“What did our agent say?” asked the Orc.

“Everything is the place, all the tools have been delivered to them and also the information, along with the strategy,” replied the middle-aged man, and the orc just looked.

“With the triple number and all the bandit leaders, they shouldn’t have any problem killing him. If they failed, then our last option would finish the job,” he added, and Orc nodded.

“How are our agents in the Amberhold?” he asked. “They are ready in their position; the moment we get the confirmation of Ignatius’s death, they will move for Silus and his wife,” replied the middle-aged.

“I really hope you have prepared everything well. It is the last chance I have. If we failed, I would lose a fortune, but you will lose a chance to ever become a Lord Blackwell,” said the Orc.

“It will not happen. With the preparations we have made, we will succeed and have the wealth that will come with it,” he said, but instead of agreeing with his words, Orc’s eyes turned sharp.

Immediately, he realized his mistake and opened his mouth to apologize.

“I do not care about wealth. I have enough of it. I want what that place has, and you better not forget it,” warned the Orc, with sparks of anger floating in his eyes.

“I didn’t forget my promise, Merchant Lord. The moment I become Lord Blackwell, you will have that place,” he said and the anger on the Orc's face disappeared, replaced with a big smile.

“You better remember that,” said the Orc and disappeared through the hidden way.

…

Triple.

Stone’s voice rang aloud in my mind as I looked at the large number of people coming toward the hill.

Most of them are on the foot, but many of them are on the beasts. Coming toward the hill fast and hard. They want to strike fast with their numbers and end the battle quickly as possible.

As for who these people are, it was not hard to guess.

The bandits.

Though it is hard to believe that they would attack a noble on an official mission and, more importantly, work together in such a large number.

Most bandit groups didn’t have a large number of people. Only the big one has such numbers and according to the formation, they all seemed to take each other, but here they are working together.

It must have taken quite a lot of effort to make all of them work together.

Of course, they are doing it because someone had told them. The bandits might be daring, but they are not idiots. They wouldn’t have taken such risks if someone had paid them to do it.

They must have paid them handsomely. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have set aside their differences and worked together.

I looked around the hill and saw Shaun and Zela, within the army. She is talking with my sister, who had a staff in her hand, and is looking at the bandits coming toward us.

I didn’t go toward them and planned to stay far away as possible.

Especially from Blackwell, who is without a doubt their target. Staying far as possible is the wise choice in the scenario.

“Now!”

My sister shouted, and her staff lit up, along with the staff of many mages.

A moment later, a large snowball begins to form in front of them.

It took seconds to form snowballs. The biggest ones in front of my sisters; hers are bigger than me and when they descend the hill, they will become dangerous to the bandits.

“Release,” she ordered, and all snowballs begin to descend toward the bandits, who had just reached near the base of the hill.

As the snowballs descended. They started to become terrifying. They gathered momentum and started collecting more snow, more than they would normally collect, especially the snowballs of my sister.

Those twelve snowballs are rapidly growing larger.

If that was not enough, new snowballs are forming around the hills, right after they released the first set.

“Release,” she commanded and releasing the second set of snowballs and the third beginning to form.

“Mages are terrifying when they are in their element,” said Jon, looking at my sister, and I couldn’t help but nod.

The snow-laden mountain and the heavy snow are advantageous to my sister. She could harness the element against her enemies, by only using a small amount of her mana.

Zela also had a small advantage in this environment. She specializes in water elemental spells, which had great synergy with ice.

She also knew some ice elemental spells.

“Release!”

Ordered Leila, and the third set of snowballs spiraled toward the bandits.

The first batch of giant snowballs reached the bandits, who had already slowed down seeing the snowballs coming toward them.

Hun!

As they were only a few meters away from striking, the bandits, a flash of lights, appeared through them, and snowballs begin to explode one after another.

With than thirty snowballs going toward the bandits, only seven of them remained.

These sevens hit the bandits, but the loss was small. These seven snowballs went through the places where the number of bandits was small.

“It seemed like they have come prepared,” I said, looking at how coordinated their response was.

The bandits had slowed down but didn’t stop despite the snowballs coming at them.

They crushed the second set of snowballs, with a minimum loss, reaching the base of the hill, when the set tranche of snowballs went at them.

“Archers attack!” ordered Blackwell, who had been only watching silently till now.

Immediately, a hundred archers raised their bows and started shooting arrows.

At the same time, a green bow appeared in his hand, and he pulled its string. A green energy arrow formed in the bow and shot out of it, as he released the string.

The Bow of Valient.

Artifact of the House Blackwell, the same bow used by Seraphina the Valiant to slay the Ired Queen.

