There were also four archers on the roof, but they had little to no power to fight back against the sharp claws and fangs of Guan Haifa, and these archers had almost no melee skills other than archery, and their short swords were more of an ornament than a weapon.
By the time Diego ran up the tower, Guan Haifa had already taken out all the enemies, and was forced back by a rain of arrows from the opposite roof.
Unbeknownst to the archers, Diego had gone down to support the gate, and they climbed the wall while still arranging fire support from the rear.
Diego stood inside the tower gate, looking at the edge of the roof not far away.
On top of the low battlements, two thumb-thick iron three-claw hooks hung out.
This anchor-like hook has a sharp tip and is a sharp tool for climbing and climbing.
The rope behind the hook was very tight, and it kept shaking from side to side, and it was obvious that someone was climbing up the rope, and looking at the frequency of the rope shaking, there was more than one hanging on it.
He didn't go out of the door, but raised his gun and fired a shot at one of the hooks.
Even if he uses a shotgun, a distance of a few meters, it is difficult for Diego to miss.
With a "boom" sound, the rope behind the iron hook was broken.
There was a muffled thud from under the outer walls of the castle, followed by a groan of pain.
Although he couldn't see it, Diego could guess that the string of unlucky eggs was almost the same, if not all of them fell to their deaths.
Just as he was aiming at the other hook, the rope suddenly slackened with a "swish" - the archers who were climbing along it saw that the situation was not good, and let go and slipped down!
Diego grinned dismissively.
Compared to the bloody battle at the gate, the sneak attack of the archers was more like an opportunism, and neither combat strength nor determination was worth mentioning.
"Guan Haifa, you stay here!"
Diego rubbed the big cat's soft neck hair and headed downstairs.
It's a condescending place, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the archers who have been killed and frightened will probably not try again.
He didn't stop on the second floor, but went straight to the ground floor.
The battle here is over.
The floor and the surrounding walls were charred black, and even a thick layer of carbon black had condensed on them.
The air was filled with the smell of burnt corpses, and the horses and wooden boxes were almost charred, making it difficult to see what they were.
It was a short but no less intense battle.
Nearly a hundred charred corpses were added to the hall, most of them belonging to the Crusaders.
In order to cooperate with the archers' sneak attack, the Crusaders committed at least one company of troops in this battle, but almost all of them died here.
In front of the well-guarded lines laid out by the veterans and the raging druid bears, they smashed their heads and bled out, and the whole army was wiped out.
"Such heavy casualties must have touched the limit of what Ethan Lion could bear."
Diego thought to himself.
He sat down on one of the stairs.
Looking at the twenty or so veteran cats who survived in the corner, treated by Masrae, from time to time someone coughed and then spat out a mouthful of black sticky phlegm.
The oil tanks prepared in advance played a huge role in the battle, and although the druids and the veterans stubbornly withstood the tide of the Crusaders, it is really hard to say that they would have made it to the end if it weren't for the skyrocketing fire.
"How much longer do we need to hold out?"
Alton limped up the stairs and stomped down the stairs.
"It's coming!"
Diego glanced at him and said briefly.
He knew what the veteran meant, and Arton was not anxious about his safety, but wanted to send Tyran away as soon as possible, which had almost become the obsession of the captain of the guard.
The castle had run out of oil, and a few veterans who had been treated by Masrae dragged the corpses to the gate and piled them up into a waist-high wall.
It wasn't of much use, but if the Crusaders were to attack again, they had to crawl over the corpses.
An old soldier brought a few bundles of spears from the underground storehouse, and the veterans happily dragged a few corpses, inserted the spears diagonally on the corpses, and made a small deer behind the pile of corpses.
Arton didn't move, he knew that this kind of trap, which was very insidious for light infantry, would have little effect on the hoplites in plate armor, but at least it would find something to do for the veterans who couldn't spare themselves, so that they would not be idle.
"Talk?"
Diego pulled out the dwarven pipe from his bag, filled it with tobacco leaves, lit it, and took a hard puff.
"What is there to say?"
Arton said impatiently, he was now in the mood to talk to Diego about how to send Tyran out.
The Crusaders were obviously hurt, they hadn't moved for a while, and it seemed that they wouldn't be coming in for a while, maybe Ethan Lion was now transferring the "Iron Wall" legion over, wasn't that what Tyran wanted?
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"Tell me how you fell out with Ethan Lien?"
Diego said lightly.
He felt a heartfelt admiration for the veterans who had dared to rebel against Ethanlien and against the Scarlet Crusade, and how precious it was to keep sane in the midst of the mass fanaticism that had been stirred up.
