Throughout the night, bonfires illuminated the dense forest, and the sounds of chopping trees, felling timber, and constructing scaling ladders, along with the shouts of officers scolding lazy Soldiers, echoed all the way to Ars堡.
The Bandits holed up in the fort were somewhat nervous, but they weren't worried that those softies, who had been repeatedly repelled from the fort gates, would have the courage to face massive casualties, because they had already transformed Ars堡 into a sturdy fortress over the winter.
In the open ground between the dense forest and Ars堡, nine figures were stealthily making their way in a roundabout manner towards the right side of Ars堡 under the cover of darkness.
According to the plan agreed upon by Art and Baron Antayas, Art would lead the elite Soldiers of the Patrol Team to secretly approach the rear flank of Ars堡 under the cover of night, carrying a light wooden ladder.
Meanwhile, Baron Antayas would lead the main force with the hastily constructed wooden ladders to assault the front at dawn, just before sunrise, when the enemy was most fatigued.
Of course, the frontal attack only needed to feign a desperate assault to make the Bandits concentrate all their forces from all sides to the front for defense.
Art would then lead the hidden Soldiers to force their way in from the wooden wall on the right side, striking directly at the enemy's heart to disrupt morale within the fort and seize the opportunity to open the gate, allowing the main force to storm into the Wood Fort.
Art selected Odo, Bass, and Roan from the Patrol Team, Tuba's three-person combat group, and two other Soldiers who had participated in the Winston Manor ambush and had been injured, totaling nine people, to form a temporary assault team.
These were the most combat-effective Soldiers in the Patrol Team; each of them had experience in battle, possessing strong offensive capabilities and decent defensive abilities.
For the convenience of the sneak attack, besides Art, who carried a riding bow, the others only carried a round shield and a sword or a handy weapon like a battle-axe, hammer, or chain flail.
Baron Antayas also stripped several pieces of leather armor from his own city guards and temporarily distributed them to the participants of the sneak attack, ensuring that each of them had at least one piece of leather armor for protection.
Having stealthily reached behind a large boulder, Ars堡's wooden wall now appeared before Art and his companions.
Through the night, they could even discern the outlines of the Bandits standing guard on the wooden wall.
From this point on, Art and his group could no longer walk hunched over.
So, at Art's command, everyone lay flat on the ground and crawled step by step towards the Wood Fort.
Every movement they made was extremely careful and cautious; once they made a sound that alerted the sentries on the wall, their plan of stealthy ambush would be useless.
A distance of less than a hundred yards, the group crawled for nearly the time it takes to eat a meal.
Perhaps Art and their sounds were indeed very faint, or perhaps the noise in the dense forest was too loud, for the Bandits standing guard on the wall did not discover them until the nine men reached the base of the wall.
So, everyone lay in the grass at the foot of the wooden wall, holding their breath and resting, not daring to make the slightest sound.
Spring nights are not overly cold, but the air still carries the chill of late winter.
Waiting is the greatest torment; after lurking for most of the night beneath the wooden wall, several people's hands and feet had become icy cold and numb.
They prayed for dawn to arrive quickly.
The sky finally began to show a faint glimmer of light, and as a sliver of dawn appeared on the eastern horizon, the bandit suppression army in the dense forest finally began to move.
Eighty to ninety Soldiers, carrying five or six hastily constructed wooden ladders, roared as they charged towards Ars堡.
The sentries on the right wall of Ars堡 had their attention drawn by the loud noise coming from the front gate, and they all turned their heads to look at the main entrance.
Soon after, a small leader-like fellow ran over, ordering the Bandits guarding the right wall to transfer half of their men to the main gate to defend against the enemy's strong assault.
"Sir, should we act now?" Odo whispered to Art.
Art pricked up his ears, carefully distinguishing the sounds coming from the front battlefield.
According to the agreement, once Baron Antayas led his team past the deep pit obstacle and reached the gate, he would blow a horn, ostensibly to command the troops to attack the city, but in reality, to signal Art and his companions.
...
On the right wooden wall, two Bandits were still on lookout duty, while all the others had been transferred to the front to resist the "tidal wave" of enemies surging forward.
The two Bandits on the wooden wall, armed with crude long knives and dressed in linen tunics, gazed at the flank from a distance.
After confirming there was no possibility of an enemy attacking the right side, they turned around, stood on tiptoe, and focused intently on the bustling and fiery scene at the front, listening to the enemy's earth-shattering battle cries beneath the wooden wall.
