In the pitch-black of night, eight funerary steeds, clad head to toe in black armor, traversed the lands of Limgrave.
The cavalrymen riding the steeds were also clad in black armor, wielding glaives or flails, completely silent with no communication between them.
Completely shrouded in black, the Night's Cavalry were difficult to track. The night was their greatest protection.
They had lost a good number of men recently due to the Crucible Knights' relentless pursuit.
Although they had managed to inflict some damage on the Crucible Knights, trading lives for mere injuries was a terrible bargain.
Continuing to operate in teams of two or three was no longer a wise option.
They had split up to avoid having an entire squad wiped out by Bai Shi at once.
This, however, had also allowed the Crucible Knights to pick them off one by one.
But according to recent intelligence, the Storm King, Bai Shi, hadn't been seen in Stormveil for a long time.
It seemed he had departed for some unknown destination and would not be returning anytime soon.After receiving this news, they observed for another two or three days and confirmed that it seemed to be true.
However, they didn't believe Bai Shi had simply left; rather, they concluded he must have been wounded in the previous battle against the ten Night's Cavalry.
After all, Lord Margit had previously informed them of Bai Shi's strength.
He was formidable, yes, but only at the level of a hero.
Since the previous squad of Night's Cavalry had failed to report back, they were unaware of the specific details of that battle.
If it had been Bai Shi plus two Crucible Knights, it would make sense that no message could be sent.
Now, only the Crucible Knights were making appearances, rushing to the next battlefield even if they were injured.
From beginning to end, Bai Shi was nowhere to be seen.
Based on their analysis of his character, he was not the type to sit back and watch all this unfold.
The intelligence was true. Wounded or not, Bai Shi would not be showing up for now.
With this, they finally felt at ease.
They shifted their strategy once more, beginning to operate in larger groups.
No matter where he had gone, their chances were now much greater.
Their previous plan to hunt down small groups of Tarnished and prevent them from reaching Stormveil had not gone smoothly.
Stormveil had already recruited a considerable number of Tarnished, and the Night's Cavalry's continued presence here would have little impact.
Lord Margit had already issued new orders: in a few days, they were to leave Limgrave and return to the Altus Plateau.
So, in these final days, they planned a large-scale offensive to cause as much disruption to Stormveil as possible.
On this sortie, the Night's Cavalry intended to hunt large groups of Tarnished, just as they had in their initial strategy.
If they encountered any of Stormveil's soldiers—including Kaidan Sellswords, Stormveil soldiers, or trolls—they would attack them as well.
Now that Bai Shi was absent, they could afford to be bolder.
If the Crucible Knights still dared to approach, the coordinated assault of eight Night's Cavalrymen, each only slightly weaker than them, would be more than they could handle.
The Night's Cavalry had to admit, the Crucible Knights were indeed powerful.
Worthy of being the heroes who had fought alongside the first king, Godfrey.
If their opponents were not the Night's Cavalry but ordinary knights or soldiers, then even hundreds of men would struggle to inflict devastating damage upon them.
Unfortunately for them, there were only two Crucible Knights.
And the Night's Cavalry were no pushovers to be trampled upon at will.
They were genuine Shadow Heroes, the reapers of other heroes.
Even when fighting in pairs or trios, completely unable to leverage their coordinated tactics, they could still wound the Crucible Knights.
Now, with eight of them riding together, if the Crucible Knights dared to appear, they would certainly be taken down.
Even if they couldn't kill them on the spot, they could absolutely inflict grievous injuries.
All they needed was to put them out of commission for two or three days.
Without the Crucible Knights putting out fires, the Night's Cavalry could even mobilize their entire force and sweep across all of Limgrave.
For this reason, their eight-man squad no longer paid any mind to the Stormhawks in the sky.
They even looked forward to them calling the Crucible Knights over.
If they were lucky enough to deal with the Crucible Knights, it would undoubtedly be like clipping the Storm King's wings.
Harboring these sweet dreams, the Night's Cavalry were completely unaware that an invisible man and his steed had joined their formation.
——
Riding Torrent, Bai Shi silently observed the Night's Cavalry around him.
