The next day, Kerrac and his men hurriedly finished the leftover horse meat from yesterday and regrouped. A brigade of a thousand men stood in formation, but their morale was visibly low.
"Knights! As long as we conquer Liberty City, I promise you, each man will receive ten gold coins!" Kerrac shouted loudly, standing on his carriage.
He had also noticed the low morale; if he didn't offer a heavy reward, they would likely fail to breach Liberty City again.
Moreover, once Liberty City was taken, the gold coins for the heavy reward could be completely scavenged from the city itself.
"Really?"
"Ten gold coins!"
"Our monthly income is only five hundred copper coins."
"Ten gold coins is years' worth of income!"
"..."
The knights below boiled with excitement, their morale visibly soaring. Seeing this, Kerrac nodded in satisfaction, stepped into his carriage, and ordered Tove to move out.
"Move out!" Tove shouted, raising the sword at his waist.
"Yes!!" The knights responded loudly.
Clop, clop, clop...
The thousand knights spent over three hours to arrive at the foot of the Liberty City walls once again.
At this moment on the Liberty City walls, Aiden and his men had already set up new crossbow bolts, all aimed squarely at Kerrac and his troops.
Gulp...
The obvious sound of swallowing saliva could be heard from within the knight brigade. Many couldn't help but feel afraid upon seeing those crossbows.
"Charge! Do not cower! Break through the city gates and everyone gets ten gold coins!" Tove roared.
Hearing this, the knights charged forward as if injected with adrenaline. They readied their wooden ladders, leaning them against the city wall and preparing to climb up.
"Fire!" At Aiden's command, all the crossbow bolts were fired in a swift barrage.
"Ah..."
"Dammit... these bows and arrows again!!"
Screams of agony rang out endlessly, just like yesterday. They still couldn't advance; as soon as Duke Kerrac's knights got even slightly close, they were shot down by Aiden's crossbow bolts.
Thus, they remained in a stalemate for a long time. One side didn't dare to charge, while the other didn't dispatch troops to sally forth.
On the Liberty City wall, a soldier hurriedly ran to Aiden's side, panting respectfully, "Captain Aiden, a letter sent back by the city lord."
Aiden took the letter, opened it, and a faint smile hooked the corner of his mouth. After pondering for a moment, he had an idea in mind.
At this time, on their warhorses below Liberty City, both Kerrac and Tove wore gloomy expressions.
"Father, with them having such formidable bows and arrows, we simply cannot breach Liberty City," Tove gritted his teeth.
"Dammit," Kerrac said, gripping the reins tightly. He let out an unwilling, low growl, "Retreat for now."
If this continued, his knight brigade would likely be annihilated right here.
"Yes." No matter how much anger filled Tove's heart, he had no reason to let the knights be completely wiped out here. He immediately shouted at the top of his lungs, "Retreat... retreat..."
The over one thousand knights were now reduced to just over six hundred; that wave of charging the city just now had cost them over four hundred men.
Hearing this order, the remaining knights quickly withdrew beyond the range of the bows and arrows. They had witnessed the sheer power of those weapons; they didn't want to die here without even getting their gold coins.
Clop, clop, clop...
The remaining knights, along with Kerrac and Tove, retreated in a battered and exhausted state.
"Captain Aiden, they have retreated," A soldier walked up to Aiden and reported.
"This has absolutely no troop-training effect," Aiden frowned. The main issue was that the enemy was simply too weak.
He turned his head and ordered the soldier coldly, "Detain the living, and send the dying on their way."
"Yes," The soldier respectfully withdrew.
"Arrange for people to keep watch. Once everything is done, everyone gets an extra meal." After dropping these words, Aiden walked toward the mansion, calculating in his head that it was time to test the new war wolves Squad.
"Yes," The soldiers on the wall replied respectfully.
...
At this time, inside the main tent in the forest outside Liberty City, Kerrac and Tove were taking a brief rest.
"Father, we only have over six hundred knights left this time." After counting the numbers, Tove was genuinely starting to panic.
"Calm down. Arrange for them to get a good rest tonight. Slaughter a few injured warhorses to placate everyone," Kerrac reprimanded with a gloomy face.
He decided to retreat tomorrow, leave this place, and go to other cities to recruit knights. Even if he had to squander his entire fortune this time, he would recruit a knight brigade of several thousand men to completely crush Liberty City.
In all the wars he had fought in his life, he had never suffered a defeat as disastrous as this one. The knights' armor was actually completely useless, entirely unable to block the enemy's bows and arrows.
"Yes." Although Tove wanted to persuade Kerrac to return to the capital, seeing his father's gloomy face, he decided against it.
And so, the remaining six hundred or so knights hurriedly ate a meal of horse meat and wheat porridge, left a few knights on guard duty, and began to rest.
They had been getting by like this for the past few days, and no one had ever come for a night raid. Due to habitual thinking, they didn't feel there was any danger, although people's hearts were rather restless.
...
At this moment, inside the Liberty City mansion, Aiden was issuing orders. Standing in the main hall was the new war wolves squad led by Number Five.
Everyone from the previous first war wolves squad had been assigned to lead new war wolves Squads. According to Lucas's planning, a single war wolves squad was far from enough.
"I have received Lord Lucas's orders. Tonight, capture Duke Kerrac and Tove alive. If the remaining knights surrender, spare them. If they resist, kill them all," Aiden said sternly.
"Yes," The new war wolves squad responded in unison. They couldn't help but feel a bit nervous; after all, this was their first time executing this kind of mission.
Number Five appeared much more composed. He had experienced quite a few missions and was far more experienced compared to this new special forces squad.
Aiden looked at their imposing aura, nodded, and said, "You must follow all of your captain's arrangements."
"Yes," The new war wolves squad complied.
Number Five was also considered one of their instructors, so they were very familiar with his style of doing things.
"Number Five, bring the main targets back. Two hundred soldiers will follow behind to clean up," Aiden said in a deep voice.
"Understood." Number Five nodded, turned around, and left with the new war wolves squad. This would serve as a training exercise.
This new fifteen-man war wolves squad was one of the teams that had emerged from the special forces training camp. They were also one of Lucas's secret weapons and hidden trump cards.