Chapter 145: Their respective battles
The ranger responsible for reconnaissance discovered a mercenary group heading to Golden Oak Village.
They were faster than Kalena expected, but many mercenaries were riding mounts.
Some Jondas carry tall warhorses and wear leather vests, while most other riders make do with saddles and blankets.
The mercenary without a horse could only follow the team, with dust clumping on his face and sweat stains on his leather armor.
Jondas are slender, with slightly brown skin, mostly blond hair, and green or brown eyes.
As a priest of the Church of the Mother Earth, Kalina could see clearly the identity and origin of this group of mercenaries at a glance.
Jondath is composed of a series of alliance city-states and small towns scattered on the southern shore of the Sea of Fallen Stars. This makes it difficult for the priest to imagine that this is the country that produced the merchants who settled in the powerful Sembia.
However, now due to the decline of honor, the greedy ambitions of the rulers, and the enemies surrounding it, Jondas is an increasingly dark land.
“I didn’t expect there to be so many riders.” The ranger in charge of the reconnaissance said, “Obviously, these must be mercenaries hired by the Zhentarim.”
"That's right." Karina nodded slightly.
She brushed her hair out of her eyes. It was a sunny day, and flying insects were chirping and singing in the steaming air.
The 'Watcher' ranger troop she led stood in the cherry grove of a slave owner's manor whose head was beheaded by the lord of Mokou Town. The latter was warm and fragrant under the hot sun.
The flowers have long since withered, and the branches are covered with sweet and sour red fruits.
They will be ripe for picking in about five days, but Karina couldn't help but wonder if anyone would survive to join the effort when the cherries were ripe.
The Jondas approached slowly, following dusty country paths and past fields that had been cultivated in the sun.
About a hundred meters, their path would take them past the cherry grove where Kalena and her warriors were waiting.
The sharp-edged ranger frowned and said to her, "These cavalry ruined your battle plan, High Priest. Maybe it would be wise to let them pass. After all, most of the villagers in the five villages We have already taken refuge in Mokou Town. These bandits will only find an uninhabited village. Besides, our manpower is too small and too scattered to deal with this mercenary group of more than 200 people."
Kalena studied the approaching mercenaries and measured them for a long time.
Then she shook her head, "No, let's continue. Goddess Earth is above, and I doubt many of them will know how to ride horses to fight with us."
"Don't underestimate the mercenaries, there are definitely spellcasters among them." The ranger reminded.
"Believe me, Dean, I've made this mistake once. I do wish there were fewer riders over there and more bows and arrows over here, but since we took over Mokou Town The task assigned to us by the lord is not to allow the enemy to destroy fertile fields and villages. We must clean up any enemy who tries to approach Mokou Town."
Karena smiled slightly, she said. Without looking away from the approaching team, she said: "Send a message to our soldiers and aim at anyone riding on a war horse. Those people should be guys who are good at mounted combat."
She waited for a short time After a short while, the mercenaries got closer.
The air was heavy and humid, as it was in this vast green field, and the lingering fragrance of the lost flowers still lingered in her mind.
"Now?" Ranger Dean asked.
Karena showed a confident smile, "That's it now."
She finished her answer and raised her hand to make a brief gesture.
The fifteen rangers hiding in the cherry forest raised their white bows and fired arrows at the mercenary team heading north to Golden Oak Village.
In three heartbeats, chaos broke out in the mercenary team.
Silver rain of death fell on the riders' heads.
They howled and fell from their saddles one after another, arrows shot through their throats or through their chests.
The others who were not killed by the ranger's arrow but were trapped by it screamed in sudden pain and rage.
The horses neighed and jumped, the infantry scattered, and another wave of arrows followed, shooting further into the rear of the human team.
Although caught off guard, the Jondas were not vulnerable.
Roaring and cursing, the human mercenaries began to move while the third wave of arrows was still passing through the air.
The infantrymen raised their diamond-shaped shields on their shoulders, and hurriedly knelt side by side, chaining the shields into a wall of leather and wood to resist the ranger's sharp arrows.
The crossbowmen approached behind the shield wall and began to shoot randomly at the woods. Hissing curses and the sound of whooshing through the air made a noise in Kalena's mind.
