When the caravan reached the ambush area, that is, right in front of the gang leader, two large men emerged from the forest about forty meters ahead. They dragged trees that had obviously been new cut down behind them and placed them in the middle of the road, blocking the passage. They stood in the middle of the road with their long and heavy swords, in front of the barricade, as if to say, "You can't pass through here."
When the men appeared, the caravan stopped where it was. Exactly where the gang leader wanted it to be.
While all the attention of the people in the caravan was on those blocking the road, the archers on the tree took advantage of this and shot their arrows at their stationary targets. The first target of the archers on the tree was the carriage drivers. As long as they took them down, the carriages wouldn't be able to go anywhere.
The arrow shot at Han grazed his leg and stick into the leg of the old driver next to him. At the same time, another arrow shot from the other side hit the old driver in the neck. When the old driver remained motionless and fell towards Han's shoulder, Han immediately threw himself down of the carriage.
An arrow was stuck in the shoulder of the rearmost driver. The other arrow that hit his chest was blocked by the protection of the bearskin. This driver also got up immediately and jumped between the two horses pulling the carriage. The driver of the carriage in the middle was the unluckiest. He had already died from the arrows that had stuck in his head, neck and arm.
The archers aimed their second arrows at the horses in front of the guards. It was impossible for them to shoot the guards unless the horses were withdrawn from there. But this time the archers on the ground accompanied the archers in the tree. All the archers aimed at the horses and shot their arrows.
The second wave of arrows hit the horses, but the skin of the four-eyed bear that protected them prevented them from being harmed by the arrows. The archers fired their arrows a few more times and tried to hit the horses. Most of their horses were in good condition, but a few of them were not so lucky.
Some of the arrows that were shot hit the carriages, some hit the horses' necks and deeply wounded them. The injured horses reared up to escape from this battlefield and tried to escape from the guards who were holding them. But it was not that easy to get rid of the guards.
The head guard had never been subjected to a raid involving archers before, but he had trained his men in case such a raid occurred. The eight guards directed their horses as in training and rode towards the forest. Four to one side, four to the other. The remaining three guards stayed behind to protect the carriages and their occupants.
As soon as the guards reached the forest under the protection of the horses, the gang leader also directed his men and attacked the guards coming towards them.
They were attacking with at least three men against one person. The archers were not used to a moving target at close range, but they started shooting arrows at random towards the guards.
…
After the first wave of attacks, the guards entered the forest. In the meantime, Han was hiding between two horses, trying to understand what was happening around him while avoiding the possible arrows. When the head guard left his place and went towards the forest, the front of the caravan was left empty.
While Han was thinking about what to do, a sudden notification appeared before his eyes. "Protect the caravan, get rid of the gang members who set up an ambush." Immediately afterwards, Han's body trembled involuntarily because his failure in hunting the monster came to his mind.
His closest friend had died because of his momentary absent-mindedness. They both fell off the cliff, but only Arz was the one who died.
Many times he wished he had died instead of Arz, but the result did not change. Now he was faced with a guard duty. Han could not experience the same events again. He could never fail in this life-or-death struggle. He calmed himself down and increased his determination while his gaze was on the enemy who blocked his path.
The moment Han decided to fight for these people who had healed him and shared their food, the gang members who blocked the caravan's path started to walk towards the caravan. Seeing this, Han immediately got out from between the horses and entered the provisions carriage.
He knew there was kitchen equipment here. He pulled out the cabinet drawer and took two chef knives from there and walked out. Although chef knives were not as useful as daggers, he had no other choice.
At this time, the men stopped walking and started running. Han rushed forward without waiting and wanted to prevent the men from advancing any further by getting in front of the horses.
It was very dangerous to be caught between two enemies. So he set his sights on the one on the left and started running towards him. When the enemy noticed Han running towards him, he prepared to swing his sword.
He would swing his heavy sword while running and cut him in two. When a smile appeared on his face as if he had split his enemy in two, he increased his speed and made a sharp move towards Han. When he thought he was close enough, he held his heavy sword tightly with both hands and swung it quickly.
To avoid the sword, Han leaned his body back and slid on his knees. As the sword passed over his head, he stabbed the man's foot, which he used as support to swing the sword, with the chef's knife. He stabbed so hard that the knife went through the man's foot and stuck into to the ground.
But he didn't let go of the knife and stopped himself from slipping by holding on to the stuck knife. He immediately went behind the man and without waiting, he stood up and jumped in place. With all his strength, he stabbed the chef's knife in his other hand into the man's neck.
The man leaned forward in pain and began to cough up blood. Han took this opportunity, took out the knife stuck in the ground and stuck into the man several times in the abdominal cavity.
When the enemy fell to the ground in pain, he bent down and pulled out the knife he had stuck in his neck. And then he began to look towards his new enemy.
…
His friend's sudden death shocked the other man. This enemy was very dangerous. Even though he was bigger than him, it was a fact that his size did not matter in the face of the death just a moment ago.
As he looked at his friend who was trying to take his last breath covered in blood, he wanted to run away from here, but where could he go? He would either die like his friend or kill his enemy. When he made his decision and regained his composure, he held his heavy sword with both hands and pointed it towards Han.
...
