Eyeless (5)

It wasn't like Lotho was worried for the lives of the knights, they would easily kill off the remaining guards. The problem was the image, as already from the start operation Eyeless would have a hard time succeeding in the future trial.

Lotho didn't know as much as Iris or Commander Naumov, but from what he had heard the moment the operation is over, they will return to the Capital in order to handle the eventual chaos the major groups will cause once the news spreads. As such the more negative news that can be used against them, the worst image for the Gallow family and Adjest Ether, which although wouldn't directly impact Lotho, may have some negative effects.

It was also this reason he was uncertain about setting the armory on fire, as unlike those on the corpses of the rats, burnt goods were difficult to salvage and reuse. The situation however didn't give him the luxury of time, as the tension rose and the need to return to the inner ring increased.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, as good as Lotho was as a leader, he was no commander and lacked the experience to make a solid judgement, something even Fenrir did better than himself due to the higher fascination in history and knowledge compared to the knight. That didn't mean he knew nothing, however as much as the training of knights seemed to value knowledge, it was not a primary focus and only cared for foundational information.

The decision was out of his hand however when the people whom Lotho presumed would simply remain bunkered in the armory until daylight or longer suddenly charged out, overwhelming the unexpected and exhausted forces in the area. Unlike those who died earlier with the more easier to obtain resources, these men were not only more experienced, but had also had time to properly get comfortable and find the right fit for their needs.

As such whilst the guards and knights were bordering conflict, both sides found themselves suddenly attacked, costing them each good lives. Lotho was also unable to act in aid, as it seemed the rats were aware of his strength and prioritized their attention on him, leaving the knight vulnerable.

Their attack did not succeed in defeating Lotho swiftly, since the knight was always trained to be aware and prepared for battle, to such a degree that he would bring his sword even during his walks in the night. The equipment the rats wore however made it impossible for a swift victory, the nature of Lothos blade and fighting style poorly suited against heavily armored foes.

With this the fighting raged on, a smaller yet far more ferocious number of rats against the much superior forces of the knights and guards, which were caught off-guard.

In time the leader of the rat group revealed himself from the armory soon into the fight, he himself easily overpowering any guards who tried to defeat him. The knights faired better, however were never able to fight the leader for long as although they could overpower him, rats soon would come to the aid of their leader and draw the attention away.

Only Lotho found the proper opportunity to fight the leader, and that only came after he had defeated the initial attack launched towards him. The head of the rat group responded to the challenge by also charging towards Lotho, the two intent on killing the other.

Shouts of pain and war-cries echoed throughout the area as the two faced off, neither able to get and advantage on the other. It was easy for Lotho to dodge the attacks of his opponent due to the lack of professional training and the prior training against a speedy and highly lethal opponent that was Blindness. However he also failed to get any attacks in, as the exhaustion that came from the constant need to heal himself was beginning to slow his senses.

Any attack that did exploit an opening however found itself against the cold metal of the armor the rat wore, a set which unfortunately fit them very well. Despite the armory being for guards, it was more accurate to say it was an emergency supply depot for knights and trainees to equip themselves should they be in Trowan unprepared.

Normally armories within the more internal region of the Kingdom would be less equipped, yet Trowan was not only a place in direct control of the Crown, but was also notorious for needing the presence of knights many times throughout its history. As such the armory was more than well stocked to properly equip the rats whom had previously breached in.

A series of small slashes launched towards the underworld lord and the battle turned towards Lothos favor even with his exhaustion draining his mind. Along with that the knights and remaining guards had not only gotten control of the situation, but also received reinforcements in the form of other branches of the wall and other units belonging to Lotho.

With this the pressure of the situation finally died down, the armory soon reconquered along with the encirclement of the remaining rats. To the annoyance of Lotho however, instead of surrendering despite being aware of the encirclement, the rats fought till their last breath, very unlike what Lotho had initially expected.

Then again, he had also not expected them to breach an armory, the situation clearly more extreme than even Iris had predicted, and she had built up the knowledge over the past two years.

It was over the moment Lotho sliced off the head of the last rat, his words a curse towards all those present, yet none of them cared for it. Sadly there was a lot of cleaning up and reorganizing of forces, leaving Lotho to only hope and pray that the other regions weren't going as badly as his did.

