Five days passed in a flash.
On May 20, evening was already approaching. The last light of dusk shone across the sea, flickering with the rising and falling waves. It should have been a beautiful sight, but at this moment, no one had the heart to appreciate it.
The fleet had already sailed across the sea for five full days.
Now, every ship had slowed down, gradually drawing closer to the shore ahead.
Luke stood at the bow. The Secret Key was open at all times, and soon he received a message from Quinn.
"Your Highness, we have successfully taken control of the port."
Seeing the message, Luke immediately gave the order. "Increase speed. Land!"
As the command spread, every ship instantly began advancing at full speed, churning up white waves behind them.
As dusk faded and a trace of darkness descended over the horizon, Luke and the army successfully landed.
Before Luke now stood a small port city whose style was clearly different from Demacia's. The surrounding walls were built of black stone, and the buildings inside the city were unevenly arranged in various sizes.
Only now, no one was entering or leaving, and smoke was faintly rising from within the city.
The city gates were wide open, while the soldiers guarding the entrance and the walls were all Demacian warriors in white armor.
Arriving here meant that Luke and the others had already entered Noxian territory.
And this port city before them was Brue City, which was connected to Trevale.
Luke walked forward and saw Quinn coming to meet him. She slowly said, "Your Highness, we have already controlled everyone in the city and cut off any possibility of messages being sent out."
"Well done."
Luke nodded, entered the city, and arrived at the prisoner camp.
The people under control here were naturally Brue City's residents, traveling merchants, and some surviving soldiers. Most of them were Noxians. Looking out across them, there were more than ten thousand people.
When they saw Luke, who was clearly a commander, walking over, every pair of eyes revealed fear and disbelief.
Even before nightfall, none of these people could have imagined that they would actually be attacked by Demacia.
Even now, some still felt as if they were dreaming.
Quinn's operation had been too fast. She had led three thousand advance troops, taken fast ships directly to land, then immediately launched a fierce assault on Brue City.
At the same time, another three thousand troops had already landed a day earlier and ridden hard to circle around behind Brue City.
The two sides attacked at the same time, striking from both fronts. Before anyone could react, Brue City had already fallen under their control.
The purpose was to catch them by surprise and intercept every method they might use to send intelligence to Trevale.
Even the birds used for sending messages had been intercepted in the sky.
At this moment, the army led by Luke had already set foot in Noxian territory, but Trevale, which was close at hand, still knew nothing.
Quinn followed and asked, "Your Highness, how should we deal with these prisoners?"
Hearing this, Luke looked toward a Noxian commander who had been tied up completely. He looked miserable, and even his hair was a mess. This man was probably Brue City's leader.
Luke walked up, looked down at him from above, and asked, "If this were you, how would you deal with them in this situation?"
The Noxian commander's pupils shrank. He felt as if death itself had seized his throat, and he could not make a sound.
The Demacian commander before him was very young, but his eyes were like those of a cold god of death, filling him with fear from the bottom of his heart.
Noxus was highly inclusive. As one of Runeterra's famous invaders, they were also infamous for their brutality.
When they attacked a territory or a nation, they only gave two choices.
Either join Noxus and become part of them, or become corpses and slaves treated worse than livestock.
Burning, killing, looting, to Noxus, these things were all normal.
As if already foreseeing his own fate, he closed his eyes in despair.
Receiving no answer, Luke no longer paid him any attention. He withdrew his gaze and ordered, "Execute all soldiers. Leave none alive. As for the ordinary people, whether elderly, women, or children, reduce them all to slaves."
Quinn accepted the order and answered, "Yes!"
She naturally showed no mercy toward enemies. Soon, all surviving Noxian soldiers were executed on the spot.
Blood spilled across the ground, further igniting the fear in every prisoner's heart.
These Noxian soldiers naturally could not be allowed to survive. As long as they could still become Noxus's "fighting strength," they had to die.
Luke not torturing them was already the greatest mercy.
As for the ordinary Noxian civilians, they could be reduced to slaves and made to handle the army's dirtiest and most exhausting work.
