Riding and Slashing

Chapter 167 A Belated Friendship

Arrows rained all over the sky like silver migratory locusts, and screams one after another resounded throughout the camp.

It was the time when the moon had just risen, and most of the mercenaries were still awake, and they reacted fairly quickly when encountering a surprise attack.

However, they were suddenly attacked at night, and the mercenaries were still in a mess.

For, in the night, their fighting power was not at all equal to that of the Noldor.

Under this kind of thin moonlight, human beings can't see everything in the forest clearly. They can only see the Noldor warriors flickering in the forest, like ghosts.

But the Noldor elves still had their arrows ready. The elves were the darlings of the dark night, and the moonlight was enough for them to see everything clearly.

Moreover, the long pointed ears allow the elves to have much better hearing than humans, and most elves can even recognize the position by hearing the sound and shoot blindly-this is why Lisa Dilan can always find out before Leon Enemies, especially at night.

Dumbledore propped himself up from behind the low wall, and quickly looked out with his head.

This camp is located in the low part of this mountainous area, tens of miles to the west is the gentle slope extending down from the Dengjil Mountains, and the east is close to the Noldor Forest-the forest is also a gentle upward slope.

The camp itself is a relatively flat open space.

But this meant that Noldor, who came from the direction of the forest, could shoot arrows condescendingly.

Dumbledore's current position is the easternmost part of the camp, near the edge of the forest.

From his position, he could see at least hundreds of Noldor warriors shuttling through the forest, and there seemed to be more than a dozen Noldor Twilight Knights in command.

The Twilight Knight is covered in silver armor, which is relatively conspicuous.

There are more than ten Twilight Knights that can be seen.

Dumbledore was a little desperate. He didn't expect that the army of elves would come so quickly and on such a large scale.

He had gone deep into the forest of the Noldor, and he had encountered the troops of the Noldor, and he knew what it meant to be the commanders of the Noldor in silver armor.

A few years ago, he had followed the First Battalion of the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets to explore the territory of the Noldor—they thought that the Noldor might have established a city in the forest and wanted to explore it.

After entering the forest and advancing nearly a hundred miles with difficulty, this team of more than 200 people armed to the teeth had just set up camp, and was suddenly raided by a Noldor patrol team of about 50 people.

With a ratio of five to one, the first brigade of the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets of course took up the battle without fear.

But at the end of that battle, the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets, which had five times as many people, were completely wiped out.

Among the patrols of the Noldor that led to their annihilation was a commander in silver armor, the Knight of the Twilight of the Noldor.

Dumbledore still clearly remembers the scene at that time - the Twilight Knight scattered the Noldor Rangers behind him into the woods, and then he stood there and shot and killed more than twenty people in a row with terrifying shooting skills. people.

Dumbledore could have sworn it was the fastest-shooting creature he had ever seen—the Twilight Knight shot thirty arrows in three minutes, and almost every one of them took a life.

The thick plate chain armor and black pointed helmet hardly played any protective role against the twilight knight's arrows.

At the same time, continuous arrows were shot from all directions in the forest. The Noldor Rangers kept changing their positions in the forest.

In 3 minutes, the number of people who died under the arrows of the Noldor was close to a hundred.

That's only fifty Noldor...

Then, the twilight knight lowered his bow and even dropped his quiver.

When he thought that the fearsome archer had no arrows to worry about, the twilight knight drew out the long sword behind his back and charged them.

Dumbledore watched helplessly as the slightly curved sword killed five of his comrades in less than ten seconds—all of them were the top fighters.

But their warhammers and long swords were hard to break through the strange and simple armor on the Twilight Knight.

Then all the rangers of the Noldor appeared from all directions, and fifty Noldor actually surrounded them to face the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlet, which was still three times their own.

Not long after, only half of the survivors of the first brigade of the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlet remained...

They finally retreated.

Being able to collapse after half of the battle is dead, the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets can be regarded as the top elite in the human armed forces.

But the result they achieved was only to kill seven or eight Noldor rangers.

The terrifying Twilight Knight, whose silver armor was stained blood red, continued to pursue them.

Dumbledore escaped from the forest with a dozen of people with difficulty, and thus became the knight commander of the first brigade of the Ebony Gauntlet Knights—the first brigade was almost wiped out, and Dumbledore was the only noble knight who escaped.

Dumbledore had greatly increased the percentage of crossbowmen in his ranks over the years, and had been dealing with the Noldor at the edge of the forest, but he never saw the Twilight Knight again.

In other words, even if he encounters it, he will not try to attack.

Without a ten-fold advantage in numbers, Dumbledore would no longer easily provoke the Noldor patrols with more than 40 people. He already understood how terrifying the Noldor shooters would be when they formed a large scale.

Most of the time, he was dealing with lone Noldor warriors or hunters; or he led an army of more than a hundred people to kill those small Noldor scouting teams of about ten people.

The First Brigade of the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets also gained a lot of benefits under Dumbledore's prudence. Due to the small-scale battles with small losses and high gains, the First Brigade has gradually reorganized over the years. The scale of more than four hundred people.

