The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Night raids were a tactic that Hammond used repeatedly to fight against the demons. On the border battlefields of the past, the demons who were facing Hammond were already overwhelmed just by having to guard against night raids that might happen any day.

At their peak, the Lars Knights were adept at night raids. Their outstanding overall quality, exceptional tactical skills, high level of discipline, and seamless teamwork made the demon race suffer greatly.

However, with the development of the times, the number of armies that can assemble elite night raid troops has become increasingly smaller. Those that can still act according to predetermined military orders at night are already considered elite, let alone organize orderly attacks and retreats.

Fortunately, Hammond is a conservative, like an old relic, and hasn't kept up with the so-called development of the times.

Hammond wrote to Doug more than once, explaining that verbal rewards and symbolic meals and lodging with the soldiers a few times a month were not enough. The soldiers needed to see real rewards, such as opportunities for promotion, silver leaves, or even extra meat at each meal.

This is the true Lars family's method of training troops.

At the very least, they should at least pay the soldiers some wages.

But Hammond has yet to receive a reply from Doug.

In the end, Hammond had no choice but to use his own money to make up for the large portion of the missing pay that had inexplicably disappeared from his soldiers' pay.

The requirements for soldiers in this era were really simple. The Lars army, which used to receive full pay, was fighting the demons head-on and drove them directly into the eternal tundra.

The fighting capacity of a feudal army was directly linked to its pay.

Therefore, Hammond can still assemble elite night raiding forces to this day, and can even go toe-to-toe with the First Army.

The moment the clouds obscured the moonlight, Hammond led hundreds of elite cavalrymen out of the shadows.

However, the scouts in the camp also spotted the army that had suddenly appeared from the shadows immediately and sounded the alarm for an attack.

Hearing the resounding bugle call, Hammond launched the charge without hesitation.

Hammond was largely indifferent to the bugle call; after all, even the most elite troops need time to assemble, and that time was more than enough for Hammond's knights to storm into the camp.

In the darkness, Hammond and the Lars Knights around him deployed their domain to block the rays and bullets that kept coming from afar.

Once a knight can no longer hold out, the next knight will immediately take over.

There wasn't even a single exchange between the two sides, which is why Hammond dared to launch the night raid.

Upon hearing the bugle call, the soldiers who were still resting in the camp almost reflexively got up, quickly put on their uniforms, pulled out the ray guns and muskets from under their pillows, and released the safety.

Finally, carrying the Melting Sword, they jogged all the way to the camp to regroup.

At this moment, Darcy was incredibly grateful to the instructor who often blew the whistle in the middle of the night to wake everyone up for assembly.

Before this, Darcy and countless soldiers had cursed that instructor eight hundred times in their hearts.

As the soldiers quickly assembled, Darcy immediately activated the contingency plan. All the soldiers entered combat readiness and arrived at their designated positions. Darcy then personally climbed the makeshift watchtower to observe the situation.

All of this ended just minutes after the bugle call sounded. Hammond, who was making a full-speed raid, hadn't even reached the camp when he saw the lights that suddenly ignited in the darkness.

Hammond was horrified. Such a fast reaction speed—could it be that there was an inside agent on his side who had exposed the night raid plan?

No, that's impossible. Hammond completely trusts his men; such a thing could never happen.

Moreover, if the plan were to be exposed, Hammond would be met not with a hail of bullets and rays, but with artillery fire.

There was no turning back. Hammond, wielding a long spear, took the lead, braving the rays and bullets to break through the outer perimeter of the camp and rush into the camp.

Although the enemy's equipment advantage was exaggerated, most of them were ordinary people. Hammond, a fifth-tier Lars Knight, was still able to charge into the camp under gunfire, but that was all.

The soldiers of the First Army at the front raised their enchanted shields, while a continuous stream of rays shot towards them from behind.

The soldiers surrounding the camp did not panic when they saw the camp being breached. They raised their guns and fired from a safe distance, not caring about the accuracy at all. Instead, they fired in a saturation attack, to the point that the elite knights behind Hammond were even divided up.

But after all, Hammond's knights were not only elite, but also a group of professionals, and professionals with squires to cover for them. They were the ideal army of the earliest pioneering duke in the North.

Despite the hail of bullets, the knights charged into the camp and engaged the soldiers in close combat.

Hammond felt like he was stuck in a quagmire. The enemy's first reaction to the attack was not to run, but to fight. These soldiers were no less capable than his own men.

When knights charged close to the soldiers, the soldiers did not retreat at all. Instead, they discarded their overheated ray guns, drew their melting swords, and slashed at the knights.

That's a professional. Even if these soldiers are well-equipped, they are facing a genuine professional knight. Without ranged firepower suppression, even if these soldiers are wearing enchanted cloth armor, the professional knight still has an absolute advantage.

But the soldiers charged forward without hesitation. If the enemy forces launched a night raid broke through the camp and began to scatter and create chaos, it would be all over. The prisoners in the prisoner-of-war camp might even riot.

Everyone knew this clearly, so these soldiers could be described as advancing wave after wave, with not a single one retreating, and some even using their bodies to block the knights' advance.

Hammond, a veteran of many battles, could even sense a martyr's spirit in these soldiers; otherwise, there was no way to explain why they dared to use their ordinary bodies to relentlessly thwart the attacks of Hammond's elite knights.

It was as if they had absolutely no worries.

The original plan was to use this outermost camp as a starting point, create chaos, and then have the elite knights and their squires split up and set fires to create further chaos.

But this camp was like a deep swamp, using roughly the same number of people to hold off Hammond's elite night raid, keeping everyone immobilized.

Forget about creating chaos and splitting up troops for arson; Hammond's ability to retreat safely is now in question.

Moreover, professionals are not a dime a dozen; Hammond mobilized almost all of his professionals for this night raid.

It seems that Hammond has a large force behind him, and as soon as these troops rush into the camp, the battlefield situation will immediately shift.

But most of them were knights' squires and ordinary soldiers. Even the professionals couldn't break through this camp, let alone the soldiers behind them. In Hammond's original plan, the professional knights in the lead were responsible for breaking through the enemy's night defenses, while the squires and soldiers behind them were responsible for setting fires and creating chaos.

But Hammond hasn't even broken through the first camp yet. More and more lights are coming on around him, and many people from other camps have already entered the battlefield fully armed.

Just as Hammond was pondering his next strategy, he suddenly felt a chill through his helmet.

Hammond glanced back sharply and saw a man in an officer's uniform pointing a huge, black musket at him from the camp's watchtower, seemingly aiming it.

The runes on the gun began to flash, as if it had entered a charging state.

"boom!"

The deafening sound completely drowned out the sounds of all the muskets on the battlefield. Hammond's adrenaline surged along with his magic, and his intuition told him that if he couldn't withstand this shot, he was doomed.

As the gunshots subsided and Hammond's helmet flew high into the air amidst the screams of magic overload reaching its limit.