After the horn sounded and the Hafdans regrouped, night had completely fallen. In this era, nights were incredibly dark. There was no moon that night, only a few stars, their faint light insufficient to illuminate the surroundings. Apart from the torches lit in the castle, the open fields were plunged into near-total darkness, so dense one could not see their own hand in front of them.
In this environment, the Hafdans used the slight starlight to complete their assembly.
In Gwenis's mind, the idea of a medieval army assembling and fighting at night was unthinkable, almost impossible. The reason was simple: the primitive organizational structure and low level of training meant that non-professional armies had no combat effectiveness at night.
Consider the conscripted soldiers hastily gathered from peasants by the nobles. How could they possibly assemble and set off at night to fight the enemy? The thought alone was implausible. Troops with primitive command structures, low training levels, and generally low morale would quickly fall into chaos and collapse without fighting.
But the Hafdans were different.
Their combat experience was rich; almost every one of them could fight independently. Commanders only needed to issue simple orders before the battle and let them execute autonomously during the fight, without the need for complex commands and teamwork.
Thus, Brock's order was straightforward: after dark, everyone was to move together, scale the city walls, and kill everyone inside.
The order was simple enough, and its execution was not complicated.
Many Hafdans dispersed in the night, using the weak light to locate the siege ladders left behind during the day. After brief communication, they lifted the ladders together and advanced towards the castle.
Although walking with heavy objects in the dark was not easy, it was not impossible. The Hafdans just needed to proceed slowly. The castle wouldn't move, and the torches lit on the city walls provided excellent direction and target indicators.
Thousands of Hafdans, one step at a time, slowly approached the castle in the darkness.
At the castle, the situation was less optimistic.
As soon as the horn sounded, Gwenis had guessed the Hafdans' tactic. They intended to use the cover of night to breach the defenses.
Indeed, in open terrain, archers could easily inflict heavy casualties on the Hafdans, but this had a major drawback: it required a clear line of sight.
The darkness of night completely hindered the archers' effectiveness.
Imagine it: in the dead of night, only the castle and city walls lit with torches and fire basins, while the world outside the walls was shrouded in darkness. Knowing that the Hafdans were approaching, it was impossible to see their figures clearly, let alone aim and shoot.
How could this battle be fought? Blindly shoot arrows into the dark?
"There!"
Suddenly, the archery commander, Ceddis, pointed in a direction.
Many of the defenders hurriedly looked, and indeed, at a spot twenty to thirty meters below the city walls, a vague shadow appeared.
Despite the night, it was unclear how many people were there, but Gwenis felt goosebumps all over.
The next moment, more and more shadows appeared in view, almost completely surrounding the section of the wall in front of them.
They had all come!
The firelight created a dividing line in the open space beneath the castle, delineating realms of light and dark. A multitude of Hafdans hid in the shadows, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.
A tense atmosphere enveloped the defenders on the city walls, heightening their nervousness. Despite their battle experience gained during the day, the pressure was overwhelming for many, causing a collapse in morale.
Without orders from Ceddis, many archers began to shoot arrows blindly into the vague shadows in the darkness, attempting to dispel their unease.
However, with the cover of night, and the Hafdans spaced several meters apart, the accuracy of the defending archers was extremely low. Aiming or not made little difference; it was mostly guesswork. Although not completely ineffective, as a few unfortunate Hafdans were hit, the kill rate was significantly lower compared to daytime.
The situation was grim, with the likelihood that the archers would exhaust their arrows with little to show for it compared to a single day's battle.
Moreover, the Hafdans were not just passive targets.
Soon, more than a dozen larger shadows began to emerge – these were Hafdan siege teams carrying ladders. This was the closest the siege ladders had ever gotten to the walls since the Hafdans initiated their attack, now within a twenty-meter range, and they had managed to do so without any losses.
Gwenis took a deep breath, realizing the situation was extremely unfavorable.
Suddenly, dozens of arrows shot from the darkness towards the defenders on the walls. This unexpected attack caught the defenders off guard, and immediately about a dozen men fell.
It must be acknowledged that the Hafdans' archery skills were actually quite good. Originating from fishing and hunting tribes, although they primarily relied on fishing for their livelihood, their occasional hunting expeditions meant that their archery skills were far from amateurish.
Their poor performance in the daytime shootouts was partly due to the long distance. Shooting upwards at a distance of eighty meters was a tall order for the Hafdans, whose hunting bows and arrows were relatively crudely made and lacked precise aiming tools.
In fact, even in Gwenis's previous world, hitting a target consistently with a handgun at fifty meters, even with modern manufacturing and precise ammunition, was considered highly skilled.
In Hafdan hunting practice, approaching the prey quietly and shooting within thirty meters was necessary for a good hit rate. Even at this range, men who consistently brought back game from hunts were praised and admired in their tribes, becoming targets of admiration.
In this era, the lethality of archery relied more on covering an area rather than individual precision.
But this time, with the Hafdan archers shooting from a mere twenty meters and hidden in darkness, with ample time to aim, their hit rate was significantly higher.
Had it not been for the protection of the city walls and barricades, and the fact that the Hafdans had to shoot upwards, the number of defenders falling would have been even higher.
Even Gwenis, commanding from the tower, narrowly missed being hit by an arrow, prompting him to step back and out of the Hafdans' shooting range.
But it was far from over; more arrows shot from the darkness, suppressing the defenders so effectively they could hardly raise their heads.
Meanwhile, the Hafdan siege team finally appeared in the firelight.
They carried the ladders towards the city walls for a final charge. If they could set the ladders against the walls, the Hafdans could swarm up, and the battle would be over.
The situation was dire.
Now, it was Gwenis's turn to grit his teeth in frustration.