Arrows rained down from the sky like silver locusts, and screams echoed throughout the camp.
At this time, the moon has just risen. Most of the mercenaries are not sleeping yet, so they can react fairly quickly when encountering a surprise attack.
However, they were suddenly attacked at night, and the mercenaries were still in chaos.
Because, at night, their combat capabilities are simply not comparable to Noldo Elves.
Under this thin moonlight, humans could not see clearly everything in the jungle. They could only see the Noldor warriors flickering in and out of the woods, like ghosts.
But Noldo Elves still missed the target. Elves are the darlings of the dark night, and the moonlight is enough for them to see everything clearly.
Moreover, the long pointed ears make the elves have much stronger hearing than humans. Most elves can even identify their position by hearing sounds and shoot blindly - this is why Risadiran can always spot the enemy before Li Ang, especially at night.
Dumbledore propped himself up from behind the low wall and quickly looked outside.
This camp is located in the lower part of this mountainous area. To the west is the gentle slope extending from the Dengjier Mountains, dozens of miles away, and to the east is close to Noldo Forest - the forest side is also an upward gentle slope.
The camp itself is a relatively flat open space.
But this means that the Noldor coming from the direction of the forest can shoot arrows from a high position.
Dumbledore's current location is the easternmost part of the camp, close to the edge of the forest.
From his position, he could see at least hundreds of Noldor warriors traveling through the forest, and there seemed to be more than a dozen Noldor Twilight Knight commanding them.
Twilight Knight is covered in silver armor, which is relatively eye-catching.
There are more than ten Twilight Knights that can be seen.
Dumbledore was a little desperate. He did not expect that the army of elves would come so quickly and be so large.
He once entered the depths of Noldo Forest and encountered Noldor troops. He knew what those Noldor commanders wearing silver armor meant.
A few years ago, he followed the First Brigade of Ebony Gauntlet Knights to explore the territory of the Noldor - they thought the Noldor might have established a city in the forest and wanted to explore it.
After entering the forest and marching arduously for nearly a hundred miles, this team of more than 200 people, armed to the teeth, was suddenly raided at night by a Noldor patrol of about 50 people just after setting up camp.
With a numerical ratio of five to one, the Ebony Gauntlet Knights First Brigade certainly took the fight without fear.
But the outcome of that battle was that Ebony Gauntlet Knights, which had five times the number of people, was completely destroyed.
The Noldor patrol that led to their annihilation had a commander in silver armor, Noldor Twilight Knight.
Dumbledore still clearly remembers the scene at that time - that Twilight Knight let the Noldo Ranger behind him scatter into the woods, and then he stood there and shot more than twenty people in a row with terrifying shooting skills.
Dumbledore could swear that it must be the fastest archery creature he had ever seen - that Twilight Knight shot thirty arrows in three minutes, and almost every arrow took away a life.
The thick plate chain armor and black pointed helmet had almost no protective effect against the arrow of Twilight Knight.
At the same time, continuous arrows were shot from all directions in the forest. Noldo Ranger were constantly changing their positions in the forest. Ebony Gauntlet Knights was shot for a while and was unable to fight back.
In three minutes, the number of people killed by the arrows of the Noldor was close to a hundred.
That's just fifty Noldor...
Then, that Twilight Knight put down his bow and even dropped his quiver.
Just when he thought that the terrifying archers had no more arrows to worry about, Twilight Knight pulled out the long sword behind him and charged towards them.
Dumbledore watched helplessly as the slightly curved war sword killed five comrades in less than ten seconds - all of them were masters at the front.
However, their warhammers and long swords could hardly break through the strange and simple armor of Twilight Knight.
Then all Noldo Ranger appeared from all directions, and fifty Noldor actually surrounded them to face Ebony Gauntlet Knights who were still three times their size.
Not long after, only half of the Ebony Gauntlet Knights First Brigade were still alive...
They finally retreated.
