In the camp besides the dungeon the situation continued to lean towards the attackers. For every man killed by the defendes, two kingdom soldiers fell.
While both sides were focused on the fight, the commander and his men approached the battlefield again. However, the commander had no intention of going back there. If he were to do that, all the effort would have been for nothing.
Despite the unfavorable situation they are currently in, the commander saw the real reason they are at a disadvantage, and it is not because of the enemy's numerical superiority.
Can anyone really believe elite soldiers can be defeated so easily? That would only be possible if they were made of tofu!
The advantage remained with the enemy from the first moment they were attacked for one reason only.
The commander led his men to a small mound near the battlefield. At first, everything seemed normal, just a quiet place full of green, but he knew they must be here. This is the only place they can hide.
Ordering his subordinates not to make any noise, they silently climbed to the top. With each step closer to the place, his men became more and more nervous, as if they knew something was there.
The commander knew very well what he was going to find. The image of the tier 2 Squad Mage being pierced by an arrow was still fresh in his memory.
Even though Mages are inferior in physique to other classes, that doesn't mean they can be killed that easily. In fact, it is precisely because of this weakness that most magicians take a lot of measures to make that impossible.
You would think that the most resistant classes would be the Paladins or the Guardians, but it is not so. The magic branch classes are the hardest to kill because they know which way the enemy will attack them.
Surprise, fast and effective attacks are the day-to-day of any self-respecting combat magician. And yet, their mage fell to an arrow, just as his whole squad is doing right now.
When the commander and his soldiers were a few moments from the top, they hid and approached stealthily.
At the top of the mountain stood a line of archers dressed like raiders, shooting arrows towards the battlefield. Among the archers, one of them stood out especially, not because of his clothing, but because of his bow. That bow was bigger and heavier than the others, yet he handled it with the same finesse as his companions.
Although the commander is unsure if he can repel the invaders, he knows that if he doesn't get rid of those archers, all his men will die. When all his men were in position, the commander gave the signal and they attacked.
The effect was immediate, most archers weren't prepared for this at all. Even if the ambush was successful, that doesn't mean the enemies were eliminated. Although the Archer class specializes in using the bow as a long-range weapon, they also possess abilities to quickly create distance to avoid being surrounded. Some archers learn skills outside of their class to surprise potential raiders, even if those skills take a long time to rise to an acceptable level.
His men were only able to take down three of the seven archers, and seriously wound another before they withdrew. And that was thanks to the commander stopping their leader before he could get close to his men. If the commander had dropped his guard, it's likely that one of his men would be dead.
While the commander tried to prevent the leader from fleeing, one of his soldiers finished off the wounded archer, and the rest chased after the others.
Clack
Clank
The weapons of the two clashed incessantly as they fought.
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The commander struck hard, avoiding giving his opponent a chance to escape, while the leader of the archers searched for possible escape routes. Obviously, the commander was not going to let him, by the time he escapes, a rain of arrows will fall on him without him being able to do anything.
It is not known how long they were fighting when the commander heard a noise near some bushes. That was all the chance his enemy needed to run.
A blinding glow appeared on the legs of the commander's opponent, and the next second he was already ten meters away and continuing fleeing.
When the commander turned around and saw what had caused that noise, his heart filled with anger. Out of the bushes, one of his men emerged without a scratch, an awkward smile on his face.
When they get back to the castle, he'll personally see that this jerk doesn't patrol anything other than the walls of his town again, but for now, they were still in danger.
When he was going to order him to take cover, he saw something that pleasantly surprised him. Just as the leader of the archers was about to disappear from the commander's sight, ropes appeared at his feet, causing him to stumble, and preventing his escape. At that moment, the other two men he had brought with him appeared from the trees and charged towards the enemy.
Although the leader of the archers was clearly superior to his men, the difference was not too great, physically speaking.
His men are the elite of the elite of this kingdom and each has a standard tier 2 class for all the soldiers in the castle, the Knight class. The reason why the commander is stronger than his men is because he has a variant of the Knight class: The Knight Commander class.
Although the enemy leader likely has a tier 2 variant of the Archer class, the difference between them wasn't as big as the difference between a tier 1 class and a tier 2 class. Focusing on long-range combat, it's no wonder his men can subdue the enemy with a surprise attack.
As he expected, his men were quick to incapacitate their enemy. The commander inspected the terrain to see if the other archers were nearby but he could find no trace.
His men approached him with the prisoner still alive. Unfortunately, the commander knew that fighting was going on elsewhere, and they couldn't afford to take prisoners, so he took up his sword and slashed his enemy's throat cleanly.
Just when the commander was going to congratulate his men, he saw the arrogant smile of his subordinates and the idea disappeared from his head.
Bam
"Gha!"
"Why?!" the soldiers asked after their direct superior hit them on the head.
“Hmm. How dare you use me as a lure?" said the commander without the slightest concern that he had hit them.
The soldiers smiled awkwardly as they saw that his commander realized their plan.
The plan was not very complicated either. After they lost track of the archers they were chasing, they decided to turn back out of fear that they would go back to the top and that their superior officer would face them alone. Once they got there, they saw how his commander was locked in combat with the leader of the archers and devised a plan to get rid of him. One of them would create an opportunity for the enemy to escape, and the other two would ambush him when he was focused on escaping.
The most difficult part of the plan was knowing which escape route the archer would choose in case of escape, which was not very problematic. The two archers who escaped fled in the same direction. It was obvious that they had a rendezvous point already determined in case they were scattered.
The only thing they had to calculate was the moment when their commander was distracted because of them so that an opening appear in that direction. The rest was easy.
After joking around for a bit, the four returned to their previous attitudes and returned to the battlefield. It was highly unlikely that the archers would return here after noticing that their leader had fallen. The four of them rushed to the battlefield to support their comrades.
When they arrived things were not looking good. The commander wasted no time in supporting his men. Although he and his men had gotten rid of the greatest threat from the enemy, the damage that had occurred until now so far was too great.
The remaining forces were less than 60%. Despite doing everything possible, the end seemed predestined.
The situation is likely to reach a tragic outcome unless something happened quickly that could change the situation.
Suddenly, a magic circle appeared in the distance, light flooding the surroundings, including the camp they were fighting in. The commander relaxed at the sight of the magic circle, and his men cheered despite being in the middle of combat. They all knew what was happening.
From the magic circle, soldiers bearing the emblem of the kingdom appeared one after another, rushing in the direction of the battlefield with their swords drawn at the command of their superiors. Mages appeared in the rear while casting spells that they had already prepared beforehand.
The reinforcements had arrived.
…
In the kingdom's capital, dozens of soldiers were making their way to the magic circle on the ground, only to mysteriously disappear and be quickly replaced, and disappear again.
As the last soldier entered the circle, the archmage and a group of mages dressed in luxurious robes entered the magic circle, and disappeared, making it lose its shine.
A man watching the actions of the reinforcements said in a low voice: “Reinforcements have left the capital. Start the plan"