Xiao Chen raised the purse in his hand and shook it in front of everyone. The purse was made of deerskin and was very strong. The gold coins inside weighed at least 20 kilograms. Xiao Chen certainly couldn't shake it so easily before, but now, after being transformed by the magical white light, he could do it easily. The gold coins collided, making a pleasant ding-dong sound. Xiao Chen could see that almost everyone showed a greedy expression to some extent.
He took out a gold coin, which glowed silvery white in the moonlight. "One gold coin can allow you to live a good life in Suero for two months. Five gold coins can buy you a good weapon made by a dwarf craftsman. Ten gold coins can buy you a nice house in the town. Fifty gold coins can allow you to marry a beautiful woman and live a stable life with her. Gold coins are good things, don't you think?"
"Sir, gold coins are good things, but I like them and they don't like me." A mercenary said in a strange tone, and the others laughed when they heard it.
"It's hard to earn gold coins? Then I'll give you a chance to take them home today." Xiao Chen said forcefully, pointing to a hilltop with a bright light not far away. "It's right there. Our scouts have discovered the horse thieves' camp. They have been besieging my castle for a long time and are exhausted. The horse thieves are coming out in full force. Now is the time when there are the fewest people in the camp. It's a good opportunity for us to attack the camp! Now, I'll offer gold coins to buy the heads of the horse thieves. One gold coin for each ordinary horse thief! Ten gold coins for each leader of the horse thief group! Whoever kills the bandit leader Cadiz, I'll give him fifty gold coins!"
"Oh~" The mercenaries were all amazed. The purchasing power of one Golden Axe Coin was equivalent to 6,000 RMB. The price Xiao Chen offered was already very considerable on the battlefield.
"Sir, we will kill them all!"
"Sir, let's go! Kill everyone in the camp first, and then stab those siege guys from behind."
When Xiao Chen saw that all the mercenaries were in high spirits, he knew that the material incentives were effective.
Just as he was about to announce the departure, the leader of the Swift Leopard Mercenary Group, Wade, stepped forward. He bowed slightly and said, "Sir, thank you for your generosity. You have offered a price that we cannot refuse. But I have a question. Among the scouts just sent out was someone from our group, and he found that there are many more enemies in the camp than us. If we just rush in, I'm afraid we will suffer heavy losses, right? For us hard-working mercenaries, gold coins are tempting, but life is more precious."
"Wade, what do you mean? As a warrior, how can you retreat in front of the battle?" Kalanda said dissatisfiedly.
"Captain Kalanda, how could I back down? I just hope that Lord Xiao can have a more complete plan. In my opinion, we can wait until more bandits get out of the camp and then surprise them."
What Wade said made sense. The mercenaries, who were eager to fight, were immediately poured a bucket of cold water. They all stopped fighting and started to discuss.
Chen Hansheng, Li Tianrui and others were already worried about the situation in the school. Seeing the sudden change in the situation around them, they became very anxious, but it was difficult for them to make any excuses.
"Wade! What are you doing! Lord Xiao hired us to solve the crisis of the siege. Where are your principles as a mercenary?" Kalanda stepped forward with an angry look on his face.
"Captain Kalanda, if the number of horse thieves in the camp was equal to ours, or even twice ours, I would charge over without hesitation. But now their number may be three or four times ours, hiding in a camp with a simple wall, and there is a strong man like Kadis in charge! He is a mid-level warrior! Who among us dares to say that he is stronger than him?" Wade retorted fearlessly.
"What are you thinking?" Kalanda reached out to pull his collar.
"Wait." Xiao Chen called out to Kalanda. He did not argue with Wade, but continued to speak to everyone with a confident expression: "Captain Wade just raised an objection, saying that the bandits are numerous and powerful, and we will suffer great losses if we rush forward. But I cannot agree with this. You know, we have a huge advantage that the bandits cannot match, which allows us to hold the chips for victory!"
Everyone quieted down and listened to what he had to say.
"That's me, a magician!" Xiao Chen pointed at his nose and said loudly, "Have you forgotten my magic? Have you forgotten the scene in the mercenary camp? How many of you standing in front of me were knocked down by my blow? If I can scare you with magic, I can scare the bandits even more! Today, I will rush to the front and use my magic to clear the way for everyone!"
"Sir, you can't do this. There is no reason for you to take risks!" Kalanda said nervously.
"As a magician, I am a strong man compared to ordinary warriors. Isn't it natural for the strong to pave the way for others?"
The crowd around them roared, and many even showed excitement. The mercenaries still remembered Xiao Chen's power, and they respected and feared him. But they never thought that one day, the noble magician would fight with them, and even stand in front of them regardless of danger to reduce their losses. Such a thing has never been heard of in legendary stories, and it even touched some people's hearts.
