Chapter 252 The Iron Princess
"Princess, there is no way we can get there in time..."
The female battle mage Theresa, holding a sharp sword, looked around breathlessly and murmured to herself , "We can't escape. Damn it, we are almost at Skull Rock Town... almost..."
The Iron Princess remained silent, her back to everyone, and she calmly untied the mithril breastplate. , shook it off and dealt with the shocking wound.
Under the breastplate is a bandage soaked in sweat and blood. The fresh blood is shining in the blood that has long solidified and turned black.
After the wound was treated, she stopped anyone from helping her, frowned, stood up from the rock with difficulty, and looked at the road winding up the lush hill.
As far as she could see, the road was littered with abandoned luggage, dead horses, and carriages and carts pushed to the side of the road.
Behind her, at one end of the forest, black smoke columns rose into the sky, and screams and increasingly louder calls to kill were getting closer.
"They are destroying the rearguard..."
War Mage Teresa wiped the blood and sweat from her face, "Princess, did you hear it? The orcs have caught up with the rearguard, The massacre is underway! We can't make it to Skull Rock."
"Now we are the rearguard." Princess Iron raised the rune sword in her hand and said in a tired and hoarse voice, "It's our turn..."
Hearing this, Rao was determined. Teresa visibly flinched, and the Purple Dragon Knights standing not far away sighed heavily.
The Iron Princess pulled the reins and turned around with the war horse beside her. Her horse was panting heavily and could barely lift its head.
"We can't escape." She said calmly, "The magic is used up, the strength is exhausted, and even the horses are about to collapse from fatigue. They will catch up before they reach Skull Rock Town. Let’s kill them all.”
“Then throw away everything and hide in the woods.” Theresa avoided the Iron Princess’s gaze, “Princess, I swear in the name of the gods. I will definitely cover your escape. As long as everyone escapes, maybe...someone...will survive."
The Iron Princess did not answer the battle mage's oath.
She looked at the pass, shook her head, and then looked at the road and the tail of the long queue of refugees on the road, heading towards Skull Rock, the only refuge in the Stormhorn Mountains.
Battle Mage Teresa understood the thoughts of the Iron Princess who had been with her day and night for more than half a year. She cursed angrily, turned over and dismounted, and barely stood still holding on to her long sword.
"Dismount!"
She hammered her chest, pointed at her heart, and shouted at the Purple Dragon Knights and Battle Mages with a hoarse voice:
"Did you see it? It's still beating. As long as it's still there, block the road with everything you can find! What are you looking at? Your mother can only give birth to you once, and you can only die once! We are soldiers ! We are the rearguard! We must block the pursuers and hold them back..."
As he spoke, the War Mage fell silent.
"As long as we hold off the pursuers, those people can escape to Skull Rock Town and cross the mountains." Iron Princess finished for her, "There are women and children among them, what else can they say? "Stay? This is our duty!"
She slowly turned around and pointed at the purple dragon knights and battle mages one after another with a silver luster and blood-stained rune sword. Seriously injured, they were supporting each other, some were exhausted, and they didn't even have the strength to stand still. She added softly:
"As the nobles of the kingdom, only you can decide your responsibilities. Your family has always been Be the backbone of the kingdom, because your parents and grandfathers knew their duty and fulfilled it, and you know your duty too. When I leave this place, I will not look back to see who crept into the woods and who grew up with me. Step forward, I don’t need it, because I know you have tried your best. If you have a chance to escape, please wish Cormier a bright future!”
She smiled slightly, inserted the sword into her arm, put it back on the mithril breastplate that Theresa handed over, and buckled it, "We have only one mission in front of us, that's all, we must ensure that Cormyr still has a future. .”
The Purple Dragon Knights and Battle Mages looked at each other.
For a moment, the Iron Princess thought that this group of purple dragon knights and war mages, composed of young nobles, would run away, urge their sweaty and exhausted horses, and make one last desperate dash to overtake the refugees. The procession rushes towards the mountain pass and peace.
After all, most of them were on the battlefield for the first time, which was indeed too difficult for them.
But she was wrong...
"There are no cowards in the Kingdom of Cormyr!"