And when necessary, they could also serve as "hostages." If everything went smoothly, there would only be more and more prisoners of war in the future, and some would have to be dealt with then.
This was war. If Luke were a little more ruthless, not a single person would have survived.
He did not enjoy killing. After sweeping his gaze across those prisoners, he turned around and looked toward the troops behind him. "We have sailed at sea for five days, but now is not yet the time to rest. At this moment, we must press forward in one breath and attack Trevale!"
He raised his fist, instantly drawing a wave of response.
"Attack Trevale!"
With the great shout, morale immediately rose by quite a bit.
Then Luke's eyes shone as he looked in Trevale's direction.
As a Noxian border-defense city, Trevale naturally could not be underestimated. This battle had to be fought.
It would also be the Demacian army's first true clash with Noxus.
The vast formation soon marched toward Trevale.
Brue City was very close to Trevale. The journey was expected to take only three hours.
At the same time, in Trevale.
Towering walls built of black stone stood among rugged mountains. They were proud works of many war masons, possessing both solid defense and a solemn, domineering image.
On the city walls, several squads of soldiers patrolled in alternating shifts. Within the city stood rows of Noxian-style houses, and for a border city, it was already rather large in scale.
The city's former masters had been clustered villages, until Noxus occupied this place and brought earthshaking changes.
But because it was located among the mountains, the city's size could not expand further.
At this moment, the city was a picture of peace. Though night had fallen, the streets were still quite lively.
No one imagined what they were about to face.
At this moment, in the lord's manor, Trevale's commander, Harvey, was leisurely enjoying the service of his maids.
One maid was massaging his shoulders, while another crouched silently and washed his feet. Her chest was faintly visible, pale and full, elastic enough that it seemed as if it might spring free at any moment.
The corners of his mouth curved upward. He glanced at the pretty-faced maid below him, looking from her face to her chest, then from her chest back to her face, and his smile grew increasingly satisfied.
Feeling the maid's soft little hands rubbing his rough feet, he thought that he would properly favor her tonight.
Although he had been transferred here from the capital a few months ago, far away from the center of power he had dreamed of reaching, he had originally thought it was a demotion and exile.
But he had not expected life on the border to be this comfortable. Here, he was truly like a local emperor, able to do whatever he wanted and order everyone around at will.
Those far away could not control him, and no one nearby could either.
His attitude had gone from dissatisfied at the start to secretly pleased now.
It would be wonderful if days like this could continue forever.
At this moment, he was already feeling somewhat impatient, but after glancing outside and seeing that the sky was not yet dark enough, he felt that now was not the right time to get down to business.
Three hours passed.
The sky grew even darker. On the city walls, the patrolling squads of soldiers had grown bored. Some stopped in place and chatted aimlessly.
"Speaking of which, the girl at that place I went to last night was really something."
"What's with you? Every time you get your pay, you go spend it on those women."
"Hey, I can't help it. They're all poor souls, just waiting for me to support them."
"So how good was she? Tell us properly."
"Heh, she really treated you like royalty. From the moment you walked through the door, a maid came right up to take off your shoes. Then, naturally, the first thing was a not-so-proper massage..."
One soldier leaned back with a lewd expression, vividly describing his wonderful experience.
The other soldiers leaned against the wall and listened with great interest, longing showing in their eyes.
"After the massage, the real service began... they..."
When the soldier reached this point, his voice suddenly stopped, and his expression became as if he had seen a ghost, full of shock.
"What happened with them? Say it already."
Another soldier urged him.
"They're here! They're here!"
The soldier suddenly shouted, scrambling and stumbling toward a high platform. He grabbed a drumstick, used all his strength, and slammed it down hard on the large drum standing there.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The other soldiers also sensed that something was wrong and turned around one after another. In the next second, their eyes widened at the same time.
In their field of vision, a white-armored army slowly appeared. In the black night, they were like moonlight shining down from the sky, bit by bit eroding the darkness.
They advanced in perfect order, and a vast momentum seemed to coil above them.
