Blood filled with the smell of rust splashed under the dim moonlight. The Sivalier light infantry wearing mail turbans widened their eyes and reached out to try to cover the slit throat, but before that, Ivan grabbed the back of his head. He pinned his whole body on the grass full of water.
"Crash -" The blood from the cut artery of the soldier who fell face down gradually overflowed in the water under the dim light of Perefensi in the early moon. Ivan lowered his body. "Who is it!" The sound of the water caused another stir. Attention of an infantryman, he turned around and looked around. The soldier, who was brightly exposed in the moonlight, became the second victim. The short horn bow allowed Ivan to easily shoot from a crouching position. The explosive arrow accurately hit his left eye, and the soldier struck hard. Then he turned over and fell to the ground.
"Coo-coo--" The older archer vividly imitated the sound of the nocturnal pheasant common on the West Coast to convey the signal to the few people behind. After Henry and the others received the signal, they led the horses out. The war horses that understood human nature lowered their heads. The wild grass half a man's height was not enough to hide their movements, but the sentries here had been dealt with in advance, so there was not much to worry about.
Rigar's first bright moon, Perefensi, is the smallest of all moons. Everyone set out immediately after nightfall in order to use this dim moonlight as cover.
The clouds that remained after today's heavy rain provided more cover, and the group tried their best to move forward without making too much noise. The smooth outer wall of Ellen's Fort not far away looked extremely dazzling in the dim moonlight. The firelight was swaying. From such a long distance, the group could tell what kind of banquet was being held there.
—It was Henry's idea to go from here to Wawasika.
Common sense thinking in this case is that of course they should stay as far away from enemy-occupied areas as Fort Ellen, so when Henry proposed this plan, it was no surprise that some people-such as Rhodes Ni and Rodney - protested seriously that it was an unnecessary risk. Even the other mercenaries who did not open their mouths to refute looked at our sage with suspicion, but this suspicion was easily resolved by his calm explanation as always.
Areas that have been occupied are often the most laxly defended.
There are three reasons why Henry chose to cross the main road near Fort Ellen. One is that this road is the closest and the best, and the relatively strong and flat road is very good for accelerating horses. If a group of people can walk up to ten kilometers a day in a rugged and muddy forest, when they switch to a real "road", this data can be at least five to six times higher.
Soldiers are valuable and quick, and in this situation, it is most important to get to Wawasika as soon as possible.
The second reason is because of the strategic deployment of the Siwaliya people.
As mentioned before, they attacked and occupied Ellen's Fort in order to use it as an advance base - in other words, there were at least 10,000 to 20,000 people stationed near Ellen's Fort that had been captured. of Sivalier army.
With such a dozen troops stacked here, the Sivaliya people, who were full of confidence, naturally became less vigilant. The bright lights in the distance proved this. Ordinary lighting torches could only illuminate the walkways and city gates. The bright firelight shining through the outline of the fort that could be seen from such a distance obviously came from the large celebratory bonfire.
The last and most important reason is the military system of the Siwaliya people.
Known as the country of knights and the birthplace of knightly contests, this plains country pays very little attention to infantry and scouts of all kinds. In Sivalier's military structure, archers and other infantry units also serve as handymen. Naturally, they cannot be elites if they are not taken seriously. Poor treatment and a chaotic command system make these soldiers as bad as the armies of other countries on the west coast, and after giving them the task of "culling any caravans and travelers approaching here", you certainly don't expect to get anything. What a high execution efficiency.
Irregular and scattered patrols, scattered and unorganized ordinary soldiers who just move with their acquaintances. Even if a few of these people were missing, no one would realize it, and they had basically no awareness of warning friendly forces when they were attacked.
The main force of the heavy cavalry was drinking and having fun in the outpost, while the infantrymen who were assigned to do hard work were half-hearted and unwary.
Henry used these conditions as a basis to boldly make the decision to sneak past the 20,000-strong army in the dark - and the facts once again proved that he was right.
The two soldiers who were killed by Ivan ran into each other like a blind cat to death. The moment the group of people were all nervous, but then they discovered that these two people were actually in the wild. Just standing around drinking and talking nonsense, my hanging heart was relieved again.
The soldiers who had no ability to resist were easily dispatched. The wild grass on the empty plain was swayed by the cold night wind. The clouds swam slowly and the moonlight shone on the group of people who were moving forward quietly.
Henry's greatsword was hidden under his cloak, as were the others. Anything that might reflect the moonlight was hidden by them, and even the arrows of Jericho and Ivan were painted black with the sap of the Aika black pine.