After receiving the message from the Stormhawk, Bai Shi had made his way to their vicinity.
Having acquired the Unseen Form sorcery from Sellia, Bai Shi had tried it out and found it impossible to achieve perfect invisibility.
He could spot the sorcerers even when they stood still.
When they used magic, skills, or moved, the effect was even weaker, useful only for ambushing the completely unprepared.
Furthermore, after the Night of the Black Knives, Leyndell was equipped with Sentry's Torches that could reveal invisible units.
So, Bai Shi decided to test the duration of Fengling Yueying's invisibility beforehand.
He had more uses of Fengling Yueying now, and his own strength meant he no longer had to live in constant fear.
As long as he had one use for survival and one for super damage, theoretically, there was nothing left in the Lands Between that could threaten him.
Therefore, the number of uses was not so tight, and he could afford to spend one for testing.
Bai Shi felt it was necessary to test it in advance.
If he entered the Royal Capital and activated it, only to find it lasted a mere few minutes, he could find himself trapped and besieged.
At that point, he might be forced to use another super damage or invisibility just to escape.
Since it seemed likely he would need two uses of Fengling Yueying either way, he might as well use one now to test it and plan accordingly.
In the past, he wouldn't have even dared to try the five-times rune multiplier when crushing a rune, because he had been too weak back then, with absolutely no room for error.
In those days, every single use of Fengling Yueying was as precious as his life.
But now, Bai Shi had enough confidence. Aside from the two uses he kept as a safety net, the others were free to be used.
Bai Shi currently had four uses of Fengling Yueying left, so using one for a test was more than affordable.
Besides, many of the achievements were not difficult to complete.
And now, having experienced the invisibility firsthand, Bai Shi had a clear understanding of Fengling Yueying's cloaking effect.
As expected of a Fengling Yueying product, it was exceptionally powerful.
There were no ridiculous situations like only his body turning invisible while his clothes remained visible.
On the contrary, even Torrent was included within the scope of the invisibility.
During the one-hour duration, Bai Shi and Torrent left no trace whatsoever, neither sight nor sound.
Even as Torrent's hooves trod upon the grass, they left not the slightest impression of being trampled.
It was as if he and Torrent had become beings from another dimension, their actions no longer affecting this one. Even the attacks Bai Shi attempted against the Night's Cavalry passed right through their bodies.
Bai Shi stroked the new stubble on his chin and thought to himself:
"This invisibility is too powerful... No, can this even be called invisibility?"
"It's more like being in another dimension, existing as an observer."
"The drawback is that I can't attack. To attack, I have to deactivate the effect myself."
This effect reminded Bai Shi of Kamui from Naruto.
However, as powerful as the invisibility was, it had its limitations.
At the very least, Bai Shi felt it couldn't replace the "invincibility" function.
He felt no change in his body, so any continuous damage effects he was suffering from before entering this state would likely persist.
Moreover, he couldn't counter-attack while invisible. To do so, he would have to deactivate it and then retaliate, wasting the entire hour.
When facing a single, powerful attack, it was better to use invincibility and then counter-attack.
Of course, if he was planning to escape, then invisibility would be very useful.
But Bai Shi doubted a day would ever come when he would need to flee.
Still, using the invisibility period to recover, apply buffs, and wait for the right moment to strike didn't seem like a bad idea either.
While he was contemplating the uses of invisibility, the Night's Cavalry found a target to engage.
They had located a group of twenty to thirty Tarnished, preparing to make them the appetizer for tonight's slaughter.
Although Bai Shi had hoped they would fail to find anyone all night, giving him a chance to follow them back to their lair, he couldn't let them massacre these Tarnished now that they'd been found.
Thus, Bai Shi deactivated the invisibility function himself.
The Night's Cavalry were charging toward the Tarnished, who noticed them and were thrown into a panic.
But in the midst of their charge, the cavalrymen suddenly realized an extra person was in their formation, as if he had appeared out of thin air.
They all turned to look at this suddenly appeared figure, and were immediately scared out of their wits.
The Storm King, Bai Shi! When did he get here?
And why was he in the middle of their formation?
