After bidding farewell to Karin, Roger and his team set off for Holk College.
Holk City is in the northeast of Garin, not too far away. The 10 students plus William and his assistants, a total of 12 people, took three dragon carriages and the journey was expected to take 10 days.
The one who pulls the dragon carriage is naturally a dragon horse. This is a huge horse, about 1.5 times the size of an ordinary horse, and has a thin lineage of the dragon clan. The dragon horse's charging speed is slightly slower than that of ordinary horses, but its endurance is amazing. It can maintain a medium-speed running state for three days and three nights.
Excellent dragons and horses are undoubtedly the best riding beasts. The tall and militant Sakdo knights are paired with the best dragons and horses in the empire to form the Nalan Empire's most famous ground cavalry - the Imperial Black Blade Cavalry.
Dragon horses are officially controlled by the empire and are rare among the people. The bad horses bred in the imperial army are perfect for pulling carts and machinery. After meeting the army's own needs, imperial officials prioritized the distribution of dragon horses to major colleges. As one of the two major colleges in the empire, Holker College has priority. The carriages that go to various orphanages to pick up students are all dragon carriages, which are very impressive.
Ofina had only seen dragon horses in books, and this was the first time she saw them alive.
The huge and docile dragon horse attracted the interest of the curious girl, who shouted at Rogge to ride it. Rogge had no choice but to lift her up after a long time. After all, Ofina was short. The little girl swayed on the back of the dragon horse, her laughter like silver bells spreading all over the ground.
Looking at this healing picture, Rogge felt that the sadness of parting had faded a lot, and his mood improved a lot.
"Brother, come up quickly." Ofina stretched out her little hand to Rogge.
Rogge quickly mounted his horse and sat behind Ophina. The fresh fragrance of the girl in front of him lingered in his nose, and behind him, the sound of Lunt and the others arguing about who should ride first filled his ears. The road ahead was long, but fortunately he was not alone.
…
Rogge and his party were not in a hurry and kept walking. Three days later, they arrived at Fanli Town, a relatively large town along the way. There are many commodities in the town, and everyone plans to make some repairs here and replenish supplies.
After passing through the low city wall of the town, Teacher William led the students directly to the largest tavern in the town for dinner, while his assistant Gray went to buy supplies and inquire about road conditions.
Not long after, Gray, who was quick and agile, came to join them after completing his shopping and research. "William, I'm afraid we have to take a detour. It rained heavily a few days ago, and the bridge on the Doma River in front was washed away. It is being repaired."
"Well, let's go around to the north. The iron wall bridge over there is very strong and won't collapse." William decided.
The Doma River originates from the Iron Wall Mountains in the northwest of the empire, crosses the line connecting Jialin City and Holk City, and finally merges into the Nalan Chang River, the largest river in the empire. The heavy rains in the past few days caused the Doma River to swell. The fast water carried a piece of wood and slammed into the bridge, causing the bridge to collapse.
If Rogge and his party circled north, they would be close to the Iron Wall Mountains. The Iron Wall Mountains are located at the junction of the northwest of the empire and the Orc Alliance. They have a higher altitude and are more difficult to climb. They are a natural barrier. The main defense line of the Earldom of Garin is formed by the Iron Wall Mountains.
At the foot of the mountain, not far from the source of the Doma River, the empire built a strong bridge called the Iron Wall Bridge, which connected the Earldom of Garin and the Territory of Kwei. It was mostly used for military purposes. That was the goal of Rogge's detour.
This trip lasted for 3 days and passed through two villages. After crossing the Iron Wall Bridge, you can see a town, which is the territory of Kewei territory.
After everyone repaired all night, it started to rain again the next day, but it did not affect travel. Rogge and the others set out at 7 o'clock in the morning. Several boys and girls were used to getting up early and had already completed their morning exercises.
The light rain made no sound, and even though the detour was on a small road, it was very smooth, and we reached the first village unimpeded.
As usual, William led the students to eat while Gray went to inquire about the news.
