"There are 128 bandits. 16 of them have Wizard variation jobs, 30 of them have Archer variation jobs, 20 of them have variations of the Cleric job, 60 are black ctenosaur riders, and 2 Brandal leaders."
Smoke was impressed. His 'Cunning of the Dire Fox' gave the exact same count but it didn't give him the job variations of the Brandals.
Mamelon gave out her idea on how to attack the Brandal base.
"Alright, how about we divide our group into two forces. A main force will attack from the front while an infiltration force will scale those steep roads, and jump from the slope above."
The party leaders gave out the pros and cons about the suggestion and thought that it was a sound battle plan. Smoke, Gandiva, and Laernea volunteered to join the infiltration team.
Mamelon was voted to take charge of the 50 members of the main attack force while Smoke took command of the 25 members of the infiltration team.
Smoke and the rest of the infiltrators started to climb the slope. Smoke gave the signal to Mamelon when they got into position.
At once, Mamelon ordered the attack on the Brandal force. Thirty Cavalry Knights used their 'Mountain Splitter' ability and destroyed the walls of the Brandal fort.
The Brandals sounded their alarm and immediately formed their ranks. The black ctenosaur riders went out to face the main force.
Six Aqua Knights on top of their andalusian horses used their 'Spring Force' ability, and made the grounds muddy to impede the Brandals' speed.
Smoke spotted the Brandals' healers. It was the infiltrators' turn to attack. He ordered his men to leap from the slope and focused their attack on the healers.
The 25 members of the infiltration team made quick work with the healers in under five minutes. Most of them had splash damage and the Brandal healers didn't have any area healing ability.
It was already beyond their control when both of Brandal leaders noticed the second attack force. Mamelon and the main attack force charged the confused black ctenosaur riders while Smoke and the rest of the infiltrators targeted the Brandal Wizards.
The Druids, Shamans, Crusaders, and Paladins of the coalition made sure to heal everyone of their members. Their enforced five man buddy system worked splendidly against the Brandals.
The five man team was ideally composed of one healer, two melee attackers, and two range attackers. Not all the five man team had this composition but it was imperative that each team had one healer.
The infiltration team took advantage of the Brandal Wizards' handicap against close range attacks. It took less than three minutes to wipe all of them out.
The numbers were almost balanced after Smoke and the infiltrators' accomplished their task. The Brandals were left with 60 black ctenosaur riders and 2 Brandal leaders.
The angered Brandals went after Smoke since they had fewer men. Mamelon was aware that this would happen. That was the real reason why she ordered the Aqua Knights to make the grounds muddy.
The main attack force was able to catch the black ctenosaur riders and attacked them from behind. The Brandals were confused and frustrated. Some of them turned back and faced the main attack force while the others continued on to attack the infiltration team.
Smoke saw the confused state of the Brandals and without any notice he left the Lioumereans and the infiltration team.
He charged through the Brandals. He looked for one of the Brandal leaders and went on a straight line directly to him.
Gandiva and Laernea did their best to keep up with Smoke. The Brandals who saw Smoke coming stood their ground and readied their weapons to strike.
However, Smoke used his newly gained abilities with his Rzeka glaive and knocked back all of the bandits in his path.
His explosive attacks knocked back five to seven bandits. The damage was lesser than a focused attack, but it served its purpose, which was to give Smoke access to the Brandal leader.
One of the Brandal leaders was almost in sight, but the bandits got used to his attacks. As Smoke knocked a few bandits away another group would come back to block his way.
Smoke's aggressive charge placed him in an undesirable predicament. He was now surrounded by the Brandals. The DarkElf was forced to keep on using waving his glaive in 360 degrees. He needed to push them back or it will be the death of him.
Groups of three to six black ctenosaur riders were lunged at Smoke, and he could manage to dodge 75% of their attacks. Smoke's lifebar displayed (42,012/87,360 HP).
The Brandals were so focused on killing Smoke that they failed to notice that their numbers were slowly dwindling.
The Lioumereans and the other infiltrators did their best to kill the bandits that were blown away by Smoke's attacks. Soutien and other healers who had a range healing ability kept on casting 'Heal Balls' and other similar abilities.
Smoke's lifebar was reduced to (21,987/87,360 HP) when the infiltrators finally cleared out 30 of the Brandal bandits.
When the infiltrators were sure that Smoke's life was secured. They shifted their attacks on the Brandal leader.
All of the infiltrators' ranged attacks were thrown on the Brandal Leader.
Then came the onslaught of the melee fighters. On top of their mounts, they galloped towards the Brandal leader and took turns in attacking him to his last HP.
The coalition's surprise attack and five man team formation defeated the Brandals stationed in Mt. Entrave. However, the victory was at a cost.
Eight players died in order to conquer the Brandal base, but as stated in the Pact those players would still receive any future loot acquired until Selatan village.
The Pact members searched through the base and the dropped loot from the dead Brandals. It was estimated that coalition obtained 25,000,000 zecs.
Mamelon eye's grew big when she heard the amount.
"Who knew attacking a Brandal hideout could be so lucrative."
The other members of the coalition shared the Aqua Knight's thoughts. Smoke looked around at everyone's faces. He saw the spark of greed light up in their eyes.
Smoke smiled. He didn't expect that the other racers would voluntarily hunt the Brandals' bases. He estimated that Brandals still had more than 800 men.
