100\% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full? Chapter 852 - 862 - Attack

The first volley struck before the Iron Jackals understood that the village was awake.

Crossbow strings snapped almost together.

Bolts flew from the darkness and crossed the illuminated ground before the men near the gate had time to react.

The first attacker fell backward with one hand still reaching toward the wood. Another spun sideways when a bolt entered beneath his raised arm. A third dropped his shield with a scream.

The road erupted into confusion.

"Cover!"

The command came quickly.

The Iron Jackals recovered faster than ordinary bandits would have.

Shields rose.

Several men immediately moved toward the edges of the road to avoid bunching together.

Their bowmen searched for targets.

They found darkness.

The lamps Lucien had placed outside the village worked exactly as intended. The light illuminated the attackers while leaving the defenders difficult to distinguish behind the wall.

Another volley followed.

This time, more bolts struck shields.

Lucien raised his hand.

"Hold."

The crossbowmen stopped.

Several villagers had already begun reaching for another shot, but they obeyed.

The Jackals advanced behind their shields.

Their leader recovered from the surprise quickly.

Lucien identified him almost immediately.

The man was older than most of the others and wore a dark breastplate reinforced around the shoulders. Several scars crossed his face, and the broad sword in his hand looked well used.

He pointed toward the gate.

Six men moved forward under overlapping shields.

Lucien watched them closely.

Seran remained beside him.

"They usually do this," Seran whispered.

Lucien glanced over.

"They rush the obvious opening?"

Seran nodded. "Then someone circles around while everybody watches the gate."

Lucien smiled faintly.

Seran looked toward him. "You already prepared for that."

Lucien returned his attention to the attackers.

The first group reached the gate.

One man tried to wedge a metal bar between the doors.

A long hook dropped from above the wall and caught the upper edge of his shield.

Two villagers pulled hard.

The shield jerked upward.

A spear drove into the exposed space beneath it.

The man collapsed.

Another attacker stepped forward to help him.

A second hook caught his arm and dragged him sideways against the wall.

The men behind them shoved closer.

Lucien gave the next signal.

The gate opened halfway.

The Iron Jackals hesitated.

They had expected resistance.

They had not expected the village to open the entrance for them.

Luke stood behind the gap with the shield line.

"Hold!"

The attackers rushed in.

The narrow approach swallowed them.

The first impact drove through the villagers like a physical shock.

Wood slammed against wood.

Metal struck shields.

Tavian nearly lost his footing when a larger man crashed into his side of the line.

Luke shouted beside him.

"Feet!"

Tavian remembered the training and widened his stance.

The attacker shoved again.

Tavian held.

A spear came through the opening beside his shield and entered the man’s body.

He dropped.

Tavian stared at him.

The villager behind Tavian had just killed another human being.

For half a second, the entire section seemed to freeze.

Lucien saw the hesitation immediately.

It was the moment he had warned them about.

Another Jackal raised his sword.

"Eyes forward!" Lucien shouted.

Tavian reacted just in time.

His shield came up.

The blade struck wood instead of his neck.

That broke the paralysis.

The formation began moving again.

Nobody chased.

Nobody stepped beyond the line.

The shield bearers absorbed the pressure while the spearmen attacked through the gaps.

When one of the Jackals tried slipping toward the side, Auren and two other villagers caught him with long poles and dragged him off balance.

The man fell hard.

Auren froze.

The attacker reached for a knife.

Auren drove his spear downward.

His body shook afterward.

He stared at the blood on the weapon for a moment.

Another attacker came.

Auren raised the spear again.

Behind the front line, Mirelle fired.

Her first bolt struck a shield.

Her second entered the thigh of a man trying to climb near the edge of the gate.

He fell.

Mirelle reached for another bolt and fumbled it because her fingers were trembling.

Aurelia caught it before it struck the ground and handed it back.

Their eyes met.

Neither needed to say anything.

Mirelle loaded again.

The Iron Jackals had begun to understand the situation.

They had expected frightened villagers hiding in their houses.

They had walked into a prepared defense.

Their better armor still mattered.

Their weapons were stronger than what most villages possessed.

Lucien had already accounted for both.

"Go low!"

The order passed along the formation.

The spearmen changed their targets.

They stopped attacking breastplates and began aiming for the places armor could not protect completely.

Thighs. Knees. The gaps beneath shields. The spaces beneath raised arms.

Seran had spent days explaining what the Iron Jackals normally wore.

Lucien had used that information while training the villagers.

A man rushed forward carrying a metal-reinforced shield.

A crossbow bolt struck his chest and glanced away.

The man laughed.

Luke stepped forward and hooked the edge of the shield with his axe.

The shield shifted aside.

A farmer drove a spear into the exposed leg.

The laughter disappeared.

Elsewhere, several Jackals tried moving along the outside of the wall.

They expected darkness to hide them.

Lucien had already prepared that ground.

The soil near that section had been deliberately left uneven.

One attacker stumbled into a shallow ditch.

Another slowed to help him.

Bolts came from a concealed platform farther inside.

Two men fell.

The others retreated toward the trees.

Seran watched the battle with a growing expression of disbelief.

He had known Lucien’s preparations were thorough.

Seeing them work against real attackers was something else entirely.

The villagers were frightened.

They made mistakes.

Some thrust too early.

Some missed.

One man dropped his spear after his first kill and vomited behind the shield line before forcing himself to pick the weapon up again.

