"Thunder?" Mira paused and looked into the distance, but no one else needed to reply, and the question was quickly answered.

In the silence of the night, a loud noise could be heard far away, and at first glance it sounded like thunder, but where else would the thunder continue like a torrential rain. "Bang bang bang—" A loud, rapid sound continued to sound irregularly, echoing through the empty Parnira for a long time.

"Quicken your pace, it seems that the infiltrating scout has been spotted. Henry urged, there were more than two hundred people on their side, and it was the third army under Constantine's command to attack the merchant guild and the treasury. The team is mostly made up of familiar faces, in addition to the members of the small explorer team, Minna and her Avenella archers, as well as the elite mercenaries under the command of Captain Stephen.

The destination is the manor where Margaret was "robbed" in the first place, and although the noble lady is the eldest lady of the city lord's mansion, although it has not yet been recognized by me, it has become a well-known thing. And she wanted to return to that manor precisely because there was a secret passage inside that led directly to the City Lord's Mansion. Rendezvous with the remaining defenders of Parnira as soon as possible would not only give her some peace of mind, but also allow her to exchange known information on both sides and formulate a plan for dealing with the aftermath and rescue.

The team of more than 200 men was divided into two equal parts, with Minna leading the longbowmen at the front far away from the main formation. Heavily armored hunter mercenaries surrounded Margaret, Filippo, and Ferruccio, acting as shields. Henry, Mira, and Stephen were a little further up, quickly interpreting the messages conveyed by the archers to give instructions to the team.

Including the five big and three rough hunting mercenaries, despite their heavy armament and large numbers, everyone only felt very nervous.

Perhaps infected by such emotions, Margaret, who was guarded by more than 100 people, did not feel the slightest sense of security.

The enemy is dark and I am clear, and the number of them advancing in the night plus the sound of the clash of armor is a decision that has nothing to do with being low-key. And Parnilla, a multi-storey and ornate building that Margaret was proud of, now has every window as an ambush point from which the enemy may sneak up with hand cannons.

It's one thing on the side of the entrance square of the East City Gate, small hand cannons can't shoot that far, so the ambush is a joke. But when they enter residential areas, where there are many brick and stone houses and complex terrain, they need to be on guard against not only enemies from all sides, but also attackers located on the second floor or rooftops of houses.

The thought of this makes everyone unable to relax.

Like their weapons, the armor worn by hunting mercenaries is very different from that worn by knights and war mercenaries. Because of the different needs of their professions, their focus has also gone to two extremes.

With the exception of Absera and some other remote areas, the vast majority of the continent of Rigal has a strong emphasis on hand-to-hand combat, and the existence of plate armor that has evolved from this has become very focused on details such as "gaps" and "overlaps".

The attacking side, whether a knight with a spear on horseback or a melee with a blunt weapon or armor-piercing cone, will try to find a weak spot in the opponent's armor, pry it open, and poke it into it to injure human tissue. On the defensive side, in response to this, it is natural to evolve armor that is more and more tightly structured and not easy to pry open, and for this reason, it must be made very close to the aesthetic style of slimming to facilitate movement.

In contrast, the hunting mercenaries mostly deal with large beasts and magical beasts full of brute strength. They are incapable of using those subtle tricks, nor do they know how to attack weak spots, at best they bite or, more often, scratch and ramble. In the face of such enemies, a heavy liner cushion is more useful than a slim and light type - this is why most hunting mercenaries look like they are five big and three thick and round, their inner lining is more than three times thicker than that of knights and war mercenaries, and the armor covers much less area, not to mention many gaps, and is often very rough and not slim, and the size is huge in order to be able to cram more cushioning material.

It's not pretty, but it's usable, and it's a reliable piece of armor – but there's a limit.

Forget about the hand cannon, if someone suddenly pushes out a cannon of that kind in the alley—

"Stop—" Henry raised his arms, and Stephen and Mira hesitated, as Minna and the other archers in front of them didn't react. The blonde lady even stopped and began to look over her face in confusion, her expression clearly wondering why they hadn't followed.

"Teacher?" the Luoan girl spoke, but saw the sage frowning and sniffing her nose: "Sulfur." ”

"Brimstone?snake repellent?what's the matter, what's the business lately—ah!" Stephen picked up, and Henry had already pulled out the dagger at his waist, he held the knife behind his back, and then raised his other hand to signal everyone to stop where they were.

Using his sense of smell as a guide, Henry walked a short distance forward, then stopped near the entrance to an underground wine cellar and walked slowly and silently back to where he was.

"Is it the front?" said Stephen with a gesture that was popular among them, and a group of parabalds with light crossbows quickly began to wind up. Then the mercenary leader took the axe from behind him.

"What's going on?" said Margaret, who felt the tension and lowered her voice.

"They say it smells of sulfur, do you smell it? Mira asked in a whisper, and the eldest lady sniffed her delicate little nose as well: "Like rotten eggs?"