The bow is green with a beautiful design of purple vine painted on it. In front of it, there are three holes, one in the middle and the other two on each side.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Some say it is a relic and only had a power of artifact, because those three gems are missing.

I take those things with a grain of salt. Relics are extremely rare, so much, so that in the whole empire, there are only two of them and both are in the hands of the imperial family.

Merchant-States have a few more, but they are rarely used in battle and not anyone could use them.

After he finished with the first arrow and he launched the second one, just as fast as the third. The other archers also begin to launch the barraged of arrows, using various skills, but nothing could compare to the green arrows.

Artifacts aren’t desired and feared for anything.

They are terrifying tools of war that nobody wants to face.

As the arrows shot through the bows, the bandits revealed their cards too and it is a kind of surprising.

They took out the enchanted black shields, and the line of it formed to defend their mages and archers.

I felt something from the shields and to see clearly; I took out the bulky glasses that looked like steampunk vr and wore them.

The runes on it activated, and the small bandits become big in an instant.

They looked like they were only tens of meters away from me.

The moment I saw the bandits clearly; I was shocked. Those shields are not normal enchanted shields but tripled enchanted shields.

They are insanely expensive, and unlike normal enchanted weapons that one could get easily. As these weapons are powerful, not to mention they are difficult to make.

The bandits moved ahead with their shields; seeing even the green arrows from the artifact have been stopped by them, but it is an enchanted weapon for nothing.

While other arrows weren’t even able to put even the faintest mark on them; the green arrows put a dent.

“Change the target, attack the unguarded bandits,” ordered Ignatius, while continue shooting at those hiding behind the shields. They are leaders and important people.

They defended and destroyed the last set of snowballs and shifted to defend against the arrows.

Most of them defended, but some stuck, injuring and killing the bandits. A few arrows and spells came from the bandits but weren’t able to do anything.

A few seconds passed and all the bandits begin to climb the hill.

The archers intensified their attacks, killing many bandits, and that is when Ignatius got his first kill.

I don’t know how he did it exactly since the person was hiding behind the shield, but he killed them.

It might be just his ability, a skill, something from the artifact, or all three. What matters, he killed an important bandit.

After the first kill, he was able to take out the people behind the shield every few seconds, but quickly others would take their place.

These bandits came prepared and seemed to know quite a lot about Blackwell and his people, seeing the way they are responding.

It is not surprising.

If those from behind could provide them with such expensive enchanted weapons. There is no doubt they would have provided them with the information.

Which is bad, because in battle, information is extremely helpful. Especially one about numbers, classes, levels, and skills.

Effective planning could defeat a stronger foe with a large number. The bandits have a larger number than us and a lot of captains are powerful.

I gripped my sword tightly, looking at these bandits. It is going to be a bloody battle and we might get wiped out. I need to be ready for anything, even something shameful, like running away or surrendering, depending on the conditions.

Soon, the bandits reached halfway up the hill and we were able to kill a few hundred of them, but it didn’t seem to affect them.

They even seemed happy. As if expecting more of them to die.

The bandits have covered the hill from all directions; not leaving a space for even a single person to pass.

We are killing them, but the moment we did. Someone would take their place. It is frustrating to see their endless numbers.

I am feeling scared, and doubts spreading in my heart, which I crushed resolutely. This is no time to doubt, they are enemies, and I am going to kill them, till my last breath.

They came closer, and now only a hundred meters remained between the bandits at us. With such distance, they could charge at us, and, seeing how their body language is changing, they are preparing to do just that.

I had prepared myself when I saw my sister, who was standing without doing anything, gently tapped the ground with her staff.

Hun!

The icy crystal on her staff lit up and a wave of ice-white energy spread through it and what happened shocked me as much as it had shocked the bandits.

The snow on which they were walking collapsed from all sides and it had very fast, surprising me again.

I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had been a mountain. Where it is easy to cause an avalanche, due to their steepness and gravity, hills are completely different things.

What impressed me most is that she did it without getting discovered by the mages of the enemy and that requires real skill.

It seemed like I had underestimated my sister a lot.

“All archers, released!” Ignatius ordered, and soldiers, who were standing with their swords, buried their hands in the snow and took their bows and quivers in quick motions.

They fixed the arrows in bows and started shooting the bandits, many of which fell back and disbalance.

All their formation collapsed like a house of cards, becoming a live target for

I watched all in shock as since we had left the city. I thought we had only a hundred archers, but he had brought two hundred.

He disguised them as warriors and hid their bows in the snow to be used at the right moment.