Chapter 231: The Failed Raid

It was a dark, windy night, a perfect time for killing and arson.

Inside Greywood Town, it was silent and still; every household had put out their lights and closed their doors. Only the occasional bark of a dog rang out in the town.

However, those sounds faded quickly and caused no disturbance. At this moment, the small town was like a deep, quiet graveyard. It was so silent that just looking at it made one shiver.

As one of the most important relay stations in the Bolerum Territory on the way to the capital, Karada, the taverns in this town used to be bustling with people even late at night in the past. Traveling caravans, accompanied by large numbers of adventurers, included many who lived for the moment. Not knowing how long they would live, they spent most of their income in these cheap taverns. This made Greywood Town’s economy appear abnormally prosperous.

The prototype of the three-shift work system first appeared in this kind of place. However, all of this became a thing of the past because of the previous Goblin raid. Although there was no official curfew at night now, people spontaneously stopped all entertainment-related business activities before late night.

The newly built town walls and gates were over four meters high. White sandalwood trunks as thick as bowls served as the pillars of the wall. Fired earthen bricks formed the main body of the enclosure. Combined with the bonding and reinforcement of primitive concrete, this facility, over a foot thick, could largely strengthen the town’s safety.

Of course, compared to stone city walls, this material had an innate disadvantage in terms of service life. But if maintained well, it could still be used for a hundred years or so. Although many people considered this a time-saving and labor-saving emergency plan, George had his own considerations. Because in over a hundred years, perhaps the town would have expanded to the point where this wall would have to be demolished!

Even if an Ogre used a heavy hammer like a battering ram, it could not have an effect within a few strikes. Such a long time and the loud noise of breaking the wall would be enough for the residents in the town to make preliminary preparations. It was also worlds apart from the previous fence nailed together with wooden planks—that thing could only prevent some herbivorous beasts from entering the town.

The construction of this protective facility also cost George about 3000 Gold Coins. This was still the result of a considerable part of the labor being the voluntary work of the town’s residents. After all, Greywood Town was not too big, but not too small either. To completely enclose it, such a wall could not be considered a small project in this world.

The reason for spending so much effort to strengthen Greywood Town’s defense was not only because it had been attacked before. More importantly, it was nearly a day’s journey away from the territory’s political center, Poitou City. In this world, it could be considered a unique enclave. Therefore, compared to waiting for rescue, its own defense capability appeared quite important.

In the watchtower beside the gate, the Guard on duty put his Spear aside, then stretched and yawned. Immediately after, he pinched his rosacea nose, forced himself to cheer up, and observed the movements around the town.

On the trade road leading to Greywood Town, messy footsteps kept sounding. At this time, the footsteps got closer and closer, and those figures immediately became clear in the dim moonlight.

At the very front, Sir Bart waved his hand, and the advancing army immediately stopped.

“Sir, did something happen ahead?” Sir Bart’s newly promoted Squire, Cortez Campbell, rode up to his side and asked.

Sir Bart instructed: “If we go any further, we might be discovered by the Militia in Greywood Town. For the secrecy of today’s operation, from now on we will march in the wild.”

“Understood!” Having received the order, Cortez Campbell immediately went down to assign tasks. The group quickly left the conspicuous trade road and calmly disappeared into the dim wilderness.

The darkness before dawn in summer was often the time when people slept the deepest. After Sir Bart and his group bypassed a small hill, they finally saw the target of their trip.

At the foot of this hill, someone seemed to have unknowingly built a camp. The walls made of rubble and withered branches looked bumpy, but this not-high wall could bring a trace of security to the people inside.

Just as the group was preparing to raid the enemy camp, a burst of dog barks suddenly came from the small woods not far away.

From the woods, a large number of beasts took the lead in charging towards the soldiers who were about to launch a counterattack.

Running at the front were three slender, rare canine creatures. These guys were naturally cruel, but they were not physical entities now, but projections summoned by the Druids. After hearing the orders of their temporary masters, they all roared and quickly pounced on the crowd in the distance. The vegetation in the woods did not pose much of an obstacle to their agile movements. Following closely behind was a much smaller number of wolves.

Following closely behind, the Druids in the woods began their second summoning. This was because Druids could temporarily convert prepared spells into summoning spells. Coupled with their animal companions and usually tamed pets, it could be said that once they had the numbers, that charge was truly terrifying. This style of combat was also jokingly called a zoo or circus by people.

Immediately after, the second wave of summoned creatures did not appear in the woods, but in the open ground outside the woods. Then appeared a strange creature with the wings, limbs, and head of a bird of prey, and the body and tail of a horse—the Eagle Horse. A omnivorous animal that also included humans in its diet.

Perhaps because Griffins loved to eat horse meat the most, scholars claimed that some Mage with a sense of ironic humor had twisted flesh to create this unfortunate hybrid of horse and eagle a long time ago. Of course, this was treated as a joke.

