Our Family Has Fallen-Chapter 29: Crushing_1

"Balistan, protect him! Watch out for crossbow arrows!" Lance quickly called out to the veteran upon seeing the farm owner’s agitated state.

"Leave it to me." Balistan raised his Shield and followed.

The farm owner stood on the platform, looking out. His appearance indeed made the guards hesitate.

The message they had received was that someone had broken in and killed the farm owner, but why would the farm owner appear at this time?

"David is a traitor! You..."

Before the farm owner could finish his sentence, a Crossbow Arrow suddenly shot out from a corner, flying straight towards him.

Just as it was about to hit the farm owner, a Shield appeared in front of him, deflecting the Crossbow Arrow.

"Stand behind me!" the veteran barked, holding the Shield in front. He sidestepped and crouched slightly, lowering his head to cover as much of his body as possible with the Shield, reducing the risk of exposure.

Meanwhile, Dismas had spotted half of the Crossbowman’s exposed body. Without any hesitation, he pulled the trigger. The next second, the Crossbowman collapsed with an arrow through his neck.

Though not yet dead, the man struggled to survive as blood filled his lungs, ultimately suffocating him.

Only then did the farm owner come to his senses. His fear turned into anger, and he cursed loudly, "What the hell are you idiots doing? It’s me, can’t you see? Drop your weapons and get the hell out of here!"

But the sound of a gunshot—BANG!—interrupted him once more, followed almost simultaneously by the clang of metal.

It was a contest between the bullet and the Shield. The distance had robbed the bullet of most of its force, and the soft Lead Bullet fragmented upon impact with the Shield’s surface, a piece even nicking the farm owner’s cheek.

The veteran still stood firm, not shaken in the slightest by the bullet’s impact on his Shield. His actions had protected him well; this was the experience of the battlefield.

But the farm owner was not so composed. Scared by the consecutive attacks, he collapsed to the ground, cradling his head as he tried to hide from the Gunner in an unknown location.

Seeing this, the veteran simply kicked him off the platform. While maintaining his posture, the veteran retreated from the watchtower with his Shield raised.

Though the farm owner had tumbled to the ground, being back down under the protection of the earthen wall meant he was out of danger.

Lance knew before arriving that David had completely replaced the guards with his own men. So why make the farm owner show his face and take such a risk?

Because he needed a decoy to attract fire and trigger any potential dangers.

At the same time, it would buy time for his next move.

And now, it was done!

The horses that had been drawing the carriage were gone, replaced by Lance. With his push, the carriage, which had been stuck at the entrance, began to move backward. It quickly picked up speed and slid away, clearing the space and revealing the tall Knight mounting his horse behind it.

Just the sight of this scene made the guards outside feel a suffocating pressure.

The gap in strength between an armored and an unarmored Knight was vast, as was the difference between one on horseback and one on foot.

The only weapon that could possibly threaten Reynard was the Flintlock Gun, which took at least thirty seconds to reload.

That was enough time.

"For the Holy Light!" Reynard shouted angrily, kicking his horse’s belly. The pained horse neighed and then bolted forward, charging straight at the guards who were holding up the wooden gates.

Reeling from Dismas’s unerringly accurate arrows, these guards were already on the verge of collapse; showing their heads meant certain death. The fact that they hadn’t fled and were still attempting to organize a defense spoke well of their ten-plus days of training.

But now, faced with a charging Knight in full armor, the sound of hooves was like the tolling of a death knell.

Their last shred of reason completely collapsed.

The guards scattered and fled, the two propped-up wooden gates collapsing in their wake. Nevertheless, Reynard showed no intention of sparing them as he swept by on his horse.

One Guard, realizing he couldn’t escape, turned back in a frenzy, attempting to attack. But his desperate strike didn’t even slow Reynard, whose Longsword swept through the air, sending the Guard’s head flying.

"Drop your weapons!"

"Everyone down!"

"Surrender and you will live!"

The Guards, decimated by Reynard, dropped their weapons and discarded their armor, prostrating themselves in surrender after he shouted a few commands.

Reynard patrolled the area on horseback; not a single enemy dared to remain standing.

Meanwhile, from a wooden shack, the barrel of a Long-barreled Flintlock Gun emerged, aimed at Reynard.

BANG!

A flash of fire erupted, followed by a rising wisp of black smoke.

Reynard sensed something and turned his head. He looked towards the earthen wall, where a still-smoking gun barrel revealed what had just occurred.

"AH!"

The next moment, a scream rang out. Reynard turned back just in time to see something tumbling from the roof of the cattle shed. Only when it crashed to the ground did he realize it was a person.

Dismas retracted his Long-barreled Flintlock Gun and began to reload, muttering, "Don’t these snipers know to change positions?"

Firing a Flintlock Gun produces a distinct flash and smoke. Without cover, it inevitably exposes the shooter’s position, so an experienced sniper would fire once and then move.

A rookie who took two minutes to reload was nothing more than a stationary target to someone like Dismas.

Besides, the enemy sniper wasn’t the only one with a long gun; the Long-barreled Flintlock Gun Dismas had captured on the old road finally came into play.

Otherwise, how could he alone have suppressed over a dozen Guards?

However, the man who fell hadn’t died. He struggled to his feet and tried to flee.

"That’s David! Catch him!" Lance immediately shouted.

Reynard instantly spurred his horse forward. As he passed, he struck David on the back with his Longsword, sending him tumbling to the ground.

David, tenacious, still tried to resist until the Longsword was pressed to his neck. Only then did he cease his struggles and allow himself to be taken away, under guard.

Lance, meanwhile, was working with the veteran to clear the battlefield, confiscating weapons from the surviving Guards and herding them to one side. The few dead bodies were dragged into the carriage and sacrificed.

Feeling the [Tribute] within him increase, Lance finally smiled. Like Rats hoarding for winter, he felt the joy of a bountiful harvest.

The cleanup was actually quite quick, as there weren’t many survivors.

The seven guards initially in charge of the manor were all dead. David’s attacking party had consisted of fourteen men, himself included. This brought David’s total forces to twenty-one. Of these, only eight now remained alive.

Twenty-one against four—that was a fivefold difference in forces. Anyone seeing that would have said, "The advantage is ours!"

But in the instant the two teams clashed, David’s carefully assembled guard detachment was almost entirely annihilated, whereas Lance’s squad didn’t even suffer a scratch.

There was no helping it; Lance’s companions were all seasoned veterans, far superior to the Guards David had hastily trained for a mere ten-odd days.

Not to mention the huge disparity in equipment. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

Dismas defended his position alone, with three Crossbows and two muskets laid out beside him.

Reynard and Balistan were both clad in Heavy Armor and fully armed, one with a horse, the other with a Shield.

Finally, their effective tactics played a crucial role. An Elite Squad infiltrated, avoiding a direct confrontation. This prevented the enemy from leveraging their advantages in terrain and numbers. Instead, Lance’s team exploited their own strengths to divide and conquer the battlefield.

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