Chess Mage of Faerûn

Chapter 65 The Assault (Part 1)

The expeditionary force marched out of the city. The somewhat large force was not bloated at all. The well-trained Flame Fist soldiers marched in formation according to their respective ranks.
The spellcasters and priests were protected in the middle of the procession, following the main group at a leisurely pace;

Not to mention the wanderers, these guys who are like black butterflies have no fixed position. They move around the entire group, scouting and reconnaissance.

Ska's squad was positioned on the left flank of the column. As they advanced, they remained silent, just like the other columns, with only the sound of their rapid footsteps announcing their arrival.

They drove into the Sharp Tooth Forest without incident, and no foolish beasts or monsters came to cause trouble for this heavily armed team.

From this moment on, the only druid in the group, protected by two shield bearers and a group of scouts, took on the task of clearing the way.

This is a rather young female druid, whose face, untouched by the ravages of time, still retains a touch of girlish charm, and is painted with patterns representing nature and animals.

Her hair was fluffy and somewhat messy, with a few twigs stuck in it as hairpins. This slightly rustic outfit, combined with the tattoos on her face, actually exuded a wild beauty.

The druids, who seemed somewhat uncomfortable marching on the main road, were completely different after entering the Sharptooth Forest.

True to her title of Child of Nature, her face showed no trace of the tension and unease she had just displayed; instead, it exuded confidence and focus.

Her body, clad in leather ring armor, was entirely supple and agile, yet possessed the power of a leopard. In fact, her scouting and leaping movements were remarkably like those of a female leopard.

Traveling through forests filled with trees and vines is a nightmare for almost any army, but it's a different story if you have a druid in your party.

This female druid named Jade originally lived near a village on the banks of the Chongza River. Does that name sound familiar? Yes, it's the village that was infested with giant insects.

Originally, they were content with their small plot of land, living a comfortable life at the boundary between the forest and the plains, when suddenly—no, it should be called a ground eruption disaster—the burrowing worms in their area suddenly experienced a population explosion.

The young Jady was overwhelmed by the horde of insects. After much effort, she managed to kill one or two, only to find that even more had arrived. She was so badly chased that she didn't even dare to return to her own lair. She had no choice but to build a treehouse in the nearby woods to make do with her life.

Jedy was furious and had considered asking for help, but the problem was that most of the druids in the vicinity were extreme shadow druids, the brainless fanatics who advocated destroying farmland to restore forests, while she herself advocated a balance between human needs and nature.

In this world on Earth, people can fight tooth and nail over differing beliefs and ideologies, let alone in a plane like Faerûn where the belief itself is power.

After being trapped in a state of distress, Jady finally saw a glimmer of hope recently. Although Flame Fist and Zhang Yuan Nancy's efforts to clear out the bugs did not solve the problem of the burrowing bugs, they greatly relieved her pressure.

Therefore, when the Flame Fist people approached her for help, she easily reached a cooperation agreement with them. She was responsible for being a guide in the Sharp Tooth Forest, while Flame Fist was responsible for clearing out the Digging Bugs afterwards.

With Jadi's Flame Fist team by their side, the dense forest with its towering trees and sparse sunlight could not disorient them; the intertwined tree roots and entangled vines could not trip them up; and even those annoying little creatures, snakes, scorpions, and insects did not bother them.

Walking through the quiet, secluded forest, listening to the chirping of insects and birds, Zhang Yuan almost thought he was on a picnic rather than on a military march.

The tranquil atmosphere was shattered in the next moment.

"Be careful, the plants in the forest tell me that many evils lurk not far ahead."

Even from a distance, Jady had already located the bandits' hideout. Yes, druids are just that unreasonable in the forest. Perhaps it's Sylvanas's grace, or perhaps it's nature's reward, but in any case, druids can instinctively understand the language of plants and animals.

This valuable ability usually only provides some assistance to druids in their wilderness survival, but now, the significance of anticipating the enemy's moves and seizing the initiative in such military operations is self-evident.

Without making a big fuss, a few gestures and whispers, all the Flame Fist soldiers began to quickly and silently change formation. Shield Guardians were at the front, Greatswordsmen and other melee units were arranged on both sides, spellcasters, priests and ranged attack units were in the center, and a small number of Shield Guardians were in the rear to guard against surprise attacks.

To be fair, bandits are bandits after all. Their members are of varying quality, and their vigilance and discipline are a joke. Even with the support of the Iron Throne, this nature cannot be changed.

This is also the source of the Flame Fist's pride and sense of honor. Compared with other ragtag armies or even just bandits, the Flame Fist, who have honor, discipline, and unity ingrained in their bones, are a completely different concept from the guys on the other side. In fact, the Flame Fist don't even want to mention the word "mercenary."

When the group got close enough to see the wooden fence on the other side clearly, the Black Claw mercenaries were shocked to discover that, without them noticing, a massive force was charging toward their lair.

The truly terrifying thing was yet to come. The enemy's orderly formation, uniform attire, and unhurried yet oppressive march all indicated a chilling fact—they were not guards of fellow merchants or businessmen at all; this was an army.

When it comes to plundering caravans, they are all experts; they are also quite courageous in fighting their own kind; but the army... that's a completely different concept.

No robber would be so insane as to go against the army unless absolutely necessary, but unfortunately, they are now in such a desperate situation.

"Enemy attack! Enemies! Lots of enemies!" The hoarse cries of several Black Claw mercenaries on lookout duty shattered the peaceful atmosphere of the bandit camp.

In an instant, everyone—those who were fast asleep, those who were picking their toes, those who were fiercely fighting, and even those who were happily having sex with the women they had abducted—was disturbed.

When these guys were abruptly dragged out of their blissful lives, they were undoubtedly furious, especially the leader whose blissful massage had been interrupted. His gaze toward the sentry was so fierce that the poor man couldn't tell which side he was more afraid of—the leader or the attacking enemy.

However, being organized bandits, they panicked when they saw the enemy coming on strong and managed to put together a loose and scattered defensive line by relying on the wooden fence.

Flame Fist, who had already advanced some distance toward the enemy camp, was met with the enemy's first attack—a chaotic rain of arrows.

The hastily assembled bandit archers fired their arrows at the enemy, but to their surprise, the enemy was completely unharmed.

The group's movements were not exactly synchronized to begin with, and the hasty shooting resulted in insufficient power and accuracy. What seemed like a powerful rain of arrows actually saw half of them fall halfway through the attack, and the remaining scattered arrows were no different from a drizzle against the fully armed Shield Guardians of Flame Fist.

Seeing this, the already furious leader burst into a tirade of curses:

"Useless trash, you bunch of bastards who grew up eating shit, are you using all your energy on women? Shoot, shoot hard!"

The reprimanded archers dared not utter a word of complaint. They thought to themselves, "I'd like to use my strength on some women, but the problem is, I don't have any! The few I have have all been taken by you guys."

"In the name of Creedus, if you can't stop them, you can expect to be hanged on stakes outside the camp!" This was the roar of the squad leader.

Thank you to Lazy Yinglong, Book Friend 130917233606491, and Jiang Weicheng for the donations. Thank you for your support.

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(End of this chapter)