The Light Empire Captain looked at the tall man on the wall. Although his armor is old and worn, it is clearly better than the other bandits.
"Are you the leader? I'll be very direct. You will drop your weapons and become our slaves... We can do this the easy way or…"
"What the fuck?!?! Do you expect me to surrender just like that?" The tall man gritted his teeth in anger.
The Captain walked over to another one of the kneeling bandits and cut off his head.
"Look how easy your people are dying. I'm going to kill these people, then I will destroy that gate and continue killing anyone that resists. Unless you surrender."The tall man grimaced and turned. He knew he couldn't win this fight, but he couldn't let his people be executed, either.
One of the bandits at Enzo's side knew that he wouldn't want to surrender so easily, but the situation seemed hopeless, so he advised him.
"They are over five hundred... We cannot win this fight, Enzo."
Enzo looked at the other bandits who were gathering on the square behind the walls. All of them were picking up old weapons and shields.
Even though they knew they were screwed, many were ready to fight for their home and people.
Still, even if they try their best, they couldn't even kill 1/4 of the Light Empire's soldiers. The bandits are not trained soldiers and did not have good equipment.
As for the Light Empire's soldiers, they are very strong and well trained, equipped with high-quality weapons and armors, and there were still those shields, impenetrable even by spells.Enzo didn't have to think long to make his decision. He ignored the Captain, still threatening him, and came down from the wall.
He looked at his people and spoke in a sad tone. "We have to get out of here as soon as possible! If we stay, we will die or become slaves. We can escape through the caves."
Enzo knew that the old wooden gate would not resist long. Despite keeping the beasts outside the fortress, a few axes would be enough to destroy the gate.
So he sent his people to gather everyone and prepare to escape through the secret passage of the cave.
But while he was giving orders, a familiar voice came from the secret passage. Then Neola ran out of the cave with a worried expression.
"Enzo!? What is going on? Wait! Are you going to abandon our people out there???!?!?"
Everyone in the fortress could hear the threats from the Light Empire Captain and knew that he is executing the captured bandits.
Enzo ignored Neola talking about combating and continued to tell the bandits to get ready to flee. They were confused about what to do as both Neola and Enzo are their leaders.
"We must not stay here!! Shit!! There are over five hundred Light Empire soldiers out there. We'll be lucky if we manage to escape."
Neola was about to argue more when they heard the Light Empire Captain shout.
"OH?!? Are you going to hide like rats? Your friends are pissing themself here while I cut off their heads... Just so you know, I still have a hundred more prisoners."
The bandits on the wall turned around, so they didn't have to watch the Captain decapitate their friends. The bandits inside the fortress had expressions of fear and anger.
"GO!! We have to get out of here before it is our heads that are rolling." Enzo ignored Neola's protests and ordered everyone to start moving.
Still, half of the bandits were not following his orders. They were divided into two groups. While some wanted to run away with Enzo, others wanted to fight for their people with Neola.
Enzo knew about Neola's stubborn personality, so all he could do is to order his people to flee and carry her by force. He would not let all his people die in hopeless combat.
He pointed to the bandits who did not want to follow his orders, but then Neola took his arm. "Enzo! Listen to me!! We must no-"
The situation was extremely tense. They could die at any time when the Light Empire soldiers destroyed the gate, but Neola was still thinking about fighting…
Enzo can't help but lose his temper. He used his other arm to slap Neola in the face and calm her down.
Well, actually he tried.
Neola saw Enzo's hand coming towards her face. She instinctively closed her eyes and waited for the blow as she could not dodge at such a short distance to him.
"WHAT?!" But neither the pain nor the sound of the slap happened. All Neola heard was Enzo's confused voice.
She opened her eyes and saw a hand holding Enzo's wrist just a few inches from her face.
Maybe it was because that hand has skin too clean to belong to someone of her people, or perhaps another reason, but Neola was sure it is Lucien, defending her.
Depending on how stressful a situation was, the people emotionally involved in that situation could lose the ability to reason properly, and even their senses could fail.
Since Neola came out of the secret passage in the cave, Lucien, Ghilanna, Lust, and Oya were behind her.
But nobody noticed them because the Light Empire soldiers are so terrifying, making everyone very tense.
Of course, some people noticed them, but they were focused on the discussion of their leaders about what to do.
Enzo was very focused on giving orders to his people, so he did not notice them. Lucien was silent to observe what kind of person Enzo is.
But that does not mean he would stand by and see Neola getting slapped. He wasn't even using 1/10 of his strength, and yet Enzo couldn't get rid of his grip.
While Enzo clenched his teeth, Lucien spoke calmly. "You are not allowed to touch my servant."
Neola couldn't help feeling warmth in her heart when she saw Lucien defending her. But his arrogant words remembered her that he is a wicked devil who killed her comrade.
But her angry expression turned to blush when Lucien spoke his next words. "Only I can slap her. Of course, if she misbehaves, she would be spanked on the ass."