Being able to survive half of the battles before collapsing, Ebony Gauntlet Knights is already considered the top elite among the human armed forces.
But the result they achieved was only to kill seven or eight Noldo Ranger.
The terrifying Twilight Knight, whose silver armor was dyed blood red, still continued to chase them.
Dumbledore led a dozen people to escape from the forest with difficulty, and thus became Knight Commander of the first brigade of Ebony Gauntlet Knights - the first brigade was almost wiped out, and Dumbledore was the only noble knight to escape.
Over the years, Dumbledore has greatly increased the proportion of crossbowmen in the team, and has been dealing with Noldor at the edge of the forest, but he has never seen Twilight Knight again.
In other words, even if he encounters it, he will not try to attack.
Without a tenfold numerical advantage, Dumbledore would no longer easily provoke a Noldor patrol of more than forty people. He already understood how terrifying the Noldor shooters can be once they reach a large scale.
Most of the time, he was dealing with lone Noldor warriors or hunters; or he was leading a force of more than a hundred people to kill small Noldor reconnaissance teams of about ten people.
Ebony Gauntlet Knights The First Brigade also made considerable gains under Dumbledore's caution. Since it has been fighting small-scale battles with small losses and high profits, the First Brigade has gradually reorganized over the years to a size of more than 400 people.
Now, Dumbledore saw Twilight Knight again, and he once again understood the outcome of this battle...
Based on his experience, one Twilight Knight can probably lead a mixed Noldor army of fifty people.
Now that we have seen more than ten Twilight Knight, the total number of Noldor warriors outside will not be less than six hundred.
The total number of human mercenaries in the camp is about three thousand - the same ratio of five to one.
The same proportion of people as before, after setting up camp, and at night when the moon was just rising, they were also raided by the Noldor at night.
But these mercenaries are a mixed bag, and they are incomparable to the original Ebony Gauntlet Knights.
In fact, Dumbledore was not willing to go deep into Noldo Forest, but Ebony Gauntlet Knights could not ignore the king's request, so he originally planned to let the mercenary group take the lead - especially the famous Griffin Sword Mercenary Group.
But he really didn't expect that Noldor's large army would appear at the edge of the forest so soon, and Griffin Sword Mercenary Group never came.
In the past, when I captured lone elves at the edge of the forest, I never saw the large army of Noldor coming so quickly...
In the camp, the mercenaries were hurriedly putting on their equipment and were unable to counterattack for the time being.
Most of the Ebony Gauntlet Knightss responsible for the vigil are fully equipped, but no one dares to show up.
Under the low wall on the side of the forest, a row of people soon formed, mostly from Ebony Gauntlet Knights.
All of them were in the same posture as Dumbledore - leaning sideways on the inside of the low wall, using their crossbows to poke out of the low wall to fight back.
Only the wooden wall, which was more than half a foot thick, could block the Noldor's arrows, so they rarely showed their heads, and they almost shot blindly when they fought back.
But this is the correct way. Although this kind of blind shooting has no results, it can at least buy time for the mercenaries in the camp and prevent the Noldor from directly breaking into the camp.
Ebony Gauntlet Knights indeed has much more experience in dealing with the Noldor. Although they were caught off guard and suffered a lot of damage under the first wave of arrows, they quickly made the most correct response.
But behind them, the mercenaries who came out of the camp carelessly had no such awareness.
In just such a short while, hundreds of people had been hit by arrows and fell to the ground. Most of them were mercenaries who had just emerged from the tent. Then they were shot down by Noldor arrows as soon as they stood up...
Wails and groans came and went.
The Noldor army was getting closer at this time, and some Noldor warriors fired arrows to suppress them. Not many people in the camp dared to show their heads. Several hundred Noldo Ranger formed a loose array thirty meters outside the camp.
It was a long row, with two Noldos working together in groups, one holding a shield to defend and the other holding a bow to shoot.
It seems that this is to continue remote suppression.