A captain approaching the mercenary leader drew his sword out of its sheath and dodged a large number of arrows that passed by him.
“Come on, you bitches!”
He roared, shouting provocations at the invisible archers, and led twenty riders straight into the cherry grove.
But a precise arrow from Kalina pierced his heart and knocked him off his horse.
"Watch the flanks!" Ranger Dean quickly warned, "They want to outflank us here."
"I saw them." Kalena replied with a smile, but they first The Jondas rampaging through the woods must be dealt with.
She pointed at the riders who were rushing toward the rangers' hiding place at a lightning speed, and said calmly, "Get that one first!"
One of the wizards in the Watcher force nodded.
He skillfully took out a pinch of silver powder from the pouch on his body.
As he waved his hand to disperse the powder into the air, a deadly spell of incantation quickly came out and was pointed directly at the approaching rider.
Every grain of powder on his fingertips turned into long silver-white ice needles, flying like arrows, directly towards the oncoming cavalry.
The shining fragments penetrated the breastplate and chain mail shirt like piercing silk, and a moment later a deadly frost burst out with a white light.
The Jondas riders in front were the first to bear the brunt, being blasted into sand by the deadly hail of ice needles. They and their horses were also pierced to the core, or were burned by the unbearable cold, so that their bodies were covered with snow and their blood was clotted. into ice.
Shining pillars of frost and black blood make the fruit tree stars shine.
Kalena couldn't help but flinch, but she tapped the wizard on the shoulder and ordered, "Retreat now! They may be about to release a spell."
The two rangers quickly returned Run about a hundred meters, sprinting through the trees.
Sure enough, a violent flame broke out in the woods from behind, right where they were standing.
A wave of sulfurous heat lifted Kalena's cloak to her shoulders and scorched a strand of her hair.
She ran about a hundred meters, huddled behind a tree, and quickly considered the surprise attack.
Arrows were still whizzing into the ranks of Jondas on the road, but there were far fewer arrows than before.
The ranger cruises between shots to avoid being targeted. Kalena could see at a glance the cavalry sweeping across the orchard, diluting the firepower of the archers on her flanks.
In just a few moments, she and the warriors would be surrounded in the woods, although her 'Watcher' rangers were enough to rely on scimitars and swords, letting them act as fertilizer for the cherry trees.
But the battle in Mokou Town is far from over, and she does not want to waste her precious magic on these mercenaries.
She held a holy symbol hanging in front of her heart and whispered a divine incantation.
The magic conveyed her words to all rangers in the forest, whether they were close at hand or a hundred paces apart.
"Retreat immediately!" she ordered them, "Get to the second line of defense, quickly!"
The fifteen rangers turned around and sprinted north, heading for the far side of the Big Fruit Grove.
Kalena glanced at her ranger warriors, appearing and disappearing as they passed through the trees beside them.
She could hear the distant curses of the humans behind her, and it didn't take long for the Jondas to realize that their ambushers were retreating.
The mercenaries arrived at the edge of the orchard and rushed into the fields beyond.
Kalena increased her pace and ran at full speed, knowing full well that she and her warriors had no cover.
One glance showed that most of her warriors were still with her, the rangers following her footsteps silently across the fields.
But sweeping to the west, only two hundred meters away, sixty cavalry appeared, chasing wildly around the edge of the large fruit forest.
"High Priest!" Ranger Dean shouted worriedly.
"Don't worry, I saw them!" she replied, giving them an encouraging smile, "Work harder!"
After passing the field, there was a long and low ridge. Covered by thick bushes lying like a green wall.
Karina risked a glance over her shoulder and redirected to the right, away from the advancing cavalry, which would take them longer to overrun his warriors.
The scorching sun shone down on her body, and the waist-high bushes forced her to take long and long steps. It was more like a trek than a run.
She stared at the dark bushes in front of her and tried to maintain her speed. Sweat was flowing on her face, and the humid air was as sticky as honey in her lungs.
Behind her, she could hear the hooves of the riders following behind.
The mercenaries roared rudely with a tone of assurance of victory, while the ranger warriors were less than fifty meters away from the bushes over there.
A horn sounded from somewhere in the forest ahead.
Kalena suddenly shouted to her warriors, "Get down!"
