"I ...... Did I just hallucinate?"

On the plain, the eyes of an enemy cavalry widened, muttering to himself, and the expression on his face was full of shock, as if he had seen something extremely beyond his imagination.

No one answered him, because it was not only him, but many of the nearby cavalry had basically the same expression.

Let's go back half a minute a bit.

......

As Melti used bows and arrows to kill and repel the cavalry squads chasing by the enemy country again and again, the enemy naturally paid attention to her, and the commander of this group of pursuing troops, Newman, who had the title of viscount in the B Empire, immediately adjusted his strategy.

He told the pursuing cavalry not to scatter and rush forward again, but to fire a flare after discovering the position of the White Rose squad and then try to stay away from each other, waiting to join the larger army.

Eventually, Newman led his team to hang far behind the White Rose squad, and only after gathering the size of a cavalry squadron of more than sixty men did he begin to accelerate the pursuit.

And also let the soldiers in the cavalry squadron spread out into five squads, at least twenty meters apart from each other, and then press on one another.

In each cavalry squad, there are two or three soldiers who are good at bows and arrows.

The White Rose squad naturally did not sit still, they ran in front, and if they used the bow and arrow to shoot backwards, because the horses would also run some distance during the short period of the bow and arrow's flight, the bow and arrow could indirectly have a longer flight range than Newman's cavalry in the rear, which naturally had to be exploited.

As the strongest archery in the team, Melti naturally continued to use the iron string bow, and she was not the only archer in the team.

The members of this escort team selected by Lampel, the leader of the White Rose Knights, were not only the ones he thought he could trust, but also the abilities of each member were also considered by Lampel.

So, in fact, most of the people in the squad have some mastery of bow and arrow skills. Although they can't do it at the level of Merti, they can still do it if they use their bows and arrows to harass the pursuing enemies while running on horseback. More than ten people shot arrows on horseback, if the luck is not too bad, as long as the distance is not too far, such as about a hundred meters, then it is not too much of a problem to hit five or six arrows.

They don't have the arm strength to use an iron-stringed bow, but they can at least use a regular hardwood bow.

Originally, there were not many bows and arrows in the team, but Melti killed more than 200 enemies in the woods, and when she returned, she took advantage of the situation to collect a lot, and took eight ordinary bows alone, and brought back a lot of arrows.

Although dozens of pursuers had been shot back and forth on the plains, Melti's quiver was still fully loaded, as she had taken some of the arrows that had been placed on the other members of the team.

The other White Rose Knights had no objection to Merti's approach, after all, everyone had already seen with their own eyes how powerful this little girl's bow skills were. Compared to her, the bow and arrow were a waste in their hands, and they had only carried them for the girl to help her share the weight.

However, now facing the attack of more than sixty pursuers, everyone in the White Rose team also felt that they could no longer just watch.

However, at the beginning, the sixteen knights in the White Rose team, including Lotus, were not in a hurry to make a move. Because the enemy has not yet caught up to the range that will allow them to reach with their bows.

Newman's squadron of cavalry began to accelerate the pursuit only after it had assembled from a position maintaining a distance of a kilometer. Because after paying for the lives of dozens of comrades, they roughly estimated the limit range of the bow and arrow in Melti's hand, which was about 900 meters.

After a distance of more than a kilometer, even with the powerful bowstring power of the iron string bow and Melti's terrifying precision archery ability, there is no way to make the arrow fly so far and still effectively kill the target.

But even so, in Newman's opinion, it is extremely terrifying. In order to test this safe distance, dozens of people were sacrificed under his command, almost half of the total number of the pursuing force under his command. The results of the sacrifice of these dozens of people, in addition to spying on intelligence, only cost Melty dozens of arrows and a slight increase in fatigue in her arms.

After gathering all the remaining sixty subordinates, Newman finally made up his mind to lead his team to accelerate the pursuit, shorten the distance, and even rush directly to the front of the formation of his subordinates scattered into five cavalry squads in order to increase morale.

