The first one to rush out of the teleportation gate was Zhou Wu'an, the head of the Security Department.
Before the death spirit rules descended, he was the deputy head of the Green Leaf Group's Security Department. Because the previous head had died in an accident, he was promoted to head of the Security Department, responsible for the overall security work of the Green Leaf Group and the complete safety and defense of the Wood Elf Village.
Now, as the vanguard of the assault on Deherim, he naturally rushed to the very front without hesitation, leading his most elite security team members and their Wood Elf followers to the entrance of the Castle Main Building.
"Retreat into the castle! Retreat into the castle! Close the gate, don't let them in!"
But just as they were about to rush into the Castle Main Building, four or five Swadian Light Infantry wearing shuttle armor, who were on guard duty inside the Castle Main Building, had already discovered their tracks. Their faces showed surprise, but they were not flustered.
'Clang!'
The Swadian Light Infantry captain, who was leading them, immediately took his long spear and went inside the great gate of the Castle Main Building. With his few team members, he instantly closed the not-so-large great gate of the Castle Main Building with a clang.
The thick castle gate, reinforced with iron sheets, was like a giant shield, effectively isolating the charging Wood Elf soldiers outside the Castle Main Building.
And he immediately blocked the great gate of the Castle Main Building with a door bolt.
"Hurry and report to Lord Shen Mu! Enemies have suddenly appeared in the Castle District outside!" The Swadian Light Infantry captain turned his head and told his team members to quickly go upstairs to report to Lord Shen Mu and send people to reinforce this gate quickly.
After all, at this moment, he had already heard the enemies who had broken into the Castle District outside, rapidly kicking or crashing against the castle gate, making loud thumping sounds. The castle gate was also shaking violently, and with a few shouts, the shaking of the castle gate became more and more intense. It was clear that the enemies outside were using a siege ram-like weapon to strike the gate.
In fact, it was true. Just outside the great gate of the Castle Main Building, seven or eight Wood Elves had already lifted a siege ram and were vigorously striking the great gate of the Castle Main Building.
They had anticipated in advance that when attacking this Castle Main Building, they would need some portable siege weapons.
Whether it was this kind of siege ram or a breaching tool, they had prepared many.
The goal was to ram open the castle gate in the shortest possible time, then break into the Castle Main Building and use breaching tools to open each room door inside, then find and kill all of Deherim's soldiers inside.
Only then could they find the Spiritual Realm Lord of Deherim named Shen Mu, whom they most needed to find, and complete the decapitation operation.
"Faster! Faster! Open this great gate of the Castle Main Building for me." Outside, Zhou Wu'an, the head of the Green Leaf Group's Security Department, his voice growing increasingly excited.
He was directing his subordinates to ram the huge wooden gate of the Castle Main Building, which was covered in iron sheets, until cracks appeared and even the iron sheets were bent. It was clear that a few more hits would render it useless, filling his eyes with wild joy.
He subconsciously turned his head to look at the Wood Elf soldiers still rapidly appearing in the direction of the Torch Tower library, and the wild joy in his eyes was replaced by anxiety.
Especially when he saw Zhang Song's figure appearing at the library entrance, he became even more impatient, ordering the surrounding Wood Elf soldiers to use greater force to ram the great gate of the Castle Main Building, striving to break open the Castle Main Building's great gate in the shortest possible time.
Because he did not want to share the credit for the decapitation with Zhang Song, nor with the other senior managers of the Green Leaf Group. He did not want to share this biggest credit.
Their Security Department also had many people and many talents. If the credit for this decapitation and for being the first to attack Deherim was shared with others, it would be unacceptable to Zhou Wu'an, who had always believed his Security Department was the strongest and most powerful department.
So at this moment, he had to ram open the castle gate in the shortest possible time, then lead his nearly seven or eight hundred most elite troops inside to complete the most important part of this grand plan.
And Yang Di, the general manager of the Green Leaf Group, was willing to entrust this task to him, even the most difficult task, which also showed his trust. In addition, Zhou Wu'an had often received Yang Di's care in the past, so he did not want to disappoint his leader, Yang Di.
So he loudly ordered these Wood Elf soldiers to begin striking the great gate of the Castle Main Building more forcefully.
As a result of the creaking and breaking sounds, even on the four or five door bolts inside the great gate, two or three of them had already cracked from the impact.
"Quick, quick! Find some wood from the kitchen and brace this castle gate! We absolutely cannot let the enemies outside rush in!" Seeing this scene, the Swadian Light Infantry captain's eyes became extremely sharp.
He quickly led his other team members to the kitchen. Amidst the panicked and astonished gazes of the Halfling cooks who remained behind, they found the firewood normally used for cooking. Seeing their length of over a meter, they all took them out and propped them behind the great gate of the Castle Main Building, and also propped their medium-long spears behind them, using them as support to prevent the gate from being damaged too quickly, leading to it being completely breached.
If the great gate of the Castle Main Building was completely destroyed and the enemies outside rushed in, they would be the first to be killed. After all, these Swadian soldiers had long been completely loyal to Shen Mu, and they could not choose to surrender.
So at this moment, all they could do was guard here and ensure that this great gate would not be breached in a short time.
However, at this moment, these Swadian Light Infantrymen's hearts had already sunk into a moment of extreme despair, because there were only four of them guarding this gate now. One of their companions had already rushed up the stairs towards the top floor to report to Lord Shen Mu, and to inform Lord Shen Mu to quickly leave this Castle Main Building and go to the city wall to find the troops that had already been dispatched.
After all, once the great gate of this Castle Main Building fell, the inside would be completely empty, with very few defending troops, making it impossible to resist the hundreds of enemies outside.
These battle-hardened Swadian Light Infantry, of course, knew how critical the current situation was.
