“Everyone—organize—weapons and armor—prepare for battle!” One mile north of Boulder Town, Art was so exhausted he could barely breathe, his words coming out in gasps.
Half an hour earlier, Art, who was leading reinforcements along the wagon road, had encountered Felix and one of his cavalry escorts, who had ridden ahead to deliver news. From Felix, Art learned the devastating news that Boulder Town was about to fall and be annihilated, and that Angus had resolved to sacrifice himself.
Art dared not delay. He sent Felix's escort ahead to scout the path, wary of another ambush, and ordered the Soldiers behind him to shed all their cumbersome supplies except for weapons and armor. Then, he refused the reins Felix offered and personally led the charge towards Boulder Town, running recklessly, hoping to reach the battlefield before the bandits broke into the camp.
Thanks to the Soldiers' almost daily endurance training, from the moment they met the messenger cavalryman until they reached half a mile north of Boulder Town, not a single person in the entire army fell behind. A few newly promoted Soldiers were already coughing up traces of blood.
While the Soldiers organized their weapons, Art gazed south at Boulder Town, half a mile away. The battle there seemed to be still ongoing, with earth-shattering roars still occasionally coming through.
“Good, there’s still a chance,” Art murmured to himself.
“Sir, the Soldiers are ready, let’s charge!” Kazak, concerned about the safety of everyone in the camp, couldn't bear to let the long-distance reinforcement Soldiers rest for another moment and intended to throw them directly into battle.
Art glanced at the battlefield half a mile away again and ordered Kazak: “Have the guards blow the horn! Everyone, form a battle formation and charge!”
Inside Boulder Town Camp, the battle had entered the stage of close-quarters combat.
The camp gate had been breached, and five or six fierce bandits had already rushed into the camp, engaging in the final desperate struggle with the remaining defenders.
Odo was surrounded by three fierce bandits. He swung his battle-axe in a wide arc, hacking at the bandit Soldiers around him. The three fierce bandits also continuously found openings to stab with a sword or slash with a blade. Odo, suffering multiple wounds, was in his final, desperate frenzy before death.
At the breach in the rear, Ron roared and kicked over a bandit Soldier in front of him, but unexpectedly, a short spear deeply pierced his other calf from behind. He staggered, half-knelt on the ground, and turned to parry another short spear aimed directly at his back with his sword. However, a winged mace swung towards his head from the front. Ron instinctively tilted his head, and the winged mace struck his shoulder. He seemed to hear the crisp sound of a collarbone breaking, but fortunately, the winged mace only cracked his shoulder plate.
The breach on the left side of the stockade wall had fallen. Lusignan began to retreat from the breach towards the center of the camp, using the large rocks next to the camp tents to maneuver against the fierce bandits. He caught a glimpse of Ron, who had been knocked down by a fierce bandit's winged mace. A short spear's tip was raised high, about to fall on Ron. Lusignan raised the short sword in his hand and threw it at the spear-wielding bandit Soldier. The sword hilt struck the bandit Soldier's back of the head, causing him to stumble immediately, and the short spear also embedded crookedly into the ground next to Ron.
Under the arrow tower in the very center of the camp, Keliduo, the captain of the First Company's Second Squad, lay fallen. Most of his neck had been severed by a fierce bandit's thick-backed broadsword, his head hanging askew, connected by only a last bit of flesh. The fierce bandit in front of him was raising his cleaver, intending to sever the last connection between the head and body.
On the arrow tower, Jason, the Archery Squad leader, shot his last heavy arrow from his quiver, then forcibly broke the arrow shaft in his left shoulder, drew the short knife from his waist, climbed onto the arrow tower railing, and leaped down from the fifteen-foot-high arrow tower, directly striking the fierce bandit who had just severed Keliduo's head. The short knife in his hand also plunged into the fierce bandit's eye socket.
Outside the main gate of Boulder Town Camp, Angus's warhorse had fallen dead, its body riddled with arrows and broken short spears, its legs almost severed. Ten paces from the warhorse, Angus, wielding a blood-colored long-handled battle-axe, swung his axe, cutting off an incoming short spear, then took a few powerful steps and violently crashed into the surrounding bandit Soldiers, creating a gap in their encirclement.
In the bandit rear formation, two hundred paces north of Boulder Town Camp, the bandit leader listened to the earth-shattering sounds of fighting from inside the camp, and looked at the dismounted rider not far away, who, despite being surrounded by seven or eight people, was still able to break through the formation. A chill ran down his spine. “What are these demons from hell doing out here!”
Jiali knew that the battle was already decided the moment he sent his last seven or eight elites, but he somehow felt like he had failed.
The final battle had committed all his forces. The bandit Soldiers besieging the dismounted rider outside the camp were his last few personal guards and escorts. Even the seven or eight carefully trained archers had already put down their bows and picked up short spears, joining the final battle to capture the camp.
A dozen elite Soldiers, leading a dozen patrolmen and laborers, could cause him to lose nearly forty men. Jiali no longer hoped that the fifty or sixty bandit Soldiers ambushing in the Valley Mouth would return victorious.
Scarface Houth, who had led his remaining dozen or so fierce bandits to the side to observe the battle, gave Jiali a cold look. Jiali knew what that greedy look meant; from this battle onward, having lost his power, he would never rise again.
“Whoosh~ Whoosh~ Whoosh~~~” The sound of the charging ox horn echoed across the wilderness.
North of the Boulder Town battlefield, a line of black-robed Soldiers formed up and launched a desperate charge against the bandit Soldiers attacking the camp. Art drew his knight's sword and, with bloodshot eyes, charged at the very front of the formation.