A Purple Dragon Knight with a resolute face drew out his sword, raised it high into the air, and shouted: "The Purple Dragon Knight is the sharpest sword in Cormyr. Soldiers ! Tell me, what should we do now?”
The sharp sword glared at the sky, blinking with a dazzling cold light in the pale sunlight.
The sun shines on the Purple Dragon Knight and his dilapidated armor, as if there is an inspiring magical power permeating this army of more than a hundred people.
“Wipe out the evil!”
"Fight for the future of Cormyr!!!"
"Fight for the bright hope!!!"
"Fight for the Iron Princess!!!"
His words were like a sign. The remaining purple dragon knights and battle mages all raised their weapons and shouted in unison.
The Iron Princess jumped down from the rock and raised her sword, "Then come with me. Fear is also a weapon. Let us use fear to pierce our sword edge into the enemy's chest! ”
She turned around and started running as fast as usual. She stumbled suddenly and almost fell to the ground.
She stubbornly refused Teresa’s extended hand, gritted her trembling teeth, stamped her injured leg heavily, and then limped on.
The Purple Dragon Knights and Battle Mages all followed the Iron Princess.
They found a suitable location, pushed a truck onto the road, and quickly built a roadblock.
A temporary roadblock is not very high and is of no use at all.
They didn't wait long. Two panting and shambling horses rushed over, foam at the corners of their mouths flying everywhere.
Only one horse has a rider on its back.
"Get ready..."
The rider fell from the saddle and fell into the arms of a purple dragon knight, "Get ready, damn... they will Behind..."
His war horse snorted, took a few steps to the side, fell heavily to the side, straightened its neck, and let out a last long neigh.
"Princess..."
The knight errant panted and turned his head, "Give me...give me a weapon. My sword and animal companion are lost..."
Steel The princess looked at the black smoke rising into the sky and tilted her head towards the ax leaning against the carriage.
The Ranger Rider picked up his weapon, his steps staggered a little, and his right trouser leg was already soaked in blood.
“Where are the others?” Battle Mage Teresa looked at the Knight Errant.
"They were all killed." The ranger groaned, not forgetting to show her a smile:
"There is not a single one left in the entire army... Theresa, those are not ordinary orcs... they are among the orcs. The elite... We are being chased by the Shadow Wolf among the Eight Demon Generals of the Orcs."
War Mage Teresa spat, tore off her family's emblem from her shoulder armor, and threw it aside. In the bushes, the ranger beside him smiled sarcastically and deliberately wiped his badge cleaner.
"It doesn't matter whether you throw it or not, Teresa, I said..."
His words stopped suddenly, the enemy had appeared in sight, and they were spreading over the top of the mountain.
The clothing of this torrent of orcs is completely chaotic, including cloth armor in the style of warlocks and shamans, patchwork and cut leather armor, and imposing plate armor.
"Roar! Roar! Roar!..."
Without warning or warning, an angry roar broke the silence.
More than twenty beasts suddenly rushed out of the shadows. They had been carefully hiding behind the rolling hills or among the low trees.
In the blink of an eye, two battle mages and a purple dragon knight fell, and they didn't even have time to finish reciting the spell.
Others were also caught in close combat with wild beasts. Some of them had their skin torn off, and some had their throats bitten.
In just a few seconds, more than ten people were seriously injured or had expired.
"Attack!" shouted the Ranger Rider.
Dragging his tired body, he took the lead and rushed towards a huge brown bear with totem marks all over its body.
This brown bear is biting a purple dragon knight with an immature face who looks to be only fifteen or sixteen years old.
The Ranger Rider's battle ax whizzed into the wind, hitting the brown bear's throat protected by its fur at a clever angle, and its head was almost cut off entirely.
The cries of pain, rage and bloodlust continued, and new sounds joined in - the scream of arrows piercing the air and the roar of magic explosions.
The masters behind this group of beasts, the orc rangers and shamans also join the battle.
The war mage Teresa cursed and jumped over the corpse of a warrior hugging the dire wolf. The two guys were entangled until death, and the soldier's short knife was inserted into the dire wolf's body. eyes, while the dire wolf clamped its teeth on the soldier's throat.
Teresa glanced around and found several purple dragon knights fighting a lone enemy.