Now, Dumbledore saw the figure of the Twilight Knight again, and he also understood the outcome of this battle again...

Based on his experience, a Twilight Knight would lead a mixed Noldor force of about 50 people.

Now that there are more than a dozen Twilight Knights, the total number of Noldor warriors outside will not be less than 600.

And the total number of human mercenaries in the camp was about three thousand—the same ratio of five to one.

The same proportion of people as in that year, also after setting up camp, also at night when the moon was just rising, was also raided by the Noldor at night.

But these mercenaries are a mixed bag, and they are incomparable with the original Ebony Gauntlet Knights.

In fact, Dumbledore was not very happy to go deep into the Noldor Forest, but it was impossible for the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlet to ignore the king's request, so he originally planned to let the mercenaries take the lead—especially the famous lion Eagle Sword Mercenary Group.

But he really didn't expect that Noldor's large army would appear on the edge of the forest so soon, and the Griffin Sword Mercenary Group never came.

Never before have the Noldor's large army come so quickly when they hunted lonely elves at the edge of the forest...

In the camp, the mercenaries were scrambling to put on their equipment, unable to fight back yet.

Most of the Ebony Gauntlet Knights in charge of the night watch are well equipped, but no one dares to take the lead.

Under the low wall on the side of the forest, a row of people soon lay down, mostly members of the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets.

All of them are in the same posture as Dumbledore - leaning sideways on the inside of the low wall, sticking out the low wall with the crossbow in their hands to fight back.

Only a half-foot-thick wooden wall can block Noldor's arrows, so they don't show much, and they almost shoot blindly when they fight back.

But this is the correct way. Although this kind of blind shooting has no results, it can at least buy time for the mercenaries in the camp and prevent the Noldor from directly breaking into the camp.

The Ebony Gauntlet Knights had much more experience in dealing with Noldo. Although they were caught off guard by the first wave of arrows and suffered a lot of damage, they quickly made the most correct response.

But behind them, those mercenaries who came out of the tents rashly did not have this awareness.

In such a short time, hundreds of people fell to the ground with arrows, most of them were mercenaries who had just got out of the tent, and then they were shot down by the Noldor as soon as they stood up...

Howling and moaning came and went.

The Noldor's army was already getting closer. Some Noldor warriors shot arrows so that few people in the camp dared to show their faces. Hundreds of Noldor rangers formed a loose formation 30 meters away from the camp.

It was a long line, and every two Noldor cooperated in groups, one defended with a shield, and the other shot with a bow.

It seems that this is to continue remote suppression.

But this way of fighting in formation seldom appears to the Noldor.

Because although this can get a better shooting position, it will also make them lose their biggest advantage-concealment in the woods.

The various mercenary regiments finally began to counterattack gradually. A crossbow arrow shot at the formation of the Noldor, and the mercenaries who were not fully equipped gradually moved closer to the low wall to the west of the camp.

"follow me……"

Dumbledore glanced again through the crack in the wall, then beckoned the nearby Ebony Gauntlets to follow him.

The mercenaries didn't understand the intention of the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets, thinking that they were going to attack the Noldor from the side, so they stepped forward to take over the firing positions against the low wall.

But Dumbledore actually had the intention to retreat, and he didn't tell the mercenaries that he was going to retreat.

He knew that these mercenaries would not retreat, and those mercenary captains were not so easy to obey orders - the price offered by Ulrik was enough to make these mercenary captains risk everything.

Moreover, the mercenaries don't know enough about Noldo - the mercenary captain who was shot to death by an arrow just now is a typical example.

The Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets began to crawl along the low wall and gradually moved to the north of the camp.Then continue to retreat along the low wall to the north.

A few minutes later, Dumbledore quietly left the camp with the Ebon Gauntlet Knights and retreated to the wilderness west of the camp.

The trees around here have been cleared, leaving only low stumps and gentle, undulating slopes.

Dumbledore abandoned all the mercenaries in the camp, quickly retreated with the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets, and continued to retreat to the Dengier Mountains to the west.

He only brought out more than 300 people, which are the vast majority of the members of the first brigade of the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets who are currently able to act.

This is the right choice.

Half an hour later, Dumbledore led these 300 people to the gentle slope on the side of the Dengier Mountains. On the top of a hill, the opposite camp could be seen from a distance, and screams could still be heard vaguely.

At this time, a small cavalry force came from the south of the camp, about 300 people.

However, the only cavalry that can move fast in the mountains is Noldor...

The elven horse bred by the Noldor elves is probably the only mountain horse breed in this continent that can climb mountains and ridges as if walking on flat ground.

Dumbledore was very grateful for his choice.

Perhaps it would be dishonorable to flee without fighting, but the Noldor fought in formation, clearly not intending to let any Men enter the forest--a rare, and very un-Noldor-style thing.

With the strong fighting power of the elves in the forest, they should have let the mercenaries into the forest.

But they attacked the camp directly, and blocked the direction leading to the forest with arrays.

For Dumbledore, this can only mean one thing - the elves are confident in annihilating them, and are using this method to prevent them from escaping.

