'Shit! Shit! These guys are smarter than I thought! How could they immediately identify that it was a trap?!' The leader of the Timberwolf Mercenary Group, Naib, anxiously thought to himself as he gritted his teeth in frustration.
He couldn't determine where things had gone wrong since even Count Koler's acting was perfect.
Unfortunately for them, their whole plan failed because one of the military leaders of the Rougenfort Army, Leif, had already been sent here before to accomplish an important mission.
Naturally, they had no way to know and the most important thing for them right now was to react as fast as possible because their situation was getting worse with each passing second.
As the one who came up with the plan, Naib was expected by the count to make the final call.
'Think! Naib, Think!' Naib thought to himself as his habit of biting the nails of his thumb resurfaced.
A cold glint appeared in his eyes as he decisively signaled his men to fight.
In his mind, he didn't care about the city's citizens anyway so it's not like they already lost.
If they manage to slay one or two military leaders of the Rougenfort Army before falling back to heavily defend the next strategic city, then he can consider this encounter a small win even though they failed to delay the Rougenfortians.
Naib was confident in the abilities of his subordinate Swordmasters and he was also confident that nobody in this tier 5 kingdom could fight on equal footing with him, hence, he decided to fight.
"Go, engage!" Naib said as he and his men charged out from their hiding places.
He then directly rushed towards Helena since it seemed like she was the one in command. Although Naib was a bit shocked that the one leading the army was a young woman, he still decided to ruthlessly kill her in one move.
"DIE!"
*CLANG*
Naib and Helena stared at each other with narrowed eyes, evidently shocked by their opponent's strength.
No one was able to get the upper hand in their first clash so Naib temporarily stepped back as he tried to assess his foe from head to toe.
Meanwhile, Naib's trustworthy subordinates also ambushed Helena's generals but unfortunately, although it was close, they too, failed.
Eden was especially surprised since this was the first time that he was at the receiving end of an arrow with arrow intent.
It seems that finally, he would have the chance to test his actual skills as a ranger.
He was always forced to stay at the backlines, trying to snipe enemy commanders while Alexander and the others were always the ones who got to fight equal battles with other Swordmasters.
Fortunately for Eden, his chance to fight with an enemy ranger has come.
Eden had a slightly excited look on his face as he drew his bow and aimed it at the enemy ranger. After a few more seconds, arrows flew back and forth as the two rangers aimed and dodged.
As for Alexander, Leif, and Emille, their battles were just starting so the exchanges were still fairly equal.
While the generals were locked in their individual fierce duels, the Rougenfort Army finally clashed against Naib's mercenaries.
This time, it was the Rougenfort Army soldiers who were shocked. They thought that they could easily defeat the mercenaries since they assumed that they were no different to bandits.
Unfortunately for them, reality slapped them hard.
Naib's men were just as disciplined, coordinated, physically strong, and knowledgeable about formations as any other well-trained armies.
Thus, the two armies were temporarily in a stalemate as they struggled for dominance against their foes.
"Hohoh? You seem strong and…quite young…" Helena looked at Naib with narrowed eyes and said as she rested the Salamandr on her shoulders.
This was the first time she encountered someone who could fight on equal footing with her while only being a few years older than her.
Unbeknownst to her, Naib was even more shocked than her as this was his first time encountering someone younger who seemed to be equal to him when it came to strength.
He thought that he was someone favored by the heavens since he managed to become this strong at such a young age of 28.
However, it seemed that there was someone way more talented than him?
Naib's confidence was shaken and he couldn't stand the fact that someone was more talented than him so he vowed to kill her.
In his egoistic mind, he should be the only talented person around so that once his name reverberates across the entire Praetoria Continent, his family, who exiled him, would regret their decisions and come begging for him to forgive them.
Shockingly, the mercenary leader, Naib, turned out to be an exiled third son of a tier 1 kingdom's marquis family.