Although it was on the Griffin’s menu, one must not underestimate their combat power because of that. With the orders of the Druids, these Eagle Horses flapped their wings and soared into the sky. Easily leaping over the running canines, they began diving attacks on the warriors standing in place.

“Fire!” With a command, nearly a hundred crossbow bolts tore through the air. Immediately, more than a dozen Eagle Horses were hit by arrows and fell on their diving paths, as if they had been knocked away. Blood and shattered internal organs splashed in the air and scattered onto the ground far away.

Unfortunately, the soldiers’ crossbows could not fire continuously; reloading a crossbow bolt was not a short process. Fortunately, the number of Druids capable of summoning Eagle Horses was far fewer than those summoning wolves or wild dogs. After all, spellcasting ability was like a pyramid; the number decreased sharply with each higher level. In the process of dodging the falling Eagle Horse corpses, their originally dense formation had to be pulled apart and become loose.

However, the Druids did not launch a third round of summoning. It seemed that Druids capable of using third-circle Divine Arts were very few among this group. And they could not convert all their Divine Arts into summoning spells. Because certain enhancement effects were more useful on the battlefield, and life-saving healing Divine Arts also needed to be reserved.

Very quickly, the Druids’ animal companions also joined the charge. At low levels, the Druids’ animal companions were still quite powerful. Especially the riding dogs at the front, all of the same kind, made the warhorses in the team neigh uneasily.

Riding dogs looked somewhat like large dogs such as Eskimo dogs and Mastiffs. Small-sized races like Halflings and Gnomes usually used them as mounts. Creatures like this were quite powerful on their own; after becoming a Druid’s animal companion, they became existences capable of rivalling professional warriors.

Don’t think that a Commoner diaosi warrior who just entered the Gray Rock rank could single-handedly fight a dog of a Druid of the same Gray Rock rank. If one wasn’t careful with tactics, that diaosi warrior would surely be bitten to death by the dog. Generally speaking, a riding dog’s combat power was about the same as a Gray Rock rank warrior with sufficient training and reasonable equipment. If they received combat training, they would even know tactics like tripping and feinting!

As for those Druids, they now started to divide the work. Those who were good at using bows unfolded the short bows in their hands, and those who were good at melee combat followed behind the animals with handy weapons like wooden sticks or Scimitars.

At the same time, the gate of the camp was opened. Many tall monsters appeared, waving clubs ferociously and howling. Those were the Bear Goblins that George and the others had encountered before. The enemies following behind these big guys could be said to form a grand view of the evil races of the Western Continent.

They launched a charge towards Sir Val and his group from another angle. Together with the Druids’ actions, it seemed to form a pincer attack.

Facing this situation, Sir Bart ordered Cortez Campbell to lead the remaining soldiers to defend on the spot. And he himself led the cavalry team to launch a counter-charge towards that beast tide.

“Assault, charge in, Cavalry Unit! Charge!” Sir Val immediately gave the order. Then he took the lead at the front. Suddenly, the fifty riders behind him all began to charge. That cavalry unit was not only full of spirit, but each one was also overflowing with killing intent.

Almost at the same time, the Druids behind blew their horns. This ominous low sound spread throughout the foot of the hill. The originally summoned beasts seemed to have been injected with chicken blood. Their muscles began to bulge, and their eyes turned blood red.

Sir Bart rushed at the front. By the time the horn sounded for the second time, he had already made contact with the fastest beasts.

The Spear thrust out; the powerful impact was not something these small beasts could resist. For a moment, blood splashed everywhere.

The only thing Sir Bart could do now was to hold the Spear tightly, letting the six-meter-long Spear pierce through the beasts’ bodies again and again.

Then, there was the crisp sound of the Spear breaking. Immediately following was the sound of horse hooves stepping on animal corpses. Sir Bart skillfully threw the handle of his Spear, filled with strength, towards the back.

In the blink of an eye, there was a “Boom!” as if an explosion had occurred. A group of beasts was blown away, and the front was suddenly empty. Sir Bart reflexively crouched down to avoid the flesh and blood flying everywhere. But the splashing blood still made his originally white armor appear spotted with scarlet.

Drawing his Longsword, he charged into the dense group of beasts. As he charged in, he felt that there were beasts all around, and the sound of the Longsword cutting through flesh was continuous.

That familiar feeling emerged from his body. While killing madly, it seemed as if he had returned to the battlefield when he was young. His whole body felt as comfortable as if every pore had opened up.

‘That’s right! A Knight cannot leave the battlefield.’ Sir Bart thought so. Immediately after, he felt a force surge into his body; it was his own Spiritual Qi singing happily.

At the same time, his eyes saw only the beasts being cut down by the Longsword in front of him, and the sound of horses crashing into them, turning them into a puddle of meat paste amidst dull sounds. Sir Bart mercilessly rode his horse directly over their bodies, continuing to break through.

