Thyrsus pointed to the Betulites present in the meeting.
"To reassure the Betulites of their safety. We've built an emergency escape boat that could take all the residents away safely into the river and head for Coatl."
He pointed to five riverboats anchored on the river.
"In the past few days. We've trained these twenty men to their limits and presently, we've almost doubled their damage. Even after all that training, their average HP is still around 30,000 points. I think they will be most effective on the back as another part of our range unit."
Everyone else clapped in recognition of the Betulites achievements in the short amount of time.
Thyrsus then displayed twenty pieces of a small figurine, meant to represent the twenty Betulites that were to join them on the raid of the ruined castle.
"One of the Betulites overheard a bandit say that they needed to feed eighty persons, during one of their raids. We used this number as our baseline of their count, we didn't even bother to deduct the bandits that we eliminated on our last encounter with them. Our main force would be divided into two groups. The left group will be under Sierra's command while the right group will be under Adder's. These twenty Betulites will be divided into those two groups. Their spear's range are much shorter than our arrows. This means that we need to get closer to the bandits in order for us to efficiently hit them."
Sierra remembered that the Brandals' ruined castle was still well reinforced. It would be very difficult for them to destroy their walls with just spears.
"How are we suppose to break down their walls? I doubt that the Brandals would just come out of their base just because we would taunt them."
"I leave that part to our Range Siegers. Their specialty is in taking down castle defenses. They've got it covered."
Jinggu and Sharur kept on nodding their heads as a sign of affirmation on what Thyrsus just said.
"With the walls broken down. Adder and I are 70% sure that the Brandals' raiding team will come out to greet us. That's when both teams simultaneously charge for the castle and lay everything to waste."
Sierra couldn't understand how the plan would work at all. They only had one melee person on each team and that was herself and Adder.
Even if the Hunters and the Fishermen could take out as many as three raiding bandits before their encounter, they would still be outnumbered and the other bandits would just attack the low HP Betulites directly.
"I think Adder and I can only manage to hold five maybe six bandits at a time. Do you think we could reduce their numbers to be only that much. When you said that the Betulites just needed a shield, I don't think that Adder and myself would be enough to defend everyone."
"That's where Ichaival comes in."
"Now, that you mentioned it. Where is Ichaival? He's been missing since fort Amitié burned down."
Sierra looked around the table for the Human Hunter.
As if on cue, a loud marching sound came from outside the village. One of the Betulite sentries shouted.
"They're here. They're really here!"
Betul's main gates were opened. Ichaival came into view accompanied with twenty-eight Avendre mercenaries. Each mercenary wore a thick leather armor and was equipped with a saber and a medium sized kite shield.
* * * * * *
Everybody left the village of Betul in high spirits. They traveled through Otaczac forest stealthily. Thyrsus informed them that they should be safe to travel for the day because the Brandal's shouldn't come out until tomorrow.
The raiding party totaled fifty-six members altogether. Their opponent's numbers were estimated to be around eighty but Sierra and Adder were confident that they could manage to win against such disadvantageous odds.
Sierra wondered why the Betulites number were lesser than the when they tried to save her in the forest. She asked Sharanga about the missing Fishermen.
"I thought that there were around fifty Betulites who were there on the ambush in fort Amitié? What happened to the rest of them? Were they killed after I died?"
The young WoodElf was taken aback when she heard Sierra's question.
"Uh, uhm, no. Not a single Betulite died."
"Then where are they? I mean, we need all the help we can get."
"Ohh, you mean the ones hiding behind the tall shrubs? Hehehe... There were really just five men on each side. Sharanga was on the northern side, while I was on the southern."
"Wait... what? But I saw at least fifteen spears on each side?"
Sharanga giggled as she saw Sierra's puzzled face. The WoodElf started to explain what happened on the fort.
"Through his falcon's eyes, Thyrsus saw the Brandals coming towards our hidden base. All twenty Fishermen were gathered in one place and Adder mentioned that if we only had two more groups of the Betulites then surely the Brandals would run away. Then it came to me. I thought we could give them the illusion that there were three times as much Betulites."
"How did you manage that?"
"I got a long piece of wood and drilled four holes with equal distances between them. I placed a bundled spear in each hole and tied it with rope. I virtually made one Fisherman into four. Sharanga and I had five Betulites on each side who had this long piece of wood attached on their backs."
"Now, I get it. I thought the whole time that those Betulite Fishermen were very well trained. They marched in perfect order. That was ingenious! Good job."
Sharanga frowned and looked down to the ground.
"But it wasn't good enough to save your life. Before, I thought that a Sonstwelter's life was easy. I mean you're practically immortal but then I guess it's kind of like being tortured repeatedly, having to experience death over and over again like that. I can't imagine going through such a painful ordeal."
Sierra patted the young Huntress' back.
"Don't worry about it. It wasn't that painful and I know that you guys did your best."
The young WoodElf did her best to smile at the Werebear, she admired Sierra's resilience. Sharanga hoped to be as brave as her.
Four hours passed and Sierra and her group of avengers arrived at their destination. They were hidden in front of the Brandals' hideout.
Straightaway, Jinggu and Sharur ran in opposite directions. Jinggu took the right side while Sharur took the left.
