School Transmigration: I, Chosen as the Saint by Dragons at the Start-Chapter 195 --Monsters from the Western Sea

Just as Fikell was about to strike Visto, he saw "beasts" charging out of the forest.

These were beings that seemed neither fully human nor completely otherworldly; some had skin as decayed as revenants, others were huge and cumbersome, some resembled bats, while others sprinted like dogs towards them.

Fikell screamed "Defensive formation!" clutching his sword tighter.

His thousand riders were on the verge of collapse from tension, with only a few lieutenants still in a coherent state ready for battle.

He thought this might be the end.

But then, he heard Visto speak.

"All soldiers, prepare your crossbows," Visto’s voice was steady, unshaken as he turned to Fikell, "Lieutenants and above, ready for close combat."

In that moment, Fikell felt a surge of calm, his hands seemingly filled with renewed strength.

Yet, he hadn’t anticipated the one-sided battle that was about to unfold.

The "beasts" leading the charge were those ghastly creatures resembling dogs and bats, with the revenants and giants forming ranks at a distance behind them.

A barrage of arrows rained down from the sky, targeting the revenants and giants in the rear.

The revenants fell after taking one or two arrows, while the giants, unfazed by the arrows, merely roared in anger and kept advancing even when struck.

The front lines, made up of the dog-like and bat-like entities, were left to Fikell and his lieutenants to handle.

This straightforward combat strategy, laid out by Visto, was executed seamlessly by the thousand riders.

Fikell and his four lieutenants were all swordsmen, with varying degrees of skill in swordplay, but all were accomplished practitioners.

The most skilled among them was a lieutenant named Sagul.

However, the captain of the thousand riders, the old boozer Fikell, was even stronger.

These five individuals stood at the forefront of the formation, halting the humanoid dogs and bats that struggled to break through.

Before long, Fikell began to notice the peculiarities of their foes.

The humanoid dogs were not only agile but possessed an incomprehensible regenerative ability, with severed limbs instantaneously healing.

The bats, too, were remarkably strong and cunning, always preferring to launch sneak attacks from behind.

Their sharp fangs were terrifying, promising instant death to anyone bitten.

"Decapitate the werewolves..." Fikell suddenly heard Anna’s shout.

Looking towards the source, he saw Visto dragging Anna back by her waist as she stubbornly tried to join the fray.

"Don’t get bitten by those bats, use light-based sword techniques; they’re afraid of light," Visto called out to Fikell.

Seeing Anna cease her struggle and then turn to face Visto with a raised hand, Fikell would have enjoyed witnessing Visto getting hit under normal circumstances, but he had no time now.

With a diagonal slash, he decapitated a werewolf that came too close.

The werewolf’s body fell to the ground, truly dead this time.

His lieutenants unleashed "Radiant Sword" techniques.

The iron claws that previously could grasp the blade’s edge dared not touch the sword enveloped in bright light, and the same radiant sword energy, upon striking the bats, caused them to burst into flames.

Soon, the vanguard was utterly decimated.

The remaining giants and revenants gradually retreated.

Fikell spotted a creature with horns on its head and wings on its back taking flight.

This being radiated malevolent power and after observing the direction of the thousand riders for a while, retreated northward with the bulk of the "beast" troops.

Fikell did a headcount and found not a single person was lost.

Approaching Visto, he noticed Visto’s staff planted in the ground, now turned into a piece of charred wood from overheating.

"That was a ward, wasn’t it? You know how to use that?" he inquired, sensing his own abilities had been significantly enhanced during the battle.

The power of wards, something of legend, was new to him.

"Not exactly," Visto chuckled.

"This place sits on a vein of minerals. I merely used my staff to draw out the arcanergy within, bolstering our strength. The enemies, being creatures of filth, are weakened when they come into contact with this arcanergy."

"It can’t be that simple. Who exactly are you?" Fikell pressed.

"I haven’t mentioned it yet," Visto leaned in and whispered, "I, am a doctor from the Divine Farmer Sanctuary."

"Divine Farmer Sanctuary?" Fikell was taken aback.

"Oh, General Fikell is aware of the Divine Farmer Sanctuary?"

"No, I don’t know it..."

"I’ve traveled far and wide for herbs, seen many things. Those creatures are demons from the western sea; the dog-like ones are werewolves, the bats are vampires, the giants are titans, and those revenants are known as zombies. I’m familiar with their traits. I mentioned this to Miss Anna, and she immediately wanted to charge into battle. Truly frightening," Visto explained.