"But even if I am a strong man, I will only go one step ahead. I still need the support of each of you. Now, does anyone have any objections? Are you willing to follow me and fight together?" Xiao Chen turned to Wade, "Captain Wade, what do you say?"
"My Lord..." Wade's words got stuck in his throat. His dry lips trembled slightly, and there was a trace of shame in his eyes. When he raised the question, he was just trying to bargain, but he didn't expect that this would be the result. He knelt on one knee and answered loudly: "The Swift Leopards are willing to follow you and fight for you!"
"The Violent Bears will trample that camp and fight for you!"
"The Iron Axe Group will never lose to the Violent Bear and will fight for you!" One mercenary group after another echoed Wade's oath.
"The Blue Flame Group will definitely protect your safety and fight for you!" said Kalanda, with a rare smile on her face.
The mercenaries shouted one after another. They were unwilling to be outdone and their fighting spirit was high!
Xiao Chen could sense the powerful morale of the mercenaries around him. These people were no longer just moved by the gold coins, but something deeper touched their hearts. Xiao Chen drew out the Spark Sword at his waist and pointed it at the top of the mountain, announcing loudly: "Follow me!"
——————————
The bandits' camp was poorly guarded. Firstly, they did not expect that their camp would be attacked during the massive siege; secondly, most of the leaders were on the front battlefield, and many bandits were left without a leader.
When the mercenary team led by Xiao Chen rushed to the gate of the camp, Kadis had just arrived, and he had only gathered about a hundred bandits along the way. Bandits from other bandit groups either did not listen to his command or simply fled. When he saw nearly two hundred mercenaries charging towards his camp, he hurriedly shouted at his left and right: "Form a formation, form a formation, you bunch of idiots, follow me to the gate to stop them!"
The village had no towers, and the so-called walls and gates were nothing more than some wooden boards and other objects. The mercenaries and horse thieves could see the other side rushing towards the gate through the large gaps between the wooden bars.
Xiao Chen took the lead, rushing to the front, with Kalanda and Gameiro guarding him. He activated the protective necklace given to him by Morey, and a hemispherical shield covered him and the horse under him. Under the command of Cadiz, the horse thieves at the entrance of the camp had formed a crude square behind the gate, and there were scattered soldiers around shooting arrows at them through the fence. However, most of the arrows were either deflected by Kalanda and Gameiro or deflected by Xiao Chen's shield.
When he was about fifty meters away from the camp gate, Xiao Chen stopped. He drew a magic pattern representing the heart of fear in his mind, and then poured his mighty mental power into it. The encounters in the past few days had made him make some breakthroughs. Both the speed of drawing magic patterns and the stability of filling mental power had been greatly improved, which made the power of his spells rise to a new level.
The completed magic pattern turned into a terrifying spiritual energy, and under Xiao Chen's guidance, it left his spiritual world and rushed into reality. As his sword pointed, this invisible energy crossed the sky, passed through the gate, and fell into the horse thieves' formation behind the village gate, and exploded instantly.
Xiao Chen had always thought that "Heart of Fear", as the first combat magic he had learned, was a very common low-level magic. However, as one of the nine inherited magics created by the Saint Mage Antonio Gregorio, how could Heart of Fear be simple? The most powerful thing about this magic is that it has no limit. The more powerful the caster's mental power is, the greater the range of the magic. With Xiao Chen's current ability, this magic is enough to be called a tactical magic for the military.
This blow was like a bucket of cold water poured into an oil pan, and the hundred-plus horse thieves' formation exploded instantly. In an instant, some of the horse thieves collapsed to the ground, some screamed, some cried, and many began to run away. Even those with stronger wills who were not defeated by the hallucinations were in a trance for a moment.
At this time, Xiao Chen's mercenaries seized the opportunity and began to charge.
Kalanda rushed to the front. She gathered her strength, then burst out with fighting spirit. She swung her sword high up with the fighting spirit and chopped down the gate of the camp. The two-finger-thick hardwood strips were broken into pieces by the sword, and half of the gate was gone.
Gameiro followed closely behind. He roared, and his already sturdy figure became even stronger. Black hair grew on his body and face, just like a demon bear. He rushed forward and hit the door with his shoulder, knocking the broken door panel away. Several horse thieves behind the door were hit by the flying wood and fell to the ground with blood spurting out of their mouths. The warrior with the blood of the demon bear laughed and stepped into the gate. A large number of mercenaries shouted and rushed in behind him.
