If you find a random person in the world of Rigar, ask about the difference between the impression of the mercenary/soldier class and the knight/noble class. The most common answer is probably "the former is always dirty, while the latter is always luxurious."
Although this statement is a bit rigid and blunt, if you insist on arguing, you can indeed find knights who are as poor as mercenaries, and mercenaries who are relatively rich and can afford luxurious clothes and armor. But it is undeniable that these people are indeed a minority among the two classes, rather than a representative majority.
But contrary to what most people think, the reason why mercenaries always look less impressive is not because they are so poor or so ignorant that they spend all their income on eating, drinking and having fun - although this is indeed the case. True - above, but intentional.
Knights can be luxurious and have their armor inlaid with gold and silver. Because they are fighting ceremonial wars for nobles, they are rarely killed. Showing off their financial resources in a high-profile way is telling the other party, "I am rich, don't kill me, capture me and get a large ransom!"
But mercenaries don't have this kind of family background. The battlefields they experienced were higher in scale, frequency, and even cruelty than those faced by the nobles. In this environment, compared to showing off in a high-profile manner, keeping a low profile without revealing one's wealth became the secret to saving lives.
It's simple battlefield math: if ten people are stabbing you with their weapons at the same time, you're far more likely to die than if you're targeted by just one opponent.
Being high-profile and attracting unnecessary attention; starting to argue with others over trivial matters like an idiot; showing off their weapons, armor or combat skills when unnecessary. Adventurers who can do these things often Not long to live.
"A truly experienced adventurer should be like a scorpion or poisonous spider that hides its tail and only reveals its claws when it wants to kill someone."
Personal heroism in a high-profile manner is the kind of hot-headedness that will kill you.
She knew this.
"Click -" Mira slipped back gently along the low slope, and it didn't take her too much time to go back and forth.
The sage rushed out and caught the opponent off guard with extremely strong force. But these warriors were not weak hands. After realizing his lethality, they began to deal with him by taking advantage of the leg strength and long-range strike capabilities of riding war horses.
Although Henry is powerful, even he will inevitably fall into a tough fight when facing an opponent who is also an expert.
Long-range attacks come from multiple directions. When dodging enemies in front, you may fall into attacks from behind or from the side. He had to concentrate on keeping track of the movements of everyone around him, and even though he had killed 4 of them, there were still 12 people left. Under the command of the warrior leader, they never gave him a chance to get closer.
No matter how strong Kramer is, there is no point if he can't cut him down.
It attracted the attacks of 12 mounted warriors, each of whom had at least 20 bow arrows left, adding up to more than 200 arrows.
If the person who ran back to support was Galeva, the stupid green man would probably rush back to stand with the sage in a daze when he saw this scene, trying to cover him with a large shield or other things.
Mira would not do this, even though she emotionally wanted to stand back to back with her teacher, drawing swords and facing the besieging enemy troops. But this kind of romantic scene only has the opportunity to turn defeat into victory in adventure novels.
She is an expert, a combat professional who has been working hard in the adventurer industry for many years at a young age.
and.
She has a good teacher.
"Bah! Wah!!!" A hidden arrow shot from an unknown corner hit a warrior who was not wearing a gorget. He covered his neck with blood gushing and tried hard to maintain his strength on horseback. At the same time, he tried to warn his teammates. The other two warriors, whose formation was destroyed by the sneak attack, looked around and drove their horses towards the presumed direction, but found nothing.
"Over there!" the warriors shouted loudly, and Mira, who was running with a crossbow bolt in her mouth, put on the string with force, then pushed the crossbow bolt under the steel plate holding the arrow with a "click", and casually She threw a shot at the samurai who was charging towards her.
"Pa—seize!" The light crossbow bolt hit the breastplate of the Moon Kingdom warrior whose defense was weaker than the Rigal plate armor and successfully penetrated the surface. Although it was stuck in the armor, it did not cause any substantial damage and only broke. It's a little skinny, but it's still enough to cause obstruction.
