Chapter 330 A Taste Of Battle (2/2)
There was no ti leaps, Arran reached his own group of mercenaries ”Withto see if they followed the command
He could not afford to wait even a second Because with a single look, he'd seen that these new attackers carried bows And at this distance, their attacks would not ood two hundred paces away, but Arran crossed the distance in seconds, sword drawn as he reached the group of attackers ere only just eed to loose an arrow that glanced Arran's shoulder, but Arran cut thethe from enemy to enemy as he ruthlessly cut down all before hiht be Body Refiners, but none of theth or skill And within moments, roup of soldiers did not collapse into disorder Al ranks to slow the unexpected attacker
With each attack Arran made, he suddenly found hi their ranks whenever he cut one down And in just a few exchanges, he sustained several shalloounds
The sudden change in situation filled hih the soldiers' ranks, but not without revealing his true strength And as it was, he could not defeat thee to wound theard for death see it Just behind the front rank, a largeorders He was clearly e starmetal sword
Arran knew that if he killed their leader, the soldiers would likely break Yet against their tight ranks, only overwhelh — and that would expose hiic would
But then, Ervin arrived at his side, and suddenly the soldiers could no longer focus all their attention on Arran Then, another of Arran's troops joined, and another still
As the soldiers were forced to fend off these new attackers, Arran saw an opportunity — a sudden weakness in the line At once, he rushed forward, cutting doo eneh their ranks
The large er when he saw his ranks broken, and without hesitation he dashed toward Arran, raising his blade for a powerful strike
Arran attempted to block the attack, but the steel sword he wielded was no match for his opponent's blade There was only a moment of resistance as the teapons h Arran's weapon
Yet Arran had expected this Before the attack hit him, his left hand shot forward and took hold of the man's wrist Realization flashed across the man's face as he finally understood that his opponent had been hiding his strength, but it was too late
An instant later, Arran rammed his broken blade deep into the man's chest And as his opponent collapsed to his knees, he snatched the star ene his fallen foe another look, ready for the next enemy Yet to his surprise, he saw that the soldiers had already broken Soainst thecut down even as they attempted to run
Still, Arran showed them no mercy Each enemy killed here was one he wouldn't have to face later
Between Arran and the mercenaries, it only took a few minutes to wipe out what little was left of their opponents And as the last of the soldiers fell, Arran turned his eyes toward the mercenaries' other battle
But this battle, too, had already come to an end Without their reinforcements, Lord Rannoc's troops had been defeated utterly And froround, Arran knew that few of theed to escape
Yet Lord Kadun's troops had suffered serious losses, too At a glance, Arran saw that a good half of them lay dead or injured, with the rest still in a state of disorder
It seemed that only the mercenaries had weathered the battle relatively unscathed While some of them nursed fresh injuries, their losses appeared to bethat the battle was over, Arran began tobehind him And as he did, Captain Kaleesh approached him with a cheerful wave
”Well done!” the man said ”And I see you found a neeapon, too”
Arran saw that he wasn't the only one who'd found a starmetal sword The captain, too, carried a new blade that was covered in blood — blood that was somehow absent froroup,” Arran said, casting a look at the bodies that littered the hillside
The captain nodded ”One of the crafters' guilds threw their lot in with Rannoc's forces A ain”
Arran raised an eyebrow ”You knew?”
”I suspected it,” Captain Kaleesh replied ”But it was a good opportunity to test your mettle Of course, if you hadn't acted, Sassun would have intervened”
”You'd risk your men's lives like that?” Arran asked ”Just to test me?”
”I would, and I did,” the captain replied ”In a small battle like this, the risk was a small one Better to find out nohether I can trust you than to wait for a serious battle” He gave Arran a serious look, then continued, ”But as I said, you did well”
The blunt answer gave Arran so If the captain considered this battle a small one, then it made sense for him to test his new commander
”Glad you understand,” the captain said Then, a grin on his face, he said, ”But the day isn't over yet We still have to gather the spoils of battle”
”Spoils?” Arran gave the man a puzzled look ”What spoils?”
Captain Kaleesh sighed, then shook his head ”You have so A few miles back down the road, we should find our ene with their leaders”
A dark smile crossed the captain's face as he spoke, and he continued, ”I do not intend to let either of those escape us”