At midnight on the second Tuesday in December, a waning moon hung over Thorne.
There has been no rain or snow in the past few days, and the roads in the city are still dry, so there is only a slight sound of footsteps on the road under the cotton-covered boots.
On the street leading to the North Watergate Free Market in the west of the city, about twenty men in black divided into two teams and followed the shadows of the eaves of the shops on both sides to quietly move towards a mansion in the free market in the north of the city. The twenty or so people all remained silent, and there was no sound except for the rustling of quick steps.
The closer they got to the mansion, the lighter the steps of the men in black became and the slower their speed became, until they were all squatting and lurking about three hundred steps away from the mansion, waiting quietly.
There was a room on the second floor of a tavern next to the mansion three hundred steps away. Several unusual sounds of doors being broken and tables being thrown were interrupted by the sharp sound of a sharp knife piercing the throat before they could be heard far. There was silence for a moment, and a faint candlelight flickered in the guest room for three seconds. The candlelight was not dazzling, so it was difficult to attract attention.
But its effect has been exerted - the man in black more than 300 steps away began to move again.
After arriving more than a hundred steps in front of the mansion, the men in black stopped again. Four men in black, led by a scarred leader, left the group and moved towards the back wall of the mansion.
After the five black figures disappeared, the group of men in black continued to move forward and reached the front wall of the mansion.
"Meat!" The leader of the men in black said softly to the men around him.
The men in black took out two large pieces of mutton that had been soaked in highly toxic potion for two days and then braised with spices from their arms. They took a rough look at the location of the wall and threw it in.
After a while, there was a slight noise from the inside of the wall, followed by the sound of two vicious dogs fighting to tear the mutton. After a while, several vicious dogs whined one after another.
"Act!" The leader in black gave the order, and two men in black came out. One was squatting in the corner, while the other took a few steps back and rushed forward, stepping on the shoulders of his companion in the corner to jump onto the wall.
The man in black who climbed up the wall did not rush to jump off the wall. Instead, he lowered his head and looked for something on the inside of the wall.
Sure enough, the man in black riding on the wall found several bell-like objects at the root of the inner wall. He found the open space next to the bells and jumped down lightly. His cotton-covered boots did not make too much noise.
The man in black who entered the inside carefully walked along the wall to the gate of the mansion. Along the way, he nimbly avoided several places where bells were hidden, and bypassed two vicious dogs that were lying on the ground vomiting blood and foaming at the mouth.
At the gate, the man in black held the short knife in his mouth and fumbled gently on the door rail. After a while, he found a string tied to the door rail. The end of this string was Assassin's hand in the mansion. In the first wooden house, three of Assassin's killers lived. The rope was connected to a hanging clay pot in that wooden house. Once the string was torn off, the clay pot would fall and shatter, and the killer in charge of the first line of defense in the house would immediately wake up.
The man in black slowly tied the string to the doorpost next to him, then slowly lifted the door bar and put it aside. The door of the mansion was gently opened...
Until this time, the surroundings were still quiet and cold.
Seventeen or eight men in black waiting outside immediately raised their strung crossbows and poured into the mansion through the gap in the door. Then the door of the mansion was closed again.
The men in black who sneaked in immediately divided into three groups. Two groups of small men in black approached the wooden houses on both sides of the courtyard, and the remaining ten or so people went straight to the main house.
Boom! Boom! Bang!
A man in black holding a quarrying hammer smashed open the main door of the main house in three blows. Behind him, the man in black holding a crossbow rushed into the main house. A moment later, the sound of crossbow arrows piercing flesh and weapons colliding could be heard...
In the wooden house on the left side of the main house, a young man in black used his whole body to press a man in a linen robe. The young man in black held a short-handled single sword in both hands. The man's eyes were getting closer and closer, and the man below him stared at the wrist of the young man in black with both hands, trying desperately to keep the tip of the knife farther away from him. However, the young man in black gritted his teeth, sprayed saliva, and used his weight to press the single knife down little by little. The eyes of the man on the ground opened wider and wider, and his fear became deeper and deeper.
Suddenly, the man on the ground slammed his knee into the back of the young man in black. The young man in black lost his balance and lost his balance. The man on the ground also twisted his sword and the young man in black was thrown sideways to the ground.
The man who was originally pinned to the ground and almost stabbed to death with a single knife took the opportunity to stand up and push the young man in black to the ground with his backhand. He knocked the single knife out of the young man in black's hand and pinched his hands around the neck of the young man in black.
The young man in black was suddenly at a disadvantage and lost his weapon. He could not push away the hands that were strangling his neck. His hands could only tear at the person who was strangling his neck. His entire face was filled with bloodshot eyes and veins.
At this moment, a short sword pierced the man's back vest from behind, and the hand that was strangling the young man in black suddenly loosened.
The young man in black quickly stood up, breathing heavily while looking in horror at the man on the ground who had been stabbed in the heart and was struggling and twitching with his mouth open...
"Matthew! What the hell are you looking at! Just pick up your weapon and keep fighting before you die! You weakling!" The man in black who had just stabbed the dagger into the enemy's heart yelled at the young man in black on the ground, then raised his hand and nailed the sword into the man's eye socket, killing him.
This young man in black is officially an apprentice officer of the Welsh Legion, Matthew. As the son of a bandit, Matthew finally became a legionnaire as he wished after going through the parish school and the officer academy. However, neither he nor the apprentices transferred from the parish schools have ever experienced combat. , so after the training at the Officer Academy, they were placed in the Welsh Legion and started as ordinary soldiers. If a few of them can pass the assessment in half a year, they can successfully become officers and serve as "unranked officers" such as squad captains. Those who perform well in one year can become squadron leaders and above.