"Kill that southern barbarian woman." Several of the warriors shouted loudly and ran away. The horned warrior realized that something was wrong and was about to give instructions, but the sage rushed towards him at a very high speed without saying a word. he.
"Tsk——!" In order to avoid being approached by him, the warrior leader had to keep a distance, and when he ran away, the others looked like headless flies. The originally orderly formation was suddenly in chaos. Some people were rushing towards the area where Mira was, while others hesitated for a moment and then planned to catch up to cover their leader.
But that's exactly what Henry expected.
"Stop, his target is you!" The warrior leader reacted instantly, but the sage had already feinted and immediately turned around to kill the warriors who were catching up.
"Ah!" A few people only had time to let out a chaotic scream. They couldn't stop running and immediately ran into Henry who was returning.
"Qiang——!" He cut off the horse's legs at the knee, causing the first man to lose his balance and fall forward. Then he twisted the big sword in his hand and used his height advantage to hit a warrior in the face.
Half of his face was cut open with blood splattering everywhere, and because of the impact of the galloping horse, his whole body flew backwards.
Then Henry bent down and rolled to avoid the stabbing action of the third warrior who used the big bow as a makeshift spear. At the same time, he held the Claymer sword in his backhand with the tip upward and used the sword as a spear to stab the fourth man because The weak point in the armpit armor exposed by raising his hand to attack directly lifted him off his horse and then smashed him towards the fifth person.
"Clang - bang - bang -" screams continued, and four of the five people who bumped into the sage fell to the ground. Although only one person was actually killed or seriously injured, the first person who fell from the horse and the fifth person who was hit by his partner's body also lost their combat effectiveness for a while.
"Ya!" The words that seemed to be the curse language of the Moon Country came out again. The only uninjured warrior dropped the big bow in his hand, drew his long sword, drove his horse back to fight, but was blinded by anger. His blow failed to hit, but Henry slashed the horse's left hind leg with his dagger.
"Neighing!" The wailing war horse fell sideways and crushed the left thigh of the warrior riding on it. He was almost in shock under the severe pain, and Henry, who was approaching quickly, directly A sword penetrated the struggling samurai's heart through the defensive gap under his right arm and killed him.
Not wanting to fight, he took out Claymer and ran towards the warriors chasing Mira.
——Perfect fit.
Not even a word of communication was needed, the two of them knew what to do.
Mira did not rush directly to Henry's side to fight alongside him.
Because she is not strong enough to be able to survive the siege of more than a dozen horse archers like the Sage without being hit or missing her armor.
Blind, reckless, and subconsciously wanting to use pure power to solve the problem - when she was still young, when watching her teacher's battle, she would inevitably stay on the surface of this simple and crude strength and ignore him. A thoughtful part of every step.
Even now, there are still many times when she subconsciously tends to imitate his actions.
But maybe it was the cold air and tension in the northern Crescent Continent that made her mind spin rapidly. For the first time - not a reflection after a battle, nor a self-examination after an injury - the first time, While in the middle of the battle, she realized the purpose of the Sage's actions, and thus understood how she should do it.
He drew all the fire, which meant no one paid her enough attention.
These horse archers formed a triangular attack. Whenever the sage intended to break through in one direction, the people in that direction would distance themselves, while the other two teams could still form an angle, making him look forward and backward, and not allowed to attack.
The wind blew up, carrying a little snow, and slapped the Luoan girl's face.
Her hair, the same color as the snow, swayed slightly.
And she took a breath, carefully and slowly took aim without being noticed, and pulled the trigger of the light crossbow.
In a triangle attack, no matter which direction the sage breaks through, the rest of the team will still be able to suppress him.
But what if three becomes two?
Although the warriors who caught up had the advantage of war horses, Mira never intended to confront them head-on. She used the light crossbow in her hand to buy time while using bunkers and terrain to dodge flexibly.
Henry seized this opportunity and instantly reduced the number of warriors to less than half.
