Dawn broke earlier and earlier in the northern lands, and the sky was fully light by the time the roosters crowed. Under the command of Marquis Wade, the majority of the Northern Expeditionary Army had already departed from Herlfort Castle to march into the Wilderness.

Yesterday, a sword eagle knight delivered a report: the cannibal demons had begun to move east once again. If they were not stopped in the Wilderness, they would soon enter the northern lands, bringing even greater danger.

Marquis Wade rode on horseback, his expression severe, not speaking a single word. The Northern Expeditionary Army followed in silence save for the occasional bellow of an officer, knowing that true elite troops must conserve their energy at all times.

Although temperatures had not yet risen to their peak in the northern lands, the sun’s rays were still punishing, but the soldiers of the Northern Expeditionary Army, who had grown up in these lands, were long accustomed to this blazing heat. Their skin was nearly all tanned, and they took pride in their darkened complexions; those fair and handsome young masters like Richard were the oddballs in their eyes.

The piercing cry of a hawk broke the silence of the marching troops, and a giant eagle of nearly three meters landed before Marquis Wade.

A slender female soldier clad in light leather armor descended from its back. These giant eagles were the only aerial units of the Golden Dragon Kingdom aside from dragon knights, and they were aptly named sword eagles for their long, sword-like beaks.

Ever since humans first tamed sword eagles, the Golden Dragon Kingdom had maintained a corps of elite soldiers known as sword eagle knights. The vast majority of these knights were women, as they tended to be more slender and lighter in weight, better suited to riding the sword eagles, whose flight capabilities were limited by their carrying capacity.

The difficulty of taming sword eagles also constrained the number of sword eagle knights; the total number across the entire kingdom was less than a thousand, and even the Lancelot family’s personal collection numbered less than a hundred, each and every one a treasured asset.

The soldier who had dismounted from the eagle strode up to Marquis Wade without any interference from surrounding soldiers. During wartime, sword eagle knights typically undertook aerial reconnaissance missions, but in emergencies, they were granted the right to report directly to the commander in chief to save time.

“Good day, Marquis,” the soldier greeted Marquis Wade with a shallow bow, then swiftly began her report, “At present, the main body of the cannibal horde has encamped ten li from our army.”

Marquis Wade frowned at this news; these cannibals seemed intent on fighting a decisive battle against the Northern Expeditionary Army. Although Marquis Wade had brought the majority of the Northern Expeditionary Army to repel enemies, his hope was that the cannibals would retreat upon realizing the futility of their endeavor.

A giant tribe of thirty thousand man-eating demons meant that at least fifteen hundred of them had the battle prowess of a quasi-knight, and there were at least ten man-eating demon warriors who could fight on equal footing with a knight.

Moreover, the leader of such a giant tribe must be a grand knight-level demon chief, capable of commanding tens of thousands of dog-headed people, who, although lacking in battle prowess, would rather die than surrender, and could cause no small trouble for the Northern Expeditionary Army when fighting alongside the man-eating demons.

If it came down to a true battle of strength, Marquis Wade was confident in his ability to emerge victorious, but the Northern Expeditionary Army would likely suffer significant losses in the process.

However, regardless of whether their enemies fought to the last breath or retreated once they realized their inferiority, Marquis Wade and the Northern Expeditionary Army had no room to back down.

“Continue monitoring the man-eating demons’ movements.”

“Yes sir!”

The sword eagle knights swiftly returned to their sword eagles, which flapped their wings and flew west.

“Send orders to all units: hasten your advance.”

Since the man-eating demons had made it clear they would fight, Marquis Wade discarded any remaining illusions and prepared to annihilate this tribe once and for all.

On the battlefield of the wilderness, a cavalryman chased down a fleeing dog-headed person, his lance sinking deep into the creature’s back. With enough force to pierce through its body, the rider flung the dog-headed person into the air, impaling it upon his lance. Yet, with its incredible vitality, the impaled dog-headed person continued to struggle, crying pitifully even as it hung from the tip of the rider’s spear.

Then, with a vicious twist of his arm, the rider flung the dog-headed person from his spear, tossing it to the ground. Its legs twitched a few times, and then it ceased to breathe.

“Ha ha ha, these mongrels can’t withstand a single blow.”

The Northern Expeditionary Army had now approached the heart of the cannibal encampment. The army’s rangers had quickly dispatched the enemy’s scouts.

The cannibals had deployed these highly perceptive and agile dog-headed people as scouts, surrounding the Northern Expeditionary Army with them. But no matter how swift they might be, the dog-headed people were no match for the tall warhorses and their riders.

Once discovered by the rangers of the Northern Expeditionary Army, these poor souls were doomed to a one-sided massacre.

These low-fighting-capacity dog-headed scouts had become little more than playthings for the Northern Expeditionary Army’s cavalrymen to amuse themselves with before battle commenced.

Marquis Wade had led a small group of senior officers to a high point in the terrain, from where they could observe the demon camp.

The demons had directed the dog-headed people to drive log palings into the ground, and had constructed some loose and shoddy ironwood hurdles. The entire camp appeared disordered, reflecting the inferior manufacturing capabilities of the barbarian tribes.

After observing the camp through field glasses, Marquis Wade turned to those beside him. “What are your thoughts, Commander Wei?”

Commander Wei commanded the Northern Expeditionary Army’s cavalry and was also Marquis Wade’s eldest son. Having served in the Northern Expeditionary Army for many years, he had attained the peak of knightly prowess and was a strong candidate to succeed his father as the next Marquis of the Northern Lands.

“Chaotic and disordered, full of flaws. This uncivilized race truly has no wisdom,” Commander Wei offered an arrogant assessment of the demon camp. In his eyes, this camp was indeed chaotic and disordered. If his own subordinates set up camp in such a manner, he would drag the responsible officer out and execute them on the spot.

Marquis Wade shook his head upon hearing this assessment. When he posed the question to Veru, he intended to test the young officer, but Veru’s response evidently did not meet his expectations.

“Do you not find it frightening that these cannibals have learned how to set up camp?” Marquis Wade asked.

Veru paused, caught off guard, and fell into the trap of thinking about the barbarian encampment through the lens of a human army. “Take some men and scout the area, but do not engage in battle. Just observe and return.”

“Yes sir!”

As Marquis Wade’s eldest son, Veru commanded several thousand elite cavalry soldiers of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and his capable performance as a knight commander earned him the respect of his subordinates despite his young age.

Soon, thousands of cavalry soldiers rode out of their encampment at full speed, their thunderous hooves shaking the earth.

The sudden movement alerted the cannibals, who quickly entered a state of high alert after a brief commotion.