This task force was selected by Ron to participate in this task force because Matthew was a bandit with considerable courage and cleverness. He was also the youngest in the task force.
In the action just now, Matthew and two other task force soldiers rushed into the room where four enemies lived. The other two used crossbows and daggers to quickly kill the three enemies. However, Matthew rushed in and panicked. The crossbow failed to hit the target. In the desperate situation, there was no time to cock the arrow again. Matthew had to put down the crossbow and draw a single sword to fight with the enemy. This was the scene just now...
The battle ended smoothly in the wooden house on the left, but a brutal fight and three sharp whistles came from the right. It was obvious that the offensive and defensive sides were locked in a deadly battle.
Hunting started in the main house at this time, but Matthew and his group ignored the main house and rushed directly into the wooden house on the right.
In the wooden house on the right, the battle has reached a stalemate.
Time goes back for a moment.
Because he was close to the gate of the mansion, the sound outside just now woke up the killer in the house. Before the man in black entered the house, one of the killers opened his eyes and took out the hatchet leaning against him, and shook the other two companions from their sleep.
As soon as the man in black rushed into the house, the killer swung his hand towards the door and threw the hatchet in his hand. The hatchet hit the first man in the chest with such force that it broke the sternum of the man in black.
Luckily, the other men in black who rushed into the house did not give the killer in the house a second chance. In one breath, three crossbow arrows flew towards the bed in the house, hitting one of them with a "pop".
The killer who had just thrown the hatchet had already rushed off the bed, pulled out a short sword from the weapon rack on the bedside, and pounced on the man in black who jumped into the door.
The man in black casually pushed the empty hand crossbow to his back and hung it, then took off the single dagger in his mouth and fought with the killer who came over. Two men in black faced off against two killers, and soon there was a melee between weapons in the room.
The man in black who entered this wooden house was only a veteran of the Wells Regiment. The other two, including the injured one who fell to the ground, were all selected recruits. Although they were strong and excellent in training, they were still a little overwhelmed in the face of this sudden close-quarters fighting.
The veteran stabbed the killer in front of him in the thigh with a sword. Just as he was about to lift the sword to wipe his throat, he heard the voice of the recruit in black next to him screaming for help in the darkness. The killer had already strangled his throat and stabbed his chest with the short knife. He opened his eyes wide and held the blade tightly, but the blade penetrated his chest inch by inch.
The veteran wanted to return for reinforcements, but the opponent in front of him who had injured his thigh had already pounced on him, so he had to regain his consciousness and concentrate on dealing with the crisis in front of him.
The recruit next to him was stabbed in the heart with a sharp blade. He struggled and screamed a few times before collapsing. The killer pulled out the dagger and spurted out a stream of blood.
Seeing that only one man in black was still able to fight, the situation in the room was about to reverse. It was the man in black with his ribs smashed on the ground who endured severe pain beside him. Finally he touched the hand crossbow that had fallen aside, raised his right hand that was shaking from the severe pain, and aimed at the killer who had stabbed one person and was preparing to support his companions.
Boom——Boom!
The hand holding the crossbow was shaking so much that the crossbow arrow came out of the arrow trough and was nailed into the wooden wall behind the killer.
With one of his companions dead and one injured, the man in black who was fighting the killer was getting increasingly difficult to attack. He shouted loudly at the injured on the ground: "Whistle! Whistle!!!"
Compared with the battle in the wooden house on the right, the battle in the main mansion was much smoother.
After the heavy hammer knocked down the door of the main house, more than a dozen people filed in. If the several Assassin killers living in the wooden house were a little alert because they were the first line of defense in the mansion, those Assassin members living in the main house were much more careless.
It is not difficult to understand that Thorne City is safe. It is the foundation of Count Bernard and the territory under his direct jurisdiction. There is no danger in the city, and the city garrison plays a real role. Moreover, Assassin also placed secret sentries outside the mansion's lair.
At the beginning, they were still a little worried, so several of Assassin's evil leaders would randomly check the defenses in the middle of the night every day. The defenses here were once watertight.
After a few months, their vigilance has somewhat declined, but internal and external hidden sentries, special alarm devices on the walls, and thin gate wires are arranged and managed every day. Such defense is indeed very tight.
But the leaders of Assassin obviously did not expect that someone would spend seven or eight days in advance observing sentinels after catching the killer members and asking for details, so most Assassin members still did not wake up until they were stabbed.
Although there were several resistances in the middle, those who invaded the main house were basically veterans of the Welsh Legion. They used crossbows, arrows and daggers to quickly kill or knock out the ordinary Assassin killers in the main house.
In the corridor on the second floor of the mansion, two of the three core members of Assassin were controlled by the men in black who rushed up, and the remaining one jumped out of the window and escaped.
The three of them immediately reacted with alarm after hearing the sound of the door being broken downstairs, so they picked up the machetes in their arms and opened the door to prepare for resistance.
Angus, who went upstairs with four elite veterans, did not give the three men a chance to go downstairs to organize a resistance. Five hand crossbows fired at the three people. The two were hit by arrows on the spot and fell down after struggling for a moment. However, the lethality of the hand crossbows was not great, and the two were only knocked down by the toxins on the crossbow arrows.
The remaining person escaped because he was lucky enough to be blocked by the flying arrows by the two people in front. Seeing that something was wrong, he immediately turned around and retreated into the room, closed the door, picked up a pile of clothes with a machete, and jumped out of the window...