"Ha-ha-" The Luoan girl was panting heavily and she was running fast. Even though she took advantage of the terrain and obstacles, she still couldn't outrun the horse. The warriors successfully closed the distance, but Mira was not the same. Escape without any purpose.
"Clang-bang!!" Henry, who rushed from the side, took away two more warriors the moment he met her, and the arrow shot by the warrior before his death hit Mira's Brigand Floor Armor. It was also bounced away later.
The powerful force caused the Luoan girl to lose her balance and fall to the ground, but apart from having difficulty breathing due to the impact, she did not suffer any real injuries.
"Cough cough cough -" The high-quality armor crafted by dwarves is worth the money. The armor worn by the two of them has saved their lives at least several times. Although the originally delicate velvet surface was stained and damaged due to being hit and rolled around, the solid tempered steel armor underneath only added a few scratches.
"Is it okay?" Henry pulled Mira up, and then both of them hid with the help of a bunker again.
They successfully defeated many enemies, but the scarred warriors also regrouped - their morale did not suffer much loss. These people are still determined in their purpose. This is not the willpower that rogue bandits can have. These are real rebel soldiers. They will not back down until their goals are achieved.
"The crossbows are all used up. One of them is broken." Mira said while rubbing her side, which was sore from being hit by the bow and arrows. The sage nodded, and just after he took a glance, he was greeted by a crossbow. A bow and arrow.
The wind became more violent, and the less intense sunshine in winter began to become dimmer due to the change in weather. The strong wind carrying snowflakes made their exposed skin ache, and the drop in temperature began to numb their hands and feet.
"Qiang——" The Luoan girl pulled out the one-handed knife from her waist. She was a little nervous, because although there were not many people left, her own physical strength had also been exhausted.
Insufficient weapons, equipment and manpower made every move they took a risk. Although the previous actions were successful, the other party became more vigilant.
Although the flat land of the shrine has some undulating terrain, there is only one building, the shrine. Apart from sneak attacks, the only way for melee fighters to deal with archers is to use complex terrain cover to close the distance. This is not their ideal combat situation, and their disadvantages cannot be more obvious.
They were forced into a depression on the side of the torii gate. The passage leading to the mountain hut was far to the left, but there was a cliff next to it and they could only run through the ground without any cover.
All the remaining warriors had already pointed their bows towards this side. After joining together, they were once again surrounded. It was obvious that the tactics they had used would not work again. Even if the sage rushes out again, these people will keep their distance and will not be attracted by him anymore. Instead, they will concentrate their firepower to attack Mira first.
The Luoan girl realized that she had become a drag, but Henry just rubbed her head in silence.
The wind picked up.
People from the Moon Country call this biting cold wind with snow blowing snow.
The inscription rope on the torii gate of the shrine was covered with snow and sagging due to its weight. In the strong wind, it swayed and finally broke with a "snap" at a moment when no one noticed.
The transformed villagers who stayed in place numbly like plants, because they had no reaction when the samurai went up the mountain before, seemed to have become part of the background of the landscape. No one had ever touched them during the fierce battle. Pay attention.
Therefore, when all this happened, both sides, who were immersed in fighting with each other, were unable to react in time.
"Roar--!"
The bloody mouth opened wide.
"Crack!!" bit directly through the chest and back of the horned warrior.
A few arms that have not yet been completely fused are still dancing wildly on the body, which is messily pieced together like a rag doll.
And the eel-like head without eyes only had a very conspicuous big mouth.
"Ahhhh!" The warrior who was attacked screamed and began to resist, but the sage picked up the stunned Luoan girl and seized this opportunity to start running towards the hut on the mountain.
"Hurry up -" Ling, who had obviously come back to look for them, stood there holding another bow and only said half of the words before continuing.
She stared blankly at the creature with limbs and tail that looked like a giant salamander in front of the shrine.
"Evolution is not over yet, it is still there, but this -"
"There's no time to be dazed, let's go!"