She found her target.
She raised the dazzling rune sword, her movements were so fast that people could not see her figure clearly, her long black hair was braided into a single braid, dancing like a snake behind her.
In the blink of an eye, there were five orc corpses under her feet trying to block the way, and another orc shaman fell in front of her, clutching his ribs.
Her cold eyes locked on a grinning gray-skinned orc.
And in the next moment, the orc shouted and rushed over.
This orc was powerful, Teresa had to admit it.
It can be seen from the huge scar on his face that he has been battle-hardened for a long time.
Seeing that their leader was planning to take action personally, the orc members surrounding here scattered in horror, looking for other enemies.
This gave Teresa a chance.
Battle Mage Teresa is still incredibly fast.
Time and time again her runeblade penetrated the orcs' defenses.
The enemy has been hit by her more than once. If the heavy armor hadn't saved him, he would have been killed long ago.
She must find a way to attack the gap in the enemy's armor between the arm and torso.
The gray-skinned orc raised one hand ax above his head and waved it, and the other one suddenly struck down.
Teresa stepped aside and was deliberately hit in the thigh. She grunted and stumbled back, as if she would fall down at any time.
"Ha! Cormyr has finally started to promote useless soldiers. It's so gratifying." A contemptuous smile appeared on the orc's ferocious face, "I can make you bleed, and I can kill you!"
< br>An incredible thing happened.
Battle Mage Teresa suddenly jumped up, pointed at the orcs, and at the same time opened her mouth and roared, making a roar like a wild beast.
The orc leader quickly crossed his axes in front of him to protect himself, but what shocked him was that the battle mage ignored the wound on his leg and stepped directly on his axe, as light as a He was using his hands to actively support her with a foothold.
In the flash of light and stone, the battle mage's sword penetrated the gap in the orc's armor and stabbed him in the neck. He twisted his hands hard, and blood gushed out from the severed artery.
On the other side, a group of orcs divided the Iron Princess into separate battlefields.
"Little girl, I don't know how you have survived until now." One of the largest and most armored orcs, who seemed to be the leader, grinned and sneered: "Today, we will correct this mistake."
They each showed their weapons, battle axes, heavy swords, and cold and dim poison-tempered daggers.
The Iron Princess also smiled, showing a chilling sneer.
The orcs who came closer seemed a little confused by her reaction, but the leader seemed to understand something and laughed heartily, "It turns out she is the princess of the Kingdom of Cormyr!"
"Cut off her head and give it to the Great Sage!" said another orc.
The Great Sage of the Stormhorn Mountains.
Needless to say, the Iron Princess raised the rune sword, and the arcane energy radiated like a halo, leaving no place to hide. The orcs were all hit hard and staggered back, feeling shocked and frightened.
The orc who seemed to be a rogue was shaken so hard that his dagger fell out of his hand, and he managed to maintain his balance, but the stronger orcs quickly stabilized their steps and swung The weapon charged again.
The Iron Princess smiled coldly, and a light blue halo radiated around her. All the orcs had their legs frozen by the ice and were imprisoned in place.
Immediately afterwards, she lightly danced the rune sword and summoned a huge fireball to bombard the place where the orcs were gathered.
The mana residue left by the previous arcane impact made the flames burn even more intensely. The six orc shamans had not yet finished preparing their magic, and in an instant they howled and turned into burning men, in pain. Burned to ashes in convulsions.
The other ten people were a little further away. Fortunately, they still left the whole body behind after facing the Iron Princess.
The frost fire dissipated, and the surviving orcs continued to move forward, but they had obviously become more cautious.
A cone-shaped ice mist spurted out, and the orcs were struggling to move as if they were in a quagmire.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!..."
Four fireballs were shot out, four orcs were killed on the spot, and then there was another arcane impact. The Iron Princess easily killed the enemies one after another. Fall down.
There are ten left.
Six are dying and four are not injured yet.
She waved her sword lightly, and the arcane energy from the Fey Wilds spurted out from her silvery blade. No one else could stand except for her.
Beads of sweat rolled down her forehead, sticking strands of hair to her pale cheeks.
When she put down her hands, there were no moving orcs in sight.