The head guard used his horse as a shield and entered the forest, avoiding the arrows coming at him. The battle had already begun. His three subordinates were fighting heroically with their swords drawn against the enemies in front of them.
Just as he was thinking of going to help his subordinates, a bunch of arrows came at him. Thanks to his horse, he escaped these arrows, but his horse was not so lucky. Two of the arrows were stuck in his neck.
All the archers did not shoot arrows at the fighting crowd for fear that they could kill their friends. But when the head guard came alone with his horse, they all turned towards him and shot their arrows, but they could only hit the horse.
No matter how much the horse wanted to get away, the head guard did not let go. He wanted to use his horse as a shield and rush into the enemy, but his horse could not resist any longer.
When the horse collapsed where it was, the head guard was left without protection. But he could not stand there like this. He started to approach the archers by making sudden movements to the right and left.
The archers, who had never shot arrows at such a moving target before, were surprised at what had happened. They were shooting arrows indiscriminately. After a while, they realized something. That was that they had no arrows left.
They shot all their arrows, but they could not get anything other than to miss the target. The archers, who had no arrows left, dropped their bows out of fear and started to run away deep into the forest. The head guard also increased his speed and caught and killed an archer who could not escape in time.
The other archers, who gratefully prayed to their fallen archer friend for buying them time, lost their tracks in the forest… When the head guard, who was left alone, saw no one else around, he turned back and ran to his subordinates' aid.
The archers who were watching the battle from the top of the tree did not dare to make a sound because they saw the head guard catching and killing his friends. When the head guard left, one of the three archers gathered all his courage and climbed down from the tree and ran deep into the forest.
The other archer who saw this gathered all his courage and also climbed down from the tree and disappeared. The last archer who remained was shaking with fear. He hugged the tree tightly and started praying to his god not to be found.
…
On the other side of the road, there was the battle between the gang leader and his men. Although they lost five men, they had killed two guards and seriously injured one. They cornered the last one, but that guard somehow managed to escape and started running towards the carriages.
The gang leader and his men left the man who was running away and came to the badly injured guard. The guard was miserable because of the arrows hitting his legs and neck.
When the gang leader saw the arrows stuck in the guard, he was thankful that he had taken the good archers to his side. Because of his cowardly mindset, he had taken all the good men of the gang to his side. He didn't care at all about what was happening across the road. Because all he cared about was his own safety.
He approached the guard with a dirty grin on his face and let out a wicked laugh as he stabbed his sword into the guard's neck. After stabbing him with his sword a few more times, he turned his gaze towards the carriages. Now he could go to the carriages and get his women.
…
The slightly plump, large man holding the heavy and long sword with both hands was alert against possible attacks. It was easy for him to use this sword considering his size and muscle strength. What was not easy was that the enemy in front of him was very agile. In order not to give any openings, the tip of his sword was aimed at his enemy.
Han, on the other hand, advanced right and left, sizing up the enemy. He wanted to get as close to him as possible. After that, it would be like slaughtering a chicken. But this man was very cautious. The tip of the sword was spinning with Han, following him wherever he went.
They observed each other for a while, walking right and left. Han had two chef's knives. The man had a heavy and long sword. He was holding the sword with both hands, but his right hand was in front. He walked right and left a few more times, and when he noticed that there was no change in the man's grip, he made the first move.
He rushed forward with a sudden move and wanted to attack the man's stomach. But the man's sword was there to cut him. He immediately stepped back and then attacked again. He was stopped by the sword again. After a few attempts, he was unsuccessful and retreated three or four steps.
He looked at his enemy and then threw the chef's knife in his right hand towards the enemy's head. The man immediately raised his sword horizontally to the level of his eyes and blocked the knife at the last moment. Han was expecting this too. He had made a move towards the man as soon as he threw the knife.
When the man turned his sword that was blocking the knife sideways and opened his field of vision, he saw Han running towards him. His sword was already up. He grabbed his sword tightly with both hands and swung it with all his might at the enemy who had come right up to him.
Han tried to stop the sword with the sharp side of the knife in his left hand at the last moment, but the man was too strong. The man's strength caused Han to kneel. And his heavy sword cut the thin structure of the chef's knife and reached halfway.
When the man raised the sword again and tried to cut Han, he realized that he could not move his sword. The sword that entered the chef's knife was stuck there. Unless Han released the knife in his hand, the man could not draw his sword. He tried once or twice but failed. Finally, the man stopped drawing the sword and wanted to kick Han who was kneeling down. But he felt a sudden pain in his crotch.
…
When the man's strength brought Han to the ground, the knife he had just thrown was there. He reached out and took the knife and first attacked the man's crotch. Then, without getting up, he thrust the knife into his left kidney and pulled it out. While the man was writhing in pain, he tried to catch Han but failed.
Han somersaulted between the man's legs and went behind him, stood up quickly and thrust the knife into his right kidney and pulled it out. Then he jumped up immediately and stabbed the man in the back of the neck with all his strength.
When the man fell down, he bent down and pulled out the knife he had thrust into his neck. He looked around and made sure there were no enemies around. All enemies were inside the forest. And there was a chance that they would come out of the forest and attack the carriages. In such chaos, the horses would not stay still and would start running. That's why Han went back to near the carriages...