But this way of fighting in formation rarely appears among the Noldor.
Because although this can get a better shooting position, it will also cause them to lose their biggest advantage-concealment in the woods.
Each mercenary group finally began to fight back gradually, shooting crossbows at the Noldor's array, and the mercenaries with less complete equipment gradually moved closer to the low wall to the west of the camp.
"Follow me..."
Dumbledore glanced through the crack in the wall again, and then waved to the nearby Ebony Gauntlet Knights to follow him.
The mercenaries did not understand Ebony Gauntlet Knights's intention, thinking that they were going to attack the Noldor from the side, so they stepped forward to take over the shooting positions against the low wall.
But Dumbledore actually had the intention to retreat, and he did not tell the mercenaries that he was going to retreat.
He knew that these mercenaries would not retreat, and those mercenary captains would not obey orders so easily - the price offered by Ulrich was enough to make these mercenary captains risk everything.
Moreover, the mercenaries don't know enough about Noldor - the mercenary captain who was shot to death by an arrow just now is a typical example.
The people of Ebony Gauntlet Knights began to crawl along the low wall, gradually moving to the north of the camp. Then they continued to retreat along the north wall.
A few minutes later, Dumbledore quietly left the camp with Ebony Gauntlet Knights's people and retreated into the wilderness to the west of the camp.
The trees nearby have been cut down, leaving only low tree stumps and gently undulating slopes.
Dumbledore abandoned all the mercenaries in the camp, quickly retreated with Ebony Gauntlet Knights, and continued to retreat to the Dengjier Mountains in the west.
He only brought out more than 300 people, which is the vast majority of the members of the Ebony Gauntlet Knights First Brigade who are currently able to move.
This is the right choice.
Half an hour later, Dumbledore led more than 300 people to the gentle slope on the side of the Dengjier Mountains. On the top of a hill, the opposite camp could be seen in the distance, and screams could still be vaguely heard.
At this time, a small group of cavalry came from the south of the camp, about three hundred people.
However, the only cavalry that can move forward quickly in the mountains is the Noldor...
The Elf Horse bred by the Noldo Elvess is probably the only mountain horse breed in this continent that can cross mountains and ridges as if they were walking on flat ground.
Dumbledore I am very happy with my choice.
Perhaps it would be dishonorable to flee without a fight, but the way the Noldor lined up to fight, it was clear that they did not intend to let any humans enter the forest - this was rare and very unlike the Noldor's style.
With the strong fighting power of the elves in the forest, they should have let the mercenaries enter the forest.
But they attacked the camp directly and blocked the way to the forest with arrays.
For Dumbledore, this can only mean one thing - the elves are confident in annihilating them all, and are using this method to prevent them from escaping.
That means that Noldor armies will appear on the other sides, and perhaps only Dengjier Mountains in the west has no enemies.
After seeing the group of Noldor cavalry, Dumbledore confirmed this.
If nothing else, there probably is such a cavalry force in the north of the camp...
The Noldor used an army of about 1,200 men to surround the mercenary army of 3,000 men from three sides!
The elves don't want the humans here to leave alive!
So Dumbledore led his troops to the west again without stopping, and retreated in the direction of the Dengjier Mountains.
Unlike the mountains in Noldo Forest, which are all tall trees, Dengjier Mountains is a typical stone mountain - the soil layer of this mountain is relatively thin, and there are a lot of stones underneath, so the vegetation is also relatively thin.
Most of them are shrubs and relatively low.
There are also big trees, but they are relatively sparse, because the rock formations inside the mountain are very fragile and landslides are easy when it rains, and it is difficult for big trees to take root.
It was once said that there was a gold mine on the top of this mountain, but after many landslides, no one dared to go to the top of the mountain anymore. However, gold mining farmers can often be seen at the foot of the mountain.
Probably because of this, the Noldor did not take root in the Dengjier Mountains.
