Hyola quickly bent down and snatched a piece of cloth from the wagon, and helped the guard to tie it tightly just above his stubbed arm to stop the blood flow. She glanced on the left side, and saw that Tesyb and the other two guards had already injured one of the two bandits with their advantage in numbers, although the shorter guard seemed to be moving with a limp. But there were still three guards against two bandits here, while on their right, a guard was fighting against Nokozal and the bandit archer alone, which wouldn't last long.

"Tesyb, they need help on the other side," she yelled.

Tesyb quickly nodded, and ran to help against Nokozal, leaving the other two guards to deal with the two bandits there. Cursing at her inability to help, Hyola quickly completed tying the tourniquet and stood up, while watching in frustration as Feroy's quick attacks against the bald guy were getting nowhere. However Tesyb had arrived to help at just the right time, and right now it was him and the other guard against Nokozal and the archer.

Suddenly, Feroy glanced backwards towards her and Yufim, and giving a small nod, he turned around towards the baldy once again. Recognising that it was a signal, Hyola brought her crossbow up and waited for an opportunity. Just as she expected, Feroy made a quick feint, drawing the man in, then kicked at him harshly, pushing the man a few feet back.

Immediately, Hyola targeted the chest of that man and shot her bolt, but the man turned out to be lucky, and stumbled on the rough ground just as she shot, making him fall down. She cursed as her bolt missed him completely, but Feroy took the opportunity and immediately slashed his sword at him. The baldy tried to defend himself with his free hand, but screamed in pain as some of those fingers were separated from his hand by Feroy. However the man quickly jumped to his feet with his sword, and then it was a stalemate once again.

She began loading her crossbow once again, while glancing towards Tesyb, where he had managed to keep the giant at bay, but still hadn't been able to injure him. However, the bandit archer, who was somehow also a swordsman, had gotten quite a few cuts in his fight with the other guard, while injuring the guard just as much. If only she had been able to do more...

On the other side, the last two guards were still fighting with two bandits, when she saw one of them making a huge thrust at the injured bandit. The bandit immediately jumped back to save his life and prevent being skewered by the sword, but it just made him open to an arrow from Yufim, who had been waiting for exactly such an opportunity. With the kind of expertise Yufim had in archery, there was no chance of his arrow missing from this close. Immediately, the bandit's head snapped back with an arrow sticking out of his head, and his lifeless body toppled to the already bloody ground.

The last bandit on this side was outnumbered now, and he was barely defending himself against the two guards there. Yufim quickly ordered one of them to run to the other side, leaving the last guard to fight against the sole bandit.

Immediately that guard ran around to help others, and now it was Nokozal and the archer on one side, with Tesyb and two other guards opposing them, while Feroy was at a standstill with the bald guy even now. However, the addition of this new guard meant while Tesyb fought with Nokozal, the remaining guards could go two versus one against the bandit archer, and that was enough to make the bandit keep moving back just to save his life. However, just as she expected, the archer wasn't that good with a sword, and she saw with satisfaction as one of the guards slashed at him from the left, making the archer jump back, but the other guard was ready and immediately thrust at his chest, killing the archer easily.

They quickly moved to help Tesyb against the giant, who looked angry as a bull now, and started cursing everyone. She picked up her already loaded crossbow and waited for a good chance to put an end to this bastard.

The baldy who was fighting with Feroy, made a huge swing at him, which made the ex-mercenary jump back. That gave the baldy just enough time to take a look to his side where Nokozal was dealing with three men against him now, while the last bandit was still fighting with a guard on the other side of the wagon. That meant now there were only three bandits remaining to fight against five guards with swords, with Yufim and her supporting them from range, although that wasn't easy because it was nearly dark by now.

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"Fuck it!" The baldy shouted. "Nokozal, we can't win this. We need to run!"

However the giant just roared in response and made a huge swing with his sword making Tesyb and the other guards jump back to avoid being cut in two parts. "We can still win!" the giant barked back.

The baldy slowly circled around Feroy who was watching him warily, before he yelled, "Forget it, I'm leaving! Stay here if you want to die!" The baldy made a big lunge with his sword, towards Feroy, who stepped back to protect himself, and that gave just enough of an opening for the baldy to turn around and start running. However, instead of pursuing him, Feroy ran towards the giant.

Nokozal must have noticed the baldy running away, since he bellowed loudly, "Damn you, you coward!"

Hyola had been waiting for such a good opportunity, and bringing her loaded crossbow in front of her eyes again, she shot at the retreating baldy who was running away on the uneven ground. This time she didn't miss completely, although she still couldn't hit his chest or the head like she wanted. Her bolt struck the baldy on one of his legs, which didn't stop him completely, but it was still enough to make him pitch to the ground.

The baldy started to get up again as she began to load her crossbow, but Yufim, who was also ready with his bow, immediately shot an arrow, and unlike her, he struck the man directly in the chest, making him slump down again, this time permanently.

"Damn it!" Nokozal roared, as he also noticed the fate of the baldy. "Damn it all!"

The giant made a huge swing with his sword around him to make all the guards move back, before calling out the name of the last bandit. "Cover me!" Without waiting for a response, the giant started sprinting towards the forest as well.

Tesyb and two of the guards immediately began running to follow Nokozal, while Feroy stayed back to coordinate.

"Fuck you!" the last bandit yelled, before he turned around and started running as well to the other side of the road. Hyola was still loading her crossbow, but Yufim, who was covering their left side, hit the back of the running bandit easily, killing him in his tracks.

Hyola finally finished loading her crossbow, and immediately shot a bolt towards the giant, but the bolt barely missed his head, and Nokozal kept running towards the treeline which was very close by now.

By now Yufim had nocked another arrow, and shot it towards Nokozal, but the giant had just entered the tree line, and the arrow only struck a tree, and the giant vanished in the already dark forest.

Immediately, Feroy gave a yell. "Tesyb! Come back here! All of you!"

"But we can kill him now!" Tesyb shouted back, but followed the order as he and the other guards jogged back to the wagons.

Once all the guards had arrived, Feroy still kept looking around warily, "It's already dark and it would take too long to find a man in those forests. Three of us are also injured, so we need everyone here in case a wild beast comes here smelling the blood. Stay right here and keep an eye in case a bear or an adzee is lurking around."

Giving a nod, Tesyb and the other two uninjured guards took positions around the wagon, making sure they wouldn't be surprised again.

Was the fight already over? Hyola knew in her mind that they had won, but her heart refused to believe it and was beating just as fast as earlier.

She took a few long breaths to force herself to calm down and thanked the goddess that none of them had died, but the pitiful sight of the still weeping man who had his arm cut off, didn't make it feel like it was a win. Another guard had just sat down on the ground with his back to a wagon wheel, and was clutching his leg, while a third one was bleeding from multiple cuts from all over his body, although none of those seemed life-threatening.

"You did good to stop the blood," Feroy complimented her when he saw the tourniquet around the amputee before he pointed at the guard who had many small cuts, "Help him out as well." He gestured to the guard who was clutching his leg, "I'll take care of him."

Glad that she and Feroy hadn't given all the losuvil powder to people in Kirnos this time, she gave a pinch of it to the guards who were injured lightly, while giving a double dose to the guard with his arm cut-off, after applying a paste of it on his stub and then she tied another clean cloth to cover the stubbed arm completely. That would have to do until they returned to Tiranat. That man was already starting to nod off, so two of the guards helped to make him lie down on the sitting bench of a wagon.