The Bandit Leader stared blankly at the smoking corpse of his companion, with whom he had worked for many years; the crossbow bolt slipped from his hand, and his mind went blank.
A volley of dense gunshots rang out, and several more people on the hillside fell, pulling The Bandit Leader's thoughts back to reality.
Looking at his subordinates, some were rolling on the ground and wailing, some were huddled behind cover, some were shooting their crossbows almost entirely into the sky, and some had already fled somewhere without permission, looking utterly terrified, The Bandit Leader's heart was filled with both anger and sorrow.
Looking further down, the several circles of fully armed soldiers surrounding the target remained unmoving, while the enemy, arrayed and advancing up the hillside while firing, had already reached halfway up the mountain.
With such a disparity in equipment and combat power, once they engaged in close combat, there would only be one outcome: total annihilation.
Now, it was almost the same; out of the dozens of people he had brought, only a dozen or so were still able to move.
"Retreat!" The miserable sight before him shattered The Bandit Leader's last remaining shred of hope, and he roared at the top of his lungs.
After issuing the retreat order, The Bandit Leader immediately bolted, running a considerable distance ahead of everyone else.
Upon hearing the retreat order, The Bandit Leader's scattered subordinates suddenly perked up.
Survival is human instinct; from their original despair to seeing a glimmer of hope, everyone abandoned their armor and fled for their lives, some who had just been rolling on the ground looking like they were about to die, surprisingly stumbled to their feet, bleeding, and fled with the main group.
The Bandit Leader knew best why they had reached this point: In fact, if it weren't for the special circumstances of this battle, he and his subordinates wouldn't have had to fight so desperately, let alone flee for their lives so desperately.
In ordinary battles, if they couldn't win, surrendering was always an option, usually just paying some ransom to settle things, and even if they had to flee, the other side rarely pursued relentlessly.
But this was a naked assassination, something almost all European nobles feared and absolutely would not tolerate; a failed assassin was not considered a prisoner of war.
And the target's high status was obvious; once surrendered or captured, it would definitely be a dead end, and to achieve a deterrent effect, the other side would most likely ensure a miserable death.
The enemy soldiers, with ample resources after ensuring the target's safety, were completely focused on annihilation as their sole objective, leaving no one alive.
It was all his fault for being greedy for a moment and for rashly acting without investigating the situation beforehand, but now the mistake was made, and it was too late for anything.
The only thing he could do, the only thing he had to do, was to save his own life and escape alive.
As long as he was alive, there was still hope.
As for the remaining few subordinates, he couldn't care for them anymore; they would have to fend for themselves.
Although most of his subordinates were lost, the money was still there, and in fact, because most of his subordinates were dead, he could even get more money.
He no longer thought about making a comeback; with money, why would he continue this life-threatening business?
At that time, he would take all the money accumulated by everyone over the years, flee to a place where no one knew him, settle down, buy some land and property, do some business, and after a few years, whitewash his past, perhaps even become a noble.
Thinking of this, The Bandit Leader suddenly felt that if he could escape alive, this failure might not be a bad thing after all.
If he had absconded before attempting the assassination, the client would not have let him go, and with so many people splitting the money, how much would he have gotten?
Now he had done what he could, and if he couldn't accomplish it, there was nothing he could do; besides, who would know if he was dead or alive, so naturally, no one would come looking for trouble.
As he thought, The Bandit Leader had already begun to look to the future.
His brain was working at full speed, his feet did not slow down at all, nimbly dodging left and right; although he was quite large, it did not hinder The Bandit Leader from avoiding one obstacle after another.
His subordinates, of course, did not know their boss's current thoughts and tried their best to keep up.
Dracula, who had rushed halfway up the mountain with the Swiss Guard, saw the attackers beginning to flee and immediately changed his order: "Spread out to the sides, full-speed charge, pursue the remaining enemy!"
Upon receiving the order, the Swiss Guard spread out with a rustle; some rushed up the hillside with unstoppable momentum, while others spread out from the middle of the mountain, enveloping the front.
Although the Swiss Guard could easily overwhelm the enemy in combat, the enemy was rested and now fighting for survival, and the Swiss Guard, being in armor, could not run as fast as the enemy.
Despite the Swiss Guard's best efforts to pursue, the distance gradually widened; passing the ambush point, Dracula detached a small group of people to stay and guard the injured ambushers who could not move.
At least there was some gain; these people might be useful to His Holiness the Pope, Dracula thought with satisfaction.
On the small hillside, a massive pursuit was underway.
"Can't catch them," Dracula estimated, greatly annoyed.
"If we can't capture the key figures of the enemy, how will His Holiness the Pope find the mastermind?"
Recalling Augustus's earlier suggestion, Dracula couldn't help but imagine, if only the Swiss Guard had horses, then the enemy would have no escape, and by capturing their leader, it might be possible to uncover the mastermind.
Running a few steps and looking back, The Bandit Leader felt that the pursuing enemy was getting further and further away, and his heart began to pound with wild joy.
He was almost at the other end of this small hillside; leaving here, he would immediately usher in a brand new life!
The more he thought about it, the more excited he became, and the faster his feet moved.
The Bandit Leader was in the lead, having left his subordinates far behind, not to mention the pursuers.
Just as he reached the end of the hillside, ready to embrace a new life, The Bandit Leader looked down and suddenly saw more than twenty mounted soldiers charging towards him from below the hillside.
Terrified, The Bandit Leader slammed on the brakes, twisted his ankle, lost his balance, and crashed heavily to the ground, his teeth shattered across the ground, his mouth filled with the strong taste of blood, and other parts of his body were ripped open with cuts, blood soaking through his clothes.
But at that moment, The Bandit Leader couldn't care about his wounds, he didn't even spit out the broken teeth and blood still in his mouth; dragging his twisted ankle, he struggled to roll and crawl away in another direction.
The soldiers below the hillside witnessed this scene completely, feeling quite shocked, and at the same time realized something was wrong; the leading officer shouted: "You up ahead, I order you to stop! Who are you? We are Tuscany's patrol, tell us what happened?"
These soldiers were Tuscany's patrol, just patrolling nearby; they had just heard dense gunshots from a distance, learned that a battle had occurred, and after sending a soldier back to the city for reinforcements, they quickly followed the sound of gunshots.
Looking at the current situation, the battle had already been decided, so what was the identity of this person being chased? And who were those chasing him?
It was definitely not an ordinary case of criminals fighting among themselves; judging by the density of the gunshots, the patrol captain couldn't even imagine what kind of force could possess such firepower.
Such a powerful armed force had appeared in his patrol area, fighting fiercely, and he had been completely unaware.
Hearing the shouting, The Bandit Leader, of course, did not stop obediently, but ran even faster.
The other party's reaction gave the patrol captain a clear idea; knowing that he fled upon learning their identity, this person was certainly not a good sort.
"You two, charge up with me; the rest of you, spread out to the sides, surround this side of the hillside, and cut off his escape route!
He shouldn't be alone, there are more behind, so make sure you surround them well, and don't let any fish escape the net.