Art rushed back to the caravan's tent, and while Ron Brothers helped him put on his heavy iron-scale armor, he gasped and said to Angus, Felix, and Ron Brothers in the tent, "The wolves are out of their den and will be here soon. Everyone get ready!"
Felix quickly left the tent to relay Art's orders to the Soldiers and guards ambushing in the other tents…
………
Noon, with the sun directly overhead.
In the dense forest south of the barren hills outside the Valley Mouth, over thirty Bandits, armed with broadswords, short spears, sickles, and axes, were quietly advancing, hunched over. Three hundred paces ahead of them, smoke rose from the caravan's camp, where the caravan's guards were chewing smoked meat and drinking fruit wine by a bonfire, enjoying a rare moment of relaxation after a night of travel.
The Bandit Leader hid in a bush, raised his head, and observed his surroundings. He sensed something unusual and whispered, "No! All their sentries have withdrawn! This shouldn't be; these past few days, to prevent anyone from spying on the camp, they would send out sentries to screen the surroundings every time they camped."
The Bandit Second Leader also poked his head out and looked around, seeing the cooking smoke rising from the camp, and said, "They must have returned to camp to eat. Now is when they are relaxed; let's seize this opportunity to charge out!"
"No, no, it's better to be careful. Observe a little longer. Send someone else to carefully check the surroundings again to confirm if there are any figures. I'm worried they still have an ambush." The quieter it was, the more the Bandit Leader felt uneasy.
The Second Leader was already a bit impatient with this indecisive fellow. He retorted, "Bandit Leader! Don't hesitate anymore. Soon they will send out sentries after eating. Once we miss this excellent opportunity, how many good comrades will we have to sacrifice in battle!"
"Brothers, first come, first served! Charge with me and plunder the goods to enjoy ourselves in the city." The Bandit Leader was still hesitating when the Second Leader ignored his orders and directly led a few ruffian Bandits to stand up and charge out.
"Bastard!" The Bandit Leader cursed the Second Leader under his breath but had no choice but to lead his twenty-odd loyal main Bandits, following thirty paces behind the Second Leader and his men, charging forward.
Just as the Second Leader, with seven or eight ruffian Bandits, charged into the caravan's camp, a sudden commotion erupted from the tents. A dozen Soldiers, clad in armor and wielding shields, ghost-like, rushed out of the tents, striking and stabbing the Second Leader and the charging Bandits who had entered the camp.
The Bandit Leader's eyes caught sight of several figures in black hooded cloaks. He froze on the spot, then immediately reacted.
"Retreat!! Retreat!! It's an ambush!! Fall back to the camp!!" The Bandit Leader reacted quickly, dragging the Bandit Third Leader who was passing by and running back.
The twenty-odd Bandits surrounding him, seeing the sudden change in the caravan's camp and hearing the Bandit Leader's order to retreat, stopped their charge and turned back, following the Bandit Leader's shadow into the dense forest.
"Bandit Leader, the Second Leader is still fighting ahead. They are surrounded and can't retreat. Should we go support them?" The Third Leader spoke of rescuing the Second Leader, but his fleeing footsteps showed no sign of stopping.
"That Bastard, I told him there was something unusual, yet he still led his men to charge. If he wants to die, let him die!" The Bandit Leader said, taking bigger strides, the trees on both sides whizzing past him.
Art did not participate in the guards' and Soldiers' encirclement and slaughter of the Bandits in the camp. His eyes were fixed on the twenty or thirty fleeing figures behind the seven or eight Bandits. Clearly, the main force of the Bandits had realized there was an ambush in the caravan's camp. They left a few charging Bandits behind and fled on their own.
In the caravan's camp, Felix, under the cover of a close bodyguard, continuously hacked and slashed at a Bandit Leader who had led his troops into the camp. Felix had never experienced such close-quarters battle before; during the last Sap defense, he had only stood behind the parapet and thrown a few light arrows at the bandits below the wall.
Under the protection of the bodyguard, Felix's courage surged. He wielded his broadsword, twirling it with flourishes, and struck at the Bandit Leader. His movements were wide and sweeping, and his stance was quite fierce, yet after a series of moves, he didn't even harm a hair on the Bandit.
"Quickly kill them, leave a few to guard the camp, and the rest pursue the remaining enemies!" At Art's command, Angus and the others immediately cut down and stabbed the charging Bandits in front of them.
Ron Brothers saw Felix still entangled in a fight with the Bandit Leader. He suddenly kicked the small Bandit in front of him to the ground, then lifted his broadsword and charged over, swinging his sword fiercely at the Bandit Leader's side and back. The broadsword cut diagonally into the leader's right shoulder, all the way into the base of his neck.