To be precise, there is one left.
The orc's chest was still rising and falling slowly under his broken armor, and his body was twitching and shaking.
The Iron Princess held the sword, and a bone-chilling joy surged into her heart. She slowly, limped but resolutely stepped through the piles of corpses and came to the only survivor.
The orc coughed repeatedly, and dark red blood spurted out from its fanged mouth.
There were burn marks all over his body, and the molten iron from the melted armor rolled along his skin until it embedded itself in his body.
This must be very painful, she thought coldly.
Then, accompanied by a savage cry, the rune sword penetrated deeply into the gap between the orc's neck armor and shoulder armor.
Blood spurted out, dyeing her hands bright red.
The dying orc wanted to struggle, but she pressed her foot firmly on his head. Even if her life was about to end, she would let him watch his enemy die.
The battle was short and fierce. After repelling the first wave of attacks, less than half of their hundred-man team survived.
The orcs did not give them a chance to breathe, and the second wave of men and horses mixed with wolf cavalry rushed over, followed by the third wave, and the fourth wave...
After a while, Only the Iron Princess is still standing, most of them are dead, and the few survivors are either seriously injured and dying, or have completely lost the ability to stand up.
Orcs surrounded her.
"Come on!" She shook her long blood-stained hair and yelled fiercely, "What are you waiting for? Don't try to capture me alive! I am the Iron Princess of the Kingdom of Cormyr!"
The Iron Princess, covered in blood from head to toe, refused the war mage Teresa's request for mercy.
She raised her sword and turned around suddenly. The ribbon binding her long brown hair slipped away, and her messy hair spread out, covering half of her face. She looked like a devil from hell, an arrogant orc troop. They were so frightened that they all backed away.
The entire battlefield fell into deathly silence.
"Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!..."
The silence was finally broken by a blast of loud horns. The sound was enough to make the blood freeze and the hair stand on end.
"Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!..."
The sound of the horns sounded again, the distance was closer, and the rhythm was more exciting.
From the shadows of the forest, hundreds of orcs rushed out.
Their sophisticated equipment is comparable to that of a fully armed Purple Dragon Knight, and they all hold huge weapons in their hands that seem heavier than armored humans.
A torrent of flesh and blood composed of orcs rolled forward under the leadership of an orc leader.
“Get out of here, you bunch of trash!”
The orc leader roared. He was covered in armor and wielding a terrifying giant ax that was screaming for blood. .
The armor on his shoulders looked like it was made of huge fangs. Between the shoulder armor and the hand armor, a piece of brown skin with tattoos was exposed.
The orcs surrounding the Iron Princess all made way for him.
There was a clang.
The Iron Princess's sword blade struck the orc leader's ax handle.
The orc gathered his strength and pushed, and she staggered back.
The giant ax then struck down from the top with a powerful force. The Iron Princess raised her sword to parry, but she did not intend to fight head-on. Instead, she used exquisite swordsmanship to follow the force and lower it. Focusing on it, he quickly moved forward and brushed against the orc leader, and at the same time stabbed him with his backhand.
The orc leader groaned in pain, surprised that this human could leave a wound on the inside of his arm.
"This is the first drop of my blood in this battle." The orc roared in Common Tongue, "Well done, human, you will die with honor."
"But you can't." Iron Princess took a few steps back, waved the sword in her hand, and mocked without showing any signs of weakness.
The angry orc leader roared and was about to charge again.
"Put down your sword, little lady." A calm voice interrupted the battle.
An orc flag with a wolf head pattern moved out of the dense forest.
Two elite orc warriors, surrounded by a short orc shaman wearing a cloth robe with black hair in braids and inlaid with gold and silver jewelry in many places on his body, slowly Appear.
He rode a snow-white warg and walked out from among the cowering orcs. The wolf snorted, shook its head violently, and energetically dug up the blood-stained sandy ground.
"Put down your sword, woman."
The orc shaman repeated. He has a pair of wise eyes, bright and energetic, unlike other orcs who are slow and full of violence. .
In his hand, he held a totem weapon that looked like a bone. It was engraved with patterns of giant wolf spirits, and the end of the bone stick was inlaid with these green leaves.
