Blood Emperor Throne

Page 15

Asmodie looked up from the list in her hand at the noble and beautiful female knight.

This pair of female knights, mother and daughter, not only have very similar personalities, but are also extremely prone to jealousy.

He turned his gaze back to the list, and without looking up, reached out his large hand to pull her beautiful, sexy, and voluptuous flesh into his arms, giving her plump, round, and firm buttocks a very bold slap.

"Quiet, and obedient."

"Ugh! You..." Asmodai's extremely unrestrained actions made Sera's body stiffen, and her noble and beautiful golden eyes filled with shyness as she whispered.

"You promised me you wouldn't lay a hand on Mom..."

"That depends on your sincerity." Asmody casually slid his hand inside her slightly open, snow-white, sheer shirt, grasping a warm, smooth, proud breast...

“You…” Sera gently bit her full red lips, but in the end she still obediently nestled in his arms, panting and dazed, letting him do as he pleased.

When Cassandra returned with her horse, she saw her knight daughter, who was straightening the collar of her disheveled, seemingly crumpled shirt, and Asmodie, who was scanning the horde of calamities not far away.

The mother and daughter's eyes, brimming with a languid, spring-like allure, met for a fleeting moment before parting again. After nodding to each other, they once more returned to their cool, aloof demeanor.

Despite their doubts, the mother and daughter did not notice anything unusual about each other, or rather, they were unwilling to think about it deeply.

Asmodeus, with his hand on the longsword at his waist, surveyed the quiet herd of beasts before him, his fingertips rhythmically tapping the hilt of his sword.

He rested his chin on his hand, his eyes flashing with thought.

After conquering the centaur pack known as the Calamity Pack and establishing Claudia as its leader, a problem arose for Asmodie.

Combat formation of animal hordes.

The number of calamity beasts was not large, but it was not small either. After a round of slaughter, not counting the eighteen centaur relatives of Claudia, there were about one hundred and seven centaurs left, of which seventy were male and thirty-seven were female.

However, this is not the total number of centaurs.

In centaur herds, although females are slightly weaker and less physically robust than males, and also have less explosive power and endurance, they benefit from their extremely high mobility, making them well-suited for scouting, reconnaissance, and roaming.

Centaurs are all singletons, and their breeding period takes seven months, resulting in a very low birth rate.

Therefore, when centaur herds go out hunting, they leave some of the females in the den, firstly to protect the cubs, and secondly to minimize the loss of females.

In addition to the number of centaurs, the Calamity Beasts are also accompanied by three horned beast herds, each with about two hundred members. Most of them are inferior horned beasts used as cheap cannon fodder, making up about 20% of the herd, while the remaining 10% are units like the Wrathful Horned Beasts.

Horned beast herds that attach themselves to other herds will not produce Beastmasters, but will only produce units similar to leaders.

Normally, the Beastmen's tactics are extremely simple: cheap and numerous inferior horned beasts are used as cannon fodder to wear down the enemy's stamina, while horned beast herds are mixed in to maintain morale and kill rate. Once the enemy's stamina is almost depleted, then Angry Horned Beasts or centaurs follow up on the battlefield to finish them off.

The advantage is that if the enemy's military skills are not high, they can easily be overwhelmed by the subsequent Angry Horned Beasts and Centaurs after exhausting their strength.

As for the downsides? There are too many to list.

Firstly, this tactic results in heavy losses for the beast horde, and secondly, its combat efficiency is extremely low.

It might work against ordinary militia or caravans, but it would be easily defeated by well-trained regular noble private soldiers or elite knightly orders.

Moreover, using the highly mobile and agile centaurs to charge into battle is a huge waste.

"What are your thoughts on deploying centaur herds as cavalry units on the battlefield?"

Asmodé glanced sideways at the female knight and her daughter behind him.

He understands the principle of leaving professional matters to professionals and only needing to focus on key tactical decisions.

After all, he wasn't the kind of guy who said, "I'm going to focus my energy on military affairs," but actually just raised the sword an inch higher.

The mother and daughter exchanged a glance, and Cassandra brushed aside the strands of hair damp with sweat from her forehead and answered.

"It depends on how you define them."

"In my opinion, centaurs are excellent cavalry, but their potential is limited."

"Centaur cavalry are superior in terms of mobility, agility, and affordability. They do not require specialized training of knights or the purchase of superior warhorses. The training period is short, and the training cost is cheaper than that of knights. They do not need to break in with their warhorses. Apart from lacking the coordination and strategy of battle formations, they are excellent cavalry in all aspects."