"Well, I didn't pay much attention to it at first, but the teacher seems to have noticed something. The white-haired girl said this, it is normal for the interior of the deserted and war-torn city to smell, the stench of the sink emitted from the drain on a rainy day, and the smell of some dirt and dead corpses come and go, and it is already considered a strong psychological endurance without covering your nose, and you can also detect a unique smell in it, which only our sage can do.

"Sulfur or something, is it snake repellent?" Margaret asked the same question. "Hmm. Stephen in front nodded: "At the same time." ”

The stout man said with a rare delicate expression and a peaceful tone:

"It's also a raw material for gunpowder. ”

"——!" The eyes of the two girls and the others next to them widened, and as Henry approached the entrance of the cellar with the crossbowmen and spearmen, Stephen explained to them in a whisper, "Saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur, these three are the important raw materials for the formation of gunpowder. We mercenaries will also use it when driving away demonic beasts, carry them separately and then deploy them when we need to use them. ”

"I see, if they use such a large amount, there is naturally a logistics department in the city responsible for making gunpowder-" The first to react was Filippo, a young man who was a knight and had a keen intuition about these things.

"Maybe we'll be in charge of repairing those weapons, so if we can get rid of them—" Stephen's words stopped there, and Henry was already surrounded by men. But the sage didn't make any further move, he looked back at this side, while the mercenary leader looked at Margaret.

Minna noticed the movement, and she ran back quietly with the men, while Mira whispered quickly to the Damezz.

Margaret looked a little hesitant.

If they can destroy the logistics supply point of this rebel mercenary, those cannons and hand cannons will be silent, and the other side will definitely suffer heavy losses. However, there were only about two hundred people here, and most of them were hunter-gatherers who were better at dealing with demonic beasts and giant beasts.

It is true that those who can stand in front of a beast weighing several tons and are not weak-footed are the brave men in a hundred, but they are hunters rather than killers, and no matter how brave and inexperienced they are, it is still difficult to do so.

Margaret's brain was spinning quickly, this small aristocratic lady had one of the best bloodlines and a clever mind in the Padrossi Empire. Despite her naivety and lack of experience, she was by no means a dull person.

"Since this place is so important, there must be no shortage of troops. Now we have few people, but we have the advantage of assault, they are hiding underground, and since there are no guards on the perimeter, we should think that we are still well hidden. ”

"This place is very close to the mansion, if you bypass it and don't attack, you can use the secret passage to help the city lord's mansion personnel. If the movement is disturbed, it will become a passive position for us. Mira looked at the girl her much shorter age and bit the nail of her right thumb as she spoke, her blue eyes shining with light that always reminded the white-haired girl of her teacher.

"Tell the gentleman to attack, and I'll retreat to a nearby house for the time being. She said this, but as soon as she finished speaking, they heard a noise in the alley ahead.

There was a noise of people yelling at each other, and everyone held their breath for fear that the people there would notice their arrival.

"—So what the hell is going on with those cannons, are you fucking trying to trick us. A voice with a southern accent roared loudly, reaching the ears through the ventilation window of the underground wine cellar at the base of the wall.

"You stupid guys, do you have ore in your head, how can we trap our teammates!" followed a louder voice and a very heavy clang.

Immediately after that, the sound of talking stopped, and everyone held their breath before they faintly heard some "clanging" sounds.

"There's infighting. Henry put away his dagger and silently drew his broadsword from behind his back, while his free other hand gestured to the hunters and longbowmen to the left and right to encircle the end of the slope at the exit of the cellar.

The small cellar is part of a nearby tavern, and it is sheltered from the warm sun of Parnila to keep the drinks cool. The two-meter-wide arched gate leads up the alley with a stone slope, and several wheelbarrows for transporting wine have been left on either side of the gate, dusty.

"Stump, stomp, stomp-" "Fuck! fuck! " The sound of cursing and the sound of chaotic footsteps gradually approached from the inside of the cellar to the outside, and the mercenaries and spearmen were nervous.

"Archers, crossbowmen, ready. Hyung said in a steady voice.

"Stump, stomp, stride, stride", footsteps grew louder, and then: "thud", the door of the cellar opened.

The group of rebel mercenaries, with many wounded faces in their faces, hurried out, but the slope in front of the cellar led to the part above ground, and the dim light of the moon was blocked by something.

"-" "Put!" "Boom Boom Boom-"

"More than 100 arrows and crossbows were missed, except for a few that were bounced off by the cuirass and helmets, and basically pierced the throats, faces, and limbs of the thirty or so men.

The thirty or so mercenaries, covered in blood, fell to the ground, the spearmen swallowed, and the rangers lowered their crossbows with a dry tongue, and only the longbowmen quickly re-mounted their arrows and prepared to draw the strings.

"What are you doing in a daze, hurry up and check if there is any alive, we will burn them here after the knife is cleaned up!" said the figure who seemed to be the leader of the mercenary safari, his face was also a little pale, this kind of thing was still relatively new to him, in order to relieve his rapid heartbeat, he shouted in a loud voice to urge his subordinates to come forward.