The cold wind blew across the unobstructed half-slope, and the night wind after the autumn rain seemed very biting. The white-haired girl from Luo'an was trembling a little. At a young age, her physical strength was not comparable to that of others. The day's rush in the rain had already made Mira unable to open her eyes.
Henry reached out and touched her little head. Not to be outdone, the stubborn girl took a deep breath of cold air to cheer herself up. In order to avoid increasing the risk of being discovered, the group of people led the war horses to keep their heads down, but even so, these eight hundred kilogram beasts still made a dull sound when they moved.
Fortunately, this did not attract anyone's attention. Just as Henry expected, there were very few sentry posts here.
Any travelers or caravans approaching the outside were massacred by Sivalier's army without distinction, and the tens of thousands of troops stationed on the inside gave them confidence. Naturally, there was no need to dispatch troops in the vacuum zone in the middle in this case. What a patrol team.
But even so, Henry and the others still had something to worry about.
"Stop!"
Evan said in front.
Built on the highest point of the hill with the mountain forest at its back, Fort Ellen has a broad view overlooking the entire area. Even if the people there are enjoying dinner, there is still a risk of being seen by the sentry.
This is no joke. Once discovered by the sentry over there, they will definitely face the pursuit of a whole group of heavy cavalry.
Even Henry definitely didn't want to see that situation.
The procession stopped.
The brightly lit Ellen's Fortress looked quite eye-catching in the darkness. Several black spots on the wall were shaking back and forth. The mercenaries all hid. Bernie wisely asked the team members to drive the horses and scatter them. - Ecasta There is no shortage of wild herbivores on the plains. The unmounted horses scattered randomly look like elk or wild horses from this distance.
"Huh -" Mira controlled her breathing intentionally. She felt a soreness in her calf muscles as soon as she squatted down. The long walk made the girl feel a little uncomfortable. There was a sound of swaying grass. She turned her head and Henry came next to her. The black-haired sage squatted on her right side and was looking intently at the outpost in the distance through the gaps in the weeds that were half a person tall.
"Still." Ivan's words were simple and clear. Henry frowned. More black spots appeared in the firelight of the fort. They moved back and forth, and the sage began to have a bad premonition.
"Are they suspicious?" A female voice sounded next to her, but it was not Mira, but Minna. Henry turned his head, and the blond girl's eyes reflected the moonlight and were blue and bright.
"I don't know." He shook his head. The distance allowed Henry and the others to barely see that there were people there.
The moment to make a decision came again. Henry looked back at Bernie, and the team leader's expression was also quite serious.
Whether the other party discovered them is a very critical factor - if they discovered it, or became suspicious and decided to send a patrol, then staying here would be tantamount to waiting for death.
But if you rush out like this, the risk of exposure will also greatly increase.
Should they stay here and wait to see if anyone is sent to scout, or take a chance and rush to the other side at full speed - no matter which one they choose, their lives are at stake. At this critical juncture, if they make one wrong move, they will be destroyed. All will be lost.
Henry handed over the decision to Bernie. The team leader gritted his teeth and thought for a moment. When he was about to make a decision, Ivan spoke again.
"We have company!" the older archer said, and Henry looked out. The danger came from the other side. Several infantrymen who seemed to have just completed their patrol came towards this side from the woods.
"...Damn" Bernie cursed and took out his dagger. It was difficult to detect from a distance, but if they walked this way, the infantry would definitely be able to find that these horses were not ordinary wild horses.
The reins, stirrups, and saddles all exposed them. Once a group of eight people approached this side, whether they chose to fight or not, they would definitely attract the attention of the person in the distance.
It had to be solved the moment they walked out of the forest.
"Evan, Jericho, you deal with the people around you." Bernie said, and Bjorn next to him crouched down and slowly approached under the cover of the horses. Henry untied the belt of the big sword and then took it. It was handed to Ming Na next to her. The weight made the girl stagger and almost sit on the ground. Then the sage also drew out the short knife.
The horses that suddenly appeared in the clearing attracted the attention of the soldiers as expected, and they walked towards the periphery from the edge of the forest. Bernie, Bjorn, and Henry slowly approached. Behind them, Ivan drew the short bow but just held it. Jericho on the side loosened the bow string with trembling hands due to nervousness.
"Wha--" A lone soldier casually was hit directly on the forehead by this arrow and fell to the ground. Henry and the others shot this arrow before they could get close enough to use it. It can be said that the arrow was extremely powerful. It was a big failure, but now was not the time to blame Jericho. The soldiers fell stunned for a moment, and then they drew out their weapons, and one of them even grabbed the horn around his waist and was about to blow it.