That means that the Noldor's army will appear on the other sides, and perhaps only the Dengil Mountains in the west have no enemies.

Dumbledore confirmed this after seeing the troop of the Noldor.

If there is no accident, there is probably such a cavalry in the north of the camp...

The Noldor surrounded the mercenary army of 1000 from three sides with an army of about 3000 to [-]!

The elves don't want the humans here to leave alive!

So Dumbledore did not stop and led the troops westward again, retreating towards the Dengier Mountains.

Unlike the mountains in the Noldor Forest, which are full of tall trees, the Dengil Mountains are a typical stone mountain-the soil layer of this mountain is relatively thin, and there are a lot of stones underneath, so the vegetation is relatively thin.

Most are shrubs, relatively low.

There are also big trees, but they are relatively sparse, because the rock formation inside the mountain is very fragile, and it is easy to landslide when it rains, and it is difficult for big trees to take root.

It was once said that there was a gold mine on the top of this mountain, but after many landslides, no one dared to go to the top of the mountain again, but farmers panning for gold were often seen at the foot of the mountain.

It was probably because of this that the Noldor did not take root in the Dengier Mountains.

So this direction is indeed safe, if the Noldor do not continue to pursue it.

After a difficult night of marching, Dumbledore and his troops stopped at the top of a hill on Mount Dengier.

It is already at least fifty or sixty miles away from that camp.

It was broad daylight, but Dumbledore was now in a dilemma.

A Noldor cavalry team of about 300 men appeared in his field of vision.

The cavalry of the Noldor actually came after them?
They probably came here by chasing their footprints. In the soft mountain, the footprints left by the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets are very clear.

Considering the deep feud between the Knights of the Ebon Gauntlet and the Noldor, this is not a strange thing.

But Dumbledore's first team didn't get any rest, and ran all night in the mountains, and now they are exhausted.

Besides, in this kind of mountainous area, the Noldor Elves couldn't run away even if they wanted to...

He could only order to defend in place.

Fortunately, their location is high, and there are not many big trees around them, at least they still have a geographical advantage.

The Noldor cavalry was probably also very tired. They found the Knights of the Ebony Gauntlets, but they did not attack immediately. Instead, they dismounted at the bottom of the hill, and they probably had to rest before fighting again.

……

"My lord, this is a letter from His Royal Highness Islandil..."

The dusty Lisa Dilan returned to White Hart Castle again, and he brought back a strange letter to the lord.

"You met your people so soon?"

The lord was a little surprised. He didn't expect to let Lisa Dilan try it and it would actually have an effect.

"I only met an elder in my clan. He knew that I was working for you and gave me this letter. He said that His Royal Highness Islandil is also looking for you, my lord."

Lisa Dilan seemed a little excited, he probably saw the hope of returning to the clan.

His people did not embarrass him, and let him serve as a messenger, which is obviously an excellent signal.

The letter was written on an art-like paper, snow-white, and cut into a standard square.

There are faint cyan patterns on it, the patterns are extremely complicated, and they form a mysterious pattern.

This is probably the coat of arms of Islandil, but it is not printed on it, but it seems to be embedded in the paper.

This kind of technique is very wonderful. I am afraid that this piece of paper is very valuable, even if it is framed as a decoration, it is qualified.

But there are not many words on the paper. A large sheet of paper is only used to write a little bit of words, which seems quite wasteful-Islandil is probably a bit obsessive-compulsive, the words are written in the middle of the paper, and every A row is very neat.

Islandil's letter to Leon was short and only mentioned two things.

One is that he wants to know why human beings attack the Noldor Forest on a large scale, and for what reason.

The second is that he wants to know whether Li Ang is willing to live in peace with Noldo.

Signed is Islandil Aino.

"You call him Your Highness, is this Islandil the prince of the Yi clan?"

Li Ang was a little curious, the titles of these Noldor lords seemed a bit confusing...

Of course, he also hoped to live in peace with the Noldor.

"His Royal Highness Islandil is the crown prince of the Aino family, but his father has retired for 300 years. In human terms, he has already been regarded as one of the three elf kings. But he has never worn the king So we have always called him His Highness. He is a respected leader, and even though he exiled me, I still respect him."

Risadiran didn't mean any dissatisfaction with Islandil.

"In this case... Lisadilan, tell your clansman that I asked you to hand over the letter to Islandil. I hope you can see Islandil and apologize to him, maybe you Can therefore return to the ethnic group."

Leon said.

"Thank you, my lord... I will take your reply letter to find my clansman, who is waiting for me a hundred miles to the south. My lord, if I am exonerated, I will still serve you, I Also remember my promise."

There was a rare smile on Lisa Dilan's face.

The lord nodded, found a neat piece of parchment, cut it into a square in the same way as Islandil, and wrote a reply letter in the middle of the paper.

Also write a few lines neatly.

But this time, he signed it with 'Leon Leonardo Pendragon'.

"Unfortunately, this letter came a bit late. I feel that those mercenary groups may be in danger... Risadilan, you have to meet Islanduil as quickly as possible."

(End of this chapter)