48. The enemy appear...

"Don't try to stop the attack with your shield," Thyra shouted, seeing the shield bearer was trying to take the attack head-on, "Let the attack slide on your shield. Push forward to make it lose balance. Swords, attack the leg."

Thyra knew the spear would have been a better weapon of choice. However, she had decided against bringing the spear into the forest because she believed it would be difficult to use there.

That didn't stop the soldiers from taking care of the orc. They struggled quite a bit while fighting a few, but now it didn't pose many problems to them.

The heavy body hit the ground. One plunged the sword into the throat and another into the heart.

"Don't be careless," Thyra ordered. They had already killed 9-10 orcs and over thirty kobolds. Thyra could see them making small mistakes.

Although she didn't know if it was because of the tiredness from constant fighting or if they were too confident, Thyra couldn't take chances.

The four-person troop quickly got into formation with the slingshots out. They had almost reached the centre of the camp.

Bodies were scattered all around them, many of which were missing their heads, had been sexually assaulted or mutilated, or had been partially consumed.

Nobody had any trouble grasping the gravity of the situation. But it remained unclear what prompted the sudden attack of these beasts.

The markings on the animals' backs were the only distinguishing feature she had seen. One of the soldiers pointed out that it was slave branding. However, these beasts lacked the controlling collar on the neck.

"Whoever they are, they don't want us to know who they are." the shield-bearer said.

"That is to be expected." One of the soldiers said, "But they are pretty rich. This number of enslaved beasts wouldn't have cost them any less than three thousand gold."

That was what Thyra was thinking about. She was sure that that woman wouldn't be able to gather this much gold without Justin getting the hint of it.

But even if the empire were capable of it, there was no way they could have herded an entire unit of slaves to a predetermined location.

If they wanted to create chaos, they would have sent them to some village, not in the middle of the forest.

'Or would they?' One of the soldiers gave Thyra a signal and pointed at one of the huts as she wondered.

Confirming that the troop was already in formation, Thyra moved close to it. She kicked open the door to hear a groan from inside. Looking inside, she noticed a pair of eyes shining inside.

*Growl*

It growled at Thyra before charging at her. However, before it could take two steps, it fell to the ground with an axe stuck between its eyebrows.

Thyra waited a moment, confirming it wasn't moving. Thyra moved in. As expected, there was a naked woman on the floor.

Her chest was moving up and down, but her eyes weren't moving. And there were bite marks all over her body. Thyra didn't need to take a second look to understand what had happened to her.

Even when Thyra bent down beside her, she didn't show any sign of response. Thyra thought for a moment before pulling out a dagger and slitting her throat. Yet the body didn't show any sign of struggle.

*Boom*

The sudden sound surprised her. It was when she concentrated on her senses that she noticed there were people outside. One of them was giving off intense pressure.

"Come out. I know you are there." A heavy voice spoke. Before Thyra could make a decision, she could feel a tremendous amount of energy rushing towards her.

The ground quaked as Thyra jumped out of the way. The next moment, the hut was split in two and fell like a house of cards.

There were knights everywhere. About twenty knights had surrounded them. They weren't just knights in the name; they were fully armoured from head to toe. Thyra couldn't see any skin on their bodies.

"You are far more resilient than I had expected." Thyra had no problem understanding who the leader was. Still, she cheeked her soldiers first.

The primary shield bearer was on the ground. His shield was on the ground. He was holding his sword with his other hand while his left hand was dangling beside him.

The rest of them had also pulled out their swords and shields. They were nothing compared to the fully armoured knights with their long swords.

"To think you would systemically clean out the orcs and kobolds with these rookies," The leader nodded, adding, "Join my army. I will let you live."

"General." One of the knights, who was surrounding Thyra's troops, called out and expressed his reluctance.

"Shut up." The leader shouted, silencing any opposition against him, "Join me, and I will make you captain."

"And who are you?" Thyra sheathed her sword and walked out of what was left of the hut.

"Does it matter?"

"Of course. I am the daughter of a noble of the Ardour kingdom. Why do I suddenly want to join another kingdom or…" Thyra nodded, adding, "An empire."

Thyra felt an enormous amount of pressure pressing down on her. She released her essence. However, the pressure was so immense that sparks of lightning were coming out of her body.

"You are not so dumb." The knight's voice was as friendly as possible, but the pressure was anything but that. "Then why do you want to join a losing side?"

"It's called conviction."

"Ahhhhh…" The leader broke out in thunderous laughter. "Isn't that surprising that the very people you are trying to protect are trying to kill you?"

'I was right. Someone is trying to kill me, and they are connected with the empire.' Thyra couldn't help wondering who it was.

Although Barron Cook could be angry with her, she was sure he wouldn't dare attack her. And it has to be someone who wouldn't care about Justin's status.

Count Thais could be another option. However, his chance of being in contact with the bandit for years is low. The only option left was Bella, but she…

'How can I be such an idiot?' Thyra realised who it was. 'Who could it be who would be in contact with Bella? They wouldn't just convince the empire to invade and profit from it.'

"It looks like you have already understood who it is." Although he was wearing a mask, Thyra felt he was smiling.

"General," that one soldier shouted again, and without waiting for any moment, he attacked Thyra.

With his longsword held high, he charged at Thyra. Thyra could see an outline of a feline creature forming behind him from the energy he was excluding.

Thyra could feel the wind pressing down on her as the soldiers moved without making a sound. Alas! She was faster.

Instead of pulling out her sword, she kicked his chest. He fell to the ground with a deep dent in his chest plate as blood leaked out of the breathing holes of his helmet.

Thyra quickly looked back to see that the leader was still standing in his position. He shrugged his shoulders, saying, "That is not my man. You can do anything you want with him."

Although he had said that, most other soldiers attacked her, leaving four knights standing beside the leader.