"Pa---" But the old archer had already aimed at him, and an arrow pierced his heart, causing the sentry's back to hit the tree trunk and then he collapsed to the ground.
"Liam! Liam!" The remaining soldiers yelled in Shivalier language in a panic that there were enemies nearby. Fortunately, the words could not be conveyed to the location of Fort Ellen in the distance, and the shouting leader The soldier who screamed was immediately blocked by Ivan with an arrow.
The soldiers who knelt down holding the dark arrows widened their eyes as another arrow from Jericho hit the chest and died completely. Seeing this, the remaining five soldiers did not dare to make a sound anymore and just tensed up. He leaned against the tree trunk and looked out in panic.
"It's difficult..." Bernie was lying on the ground with cold sweat dripping from his forehead. In one round of confrontation, the opponent didn't even know where they were, but they killed three people. This seemed to have gained an advantage, but in fact it was a missed opportunity. .
The ideal plan was to use horses to lure these soldiers over and then work together to kill them all in an instant, but all this was completely ruined by Jericho's impatient arrow. The soldiers who were now on alert just hid in the woods and fought with them. As time went by, the chance of the group being discovered gradually increased.
"What do you have-" Bernie turned his head, and when he was about to ask Henry what he had in mind, he found that the sage behind him had long disappeared.
'What's going on?' The mercenary squad leader frowned and looked forward. At this moment, a Silvalier infantryman hiding behind a tree slightly peeked out.
This sight became the last scene he saw in his life.
Like a scorpion about to sting its poisonous tail, or like a falcon swooping in the sky, Henry hung his legs upside down on the branch with his upper body facing down and fell down with a "shoo--" and then held the knife in his backhand and stabbed through it directly. The soldier's face was covered with blood. The black-haired sage immediately released the short sword in his hand and twisted his waist. He spun around in mid-air and landed firmly on the ground.
Before the soldier next to him could react, his nose was directly broken by his powerful punch. Before it was over, Henry's other hand snatched the soldier's spear at the same time and pointed it towards the other soldier without even looking. Throw it out.
"Pfft - seize -" The spear that hit the chest nailed the soldier's whole body to the big tree behind him. Then the sage dodged to the right to avoid the sword of another soldier, and then he looked like He turned his body on tiptoes as if dancing, grabbed the opponent's sword-holding wrist with one hand, lifted, pulled, and twisted to disarm him, then turned around and clamped the soldier's neck with his arms, and then killed him. The whole person lifted up and then sank hard.
"Click -" The neck bone broke with a crisp sound, and the soldier whose neck was as soft as mud was thrown to the ground by Henry.
"咻——哓——" The sage's fighting nerves were like lightning without gaps. Another soldier, covering his injured nose with one hand, took a long sword and slashed at him to buy time for his companions behind him. An uninjured soldier grabbed the horn of his fallen comrade and was about to blow it——
Henry couldn't kill two people at the same time, but luckily he wasn't fighting alone.
"Boom--" The soldier who ran out from behind the safe tree trunk to take the horn was silenced by an arrow that penetrated his temple before he could blow it, while the soldier wielding a sword with one hand passed by Henry. Nothing was hit at the time.
"Pfft--"
He fell to the ground with the huge wound on his neck. Henry turned around expressionlessly, wiped the bloody dagger on the soldier, and then sheathed the knife.
"you……"
Henry, who returned to the crowd, was greeted with complicated eyes, Bernie looked at him solemnly, and Mingna said a short but profound word.
The blond girl had seen Henry fight earlier, but that was very different from now.
His movements were as smooth and concise as ever, without any hint of showoff or sloppiness, which made Minna feel that for him, killing someone was the same as killing a beast. This thought made her eyes looking at Henry become more complicated, but in contrast, the sage's deep eyes contained only calmness, just like the invisible bottom of the sea, which made it difficult to look directly. Na looked away.
"..." Henry didn't say anything. Rodney, who had been making trouble for him before, had the understanding to shut his mouth after witnessing the extremely cold and efficient killing. The pudgy mercenary recalled some of the previous unhappiness in his mind, and started to pray to the sage not to hold grudges while dripping with cold sweat.
"They left." Ivan's voice broke the awkward atmosphere. Everyone once again turned their attention to Ellen's Fort. The dense crowd of heads before was no longer there. Only the dark outline of the flat city wall could be seen in the flickering firelight. one sight.
"Let's go." Bernie waved, and the group started to move forward cautiously again.