The OrkElves first objective was to take out the Snipers on top of the seven sentry towers on each corner of their ruined castle.
Sierra and Adder each took command of their teams. Sierra's team was composed of Sharur, Sharanga, and Thyrsus.
While Adder had Jinggu, Vijaya, and Ichaival. Each team had ten Betulite Fishermen and fourteen Avendre mercenaries with them.
Sierra heard the first screams after five minutes passed since the OrkElves left. With less than a minute of interval they heard six consecutive screams, one after the other.
Thyrsus informed everyone over their party channel on what his falcon saw.
"Alright. Jinggu and Sharur have knocked down all seven snipers. The first scream alerted the Brandals and most of them are presently gathered outside their central keep. Also, there are signs that they are about to open up their gates."
Sierra saw Sharur running towards them. The OrkElf signaled some of the Betulites to follow him. They went to the tall shrubs further behind Sierra. A few seconds later they came out with two catapults. The same catapults that destroyed their wooden fort.
The red Werebear couldn't understand how they got a hold of the catapults.
"Why are those things here?"
Sharur answered her while pushing one of the catapults.
"The Brandals were running for their lives and they completely forgot about their four catapults. Sharanga also made some enhancements on their exploding barrels. You'll get to witness that soon enough."
The OrkElf ordered the special exploding barrels to be placed in between the two catapults to make the reload easier.
Upon hearing the Brandals attack on fort Amitié, an idea exploded in Sierra's head.
"Wait. Sharur don't aim for their walls. Give me a sec. Let me contact Jinggu."
Sierra quickly spoke in their party channel and called for Jinggu's attention. She spoke to both the OrkElves at the same time.
"Guys, Change of plans. I want you to aim for inside their castle. Hit the area where they are currently gathered. I want them to have a taste of their own medicine."
The OrkElves were on opposite sides of each other but both of them smiled the same wicked grin at the same time.
Jinggu and Sharur made adjustments to all four catapults and loaded each one with Sharanga's special barrel. When Sierra gave her command all four barrels were launched over the ruined castle walls and hit their marks perfectly.
BAKKOOOMM!
BTOOOOOMM!
BWOOOMMMM!
BBOOOOMMM!
The Range Siegers had a bonus of 100% increased damage when attacking against forts, castles, and other types of encampments.
The OrkElves quickly reloaded their second round of exploding barrels and launched them in quick succession.
However, while the second batch of barrels were still up in the air. The Brandals' main gate was lowered and the damaged Brandals came rushing out on foot.
Most of the bandits' lifebars were almost halved from their averaged HP of 90,000.
With the well placed position of Sierra in the left side from the main gate and Adder on the complete opposite, the Brandals were momentarily confused on which group to face first.
Canalha and the black ctenosaur raiding force were nowhere to be seen and the lack of leadership was apparent in the confused state that was on the Brandals' faces.
Both Sierra and Adder ordered to carefully move forward and place the bandits within the Fishermen's range. Once the bandits were in range, The Fishermen released their fishing spears and slowly started to eliminate the injured Brandals one at a time.
The Hunters' falcons gave a great distraction on each end of their pincer attack. Sierra saw that the bandits on her side pushed forward without any care for their lives.
There were only eighteen bandits left on her end, and they had the look of suicide attackers who were only there to take out as many people before they die.
Sierra's group was still intact and remained at twenty-eight fighters, herself included. She ordered her fourteen Avendre mercenaries to engage the suicide attackers with her.
She took on two bandits at once while the other mercenaries faced one bandit each. This left two bandits to run directly for the Betulites.
Sharanga and Thyrsus were both given command over five Betulites, and they made a pin cushion out of the two bandits with their arrows and fishing spears.
Both Hunters instructed their men on which bandit to aim and slowly they started to kill off one Brandal at a time. They focused on helping the Avendre mercenaries first because they knew that Sierra could handle herself.
While they were busy fighting the Brandals on the ground. Twenty snipers climbed the front walls and started to attack them.
Most of the mercenaries managed to block the Sniper's arrows with their kite shield but Sierra had just lost two of her melee attackers from the sudden shower of arrows.
Sierra ordered for Sharur to destroy the wall where the Snipers stood. She saw two exploding barrels launched into the air and a few seconds later another set of exploding barrels were launched from Adder's side.
Adder's area was also hit with the same attack from the Snipers. The top of the castle's wall crumbled and the Snipers were blown away.
There were twelve Snipers who fell on the ground and survived the blast. They sustained their range support from behind of the bandits.
Sierra asked Sharur to leave the catapult and moved closer to the Betulites. She couldn't risk the life of her comrades from the splash damage from the exploding barrels.
She ordered Sharur to aim for the Snipers as she charged towards them herself. She ordered seven mercenaries to join her.
Sierra took several arrows on her arms and torso before she reached the Snipers. Sierra's lifebar now displayed (199,155/238,300 HP).
She unleashed her feral rage when she finally reached the Snipers' area. She aimed her claws at their heads for an increased damage.
The Snipers' maximum HP were at 120,000 but most of them only had 30% remaining when they fell from the top of the wall.
Close combat rendered the Sniper's bows useless and Sierra saw that they switched to their knives instead.
