I watched the first assassin fall.

He was killed in a close range by Blackwell. He had shot an arrow into his chest at the point of black range.

The arrow avoided the enchanted chest plate and pierced his heart directly.

It may be a skill or an ability of the bow.

Immediately, it had made all the assassins and bandits careful, but they still went for the Blackwell.

He is the target, and they have to kill him.

The killing of the first assassins seemed to have brought a new spirit to the battle.

It also lessened the load on our side.

Each assassin is dangerous, more than the bandit, they were fighting. Killing a single one had brought a huge effect and increased the mental pressure on our enemies.

Still, it is far from enough to make the bandits and assassins back down, but a first step in doing that.

If we kill a sufficient number of them, we can make the retreat.

My guards are doing well. They are fighting with great teamwork, keeping an assassin and the four bandits, including one mage, busy; Zela was even able to strike the bandit and injured him.

If not for the timely support, he would have died.

Hun!

I was just thinking about that when a surprising thing happened.

They have killed a bandit.

First Zela had cast a water rope on the orc; he was able to destroy the spell with the help of a mage, but just as he did. He found Jon’s dagger in his head.

The assassin came to the rescue, but Stone stopped him with his sword, before attacking him back.

A few minutes passed, and the battle intensified. More people have died, including another assassin and a couple of bandits, including one more killed by my guards.

We are not without our losses, but the losses of our enemies are much greater, and it had affected them heavily.

Their edge had been whittled away, and now both sides seemed to be on equal ground.

Which in other words, we are gaining the edge.

Though I am aware of how precarious our state is.

Our enemies have only one target, while we have all of them. They will only need to kill Ignatius Blackwell to win, while we need to kill a sufficient number of them to gain victory.

Still, it had created a psychological effect. It had made many bandits run away.

Every minute, a few are trickling away from the hill, and no bandit had stopped them, instead some even joined them.

We didn’t stop them either, to us; the more leave, the better it would be. If we fight again, their lower numbers will help us tremendously.

A few more minutes passed, and I wanted to sit; It is hard to continue to stand up in all this heavy snow. Thankfully, the anti-cold potion is keeping me insulated, or it would have been even worse.

Till now, four assassins have died, leaving only eight.

It had put immense pressure on them, but also on us. As they are growing desperate and taking more risks.

Just a few seconds ago, the dagger of the assassin had nearly touched the Blackwell’s chest.

If not for the barrage of frost lances, that would have skewered the assassin, before he could kill Blackwell, the assassin wouldn’t have retreated.

From what I could see, these assassins will even sacrifice themselves.

The death sworn assassins are rare and their services cost far more than normal assassins, but they offer the discretions like none other.

They were employed by those who didn’t want to leave any trail behind.

A few more seconds passed and something shocking happened.

I saw Baron Harrods springing into the air and killing two assassins in less than a second.

It happened so fast that I couldn’t tell how it had happened.

The only thing I saw was him using a second blade; he decapitated one assassin with his main weapon and pierce the head of the other with the second one.

He had just landed when another shocking thing happened.

Colonel Grennan and my sister killed two bandits, one after another.

An icy ribbon came out of her sword, and it cut the bandit in two, while he was defending against the barrage of frost daggers, while Colonel Grannum had killed the bandit, after cutting his thigh.

The four deaths in less than two seconds have stopped the bandits on their track.

As of now, their numbers have become equal to ours.

The pause had only lasted for a brief moment before all the bandits' fighting started to run away. It happened at once, like they have communicated in an instant, and decided to run away.

It’s a realization or instinct. I don’t know, but bandits are running.

Seeing their leaders running away from the battlefield. The bandits, watching, had turned and begin to run, with everything they have.

It made the assassins, which were still attacking, slowed down, and their heads turned toward their leader.

“Retreat!” he shouted, and assassins begin to run away, mixing into the running bandits for cover against the attacks, coming at them.

“Bandits, surrender and you will be spared. Run away and we will kill you!” Blackwell shouted.

Hearing his voice, more than half of the bandits threw their weapons and lay down on the ground, while the rest ran and met with walls of soldiers, who are cutting them like vegetables.

Seeing that even more begin to surrender.

The soldiers reacted fast; the moment they saw bandit leaders running away; they got ready to deal with them.

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They are not willing to let any bandits run away, which is making more and more of them surrender.