After a while, Gray came back, looking not very good. "According to the coachman and hotel owner in the village, there have been three attacks on the west side of Tiebiqiao including here in the past few days, all of which were civilian vehicles pulling goods. There were no survivors of the attacked convoys, including There was a large convoy of 30 people, and five adventurers were hired to escort them, but all of them died. They speculated that it was the work of new bandits nearby."
"Robbers? It seems there are quite a few of them. Everyone should be careful when traveling tomorrow. Gray, go find the Imperial transport team we met today. It should be fine if we follow them together," William said.
"Okay." Gray responded and went out.
An imperial transport team happened to stop in this village while transporting supplies, and Rogge and the others encountered it when they came. The team has a total of 5 dragon carriages and 20 soldiers, pulling some food and a large number of weapons. They set out from Garin City to transport a batch of weapons customized by the military in Garin to the front line. The standard long sword made by Old Buck might be among them.
Gray went to explain the situation to the transportation captain. When the captain saw the three dragon carriages here, he knew that this could not be faked, so he readily agreed and made an appointment to go with them tomorrow.
The next day, the two motorcades met on time outside the village and traveled together.
The Imperial Transportation Captain is a veteran who retired from the front line. He did not want to leave the army and started working in logistics transportation. He is a cautious person. After hearing that there were bandits attacking the convoy nearby, he sent two scouts to explore the way forward, and he never left his sword. "These are the elite students of Holk College. I have to protect the hope of the empire." The old captain secretly made a promise.
The two teams had an uneventful journey and arrived at the second village safely. Half a day's journey ahead was the Iron Wall Bridge. Everyone repaired overnight and moved on.
The light rain was still falling lightly. The convoy marched cautiously for a long time and arrived at a pine forest. As long as you pass through this pine forest, the Iron Wall Bridge is right in front of you. This pine forest is indeed the best place for an ambush. The trees on both sides of the road are thick and can easily hide people. Everyone cheered up and did not dare to relax.
We walked through the pine forest without incident. You can already see a large open area ahead. Once you reach the open area, you will be completely safe. At this time, the drizzle stopped, and the tense atmosphere dissipated a lot.
Teacher William also relaxed a little. He looked around to see how the students were doing. But he saw that Rogge's arrow was already on the wolf tendon bow, looking ready to go.
"Roger, what's wrong?" William asked.
"The journey is uneventful. There is a safe open space in front of us. Our mental tension along the way will begin to relax at this time, and our vigilance will become worse. But teacher, we haven't left the pine forest yet. If there are really robbers ambushing us, we will be theirs now. The best time." Rogge said.
William was alert, and just as he was about to give a warning, the transport captain shouted from the car ahead: "There is an ambush! Meet the enemy! It's not thieves, it's goblins!"
At this time, the goblins had already launched the first wave of attacks, shooting arrows at the leading and trailing cars respectively. The first target was the dragon and horse, followed by the people. The dragon and horse pulling the cart would soon be immobilized by the poison from the goblin arrows. Once the head and tail were pinched, the entire convoy lost the ability to move.
"Don't be chaotic! The infantry holds up the shield and the archers fight back! Protect the students first!" the captain gave the order loudly.
The enemy's situation is unclear, so it is inappropriate to charge rashly. The best policy is to stabilize the position and reduce casualties. Among the 20 imperial soldiers, 6 are archers, and the rest are all infantry. Except for the captain, the average level of the other soldiers is that of junior warriors. They are not much better than Rogge and other students, or even worse.
But the soldiers acted very quickly. The 14 infantrymen, including the captain, quickly jumped on the roof of the vehicle and used the carriage as a cover to block their backs to prevent themselves from being attacked on both sides. The six archers, either in cars or behind shields, also found their positions.
Although the old captain worked in logistics, it seems that he has not slacked off in training his soldiers. It was precisely because of this quick reaction that the second wave of arrows after the goblins failed to achieve anything.
