Our Family Has Fallen

”To save Hamlet, it is our unshirkable duty,” the town mayor declared, leading a group forward, a short sword in his own hand.

The Baron was slightly shocked by the sight of the more than one hundred people the mayor had brought forth. This was a third of the town’s population, equivalent to all its able-bodied men. Among them, he could even see some women and elderly individuals, also wielding rudimentary weapons.

The Baron drew a sharp breath. So terrifying! They must be eliminated...

Thinking this, the Baron glanced at Alvin. Neither spoke, but their eyes met, conveying a shared, unspoken understanding. Whether driven by ambition or true loyalty, these people must die!

After this silent agreement, the Baron smiled and gestured.

”Excellent! Who would have thought Hamlet still had such brave warriors? Truly a blessing for that Lord.”

With that, he gestured to the Cavalry nearby. ”Let’s be on our way quickly. The longer we delay, the more danger Hamlet faces.”

”Move out!” Alvin understood the signal, barked the order, and led the troop away without looking back.

The townsfolk watched Alvin and his men depart. Instead of halting, they urged each other to quicken their pace, leaving the small town and heading down the road to Hamlet. Their determination was evident.

Meanwhile, Alvin, who had seemingly vanished, was lying in wait for his prey.

”Report! Eight hundred yards to go,” a cavalryman rushed forward to report.

”Armor up!” With a wave of his hand, Alvin had his Knight Squires help him don the armor taken from his horse.

The other soldiers also began assisting each other with their armor and quickly finished equipping themselves.

After creating some distance, they found a spot perfect for a cavalry charge and waited for those villagers to arrive.

”Mayor, why didn’t we attack just now?”

”Follow them. When we’re almost at Hamlet, we’ll strike. The Divine Envoy will see us then. They’ll never expect us to be enemies. We’ll attack them by surprise, right when we’re among them. Cooperating with the Divine Envoy, we’ll eliminate them.”

The mayor realized they were no match for the Nobility’s army. They had to betray them at a critical moment to have any impact. Besides, only by doing so could they catch the attention of the divine.

For this, he had brought out all the believers in the town. If successful, I might be bestowed a Seed and gain eternal life. Just thinking about it made his aging body surge with renewed vigor.

Alvin felt a similar boiling fervor.

”Attack!”

Without hesitation, Alvin took the lead. When fifty heavily-armored Cavalry formed up and began their charge, the ensuing din was unmistakable.

The mayor, still lost in his fantasies, felt the ground vibrate beneath him. Before he could react, he saw the fully armored Knights charging toward them.

”Damn it! It’s a trap...”

”How did they find out?”

”No!”

The mayor suddenly realized he might have exposed their intentions. The Cavalry was now right before him, leaving no time for any further struggle.

”For Hamlet!” Despair filled their hearts, but they could not reveal their true allegiance, even if it meant dying while posing as defenders of Hamlet.

”For Hamlet!”

The mayor shouted, and the other villagers responded in kind. Even in the face of the Cavalry charge, they dared to raise their weapons and counter-attack.

Such loyalty, however misplaced, inspired a flicker of admiration even from the Cavalry and the Baron.

But upon hearing these cries, Alvin’s face beneath his helmet grew even more ferocious. He spurred his horse onward, holding nothing back.

”Kill!”

With a fierce cry fueled by raging anger, he thrust his lance forward, skewering the mayor’s frail body and sending it flying.

With a backhand sweep, the power of his lance was unstoppable. Any villager it touched suffered broken bones; those hit in the head died instantly.

The other Cavalry charged in as well. A lance thrust through the body meant almost certain death.

Bodies pierced by lances crumpled under the massive impact, their spines snapping and organs tearing apart like exploded tomatoes.

By contrast, the villagers’ desperate final blows landed harmlessly on the armored Cavalry, failing to penetrate their defenses.

These fully armed cavalrymen were overwhelmingly superior in this scenario.

Yet, death did not deter them. The villagers continued to rush fearlessly forward, untrained, knowing only to stab at the Knights with their hayforks.

Some threw their bodies against the charging horses; others swarmed the cavalrymen, dragging them down, ripping off their helmets, and bringing down their makeshift weapons—kitchen knives, axes, and sickles—using every means at their disposal to take as many Knights with them as possible.

These villagers might have only participated in one or two Flesh Rites, likely in a group setting. The physical enhancements they received were quite minor, leaving them hardly different from ordinary people.

But once they turned demonic, their brain structures changed, their perceptions became twisted, and saving them was almost impossible...

In the end, the disparity was too great. No matter how fiercely the villagers fought back, all that remained was a tragic massacre.

The Cavalry Squad became frenzied, charging back and forth, slaughtering any peasant who dared to resist. By the time they came to their senses, not a single enemy was left standing.

The battlefield was now soaked red with blood. Hundreds lay dead, their bodies mangled, some even reduced to pulp under the horses’ hooves, trampled into the earth.

More blood seeped into the soil, nourishing the abominations that lay within...