The Iron Princess laughed horribly and wiped her face with her sleeves. Sweat, dust and blood were mixed together.
"My sword is very valuable, I will not throw it away, orc!" she shouted:
"You have to break my fingers to take it away! I am Ko Iron Princess of the Kingdom of Mir, what are you waiting for?”
“I fulfill your glory, Iron Princess of the Kingdom of Cormyr”
The orc shaman leaned slightly, his demeanor naturally showed a polite temperament, and he spoke the common language of the mainland extremely well.
He raised one hand and made an offensive gesture to his men.
As the orc shaman lowered his arm, a huge fireball fell from the sky.
"Boom!"
The fireball exploded, and the hot flames raged, causing a panic among the orc troops.
A figure also suddenly slammed into the Iron Princess's cold eyes, blocking her in front of her.
He was dusty, and his short boots on the ground were stained with dust and blood. He faced the dazzling sunlight and blocked the way of the orc and the Steel Princess, leaving only her tall and straight back.
The familiar back in sight made the Iron Princess' eyes gradually blur.
Smashed ice fell from the sky, five orcs were killed on the spot, and the rest were seriously injured.
The ground after the melee was already soaked with blood. Every time he took a step forward, he would leave a shallow footprint. The depth of each footprint was exactly the same, and the distance between each step was exactly the same.
His arm holding the staff danced lightly, and a group of orcs who were caught off guard were frozen into ice sculptures. Then a fireball hit them, blasting out a piece of ice shards.
The orcs were like ants in a hot pot, retreating in panic.
After appeasing his mount, the orc shaman raised his totem weapon and responded coldly.
However, what shocked him was that a mysterious energy seeping from the void suddenly caused him and his mount to disappear into the main material world.
“Roar!”
The orc leader roared angrily, brandished his battle ax, and charged towards the opponent with an unstoppable momentum.
More than a dozen black tentacles condensed from shadow energy broke out of the ground and flexibly wrapped around the two thighs of the orc leader.
The paralysis effect of the highly condensed shadow energy caused the burly orc leader to freeze in mid-air, giving up any struggle.
With the staff swinging gently, the two tentacles exerted force in opposite directions. The orc leader was mercilessly torn in half amidst heart-rending wails.
Blood poured down like rain, and the remaining orc troops were completely frightened.
The Iron Princess saw him stepping over the orc leader's body that had been cut in two, maintaining the routine at a steady pace. Each of his attacks could kill a dozen orcs.
A stream of destructive magic composed of ice, fire, and lightning poured out from his dancing staff and shot into the howling orcs fleeing.
The orc crossbowmen and shamans in the distance tried to fight back. The whistling crossbows and magic were all isolated one meter away, and then they were responded to by a more violent counterattack.
In the one-sided bombardment, until the last orc was killed, he never turned around. The figure that kept advancing was suddenly wrapped in the energy of the teleportation circle and disappeared.
In just a moment, accompanied by the buzzing sound coming from the magic circle, the body of the orc shaman was thrown to the ground. Together with his warg, he twitched a few times and fell to the ground with a flickering light. In the pool of blood, there is no life left.
The Iron Princess's heart clenched, and her hands began to lose control. She kept shaking and dropped the tightly held sword, staring blankly at the figure who had turned around and walked towards her.
He shook his head and removed his hood, revealing a familiar face that combined the best of humans and elves.
His eyes were as clear as water, and the bottom of his eyes was a bottomless black. His slightly raised lips, with a smile as light as mist, made her feel more friendly.
"Hisaya, the Iron Princess of Cormyr."
He stretched out his right hand that had just outlined countless destructive magics, touched her face gently, and said softly, "Follow your wishes Request, I have never forgotten you.”
At his caring question, the Iron Princess' originally strong heart was instantly shattered.
In an instant, all the grievances came to her heart. Her throat was so choked that she could not speak. She only felt a sore nose and hot tears dripping from her eyes.
She threw herself into his arms, her head buried in his warm chest, her shoulders trembling, and she let out a low and forbearing sob, like a helpless child, lonely and helpless.
She tried her best to control the tears in her eyes, but the more she suppressed them, the more raging the tears became.
…………
(End of this chapter)