"Anna, I’ve been entrusted by your father to protect you. Remember, don’t recklessly put yourself in danger," Fikell admonished Anna.

Then, turning back to Visto, he grumbled, "As for you, if we’re traveling together, don’t hide your identity from your companions."

"General Fikell," Visto said with a smile, "Everyone has their secrets. Don’t get too hung up on mine."

Fikell glanced at the handprint on Visto’s right cheek and couldn’t help but chuckle again.

Without Visto’s wards and knowledge of demons, they might not have come out of this unscathed.

Days had passed since Myriad Stones Mountain, during which two tremors occurred.

One was when Visto and Anna went into the forest to gather intelligence, returning at dusk with significant news.

The Bitterness Kingdom had been invaded, with less than ten thousand of its native population surviving, hiding in the forests of the region.

The demons they had encountered were elite troops from the Western Sea nations, sent to exterminate them.

As Fikell was processing this shocking information, the tremor from the collapse of Ironblade City’s walls reached him, nearly knocking him off his feet.

The next day, Visto and Anna negotiated with the people of Bitterness Kingdom, resulting in the Thousand Riders helping to drive the Western Sea people away, in exchange for allowing Imperial citizens to stay on Bitterness Kingdom’s land.

When Fikell heard this agreement, just as the inner city of Ironblade exploded, he nearly fell over again.

However, he noticed Anna also supported this proposal.

Considering they couldn’t return to the Empire and had already made enemies with the Western Sea people, allying with Bitterness Kingdom seemed like the only viable option, albeit reluctantly.

Afterwards, the Thousand Riders utilized their skills in city building to construct a wooden fort in the forest. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Only Anna and Visto spoke the language of Bitterness Kingdom, leaving Fikell with nothing to do but reflect on recent events.

The conclusion was a sense of relief for having Visto; without him, they might have perished at Myriad Stones Mountain.

Yet, it was Visto who led them on this cursed journey, involving them in unnecessary battles and a war that wasn’t theirs to fight.

But now, there was no turning back.

As the sun set, Fikell stood up, suddenly feeling a dull tremor, but this time he remained steady.

Then, he heard the sentinels sound the long horn: the armies of the Western Sea had finally arrived.

...

Glazed Pavilion is not a pavilion but a place name.

Initially, foreigners from the Eastern Sea built a shrine here, attracting many from afar or those who revered foreign cultures to settle in this locale.

Gradually, a village town emerged in this desolate area.

For a considerable period, Glazed Pavilion thrived.

However, this prosperity also sowed the seeds of its eventual decline.

Rumors claimed the foreign shrine could offer worshippers the ultimate spiritual fulfillment at the cost of having their vital energies siphoned by an alien deity.

Many who visited the shrine struggled to resist the pleasure obtained there, returning repeatedly until they vanished from the world.

The more Glazed Pavilion flourished, the louder these rumors grew, resulting in the Empire dispatching spies to investigate, and indeed, they uncovered issues.

Naturally, the alien deity in the shrine was not problematic; it was merely a portrait.

But the shrine was indeed peculiar, with two foreign maguses casting illusions to ensnare minds, then swindling money, and resorting to murder to cover their tracks once exposed.

The spies apprehended these two maguses, who were then executed in Mingate.

The case should have ended there, but pulling up the radish brought out the mud, and further issues were discovered in Glazed Pavilion.

The black market there was extensive, trading items from intoxicants to aphrodisiacs, from young girls to strong men – if you could imagine it, it could be bought.

The black market was expansive, with rows of houses connected to form a spacious courtyard, at the center of which stood an elegantly designed pavilion, from which Glazed Pavilion derived its name.

From the outside, the black market resembled a small town enclosed by walls on all sides.

Foreign merchants indeed treated the black market as their town, complete with expert guards and maguses who cast illusions.

From the outside, only locked doors were visible, with uninvited guests unable to find even an entrance.

However, these tricks could hardly stump the Empire’s spies.

With the Emperor’s approval at the time, the spies, accompanied by the Snow Kingdom army, thoroughly eradicated the black market and demolished the shrine.

Subsequently, the Snow Kingdom army remodeled the foundation of the black market, constructing a small fortress.

The external doors of the connected houses were removed and sealed, leaving only two main gates.

Windows were minimized to serve as shooting ports, internal doors were replaced with iron ones, and locks were moved to the inside of the courtyard.

The original Glazed Pavilion was torn down to build a three-story mini-fortress.

With the loss of the shrine and black market, the residents of Glazed Pavilion gradually relocated, turning Glazed Pavilion into a military stronghold.