A Sudden Attack(2)
A few patrolling guards burst towards the front gate with torches in hand, just in time to see a pack of armed enemies surrounding the manor. Their leader could clearly see the faces of these bandits under the torchlight, and he was able to make out a few familiar faces. He exclaimed in shock, “Pierre! Is that really you? Uncle Yomen? Why are you guys here? Didn’t you follow Sir Kojo to find those demons from another plane?”
Being exposed, Pierre and Yomen were forced to stop in their tracks. The remaining three of Richard’s prisoners stopped as well, but despite the momentary stall the patrol couldn’t figure out the situation. Gangdor betrayed a cruel smile from behind the prisoners, holding tight to the axe in his hands. The knights moved forward to flank, while Waterflower remained hidden in Gangdor’s shadow, holding her breath.
That very moment, Richard issued a cold order from the tower he was surveilling the situation from, “Yomen… Kill them!”
The moment his voice sounded out, the middle-aged warrior immediately waved his sword subconsciously, almost as if he’d heard the whispers of a devil. The youth across him was stunned, looking down in disbelief at the wound on his chest. The cut was long and deep, almost revealing his internal organs; Yomen had evidently used all his strength.
That strike had hit the youth’s vital points in a single strike, so fast he hadn’t even had the time to react. It was a swing that broke the bones in his body, but he didn’t so much as sway. It was clearly an exquisite, vicious strike.
Yomen had definitely showcased his fundamental skills as a veteran warrior with that one strike.
As the sword landed, even Yomen himself was stunned for a moment. However, he recovered immediately and took another step forward, stabbing the young guard in his abdomen.
“KILL THEM!” a shout rang out, but this time it wasn’t Richard.
“KILL THEM ALL!” Yomen was cutting down a guard with every one of those shouts, and the other prisoners seemed to awaken from their reverie as they pounced on the guards as well. Despite being outnumbered, they killed their opponents off one after the other. Seven to eight guards had been cut down instantly between the flashes of blades.
Regardless of age, all the prisoners that had accompanied Richard this time had seen blood, had deaths on their heads. How could a civilian militia hope to match them in a melee?
Since the fight had already begun, the prisoners freed up their hands and feet completely, holding up shields and swords against another pack of guards who’d rushed up to provide assistance. Blood was spilt once more, the new arrivals defeated as well without a single survivor remaining. Even the ones who were critically injured weren’t let go, swords slashing into or stabbing them without question. The viciousness of these men without escape caused even Gangdor to shrug his shoulders.
Richard had prepared a fireball, but it turned out to be of no use. He jumped down, casting a featherfall spell as he fell gracefully to the ground. A loud commotion rang out from the central and side towers at that moment, with large numbers of guards marching out. They were all disheveled, some even unarmed, but their sheer numbers would still give them an overwhelming advantage.
The five prisoners were gasping rapidly, huddled close to each other. Every one of them was injured to some extent, but that only increased their ferocity. They glared at their former comrades with bloodshot eyes, holding firmly onto the steel swords in their hands.
Flowsand walked out of the dark at that moment, healing spells already falling onto the two most severely hurt of the lot. Although the warriors were surprised, it served to be a huge boost to their morale!
Richard was already floating in mid-air. He infused mana into his voice, screaming loudly, “KILL ALL WHO DARE RESIST!”
The voice engulfed the entire manor, leaving the charging guards startled. They slowed down involuntarily, but soon they were pushed forward by the waves behind them. Their battle cries this time were exceptionally fierce, as if hoping to boost their own valour.
Richard walked out of the crowd with his right arm raised, waving out a signal. A sudden, sharp hiss rang through the night sky, as a piercing arrow nailed one of the guards on the front lines dead to the ground. Richard pushed his hand down, spawning four brutal boars in front of him. These creatures were all blessed by Flowsand the moment they emerged.
Four huge shadows galloped into enemy ranks, leaving them a huge mess. One of the boars had sunk its teeth into the waist of an unlucky chap during the charge, raising him up into the sky to the tune of piercing screams.