However, since he had appeared in the center of their ranks, they wouldn't pass up the opportunity to surround and destroy him.
Until their deaths, the Night's Cavalry would never know that their faulty intelligence and gross underestimation of his power had brought about their doom.
Torrent ran alongside the funerary steeds of the Night's Cavalry. Though they were in the same formation, Torrent was faster.
He had been deliberately slowing his pace to match theirs.
Upon reappearing, Bai Shi and Torrent shot past one of the cavalrymen. Simultaneously, Bai Shi's swordspear ran the rider clean through, hoisting him up on its point.
In an instant, various weapons, including flails and glaives, struck at Bai Shi from his sides and rear.
Bai Shi didn't take the hits head-on, instead leaping from Torrent's back to dodge the incoming attacks.
Torrent, in turn, dematerialized and vanished.
The Night's Cavalry were, after all, hero-level units, not common soldiers.
Although Bai Shi was now very powerful, their attacks could still break through his defenses.
And if his armor was damaged, repairing it would be quite troublesome.
Leaping from Torrent, Bai Shi raised his dragonslaying swordspear, channeling a storm as he plunged from the sky and viciously stabbed at one of the cavalrymen.
That cavalryman frantically spurred his funerary steed, but he could not escape the attack's range.
Bai Shi descended from on high, shattering the cavalryman's defensive glaive before pinning both rider and steed to the ground, blasting a deep crater upon impact.
Not only that, Bai Shi instantly poured a massive amount of magic into the ground, sending it radiating outward in a web-like pattern.
The magic surged, the earth cracked, and the ground broke apart into large, uneven slabs of rock that shifted chaotically.
It didn't have the devastating impact of Godfrey's Earthshaker, but it was more than enough to alter the terrain.
Because their formation had been tight, the charging speed of the Night's Cavalry was immediately reduced by the broken ground.
Bai Shi's swordspear swept out, instantly severing the forelegs of a funerary steed.
The steed collapsed helplessly, tumbling several meters and throwing the Night's Cavalryman from its back.
As Bai Shi raised his swordspear to execute the downed cavalryman, another rider rushed to his teammate's aid, allowing him to get back on his feet.
Bai Shi's swordspear swung past, knocking the Night's Cavalryman's weapon away.
They then spurred their funerary steeds to pull away, creating distance so that Bai Shi couldn't attack several of them at once.
Watching the Night's Cavalry regroup around him, Bai Shi considered which method he should use to finish them off.
Though fighting these cavalrymen was quite simple now, using techniques was simply not as satisfying as a mindless brawl.
The last time he dealt with the Night's Cavalry, he had used his Great Rune to increase his size.
He reallocated all his other stats into his physical body, raising them to absurd levels where the Night's Cavalry's attacks could barely scratch his defenses.
That kind of brutal, unceremonious slaughter was truly exhilarating.
The Night's Cavalry, however, were now drenched in sweat, completely at a loss.
They had a rough idea of Bai Shi's strength from Margit beforehand.
After Bai Shi had annihilated their ten-man squad, they had revised their assessment of his power upwards.
But they never imagined he would be this strong.
From the power Bai Shi was displaying now, the intelligence they had was worlds apart from reality.
The Night's Cavalry realized that, based on his current strength, the squad that was wiped out last time was probably handled by Bai Shi alone, with no involvement from the Crucible Knights.
The commander of this squad stared intently at Bai Shi, contemplating whether to summon the other nearby Night's Cavalry.
If, just if, they gathered all the Night's Cavalry active in Limgrave, they might have a chance of killing him.
As strong as the Storm King was, he wasn't a demigod.
If their entire force attacked, they had a real chance of taking him down right here.
The price, however, would be devastating losses for the Night's Cavalry...
Finally, the Night's Cavalryman steeled his resolve and took out a pitch-black horn.
This man was Lord Margit's greatest threat. What did devastating losses matter?
They, the Night's Cavalry, would never fear death.
The sound from the pitch-black horn cut through the night, reaching the ears of the other Night's Cavalry operating nearby.
They abandoned their targets and galloped toward the source of the sound.
That horn's call meant that a target of the highest priority had been found.