"It's a long story, and maybe we'll have to take some time to finish it."
Arton finally withdrew his gaze from the veteran and assumed a "long story" pose.
"I think we have some time to waste before the Crusaders attack."
Diego spread his hands and said nonchalantly.
"It starts when we withdrew from the North Valley, when Tyran decided that the strength of the Hearth Valley alone would not be able to resist the Scourge and that we had to get help, so he wrote a letter to his teacher, asking him to lead the army to help defend the Hearth Valley.
A few weeks later, Ethan Lion arrived here with an entire legion.
Arton recalled.
"Later?"
"Then we rightfully joined the Scarlet Crusade and became one of them.
In the beginning, everything was normal, we worked closely together against the Scourge Legion, defended the Hearthvale, and at its peak we even reclaimed most of the Western Plaguelands.
But later, the Scarlet Crusaders became more and more fanatical, especially after the failure of the campaign to retake Stratholme, which began to grow even higher. ” Diagor nodded silently, it was at that time that the Dreadlord Banazar took possession of Dasohan's body.
Later, Esenlien demanded that each member of the Crusaders be screened to prove whether they were strong in their faith and whether they hated the natural calamity.
Initially, this practice was not popular with everyone, especially when Ethan Lien stabbed his young squire in the heart, and people were shocked, and many accused him of cruelty.
But Ethan Lion calmly stated that his squire had died during the afternoon hunt, and that the Scourge had awakened him and sent him back to assassinate him.
His words were so convincing that people began to panic: if a newly killed and awakened undead looked exactly like a normal person, they would not be able to tell who was around them who was serving the disaster.
And so, a purge began. ” "The slightest opinion of Ethanrien or D'Athohan will be said to be against the Light, and will be thrown into prison, or even sentenced to death; The other races living in this area, whether elves or dwarves, were expelled and even killed, for no reason, right or wrong......"
"Isn't there anyone against them?"
Diego asked.
"Of course there were, but there were too few of them, and not everyone could keep their sanity at that time, and the hatred of the scourge drove everyone into a kind of revenge frenzy.
Those who opposed it were unable to gain a foothold in the Valley of the Hearth, and eventually left. ” "I know this, they went to the Chapel of the Wish of Light in the Eastern Plaguelands, where they set up the Silver Dawn.
Why don't you go with them?
” "You know, I've lived in Hearthvale since I was born, I grew up here, I joined the army here, I'm in my fifties now, I don't have a few years to live, and I would rather die in my hometown and bury my bones here, rather than die in a foreign land."
Arton looked at the veterans in the distance with emotion, "I'm sure these old guys think the same way." ” "You knew Tirio then?
Ferdin's news?
” "I don't know, although I knew a long time ago that Tirio wasn't dead, and I had seen him at Tyran's ceremony to become a paladin, but at the time, I didn't know that he would later join Silver Dawn.
If I had known, I would have gone with the naysayers. ” "So how did the conflict between you and Ethan Lion intensify?"
Diego asked.
"It all started with the disagreement between Tyran and Ethanlion, who had always obeyed every order of his teacher, but Ethanlion didn't know how to manage a territory at all, he only screamed for revenge against the natural disaster, but he didn't know how to fill everyone's stomach, and the Valley of the Hearth was about to be ruined by him."
"When Tyran once suggested this, Ethanlien hastily decided to feed the warriors from then on, leaving the old men and children to fend for themselves!
Tyran's nose was crooked. ” The two of them had quarreled over this more than once, and after a tense meeting, Ethan Lion finally became disappointed in Tyran, because he needed a docile and obedient puppet, not a lord who was always at odds with him.
He began to secretly plot to weaken the 'Skylark' legion, and company after company was diverted by him in the name of supporting the Scarlet Abbey and the Hand of Tyr, and we old fellows were thrown into the mines by him on various charges. ” …… They talked for a long time.
As they chatted, a whimsical idea suddenly rose from the bottom of Diego's heart.
Perhaps, what they should do is not to flee, but to set things right and return the land to the rule of the Ferdins.
The idea was vague at first, but it was irrepressible, and Diego gradually felt that it was not impossible, but he had not yet thought of what to do.
Just then, he heard heavy footsteps in the distance.
The sound was neat and solemn, and when I heard it, it was like the army marching.
"They......
Coming?"
Arton asked in a trembling voice, it was clear that he also knew Tyran's plan, and the arrival of this army meant that this plan was not far from success!