They were still holding.

Lucien had never expected them to fight like trained soldiers.

He had built the formation so they would not need to.

Everyone knew where to stand.

When someone faltered, another villager filled the opening.

When the front line tired, Lucien rotated them before exhaustion ruined their footing.

When the Iron Jackals shifted pressure toward one side, the reserve moved there.

Most of the difficult decisions had already been made during training.

The villagers only needed to remember them.

The leader of the Iron Jackals noticed too.

His face became uglier with every passing minute.

"Push through!"

He entered the formation himself.

The pressure changed immediately.

He struck Luke’s shield with enough force to crack one of the planks.

Luke staggered.

The leader followed with another swing.

Luke caught it against the rim of the shield and was driven backward.

A spearman attacked through the opening.

The leader slapped the spear aside with his sword.

Lucien’s eyes narrowed.

The man was strong.

More importantly, he knew how to fight.

Lucien started toward the center.

Seran caught his arm.

"Do not."

Lucien looked at him.

Seran nodded toward the leader.

"He is trying to draw someone important forward. If you close in, he will use you to break the line or make room for himself."

Lucien watched the man again.

Seran knew these people.

Lucien trusted that judgment.

"Then let him think he is succeeding."

Luke continued holding.

The leader pushed.

The formation gave him half a step.

Then another.

His confidence grew.

Lucien closed his hand.

The shield line separated briefly.

The leader saw the opening and stepped through.

Several Iron Jackals followed him.

Then the villagers on both sides closed again.

Hooks came from the flanks.

One caught a sword arm.

Another caught the rear edge of a shield.

The attackers lost their momentum.

The opening became a pocket.

The leader realized it almost immediately.

"Back!"

Crossbows fired from both sides.

Two men behind him dropped.

Another turned to retreat and collided with the people still trying to push forward.

The pocket tightened.

Lucien had built the formation around one principle.

No attacker should ever be allowed to fight only one villager.

The Iron Jackals began falling faster.

Some tried retreating.

Others panicked.

Several rushed toward the sides of the wall and found prepared defenders waiting for them.

The villagers held their positions.

By then, the first shock of killing had passed.

Fear remained.

So did horror.

Those emotions no longer stopped them from moving.

Their friends were bleeding.

Luke’s shield was cracked.

One villager had a deep cut across his shoulder.

Another had taken an arrow through the forearm.

Nobody on Lucien’s side had died.

He intended to keep it that way.

The Iron Jackals’ leader saw the battle turning.

His eyes shifted toward the road.

Lucien noticed immediately.

Seran did too.

"He’s going to run."

Lucien’s expression hardened.

They could not allow anyone to escape.

The villagers needed time.

If a survivor reached the city tonight and reported that the village had slaughtered the Iron Jackals, the noble behind them could act before Lucien had a chance to present the ledger and explain what had happened.

They needed to control what came next.

Lucien handed his spear to the nearest villager.

"Father!"

Luke turned.

Lucien pointed toward the retreating leader.

Luke’s expression changed.

"My boy!"

Lucien was already moving.

He climbed the inner support of the wall and dropped over the lower section.

Luke stepped forward instinctively.

Seran moved first.

"I’ll go with him."

He jumped down after Lucien.

Luke watched both of them for a fraction of a second before another attacker forced him to turn back toward the formation.

Lucien landed hard.

Pain shot through his knees.

His mortal body complained immediately.

He ignored it and ran.

The leader had already gained distance.

For someone wearing armor, he moved quickly.

Seran caught up beside Lucien within moments.

"Your father is going to kill me."

"He’ll have to wait."

"Very reassuring."

The leader glanced back.

He saw them.

Then his eyes found Seran.

His face twisted with rage.

He ran faster.

Lucien judged the distance.

He’s too far.

In his old body, the gap would have meant nothing.

Here, he had to obey the limits of human legs.

Seran suddenly looked toward the road.

His hand dropped.

Lucien saw him pick up a stone without slowing much.

Seran weighed it once in his palm.

Then he threw.

The stone crossed the darkness and struck the back of the leader’s knee precisely as his weight came down on that leg.

The joint buckled.

The man crashed forward.

Armor scraped against the road.

Lucien looked at Seran.

Seran smiled.

"What?"

Lucien returned his attention to the fallen man.

"Nothing."

"You were impressed."

"Keep moving."

They reached the leader before he could fully recover.

The man rolled and forced himself onto one knee with his sword already raised.

His breathing had become heavy.

Blood ran from a cut near his temple.

Then he recognized Seran properly.

Rage took over his expression.

"You."

Seran’s familiar smile returned as though they had met under ordinary circumstances.

"Nice to see you too."

The leader pushed himself upright.

"You little bastard."

Seran glanced toward Lucien.

"He remembers me."

Lucien sighed. "I noticed."

The man’s gaze shifted between them.

Behind Lucien, the sounds of battle were already beginning to weaken.

The leader tightened his grip around the sword.

His armor was damaged.

He was exhausted.

He was still the strongest Iron Jackal Lucien had seen that night.

Seran’s hand drifted toward the knife beneath his coat.

Lucien lowered his stance.

The leader studied them.

He had brought more than thirty armed men to prey on a village he believed would be helpless.

Now that village was behind him.

Lucien and Seran stood in front.

Only then did the man seem to understand where he had walked.

He had entered the tiger’s den.