As the distance grew closer, their battle boots stamped against the ground, producing waves of heavy footfalls, sounding like the beat of drums.
The one riding at the front was a commander of extraordinary bearing, imposing and upright, with a pair of eyes that shone especially bright even in the night.
Clearly, there was still some distance between them, but the soldiers had the feeling that he was watching them, and their hearts could not help but jolt.
They saw him slowly draw his bow and nock an arrow. He aimed for an instant, then suddenly released.
The arrow shot out. In the next second, the drumming stopped. That arrow had already pierced through the head of the soldier at the drum.
Blood splashed, and the soldier's corpse collapsed to the ground. Several people stared at the sight in a daze.
In the next second, another arrow shot over, once again taking a life.
At this, the people finally came back to their senses.
"Is that Demacia?"
"It's Demacia! Look at their banners!"
"What is going on?"
"Demacia is attacking us?"
"Quick, report to the commander!"
"The rest of you, set up the defenses!"
"Blow the horns, hurry!"
The city wall instantly fell into chaos. At this moment, the Demacian army was still some distance away, but it seemed like a death warrant, leaving them both shocked and terrified.
Opposite them.
Luke rode forward on horseback. He raised his eyes and saw the soldiers on Trevale's black walls ducking behind cover, so he did not continue shooting.
It seemed Trevale really had not received any news about them. In that case, the difficulty of this siege had dropped quite a bit more.
"The enemy city is right before us. This will be our first battle. The crushing of Noxus begins here!"
Seeing that they were nearly within range, Luke drew his long blade and pointed it at the city wall. His eyes flashed with divine light as he shouted, "For Demacia!"
Behind him, every soldier shouted together, "For Demacia!"
Their voices shook like thunder, resounding through the black night, deafening.
On the city walls, the soldiers arranging the defensive line looked at the Demacian army's sky-piercing momentum. Without realizing it, their breathing became heavier, and their movements grew even more hurried.
Inside Harvey's manor.
It was already ten o'clock at night, the time when he was supposed to be off duty.
In the room, he took off his clothes until only his shorts remained, then looked toward the maid hiding beneath the quilt on the bed with a smile all over his face.
Tonight, he would let this little maid experience what Noxian virility meant.
Just as he was about to take off his shorts, the hurried sound of horses suddenly came from outside, growing closer and closer.
In the next second, a soldier in black armor barged in without explanation. His face was anxious, he was gasping for breath, and his figure was extremely disheveled.
"Didn't I say you must report before seeing me? Whose subordinate are you?"
Harvey looked over with a rather unpleasant expression, frowning in dissatisfaction, ready to erupt in anger.
The soldier had no time to introduce himself. He had already knelt down and said in terror, "My lord, De-Demacia is attacking!"
Only then did Harvey see the fear in the soldier's eyes. After hearing his words, he froze first.
Seeing him stunned, the soldier anxiously repeated in a loud voice, "My lord, Demacia is attacking!"
With a rumble in his head, Harvey suddenly snapped back to himself and widened his eyes. "What did you say?"
He had actually heard clearly, but it was still somewhat unbelievable, or rather, impossible for him to accept.
The soldier repeated for the third time, "Demacia is attacking! They are already at the city gates!"
The moment his words fell, there seemed to be another rumble.
Harvey felt his legs go weak, as if struck by lightning. The frail maid on the bed was now so frightened that she did not dare make a sound, trembling under the covers.
Even she was shocked by this sudden news.
Demacia was attacking?
"What about the news from Brue City? What about the scouts' reports?"
The moment Harvey asked the question, he already had the answer.
Clearly, Demacia had used some method. Launching a surprise attack on one city and sealing off the news was completely normal.
In the next second, Harvey came back to his senses and did not dare delay any longer. He stepped forward, not even bothering to put on his clothes. "Quick, have everyone assemble immediately to meet the enemy!"
As Harvey shouted, he hurriedly found his war boots and armor and began putting them on.
Before long, the great sound of horns suddenly resounded across Trevale's sky.
Hearing the horn calls, Harvey moved even faster, cold sweat already beginning to seep from his forehead.
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