a smile when blue dragon Emmanuel returned.
"It's nothing!" Blue dragon Emmanuel smiled and added, "those weak griffins are useless anyway. If you want, I can gather a bunch of dragon beasts for you from the dragons!"
Blue Dragon Emmanuel still felt like he didn't do much, so he offered another idea.
"The dragon beasts are too strong, as you see, humans will not have the ability to control them!" Abel said helplessly.
Dragon beasts were unique and scary spiritual beasts. They had the blood of a dragon, which made them very powerful. On paper, they would be the best mounts.
But because of their power, not many humans could withstand dragon blood. Maybe only a small amount of elite wizards could do so, but did they need a mount at that point?
Even if they gathered a team of dragon beasts, it would be another problem to put away their arrogance and listen to humans' command.
Abel loved that idea, but it just wouldn't work on him.
Although griffins were not strong, they could work perfectly with knights, which allowed them to unleash their full potential.
The same could be said on land. Mount wolves were not the strongest, but they could work perfectly with humans.
That is what a good mount was. It didn't have to be the strongest thing out there.
"Humans... I just can't understand them. Abel, I'm hungry!" Blue Dragon Emmanuel returned to the dining table again.
"Griffin knight no.24, go select 200 apprentice griffin knights and make a griffin team out of them!" Abel smiled after blue dragon Emmanuel left.
"Yes, your majesty!" Griffin knight no.24 bowed with excitement.
As a leader and a member of the 14 griffin knights, he could finally create a medium-sized team of griffin knights with 200 extra Griffins.
This would be the only team of medium-sized griffin knights other than the kingdom of St Ellis, but the kingdom had lost their team anyway. As far as Griffin knight no.24 knew, the kingdom only had around 200 griffins.
With 200 griffins caught, the kingdom could just forget about their remaining griffin knights.
"Hear my command. Send out the Skyships. Guard the sky!" Abel said.
Up to that point, the Sky Ships were still in doc since Abel didn't want to scare away the griffins.
But now, Abel no longer had to hide.
After Abel said his words, a griffin knight flew towards the back of the camp.
After a while, 5 Sky ships raised towards the sky. The bursting crossbows on the ships were shining in a cold glow. The glowing ball on the lightning spiral was also fully charged. The entire Skyship was like a glowing treasure in the sky.
"Where are the griffin knights? How come none of them returned?" Some time had passed, and the prince was still waiting.
He had sent out all of them at once because he didn't want to lose any of them. Griffin knights were just like knights on the ground. The larger their number, the more powerful they would be.
200 griffin knights were basically invincible in the sky. Even elite spiritual beasts were hopeless in front of them.
However, such a powerful team had vanished without a sound. How could anyone possibly accept this?
The kingdom had sacrificed countless time and effort to cultivate those griffins.
Abel only had 14 griffins. If he didn't keep feeding them with the 3rd goddess spring water, there was no way they could breed 2 infant griffins in just a few years.
The kingdom had spent countless resources throughout hundreds of years to form this team of 200 griffin knights. Their numbers could only fluctuate around 200. They just took too many resources.
The prince roared and kept quiet. His face was looking very bad. The kingdom had taken a big hit after losing those griffin knights.
The sky was getting dark, both Prince Derek and Abel decided to continue the battle tomorrow.
A battle of this size could only have a direct face-off. Any sneaky plan would not work.