The two Death Knights suddenly clamped down with their legs. Black vapors burst from the nostrils of the skeletal warhorses, and the flames at their feet spread across their entire bodies as they charged forward at once.
With the abilities of the Death Knights, it did not take long for them to detect the location of the nearby centaur tribe. Because the centaurs and the Acromantulas had gone to war some time ago, many centaur warriors had been patrolling outside the tribe to guard against sneak attacks from the giant spiders.
"Ronan! Have you seen Firenze? It's almost time to change shifts. Where did that fellow run off to?"
"He was called away by the diviner. I heard... the diviner read something ill in the stars."
Ronan answered, tightening his grip on the bow in his hand as he said nervously, "Bane, I don't know why, but I have a bad... damn it, what is that?!"
Ronan cried out in alarm. In the same instant, he drew his bow to the full and loosed an arrow into the distance.
Hearing his shout, Bane turned around as well, and his pupils shrank at once.
Out from the depths of the forest came two warhorses engulfed in flame. On their backs rode two warriors whose bodies were completely hidden beneath armor.
"Enemy attack!!"
Bane roared a warning. Ronan's arrow had already flown in front of the enemy, yet the rider neither dodged nor slowed, continuing the charge without hesitation. What shocked him was that Ronan's arrow left nothing more than a tiny white mark on the enemy's armor.
"That's impossible!!"
The arrows of the centaurs carried magical force. Even ordinary wizards would struggle to withstand them. How could they be stopped by a mere suit of armor?
Altair, however, found nothing surprising in it. It was enchanted armor, after all. There was no way ordinary centaur arrows could pierce it. Otherwise, would undead knights not be far too useless?
"Fall back!"
The moment Ronan saw his arrow glance away, he began retreating. With the bodies of horses, centaurs could run extremely fast.
But Bane was a step too slow because of his shock. By the time he reacted, the two Death Knights were already upon him.
One of them drew a great sword from its back and slashed down at Bane.
Bane raised his bow, hoping to block the blow.
Unfortunately...
The sword cut through Bane's bow with effortless ease. Under his horrified gaze, it swept across his throat, and a strange black gleam flashed over the blade. At once, the wound on Bane's neck began to gray and rot with terrifying speed.
"No..."
Bane gave a muffled grunt and fell stiffly to the ground.
The two Death Knights pursued Ronan and charged straight into the centaur tribe.
On the ground, a trail of footprints suddenly appeared from nowhere and came to a stop beside Bane's corpse. Then a collection barrel appeared in midair, and immediately the crimson blood from his wound gathered together, becoming a stream of blood that poured into the barrel.
"A pity there isn't enough time. Otherwise I could have collected some blood under happy emotions as well..."
Altair was afraid that lingering too long would attract Dumbledore's attention, so he wasted no time. Even his method of extraction was crude, using magic to forcibly draw the blood. Although that would lower the quality of the material somewhat, it was still within an acceptable range.
Inside the centaur tribe, screams and shouts rose one after another.
Several dozen centaur warriors were besieging the Death Knights, while two centaurs dressed as diviners stood to one side, casting healing magic on the warriors.
As for the foals and the female centaurs, they were already being escorted away by two warriors.
Altair paid them no mind, because they had never been his target in the first place. According to Saruman's experimental notes, the blood of warriors made the Uruk-hai far stronger, and the Uruk-hai would even inherit the warriors' combat skills.
It had to be said, the centaurs were able to survive in the Forbidden Forest because they truly had their own strengths.
With the combined efforts of dozens of centaur warriors, the two Death Knights were forcibly held in check.
Centaurs were already extremely tall by nature, and some of the stronger warriors were nearly as large as the Death Knights themselves. After realizing that bows and arrows could not harm the Death Knights, the centaurs switched to spears, swords, and similar weapons.
The Death Knights were powerful, but there were only two of them, so they had taken many blows. Even their armor had been beaten into a battered ruin.
Of course, the centaurs had paid a terrible price as well. At least ten of them had already lost their lives.
"Die!!"
Firenze let out a furious roar. The muscles all over his body bulged and knotted, making him look terrifying. He raised a sharp spear high overhead and drove it into the gap in a Death Knight's helmet, straight into its eye.
"Well done, Firenze!"
The other centaurs cried out in excitement. Firenze panted heavily, his chest heaving violently. Before he could speak, however, he heard the other centaurs shouting again in alarm.
"Could it be..."
Firenze's whole body went rigid. He felt a deadly danger descending upon him. He had only enough time to turn his head before he saw the Death Knight, with the spear still lodged in its skull, sweeping a sword toward him.
Then Firenze seemed to see a headless centaur...
"They are undead!! They are creatures of death!!"
One of the diviners shouted, and only then did the centaurs fully understand. At that same moment, the Death Knight yanked the spear from its own head, and the crimson ghost-fire in its eyes flared back to life.
Because the spear had been torn free, its helmet split apart into fragments, revealing the head inside.
If it could still be called a head.
Pale skull bone hung with shriveled, rotten flesh, while two eyes like burning flames blazed fiercely, as though they could devour a person's soul.
"The stars already told us the answer. The centaur tribe will be destroyed... destroyed by death..."
The diviner muttered the words, and the other centaurs felt a chill run through their entire bodies.
They had fought with all their strength just to break through the enemy's armor, only to discover that beneath that armor were undead creatures that felt no pain and ignored all injury.
And most undead were controlled by someone.
Even if they sacrificed everything and managed to kill these two undead, so what?
How were they supposed to deal with the one controlling them?
Were they truly meant to sacrifice so many warriors just to destroy two undead?