The half-elf archer Cole bent his bow and aimed at the horse thieves' flag on the distant magic platform. He chanted a spell, and the power of the wind was like a thin thread, wrapped around his arrow. This magic arrow had a range and accuracy far beyond its peers. As he shot the arrow, Kadis's bloody scimitar flag fell. That flag has always been a symbol of Kadis, representing his authority. The fall of the flag made the enemies inside and outside the camp even more panicked.
"Charge!" The war cry that echoed in all directions swept through the camp.
In the face of such a powerful army, the horse thieves who were dispersed by Xiao Chen could not organize a strong counterattack at all. Moreover, Xiao Chen was following behind the mercenaries, and as soon as he saw the horse thieves gathering, he would release a fear spell on them.
The battle hadn't really started yet, but it had already turned into a one-sided chase. This was the power of magic. The morale of the mercenaries grew higher and higher. The bandits who came from other places were defeated one by one by the warriors with great momentum. The bandits who were guarding the key points were defeated one by one by several masters of fighting spirit.
———————————
Kadis left the square formation the moment Xiao Chen released the magic. Even so, he still felt a little palpitation in the aftermath of the magic. He looked at the battle at the door, and his heart sank a little bit. He knew that warriors and blood warriors with fighting spirit were much stronger than ordinary warriors in strength, speed, endurance and defense. These horse thieves who only knew basic martial arts were like sheep in front of tigers in front of these masters. And he was the only one who could fight against the masters here.
Kadis was only slightly stronger than Kalanda, and he knew very well that if he continued to fight like this, the whole army would be annihilated. Thinking of this, he said to Awan who came over, "Take a few people and go to the west of the camp to gather the retreating troops. I will cover you and join you later."
Awan responded and left. Kadis looked at the crowd in chaos and suddenly jumped up, leaping towards the place where the ordinary mercenaries gathered. A blood mist surged on his sword, and when the sword fell, the blood mist turned into countless blood rays and scattered out. Wherever hit by the blood rays, whether it was clothes, armor or flesh, it was quickly corroded and melted as if it was doused with sulfuric acid.
This attack was like a bomb exploding in the crowd. The mercenaries who were hit by the blood light died on the spot, and the injured fell to the ground, covering their wounds and screaming loudly, losing their fighting power. More mercenaries were stunned by this attack, their offensive was blocked, and their charging formation was disintegrated by a single blow. Then they had to fight the bandits on their own battlefields.
Kadis succeeded in his attack, but he did not want to fight any longer. Before several masters came back to attack him, he ran towards the school as fast as he could.
Kadis was fighting and running, and not long after he escaped from the camp, he met Orville and Awan. Awan had gathered some men, and now there were about twenty people.
As soon as Orville saw Kadis, he said anxiously, "Boss! Adam and his sister have turned against us. These two traitors are now attacking us together with the magician's men. Several bandit groups have been wiped out by them!"
"What? Why did they do this? Explain it to me clearly!" Kadis felt dizzy. Why did the good situation suddenly collapse and take a turn for the worse
"I don't know. After I assassinated the magician, I lay in ambush for a while. Seeing that no new magicians appeared, I took a detour to retreat to the camp. When I passed the wall that Adam was responsible for attacking, I found that no one was attacking the city. Instead, there were sounds of fighting on the position of the Crazy Tiger Horse Bandits not far away. I didn't see any magician's team leaving the city, so I found it strange. I went over to take a look and found that it was Adam and Crazy Tiger who were fighting. They, together with the castle guards, killed all of Crazy Tiger and his men.
"Boss, what should we do? The dozen brothers I led also encountered Adam's scout team. Two of them died before we drove them away. How do we continue to fight?" Awan said.
Kadis angrily looked at the school which was still some distance away, and made a prompt decision: "Let's retreat. Let's go now. The mercenaries are blocking the east and Adam is blocking the south. If we want to go back, we can only follow the northeast path through the forest."
"What about the other brothers?" Awan asked.
"Let them escape on their own. If we take them with us, we will be easily conspicuous and we will all be in trouble." Without hesitation, Kadis led only twenty or so people and ran into the forest.
———————————
The camp had been almost cleared out, with dead and wounded mercenaries and bandits everywhere, and the whole hilltop was enveloped in a heavy smell of blood. All the dead bandits had their heads cut off by the mercenaries and piled up in front of Xiao Chen like garbage. Behind him, Cai Long was recording the kills with the stench rushing straight to his head.
Li Tianrui covered his nose and walked over and said, "Xiao Chen, don't you think this battle is too easy? We just rush in and kill the enemy?"
