17 Shield Formation

The moment Su Chen's voice subsided.

The troops immediately set off to work. The 40 level 12 [ Swordsman ], who used to be disciplined soldiers, carried out their orders without any hesitation and without much supervision.

Among the remaining 60 level 10 mercenaries, 40 of them were [ Warriors ] and the rest were [ Archers ].

They slowly joined their formations, with 20 Warriors following behind the former guards and 20 [ Warriors ] protecting the 20 [ Archers ] .

According to Wu Lie's previous investigations, there were a total of 44 Mountain Bandits guarding the entrances to Bianshan Mountain at night, and among these 44, 11 of them were guarding the entrance nearest to Wu Lie and his men.

10 of the patrolling Mountain Bandits were level 10, whereas the one who was sitting front and center and enjoying his drinks was level 11.

Although it seemed like a rather weak line of defense, one must keep in mind that the guards posted were not meant to deter against intruders. Rather, their main task was to deliver the message of intruders!

So long as the message had been sent out, all other Mountain Bandits would come rushing on scene to push back the intruders.

Su Chen's plan involved having the Archers kill their targets in one hit. By doing so, it would avoid the other bandits of being alerted to their presence.

Su Chen, who was surrounded by 20 Heavy Shield Warriors and had no real way of eyeing the situation, had passed the chain of command back to Wu Lie. As a former Decurion, Su Chen was confident in Wu Lie's ability to lead the troops.

Wu Lie waved the flag in his hand.

Immediately after, the 20 Archers fired their fully taut arrows from the shadows!!

109!

116!

113!

108!

The Arrows rained down like a storm!

According to Su Chen's plan, each Archer would be assigned their own target, with 2 Archers sharing one target. As such, they would be able to deal 200+ damage in the first wave of the attack!

The 10 bandits' HP had dropped by half!

"CHARGE!"

The moment the arrow rain had subsided, the level 12 soldiers who were at the vanguard charged forward. They slashed down at the bandits who had already lost half their health, killing them immediately!

Streaks of white light flashed one after another!

None of the 10 bandits had even manage to let out a whimper.

Meanwhile, the level 11 bandit was the only one who had survived the two waves of barrage leaped into action. He hurriedly brought out the item that would notify his allies of the intruders, but before he even had the chance to use it...

Boom!

721!

Su Chen's flames enveloped him, turning him into an orb of white light that disappeared into the night.

The 721 points of damage was overkill against his 500 points of HP!

Upon seeing this scene, the troops that Wu Lie had brought were in equal parts shocked and inspired.

Wu Lie ordered his troops to press forward.

Su Chen who was surrounded by 20 Warriors began advancing together with the troops towards the center of the mountain.

Su Chen did not know what reward awaited him at the end of the hidden quest. However, if he could really manage to take down all the bandits present, he would gain enough experience points to advance to level 12.

With the skill points obtained via leveling up, he would finally be able to upgrade his [ Fireball ] to level 21 and obtain the reward for reaching level 20 in the process.

Two minutes later.

Wu Lie and Su Chen were standing side by side once again.

The area in front of them was completely flat. Many shabby buildings were scattered across the terrain, and judging by how brightly lit it was, it was clear at a glance that the buildings housed many individuals.

Now that they had successfully broken past the first line of defense, the next phase of the plan was to locate the kidnapped women.

"This is the only way to reach the peak of the mountain. The only way forward is via brute force now."

"I've done my research. Seeing how brightly lit this area is, it probably means that they're holding a banquet. We won't be able to sneak our way in this time."

Wu Lie's face was filled with killing intent as he said softly to Su Chen.

"Then we'll kill our way in and find the women or interrogate the bandits."

Su Chen immediately replied.

Despite needing to face 300+ Mountain Bandits, Su Chen and Wu Lie who were armed with 100 men had no choice but to force their way in.

"CHARGE!!"

Wu Lie roared, his thunderous voice reverberating in the air.

40 [ Swordsman ] guards and 20 [ Warrior ] mercenaries obeyed his command and rushed forward!

The [ Archer ]s also followed slowly and attacked from a distance.

