On the hillside flanking the Dala Tribe, Levi charged at the very front, his Giant Sword raised, followed by the equally silent Beastman Barbarians.

The distance between them was about two to three hundred paces. At a full charge, it would be a matter of seconds before they clashed.

The Dala Tribe’s tamed Jungle Leopards proved their use. Felines naturally have night vision, and being exceptionally alert creatures, the slightest disturbance caught their attention.

They began to warn their Knights, letting out low roars in the direction of the High Cliff Castle forces.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

The Dala Tribe’s Warriors also noticed something was wrong. Bathed in the moonlight, a group of tall, sturdy warriors was charging down the mountain. They began shouting at the top of their lungs to sound the alarm.

With the bulk of the Dala Tribe’s Warriors busy besieging the castle ahead, they couldn’t possibly turn around in time to face the ambush.

The Jungle Leopard Warriors, who had been providing support from the rear, spurred their Jungle Leopards forward. They navigated the rocky slopes, wheeling around to intercept the attackers and buy their main force time to react.

In truth, charging through a dark forest was a lot to ask of the High Cliff Castle contingent.

The Barbarians failed to maintain the formation they practiced in training. The V-shaped charge formation with Levi at its point had become somewhat scattered.

It was chaos against chaos as both sides simply grabbed the nearest enemy and began to slaughter them.

There was no need for probing questions; anyone here at this time was an enemy. The moment they met, a savage battle erupted, sending flesh and blood flying.

"ROAR!"

At the vanguard was an elite among the Jungle Leopard Warriors. Not only was the Jungle Leopard he rode a few sizes larger than the others, but the Knight himself had an imposing build. He wore crude Iron Armor, and the painted patterns on his face looked like a man-eating demon in the moonlight.

The Jungle Leopard leaped from a Giant Stone, momentarily eclipsing the half-moon as it pounced on Levi. Its burly Knight brandished a long-handled, rust-spotted Half Moon Axe, swinging it directly at Levi’s head.

The Lord had no intention of backing down. With a roar, he raised his Giant Sword and brought it down with immense force on the mid-air Knight.

CLANG!

For a moment, the crash of the Giant Sword against the massive axe echoed like a clap of thunder, drowning out the sounds of battle. The shower of sparks made their darkness-adjusted eyes sting.

The combined weight of the airborne Jungle Leopard and its rider—nearly a thousand pounds—transferred through the blade into Levi’s hands. The Lord was forced to grip his Giant Sword so tightly that the Hand Armor on his palms buckled.

But the Knight was in a far worse state. His Iron Axe only held for a moment before the overwhelming force of the impact tore the weapon from his grasp, and the Giant Sword came crashing down. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

With a sickening CRUNCH, the Knight in mid-air was silenced forever. Under the moonlight, the two-ren-long Giant Sword cleaved both rider and mount in half from head to toe.

A gruesome shower of red and white rained down.

The four halves of the corpses landed on the mountainside with a wet SPLAT, like a butchered hog. A great Warrior had fallen.

[Experience +1410]

A line of small text flashed in the bottom right corner of the Lord’s vision before fading away.

"Kill!"

The Beastman Barbarians’ morale soared. It wasn’t the first time they had seen their chief’s brutal methods. Even the fiercest Warrior was like a chicken before him, ready for the slaughter, split in two with a single swing of his sword.

They couldn’t contain their emotions. A deep pride swelled in their hearts, as if they themselves possessed that same matchless Power and yearned to unleash it.

The Northern Barbarians averaged about 1.8 ren in height and weighed over two hundred pounds, with large, agile builds. The brave Knight from before was even taller, reaching two ren, and was pure sinewy muscle.

But compared to the Beastman Barbarians, who were all 2.3 ren tall and weighed five hundred pounds, they paled in comparison.

With the exception of Levi, the vast majority of life forms followed a simple rule: weight was often proportional to Power. A five-hundred-pound body could simply contain more Power than a two-hundred-pound one.

Thus, the side with more Power was usually larger. Of course, there were exceptions like the Dwarves. While those Shorties’ vertical growth was nothing impressive, their horizontal growth was unmatched.

By this logic, the Beastman Barbarians’ Power far exceeded that of these Northern Barbarians, who were a full size smaller.

In a small-scale melee like this, the crushing advantage brought by sheer Power was difficult for anything else to overcome.

Not to mention, the Beastman Barbarians had been systematically enhanced with Power. They were no longer the unsophisticated brutes who once roamed the Far North Wilderness. It was no exaggeration to say the change was earth-shattering.

Now, not only was their Power superlative, but their skill with the War Axe and Javelin was masterful. Their battlefield awareness was also incredibly sharp.

As the Dala Tribe’s Jungle Leopard Warriors charged, a single volley of Javelins took down a dozen Dara Warriors.

The ensuing melee was completely one-sided. In just a few moments, the Barbarians had cut down all the Jungle Leopard Warriors, leaving only the mournful howls of the Jungle Leopards.

However, that brief engagement gave the Dala Tribe enough time to react to the ambush on their right flank and begin organizing their forces to meet the threat.

If they allowed this squad to break through their right flank, their losses would be devastating.

A few Beastman Barbarians clad in Iron Armor and wielding Fine Steel War Axes followed Levi, forming the very tip of the spearhead.

WHOOSH!

A Javelin appeared in Levi’s hand. He mustered all his strength and flung it forward.

Flying like a bolt from a Bed Crossbow, the Javelin seemed to teleport at close range, instantly felling the foremost Dara Warrior. Its momentum unchecked, it continued onward, vanishing into the crowd behind him.

Only a series of screams from the darkness followed in its wake.

"Charge! Charge!"

The Barbarians roared, following the path of the Javelin as they launched a fierce assault. Not to be outdone, the enemy charged back at them.

From their elevated position in the rear, the Dara Archers could use the moonlight to clearly see the battlefield below, where a group of unknown assailants was tangled in a chaotic melee with their Tribe’s Warriors.

They wanted to open fire, but they were afraid of hitting their comrades.

Just as their attention was completely focused on the battle below, they were oblivious to the squad that had snuck up behind them.

"Kill!"

Zat roared, leaping forward first and lopping off the head of a Dara Archer with one swing of his Axe.

The Beastmen dropped their cover, rushing forward to cut down the defenseless Archers.

The Barbarians were stronger and better equipped than these Dara Archers. With the element of surprise—the prepared attacking the unprepared—their dozen or so men easily cut down the thirty-plus Archers.

"Let’s go, reinforce the chief!"

Zat straightened his Horned Helmet, flicked the blood from his Axe Blade, and took the point of a V-formation himself, charging toward the left flank of the main battle.