“Mr. Silver!”

I was watching the bandits when Shaun screamed behind me and saw shields appearing around me, one after another.

It took me an instant to realize what he was talking about and turned to see bandits coming toward me. It is Nrockk Shieldhead, and he is coming toward me.

Not in my general direction, but for me.

‘Why it always happens to me?’ I couldn’t help, but ask myself.

It is not the first time something like this had happened to me. It always happens to me; it is like, there is a target written in big bold letters on my forehead.

The lich did it, and then it was Ulag Karguk, and now this bandit.

Lich coming toward me was unintentional, but Karguk had intentionally targeted me and now, this bandit had been trying to do the same.

Take me hostage to survive.

Which is the right choice. I don’t want to tote my own horn, but I am important enough that if the bandit got me, they would have to let him go.

Sup Sup Sup

Shaun cast the spells at the bandit from acid balls to wind blades, but the bastard defended against them.

He is not alone. There is a half-orc mage beside him and an Orc bandit beside him, helping him handle the spells.

Still, he was able to hit the warrior, who fell, but Nrockk and the mage continued and a second later, they reached me.

He attacked the shields instantly.

I cursed the bastard and Blackwell and others. They are busy in chaos around them, killing the bandits that are not surrendering.

They might have helped me, but there are too many people in between, but I could still see Baron Harrods and my sister rushing toward me.

Unfortunately, it will be too late.

BANNG!

He struck the shield with the full power of his skills and enhancement from his mage.

It broke the shields into hundreds of pieces.

“Now, you are mine adviser,” He said with a grin and came at me, while I watched in horror.

Though, even in horror, I moved my sword toward him, despite knowing how effortlessly he will be able to swat it away.

This time, I didn’t even have a charm, that I had used to deal with Karguk. I had asked Caena before leaving, but she had bad news for me.

She tried making it over ten times but failed. It is hard to create such charm and requires great luck to succeed.

Hun!

He moved his sword to swap away mine, while the other arm took me hostage, when suddenly, I felt a powerful pull, and everything blackened in front of me.

Everything cleared a moment later, and I found myself completely different from Orc, who was standing with hand raised in surrender and was shocked seeing me, appearing in front of him.

Though a moment later, a shock turned into a smile as he moved toward me.

He wants to do the same thing that Nrockk Sheildhead tried to do a moment ago, but he was not Nrockk and my sword is too close to his chest.

Puch!

I didn’t think and pushed my sword forward. It pierced through his chest, into his heart, killing him.

Seeing him dead, I turned around and immediately saw something shocking.

I saw the head of Nrockk flying in the air and the one who killed him is none other than Stone.

“That tap,” I muttered.

I felt something weird when he tapped on my shoulder before he went to join the battle. At that time, I didn’t think too much about it, but now that I think about it, he is likely to activate his skill.

Place Swapping.

These skills are extremely rare, and people pay a high price to hire people with such skills.

Especially the ones who needed a bodyguard. With this skill, their guard could easily swap places with them when they are in danger.

It seemed like I have to give Stone a raise. I just hope others don’t steal him from me before I do that.

I pushed those thoughts away and turned to my sister and Baron Harrods, who appeared in front of me.

They looked relieved. They should be. If something had happened to me, the Count would have gotten very displeased; it is not something they want.

“I am glad you are fine, Remus,” said Leila. “It is all thanks to my guards,” I replied.

“That was one good skill. Be careful Adviser or someone might steal your guard,” said the old man, to which I smiled.

“I will take that in mind,” I replied.

They nodded and walked away; not all bandits have surrendered. They needed to be dealt with before they get away.

While they went after the bandits, I went to my guards.

“Thank you, Stone. I wouldn’t have been standing here, if not for you,” I said to him.

He is sitting on the snow with his eyes closed and has a bottle with glowing water in it. It is a holy water, created by Archbishop; it was not easy to get and very expensive, but I was able to get it through the family.

It helped to suppress the undead curse he has. It flares up whenever he comes close to using his full strength.

“There is no need to thank me, Mr. Silver; I only did my job,” he said as opened his eyes.

To that, I smiled and looked around.

Half of the guards are busy cuffing the surrendered bandits with the ropes, while the other half has gone downhill to hunt the bandits who are running away.

The battle had ended, and I have survived.

There have been many instances where I thought I wouldn’t be able to survive, but I did.