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His prayers were unanswered as the worst region of operation Eyeless found itself in ruin. Unlike the other regions they had planned in accordance to the potential attack from adventurers, yet they had not expected them to fight for as long and as aggressively as they did. Many times were knights ambushed, costing the already small number of men a notable portion of their men.

They were never entirely defeated, as once the situation started to get serious and they witnessed the blood of their companions on the weapons of the adventurers, they fought just as aggressively if not more so, desperate to avenge their companions. The only units to not suffer any casualties was that of Pauls and Mimis, simply because Nia was as fearsome as her image preceded.

Many adventurers had heard of the massacre of rats, which scared of the younger ones and only left the older and more confident ones to fight the masked warrior. They all found death at the end of Nia's spear or Reins legs, none left alive as the chaotic situation worked more in Nia's favor than the enemies.

Because of the chaos civilians were quickly evacuated, the many safehouses proving their worth as the emergency medicine and food provided helped calm the tense people of Trowan. The problem was that there was never a perfect outcome, and not only had fires started in many of the places Nia had attacked, some by her and some by the defenders, but these fires had also started to grow out of control, now harming the people Nia was supposed to protect.

She didn't care for the people, yet knew well enough that the more damage was caused the worst her future image would look and as such did as much as she could with what little resources she had. If there was one advantage, it was that the rats came to her, as many believed that through the chaos they would have a chance of removing what they viewed as the biggest hurdle to their safety.

"Shit! Leader, we are surrounded!"

Knight Mimi couldn't help but shout out, the blood from one of the scratches on her head clouding her vision. Nia had kept them alive with her swift and decisive victories, but it did not mean the knights and trainees did not bloody their hands, many of them growing tired from the constant fighting and incredible heat the nearby flames emitted.

Mimi herself was completely caught off-guard by the situation, as no matter how extreme the image in her mind about moving alongside Blindness it did not reach this level. The smell of burnt meat and blood was making her gut twist in horrible ways, yet all she could do was stomach the regurgitating feeling, unable to lose focus for a moment as another adventurer with a small axe charged her.

Before Knight Mimi could prepare to fight back Nia's spear pierced the skull of the adventurer, killing her immediately. That did not calm the situation down one bit however as more and more people started to attack the group as they marched slowly towards the Adventurer Guild, a new intent founded within the mission.

Before they had no intention of attacking the Guild itself as that would bring the operation outside of Trowan, yet that was before the adventurers started to violate the Kingdoms law and refuse surrender, even when the situation was as chaotic as it was now. That paired with the constant shouts about the aggression the knights were somehow showing towards the Adventurers Guild, it had become too much for Nia's troops, now their desire to remove the Adventurer Guild too extreme for Nia to stop them.

Not that she had any intention to anyways, as to her the image adventurers showed were worst than even bandits, and she had seen some truly horrible bandits throughout her time in Misty forest.

Now however they found themselves surrounded, a combination of adventurers, rats and fire keeping the small group of people with Nia trapped within the middle of the street.

"Defensive formation!"

Nia wasn't fully aware of what defensive formation her men would adopt, however she was confident that upon her shout they would immediately create one that prepared them for an attack from all fronts. There was only so much planning they could do and military tactics were not among them, as such she relied strongly on the direct command of the lieutenants and the training of Commander Naumov to keep them safe in this moment.

Mimi and Paul soon echoed her command, the other knights and trainees soon doing a controlled retreat that allowed them to all watch each others backs and protect from archery fire. Only Nia remained outside of this formation, her speed upon Rein far too great for even the tight encirclement to keep her trapped.

So instead Nia focused on those with heavier weapons and the leaders of the groups, removing them from the danger and in hopes of finding an opportunity to break free of the encirclement. There was no chance of breaking through the now intense flames of the building, whilst breaking the rats to the north would be easy, but set them back greatly and leave their flanks exposed to the adventurers in the south.

As such Nia only saw forward as the only positive outcome, her first targets however being the rats. Nia's intent was to scare them away, leaving the reinforcements of the other units and Naumovs men to clean-up whilst she pushed forward towards the Adventurer Guild. Then with them cleaned up, the knights and trainees were to charge alongside Nia and overwhelm the mercenaries with a surprise attack, enough that they were forced to retreat and give Nia and her men some time to breath.