Chapter 84 - Danger

When the mercenaries finally began to move, the recruits had already divided themselves into teams of two. The front would be armed with a shield and spear, and the member on the back would use a bow and carry several quivers. Zaos was hoping that they would have the chance to fire many arrows, but it was hard to tell if that would be the case.

In the end, the worst-case scenario really happened… all the mercenaries charged toward the town. Fortunately, none of them had horses, otherwise fighting would be pretty much suicide.

"... Come to think of it… why don't they have horses?" Zaos thought.

They really came a long way from their land, so it was weird to think that they came on foot. Still, such questions could be answered later.

"Archers! Prepare your Arrows!" Zaos shouted.

As expected, due to their apprehension, some recruits messed up and dropped their arrows. Still, Zaos imagined that something like that would happen, so he gave the order before the enemies could enter the range.

"Don't think too much about aiming, just make sure that your arrows will fly for long enough and then you will hit them," Zaos said.

More than one thousand of mercenaries were charging toward the town, so it was a given that aiming was unnecessary. Zaos looked at the cavalry in front of the gate, and there he also saw Elius looking at him, and then he nodded… It was finally time.

"Loose!" Zaos shouted, and hundreds of arrows flew toward the enemies. 

Somehow, only a couple of arrows fell midway, but the vast majority hit someone in the mercenary's army. Since their aim was rather poor, the arrows spread around in a vast area. That actually worked in their favor because only the three first lines of members raised their shields to protect themselves. The others got hit in their shoulders and their heads.

Your Archery has reached level 08.

Zaos was also firing because, at that point in time, even the successful shot of a single archer might change the tide of the battle. By the look of things, he succeeded. Zaos immediately nocked another Arrow and aimed, but he didn't fire since he was looking to the side and confirming that the others were preparing themselves.

"Loose!" Zaos shouted once he realized that everyone was ready again.

The second volley hit a certain area in the middle of the army, dozens of mercenaries fell, and that made several others trample in the bodies of the diseased. Before the archers could fire the third volley of arrows, the cavalry finally dashed toward the enemies. When the third volley of arrows finally landed on the enemy army, the cavalry joined the fray. As expected, the riders passed through the foot soldiers easily. Even the mercenaries that decided to go down and bring the riders with them failed miserably and died.

For some reason, the group of riders advanced while they were forming a single line. Thanks to that, not a single rider stayed too far behind or advanced too much. Zaos understood that they did that in order to prevent them from being surrounded and slowly lose their precious mounts.

"Loose!" Zaos shouted.

The recruits changed their aim to the left side of the battlefield in order not to hit their allies. Although the enemies were finally getting close to the walls and their accuracy should have increased, Zaos noticed that it actually decreased… as expected. The fear was already messing with them.

Some mercenaries armed with lances began to throw their weapons before they could get too close to the walls. Drannor noticed that and shouted 'shields,' thanks to his fast reaction, not a single archer got hit, but the kids holding the shields were already moaning in pain. The wounds of the previous fight haven't healed yet.

Zaos had planned to make the archers fire again once the first group of enemies reach the walls. Still, the mercenaries won't let things go that easily. Only a few of them fired at a time, all in order to scare the recruits and make them cower behind the shields while the enemies climbed the walls or moved toward the gates.

"Lower the shields, and grab your spears!" Drannor shouted.

For a kid, Drannor certainly could think fast. However, only a few obeyed his command. The sound of spears colliding against the shields made them unable to move. The accuracy of the mercenaries was pretty good, so it wasn't hard to imagine those spears hitting them.

Zaos couldn't think of anything else to make the recruits recover their fighting spirit… he had to do the same with the enemy army. That was a bit hard, though, considering that he could only use magic a few times… Regardless, Zaos made up his mind. When he moved away from a shield, he only saw three mercenaries with spears ready to be thrown. All the others were already climbing the ladders that they just put against the walls. While a group of other mercenaries was heading toward the gate. Once again, Zaos fired three Fire Swords and made three ladders burn to a crisp. While it was hard to see anything out of place in the middle of such a battlefield, all the mercenaries who were planning to climb the walls looked at him.

For a few precious moments, the spears weren't thrown toward the recruits. Once again, Drannor reacted fast to that opportunity.

"Use your bows, you fucking cowards!" Drannor shouted.

Zaos's attacks and Drannor's voice finally woke up the frozen rookies. The archers nocked the arrows and left the safety of the shields to attack at will. There was no need to fire as a group when the enemies were so close and clustered in a big mob. While some mercenaries were falling, the army completely ignored the rookies and only threw their spears toward Zaos. However, none of them landed since he was already behind a shield. Unfortunately, only that hadn't been enough to change the tide of the fight. The mercenaries were already attacking the gate of the town…