Chapter 854
Chapter 854
Count Duke drew his greatsword and spurred his warhorse, charging toward Princess Dora with all his might.
It was a one-on-one duel.
Princess Dora, without a hint of panic, dismounted her warhorse first. She considered it unfair because her warhorse was faster and taller.
She walked to the center on her long legs, then stood there, unmoving.
Seeing this, Count Duke's eyes narrowed.
‘How arrogant is this Amazon princess? To dismount in a situation like this.’
"Giddy-up, giddy-up."
Count Duke's steed galloped faster and faster, reaching a top speed of twenty-one meters per second.
"Die!"
Count Duke roared as he charged at the beautiful Princess Dora, aiming the greatsword in his hand at her long neck.
Princess Dora remained perfectly still, letting the warhorse charge toward her.
Then, when the distance between them was about a meter.
*Swish.*
She suddenly drew her sword and slashed with the speed of a lightning flash.
Bright red blood sprayed in all directions.
Count Duke, still on his steed, charged forward for several dozen more meters.
First, the massive horse's head fell, followed by the bisected body of Count Duke, the part above his chest completely gone, tumbling to the ground.
The Amazon warriors disliked using tactics, instead insanely pursuing speed and power.
Count Duke, a nobleman with a long history on the Blue Wave Planet and a famous master of swordsmanship, was killed in a single strike by such an Amazon warrior.
Princess Dora whistled, and her warhorse quickly galloped over.
She sprang lightly onto her horse.
She looked at the four thousand cavalrymen before her and gave a cold command.
"Kill only the men, not the horses."
Then, she led two thousand cavalry and charged the enemy.
Moments later, the battle was over.
The four thousand cavalrymen under Count Duke were cleanly slain, but all four thousand warhorses were left behind.
They had truly killed only the men and not the horses.
She then led two thousand Amazon knights toward the beach to continue their pursuit of Austin's army.
* * *
Under Count Duke's cover, Count Austin led a thousand knights and charged toward the beach at top speed.
Thirty minutes later, they arrived at the main beach.
The fleet at sea, having received their orders, was waiting in the nearby waters, and dozens of small boats were moving toward the shore.
*Kaboom!*
But just then, a series of explosions suddenly erupted on the beach.
General Nanfeng had previously buried a large amount of explosives there, but Count Duke had avoided the explosions because he hadn't landed at this spot.
Who would have thought that Count Austin's thousand cavalrymen would now run right over them?
Fortunately, Count Austin was extremely skilled in martial arts and possessed incredibly sharp senses.
A second before the explosions, he leaped from his warhorse like lightning and sprinted madly toward the sea.
*Boom!*
A second later, his steed was blown to smithereens, as were the thousand cavalrymen escorting him.
There was no time to mourn them, nor to go after the person who had lit the fuse.
That's right. These weren't pressure-activated mines; someone had been waiting for the enemy to approach before lighting a fuse from within an underground tunnel.
"Go, go."
Count Austin took the two hundred or so surviving cavalrymen, fled to the shallow water, and boarded the dozens of small boats.
They rowed desperately toward the large ships out at sea.
But then, a violent tremor came from the ground.
The Amazon warriors had caught up.
However, night had already fallen, and Count Austin was aboard a ship, hundreds of meters out at sea.
Princess Dora led two thousand warriors to the beach and looked out at the ships on the water.
Count Austin stared at her in surprise.
"Are you Princess Dora?"
"I am."
"In a month or so, during the Rite of Procreation, will you be going to the Isle of Mating?"
Princess Dora answered Count Austin's question.
"No. I have already pledged my loyalty to Lord Shen Lang."
"That is a great pity. Otherwise, I would have let you feel the might of my long spear."
To say such a thing openly to a normal woman was a great insult.
But to the Amazon warriors, such words were not considered insulting.
Noticing that Princess Dora was not angered, Count Austin said.
"Your Highness, you have greatly disappointed me. I thought you were one of only two women in the Western world worthy of me. Yet you have unexpectedly pledged your loyalty to an Easterner of the yellow race, a man named Shen Lang. Why choose to be the bitch of a yellow man instead of being a proper human?"
"Austin, are you insulting me now?"
‘Your Highness, you're a bit slow on the uptake.’
"Yes, I am insulting you. I once thought of taking you as my wife. But now, I want to lead my armies and crush you all completely. You are the shame of the Western world. When you become my captive, I will pierce your throat with my long spear and make you suffocate to death!"
Count Austin's warship moved farther and farther from the shore.
Princess Dora said slowly.
"Austin, you have succeeded in enraging me."
"And what of it? I am already at sea."
Count Austin, who had spoken with such confidence, was immediately shocked by the scene that followed.
Princess Dora and her two thousand warriors dismounted and leaped into the sea as if they were mermaids.
*Swish, swish, swish, swish.*
They swam madly toward the warship.
‘They're insane, absolutely insane. To think they could swim this fast in the sea.’
Count Austin gave an order.
"Quickly, unfurl the sails and leave this place. Leave at top speed."