The bandits still had a formidable force, but Smoke was satisfied that he was on his way to reduce the threat against Sierra and his private army.
The healers tended to the injured members of the coalition. The persons who had Cooking abilities prepared the food that the Brandals had in stock.
Three hours had passed since they climbed Mt. Entrave. The coalition hastened their pace as they went down the volcano.
On their descent, the members of the Pact saw the parties who chose to pass through the forest. They had reached the entrance of Leiden bridge.
The parties from the forest rested in front of the bridge. Smoke and the rest of the Pact members rode their mounts to their fastest possible speed.
The resting racers heard their thunderous gallops, but they could only watch as Smoke and the Pact members whizzed past them.
* * * * * *
Leiden bridge was one of the widest bridges that Smoke had ever seen. It was made of black bricks. Its width was sixty meters, and its length was nine kilometers.
The moisture from Murray river made the bridge very foggy. The visibility was only a two feet which reduced the Pact member's speeds greatly.
The coalition was ahead of everyone, but they were on a slow pace. Two kilometers into the bridge, and Smoke felt hostile monsters with medium sized body types.
"Everybody stop! I think something's up ahead."
Mamelon quickly called their three Aero Knights. Vent, Gaz, and Blague.
"Guys, we need to see what we're up against."
Immediately, the three Aero Knights used their massive wind flails, and blew the dense fog away. The members were unsettled with what they saw.
A clan of bridge trolls started to climb from below Leiden bridge. Bridge trolls were the smallest of the troll species.
These monsters had green skins and orange hair. They were six foot tall, had irregularly long arms and short legs. Their hair grew from all the strange places. On their backs, elbows, and knees.
Their fang-like teeth, rabbit-like ears, and crumpled nose gave them a terrifying look. These monsters were all equipped with long wooden clubs.
Smoke used his 'Cunning of the Dire Fox' and detected that there were already twenty bridge trolls, and there were some more bridge trolls coming up.
Gandiva spoke to Smoke and Laernea.
"So that's what a bridge troll looks like."
Smoke thought to answer her with...
"Hey, at least it's not an internet troll."
Both the Lioumereans turned their heads, and asked Smoke simultaneously.
"What's that?"
"Never mind. Let's just look for their clan head. I read from one of Caid's books that these bridge trolls will retreat once their head is killed."
In his loudest voice, Smoke shouted this information to the rest of the Pact members. The bridge trolls numbers increased to forty, when Gandiva spotted an eight foot tall bridge troll.
"Everybody, I found him! It's that tall monster on the right side of the bridge."
The DarkElf looked at where the tigress Lioumerean pointed at. He saw the tallest bridge troll in the area. The monster had a long wooden club and a wooden shield.
At once, Smoke yelled out his orders.
"Everybody Train Formation, head for that troll clan head!"
The coalition shifted into the ordered formation. Fifteen persons with Knight job variations were stationed outside, on each side of the Train. Range and healer job variations were placed and protected in the middle.
The three Knights in front held their respective positions while the three Knights at the end of the Train Formation ran to the front.
This formation was slow but it gave them the best possible offensive and defensive power. The range attackers converged their attacks on the bridge troll clan head while the healers focused their energies on the Knights who defended them.
The Knights outside only used their abilities that could knock back their opponents. When one of the bridge trolls was damaged. It revealed its lifebar to be (162,208/170,000 HP).
The ranged attacks irritated the clan head of the bridge trolls. It started to escape down the bridge. Smoke instantly took action.
However, it was Soutien, the Druid on top of the wind scorpion, who got to the bridge troll clan head first. He tried to bind the beast with his Druid magic, but it was ineffective.
The bridge troll boss swung his gigantic wooden club and blew Soutien off his wind scorpion. The intelligent wind scorpion reflexively moved to the direction where Soutien was thrown and caught its rider.
Smoke knew that Soutien would be killed if he didn't reach them in time. He made Ental run her fastest possible speed. The hell boar pushed herself to the limits. Smoke leapt off of his hell boar and with both his hands drove his Rzeka glaive into the clan head's skull.
+ Attack hit bridge troll clan head: Balader. +STUNNED. +FIRE DMG. CRITICAL HIT. Damage 7,451.
The monster was stunned for three seconds. Smoke moved to the bridge trolls' front side to give a clear shot to the arrows that flew right after.
The bridge troll clan head revealed its lifebar to be at (314,921/350,000 HP). The three second stun duration was almost done when Tirer, the other Flame Knight from Confiance used his stun ability.
The Pact members gained another three second window. Smoke, Tirer, and Virer took turns to stun the bridge troll clan head.
Two thirds of the coalition focused made a triangular defensive formation while the remainder of their members kept on with their attacks. Their synchronized attacks and stuns killed the monster in two minutes and thirty one seconds.
When the other bridge trolls saw that their clan head died, the monsters ran for their lives and leapt off the bridge.
Members of the Infime guild and other guilds who rested at the entrance of the Leiden bridge saw the entire event.
As the body of the bridge troll clan head started to fade, Smoke picked up a unique ring.
+ Acquired unique ring: Balader's Ringen.
Smoke wanted to inspect the Boss loot but the item disappeared. It was automatically placed into auction, as it was stated in their Non Aggression Pact.
With Lieden bridge cleared from the thick fog and stinky bridge trolls, the front runners of the Mounted Race rode the long road towards the western village of Barat in peace.