"If trained in battle formations, they can also launch a mass charge as knights."

"But precisely because they don't need to break in with their warhorses, they have a fatal flaw: poor sustained combat capability, and their post-war manpower is easily depleted."

"Cavalry, first comes the mount, then the cavalry. A typical knight, if highly trained with their warhorse, will have significantly higher combat strength, coordination, and agility. But it's not that they absolutely have to fight alongside a highly trained horse." (The last part, "Mei, I think you're free, Lin, are you there?", seems unrelated and likely a separate thought.)

“Under no circumstances should they be forced to charge on unfamiliar warhorses. In long-distance raids, they can ride multiple horses and rotate them to conserve the horses’ strength. Although warhorses are precious, lords who can afford to keep knights will usually prepare multiple horses to preserve their fighting strength.”

"But centaurs won't work. Their unique physical structure means that they can only run on their own during long-distance raids. Although their endurance is much higher than that of ordinary knights, they are still at a disadvantage in long-distance raids."

"Moreover, centaur cavalry has a fatal flaw: once their horses' legs are injured, they must be executed. Otherwise, they will not only be unable to continue fighting, but will also suffer excruciating pain, while the knights can replace their horses."

"This situation means that when their horses are injured in the leg or body, they cannot simply change horses and continue fighting like knights. As a result, there is a high risk of shortages in the fighting force after a battle."

"If they charge in formation, it's easy for these centaurs to be rendered useless after the first wave, since any decent infantryman knows how to cut off a horse's legs."

"Therefore, centaurs are not suitable for training as knights. Instead, they are better suited to being equipped with chainmail and breastplates, custom-made horse armor for their legs, and wielded with spears and longswords to serve as rangers."

Sera looked at her mother, her brows furrowing slightly; clearly, they disagreed.

After a moment of contemplation, she looked at Asmodie.

"I agree with Mom's earlier views on centaurs; centaurs are excellent cavalry and very easy to train into large groups of cavalry. However, I have a different opinion on the training methods for centaurs in the latter part."

"If I were to train them, I would divide these centaurs into two groups. The largest and strongest, but slower, male centaurs would be equipped with heavy armor and lances and warhammers, but not for charging. Instead, they would be used to counter enemy cavalry and block enemy knights' counter-charges."

"The rest of the female centaurs, who are the most agile and flexible, I will train as horse archers, equipped with light chainmail and cloaks, short bows, pulley crossbows, shields, and longswords, for the purpose of long-range harassment and cutting off supply lines."

"The rest, those who are physically strong and agile, I will equip them with protective and lightweight chainmail and helmets, along with spears and knight's longswords, to serve as regular mobile rangers, relying on the woodlands for mobile guerrilla warfare, and to launch surprise attacks on the flanks and cut off the battlefield at critical moments."

Cassandra frowned and reprimanded: "Heavily armored centaur cavalry is a good choice for countering knights, but the maintenance and training costs are extremely high, and its versatility is poor."

"I think your idea of ​​using female centaurs as horse archers is great, but I think male centaurs are more suitable for training as rangers."

Sera earnestly refuted her beautiful mother knight: "Heavy armored centaur cavalry can also be used to break formations, so they are quite versatile. In critical moments, they can also be deployed as a decisive force to launch a mass charge on the battlefield."

"Moreover, having all of them serve as rangers would be too simplistic. Cavalry needs to be diversified to maximize combat efficiency with minimal losses."

Asmodian found the arguing knight mother and daughter amusing, but he planned to combine their methods.

The main force consisted of heavily armored centaur cavalry, supplemented by light cavalry, with horse archers providing support for harassment.

As for how to create a batch of heavily armored cavalry, he happened to have a solution.

After a while...

On the banks of the Rue River, among the centaurs who had originally followed Kava in their rebellion, Claudia personally selected eight of the most robust and powerful male centaurs.

The eight male centaurs looked at Asmodie, who was leaning on his longsword, with fear and unease. His deep, indifferent black eyes made them tremble.

Asmodie glanced at them indifferently, raised his hand, and in their terrified and panicked gaze, eight crystal-clear crimson blood souls floated from his hand, transforming into blood-red light that swept into the heads of the eight male centaurs in the next instant!

"Roar--!!"

A mournful roar erupted from the mouths of the eight centaurs.

