Relying on forced conscription, Mijordenhaven raised an army of over two thousand people. However, how much the militia can contribute is still uncertain. Laine knows that what he can truly rely on is Albert's three hundred standing soldiers, six hundred conscripts, and the paladins from the church.
In reality, even those paladins cannot be counted on, Laine thought as he watched all the conscripts gradually forming ranks under the officers' assignments.
The Guard Commander is dividing all the conscripts into three parts.
Those civilians who hadn't successfully changed their occupation, the ordinary tier professionals as one group, and the elite tier soldiers selected separately.
For civilians who have not successfully changed their occupation, they have not received the enhancement from professional talent. As long as they can change occupations to become professionals, any human can receive a normal physical enhancement once. Their arms will become stronger, their physiques better and more enduring, and then different professions will provide specific enhancements; for example, choosing to become a warrior will strengthen one's physique, while choosing to become a ranger will enhance agility.
But what about civilians? They have nothing.
An ordinary tier professional can deal with five or six civilians who have not successfully changed occupations. Unless there are special circumstances, civilians will not appear among soldiers.
Thus, each of these militiamen is given only one long spear. The only things they must learn are how to thrust a long spear and charge with it, as for the effect... let them contribute as much as possible.
Laine once obtained a military book on how to command such militiamen. It clearly stated: "Only two commands need to be given: charge and advance. It is not recommended to issue complex instructions other than these two."
He remembers laughing alone for a long time in his room after reading this military book.
There is no detailed description of the ordinary tier professionals.
The elite tier professionals are entirely different.
Every individual who progresses to the elite tier learns a unique talent. After further enhancing their physical and ability aspects, these strong individuals can now stand on their own. Their bodies have the capacity to learn and use unique combat skills. Thus, anywhere, a military force composed of elite tier professionals is the elite that nobles need to rely on; three elite tier professionals working together to tackle a platoon (usually 32-48 people) of ordinary-tier soldiers poses no problem.
Needless to say, when Laine was young and an elite tier knight, he and a fellow knight colleague managed to chase away dozens of ordinary-tier bandits, striking them down one by one.
This is the gap in combat power.
So how do professionals progress?
There are three methods: through fighting (killing), training, and divine grace.
Why does Laine feel that paladins are unreliable? It's precisely because they lack a critical method, which is progressing through combat. For ordinary paladins, advancement relies not on practice but on devout prayers, depending on the divine power of their deities to help them progress.
Deities are willing to grant divine grace to their devout followers. So, on the continent, the number of legendary powerhouses among paladins is highest, but this does not mean they are the strongest.
Because this type of progression is superficial, for example, Laine, as a legendary initial tier warrior, has relied over many years on the baptism of blood and fire, through repeated real combat experiences. His power far exceeds that of a normal legendary initial tier powerhouse. Laine can handle five or six legendary initial tier paladins without any issue; he can smash these iron cans one by one with his warhammer.
Yes, the combat strength of paladins is indeed that flimsy. Once, there was someone who ridiculed them: "Wearing the thickest armor, receiving the harshest blows."
Of course, there are very capable fighters among the paladins, but the fact is most paladins lack practical experience. That's why, even knowing that he and Teresa could handle the scorpion-tailed lion, Laine still called Alfred along. He hopes his good friend can accumulate more practical experience, which might save his life in a critical moment.
The Holy Shield Skill seems powerful, but it is not that reliable—after all, not every fierce beast behaves like the scorpion-tailed lion, charging mindlessly. Laine's way of dealing with Holy Shield Skill is to kite them. These iron cans move slowly and lack long-range attack capabilities. Once they activate Holy Shield Skill, Laine just fights while dodging; an ordinary Holy Shield Skill lasts at most six seconds, while even for a legendary paladin, it lasts only twelve seconds at most—a time easy enough to outlast.
Moreover, Holy Shield Skill is not completely invincible. Its essence is like a 360-degree iron box made of divine power enveloping the paladin. Indeed, under the protection of the deity's powerful divine power, someone without Holy Sanctuary strength cannot harm the person inside. But this does not mean the iron box cannot be moved. Laine has tried, and with his wrist strength, he can directly hammer the iron box, sending it flying with the person inside.
Going off track, Laine forced himself to refocus on the matters at hand.
Now there is an issue, which is that even the standing army of Nord has a combat strength gap compared to the Barbarians. This content belongs to ⓝovelFire.net
The strength of the Barbarians lies first in repeated bloody wars, a natural selection process rooted in survival of the fittest, and also in the blessing from the Chaos Evil God. Under such circumstances, human soldiers of equivalent numbers and quality are no match for the Barbarian Raiders.
"Even with these militiamen, the defending forces barely reach two thousand. My suggestion is that we should rely on the city to defend," offered the half-elf his opinion: "The city walls can help boost morale and reduce casualties."
"That's not okay, Estelle." Laine shook his head: "Defending the city is a last resort strategy, in fact, in the many wars against the Barbarians that I've participated in, there have been few times when we only defended the city."
"Why?" The half-elf felt puzzled.
"Confined within the city means low morale, it means the Barbarians can conveniently obtain supplies from nearby villages and towns. You must know that the Barbarians come very suddenly. Many noble families only have time to take away part of their property, and many commoners haven't even had the chance to retreat to the city. Should we close the city gates and watch helplessly as the Barbarians slaughter them all?" Laine said angrily.
For the Barbarians, they never need to consider consequences for their actions, nor do they worry about reputation and morality. What they do is bring destruction to the Southern People and take wealth back to the North.
"Doing nothing and deciding to defend the city will quickly collapse morale." Laine indicated for Estelle to look at those militiamen: "By that time, even without the Barbarians laying siege, these militiamen will have already collapsed."
As he said this, the faces of those militiamen were filled with numbness, panic, and unease.
"Humans are fragile." Estelle said with disdain: "We are willing to shed the last drop of blood for the forest."
"We are also willing to bleed to defend our country! Estelle, please do not compare your elves with us humans," Laine sharply shook his head: "Every one of you only needs to be thirty-five to awaken your Professional Talent, but for us humans? Less than forty percent of our population can awaken Professional Talent!"
Yes, the racial advantage of elves is indeed this significant.
"Mr. Laine, Master Albert hopes you will immediately go to the Count's castle, there's urgent military information!" A messenger came to Laine's side and saluted him.
"What is it? What happened?" Laine had no choice but to say goodbye to Estelle, mounted his steed Pinecone, and hurried to Albert's Count's castle.
Albert's Count's castle is situated within a small hill inside Mijordenhaven City, equipped with complete defenses and a moat. There are two artillery pieces mounted on the city walls, and during wartime, the soldiers there are more than at any other time. Seeing Laine's arrival, the guards lowered the drawbridge.
Albert and his two knights were in the conference room, discussing the current military situation. The Walnut Knight, Nikolai, had a look of both joy and worry on his face.
"Mr. Laine, there's good news... and bad news, which would you like to hear first?"
"Tell me the bad news first."