Just then, the warhorse suddenly let out an abnormal scream. Sir Bart immediately knew the situation was bad, so he took the initiative to leap off. His body did a flip in mid-air. Wearing a suit of full-body armor weighing over fifty pounds, Sir Bart landed steadily as lightly as a civet cat.

Immediately after, he discovered his warhorse lying limp on the ground, with a thick blood hole in its chest. The blood gushing from the artery was like a shower. Sir Bart knew that his warhorse, worth over 200 Gold Coins, was bound to die this time. He now regretted underestimating the enemy in front of him, which led to the death of his close partner.

And the culprit causing this was the huge guy in front of him. It had a large, long head, a short, thick neck, and long lips that extended out; there was a solid unicorn on its head. Paired with its short legs and sturdy body, it was clearly a rhinoceros. These guys were notorious for their bad tempers and their reckless charges at intruders.

Immediately after, Sir Val heard a roar appear beside him. Sweeping with his peripheral vision, he found a giant lion at least 15 feet long not far in front of him.

‘Actually a Dire Lion?’ Sir Bart felt that he might be delayed for some time today. Because unlike the rhinoceros that only knew how to charge blindly, the Dire Lion had certain hunting skills. When attacking, it would run towards the prey, pounce on the opponent, and then use its claws and teeth, while also raking the opponent with its hind legs.

Very quickly, Sir Bart heard a sound like a heavy hammer hitting a cowhide drum. Behind him diagonally, a gorilla was pounding its strong chest. But what was different was that the gorilla had four forearms.

This Four-Armed Gorilla was a savage Magical Beast cousin of the common gorilla. They would walk on the ground using their feet and two lower arms. An adult Four-Armed Gorilla was about 8 feet tall, with a very wide chest covered in thick pure white fur.

A solitary Four-Armed Gorilla often hid in the bushes, or under piles of leaves and shrubs, exposing only its nose. When it saw or smelled prey, it would immediately rush out to attack.

Generally, Four-Armed Gorillas would pick prey small enough to carry away; they often disappeared into the bushes before the victim’s companions could react. When dealing with larger enemies, the Four-Armed Gorilla would tear an opponent to pieces as quickly as possible.

These three creatures, which could definitely not have been bred in the same ecological environment, were naturally the masterpiece of a certain Druid.

“Puh!” A steel sword swung through the air, intercepting the gorilla’s long arm in the middle. The sword chopped on the opponent’s arm, and for a moment, sparks flew everywhere. Sir Bart immediately noticed the difference: ‘No! This feeling is not like an animal.’

Everyone could see right there, surrounded by three huge beasts, Sir Bart in silver armor was fighting them.

The terrifying power of the Knight was revealed at this moment without a doubt. Although the attacks of the huge beasts were fierce and their coordination was exquisite, Sir Bart did not retreat a single step. He just confronted them directly. Moreover, all the small beasts that came within three meters of him to assist in the attack also died under his sword.

Originally, according to Sir Bart’s own estimation, he should have already dealt with the enemies in front of him. But in the current situation, he felt that what he was facing was not beasts but Construct creatures—solid as rocks, tireless, and without any fatal weaknesses.

This was the effect of the Greenbound Summoning. This long-lost summoning method was once used by the Ylanni Elves of the Supreme Forest. The creatures responding to the summon would automatically bear the power of the forest.

A “Greenbound Creature” was an acquired template that could be added to any animal, fairy, giant, humanoid, monstrous humanoid, or insect. Besides changing the creature type to plant, it gave them life enhancement, full attacks, damage reduction, fast healing, combat bonuses, and tremorsense. Even their basic strength, agility, and constitution had a qualitative leap.

They were like a group of sticky candies, unbreakable and unchewable, dragging Sir Bart down.

Suddenly, Sir Bart’s leg seemed to be entangled by something above. He pulled hard, but was not able to break free. That giant vine plant launched a surprise attack while Sir Bart was confused and his attention was entirely on those few summoned creatures.

Accompanying the initial success of the vine, the scent of blood and death kept pouring in. Sir Bart began to hiss in a low voice; every bit of strength in his body was struggling desperately while also resisting the pounces from the beasts.

At this time, Cortez Campbell, who had been entrusted with an important task by Sir Bart, also encountered big trouble. The strange creature fighting back and forth with him had long manes standing on its slender spine.

It had a winding tail, developed forelimbs, shining with some clear liquid. Even though they stood upright, one could still tell that these guys with green spots were killers accustomed to running on four legs. A standard reptilian creature’s wide, flat mouth opened and closed, accompanied by short hisses, revealing a mouthful of deadly sharp teeth. At the ends of its four limbs, a pair of 6-inch-long hooked claws appeared.