Enzo went into a state of fury. He wasn't that furious seeing the Light Empire Captain killing his people, but Lucien managed to strike his weak spot, his ego.
"WHAT?!?!?! SHE IS MY FIANCEE!!! YOU BAS-" Enzo let go of his grip on Neola's arm, took the dagger from his belt, and tried to cut Lucien quickly.
Lucien smiled, watching Enzo's movement in slow motion, so he kneed his stomach, throwing the man over twenty meters until he hit a wall.
Enzo suffered severe wounds but not fatal, and fell to the ground with difficulty breathing.
Neola panicked and punched Lucien's chest, actually the breastplate of his black armor. "You said you are not going to kill my people anymore!!!"
Lucien shrugged. "He's alive, stay calm. We have more urgent problems to deal with."
Neola looked at the injured Enzo on the ground with an apologetic expression. She wants to help him, but the Captain was executing her people, so she needs to act quickly.
She looked at Lucien and tried to contain her anger at least for a while. "Can you really help us?"
Lucien looked at the bandits. "We can defeat them with minimal losses, but everyone has to cooperate."
Everyone was surprised by Lucien's words. After all, they were talking about a Light Empire army.
Some of the bandits wanted to believe that it is possible to save their friends while others just want to run away.
Enzo tried to get up, but his body hurt a lot, so he couldn't move. He tried to speak, which was also difficult as he still couldn't breathe properly.
"Neola… You can't believe him... Trying to fight against them is insanity!! You will die…" Enzo was unable to continue speaking as he began to vomit blood.
Neola really wanted to beat Lucien so badly and leave him as hurt as Enzo, but now he seemed to be the only chance for her to save her friends.
She had to make a difficult decision. If she agreed to make a deal with the devil, she would surely suffer the consequences. But could she continue to let her people die?
"I'll do what you say, Lucien... But you have to make sure my people are going to be okay!"
Lucien wanted to tease Neola just to see her angry, but he knows now is not the time to play. He wants these bandits as his vanguard, but they would only be useful alive.
He looked at the bandits again while giving orders in an authoritative tone. "My archer will deal with most of the soldiers, but you must protect her at all costs."
"Also, some of you will have to go out through the cave passage and distract the mages and archers in the back."
Ghilanna was the first to speak about the obvious problem. "Lucien... I appreciate your confidence in my skills, but my arrows will not pierce that blessed shields."
Lucien understood the resilience of the blessed shields. In fact, he has some of them in the Bluewind's castle, which were looted from Scarlett's mercenaries after the battle against the adventurers.
"I'm going to make the soldiers with shields let their guard down so that you can hit them." Lucien sounded very confident, but Ghilanna couldn't help but worry about his safety.
Neola questioned him. "How are you going to make them let their guard down?"
*ROAR*
Oya roared, drawing everyone's attention. Then she approached Lucien, and he patted her on the head. "We are going to face the soldiers head-on and make them let their guard down."
Then he looked with a solemn expression at Neola. "But I can only handle a certain number of attacks at a time, so your people have to protect my archer and get the attention of the archers and mage in their rearguard."
Lucien's plan seemed crazy. Still, Neola understood that he is confident in his high speed to survive while the archer killed the soldiers.
If he failed, her people would lose the chance to escape, but the fact that he will be at risk in front of them is proof that Lucien is very confident.
Neola looked at her people with a determined expression. "Did you hear?! Do you want to save our comrades and kill those bastards?!"
"YES!!!"
"We are with you, Neola!!"
"Let's send them to hell!!"
"Yeah, fuck them!!"
The bandits who agreed to fight from the beginning were even more hopeful.
The other half who wanted to flee, also began to realize that they could have a chance to win with the help of that strange man.
Lucien couldn't help but smile at Neola, raising the bandits' morale even in a situation that seemed very bad. She is young but has good leadership skills.
Enzo also looked like a good leader. Lucien understood that running away would be the smartest option if they didn't have his help.
But with him, Oya, Lust, and Ghilanna, the odds were against the Light Empire soldiers.
After the recent intense lovemaking sessions, Lucien is very close to reaching the Mortal Realm, and his strength and agility are much higher than before.
This battle would be an excellent opportunity for him to test his new physical capabilities while also improving his coordination with Oya and Lust, who could now fight at his side.
While Neola started giving orders to her people to follow Lucien's plan, he went to check Ghilanna's bow and arrows.
Some of the bandits went to help Enzo, but he was badly hurt and could not even speak well, making everyone trust Neola to lead them now.
After learning that Ghilanna has a few hundred arrows, enough for the battle, Lucien hugged her waist and quickly kissed her lips.
"If you can kill more soldiers than me, I will give you a special reward when we get back to the castle."
The elf's eyes shone with excitement and expectation. Lust also had sparkles on her eyes and can't help but comment.
"Can I also participate in this bet?"
Oya was getting smarter and smarter, so she also understood the situation.
"*Roar?!*"