"Listen to my orders, whoever can capture the prince alive, I will reward him with a hundred gold coins! For every White Rose Knight killed, there will also be a reward of five gold coins!"

After the charge began, Newman yelled and promised his men a large reward. Hearing the bounty figure, the cavalry squad behind him all seemed to have their eyes reddened, and a strong look of eagerness appeared on their faces.

That's the greed and excitement that comes after seeing wealth.

In this world of trial quests, people's trading currencies are coins minted from various precious metals, among which gold coins are the currency with the highest face value, and the purchasing power of a gold coin is enough for a civilian family to live without worrying about food and drink for three months.

A hundred gold coins are a huge wealth that a civilian family can not hope to earn by working hard for half their lives. It can be said that as long as they get the bounty of this hundred gold coins, for these soldiers, they can enjoy a rich life without worrying about eating and drinking for the rest of their lives.

Even if it is a slightly inferior head bounty of the White Rose Knights, it is also very exciting for these soldiers under Newman's command, after all, Prince Henry has only one person, which means that the maximum bounty is only one, but the head share of the White Rose Knights is more than a dozen, as long as they work a little hard, they are still very hopeful to compete for this bounty.

As if feeling that the temptation was not enough, Newman then added:

"If anyone can kill the young female archer who killed many of our comrades, I will reward him with two hundred gold coins!!"

"Even if it just hurts her, I'm willing to promise him a reward of ten gold coins!"

"Whoever captures that girl alive will be rewarded with five hundred gold coins! and I promise to recommend him to His Majesty the Emperor to become a nobleman!"

As soon as Newman's words came out, the cavalry behind him were stunned, and after reacting, their faces turned red, which showed how excited they were.

Whether it's a capture or a kill, as long as you can deal with that female archer, you can get a bounty of hundreds of gold coins!?

Newman's reward for Melty was even higher than the bounty for capturing Prince Henry alive! Even if he was a viscount of the empire and had a formal noble fief, he would feel a little painful to come up with such a bounty.

But the effect of this bounty promise is well worth it.

Originally, because of Melti's terrifying bow and arrow sniping ability and the terrifying record of killing and seriously injuring dozens of comrades one after another, these cavalry under Newman's command inevitably became afraid when facing her.

Even if under Newman's order, five squads were assembled and planned to attack again, but they were still very apprehensive.

Even if it weren't for the fact that they were highly trained elite men in the first place, and that Imperial military law treats deserters very harshly, it is likely that these Imperial cavalry would not have dared to approach Melti's White Rose Squad.

I am afraid that if I am unlucky, I will be targeted by that terrifying female archer, and then I will be seriously injured or even killed by one of his arrows like those comrades who died before.

This is normal, no matter how elite they are, these soldiers are still normal human beings, and they naturally have a fear of death.

But now, after Newman, the commander of the cavalry and the viscount of the empire, made a big promise, the fear of Melty in the hearts of these soldiers was directly suppressed by the greed aroused by the bounty.

"What are you afraid of! As long as you are lucky, sixty people will rush together, and there will always be someone who will be able to rush through! When the time comes, kill or capture that girl, and this life will be completely free!"

All the soldiers' minds were occupied by such thoughts at the moment.

Especially the last one Newman promised, if they could capture the young female archer alive, they would not only get the richest bounty, but even have the opportunity to be promoted from commoners to nobles of the Empire!

This is the most attractive reward for these soldiers of the B Empire. Because in Empire B, commoners and nobles are almost people from two worlds, the aristocratic class basically lives by exploiting commoners, and the whole country pursues the rule of the jungle.

Although such a membership class and the rule of the law of the jungle made the empire's comprehensive military strength extremely strong, the gap between the rich and the poor between the different classes in the country was also huge, so large that countless commoners there were willing to pay any price to become nobles.

The reason why these soldiers risked their lives to join the army was partly because of compulsory military service in the upper echelons of the empire, and on the other hand, because of the expectation that they would be able to establish themselves on the battlefield and get rid of the civilian class.

And now, the opportunity is here!