But it was already too late; Princess Dora had caught up.
*Swish, swish, swish, swish.*
One by one, the Amazon warriors shot out of the sea like cannonballs, landing on the deck of Count Austin's ship.
Only then did Austin seriously regret why he had enraged the beautiful Princess Dora.
But he couldn't help himself.
He was an arrogant man, and he had never for a moment forgotten the Princess Dora he had heard of in rumors, always longing to see her at the Rite of Procreation.
But the Princess Dora he met today had unexpectedly pledged loyalty to Shen Lang, fighting under his banner.
That was why Count Austin had cast aside his decorum and uttered such profane words.
"You have insulted me, so I challenge you to a duel!"
Princess Dora said to Count Austin on the deck.
The two stood about ten meters apart.
Unlike before, when he had only seen her from a distance, seeing Princess Dora up close revealed she was far more beautiful than he had imagined.
Her neat, neck-length silver hair was especially beautiful, yet at the same time, it made her look incredibly gallant.
Austin said to her.
"Your Highness, I apologize to you. I lost my reason due to jealousy and spoke profanely just now."
"I understand. I accept your apology."
"Could you give me a moment?"
"Of course."
Count Austin removed his cloak, held his greatsword, and knelt on the deck to enter a state of meditation.
His mind was currently in turmoil, making him unfit for a duel.
He needed to quickly regain his composure and restore his peak combat strength.
*Hoo, hoo, hoo!*
Everyone has their own way of meditating; Count Austin's method was to recall memories from his childhood.
On the battlements of a castle atop a mountain, he lay in his mother's arms, gazing at the stars in the sky.
"Mother, what are those stars in the sky?"
"According to the people of the East, heroes become stars in the sky after they die."
"No wonder there are so many stars in the sky, and their numbers keep growing."
The next scene was of his father committing suicide.
It was because he had failed in the struggle for the title of Duke.
Then, another scene unfolded.
It was the scene of him bidding farewell to the Russo Clan to wander the world.
"Diphas, your uncle is leaving."
Count Austin tousled Diphas's hair.
In a way, his father had died at the hands of Grand Duke Diphas's father, but he never blamed him.
This was because his own father had plotted treason, attempting to usurp his nephew's position.
He thought that perhaps his father would not become a star in the sky.
His father was not a hero; he had tried to harm the Russo Clan with the cowardly act of treason.
So he wandered the world for over a decade, only returning to his clan after receiving a letter from Diphas.
* * *
A few minutes later, Count Austin opened his eyes.
His meditation was over.
His mental state had reached its peak.
He let out a long breath, stood up, and slowly raised his longsword.
The duel began.
*Clang, clang, clang.*
The two began to clash madly on the deck.
Count Austin's sword seemed to emit light, and every thrust carried a powerful energy.
This was likely what the Western world called "battle aura."
Princess Dora had no battle aura, but every thrust of her sword displayed incredible power and speed.
The two greatswords clashed fiercely, sending out blindingly brilliant sparks.
They looked like the sparks from a blacksmith's hammer striking iron.
Wherever the two passed, the deck cracked apart.
*Crash, crash, crash, crash.*
The two of them, like beasts, smashed right through the ship's cabins.
The entire cabin was shattered by the swings of their greatswords, and even the thick mast snapped.
The deck finally gave way under the immense force, and the two continued their battle inside the collapsed cabin.
*Crash, crash, crash.*
From the outside, their duel was invisible; only the loud noises could be heard.
One by one, the cabins inside the ship were destroyed.
*CRASH!*
Suddenly, two large holes appeared in the sturdy hull of the ship, and then, like cannonballs, their bodies burst through the bottom of the ship and into the sea.
They sank deeper and deeper, continuing their fight even after reaching the seabed.
This alone was enough to show how powerful Count Austin was.
Just moments ago, Count Duke had been killed by Princess Dora in a single blow, yet now, after hundreds of exchanges, the outcome between these two was still undecided.
Princess Dora had trained with her sword countless times underwater, so this was her home ground.
Nevertheless, Count Austin was completely at ease.
He, too, had wandered the world for over a decade, experiencing many harsh battles in numerous places.
*Thud, thud, thud.*
The underwater reefs were shattered by the wild swings of their greatswords.
The water grew murky, obscuring all vision.
Then, the two suddenly stopped, facing each other from a distance of ten meters, retracting all their killing intent.
At that moment, the smell of blood filled the water, and many wounds appeared on Count Austin's body.
These weren't sword cuts, but rather torn muscles from exerting too much force during the fight.
He possessed a strong battle aura, while Princess Dora had immense natural strength.
A distant shark, smelling the blood, swam between the two separated fighters.
A second later, the two shot toward each other like cannonballs again, and only then did the shark try to flee.
But their bodies immediately collided with the shark, and the poor creature was caught between them, its body bursting as it died a miserable death without even a chance to struggle.
Bright red blood gushed out, instantly staining the sea, and for a moment, it was impossible to tell if it was human blood or the shark's.