"Wait!" The sage frowned, but the mercenary leader had already led a handful of hunter-gatherers who were temporarily spearmen walking down, "What's the matter—" he asked, turning his head back to Henry, and it was at this time that a lightning-fast figure came out of there.

"Bang——!" "Uh-huh-" A slender, heavy, pure metal spear with a gray-black surface stabbed from the bottom up through the left jaw of the mercenary leader, sliced through the leather chin strap that held the helmet in place, and stabbed through the back of the head.

The metal helmet flew into the sky from the impact that could not be extinguished, and before it could fall, the four spearmen who accompanied it were slashed or stabbed through the throat in a stunned state.

"Bang-" "Bang-" was just a face, because the inexperienced five people died so quickly.

"Arrows, arrows!" the rangers shouted in panic, and the longbowmen reacted quickly to shoot arrows, but even the mighty Avennella Warbow could only spark when it hit an uninvited guest in the shadows.

"Not even a dent!?" the young men's eyes widened.

"That's quenched and hardened plate armor, made by the dwarves, get back!" Henry shouted, and the ranged hands quickly withdrew.

"Smack—" The man in the shadows shook the spear in his hand, and blood splattered on it.

"Don't carry it, go back. Henry instructed that an opponent with such equipment was not something that these inexperienced hunters could deal with, and that if they were forced to go up, it would be possible to kill them, but they would surely suffer heavy casualties.

"Stomping" the man walked forward, "stomping" and the mercenaries retreated.

He walked unhurriedly, as if he didn't pay any attention to them.

It wasn't until they walked out of the cellar into the alley, exposed to the faint moonlight, that they were able to get a glimpse of the whole picture.

Dwarves wear plate armor that is heavier than that of mercenaries and Imperial knights, and the surface retains a black oxide layer from burning instead of polishing like humans. The armor that wrapped around his body was only the helmet's observation opening, his ginger hair protruding from the hem of the helmet, and he carried a sword and a scimitar around his waist in addition to the spear he held.

The sturdy full-body armor had only a few shallow marks of blows, and the helmet and body armor were stained with a lot of blood, which was obviously from the rebel mercenaries judging by the location.

"Stand back and distance. Henry turned back and pointed to the archers, "You too." Then the same command was given to the spearman.

"Human beings are truly hateful, they only know how to bully more and less. The dwarf said in a loud voice with gnashing teeth, apparently the one in charge of providing technical support, but after the cannon bombing during the day, the mercenaries were at odds with him.

Obviously, the cooperation between these people in the southern countries and the dwarves did not reach the level of tacit understanding, and after making a big fuss, he killed these mercenaries by himself, and was finally taken away by the remote men commanded by Henry.

The sage stood there with a great sword in one hand, and the hunting mercenaries and longbowmen wanted to come up and help, but they couldn't do anything about such an Iron King.

The silence lasted for a while, and no one else came up to the cellar, and it was a blessing in misfortune to think that this dwarf and the dozens of rebel mercenaries were all the logistics personnel here.

"Highlanders, you human. The dwarven warrior spoke, his voice coming through his visor, his breathing steady and loud, and his physical strength was obviously still very strong.

"......" Henry didn't say anything, just hung the tip of his sword, and didn't even pose a starting hand.

"It's a good sword, worthy of you, it's a pity. He leveled his spear, and despite the fact that he had a height difference of nearly a meter with Henry, and that the sage had the upper hand in terms of physique, the crowd was still very nervous.

Dwarven warriors are a type of existence that is notorious, especially heavily armed dwarven warriors. They are short in stature, but they are stronger than humans of the same weight. Being smaller means that the armor covers a smaller area, which reduces weight, but at the same time they are stronger, which means that thicker armor can be used. Coupled with excellent blacksmith skills, the dwarven warrior armor made by the top dwarven masters, even the winch armor-piercing heavy crossbow can only leave a small pit.

Against heavily armed knights, weapons are often not as efficient as hand-to-hand combat skills, no matter how good the knight is, as long as he falls to the ground, the whole person sits on him, it is basically difficult to get up again, pull out the dagger and stab the observation port and the like are standard combat rules.

However, dwarves with a short body and a very low center of gravity are difficult to fall, and Henry is only wearing a cuirass at this time, and he is not fully armed. Even if other masters can reach a longer distance with Kramer, who is 1.5 meters long, this is only a tie with a dwarf with a spear.

The difference between having or not having armor becomes quite significant at this point.

A heavily armored dwarf can risk an attack, while a breastplate-only sage can strike at the edge of a rattlesnake's swift spear at any moment of damage to the unprotected parts of his body.

The standoff lasted half a minute.

Maybe he couldn't hold back and wanted to break through and escape, or maybe he relied on his own protective advantage.

The dwarven warriors attacked Henry.