"Rein, this is the Night Watchman's oath, unfortunately, you are yet to swear allegiance and now you have to face such... a tough battle," the short Matteo explained to Rein in a low voice.
At this moment, Matteo's face was flushed with excitement, clearly inspired by the Night Watchman's chanting of the oath!
Rein nodded. His heart was touched as well, but he kept silent.
"Hmm?" Not far away, the black-robed Mort, who had just turned to leave, stopped in his tracks, lifted his head, and with a twitch of his mouth, stared at the group of Night Watchmen led by Hamilton with an ugly expression.
Did the sheriff of Flashgold Town get his head caught in a door?
Dammit, isn't it better to go back and get a promotion and a raise now?
They have already returned your subordinates' children to you!
What does the offspring of those lowlifes have to do with you?
Do you need to risk your life for this?
True imperial brainwashed fools!
"It seems you are going to disappoint my kindness! How foolish!" Mort, the black-robed monk, said with a dark expression.
Suddenly, a cluster of black flames sprouted from Mort's hands, immediately setting two nearby Blood Hand Gang members on fire.
The two men rolled on the ground in agony, but after a few seconds, no more sounds came from them. They lay motionless, burning like a bonfire, and a smell of scorching filled the air in an instant.
Seeing such a display of power, including Rein, the faces of all the Night Watchmen present suddenly changed.
Rein was especially shocked in his heart!
This was the third time he had witnessed the application of these mysterious side energy particles.
The previous two times were Anna's amulet's green light and Lagaray's arm's black gas, but this time it was the opponent's black flames.
All were incredibly powerful, yet had completely different effects.
"You go after those two carriages, leave this one to me!" Hamilton, his face solemn, stared at the black-robed figure without turning back.
"Sir, we can take down this guy together," a few of the elite Night Watchmen said, lifting their war bows.
Although the opponent's attack was strange, they believed that with their bows and arrows' long-range attack, they could still injure the opponent.
"No! Rescuing the children is what's most important," Hamilton waved his hand.
"Go now, that's an order!"
Only Hamilton knew that the opponent's strange black flames could attack directly from a distance. His Night Watchmen staying behind wouldn't be of much use, at best they could serve as cannon fodder.
Without a word, Rein glanced at the black-robed figure and then at Hamilton. He followed Matteo, bypassing the wooden fence of Steward farm, and set off in pursuit of the carriages.
Mort, the black flame monk left at the scene, looked at Hamilton with a curious and scrutinizing gaze and said, "You seem confident!"
"Why do you think you can withstand me? And you believe that your Night Watchmen can rescue the people?"
At that moment, Hamilton's mind flashed with the image of beheading the stone monster with a single sword stroke and he grinned, saying, "How about we make a bet?"
Before Mort could respond, Hamilton, like a bolt of silver lightning, shield and sword in hand, charged directly at the black-robed figure.
The two carriages were currently moving along a small road in the northeast direction.
At that moment, the hammer-wielding man looked back and couldn't help but twitch at the corners of his eyes, as if he had seen something unbelievable.
Immediately after, he scolded, "A bunch of ungrateful black-skinned dogs, daring to chase after us! I've said it, Lord Morte is too merciful to them!"
"In my view, a dog is a dog, if you beat it hard enough, it naturally runs away!"
"I'll go get rid of them, you guys go ahead!"
The hammer-wielding man pulled hard on the reins of his horse, turning around.
"Boss, shall I go?" a tall man wielding a flail asked.
"No need! I'll be back soon," the hammer-wielder said, waving his hand confidently.
"Alright! Boss, be careful," several people nearby said.
"No worries, just a bunch of black-skinned dogs. I'll send them back to the goddess's embrace. Just not sure if the goddess wants them, hehe!" The hammer-wielder buckled his plate helmet, turning into a veritable iron lump, charging toward the elite Night Watchmen following behind.
Seeing the enemy, merely one person, daring to charge at their group of more than twenty, they realized the enemy had absolute confidence in his own strength.
"Ding ding dang dang!"
Indeed, while most of the arrows hit the target, the enemy's full plate armor's impressive defensive power managed to block all these attacks.
"He's an almost-knight! And not just an ordinary almost-knight!" Matteo's pupils shrank.
He knew if the enemy was an almost-knight, that spelled trouble.
An almost-knight, with both strength and agility reaching the peak of normal human capabilities, just one step away from becoming a formal knight, typically wore full plate armor as the formal knights did, providing them with formidable defensive power. The elite Night Watchmen's arrows were almost ineffective. To beat the enemy, they would have to engage in close quarters combat.
But as you can imagine, it would take significant casualties for the Night Watchmen clad in leather armor to take down an 'iron can.'
Moreover, Matteo could see that the enemy dodged arrows too easily, too naturally.