Gangdor was so excited that his face was flushed red. He rushed out of the crowd, exclaiming, “My axe can’t— ”
But at that exact moment, a loud cry rang out near him as an attack of blazing energy rushed past him. The fireball moved out farther, exploding in the midst of the patrolling guards, the edge of the explosion only a few metres away from the brute. Had he been any faster just then, leaping into the guards, he would have been bathing in fire right now.
Gangdor was well aware of how scary Richard could be. He could cast fireballs extremely quickly, and if the first one had exploded that meant the second one would already have left his hands. He couldn’t help but retreat— the second one would only be faster.
As expected, even as the waves of the last fireball continued to spread out another one had already flown past him, exploding between the remaining guards. In fact, these two fireballs also encompassed the brutal boars that were in the melee. Two of them had broken out of Richard’s control with the first one, turning to look at the culprit with revenge in their eyes. However, the second one had sent the remainder of the four boars and all of the twenty-odd guards straight to hell.
The manor fell silent at once.
In a matter of seconds, with three spells in total, the first wave of guards had been cleared out. As they looked at the messy but now-empty square, it wasn’t just the opposing guards that were awestruck— even many of the people on Richard’s side were secretly scared.
Gangdor’s eyelids started to twitch vigorously. Had he not listened to Richard’s orders, jumping into the crowd according to plan, he would have died to the explosions before he could wave his axe. No level 10 warrior would want to suffer a single fireball, much less two less than a second apart. Even a level 11 warrior wouldn’t be able to recover from that.
In fact, a level 12 warrior like Sir Kojo, who also had excellent armour, had been defeated by five of Richard’s fireballs. If not for Richard ‘taking care’ of the knight’s subordinates, he would have been able to focus the damage on the knight and take him down with just four.
The second batch of guards were just gathering, when they suddenly cried out in alarm. They turned to leave in a hurry, escaping into the manor itself. They seemed to forget that Richard could set it ablaze with two of his fireballs, killing them nonetheless.
Although there were still nearly a hundred guards left in the manor, their will to fight had been wiped out by those three spells. Richard raised his right arm high once more, pointing out at the central building of the estate, “Leave the women and children alive. Kill any men who dare resist!”
Richard had barely finished his sentence, but Gangdor had already thrown himself out like a whirlwind. His thunderous roars echoed through the night, “I’ve been waiting all night for this! Watch out for my tough axe, lizards! It’s hungry for blood!”
*SHLICK!* Gangdor’s axe sliced at the waist of the last of the patrol guards, nearly splitting him in half. Following that, the giant rammed his way into the main building, shouting louder than the endless cries and screams.
“My axe can’t handle the hunger anymore…”
“My axe can’t handle the hunger…”
“My axe…”
“Handle…”
“Hunger…”
“HUNGER!!”
The brute was evidently killing so fast he couldn’t shout as fast as he killed.
The prisoners, knights, raptors… Even Waterflower and Flowsand rushed into the manor, leaving the trolls to block the front and rear exits with their huge bodies. However, there were still some people scurrying about, trying to escape by climbing the walls of the estate. But how would they ever escape the sight of Richard, who was standing alone on the square? All Richard had to do was to point his finger at those figures, and bows would be drawn in the dark, arrows one after another piercing through their bodies in a split second. It was like he was a god of death, ordering their lives away.
In just a few short minutes, the noises from the massacre had audibly lessened. Gangdor’s deafening chant had also become more and more complete.
A fortunate patrol guard had escaped through the back door of the main building, and cleverly jumped onto a horse in the back stable as it rushed out madly. He sped along the walls, trying to hide in the shadows of the trees as he quickly approached the now-unguarded main gate.
Olar quietly appeared by Richard’s side, his bow long drawn. The arrowhead was burning with tracking flames, and the elf already knew that he would definitely pierce through the man’s heart. Just as he was about to release, however, Richard suddenly held him back.
Surprised, Olar exclaimed, “Master, he’ll definitely notify the training camp!”
“Let him go,” Richard replied calmly.
A short while later, the guard safely made it out of the manor on his horse, disappearing into the darkness of the night.