The thieves could not retreat because if they retreated the archers would have more time to shoot more arrows and the thieves would never be able to advance, but it was difficult for the thieves to have the courage to move forward seeing some of their allies dying and being hurt by the arrows.
The archers continued to fire without even aiming correctly, they just had to shoot the arrows into the air as fast as they could and the arrows would fall on the thieves.
Jack expected at least 20 thieves to die until they got close for the real fight to start, so the difference in numbers between the two sides would narrow, this was the first big fight that Jack had as a leader and he didn't want many soldiers to die.
The thieves advanced quickly and Jack and the other soldiers in front began to prepare for the fight, the soldiers who used shields were using a light shield and the sword also because they had to attack and defend.
Soldiers who used only the sword were more skilled and could defend themselves using only the sword, Jack could use the shield, but he knew it was unwise to use a shield to fight Hector who was as skilled as a knight.
Jack realized that Hector started to fall further behind in the group of thieves when the thieves started to approach, Jack did not know why Hector was doing this and he did not intend to move away from the front line in this fight.
Soon the thieves were able to get closer and the fight between the two groups began, the archers had to drop their bows and take their swords, but just as Jack ordered, they remained in the background and would fight only when necessary.
The soldiers that Captain Max chose were the best warriors the army had because this was an important mission, so the fight started with the weakest thieves because of the poison the soldiers needed only a few moves to kill the weakest thieves.
Jack also took his sword and he only needed a few attacks to kill the thieves, what Jack didn't know was that Hector and the other thief leaders sent the weakest thieves to the front line to test the soldiers' skills and tire the soldiers too.
In a few minutes Jack and the soldiers at the front killed 40 thieves and so the number of both sides was much more equal, Hector suffered seeing that more than 60 thieves died in a few minutes of the war.
"Be careful and don't get too excited, we are facing only the weakest thieves, in the beginning, the strongest will come later and the fights will be more difficult."
Jack realized that the soldiers were becoming very confident and were starting to relax and he thought he should warn them that this fight would be much more difficult, Hector and the other leaders of the thieves' groups also realized that Jack had discovered their plan and that he should be the leader of the soldiers.
As Jack said, Hector no longer wanted to sacrifice the weaker soldiers and the fights started to become more difficult for the soldiers, even if Jack and the most skilled soldiers had the advantage in the fight they would take a long time to kill their opponents.
Jack was more relaxed and while fighting he gave orders to Peter and Aaron who had to pass the orders to the soldiers in their groups, Jack realized that Hector wanted him and the other soldiers to get tired and so he started to attack less and just fight normally.
Jack knew how to fight well and used blows that used more skill than strength, so the enemy who was weaker had to make an effort to defend and Jack was not so tired when the thief attacked, he easily defended.
The other soldiers heard Jack's orders and started to fight using their skill more and so they got less tired, this strategy worked very well and the opposing thieves realized that they were being underestimated and started wanting to attack more intensely.
Hector, the leaders of the groups and the most skilled thieves were not yet fighting and were waiting for Jack and the other soldiers to get tired, normally they would not use this strategy and would only use the advantage in numbers to win.
But this situation was very different because all the thieves were poisoned and weaker, in addition, Jake's initial strategy meant that the thieves could not know if they really had the advantage in numbers.
The stronger soldiers listened to the orders that Peter and Aaron passed on and started to use more of their ability to fight the thieves, so the thieves were even angrier because they realized they were being underestimated.
So Jack and the more skilled soldiers concentrated more on the fight and took advantage of the openings that the opponents gave to make a fatal attack, soon Hector and the other leaders realized that several thieves were getting impatient and dying.
"Calm down, we have the numerical advantage and the opponents are getting more tired if we manage to stay alive until the opponent gets tired we will win this fight."
In this fight it was clear that Jack, who was younger and knew the soldiers of the group for less time, was the best leader, no soldier had died since the beginning of the fight and more than 80 thieves had already died.
Hector wanted to take the opportunity to make the soldiers tired and then he and the best warriors would start fighting the soldiers and win more easily, but with Jack's strategy for the soldiers to calm down and use only their skill, both sides were equally tired.
Soon the day ended and the night came and the two sides retreated, that was another part of Jack's strategy, he and the soldiers retreated to the riverside, the thieves retreated to their side and had to continue drinking the poisoned water that they brought from their base.
The leaders of the thief groups had already realized that Hector was not as good a leader as Jack, even though the thieves didn't realize that they were discouraged because their leaders were not fighting and they were struggling just to stay alive in the fight.
On the soldiers 'side, the situation was different, the soldiers were intelligent and realized that Jack's leadership was very good and that they were winning the war, even those who thought Jack was wrong in poisoning the thieves' base realized that if Jack hadn't that plan they would have already died in the fight that day.
If the thieves had left their base to have a fight against them, the biggest problem from the beginning was that they knew it was impossible for them to win the fight against the thieves if they were inside their base.