"Kill!"

"Kill that little girl!"

"Kill or capture alive, you must take down that little girl!"

"This is the best opportunity! Everyone, for the bounty, for the nobility, for the empire, rush together——!!"

The cavalry, who were mobilized by Newman to be greedy, at this moment, all burst out with the greatest motivation and began to charge fearlessly.

Looking at this scene, the corners of Newman's mouth were slightly hooked, and with a wave of his horsewhip, he charged with the five cavalry squads, and then slowly retreated to the middle and rear of the cavalry squad without a trace.

Originally, he went to the front to personally lead the team, just to boost the morale of these cavalrymen, but now that the bounty has a better effect, he naturally no longer takes risks himself.

He was an imperial nobleman, even if he was only a viscount, countless times more noble than these civilian soldiers, how could he really be willing to venture with them and charge at the forefront of the battle that was likely to die?

Kilometers ahead, inside the White Rose squad.

Gee...... That guy is using you as a bounty to boost the morale of the soldiers. Jiang Yan on Melty's shoulder has been paying attention to the situation on Newman's side, and at this moment, he smiled and joked to the girl:

And that guy promised to capture you, and the reward was far higher than that of killing you, and he seemed to have some crooked thoughts after capturing you alive, and I saw that the look in his eyes when he first saw you before was obviously impure, tsk...... But this is normal, after all, our little princess of the wood spirit is indeed very beautiful.

[My Honored Majesty, please don't deliberately say something that will distract me at such a time, okay?] Merti replied helplessly in her mind.

It's just stating the facts. Jiang Yan smiled faintly.

Melty sighed, ignored Jiang Yan, quickly calmed down her state of mind, and looked at the cavalry of the B Empire who were rushing towards her like chicken blood, her eyes were slightly cold.

Without hesitation, the iron-stringed bow that had been clenched for a long time was raised directly, and Melti pulled out three arrows in a row and put them on the bowstring, pulling it full with force.

In the distance, after the Imperial cavalry saw this familiar scene that had buried dozens of their comrades, the greedy heart that had been provoked by Newman suddenly couldn't help but cool down a little, but they did not retreat, but continued to charge at full speed.

just raised their arms one after another, lifted up a small round shield about half a meter wide and stretched it forward, blocking the chest of the war horse, and at the same time, their whole body was also lowered, curled up on the back of the war horse, and from the front of the war horse, their upper body was almost invisible.

This is a tactic developed by the Imperial cavalry to effectively increase their survival rate when being targeted by Merti's bow while charging. The rider uses the body of the war horse to cover his vital parts, and the small round shield held by the rider helps the war horse to cover the vital parts to a certain extent.

However, this is just their imagination. For Melti, such a tactic would not have worked.

"Boom!"

"Boom!!"

"Boom ——!!!"

The iron-stringed bow vibrated continuously, and one arrow after another flew out in succession, falling into the formation of the Imperial cavalry.

The Imperial cavalry noticed this and moved their shields upwards to cover the horses' heads, exposing the horses' chests and immediately striking them with arrows.

Whether they were hit in the chest or in the head by an arrow, those horses were either dead or maimed, and after being hit by an arrow, they would immediately fall weakly with the Imperial cavalry on their backs, leaving them behind, and even if they were lucky enough to survive, it would be impossible to appear in front of Merti again in a short time.

The imperial cavalry watched one comrade after another fall behind, and the fear in their hearts rose again, but they could only bite the bullet and continue to sprint.

If they could, they would have preferred themselves to be heavy cavalry in full armor, but alas, as a pursuit unit that needed to retain extremely high speed, they were armed with light chain mail or leather armor, and at most they could only carry a small light round shield.

The same is true for war horses, which do not wear any protection at all.

Heavy armor and large shields, although the defense is higher, but their weight is also very high, if they are worn, the speed of the cavalry unit will be greatly affected, so the unit under Newman's command for pursuit does not have any heavy armor protective equipment at all.

This is also the main reason why they will appear so vulnerable under Melti's bow and arrows.