The students' dragon carriage was arranged in the middle of the motorcade, and Rogge was also there. When the first wave of goblins attacked, his first arrow had already been shot. The arrows of the wolf tendon bow were extremely fast and powerful. After hitting, the goblin flew back 1 meter, killing him. This goblin was shot by Rogge almost as soon as he showed his head and shot the arrow. It probably didn't expect that someone could fight back so quickly.
The second wave of goblins shot, and Rogge hit with another arrow, killing one. Rogge focused on the number of arrows in the two waves and estimated the number of enemies. "There are about 30 Goblin archers on the left, 50 meters away, and the shooting interval is about 12 seconds!" Rogge reported the information loudly.
"Defenders protect, everyone in the car gets out of the car! Goblins may shoot rockets, don't stay in the car!" William shouted during the shooting interval to organize the students. He is a senior swordsman. With a strength value of 5800 points, he is the strongest among this group of people. Assistant Gray is an intermediate defender with a strength value of 2400. At this time, he is holding a shield to cover several magician students from getting out of the car.
Ofina and Madeleine also got out of the car under the cover of Lunt. The enemy is far away and hidden in the woods, so the magician has no room to use.
The third wave of arrows hit, and an archer soldier couldn't dodge and was hit by two arrows. His life was in danger. In addition to the fact that three infantrymen were injured when the first wave of attacks were caught off guard, the number of injured has increased to four.
"Nana, the third car from the bottom, help!" Rogge shouted.
Ofina hated the goblins the most. This group of goblins that sneaked in belonged to the same group as the group that attacked her parents' stronghold five years ago. Ofina wanted to pierce them with the sword of light. , but it is a pity that the attack is not possible due to space limitations.
"About 35 on the right side, the arrows are poisonous, the wounded are coming closer to me!" Ofina shouted while running towards the seriously injured archer. Her powers of observation are also very strong. She cannot attack and can only observe the situation and report information.
"Young man, go and protect that little girl who is a bright magician. Move quickly!" the captain gave the order.
Although the goblin poison is not extremely poisonous, the poison will spread throughout the body as the poisoned person's blood circulates. The more you move, the faster the toxin spreads. You can only stay still for 5 minutes at most, and then you will be paralyzed and unable to move.
This is also the insidious part of the Goblin. With non-lethal poison, all the wounded will become a drag. Human beings value emotions, especially in the military. They will not leave their paralyzed teammates to be slaughtered. The people being rescued are being closely watched and can easily get injured, which can become a new burden. This tactic has been tried and tested by goblins and gives them many advantages.
After surviving another wave of arrows, three injured imperial infantrymen had arrived in front of Ofina, relying on the carriage to protect Ofina and the seriously wounded. One of the weaker soldiers was already staggering and could hardly move. Ofina maintained the intermediate healing technique for the seriously injured, holding the magic core staff, and quickly applied a blessing spell to each of the three infantrymen.
Blessing is only effective against low-level poisons. Although it cannot completely dispel the goblin poison, it has a mitigating effect and can ensure that the poisoned person can move freely for at least 10 minutes. After the operation, the three infantrymen felt that their hands and feet were no longer stiff, and their paralysis was much better.
At this time, the breathing of the seriously injured person who was shot in the lung gradually stabilized and his life was safe. Ofina also released the blessing spell on him, and the injured woke up leisurely and was able to move.
In just one minute, Ofina finished treating the wounded, and all the results obtained by the Goblin were lost. The Imperial Captain heard that this little girl was very strong, but he didn't expect that she was so strong and could cast healing and blessing spells at the same time. He quickly ordered everyone to move closer to Ofina if they were injured.
The goblins' shooting continued, and the arrows were no longer neat. Ofina received special attention from the goblins, and more than half of the arrows on the right side were shot at her. The three infantrymen did not cause Ofina any harm, but they themselves were hit by one or two arrows. Under the care of Ofina, who quickly pulled out arrows and released healing skills, the three infantrymen felt a little pain and bled a little. They felt that they were not afraid of being hit by arrows.
"Don't worry, as long as you are not killed, you will not die!" Ofina said.
Everyone felt that what Ophina said was very reasonable, and they were not afraid anymore.