It wasn't how critical they were, but how critical Shen Mu was. They believed that if they died, they died; dying on the battlefield was glorious.
Especially sacrificing their lives for Lord Shen Mu's life was very worthwhile. After all, Lord Shen Mu was the savior, their entire reliance in their hearts. If their death could give Lord Shen Mu a chance to escape and survive, they would willingly face death.
Just like now.
Including the Swadian Light Infantry who was quickly climbing the stairs, he disregarded his physical exhaustion and stumbled, using both hands and feet to climb to the 3rd floor, arriving in the room where Shen Mu, the five Holy Tree Knights, and Zhang Bo were. He was panting heavily, and even though his heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would burst out of his throat, he still spoke in a hoarse voice, "Lord Shen Mu, it's bad, the enemy has entered the Castle District! We need to defend! And! You need to retreat quickly, leave here!"
"Hmm, alright, I understand." Shen Mu, still on the balcony, now extended his hand and placed it on the railing, looking down at the thousands of Wood Elf soldiers pouring out of the library in the Holy White Council's Holy Light Torch Tower below. The smile on his lips curled higher and higher, but his voice was quite calm, "Rest for a bit, my brave Swadian Light Infantry. There's nothing more for you to do now."
"Hoo hoo hoo!" The Swadian Light Infantry, panting heavily, heard Shen Mu's words and looked up at Shen Mu in astonishment, not knowing what he meant.
What did he mean by there being nothing more for them to do now?
One must know that if it weren't for the five of them behind the great gate of the Castle Main Building, struggling to resist the enemies outside who were fiercely smashing the great gate of the Castle Main Building with siege rams, the great gate of the Castle Main Building would have been breached long ago. Could it have held out until now?
Now he truly didn't understand what Shen Mu meant by saying this, and it directly caused his mind to somewhat freeze.
Not just this Swadian Light Infantry, but even Zhang Bo, who was still by the balcony, saw the Wood Elves pouring out of the library, his face already showing wild joy, and his eyes filled with extreme excitement. At this moment, he looked up in astonishment, forcefully suppressing the excitement and wild joy on his face and in his heart, looking at Shen Mu with a hint of disbelief.
Shen Mu was not dead yet, and he was still by Shen Mu's side.
If he revealed expressions of excitement and wild joy, he would definitely be suspected of being a spy. Although he was indeed a spy, if he was suspected of being a spy, he would also be killed by the Holy Tree Knights nearby.
Zhang Bo, who wanted to live, naturally had to consider that his acting should also be maintained, otherwise, if he died, it would be too much of a loss.
Although the Green Leaf Group would definitely achieve the final victory, if he did not survive this victory and did not appear at the celebration feast, it would be a great pity.
Therefore, Zhang Bo now chose to continue acting, to avoid falling before the dawn of victory.
"Alright, I said you can rest, it really doesn't matter." Shen Mu, at this moment, seemed not to have noticed the change in Zhang Bo's expression. Instead, he extended his hands and clapped gently. Accompanied by the crisp sound of clapping, his thoughts had already communicated with the system.
And the white light that had previously surged out, which was the white data stream formed by the Mount & Blade Rules, finally completely disappeared from his glabella.
Then Shen Mu merely revealed a faint smile and said to the Swadian Light Infantry who was still panting heavily and looking at him in astonishment, "Next is the time for the performance, and the audience should be those Holy Tree Knights from the Holy Tree Knight Order, as well as more soldiers of the Swadian Kingdom appearing in our Castle Main Building, and soldiers from the Rodok Kingdom and the Vigia Kingdom."
"...What does this mean?" The Swadian Light Infantry at this moment forced himself to swallow and calm his mind, his eyes wide, not knowing what to say.
But at this moment, footsteps appeared on the stairs behind him, extremely heavy footsteps.
And a certain special crashing sound, seemingly the sound of metal rubbing.
The Swadian Light Infantry's eyes widened abruptly. He recognized the source of the heavy footsteps and the rubbing sound.
He subconsciously turned his head towards the stairs, only to find Swadian Light Infantry and infantry wearing chainmail and plate armor, holding long spears and shields, rapidly rushing up.
And behind these Swadian Light Infantry and infantry, there were also Rhodok Crossbowmen holding war crossbows, Rhodok Veteran Crossbowman holding heavy crossbows, and Rodok Sharpshooters holding even larger and stronger sniper crossbows, all arriving at the top of the 3rd floor. Without any hesitation, they were still climbing towards the spire wooden frame above the 3rd floor.
And behind these Rhodok Crossbowmen, Vekia Archers holding war bows, Nomadic Bows, and Vigia Bows also quickly arrived here.
Among them were also Vigia Sharpshooter holding high-grade war bows.
Without any hesitation, with extremely resolute expressions, they quickly walked into the rooms on the 3rd floor, went behind the windows, went onto the balcony, and positioned themselves at the railing and firing holes. They drew conical-tipped arrows from the quivers on their backs, then drew their bows and shot downwards.
Accompanied by the dull, sharp humming sound of crossbows appearing overhead, in the eyes of this Swadian Light Infantry, the entire Castle Main Building instantly transformed into a terrifying building covered in archers and crossbowmen, like a porcupine.
"This... what's going on?" The Swadian Light Infantry subconsciously murmured to himself, but this did not represent his confusion, because on the balcony. Beside him, Zhang Bo watched with wide eyes as two Vekia Archers took his place, drew their Vigia Bows, and began to unleash a rain of arrows downwards.
Feathered arrows and conical-tipped arrows appeared in the space outside the balcony with sharp whistling sounds.
And the returning sounds were precisely the screams of the Wood Elves who had been hit by arrows.
Clearly.
The Wood Elf assault troops outside had fallen into an ambush!