Their massive, robust human and horse bodies writhed like lava and glowed with a scarlet light! The flesh was burned to charcoal, the blood evaporated, and the bones shone with bursts of scarlet light! The skin turned into molten lava and gradually writhed and shaped like molten steel, slowly taking on the outline of a full suit of heavy plate armor and horse armor.

The blessing of the Blood Demon requires a sacrifice, which is the soul and flesh of the recipient, plus an equal amount of blood soul, to summon eight Blood Demons loyal to him.

An equivalent exchange: flesh and blood to reshape the body, and blood and soul to inscribe a blood mark and reshape the soul.

He was not at a disadvantage in exchanging eight strong and robust male centaurs and eight centaur blood souls for eight heavily armored, bloodthirsty centaurs who were loyal to him and possessed the attributes of Blood Rage Blessing and Blood Thirst.

These eight bloodthirsty demons, like the eight bloodletting demons, can only maintain a maximum of eight heads in the first stage, and the number summoned by blessing in the second stage increases accordingly.

One can increase one's strength by killing, but the difference is that when a vampire is killed, he is only banished and his strength remains unchanged after the slaughter, while these eight bloodthirsty demons are truly gone once they are killed.

As the bloodstains faded, the eight centaurs were now clad in crimson heavy armor, adorned with lava patterns and inlaid with scarlet fangs. They wore eight-spear blood helmets and shoulder armor with fangs and blood patterns. Their robust bodies were covered one by one with tightly fitting horse armor like shrimp shells. As for their four long and sturdy hooves, they were even thicker and covered with leg armor that shimmered with a bloody light.

These eight frenzied centaurs, wielding skull battle axes and spiked maces, simultaneously lowered their forelegs toward Asmodei with a synchronized clang of metal. Their blood-red beastly eyes, hidden beneath the eight spear-covered blood helmets, surged with an inextinguishable rage and absolute loyalty to him.

Next, they would rely on this horde of calamity beasts to wipe out the rebels in the north of Castella.

Chapter 16 Secretary

In the early morning, a thin mist hangs like gauze, mixed with fading gray smoke and wisps of cooking smoke.

The smoke of battle in the city streets had dissipated, and two or three armored royal guards on horseback began to appear on the charred streets to maintain order and patrol the streets.

Under the bronze bell in the city square, a notice had been posted last night to hire farmers to clean up and bury the corpses in the city, but few responded. The capital city was still shrouded in gloom.

The invasion of the Beastmen resulted in the burning of nearly half of the streets and houses in the capital city surrounding the lord's castle, and the destruction of streets and various infrastructure.

Fortunately, it is summer now, so there is no need to worry about heating. We can sleep on the streets at night and get by. Moreover, there are large forests outside the city, so the timber needed for reconstruction is not scarce.

But at this time, food, people's livelihood, and stability within the city became the biggest problems.

Of Castellía’s 30,000 acres of land, 20,000 acres in the south are covered by the Ancaru Forest, while the north is flat and along the Ruva River, where large tracts of farmland have been cultivated, and the population is mostly concentrated in the north.

However, after the internal strife in Castella, the largest grain-producing town, Grotos, fell into the hands of the rebels, and most of the northern farmland also fell into their control. The problem of food self-sufficiency also became a predicament for the southern territory controlled by the Countess.

Inside the castle's study, the pale golden light of early morning lazily streamed through the plain white gauze curtains.

Catherine, lying on her side on the bench, murmured unconsciously, her long eyelashes trembling slightly as she slowly opened her sleepy, light blue eyes.

She rubbed her still somewhat sleepy brows, frowned, and sat up halfway, letting out a soft sigh.

"How long have I been asleep?"

“You’ve probably slept for about three hours since I got back,” a clear and calm voice came slowly from beside Katharina.

Kasharina looked in the direction of the sound and saw Asmodeus's tall and slender figure sitting leisurely behind the desk where she had sat the night before, casually flipping through the report in his hands, occasionally picking up the porcelain teacup she had used to take a sip of black tea, his face showing a thoughtful expression.

Only then did she realize that she had somehow ended up lying on a soft bench, covered with a warm blanket, and that her light blue strappy open-toe flat sandals had been taken off and placed quietly under the bench.

Catherine clutched the soft blanket, and upon seeing Asmodeus, she unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. A hint of tenderness appeared in her alluring eyes, and she felt a sense of peace, ignoring Asmodeus's audacity in sitting in her seat and using her teacup.

Her delicate, fair feet slipped lazily into a pair of light blue, strappy, open-toe flat sandals, and she asked softly, "When...did you get back?"

