Chapter 45 The first tentative attack

Immediately, more than a thousand jackals came out, holding a variety of weapons in their hands.

The tall and powerful gnolls hold tall weapons such as iron flails and chain hammers, while the thinner ones hold wooden maces with some iron pieces inlaid on the outside, and a large number of them hold wooden clubs and stone.

"attack."

Luo Gesi gave an order, and thousands of jackals launched an attack.

The chaotic formation, with an attack width of several kilometers, rushed towards the castle in a mighty manner.

At the highest point of the castle, Verin stood with his sword, calmly looking at the attacking gnolls below.

Twenty three-bow crossbows are placed on the inner city wall. They are already ready and the personnel are in place, waiting for the Lord's order.

Verin raised his right hand and calculated the distance. When the Jackal forward was only 600 meters away from the outer city wall, he decisively lowered his hand.

Twenty strong soldiers holding wooden hammers slammed the trigger, and twenty iron arrows flew out with a whoosh.

"Ouch——"

Several tall jackals were pierced by iron arrows, but their strength was not reduced. They stabbed several jackals in a row before stopping.

Rogers looked at the twelve blood-red roads in the attacking team expressionlessly, not knowing what he was thinking.

The smell of blood permeated the battlefield, stimulating the violent blood source of the jackals, losing their last sanity, and speeding up the attack regardless of everything.

Baird, who was standing on the outer city wall, saw this and loudly ordered: "Put up the shield."

Upon hearing the order, more than two hundred soldiers erected wooden shields wrapped in iron sheets, clutched their spears, and prepared to face the first wave of attacks.

The three-bow crossbows on the inner city wall were fired continuously, causing casualties to the attacking gnolls.

When they came to the edge of the city wall, some of the Jackals threw the stones in their hands, and the other Jackals began to climb the city wall with their sharp claws, preparing to climb over the six-meter-high outer city wall.

Stones hit the wooden shields with a banging sound, and from time to time, hammers and flails were thrown up the city wall, knocking away the soldiers supporting the wooden shields.

Baird was also helpless about this.

Some of the soldiers were newly recruited serfs and free people. Although they had been training for a period of time, they had not successfully practiced the warrior awakening method. To become a warrior, their combat ability would not be as solid as a real warrior.

Seeing that some gnolls had climbed halfway, Baird immediately shouted an order: "Throw stones."

The warrior hiding behind the shield held the boulder, came to the city wall, and smashed down the stone weighing hundreds of kilograms.

Many jackals were hit by stones and fell off the city wall, wailing in pain.

The battle lasted from noon to the afternoon. Seeing darkness, Rogers ordered his men to issue a retreat order.

"Ow—"

The attacking gnolls stopped, dragging the bodies of their companions away like a tide.

Seeing the opponent retreating, the soldiers defending the outer city wall collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily and wiping the sweat from their foreheads.

Baird shook off the blood on the knight's sword, put it back into the scabbard, counted the casualties, and reported on the defense situation later.

The more than 600 surviving gnolls dragged the bodies of their companions back to the camp. The long-awaited gnoll chef took the bodies and started to light a fire to cook.

Along the way, they used the goblins and kobold slaves accompanying them as food. From time to time, they encountered a tribe of goblins and looted them to expand their food reserves.

When they arrived at the border of human territory, the kobolds and goblins had already finished eating. They thought they could conquer a human territory as quickly as possible and solve the food problem.

Unexpectedly, this situation would happen, and the surrounding area was so bare that they couldn't even eat the bark of the trees, so they had to eat the corpses of their compatriots to satisfy their hunger.

"Commander, food."

A tall jackal handed a roasted wolf leg to Rogers respectfully.

"A reward for you." Rogers looked at the roasted wolf legs in disgust and said expressionlessly.

"Thank you, Commander."

After hearing this, the jackal took the roasted wolf leg and left the place happily.

Rogers looked at the other gnolls who were happily feeding on their own kind, with unconcealed disdain in his eyes. Although he didn't regard these beasts as his own kind.

"Judging from the situation in the afternoon, humans used a crossbow with a long range. I don't know if it is a large-scale equipment or a unique technology of this human noble."

"Relying on ordinary jackals, we will definitely not be able to capture this human castle. We must let the chiefs of the small clans take the field."

Tomorrow, Rutgers is going to conduct a test. If he cannot capture this castle in one go, he will bypass this place and continue to move eastward.

He came here with a reconnaissance mission, and there was no need to fight with humans.

Moreover, even if the opponent cuts off his retreat on his way back, he only needs to abandon these idiots and lead his confidants away.

He still doesn't believe that humans can completely block all channels leading to the restoration of gray light.

In the castle, Verin inspected and listened to Baird's report.

"Lord, in this afternoon's defensive battle, we consumed a total of one hundred and sixty iron arrows, one-fifth of the stone reserves, and suffered eighty-six casualties, of which twenty-three were killed, most of whom died from fighting with jackals. in the midst of the struggle.”

"In addition, we took advantage of the dark night to go out to the city to harvest the heads of jackals, and obtained 167 ordinary heads and 57 bronze heads. The remaining corpses were taken back by the opponent. According to incomplete statistics, this battle Killed and injured more than four hundred jackals."

Verin stopped and said in a deep voice: "Today may be the opponent's test, but tomorrow is the key. Let all the knights be prepared. The silver-level jackals may come on stage tomorrow."

"In addition, pickle the jackal's head with lime. This hard-won military merit must be stored well. Promotion to a noble title and selling to other nobles are all good things."

"My subordinates know."

After Baird left, Verin walked around in circles and returned to his room.

Sitting on the chair, Weilin closed his eyes and rested his mind, recalling what he had observed during the day.

"The leading jackal has a certain level of wisdom. Whether it is detouring through villages to avoid unknown dangers, or using cannon fodder in an attack to detect the enemy's strength, it can be regarded as a certain level."

This does not fit in with Verin's stereotype of gnolls as violent and brainless.

"I wish the other party had no brains." Weilin covered his head and said helplessly.

In order to prevent the Jackals from sneak attacks at night, the entire castle was brightly lit, and all the soldiers kept their weapons with them and rested on the city wall with blankets. This made it easier to change the guard and join the battle at any time.

Baird, the general manager of the Lake of Prayer for Stars, inspects the outer city wall every two hours to ensure that nothing is missing.