The bandit Soldiers attacking the camp had not yet reacted to where this army had suddenly appeared from. Scarface Houth looked at the approaching black figures in surprise and asked in alarm: “Jiali! What's going on? Where did these black-robed Soldiers come from?”
The bandit leader Jiali also panicked. Even if the sixty-some bandit Soldiers ambushed in the Valley Mouth were annihilated, the black-robed Soldiers shouldn't have appeared here so quickly.
Without time to think, Jiali snatched up the ox horn his escort had dropped on the ground and blew the horn towards Boulder Town Camp, signaling assembly and retreat.
The few remaining defenders in the camp had already heard the charging horn from the north. This horn sound was their familiar legion's charge horn.
Reinforcements had finally arrived!!!
“Brothers! Reinforcements are here, kill these Bastards!” The last bit of madness in Colin's blood was ignited. He gripped his hammer with both hands and swung it horizontally, smashing in a bandit Soldier's face, then jumped up and violently crashed into the bandit Soldiers pouring through the breach.
“Buzz~~~~ Buzz~~~~”
The bandit's sixth attack ended with a tragic, drawn-out assembly (retreat) horn.
Odo stopped Lusignan and Colin, who intended to lead Soldiers out of the camp to pursue the enemy. He ordered the remaining dozen or so people to guard the camp to prevent any changes, then he dragged his wounded arm and climbed onto the arrow tower, looking out at the legion Soldiers' battle against the bandit Soldiers to the north.
He saw the hastily assembled thirty or forty bandit Soldiers being broken through by his own black-robed Soldiers, who were arrayed for attack. Then, his black-robed Soldiers began to scatter into pursuit formations, cutting down bandit Soldiers and collecting heads. The battle became a one-sided affair.
Odo's strained nerves finally snapped, and he collapsed with a thud onto the arrow tower platform.
“Felix, take your escort and follow me to the edge of the wilderness to intercept the bandit Soldiers trying to escape. Not a single one of these Bastards will get away today!” Art said, sheathing his dripping knight's sword, then swung himself onto the warhorse Felix had brought and rode off in pursuit of the scattered bandit Soldiers fleeing into the surrounding wilderness.
North of Boulder Town, Scarface Houth, one of the bandit leaders, was constantly kicking the mongrel horse beneath him. He had almost shaken off the black-robed pursuers who were getting further and further behind him.
Before he could rejoice, three riders on warhorses from behind the black-robed Soldiers were already catching up to him.
A mongrel horse could not outrun a warhorse, and the horsemanship of bandits who spent years in mountains and dense valleys could not be better than that of cavalry who frequently fought on horseback. Scarface Houth ran for less than the time it takes to drink a bag of water before Art and the others caught up to him.
Seeing that he could no longer outrun his pursuers, Scarface Houth leaped off his horse with a thud, then scrambled to his feet and knelt on the ground, hands clasped over his head, tearfully begging Art for mercy in a loud voice.
Art told Felix to continue leading his escort in a circle, chasing down the fastest escaping remnants of the bandits. Then he dismounted, drew his knight's sword, and slowly walked towards the man kneeling and begging for mercy. Art knew that any bandit capable of riding a horse was at least a low-ranking leader with decent combat power, so he dared not be careless.
Slowly walking in front of the bandit, Art loudly ordered the bandit to raise his head.
The two men stared at each other for a moment.
“It's you!”
“It's you~”
“Bastard! I let you get away last time, and you still dare to attack my camp! Die!” Art didn't waste any words with the bandit. He simply raised his hand and with one swing of his sword, pierced the bandit's throat as he lay on the ground, then pulled out his sword, chopped off the corpse's head, and then, carrying the bloody head, mounted his horse. As he left, he didn't forget to spit on the headless corpse on the ground.
It was nearing dusk.
In the valley amidst the dense forest northeast of Boulder Town, the ambushing bandit Soldiers were still anxiously waiting.
A fierce bandit stood up and sat down again, then stood up again and ran to the bandit Second Leader, who was standing and looking east, and asked: “Second Leader, how long have we been waiting? Those black-robed dogs wouldn't be too scared to come this way, would they?”
The bandit Second Leader placed his right hand on his forehead, and in the afterglow of the setting sun, he gazed into the distance, but did not answer the fierce bandit's question.
Just as everyone was growing extremely anxious, several figures suddenly appeared, fleeing in a panic, on the wagon road to the west.
“Quick, take a few fellows down to see.”
Soon after, the fierce bandit who had gone to check the situation ran back in a hurry.
“It's bad, we lost the battle! We were defeated!” The fierce bandit stumbled and scrambled to the Second Leader.
The Second Leader grabbed the fallen fierce bandit and roared: “What are you panicking about? Explain clearly.”
“Big Boss and the others were encircled and annihilated by the black-robed dogs. All our brothers were captured. Besides those cowards from the north who fled after scouting, only these few brothers from down the mountain escaped.”
“What? Where did these black-robed dogs come from? We guarded this place all afternoon, and no one passed through here at all.”
“Those brothers saw it with their own eyes. A large group of black-robed dogs ambushed them from behind. Our brothers suffered heavy casualties, and even Big Boss was captured.”
The Second Leader felt a wave of dizziness.
Subsequently, the bandit Soldiers ambushing in the Valley Mouth had a huge disagreement.
The focus of the disagreement was whether or not to rescue the bandit Big Boss who had been captured by the bandit-suppression army. The fifty or sixty bandits quickly split into two factions: one was the minority of old brothers led by the Second Leader, who strongly advocated going to Jushi Town to rescue the bandit Big Boss; the other was the larger faction of newly joined bandit Soldiers. They were originally small-time thugs who had been annexed or newly joined, and now that the tide had turned and their leader was captured, they naturally wanted to fend for themselves.