Suddenly, a low horn blast sounded, signaling the start of the main assault on the front gate.
The hearts of the two Bandits on the right wall tightened; they prayed that their brothers on the front lines would surely hold off the enemy's offensive.
The two men on the wooden wall did not notice that a wooden ladder had been silently placed against the edge of the wooden wall behind them...
Art, with a dagger clenched in his mouth, was the first to scramble up the wooden wall along the ladder, jumping behind a Bandit.
He then smoothly removed the dagger from his mouth and slit the Bandit's throat.
Thick, bloody water hissed out from the deep wound on the Bandit's neck.
The other sentry was also tackled to the ground by Odo, who followed closely behind, and was stabbed several times, meeting his end.
Everything that happened on the right wooden wall's battle path was partially obscured by the thatched roofs leaning against the wall.
Unless one stretched their neck or stood on tiptoe, the situation here would not be noticed from other directions.
After clearing the sentry posts on the fort wall, Art stood on tiptoe and scanned around, confirming that the main force of the Bandits had been drawn to the massive offensive at the front.
He cleared the narrow battle path, and the few men on the ladder also climbed over the wall and jumped onto the battle path, then stealthily entered Ars堡 along the wooden ladder.
Art led the few people behind him, evading several waves of Bandits reinforcing the front, and under the cover of the fort wall and thatched huts, they moved from the right side towards the main gate...
Rewinding in time, the earth-shattering commotion outside the main gate, which occurred before the horn sounded, had already awakened the Bandits inside the fort.
They had been waiting for this day for a long time.
In front of a two-story lord's wooden house in the center of Ars堡 village, the grim-faced Bandit Leader, wearing a chainmail taken from the previous lord, a bucket helmet, and holding a knight's greatsword, stood at the wooden house's entrance, directing his subordinates to defend against the enemy.
Twenty-some Bandit minions had already been stationed on the less-than-150-foot wall at the front of the Wood Fort, so he believed that those desperately attacking the city would once again be defeated and return in vain.
Indeed, although the frontal assault was only a feint in the plan, Baron Antayas still committed his main assault forces.
His Internal Affairs Knight, Druid, personally led eighteen city guards, armed with spears and axes and carrying round shields, to desperately attack upwards.
However, the Bandits concentrated their forces to defend the front, and stones and arrows flew everywhere.
The attacking Soldiers were wounded by arrows and stones as soon as they approached the wall, and after two Soldiers died on the spot, Druid had no choice but to retreat, dragging several wounded Soldiers from beneath the wall.
The first attack failed.
Behind the attacking force, Baron Antayas, mounted on his horse, knew from the first round of assault that a direct attack would not succeed.
He could only hope that Art's surprise attack would be successful.
Without further delay, he nodded to a Guard beside him.
The Guard took out the ox horn from his waist and blew a low horn sound...
After a brief rest, the second round of attack by the army outside Ars堡 began.
This time it was a true feint, so the second wave of attacking forces was personally led by knights and their squires.
Several knights wore heavy and thick armor and helmets, and although this attire was not suitable for storming a city, arrows and falling stones could not easily harm them.
The frontal battlefield was in a stalemate; those attacking couldn't get over the wall, and those defending couldn't knock down the wooden ladders.
While the front wall was fiercely contested, Art had just stealthily reached behind a wooden house about twenty paces to the right of the main gate inside the fort.
Behind him, Odo and his group, holding swords and axes and carrying shields, were half-crouched against the wall of the wooden house, trying their best to conceal themselves.
Diagonally in front of the wooden house where they hid was an open area, where five or six Bandits were moving stones and boiling dung water to the wooden wall.
The Bandits on the wall then took the stones and lifted the scalding dung water to hurl at the enemy swarming up the wall like ants.
Ars堡's wooden fort gate was in front of the open area where water was being boiled and stones piled, and the inner side of the fort gate was propped up with a thick log.
Five spear-wielding Bandits guarded this spot.
Art, holding his riding bow, turned to look at the few people behind him, nodded in a gesture of readiness, then drew a heavy arrow, nocked it, and aimed at the target at the fort gate.
Whoosh~
The heavy arrow flew over the head of a Bandit who was bending down to pick up a stone, grazed the ear of a minion pouring dung water into an iron pot, and pierced the back of a small leader at the fort gate.
