Chapter 148 Pincer Attack
Old John felt an extreme headache coming on as he watched the phalanx formation placed at the entrance of the castle.
This kind of dense formation was most suitable for defending narrow terrain. Very few people could get past at once, and the opponent had large square shields that were almost unaffected by the long-range bows.
“Bull****!” John Senior cursed extremely indecently. “Charge up and kill them.”
In this situation, the only way to get past was to do it forcefully.
Immediately the shield soldiers of Delpon came forward with their shields raised. They walked side by side, shielding themselves and their fellow soldiers tightly.
A troop of spearmen was right behind them.
It wasn’t that they didn’t want to use more men, but the entrance to the castle wasn’t wide enough, and only four men could walk side-by-side at the same time.
Four shield soldiers advanced with heavy steps. They wore heavy armor and held iron shields.
On the beggars’ side, the soldiers held large wooden square shields and wore light leather armor… It was something that couldn’t be helped. Hawk and the others had prepared beforehand even though they had expected today’s events, but they still hadn’t acquired enough weapons and armor.
The fact that they were able to make a hundred or so iron pikes in such a short period of time by smelting iron themselves was a pretty remarkable thing.
The soldiers in the phalanx formation wore somewhat heavy expressions. If the other side’s shield soldiers were to just come over, it would definitely be the beggar army that would suffer after a stalemate.
In such a narrow place, it depended on who had the higher morale and the most courage, as well as better equipment. The beggar army’s equipment was too poor.
Although it was difficult to take down the phalanx formation, with several times more men and better equipment, John Senior felt that, after some time, he could eventually wipe out these rebels.
Just as he was thinking this, Link, who had been at the back of the phalanx formation, suddenly moved.
He jumped up, leaped over the phalanx formation, and smashed right into the enemy’s square formation.
The violent shockwave sent the surrounding people flying, and he smiled sweetly. Then, with him as the center of the circle, he spun the greatsword in his hand.
Onc circle, two circles, three circles, a whirlwind casting sand and stones in all directions.
The greatsword hadn’t been sharpened. Everywhere it passed, the soldiers were thrown into the air, and if they were touched by the greatsword, they were either killed or crippled.
After spinning five consecutive circles, Link stopped.
Warrior specialty: Whirlwind Slash followed by Cleave.
There was no longer a single living person four meters in his vicinity.
The few shield soldiers who were at the front managed to survive by a fluke because the attack range wasn’t big enough.
They turned back and didn’t attack Link.
Instead, they threw away their own shields and walked to the side with their hands up, trembling in fear.
Only an idiot would fight against such a professional.
When John Senior saw this, he turned to ask John Junior, “Didn’t you say that Link and Hawk weren’t very strong?”
“It’s true that they’re not very strong.” John Junior swallowed and said, “Six months ago, five or six well-coordinated soldiers could kill them, and their only advantage was nothing more than being able to revive from the Church of Life after death.”
“So now what’s going on?” John Senior pointed at Link who was standing in a pool of blood.
“I’m not sure, either. There’s no explanation for why he became so strong in half a year.”
This was mainly because Hawk and Link hadn’t shown their strength in public since six months ago.
However, in reality, while the two of them were building the docks, they also looked for quests to complete so that they could quickly level up.
This was something that neither John Junior nor John Senior could have imagined or understood.
Link stood in a pool of blood and thrust his greatsword into the ground. He leaned on the blade of the sword and said with a smile, “Mr. John Senior, I would still suggest that you consider your options.”
“There’s no chance of that, lowly robber!”
John Senior snorted and waved his large hand, signaling the army to press forward again, but this time a few young officers followed in the ranks. These young officers, all professionals, might not be as high-level as Link, but they could still be a hindrance to him.
The heavy infantry assembled once more and continued to press forward at a steady pace.
The archers had begun to draw their bows and mount their arrows in the rear.
Link immediately retreated and quickly ducked behind the phalanx formation, shouting from a distance, “Old Mayor, even with your wife and daughter in our hands, you’re still being so forceful. Aren’t you afraid we’ll do something irrational?”
The mayor’s wife and youngest daughter, who were both on a balcony close to the castle, were shivering with fear and looking at John Senior with pleading and expectant eyes as they heard this.
And without even looking at them, John Senior continued pressing forward.
John Junior still didn’t say anything, even though an unbearable emotion showed in his eyes.
Seeing that her husband and son were completely disregarding her own survival, the mayor’s wife, who was on the balcony, was first stunned, then revealed a resigned and bitter smile.
She knew this would be the case the moment she was caught.
There was no kinship or love among the nobles, only naked interest. She understood that.
The youngest daughter, for her part, was crying. She still couldn’t understand why her father and brother were unwilling to save her and her mother.
It was obvious that all that had to be done was to agree to the robbers’ conditions.
It was only the loss of some money anyway, they would all be able to earn it back later.
The archers finished firing the first wave of arrows, but to little effect. Although the beggar army’s shields were wooden, it was still no problem for them to block arrows.
A wave of arrows came down, and only one of the beggars was hit; the other arrows were all blocked by the shields of the formation.
Just when the archers were about to launch a second volley, a small squad of ten people suddenly appeared from the side.
The leader of the squad was Jett.
He was emitting green light all over his body… This was the external manifestation of the Goddess of Life’s blessing theurgy. Then, he roared and led the small group toward the archers.
John Senior snorted. “While it’s true that most archers are not good at melee combat, how can a hundred people be outdone by a dozen…”
Before he finished speaking, he was shocked to see Jett charge like a tiger into the array of archers and go on a killing spree.
The small mace swung down, brains splattered, tin helmets were dented with large holes, then the men’s eyes rolled white and they fell straight to the ground.
And all attacks were blocked with a small round shield.
Then, a dozen or so beggar soldiers followed, and also rushed to the archers’ formation to slaughter.
The archer formation soon collapsed and deserters began to appear. The two young officers shouted to stop this, but to no avail.
These filthy beggars, untouchables!”
John Senior went berserk with rage.
Normally, he would have left an infantry squad to guard the archers, but now that he had made one wrong step, every step after that was wrong. He was completely led by the nose, with no room to advance or retreat, and had forgotten to even set up such a simple thing.
Link saw Jett rushing out, and he took the lead to charge at the enemy while bellowing, “All charge!”
The phalanx formation immediately dispersed. The soldiers roared and followed his lead.
That wasn’t the end of it. There was another group of men on horses galloping wildly at the end of the road.
The one in front was the muscular, beast-like Hawk.
John Senior looked at the castle, and then behind him… and laughed sorrowfully.
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