The First Vampire - Chapter 194
Chapter 194: 194 Wind Roar Fortress (Part 2)_1
Translator: 549690339
Kam was a fourth-tier samurai.
Just like the Knights among the Humans, the samurai, a divine vocation, is typically exclusive to the children of nobles among the Troll Tribe.
However, Kam, the samurai, was a mercenary.
That was quite unusual.
After all, nobles’ children would generally rather fight for glory than for money.
But Kam was an exception, he preferred money.
Back when he was still Baron Kam, he grossly increased the tax rate in his territory to an alarming 90% in order to extract more tax money
One can imagine, nearly all of Baron Kam’s subjects fled very quickly from his territory as they couldn’t bear such exploitation.
Then, Kam was deemed incapable of ruling by the Troll Emperor, as a result, he was stripped off his nobility and territory.
Ever since then, Baron Kam became Battalion Commander Kam.
The Tusk Mercenary Group founded by him was somewhat famous in the Troll Empire, with nearly two thousand members, all of them were crazy money-seekers like Kam.
This time, Kam the Samurai took on a new task holding down the Wind Roar Fortress.
Assigning a mercenary group to hold down a military fortress on the border of the empire, this task somehow sounded unreliable.
Despite the large numbers in many mercenary groups and the skilled fighters within, when faced with a highly trained regular army, they would simply be slaughtered.
It is precisely for this reason, many stronger Troll mercenary groups successively declined this mission, and only Kam who favours money over life, took it.
Moreover, Kam, the money-minded Samurai, once asked the military representative who assigned the mission, whether there would be an additional bonus if the Tusk Mercenary killed intruding enemies while holding the Wind Roar Fortress.
Upon hearing such a question, the military representative had an odd look on his face, but he still promised Kam that each skull from the slain enemy intruders can be exchanged for ten gold coins.
Ten gold coins in exchange for one skull!
The moment he heard about this reward, Kam’s eyes instantly turned red with excitement as he repeatedly nodded in agreement.
However, when Kam, eager to begin, led the Tusk Mercenary Group into Wind Roar Fortress, they realised there was no sign of the enemy.
During the first few days, the Tusk Mercenaries still patrolled dutifully but when peace remained for several days in a row, the inherent lax discipline of the mercenary group became apparent.
They spent their time drinking, being idle, fighting, and taking female slaves in short, they turned the whole Wind Roar Fortress into a chaotic mess.
Looking at this, Kam made no effort to maintain discipline since, in his opinion, as long as his mercenaries could kill, that was all that mattered. As for discipline, what was that?
The only thing that troubled this mercenary commander was, where were the enemies?
But soon enough, Commander Kam’s dream came true.
One clear morning, a thunderous rumble shook the Wind Roar Fortress as a giant hand seemed to jolt it.
Kam was jolted awake, wondering what happened when he heard his men shouting in fear, “Enemy attack! Enemy attack!”
At this, Kam was not frightened, instead, he was overjoyed as his eyes gleamed with gold.
He quickly put on his chainmail, grabbed his curved knife, and as he rushed out, roared, “Brothers, kill! It’s time to make some money!”
Outside Wind Roar Fortress, seeing Knight Brad actually knock down a part of the city wall using just a few logs, Colin was overjoyed and immediately ordered Knight Logh to lead the army to storm the castle.
Although he knew that the narrow terrains inside the fortress were not exactly suitable for a cavalry, he could not afford to care about that now.
If even the Wind Roar Fortress can’t be conquered, what’s all this talk about the Troll Royal City?
Might as well pack up and go home.
Knight Logh evaluated the size of the breach in the city wall and prepared ten squadrons of two hundred cavalrymen each for a phased charge into the city.
But before the first squadron began its charge, the fortress’s defense forces had already burst out from the collapsed breach in the city wall!
What was happening?
Knight Logh was somewhat stunned.
Knight Brad at the foot of the city wall watched as a sea of Troll soldiers rushed towards them. He promptly led his soldiers to retreat.
After running a distance away, Knight Brad turned his head to see, to his utter astonishment, that the troll defense forces were actually pursuing them relentlessly!
What was going on?
Knight Brad was also shocked.
Don’t they see we have cavalry on our side?
Abandoning the advantages of the fortress, and venturing out to fight cavalry in the wilderness?
“Could it be a trap?” Upon seeing this, Colin felt doubtful as well.
“How about we test them by attacking?” suggested Knight Logh.
“Good! Wait for the trolls to charge a bit more, then send the cavalry forward to slaughter them, but don’t rush into the city. We have to deal with the trolls outside the city first.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Kill them!”
The Trolls, chasing after Knight Brad and the others, were roaring and cursing, seemingly annoyed that these humans ran too fast, causing them to lose many gold coins.
At this time, Kam of the Tusk Mercenary Group also rushed out of the Wind Roar Fortress. The mercenary leader certainly wasn’t meant for warfare, of course, the fighting style of mercenary groups greatly differs from regular armies.
But honestly, Kam’s thinking isn’t exactly top-tier which clear-minded lord would set a tax rate as high as ninety percent?
However, at least the ones surrounding him had clear minds.
“Leader, leader! We can’t charge any further! The enemy’s situation is unclear, if we recklessly rush out and the enemy is powerful .”
“Nonsense!” Kam glared and scolded out loud, “War relies on bravery, if you’re even scared to charge, then what’s the point of fighting!”
Seems to make sense
However, a second later, Kam regretted his decision.
Thud, thud, thud
The ground suddenly began to shake, and two cavalry units appeared on both sides of the Tusk Mercenary Group.
Just like a pair of giant hands, they embraced the charging trolls within their grasp.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh
Sharp arrows rained into the troll formation.
“Counterattack! Counterattack!” Kam was furious, repeatedly shouting for his mercenaries to counterattack with their arrows.
But on the open wilderness outside the city, the cavalry’s room for maneuvering was simply too vast.
They maintained a high-speed gallop, fired off a barrage of arrows, and then quickly distanced themselves to avoid the retaliation from the trolls.
Then, once the rain of arrows from the trolls had dwindled, they would once again approach and fire off another barrage of arrows.
Because they suspect this to be a trap, the attack method used by the Dark Cavalry is very conservative, not resorting to a frontal assault, but carrying out harassment tactics, patiently whittling down the trolls piece by piece.
In reality, Colin was being too cautious.
These trolls, without heavy shields or a tight formation, simply could not stand against a frontal charge by the Dark Cavalry.
With the passage of time, Knight Logh started to understand.
These trolls were nothing more than a disorganized mob, completely incapable of setting up a basic military formation and likely were not regular troops.
Upon receiving the report, Colin shook his head helplessly: “Ah, it seems that the interior defenses of the Troll Empire are extremely weak indeed. Let’s wrap up the battle quickly.”
“Yes, sir!”