“Ah!” A sharp pain from the heavy blow to his back made the small leader’s feet give out, and he stumbled and fell to the ground, spitting blood.
One of the lackeys beside the small leader turned his head to look at the fallen man beside him, feeling confused. Just as he was about to turn back, another arrow shot out and pierced him directly in the face. With the crisp sound of a shattered nose bridge, the lackey fell backward with a thud.
After two people were successively shot down, the bandits at the fort gate finally woke up, but seven or eight men armed with swords, axes, and round shields had already rushed out from behind the wooden house.
“Disperse and kill!”
With a command, Art put away his bow, drew his sword, and led the charge towards the wooden door. As he passed a Bandit who had just put down a stone and was about to draw the short sword from his waist, he swung his Knight's Sword horizontally, slashing across the Bandit's waist. A tearing sound of a blade cutting into flesh was heard, and the Bandit's belly was cut open at the waist, with yellow and green intestines and internal organs instantly spilling out. Before the gutted Bandit's scream could even begin, Art had already knocked down another Bandit who was raising an axe to chop.
At this time, Odo and the others also rushed over, holding their shields, swords, and axes, joining the struggle for the fort gate.
Bass, known as “Heavy Hammer,” performed exceptionally well in this surprise attack. He held a round shield in one hand and a flail (iron-headed chain flail) in the other, roaring as he charged into the enemy ranks. The flail in his hand swung left and right, smashing the Bandits’ noses and brains, sending blood flying. Due to the special structure of the flail, the shields in the Bandits’ hands could not defend against it. Bass, who mastered the technique of using the flail, always raised it half a foot, the wooden handle of the flail striking the upper edge of the enemy’s shield, while the spiked heavy iron ball at the other end of the chain, under immense inertia, smashed into the enemy’s head, splattering brains and blood…
With preparedness against unpreparedness, the attacking side always gained an advantage. After a round of sudden attacks, four or five Bandits had already fallen on the open ground in front of the fort gate. However, as the battle continued, the Bandits, who had overcome their initial panic, reacted under the leadership of the fierce Bandit Leader. Five or six Bandits successively arrived from the fort wall and the Wood Fort, and together with the few surviving Bandits at the fort gate who fought desperately, casualties began to appear among the Soldiers participating in the surprise attack.
Seeing more and more reinforcements arriving from behind, and the Bandits at the fort gate still resisting stubbornly, Art felt a surge of anxiety. After blocking a battle-axe swinging at him, he shouted to Odo and Bass, who were fighting the Bandits at the fort gate: “Form a shield wall to block the enemies behind us! Leave the fort gate to me.”
Odo kicked back a Bandit, pulled Bass back, and directed Tuba and the others to contract into an arc-shaped shield formation, cutting off the fort gate from the reinforcing Bandits behind them.
Art also turned around, took off the round shield from his back, and charged towards the remaining enemies at the fort gate. Ron, who had been stabbed in the chest, saw Art fighting three enemies at the fort gate. He quickly pulled a Soldier beside him to take his shield position, then turned back to join Art in the battle for the gate.
More and more Bandits reinforced the front of the shield formation, and the shield formation commanded by Odo was repeatedly compressed. Soon, the shield formation, Art, and Ron were all squeezed together.
Knowing that their lives would be in danger if the fort gate fell, the Bandits displayed fearless bravery. Art’s Knight's Sword swung repeatedly, but the Bandits at the fort gate used the length advantage of their short spears to parry and thrust fiercely.
Outside the fort gate, the horn for retreat sounded, and the Knights and Squires who had swarmed the wall began to lead the peasant Soldiers down the wooden ladders. As the pressure on the wall lessened, the Bandits on the wooden wall began to pour down, and the pressure on Art and the others suddenly increased sharply.
If they still couldn't take the fort gate, the few people inside the fort would surely perish there.
In a moment of crisis, Art ignored a spear tip that was diagonally thrusting towards him. He stepped back half a pace, raised his shield to block in front of him, and leaped forward, pouncing on a Bandit in front of him and pinning him down. Another Bandit, seeing Art’s back exposed, raised a short spear to stab. In the nick of time, Ron, who had just forced back a Bandit, dropped his sword and shield, spread his arms, stepped forward, and tightly hugged the Bandit who was about to thrust his spear down, then fell backward to the ground.
