This day, when the first winter snow fell, might be remembered by the world forever. It was the beginning of a legend, and the start of a nightmare that would engulf the entire world.
Facing the light snow of the early morning breeze, before the heavy sky had fully brightened, the one hundred thousand iron cavalry of the Seventh Expeditionary Force gathered on the immensely vast training ground. When troops number over ten thousand, they stretch endlessly; when they number over one hundred thousand, they cover the earth. At this moment, the once boundless legion training ground was completely covered by a steel forest of iron armor, with fierce and majestic iron cavalry occupying the entire vast plain.
As an invading expeditionary force, the Seventh Expeditionary Force entirely adopted cavalry, which had the strongest mobility, fastest long-distance travel speed, and most offensive power in the cold weapon era. Each person, including their warhorse, was meticulously covered in black armor.
These seemingly dense black armors, appearing as if molded from a single piece of iron, were actually each made from thousands of specially selected Danger Beast scales, which were then steel-wrapped, quenched, and pieced together. Inside the armor, a metal mechanism network controlled the opening and closing of the armor plates, fully protecting the body without leaving any blind spots while also not affecting the knights' agility.
This scale-plated knight armor, designed and developed by Lin herself, had a weight between light and heavy armor. The soldiers wearing it did not need to wear cloth undergarments. The innermost layer was padded with a layer of Danger Beast hide, directly integrated with the warrior's skin, as if it were the Danger Beast's natural scales attached to the wearer. The specially processed hide provided warmth and effectively absorbed the impact of external attacks. Even if shot head-on by a firearm within a hundred paces, it would not wound the soldier inside the armor with a single blow.
The warhorses ridden by the soldiers were hybrid offspring of high-quality Imperial horses and equine Danger Beasts captured from the Forest of Dangerous Species. Theoretically, they should be considered a low-level Danger Beast. Each horse was nine chi tall at the shoulder and five meters long, a strong steed that grew up eating pasture grass irrigated with Danger Beast blood, and they were omnivorous, capable of eating meat.
The one hundred thousand-strong army was forged by combining the Empire's national wealth with the countless years of fierce beast resources from the Forest of Dangerous Species. Only warriors capable of wielding all this could take it up!
The entire army was ready. In front of the army's formation, an ice wall hundreds of meters wide and towering like a cloud suddenly rose from the ground. Under precisely adjusted light projection, Lin's full silhouette was clearly reflected on the ice wall. Even the soldiers at the very back of the line could clearly see Lin's image, clad in the armor of the knight of the lake.
"Four years of tempering, the time has come to prove yourselves. It's time to show your fangs and claws to this world!"
A vast roar, like a tidal wave, swept across the entire Seventh Expeditionary Force from the sky, its deafening sound vibrating the eardrums of every member of the legion.
"You are the deadly weapons I painstakingly forged. I spent four years of time and effort on you, and countless astronomical sums of gold. Now it's time for you to repay me."
The dark clouds above the ice wall tore open a giant hole, and the morning sun's rays shone through, bringing the first warmth of the day. The Wind God Winged Dragon landed on top of the ice wall like a giant bird, spreading its wings and coiling. The supreme commander of this great army stood on the giant dragon's head.
"No need for further words. Remember the principle of the Inverted Black Cross: As long as there is one person crying, the conquest is not over! Longevity is a warrior's disgrace. What do we seek?"
"Victory!... Victory!!... Victory!!!"
One hundred thousand soldiers shouted in unison! The surging sound shook the heavens! The clashing of battle swords pierced the sky! Just like the Army of the King in the past, their iron-blooded passion, burning themselves for battle, condensed into a mighty force like a steel torrent.
"Target: Skawag Fortress, Imperial Northern Region border. All troops, advance!"
The colossal ice wall, reaching into the clouds, shattered with a crash. Ice shards, mixed with fine snow, fluttered over the armor of every Seventh Expeditionary Force warrior, obscuring the sky. The giant dragon flapped its wings, stirring the air, and flew first towards the northern sky.
"First Myriad Cavalry squad, follow my pace, depart!"
The one hundred thousand strong army was divided into ten Myriad Cavalry squads, each led by a Myriarch. As the First Myriarch took the reins and spurred his warhorse towards the north gate outside the legion city, someone roared first, and then all the warriors began to shout, began to roar:
"Depart... Depart... Depart...!"
Shouts from various places echoed everywhere, but no one deliberately tried to boost morale. This was the fighting spirit they had yearned for since four years ago, a deep-seated craving for blood and life from the depths of their souls! The shouts of one hundred thousand people converged into a giant dragon of sound, roaring through this quiet space.
Then, the tens of thousands of troops, who had been standing still, finally began to move, like a colossal beast awakening from slumber, heading northwest towards the unknown horizon. One hundred thousand iron cavalry started in an orderly fashion, twenty riders abreast, following the pace of the person in front, spurring their warhorses to full-speed gallop.
The thunderous hoofbeats pounded the ground, causing the ground of the vast military camp city to visibly shake. Countless citizens living in the military camp city lined the roads, watching the expeditionary force gallop like a black iron dragon. In this torrent-like procession, a large majority were relatives of the city's citizens, but once they left, they might not return.
The column of one hundred thousand iron cavalry stretched for over ten kilometers. The consequences of any sudden change due to road conditions or other normal factors would be unimaginable. Therefore, Rin, riding the Wind God Winged Dragon, patrolled back and forth above the marching column, checking for any signs of potential accidents. Each thousand-man group had a small flying dragon prepared for dispatch riders; if any problem occurred in the column, it would immediately fly into the sky to report to Rin.
The carefully bred and raised Danger Beast warhorses, whether in speed or stamina, were far superior to ordinary warhorses. Even carrying fully armed expeditionary soldiers, they were still as swift as lightning, their iron-shod hooves striking clear metallic sounds on the solid ground.
Rin looked down from high in the clouds at the Seventh Expeditionary Force's march, estimating in her mind: At this speed, they should reach the Northern Region border in about two days. By then, there should still be about ten days of free time before the decisive battle after all the Northern Nomads have fully assembled... From the Forest of Dangerous Species in the northeast of the Empire to the extreme northern border of the Empire, the total distance of the winding route is roughly 1,500 kilometers. In previous years, legions departing from the Forest of Dangerous Species for the Northern Region border at full speed generally took half a month. However, Rin's army had eliminated all factors that could impede marching speed, and with all personnel being high-speed cavalry units, their speed was far beyond what other legions could achieve.
Just as all the assembled Northern Nomads were still savoring the abundant spoils they had plundered from the Empire last year, and anticipating what this year's harvest would bring, and completely unaware, a destructive expeditionary army was closing in on them...
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.