Ron Brothers lifted his right leg and stomped hard on the back of the Bandit Leader who had been struck by the sword, pulling the sword out. He yelled at Felix, "Stop showing off your empty moves! Finish the fight quickly and pursue the remaining enemies!" With that, he turned and followed Art and Angus's footsteps into the dense forest.
Felix's eyes surged with bloodlust. He glared at Ron Brothers and fiercely plunged his broadsword into the chest of the Bandit Leader who had fallen dead. "He's mine! Mine!!"
Saying that, he showed a look of disappointment, pulled the sword from the corpse, and chased after Ron Brothers.
On the Bandits' side.
The Bandit Leader was already terrified. He had always worried about ambushes in front, behind, and around the caravan, so before deciding to raid the caravan, he had repeatedly sent people to scout the surroundings. However, even now, he couldn't understand why so many ambushers suddenly appeared in the caravan's camp.
"Bandit Leader, they're… they're catching up!" The Bandit Third Leader was already running so hard he could barely breathe.
"How… how many pursuers?"
"Can't… see clearly! They're behind… about two hundred paces, sticking to our tails."
"A… bunch of… Bastards! They're still chasing after us from so far away!" The pursuers behind them had been sticking to their tails for several miles, and they were getting closer and closer, showing no intention of letting them go.
In front of the Bandits was a flat, open space in the dense forest. The Bandit Leader knew he couldn't shake off the pursuers behind him and could only fight like a cornered beast.
The Bandit Leader stood in the middle of the open space, caught his breath, then drew the thick-backed saber tucked at his waist. He roared at the Bandits following him, "Damn it, we can't run away! Guys, line up in the open space and fight them! Let those Bastards know how sharp our teeth are!"
The Bandit underlings didn't know the identity of the black-robed Soldiers among these guards, nor had they experienced the might of their swords. Now, having been chased by a group of 'house dogs' for half a day, they were full of pent-up anger. Encouraged by the Bandit Leader, they stopped, pulled out their weapons, and, amidst the shouts of a few small leaders, formed a battle array. A few fierce Bandits holding single bows also stuck arrows from their quivers into the ground and adjusted their bowstrings…
On the other side of the dense forest, the caravan's Soldiers and guards pursuing the remaining Bandits were also drenched in sweat.
"My… My Lord… they've… stopped… and formed a line…" Ron Brothers, who was running at the front, turned back to report the movements of the remaining Bandits to Art.
Art hadn't expected these remaining Bandits to have the courage to form a line and fight.
"Everyone… halt and rest!" Art swallowed a mouthful of saliva and roared at the Soldiers and guards who had followed him.
Everyone in the dense forest stopped, took off their waterskins to drink some clear water to moisten their parched throats, then removed the shields from their backs and swung their weapons.
"Form ranks!" Angus's voice rang out.
In the dense forest, about twenty Soldiers and guards stood in a line, holding their shields to their chests, with swords, hammers, and axes resting against the edges of their shields.
"Listen to the order, advance slowly." The twenty-odd people shuffled forward with small steps, moving from the edge of the dense forest towards the open space within the forest.
Art, along with a few dismounted cavalry from the Sentry Cavalry, stood on the far right of the formation. Their shields were held tightly against their chests, their steps were uniform, their breathing steady, and their eyes filled with killing intent, forming a stark contrast with the Sap Soldiers and guards next to them, whose formation was crooked and who were panting heavily.
The two armies were separated by over a hundred paces. A few light arrows were shot from the Bandit formation on the other side of the open ground. At such a long distance, the light arrows had lost their force, and aside from a few that slightly disrupted the formation of the Sap Soldiers and guards, they had almost no effect on the pursuing side.
"My Lord, should we return fire?" Jason intended to take down the ox-horn longbow from his back to retaliate against the remaining Bandits.
"Fire three volleys at the fierce Bandits holding the rear. Later, you few charge faster to disrupt the remaining Bandits' formation, and let Sap's Soldiers follow behind you to charge the formation…"
………
"Later, you charge slower, let the newcomers disrupt the enemy's formation. If it goes well, then you charge the formation." The Bandit Leader quietly instructed his most trusted underlings.
A moment later, the formations on both sides of the open ground were moving, and the distance between them was already less than fifty paces.
Forty paces, the pursuers' formation was a bit chaotic, then immediately brought under control by Ron Brothers and Lusignan's stern shouts.
Thirty paces, a few of the Bandits stopped, kicked away by the Bandit Leader who was supervising the battle.
Twenty paces, both sides stopped, their weapons gently swaying.
The Bandit Third Leader raised the spiked club in his hand and roared at the Bandit underlings in front of him, "Charge! Kill all those Bastards, and plunder all their wealth!!"
