It happened so fast, that none of them were able to do anything about it.
In short, the gate wasn't gently lowered.... but let loose to fall freely.
With a loud 'Baam!!' Sound, everyone was completely taken back.
And soon, fear slowly seeped into their minds, as they felt their hairs stand up one by one.
.
Did their men close the gates out of fear?
Just how many men did the enemy have, to cause such a large reaction from the guards at the gate room?
Was the enemy really that powerful?
F***!!!
.
'Boom! Boom! Boom!'
The knights in formations backed up a bit slowly... as they felt like their deaths were near.
The blast didn't just deafen them, but also caused their hearts to tremble aggressively..... as they felt their bodies shiver from horror.
.
Grenades had one purpose!.... and that was for killing!
Every aspect of it was designed for that one goal.
Be it the trigger pin system or the explosive factor..... everything could leave one paralyzed from fear.
.
The emotions of the knights went through several stages of utter Chaos.
And soon, some of them had their first ever mental breakdown.
\"I... I don't want to die!!\"
\"I only signed up because I thought that we would never truly fight.\"
\"I'm still so young, so how can I die now?\"
\"_\"
The men quivering from terror, as they mumbled their regrets out loud.
But suddenly..... several other loud thunderous sounds, flooded into their ears again.
.
\"Boom! Boom! Boom!\"
It sounded that more than 6 loud bands had gone out around the same time.
And soon..... the building-like wall above them, began collapsing.
.
'Twuahhhh!!!!'
'Catchhhhhhhhh!!!'
Like a ferocious wave in the sea, the front wall came crashing down all at once.
.
Previously, the soldiers had bombed the gate room which was located on the 3rd floor of the wall building... as well as bombed other rooms on that floor.
So like a typhoon, it crumbled with a loud bang!!
.
As the foundation of those rooms that had been utterly destroyed.... the 4th and 5th floors above it, came crashing down as well.
And the weight of the entire stone structure and everything else, was dumped unto the 2nd floor below... which in turn crashed on the ground floor.
So by the time the dust settled, the pile of rocks were at least 3-storeys high.
.
Within all the chaos.... the rest of the soldiers hurried along to regroup with Landon.
And 13 minutes later, Landon and his team did the same actions with the second gate... that was connecting the front courtyard section of the estate, to the second courtyard.
.
In essence, the estate was almost similar to the layout of the city in 'Attack on Titans'.... where there was only one way for one to move into the inner courtyard or cities.
And that was through the main gates.
In this way, even if the enemy came over, the knights could trap them within the courtyards and rain several arrows on them.
.
'Boom! Boom! Boom!'
Soon, the second gate was destroyed.... trapping 2,671 enemy knights within the first estate.
One should know that this estate had 5410 people in duty each night.
With more than half of the enemy's men out of the way.... Landon and his team secretly sighed from relief.
.
Now, they were all dressed as the enemy... so when they stepped into the second courtyard, they acted confused and shocked as well.
\"What happened?\"
\"I... I don't know!\"
\"Cough... Cough.... We were going there as backup, when the wall suddenly crashed.\" Some of them answered.
.
As for the female soldiers, they had rubbed dirt and ash on their faces.... so as to hide their appearances.
After all, women weren't allowed in Arcadina's army yet.
They tried to make their voices as manly as possible, and walk as men too.... except, they were a lot better than 'Mulan' in that aspect.
(*Mulan: Hmmp!!!....it was all Mushu's fault!)
.
The second gate, as well as the supporting structures there.... had been utterly destroyed by Landon and his team.
So now, no one had a way of reaching the trapped soldiers within the 1st courtyard... except they climbed over those 3-storey tall heaps of rocks, that were like mountains.
And that could take a while!
.
One should know that since the rocks had just fallen, any sudden movements could cause the Rock's to shift, roll or displace.
Resulting in a Rock Avalanche.
The knights within the 2nd courtyard, looked at the large pile before them helplessly.
'Damn!.... Just who was it that attacked us?'
.
In amidst the sudden confusion, Landon and his gang slipped away again.
From the map, this courtyard had a massive basement level..... that was 2 floors deep.
Those areas were essentially used for slave residences..... as the slaves were only allowed to come up to the surface during training, and nothing more.
.
They ran towards the entrance leading to the underground slave residences... and waited for others to arrive.
Essentially, they were waiting for some of the men from those other teams.
.
Apart from the front entrance, the estate had 2 other secret entrances as well, which were all situated around very remote areas within the city.
For this mission, they had chosen to make a run for it using entrance/exit B.
.
So those at Exit B were supposed to stay there and kill all enemy guards..... while those at Exit C, were supposed to work their way into the camp, and finish up by destroying the exit.
As for himself at entrance/exit A..... he had destroyed the exit and worked his way here with his team.
.
Landon waited for the others who were supposed to make their way through exit C..... and soon, he had spotted them.
They were walking towards the rendezvous spot, which... according to the plan and the building layout, was the exact same spot were Landon was currently at.
.
When they met, everyone acted scared... while strategically walking around in circles confusedly.
They would run forward and backwards in disarray..... as if lost on what to do next.
Everyone around them was running, so standing still would look too suspicious.
.
Those who saw this, would think that these people were too perplexed on what to do next.
But at the center of the entire disarray... 2 leaders were also moving around side-by-side in bewilderment.
\"Any issues?\"
\"None!\"
\"Good!\"
\"_\"
.
The group of confused individuals started spreading out and running in several directions.
But if one were to observe more carefully, he/she would realise that all these individuals made several U-turns after a certain distance.
Soon..... they were all charging towards one direction.
.
With the whole gang here, it was finally time to move onto phase 2 of tonight's operations.