After Art pounced on the Bandit, he swung his right hand fiercely towards the opponent's face. In a short while, the Bandit beneath him had a flattened nose, a caved-in face, and was covered in blood.
Ignoring Ron, who was rolling on the ground grappling with another Bandit, Art picked up the round shield that had fallen to the ground and threw it at the Bandit Ron had just forced back…
Within the shield formation, Odo’s roar sounded. With the Bandit Leader, clad in chainmail, joining the reinforcements, their shield formation could no longer hold…
Outside the fort gate, Kazak, who had finished covering the siege ladders, did not retreat to a safe distance. He commanded a dozen Patrol Team Soldiers beside him to huddle with their shields raised against the rocks and arrows falling from the fort wall at the fort gate, because he had seen Art and the others fighting desperately for the gate through the gap in the fort gate.
Baron Antayas also noticed the commotion at the fort gate. He quickly ordered the reorganized city guards, led by the Druid, to raise their shields overhead again and charge towards the fort gate.
At the same time, in the fort gate passage, Art had already used a picked-up short spear to stab the last standing Bandit to death. He bypassed Ron, who was on the ground strangling an enemy with his arm, and went straight to the fort gate, lifting the wooden bar that held it shut.
Kazak, waiting outside the fort gate, saw Art’s actions through the crack in the door. He pushed open the fort gate and led a dozen Patrol Team Soldiers charging in, joining Odo’s shield formation…
The fort gate was open, but the main force could not all enter, because the Bandit Leader had already led nearly twenty Bandit lackeys to block the entrance to the Wood Fort, forming another “human wall.”
Success or failure depended on this one action. Art, already somewhat exhausted, took a half breath, grabbed the sword and shield from the ground, pulled up Ron, who was pinned under the body of a strangled Bandit, and rejoined Odo’s shield formation.
The fort gate once again fell into a stalemate. At this time, half of the defensive forces on the Wood Fort wall had been drawn to the fort gate to form a “human wall.” Baron Antayas, who was coordinating from outside the fort, did not continue to add troops to the stalemated fort gate. He seized the opportunity of the fort wall’s weakened defense and decisively ordered the Knights and Squires waiting beside him to remove their armor, go in light, and desperately take the fort wall.
“Kill one Bandit, reward fifty fenny!” Baron Antayas’s roar, like a mountain flood, echoed outside the fort.
The assault team then let out earth-shattering shouts of charge.
…
As Knight Croy successfully ascended the fort wall and secured his footing, the battle for Ars堡 essentially became a one-sided affair.
When Knight Croy and another Knight led the Squires to jump down from the fort wall, the Bandit Leader, who had been fighting desperately at the fort gate relying on his iron armor and bucket helmet, realized that defeat was inevitable. He abandoned his subordinates who were stubbornly defending the fort gate and secretly retreated towards the back of the Wood Fort under the cover of two trusted lackeys.
Ron, who was thrusting his short spear forward, glanced and noticed the Bandit Leader’s hasty retreating figure. He shouted loudly to Art, who was one person away: “My Lord, he ran, he ran.”
Art turned his head and shouted: “Who ran?”
“The Bandit Leader, the Bandit Leader,” Ron said anxiously, pointing his short spear towards the Bandit Leader who had turned the corner of the house.
In the recent battle for the fort gate, several members of the Patrol Team were struck down by this Bandit Leader. Moreover, the Bandit Leader’s head was the most valuable, so how could Art let him escape like this? Since the situation at the fort gate was already settled, and taking Ars堡 was only a matter of time, Art withdrew from the battle and pulled Odo, who was still fighting, out of the formation.
When Art, Odo, and Ron pursued to the back wall of the Wood Fort, the Bandit Leader had already climbed the wooden wall and was about to climb over the wall to escape.
Seeing this, Art took a stance, drew his bow, and swiftly shot a light arrow. The light arrow pierced the Bandit Leader’s calf, and the intense pain and spasm caused the Bandit Leader to fall from the top of the wall onto the battlements, then dropped to the ground with a “thud” and fainted. One lackey had originally intended to go down and rescue the Bandit Leader, but seeing Art and the others pursuing, he turned to look at his companion who had already climbed over the wall, and ultimately gave up on the idea of rescue, following his companion over the wall and fleeing towards the mountain.
“Don’t chase, the prey is here,” Art shouted to Ron, who was about to run up the wall and climb over to pursue.