Lord Handanar

As the deafening shouts and cries of battle gradually receded, the battlefield on the northern slope of the forest area in the northern part of Handanar County lay scattered with bodies in disarray. The leaf litter in this forest area was particularly soft. Three Thunder Rhinos, burdened with heavy military supplies, slowly descended the hillside, leaving three rows of giant footprints along the forest paths cleared by hundreds of lumberjacks. These Thunder Rhinos, nearly twenty meters long and over nine meters tall, looked more like giant ships on land, each laden with various supplies. The Thunder Rhinos had four stout legs, and with each step, their cumbersome hooves sank deeply into the soft earth. The footprints, over a meter in diameter and half a meter deep, resembled pits designed to prevent cavalry charges. A squad of soldiers clad in metal armor followed behind the Thunder Rhinos. They were part of the Fourth Company of the 57th Heavy Armored Infantry Brigade under the command of Duke Newman. They had retreated from the front line a week ago and, after a week of repairs, were tasked with clearing the battlefield on the northern slope. The task of cleaning the battlefield was credited to Baron Sidney, the company commander of the Fourth Company. Had it not been for his relation as the brother-in-law of the brigade commander's wife, such a task would have been unlikely to fall to the infantrymen of the Fourth Company. The bodies of fallen soldiers were collected onto transport vehicles. Their armor and weapons, marked with the insignia of the 57th Infantry Brigade, were registered property listed in the brigade's inventory. If damaged, the military equipment could be repaired, and irreparable items could be replaced at the logistics base. However, during battlefield cleanup, this equipment could not be claimed as spoils of war. As for the personal belongings of deceased comrades, the soldiers cleaning the battlefield would not appropriate them unless they were mercenaries not affiliated with the main corps or private armies of local nobility. Each fallen soldier's identification tag was removed, signifying their official death. These tags, along with personal belongings and a sum of condolence money, would be sent to the soldiers' hometowns. Only by scavenging the belongings of fallen enemies on the battlefield could the soldiers tasked with cleanup gain any profit. After killing the enemy, frontline soldiers would collect the most valuable parts of the enemy, including their heads. Following them, some auxiliary troops would also scour the battlefield for loot. In the recent battle at the northern slope of the forest against the Abyssal Demon Legion, the forces included the 4th and 7th Armored Cavalry Regiments and the 57th and 59th Heavy Armored Infantry Brigades under Duke Newman. Duke Newman had assembled nearly a thousand armored cavalry and about three thousand heavy infantry, all to annihilate an Abyssal Demon scouting team of less than three hundred. In the early stages of the battle, the longbowmen of the heavy infantry brigades rained down a storm of steel arrows, surrounding the three hundred demons. Just as the armored cavalry employed wolf pack tactics to gradually annihilate the demons, another group of demons, responding to a distress signal, quickly arrived and opened a gap on the western side of the northern slope, allowing the remaining demons to break through. During the pursuit, the 7th Armored Cavalry Regiment left hundreds of demon bodies along the way. Surdak, a soldier, carried a square shield on his back, a steel axe with an ebony handle on his waist, and a bulging hemp bag on his shoulder, stained with blood. With every step, he left deep footprints in the soft forest floor. The rest of his squad were tasked with transporting the bodies of human warriors from the battlefield. These bodies, once confirmed dead by the squad leader, were hastily tended to by experienced veterans. Dispersed limbs were gathered, and the bodies were wrapped in linen, mummified, with identity tags and valuable belongings collected in standard-sized linen bags. Perhaps due to the frequency of such tasks, the faces of the veterans showed signs of numbness. Veteran Sam, while wrapping the bodies, would mutter phrases like, "You came from dust, and to dust you shall return..." – words that seemed more like self-consolation than solace for the departed. Surdak's task was to collect the bodies of demons from the battlefield. Although their heads and the valuable demonic leather on their chests had been removed, there were still many valuable materials on the bodies. He used a horn-tipped knife to cut open the woven armor on the demons, revealing iron-blue shoulders and a patch of black enhancement runes. Surdak exhaled in relief; he had already collected five such patches of black rune leather. Carefully, he began to cut through the tough demonic leather, but the knife quickly became unable to continue cutting. He had to stop and sharpen the knife on a whetstone, striving to prolong the life of his skinning knife. Surdak's hands were covered in deep purple blood as he continued to search the headless demon's body for other valuable materials.