Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest
Chapter 153 - 25: Only Cowards Die

Chapter 153: Chapter 25: Only Cowards Die

Nathan was blessed with exceptional talent, towering and fierce, standing two meters tall.

Born a farmer, he naturally had the physical condition to compete with a First Rank Conquest Knight.

He was suited for the Heavy Equipment troops, others needed both hands to lift a Heavy Shield that weighed around fifty kilograms, he could lift it with just one hand.

However, Roman felt that the Heavy Equipment troops were strong enough, and Nathan joining them would merely be gilding the lily.

So, he turned Nathan into a Close Combat Axe Soldier.

After these days of training, for some unknown reason, he seemed to have entered another phase of development, becoming even more ferocious, with his combat power skyrocketing.

Snap!

With one hand, he grabbed a passing ordinary cavalry from the horse’s back, hurled him to the ground, and stomped violently with his large foot.

The cavalry was wearing Lock Armor, yet his breastbone was crushed with a spurt of blood foam.

A Conquest Knight noticed the situation and immediately came to the rescue.

But Nathan did not dodge.

The Conquest Knight charged into the Archer Team and began a massacre, but the horse’s stored momentum had already been depleted.

Thus, as he approached Nathan, his speed was rather slow, only about three to four meters per second, equivalent to a human’s running speed.

Nathan advanced instead of retreating, stepping forward and swinging his Long-handled Axe, skewing the Cavalry Spear and the horse’s head together.

The approach horse’s skull cracked on impact, its limbs flailing uncontrollably, and it fell to the ground, obviously beyond saving.

Thud!

The Conquest Knight got up from the ground, looking up at Nathan, who was a head taller.

Fully armed as he was, the latter was lightly armored, yet a deep sense of fear surged in his heart as if he was facing a demon.

Nathan swung his axe again, chopping straight down.

The knight swiftly drew his Knight’s Sword to block.

Nathan had an unusual physique, and the axe was specially made, weighing over ten kilograms, feeling like a toy in his hand.

Although the giant axe did not cut through the Magic Steel Sword, the accompanying force could not be withstood by the cavalryman; there was a loud clang as the axe struck the helmet.

The knight immediately knelt, the top of his helmet denting inward, his entire head seeming to shrink by three to five centimeters.

"Three!" Nathan murmured.

He looked across the chaotic battlefield, where Conscripted Soldiers were starting to charge over as well.

Roman had forbidden him from killing ordinary Conscripted Soldiers.

Otherwise, even fifty of them would not be enough for him to kill.

Only Cavalry units counted as one human life, while Conquest Knights counted as two.

Hearing Roman’s request and finding it reasonable, Nathan nodded in agreement.

He knew well that rules did not favor those at the bottom.

But if he did not kill quickly, when would he ever get to thirty kills and earn his pardon to go home?

Nathan stepped forward again, seeking out lonely Cavalry or Conquest Knights.

...

One after another, war horses galloped past him, maintaining a certain interval.

Each Rider was spaced two to three meters, four to five meters apart, intermittently moving through.

This road was covered with soldiers knocked down.

Some were crying in pain from the mud, their arms and thighs crushed by horse hooves, but the successive charges of cavalry drowned out their faint moans.

After most of the cavalry had passed, a Conquest Knight rode his war horse through this area.

Kao suddenly surged forward, swinging his Hooked Scythe Spear.

With a neigh!

The war horse knelt on its front limbs, rolling onto its side, and the Conquest Knight on its back fell heavily.

The knight first drew his Long Sword, waving it frantically, warding off enemies from all directions, then slowly stood up.

He knew he had no allies, so he was extremely panicked.

Kao stood behind him, striking fiercely at his neck with the hooked spear.

The guard on the neck transferred a huge force, making him stagger and nearly kneel to the ground.

However, he immediately counterattacked fiercely, and his magic steel sword promptly sliced off an archer’s head nearby, blood spurting.

A dismounted Conquest Knight wasn’t something ordinary people could contend with.

Suddenly, Kao swung the hooked spear again, breaking his defensive move.

He turned like a furious lion and pounced towards Kao.

But the fisherman’s son was agile, jumping back in retreat.

He was relentless, determined to kill the treacherous wretch.

The battlefield was chaotic, and Kao stumbled.

Seeing this, he was overjoyed and immediately pursued, but he swung at air as Kao rolled away, then got up and also drew his long sword to meet the ongoing assault.

Clang!

The sound of gold and iron clashing, crisp with a strange tremor.

The knight was astonished to find that their weapons were made of the same material; they were not sharp enough to slice through iron effortlessly, but they had extreme tenacity, capable of withstanding intense hacking, though outrageously expensive—magic steel was ten times the price of ordinary steel.

"Are you also a knight?"

"I would like to be, but I haven’t had that honor. My master picked me out from a pile of slaves."

"A slave? Impossible!" The Conquest Knight was greatly shocked.

If a slave could fight against a Conquest Knight, what then was a Conquest Knight? he thought.

"There’s nothing impossible. My master saw potential in me, nurtured me, and bestowed power on me!"

Kao believed that the surging power within him was not only due to his grueling training but also related to his master.

At the dinner table on that snowy night, his master had him sit at a lower seat, patiently asking him about his training progress, and gave him a heart guard mixed with a trace of Mithril.

Afterward, he felt his body changing daily, eating more and growing stronger.

"You will die on the battlefield!" the knight said viciously.

"Cowards will die!" Kao retorted and ran to the knight’s left.

The helmeted knight had a much narrower view than normal people, only able to observe through the slits of his face guard.

An archer took the opportunity to approach from behind, but he killed him with a backhanded sword thrust.

"Everyone back off! Let me kill him!" Kao shouted as he ran.

The knight, turning left, followed Kao with his gaze.

The knight regarded the young man as a threat.

"Fight me in a duel!" the knight exclaimed, agitated.

He was anxious, the heavy equipment constraining him, and now convinced that the young man was no match for him!

Out of desperation, he lifted his face guard, and his field of vision abruptly widened.

It was at this point that Kao thrust a desperate sword from the side!

The dizzy knight was startled and also thrust his long sword, attempting to block the attack.

The sword edges crossed, biting at each other!

Kao didn’t dodge; his sword point stabbed straight at the knight’s face, disregarding the lethal attack aimed at his heart by the adversary.

The knight was horrified; he didn’t want to perish together.

Seeing the sword point stabbing straight at his face, he remembered this charge.

Four of his comrades taught them with their lives that those who lead are doomed to die.

This was why he dared not lead the charge.

Terrified, he shifted the position of his sword, just to parry the opponent’s long sword.

The two men were very close, and Kao quickly closed in. He took a sword hit, ignoring the streaming blood. With his right hand, he gripped the sword, and thrust it into the knight’s eye. In a painful instant, his arm’s veins bulged, desperately twisting the hilt.

In that moment, the shadow of death overwhelmed the knight’s consciousness.

Kao shivered, looking down at the cut in his side, blood gushing out but not deadly. Looking at the lifeless body, pale and bloodless, he coldly spat, "Cowards die!"