NTR: Barbarian Harem Conquest

’They are coming,’ Kane smiled in anticipation.

Thora felt the vibration simultaneously through her anklets.

Raising one hand without even glancing his way, she signaled the rest of the ridge.

Everyone stopped breathing.

Creak. Creak.

Marching around the eastern bend, the Menual column finally appeared.

They moved with terrifying discipline.

Maintaining a controlled pace, their flank commanders rode up and down the lines barking sharp orders to keep the dressing tight.

These were not amateur raiders or sloppy border militias.

Menual sent seasoned professionals.

Cavalry took the front, armored infantry stacked up right behind them, and somewhere in the back, twelve wooden siege engines creaked along on their wheeled frames.

Squeezing into the pass, the frontline rode forward.

"System, give me a read on the shiny one," Kane muttered, squinting at a commander in gold pauldrons.

[Target: Commander Aldric Ravan - Stage: Warbrand: Mid]

[Level: 29]

[Assessment: Experienced cavalry commander, twenty years’ service, three successful border campaigns]

[Weakness: Tactical thinking optimized for open ground. Limited experience in confined terrain engagement.]

’He’s good in an open field,’ Kane concluded, watching the man bark orders.

’But put him in a box, and he dies just like anyone else.’

Pushing deeper into the rocky bottleneck, the front riders suddenly hit the invisible World Tree node.

Everything stopped.

It didn’t happen all at once.

The leading six warhorses refused first, rearing up and screaming in sudden panic.

"Wha-what’s happening?"

"Hold your horses!"

Then the next four slammed into them.

A catastrophic ripple effect cascaded backward through the tightly packed column as beasts refused to step forward and cursing riders spurred them on.

"Move!"

The formation folded into itself, crushing legs and snapping bones as animals panicked.

"Hold the line! Control your mounts!" Commander Ravan bellowed, riding forward to assess the sudden disruption.

Standing high in his stirrups, he scanned the terrified horses, then glared at the steep ridge walls boxing them in.

Looking straight up, Ravan froze.

Standing up on the cliff edge, Kane raised Mjoldr high into the air.

A crimson aura erupted from the axe head.

It was deliberate.

To make them aware of incoming slaughter.

Across the yawning gap, Seraphine’s white sword flared in immediate answer.

"Now!" Sira yelled.

Forty composite bows released at once.

Firing from an elevated angle eliminated the value of any upward-oriented shields.

The sound was horribly specific, the crunching impact of forty simultaneous strikes tearing through iron plates and soft flesh.

"Agh!"

Men screamed. Horses shrieked. Blood sprayed wildly across the canyon walls.

Chaos consumed the channel instantly.

"Flanks!" Ravan’s voice tried to cut through the slaughter.

"Deploy left and right—"

’There’re no flanks, you idiot,’ Kane laughed internally.

Vertical walls trapped them perfectly.

Eight hundred elite cavalrymen squeezed into a contained gorge couldn’t perform the one maneuver cavalry actually existed to perform.

Refusing to wait on the ridge, Kane simply stepped off the edge.

Falling fifteen meters down the cliff face, he used protruding rocks as momentary brake points, tearing his boots up before hitting the valley floor at a dead sprint.

[Berserker Rage Lv2 - Bloodlust activated]

Transformation hit him instantly.

Cracked ribs stopped mattering.

A compromised arm suddenly felt fine.

His entire movement pattern shifted from calculated tactics to savagery.

The Menual soldiers staring at him had never seen a single man charge a hundred-man formation with such terrifying joy.

"Kill that barbarian!"

Swoosh.

Slicing through the nearest rider’s leveled lance, Mjoldr severed the shaft just inches from the iron head.

Continuing the spin, Kane buried the crimson blade directly into the rider’s neck.

Slash.

Hot blood geysered upward, painting Kane’s face as he ripped the weapon free, nearly decapitating the man in the process.

"Get him!" someone screamed, pointing a trembling spear.

Flicking his wrist, Kane hurled his axe at the third rider trying to charge.

He didn’t aim for the man.

Catching the horse in the jaw with the flat of the blade, the crunch of bone echoed loudly.

"Neeee-igh!"

The beast shied wildly sideways, its jaw completely shattered.

Inside a packed column, that lateral movement forced neighboring horses to crash together, tossing riders under trampling hooves.

Bones snapped like dry twigs under the stampede.

Catching Mjoldr on the return flight, Kane grinned.

"Who wants to go next?" Kane roared, driving the blade deep into the stone wall at shoulder height.

Using the connecting chain, he vaulted himself right over a wall of spears, his steel-toed boots caving in two different helmets simultaneously as he passed over.

Brains and bone fragments splattered across the stone.

Landing smoothly amidst the gore, he kept moving.

Up above, Sira coordinated the relentless archery volley.

"Shift your fire! Drop the back lines!"

Seraphine’s sixty warriors worked the opposite side with terrifying, divine-designated precision.

Arrows pinned men to the ground, skewering throats and piercing eyes.

Trying desperately to salvage the situation, Ravan barked fresh orders.

"Infantry! Push forward! Widen the damn lane!"

He correctly realized his cavalry was useless here, hoping armored foot soldiers could carve out some fighting room.

Slaughtering his way through the horses, Kane headed straight for Ravan.

He didn’t move in a straight line, instead carving a zigzagging path of severed limbs and spilling intestines, using every screaming soldier as a stepping stone to his real target.

[System: Conqueror’s Presence active - Allied morale +15%, Enemy efficiency -15%]

[Primal Resonance: Mjoldr attack speed +22% while Berserker Rage active]

[Soul Brand: Available - 1 application remaining before cooldown]

Ravan finally spotted the red-haired demon approaching.

’What is he?’

To the veteran commander’s credit, he did not flee.

Drawing a longsword, he spurred his horse forward to meet the threat head-on.

His horse hit the invisible node line and stopped dead.

"Hah?"

Recovering from the sudden halt in under two seconds, Ravan vaulted expertly from the saddle.

Landing cleanly on both feet, he brought his sword up, ready to strike.

"I will mount your head on my saddle!" Ravan spat, charging forward.

’You’re good,’ Kane acknowledged, blocking a vicious overhead strike.

’But I’m so much better.’

Three lightning-fast exchanges followed.

Ravan possessed technically flawless sword work, and his physical size offered a real challenge.

Sparks flew as steel clashed against crimson energy.

"Die, savage!" Ravan grunted, stepping into a sweeping horizontal cut.