Su Chen temporarily broke off the formation and led the 20 Heavy Shield Warriors into the fray.

However, the bandits' reacted quickly as well. Although there were dozens of bandits who were clearly inebriated and were in no condition to fight...

The remaining bandits immediately leaped into action.

"B*stards!"

"Where the hell did these soldiers come from?!"

"All of you, Get the f*ck up!"

Furious roars continued to ring out.

The leader, who was third-in-charge in the bandits' chain of command, stood up to guide his brethren at this moment. He waved his hand and drew his sword as he rushed forward to engage in a chaotic battle against Wu Lie and the others.

176!

183!

191!

213!

Damage values continuously jumped out.

Meanwhile, the level 15 Wu Lie swung his blade around, dealing 260+ damage to his surroundings. With just two slashes, he had finished off the bandits surrounding him!

However, the bandits still had the advantage in numbers. Very quickly, they began to overwhelm the troops, and some of the bandits were even heading towards the backline, towards the Archers and Su Chen.

The situation began to shift in favor of the bandits.

Despite the circumstances, Wu Lie, who was also in a predicament of his own, was unable to lend his aid to his troops. It was all he could do to keep himself alive in the chaos of the battle.

"Kill them all!"

The level 15 third-in-command shouted. The bandits began to counterattack. After all, they had the advantage in numbers.

The level 12 guards quickly fell under the assault, and half of the level 10 Heavy Shield Warriors had already perished.

With their cover lost, the Archers soon found themselves surrounded by the bandits.

It was an extremely precarious situation.

Seeing this, Su Chen, who originally wanted to head straight to the peak to fight the level 20 Bandit Leader, stopped in his tracks.

[ Fireball ] and [ Lifesteal ] were instantly unleashed.

719!

100!

The pale blue hue of his flames was extremely dazzling. However, hiding behind this beauty was a fearsome and deadly force. Upon being struck by the flames, the fours bandits who were gathered together immediately perished. They turned into streaks of white light and disappeared, leaving behind some wild beast materials in the process.

The bandits who had witnessed the scene were at a loss for words.

The third leader's gaze turned cold, and he immediately led his men to charge towards Su Chen.

"Form up!"

Su Chen shouted.

The 20 level 10 [ Heavy Shield Warriors ] that had been around him throughout the entire battle instantly formed a phalanx formation, defending Su Chen behind several layers of shields.

They had even given up on attacking to ensure Su Chen's safety.

Boom!

The mountain bandits that were crowded together were instantly blown into smithereens by the AOE of Su Chen's [ Fireball ].

Six Mountain Bandits had been killed in a single hit! It was a new record for the number of targets hit for Su Chen!

The green rank necklace around Su Chen's neck immediately got to work, reducing the cooldown of his skill in the process.

Small Fireballs exploded continuously throughout the battlefield!

Since Wu Lie had deactivated friendly fire in advance, Su Chen was not worried that he would harm his allies.

Su Chen threw two fireballs at the enemies targeting the Archers and immediately got them out of their pinch. With that, they could now join Su Chen in providing the other troops the cover fire they needed!

While his [ Fireball ] was on cooldown, Su Chen made sure to cast [ Lifesteal ] on his enemies. Aside from that, he also used [ Gourd Arts ] on Wu Lie once he saw that his health was dropping low.

Although Wu Lie's troops were gaining the upper hand again, the down side to it all was that Su Chen's supply of mana potions was depleting at a crazy rate.

Fortunately, Su Chen's indiscriminate bombardment had also caused the bandits to fear him. After their initial frenzied charges, they no longer dared to come near Su Chen any longer.

This gave Su Chen more opportunities to cast spells. Aside from that, it had also opened a path for Su Chen and his Heavy Shield Warriors to gradually approach Wu Lie and the other soldiers.

If the bandits wanted to get close to them, they would need to get pass Su Chen's iron wall formation.

However, doing so would also lead to their deaths!

A vast of white streaks could be seen as Su Chen's experience bar rapidly filled.

At this moment, Su Chen was like a "moving cannon"!

Su Chen had turned the tides of battle!