Crossing the soldiers' quarters into a training ground, the people who were running quickly turned to see Bernie and them surrounded in the corner by moonlight.

The leader of the squad looked rather embarrassed, and the leader of the group, Thiel and Bjorn, did not do what the spearhead should do at the moment, but stayed behind the line - the sharp-eyed Henry immediately noticed that there was some blood on the two of them, and they looked rather sluggish.

I guess I suffered a lot of damage in the previous collapse accident, but fortunately there was no attrition.

"Hah...... Ha ...... "Bernie, who was not holding his two-handed greatsword but a sword and shield configuration, immediately noticed them as he broke into the open-air walkway next to the training ground, but the situation was urgent, and he only glanced at it and focused on what was in front of him.

The four of them entered from the left after passing through the training ground, while Bernie and his party retreated to the rightmost corner with the dozen or so surviving turtles.

The more physically fit men formed a shield wall to deter the ratdragons, and the seven dead ratdragons on the ground and the blood on their shields proved that they had launched an attack before this.

The rat dragon was a veritable timid and cautious creature, and they generally only attacked when they had an absolute numerical advantage. And at this moment, the reduction of seven already made this small handful of rat dragons seem a little hesitant.

Bernie and the others are in a stalemate with the rat dragons, and there are still fifteen or sixteen rat dragons left, and it will not be a problem for everyone to kill them if they fight.

But to do so would have to break the shield wall, and to do so would immediately expose the wounded and horses behind you.

Even if they ignore the emotional factor, they can't do it considering what the escape process will take for the rest of the day. And it must have been helpless to be forced to retreat to a corner - Henry's mind quickly analyzed the situation, but what he couldn't figure out was that they had time to stop in the passage at that time to hear the signal from their short knife strike and respond, it should not have been chased by the rat dragon, why they encountered such a large group at this moment.

The answer came out immediately, and the woman standing next to Henry cried out in a high-pitched voice that resembled a scream.

"Rodney!!" The sudden roar startled the nervous blonde girl and Mira, and Henry noticed that in the corner near the wall, a stocky mercenary in a half-rusty plate armor was standing there.

- I see, Henry can deduce the whole process without much thought.

The previous passage was one-way, so there were only two possibilities for Rodney's disappearance, the first was that he was dragged away by the sudden appearance of the rat dragon - but there was no cave or anything like that, and even if there was a ventilation pipe, the rat dragon's ability would not be enough to lift the whole person up. Second, there will definitely be some sound that will alarm the people in front of you.

So there was only one other possibility, considering Rodney's greed for money and Bernie's hesitation to take the expensive plates with him, the Humpty Dumpty mercenary was obviously worried that his boss would eventually decide not to take them, so he thought about where to take the plates quietly and hide them so that he could come back and retrieve them later.

Henry thought that the armory in front of the passage would be a good choice, hidden in the debris of the decaying bed crossbow and ballista, and it would not be too difficult to retrieve it later.

But Rodney didn't expect to be attacked by the rat dragon as soon as he turned around, and looking at him a little languishing at the moment, it was obvious that he had gone through a lot of suffering in a place that Henry didn't know before they were able to converge - and then these rat dragons, naturally, were brought by him.

"Uninteresting. Henry shook his head and put his hand on the grip of the greatsword once more.

He was referring not only to this incident, but also to the fact that all the rattosaurs had turned their heads to the smaller side because of the woman's loud scream.

"Bang-huh-"

A flash of cold light.

In a wide environment without too many obstacles, and against moderately sized enemies, the power of a greatsword is quite amazing.

For example, an ordinary two-handed broadsword usually weighs nearly two kilograms at a standard length of 125 centimeters. Paired with tough steel and wide-open slashing moves, an experienced swordsman, even an average swordsman, would have no problem using it to break bones.

Henry's greatsword, on the other hand, is 25 centimeters longer than a normal greatsword - which may not seem like much, but a fraction of a centimeter is crucial in terms of weapon, and the added length and consequent weight will determine the difference in how the weapon is used.

Just the ten centimeters of the difference between a 115 cm long one-handed half-sword and a 125 cm long two-handed sword already determines that a considerable part of the moves cannot be used. There's a reason why most weapons have a similar specification, and Henry's greatsword, which is no longer known in this era, has a size and weight that surpasses that of contemporaneous weapons, but it is also very different in how it can be used.

Henry lowered his greatsword again. He held the sword in both hands and lowered its tip to his side - a huge difference from the modern two-handed sword starter, Bernie, who also used a two-handed sword, frowned and looked at Henry as he faced the rat dragon.

The vast majority of today's two-handed swordsmanship begins with a single move, the world-famous "Eagle Strike". This move is very simple and crude, the whole body is upright, the sword is held high above the head with both hands, and then the weight is used to slash down fiercely. Depending on the genre and individual abilities, this hit may have a difference in the landing point of the Heavenly Spirit Cover, the shoulder or the side, but the starting hand is such a big killing move is the common point between them.

This is a starting move, which is intended to promote strengths and avoid weaknesses. Two-handed swords are large and heavy, and it is obviously a mistake to start with the usual stabbing of small swords, but holding it high above your head is the perfect way to use your strengths to smash your opponent with a powerful blow.

