Night Battle

Hearing the growing clamor, the Eagle Soldiers on watch quickly woke the other soldiers resting in the tents, along with Amuda. They had all slept in their clothes without removing their leather armor, so they were soon ready, weapons in hand as they stared tensely toward the sound.

As Ronan charged out in the lead, the Savages chasing after him also came into view before the Eagle Soldiers. Recognizing Ronan as their target and seeing a group of fierce-looking Savages behind him, the Eagle Soldiers thought Ronan had persuaded them to attack together.

With no time to think, they raised their longbows and unleashed a dense volley of arrows. Ronan had been prepared; he rolled forward and dodged the incoming arrows, but the Savages behind him were not so lucky. Several were struck down immediately.

A wonderful misunderstanding was born. The Eagle Soldiers thought the Savages had been brought by Ronan to attack them, while the Savages thought Ronan had run here to find his companions.

Seeing their companions fall, the Savages roared in anger and sped up. As the distance closed, the Eagle Soldiers discarded their longbows, drew their scimitars, and clashed with the Savages. Meanwhile, Ronan used the cover of night to quietly slip to the edge of the battle and began loosing arrows from the shadows.

Only the campfires built by the Eagle Soldiers gave off a faint light in the pitch-black woods. The poorly equipped Savages were no match for the well-equipped, well-trained Eagle Soldiers, and their numerical advantage steadily dwindled. As more of their companions fell, many Savages began to grow fearful.

Other than the four Eagle Soldiers Ronan had killed with arrows from the shadows, only two had died at the Savages' hands. In particular, one warrior guarding Amuda wore chainmail that the other soldiers lacked. With a scimitar in each hand, he had already brought down nearly five Savages in just a few minutes.

Seeing the Savages collapse, many turned and fled. After shooting another Eagle Soldier dead with an arrow, Ronan could only quietly slip behind that warrior. He intended to take down the strongest one first, then kill the familiar-looking Eagle Person who seemed to be their leader.

Once he had closed in behind his target, Ronan quickened his pace and lunged forward with a sudden iaijutsu slash. But the warrior was extremely alert. Sensing danger behind him, he dove forward. Though he failed to completely evade Ronan's attack, he only suffered a shallow cut across his lower back.

When his first strike failed, Ronan immediately stepped forward and slashed at the Eagle warrior again. The warrior swiftly rolled over and blocked Ronan's descending blade with the scimitar in his right hand, then swept his left-hand scimitar upward. Ronan had no choice but to step back and avoid it. Taking the opportunity, the warrior quickly rose, crouched slightly, and faced Ronan with both blades in hand.

Ronan spread his feet into a horse stance, gripping his sword with both hands at the center of his body, its tip angled slightly downward at his opponent. To avoid being surrounded once the Savages completely scattered, Ronan struck first, chopping down at him from above.

The warrior repeated the same move, blocking with the scimitar in his right hand before trying to slash at Ronan's abdomen with the one in his left. But Ronan had not put his full strength into the blow. He pressed his blade down, then stepped his left foot to the right and turned his body. He evaded the Eagle warrior's left-hand scimitar while slicing his long sword toward the unarmored hollow behind the warrior's right knee.

"Aaah!" With a cry of pain, the warrior's right hamstring was severed by Ronan's blade. His right leg gave out, and he dropped to one knee. Since his wounded leg prevented him from turning, Ronan spun behind the Eagle warrior again and slashed at the back of his neck. The Eagle warrior crossed both scimitars behind his neck to block the blow, but unable to brace himself in that position, he was knocked flat to the ground.

Ronan then pointed his blade downward and thrust it through the gap between the man's twin scimitars, piercing his throat. "Urgh..." Unable to breathe with his throat pierced, he spat out a mouthful of bloody foam and struggled for several seconds before his body finally went limp.

Ronan pulled out his sword and wiped the blood from it on the Eagle warrior's clothes. After checking his rage, Ronan directly activated Avatar of Fear.

In the eyes of the two remaining Eagle Soldiers, who had just killed the last Savage, and Amuda hiding behind them, Ronan's image suddenly became terrifying. Black mist continuously rose from his body, while the mask on his face seemed to transform into a vicious ghostly visage.

Watching Ronan slowly approach with his sword in hand, they retreated in fear. Ronan took one step forward, and they took one step back, until one soldier's back struck a thick tree trunk. As if scared out of his wits, he screamed and charged forward. The other soldier seemed encouraged by him and charged as well, scimitar raised.

Watching the two soldiers charge at him one after the other, Ronan felt nothing. He sidestepped the descending scimitar and swept his blade across the first soldier's abdomen with both hands. His belly split open and his intestines spilled out. The scimitar fell from his hand, and he clutched his stomach as he dropped to his knees, slowly pitching forward before dying.

Ronan casually caught the other soldier's incoming scimitar with his own blade, then kicked him in the groin. As the man doubled over in pain, Ronan grabbed his collar and hurled him forward. When he stumbled and fell, Ronan swung his sword and cut off his head. His body and head hit the ground at the same time, but no longer belonged together.

Seeing this from afar, Amuda collapsed onto the ground. As Ronan continued walking toward him, he scrambled backward on hands and feet, endlessly begging for mercy.

"Don't kill me! I'm a member of the Azure Wolf Family of the Eagle Kingdom. As long as you spare me, I can give you lots of money, or whatever you want, ugh—"

Before he could finish, Ronan stepped forward and shoved the long sword in his hand into Amuda's mouth. He pulled the blade free, and the corpse, deprived of support, fell backward onto the ground. After wiping the sword on Amuda's clothes and sheathing it, Ronan searched the bodies on the ground and the Eagle Pursuit Squad's tents. Then he found a tree root to sit on and began studying the newly unlocked Recruitment System.

The Recruitment System was extremely powerful. It allowed Ronan to summon soldiers from every faction in the game Mount and Blade, even including many troop types from mods. However, the number was affected by Ronan's Charm attribute, Leadership Skill, and reputation. The formula was twice his Charm value plus the bonus from Leadership Skill. Ronan's current limit was thirty.

Every day, the Recruitment System refreshed five troop types for Ronan to summon. Each troop type could be recruited no more than five times per day. Recruited troops could gain experience through battle and upgrade into higher-tier units. Before dying, every recruited troop would permanently occupy a party slot, so Ronan could not recruit carelessly. Otherwise, he might encounter a powerful troop type later and be unable to recruit it.

Recruiting troops required nothing but money. Troops of different tiers and nations had different prices, and recruited troops also required weekly wages. If Ronan could not pay their wages, he would enter debt mode. After that, all mission rewards would be converted proportionally to repay the debt. If his debt became too great, the Recruitment System would be permanently shut down.