So this direction is indeed safe, if the Noldor don't continue to pursue it.
After marching hard all night, Dumbledore led his troops to stop on the top of a hill in Dengil Mountain.
This place is already at least fifty or sixty miles away from that camp.
It was already broad daylight, but Dumbledore was in a dilemma at this time.
A Noldor cavalry team of about three hundred people appeared in his field of vision.
The Noldor cavalry actually came after them?
I probably followed their footprints to find them. In the soft mountainous terrain, the footprints left by Ebony Gauntlet Knights were very clear.
Considering the deep hatred between Ebony Gauntlet Knights and Nodo, this is not a strange thing.
But the first brigade under Dumbledore didn't get any rest. They also ran in the mountains all night and are now exhausted.
Besides, in this kind of mountainous terrain, even if you want to run, you can't outrun Noldo Elves...
He could only order to defend in place.
Fortunately, their location is high up and there aren't many big trees around, so at least they have a geographical advantage.
The Noldor cavalry were probably very tired. They discovered Ebony Gauntlet Knights, but they did not attack immediately. Instead, they dismounted at the bottom of the hill. They probably wanted to rest before fighting again.
"Sir, this is a letter from His Highness Isildur..."
The dusty Risadiran returned to White Deer Fortress again, and he brought back a strange letter to the lord.
"You meet your people so soon?"
The lord was a little surprised. He didn't expect that Risadiran would try it and it would actually have an effect.
"I only met an elder in my clan. He knew that I was working for you and gave me this letter. He said that His Highness Isildur is also looking for you, sir."
Risadiran seemed a little excited. He probably saw the hope of returning to the clan.
His people did not make things difficult for him and allowed him to serve as a messenger. This was obviously an excellent signal.
This letter was written on paper that looked like a work of art. The paper was white and cut into a standard square shape.
There are faint cyan patterns on it, which are extremely complicated and form a mysterious pattern.
This is probably the coat of arms of Isildur, but it is not printed on it, but seems to be embedded in the paper.
This technique is very wonderful. This piece of paper is probably worth a lot of money, and it can be used as a decoration if framed.
But there are not many words on the paper. A large piece of paper is only used to write a few words, which seems quite wasteful - I guess Isildur has a bit of obsessive-compulsive disorder. The words are written in the middle of the paper, and each line is extremely neat.
The letter from Isildur to Li Ang was very short and only mentioned two things.
First, he wanted to know why humans launched a massive attack on Noldo Forest and for what purpose.
The second is that he wants to know whether Li Ang is willing to coexist peacefully with the Noldor.
The signature is Isildur Aino.
"You call him His Highness, is this Isildur the Prince of the Qin tribe?"
Li Ang is a little curious, the names of these Noldor lords seem a bit confusing...
Of course, he also hopes to coexist peacefully with the Noldor.
"His Royal Highness Isildur is the crown prince of the Aino Family, but his father has retired for three hundred years. In human terms, he has long been regarded as one of the three Elf King. But he has never worn the crown of the king, so we have always called him His Highness. He is a respected leader. Although he exiled me, I still respect him."
Risadiran has no dissatisfaction with Isildur.
"In that case... Risadiran, tell your tribe member that I asked you to hand the letter to Isildur with your own hands. I hope you can see Isildur and apologize to him, maybe you can return to the tribe."
Li Ang said.
"Thank you, sir... I will take your reply to my tribe, who is waiting for me a hundred miles south. Sir, if I am exempted from the crime, I will still serve you, and I will remember my promise."
Risadiran had a rare smile on his face.
The lord nodded, found a neat piece of parchment, cut it into a square using the same method as Isildur, and wrote a reply in the middle of the paper.
Also write a few lines neatly.
But this time, the signature he used was 'Li Ang·Leonardo·Pendragon'.
"Unfortunately, this letter comes a little late. I feel that those mercenary groups are in danger...Risadiran, you must see Isildur as quickly as possible."