Twenty-odd Bandit underlings charged towards the opposite side, howling like ghosts and wolves.
The Bandit Third Leader was about to follow his underlings and charge, but the Bandit Leader kicked him to the ground, "Idiot! Charge to your death!!"
The Bandit Third Leader still didn't understand.
"Run for your lives!!!" The Bandit Leader said, then led a trusted subordinate and fled into the dense forest with large strides.
The Bandit Leader had no intention of fighting the pursuers to the death. He merely wanted to incite his underlings and small Bandit Soldiers to hold off the pursuers and buy time for his own escape. In his view, in these chaotic times, vagrants and Bandits could be gathered in large numbers at any time. As long as he kept his own life, there would be plenty of opportunities to make a comeback.
When the Bandit underlings, who were fighting the pursuers in the open ground, discovered that although the opponents were just ordinary castle guards, their weapons and equipment were quite excellent.
However, the Bandits, who had lived by begging under the sword for years, also erupted with a considerable fighting force in their death throes.
Although the pursuing side had a few strong black-robed Soldiers leading them, after witnessing those fierce Bandits charging like beasts, the guards and Soldiers from Sap clearly struggled to hold their ground. The leaderless left flank, after several men were cut down, began to collapse. The guards on the left flank started to be pushed towards the center, and even one or two guards showed signs of retreating.
"Sergeant! Left flank! Left flank!!" Art, while fighting, glimpsed the left flank losing ground and urgently roared at Angus, who was charging in the center.
Angus pulled Lusignan to his combat position to fill the gap, then picked up his battle-axe and charged towards the left flank, felling a fierce Bandit with one axe swing, then swinging his battle-axe in a wide arc to force back several Bandit Soldiers who were about to break through the left flank.
With Angus joining, the left flank stabilized. The few left-flank guards who had been contemplating retreat turned back and followed Angus, fighting with the advantage.
Although there was a crisis on the left flank just now, because Art, Ron Brothers, and Lusignan were leading the right flank and the center, the pursuing side's formation remained superior.
The dying Bandit Soldiers realized that their last desperate struggle could not reverse the situation. The bloodlust from moments ago was exhausted, and what they found even more unimaginable was that their backbone behind them had abandoned them and disappeared without a trace. Soon, the Bandit formation loosened, and the pursuing side charged into the Bandit formation to fight.
Felix finally regained his confidence this time. His sword was already stained with the blood of two Bandit underlings. Although the two Bandit corpses lying on the ground had ragged clothes and their weapons were merely threshing flails and reaping sickles, Felix himself not only wielded a broadsword but also wore iron armor.
Felix's swordsmanship had too many flourishes, and combined with his first time fighting and killing, he was already somewhat exhausted after cutting down two Bandit underlings. He lifted his head, smiling faintly and proudly, and said to Ron Brothers, who had just cut down a Bandit beside him, "Ron Brothers, I killed two!"
Ron Brothers looked up in Felix's direction, and his eyes suddenly showed terror, because a Bandit had already raised a broadaxe and was swinging it towards Felix's back.
In a moment of extreme urgency, Ron Brothers had no time to tell Felix to dodge. He pulled out the sword embedded in the corpse on the ground and, with a swift horizontal swing, threw the broadsword towards Felix.
Felix had no idea why Ron Brothers's expression had suddenly changed dramatically. Seeing Ron Brothers's sword already thrown towards him, Felix instinctively dodged to the right, avoiding the broadsword Ron Brothers had thrown.
Rip~
The broadaxe behind him scraped down along Felix's left arm guard.
Ron Brothers ran over and slammed the Bandit to the ground, then quickly drew his hunting knife from his waist and stabbed it into the Bandit's eye socket.
Felix only then realized someone had attacked him from behind, and a cold sweat instantly soaked his undergarments.
"Damn it, that was close!" Felix patted his chest.
"This is a battlefield! Hold your weapon tight, and be vigilant of your surroundings!!" Ron Brothers pulled Felix up, then picked up the broadaxe from the ground and joined the chaotic fight on the other side.
With calculation against no calculation, and heavy armor against cloth, this "grand" confrontation, after less than the time it takes for a meal, turned into a one-sided battle. The twenty-odd Bandits, having lost the Bandit Leader's control and seeing their comrades fall one by one, collapsed and had no choice but to lay down their weapons and kneel, begging for mercy.
"My Lord, the remaining Bandits have surrendered!" Angus wiped the blood from his stained battle-axe on the corpse's clothing and put it back into the axe pouch on his back.
"Sergeant, have Felix lead men to guard the captives and treat the wounded. You take the Sentry Cavalry and follow me to pursue the Bandit Leader."
With that, Art sheathed his sword and ran in the direction the Bandit Leader had fled.