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Chapter 33 Night Raid and First Battle

There is no curfew in Iron Harbour City tonight.

Generally speaking, in cities under military defense, residents are ordered to stay at home at night and are not allowed to go out.

In other words, conversely, if a city does not enforce a curfew, it gives the impression that "the city is undefended."

The sailors of Calicut, who were often fighting pirates, were all savage and fierce brutes. At this moment, they simply covered their mouths and noses with turbans, did not wear armor, and jumped off the ship with their swords.

In the early hours of the morning, there were no pedestrians on the streets, only a few drunkards who had been thrown out of the tavern, fast asleep by the stinking ditch.

There were no guards.

Iron Harbor was originally unclaimed by a lord, and therefore had no city guards. I heard that Raine brought back many knightly offspring from Searock City as squires, but they were all children who had never seen battle; they probably hadn't even learned how to keep watch yet!
Thinking of this, the sailors became even more excited and bloodthirsty, wishing they could immediately teleport to the Blood Fortress, sneak into their bedrooms under the cover of night, and slit their throats one by one.

We finally arrived near Blood Fortress.

The sailors cautiously moved along the wall, carrying scimitars, until they reached the main gate of the castle, only to find that the gate was already closed.

To be honest, if the city gates had been wide open, they would have been a little suspicious. But now that the gates were closed, the sailors' doubts vanished, and they exchanged glances.

The lead boatswain took the flying anchor from his waist.

This thing is a cross-shaped iron hook with a rope attached to the end. It is used to throw over and hook the hull of enemy ships during boarding operations. At this moment, it was thrown high into the air by the boatswain and landed on the crenellations at the top of the city wall, where it got stuck firmly in the gap.

After pulling a few times to make sure it wasn't loose, the boatswain grabbed the rope first, bit the hilt of his knife, and began to secretly climb the city wall under the cover of night.

After climbing to the top and confirming that there were no patrolling guards carrying torches on the city wall, the boatswain turned around and looked down, then shook the rope three times forcefully.

No danger.

Soon, the sailors also climbed up one after another.

Seeing that there were no guards on the city wall, everyone thought to themselves that the lord was indeed ignorant of military affairs, and had not arranged any patrols at night... and thus became even more contemptuous and lax.

Blood Fortress's walls are a rare double-layered design, with an extremely wide defensive area at the top and hollowed-out troop storage rooms and shooting corridors inside, all interconnected.

The sailors all climbed onto the city wall and then quickly went up the stone steps into the hidden troop room inside the city wall.

The hidden room remained empty.

Passing through the hidden barracks, you enter a narrow shooting corridor with shooting windows in the walls, from which arrows can be poured down the city wall or oil can be poured.

The boatswain walked at the front, when suddenly he had a very bad feeling.

Because in such narrow passages, once the enemy blocks both ends of the exit, no matter how skilled or capable the soldiers are, they will have no room to maneuver or move around.

Just as he was thinking this, he saw a fully armed young knight appear at the end of the corridor ahead.

The opponent was wearing full leather armor with iron plates embedded in his chest and abdomen. He held a heavy wooden shield in his hand and suddenly swung it across his body, blocking the exit of the corridor.

The boatswain roared and took a full step backward, instantly maximizing his charge speed. He slammed into the shield with his shoulder.

The young knight's vision was blocked by the shield, and he did not expect that a huge force would suddenly come from the other side of the shield. He lost his balance and was forced to stagger back several steps.

Breakthrough!
The boatswain seized the opening that had finally appeared, swiftly sidestepped the large shield, and delivered a fierce backhand slash that struck the young knight's shoulder, tearing through his leather armor and piercing his flesh.

His strength was already immense, and he was about to exert more force to completely sever the opponent's arm when he suddenly noticed several young knights standing to his side out of the corner of his eye. All of them held large shields horizontally in front of them, with gleaming swords visible between the shields.

He immediately forgot about killing, quickly dragged the crippled young knight in front of him to use as a human shield, and shouted fiercely:
"Back off if you don't want him to die!"

The knights and squires stared in horror at their companions, who were being held hostage by the enemy, and for a moment they were at a loss for what to do.

In that brief moment of hesitation, several more enemies rushed out from the firing corridor behind the boatswain.

"Kill!" Someone shouted, startling the young servants awake.

The group finally reacted and followed their training instructions. With their left hands, they raised their large shields and pushed forward in unison, using the shield wall to push the sailors backward. With their right hands, they raised their swords and thrust them forward through the gaps in the shields!
In this cramped indoor room, it was impossible to bypass the shield wall directly. Blades clashed, cold light flashed, blood and flesh splattered, no one screamed, only muffled groans of suppressed pain and gasps for breath as they struggled to their death.

A few minutes later, Ellina stepped into the room and surveyed the battlefield that had ended.

She did not participate in the battle or give commands, allowing the young squires to act freely. From setting the ambush location at the end of the shooting corridor, to the young knights making a mistake while blocking the entrance, to the carnage in the narrow room, Ellina did not intervene.

Until all the sailors have been stabbed to death.

"Statistics on casualties," she said coldly.

The numbers came out quickly. Of the thirty-six knights and squires, two were on the verge of death, two were seriously injured and crippled, and seven were slightly injured. Even those who were not injured were nearly exhausted; after the effects of the adrenaline wore off, they could barely lift their swords and shields.

Ellina was very dissatisfied that the ambush, which had taken advantage of the terrain, had turned out this way.

Her icy gaze swept over the critically wounded and dying knight squire, and she said coldly:

“You guys lie here, someone will come and take care of you.”

"Those who can still fight, come with me."

Apart from those who were lying on the ground, the remaining knights and squires silently followed Ellina away.

A few minutes later, Bersalia stepped through a pool of blood and entered with a few trembling servants.

She fed the concocted potions to the severely wounded or dying young knights, watching them quickly fall into unconsciousness, and said with a smile:

"Carry it to Blood Fortress."

In the study atop Blood Fortress, Raine learned of the first round's results from the front lines and couldn't help but frown.

what happened?

Ellina, I entrusted these squires to you for training, even using the favor you owed me. You trained them for a full three or four days... whatever, it was you who trained them, and their performance was so terrible!

He got up and opened the bookcase door.

The cabinet contained rows of reagent bottles filled with crimson essence of flesh and blood. There were relatively few elves and orcs; the Imperials were divided into "Southern Imperials" and "Northern Imperials," neatly stacked in several rows.

Picking up a vial labeled with the essence of flesh and blood of the Southern Empire, Raine went downstairs to the Blood Fortress Hall. Looking at the heavily wounded and dying knights and squires lying on the ground, he dismissed all the servants around him.

Start making people.

(End of this chapter)