“Around midnight, I suppose.” Asmodeus took a sip of black tea, lowered his eyes, and glanced at Catherine, who was still wearing that cool, bright red spaghetti-strap bodycon dress, and the messy report summary on the table.

"Looks like you were busy until quite late yesterday."

“Mom was handling things within the territory last night, but she was too tired after what happened during the day, so I took over the work in the latter half of the night.”

Kasrina answered softly, gently smoothing her slightly disheveled hair from her forehead. She lifted the soft blanket, looking at her slightly messy, thin-strapped silk dress, a blush creeping onto her cool and alluring face.

With her delicate hands, she gently hooked the straps of her camisole to cover her trembling, snow-white breasts that were peeking out from under her skirt, and then pulled down her silk skirt to cover her snow-white, round, soft buttocks and the close-fitting white lace.

However, when she looked at Asmodé with shy, alluring eyes, she found that this man was completely lacking in gentlemanly manners. He was holding a summary of Castella's various reports, resting his chin on his hand and quietly watching her straighten her disheveled bright red spaghetti strap dress.

His unrestrained gaze, tinged with amusement, would occasionally linger between her ample, snowy breasts and round, soft buttocks.

Faced with Asmodel's blasphemy, Catherine merely snorted, gathering her waist-length chestnut-brown wavy hair and tying it into an elegant updo: "Still looking?"

At this moment, she was unaware that she felt no resistance to Asmodeus's blasphemous and invasive gaze, only a touch of shyness and a strange feeling growing in her heart.

“Looking at my payment,” Asmodie replied casually, which made the aloof noblewoman blush with embarrassment and anger. She then twirled a series of summary reports in her hand and patted the wooden chair beside her.

"Come here, I have some questions I'd like to ask you."

Kasrina glared at him, then stepped forward gracefully with her fair and shapely figure, wearing cool, strappy flat sandals. She gathered her bodycon silk skirt and placed her plump, soft buttocks on the wooden chair, her jade legs elegantly together.

"Listen to me." Asmodeus's lips curled slightly as he pushed forward a cup of still-warm black tea, then slowly flipped through the report summary in his hand.

Kasharina took the tea, sipped it, and watched Asmodeus handle government affairs quietly, feeling more and more that this man was reliable.

But as she looked at it, her gaze gradually changed, her brows furrowed slightly, and finally, she became annoyed. She snatched the report summary from Asmodie's hand and said angrily.

"How can you handle government affairs like this?! No instructions, no plans, no decisions whatsoever?! How are you expecting your subordinates to carry out your orders?!"

Katharina was furious. The man's review of the various reports was extremely cursory; he merely glanced at them and looked away, offering neither approval nor decision-making. He simply took a look.

“I’m not interested in handling political affairs.” Asmodeus took a sip of tea. “You can handle all the details of political affairs. If you encounter any difficulties, just let me know.”

"Hmph." Kasrina gave a light, displeased hum, but a tender feeling welled up inside her.

Even this seemingly reliable man has times when he needs her.

She picked up a pair of frameless gold-rimmed glasses from the side and put them on. Over a cup of red tea, she began to organize the work she hadn't been able to finish the night before, while asking questions.

"Where are Aunt Cassandra and Sera?"

“They returned last night and are busy with things in town right now.” Asmodeus leaned back in his wooden chair, casually observing the aloof and elegant woman in front of him wearing frameless gold-rimmed glasses.

Her already noble and aloof temperament is further enhanced by these frameless gold-rimmed glasses, adding a touch of intellect, elegance, and competence. If paired with long black stockings with lace trim and a shirt-and-pencil skirt, she would create an extremely cool and sassy image of a sophisticated secretary.

Hmm... if I had to say, Sera could also try this secretary outfit of a shirt and pencil skirt.

However, this female knight was taller and more slender, dashing and beautiful. Her full, plump, snow-white breasts were also more moist than those of Catherine. If she wore a white, sheer shirt, it would probably stretch the collar a little to reveal her warm cleavage.

Furthermore, this female knight's straight, sexy, and slender legs are not suitable for black stockings. Her smooth and jade-like long legs are more suitable for bare feet paired with ankle-strap pointed red-soled stilettos.

Asmodeus's unrestrained scrutinizing gaze remained unperturbed as he examined her. She simply brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, adjusted her glasses with her delicate fingers, and asked, "Has the matter with the beast horde been resolved?"

"Half," Asmodeus replied casually, resting his chin on his hand and examining the location of the town of Grotos on the map.