She threw herself into the tall bushes, branches brushing against her face and arms.
More than eighty long bows were fired in unison above her head.
Under the shelter of the trees in front, it seemed that all the men in Golden Oak Village were good at shooting with bows, and some women were the same. They raised their bows and fired arrows at the cavalry who were about to trample the retreating rangers.
Not all of them are as accurate as the ranger warriors, but some are on par, and the rest can shoot well enough.
The horses roared and jumped, the cavalry fell from their saddles, while the rest panicked under the devastating fire.
After three rounds of rapid volleys, combined with the offensive magic of Kalena and others, the Jondas mercenaries were already dizzy, with most of them dead or injured, and only two or three rode their horses to escape the green bushes. Cong, leaving his companions alone.
Kalena and her ranger warriors jumped up and ran slowly into the cover of the bushes.
She found a goblin waiting for her, and an ogre beside her.
More gnolls, kobold villagers, and troll farmers stood to one side, looks of grim satisfaction on their faces.
They wear uneven armor, ranging from no armor at all to old chain mail shirts or inlaid leather hunting attire, but all of them are proficient in using bows, and many of them have bows on their belts. Carrying sword and ax.
People in Mokou Town should not be judged by their appearance. Kalena smiled and praised: "Well done, little goblin. If you and the villagers hadn't fought so beautifully, we would have been trampled by the cavalry. "
"Ms. Kalena, you are too modest. I plan to wait as long as possible before hearing the signal," the goblin holding the crossbow said a little embarrassedly, "I didn't expect them. Then follow you quickly. Praise the Earth Mother, you are all walking fast and have no problem dealing with a group of mercenaries."
"What should we do next, madam?" the ogre said to Kalena. asked.
As a slave, after regaining his freedom, he took the initiative to serve as the militia captain of Golden Oak Village.
The originally approachable ogre becomes a completely different person on the battlefield.
His usual gentle smile and relaxed laughter disappeared and were replaced by determination and worry. He said angrily, "How many more enemies do we have to face?"
" The battle is far from over.”
Kalena used the reconnaissance magic, and the distant scene appeared clearly in her mind.
She closed her eyes and pondered for a moment, then smiled kindly at the group of humanoid creatures, "Now, I have an important task for you."
"There is a group of about 500 jackals and orcs. The troops, instigated by the Zhentarim, pulsed down from Stormhorn Mountain, preparing to sack Mokou Town."
When the ogres and goblins heard this, their faces suddenly became ugly, and the goblins stammered. Said, "Then, what should we do?"
"As long as you listen to me, I promise to let you eliminate them unscathed." There was a hint of cunning in Karina's beautiful eyes, and she smiled slightly, confident To put it bluntly:
“This bandit will pass through the grove of the druids in the Emerald Garden. Little goblin, you take a few gnoll villagers to lead them, and then take the opportunity to attack the druids in the Emerald Garden. Just set a fire in the grove and someone will help us deal with this threat.”
"Is this really okay?" When the goblin heard this, he was startled and said with fear on his face, "I'm afraid that jackals and orcs will eat me."
"Believe in yourself and use your eloquence. , Praise these brainless guys, and you will survive."
Karena smiled encouragingly and said to him, "Otherwise, more than 500 jackals and orcs will pour in." The consequences of Mokou Town are unimaginable. Do you just want to watch your home be destroyed?"
"I definitely don't want to," the goblin replied without thinking, gritted his teeth, and nodded: " No problem, Ms. Kalena, leave this task to me."
"This is a scroll of fireball. Do you know how to use it?" Kalena handed the goblin a scroll, "Bring the enemy into the woods. Just release it immediately after reaching the range, and then escape as soon as possible.”
"Of course I can use it. I once worked as an assistant to a wizard." The goblin took the scroll, selected a few ragged jackals, showed a martyr's expression, and walked towards the Stormhorn Mountains.
"May the Mother Earth protect you."
Kalena gave a blessing and immediately commanded her 'Watcher' rangers to prepare for the next battle.
Thanks to the big guys: Huang Xiyun, Liang Ling, Father-son Relationship, Little Horse Cart, La La La ivgg for the rewards, thank you for your support! ! !
(End of this chapter)