But Henry didn't do that. He tilted his sword at his side, and instead of using the strength of his waist and calves, he simply used the strength of his hands to deliver a large horizontal slash.

This detail made Bernie's evaluation of Henry immediately drop several points as he watched, and it makes sense that a trained swordsman would be described in terms like "man and sword as one". Every swing of the sword in the hands of skilled swordsmen is not just the movement of the arms, from the soles of the feet to the waist, and every sword they swing is the result of the cooperation of the muscles of the whole body.

It is natural, and the swing of a sword is not the kind of superficial "want to swing" but "want to hit", and then the whole body naturally moves according to this purpose.

This aura was extremely obvious in the eyes of fellow warriors, but at this moment, Henry was simply wielding it with brute force as if he were a most ordinary beginner.

How is this possible—how is it possible!?

Bernie's eyes widened, and Henry's levelless blow easily split the head of the leader of the ratdragons, causing the other ratdragons to pounce on them with all their intent to frighten them.

"Oh!" exclaimed from the corner next to him, but Rodney, whose eyes lit up, was not praising Henry's technique.

The only explanation for this is that Henry has a sword in his hand - sharp and strong, and can even split through a solid skull.

Blood was spilled on the ground, but the rat dragon, which had become vigilant, deprived Henry of a chance to kill with one blow. The cunning creatures roamed back and forth, like seasoned martial artists trying to lure the tall foe into wielding heavy weapons and squandering their physical strength.

"Tsk-" Bernie snorted, and honestly if it weren't for the cautious and cunning nature of these rat dragons, his side wouldn't have been forced into this.

But this question was not difficult for Henry, and after he swung his sword fiercely to force the rat dragons back, he immediately retreated to the side of Mila and the others: "Do you have perfume?" He said this to the young blond lady, who was stunned for a moment, and then immediately took out a small glass bottle from the small leather bag on his belt.

"With perfume, the rattoresaurs have poor eyesight and are cautious, they distinguish each other by their scents, and they sprinkle perfume on them—" Henry pulled out the cork, and then smashed the small half bottle of perfume hard at the rattosaurs.

Bernie, who heard his words, did the same, and the pungent smell of mixed smoke emanated from the liquid, and several rat dragons who stepped on the liquid in panic immediately scurried around.

"Squeak squeak - squeak - squeak. The rat dragon, which had just been united, became wary of the smell of its companions next to them after smelling them extremely strange, grinning at each other, and the next second they were instantly scuffling.

"Squeak, squeak!" the rattosaurus that was bitten by its companion let out a very high scream, and the rattosaurus that had bitten it was also stained with the smell and caused the other rattosaur to scream as well.

In the midst of the chaos, several bitten ratdragons instantly ran into the shadows, and the remaining ratdragons in confusion and confusion saw that they no longer had the advantage in numbers—Bernie and the others untied the shield wall at the right time, banging on the shield and making a loud noise—and fled instantly.

"Whew-" The somewhat tired blonde leader let out a long breath, "Thanks, it's good that you're okay." As he said this, Henry nodded, and the woman next to him immediately rushed up and hugged Rodney and began to whimper.

"Oh, tap, tap, Ryza, tap, okay, okay, okay. The stocky mercenary comforted the woman who was taller than him on the back, and the others packed their bags, and the wounded did some light bandaging before moving again.

They still need to find a shelter or something where they can at least spend the night in peace without being disturbed.

The people who had returned to the training ground again walked out from the other side, and after a short distance, the three-story building that finally appeared in front of them was a three-story building covered with vines that looked extremely mysterious in the moonlight, which was obviously the castle lord's mansion that would exist in every castle.

"Wonderful!" Rodney's eyes seemed to see some treasure again, and Rodney's whole body was refreshed from his previous malaise. However, Henry, who was next to him, only looked at his excitement coldly - this is a castle that has been attacked in history, and in this case, the probability of having valuables in its lord's mansion is of course zero.

But knowing is knowing, Henry will not break it, one reason is that they are not familiar. Another reason is that it's not a good thing to spoil other people's expectations - probably somewhere in the back of his heart, the sage who is probably black thinks. The group quickly entered the City Lord's Mansion.

"It looks pretty well preserved, and with a little reinforcement, we should be able to get through an undisturbed night. ”

Bernie said with satisfaction as he looked inside the City Lord's Mansion that was flooded with moonlight.

The interior of the Lord's Mansion is also decorated in the typical West Valier style, and the romantic West Valyers have some ingenuity in the construction of the castle, especially in the places where they live.

The ornate round staircase handrails and walkways are quiet and elegant in the faint moonlight, and even if they are dirty, the staircase leading to the second floor facing the main door still retains its beautiful silhouette.

Without stopping, the group immediately began to collect sturdy materials to fill the doors and windows.

"Remember to check all the passages, those guys are everywhere. Saying this to a few mercenaries who were walking to the second floor with torches, Heng lifted a large broken stone pillar from the ground with great force, and leaned it against the stone window frame to block it just right.

......

R: Happy New Year to everyone.