"You have to take into account the hardships we had to endure along the way. I almost lost my life. If we hadn't hurriedly arrived at the bandits' camp when it was the most empty, the outcome might have been completely different." Xiao Chen replied.
"That's true, but now I believe your previous judgment. The bandits are indeed a group of scattered sand."
Xiao Chen sighed and said, "Even if it's scattered sand, it's a life-and-death struggle. How are our casualties?"
"We lost 26 mercenaries and 59 were injured. Most of them were done by Cadiz alone. Some others temporarily lost their combat effectiveness." Li Tianrui looked at Xiao Chen awkwardly, "They were all accidentally injured by your magic."
"Ha, my control is indeed a bit poor..." Xiao Chen scratched his head.
"But the leader of the horse thieves, Kadis, escaped during the chaos. He's a really tough guy, but it's a pity that we couldn't keep him. I'm worried that he'll mess with us in the future."
"The power of one person is always limited. Even if he is stronger than any of us, his forces have been mostly dispersed by us. What are we afraid of?" Xiao Chen looked at his watch and said, "But we don't have time to waste. Gather those who can still fight in five minutes and prepare to attack the enemy behind the siege."
"Good! The sooner we attack, the less damage the school will suffer. It's time to teach those bastards a lesson!"
———————————
Zhang Sicheng bent his bow and aimed at an enemy who was climbing up the wall and preparing to run away. As soon as he let go, he shot the last arrow in his quiver. The arrow hit the back of the enemy's neck, and the horse thief's body stiffened, and then fell down helplessly.
"Luck!" Zhang Sicheng put the bow on the ground, picked up an ownerless spear, and looked around. He could not see any enemy. Several guards with wounds all over their bodies were also looking for traces of the enemy like Zhang Sicheng. One of them asked in a strange tone: "Why are there no enemies?"
"Did we... win?"
Zhang Sicheng didn't dare to respond. He didn't know whether this was just a temporary retreat of the enemy or a real victory. He carefully walked out of the fortifications with his spear in hand and headed towards the school wall.
The wall had never been so hideous. This wall, which was more decorative than practical on Earth, became a barrier separating life and death here. Corpses fell inside and outside the wall, and some were hanging on the wall in strange postures.
Zhang Sicheng closed the eyes of a corpse lying between the iron fences with his hands, and looked out from the wall while holding back his nausea. He saw that the plain in front of the campus was in chaos at this time. Horse teams came from nowhere and galloped on the plain. But they were not here to attack the school, but to chase and kill the retreating horse thieves. The horse thieves who were so aggressive just now were fleeing in disarray, and some of them who ran the farthest had already disappeared into the distant mountains and forests.
"Reinforcements? We actually have reinforcements?"
He looked further away. The bandit camp seemed to have quieted down. The bloody scimitar flag on the flagpole was gone, and now there was a piece of white cloth fluttering there.
"Is this... a surrender?"
At this time, he saw a team of more than ten people, galloping towards the school. The first few riders waved flashlights in their hands to show their identities. Soon, the team rushed up the slope in front of the school gate, and those people shouted: "We are our own people! Come to help kill the enemy, don't shoot!"
The riders ran to the wall and found that there were no more enemies attacking the city. They started shouting, "The horse bandits have been repelled. We won!"
Zhang Sicheng couldn't help but ask loudly: "Is this true?"
A rider shone his flashlight in the direction of Zhang Sicheng, then stopped his horse and said, "Teacher Zhang, I'm Xiao Chen. We defeated the bandits and captured their camp. We won! We really won!"
"Xiao Chen? Won?" Zhang Sicheng kept repeating these two words, and then his heart began to beat wildly, faster than the first time he met the enemy. After seeing Xiao Chen, the scenes he saw that he was not sure of were connected together. It turned out that the enemy really retreated, the camp really surrendered, and the bloody battle was really over. The man in his thirties stood there in a daze, and the spear in his hand fell to the ground unconsciously, and then tears began to flow out of his eyes, flowing through his scars and wetting his tattered combat uniform. He cried, crying for all the dead, and laughed, laughing for all the living.
“Ah!!” He raised his fists high to vent his emotions, then jumped up like a child and shouted at the top of his lungs: “The enemy is running away! We won!”
Xiao Chen rode on his horse, quietly watching the man in front of him go crazy, but his heart was surprisingly calm. At this moment, he didn't need to say anything, the victory belonged to him, and even more to the people in front of him.
The others around couldn't believe it at first, but when they all crowded to the wall and saw the fleeing enemies, they couldn't help but roar along with Zhang Sicheng. The roar of victory spread through the school like water waves, and more and more voices merged into the cheers: "The enemy has fled! The enemy has fled! We won! We won!"