Chapter 48 - Siege
Chapter 48: Siege
Wu wu wu wu wu!
A deep horn sounded in the sky.
Dong! Dong! Dong!
A heavy war drum rumbled.
“Kill! Kill! Kill!”
A thunderous battle cry shook the sky and earth.
In the midst of these loud rumbles, the war had begun.
Rows of auxiliary soldiers carried sandbags and wooden planks on their backs and rushed towards the moat. They began to fill the river and build bridges.
“Longbowmen, get ready!” Count Kroya raised his cross-shaped sword and shouted loudly.
Rows of longbowmen walked forward and raised the purple wood longbow in their hands. They bent their knees, leaned back, and pulled the bowstring made of sheep intestines and tendons into the shape of a full moon. The cone-shaped iron arrowhead shone with waves of cold light under the sunlight.
Count Kroya swung his cross-shaped sword down. “Release the arrows!”
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The dense sound of rushing wind could be heard. Rows of arrows shot into the sky and then rapidly fell to the ground in a parabolic arc. The arrows rained down like rain!
Pu! Pu! Pu!
The sound of iron arrows piercing flesh could be heard. After accelerating, the arrows easily pierced through the leather armor of the enemy soldiers. The long arrow shafts pierced through people’s bodies and nailed them to the ground. Blood gushed out like a fountain!
At the same time, the enemy’s longbowmen also rushed forward. Under the protection of the shield soldiers, they raised their longbows and fired back at the city wall.
“Shield, protect!” Count Kroya immediately changed his order.
The shield soldier standing beside the longbowmen walked forward. He raised a two-meter-tall, one-finger-thick large oak shield in front of the longbowmen like a door plank.
Dong! Dong! Dong!
Dense ‘Dong! Dong!’ sounds could be heard as a large number of arrows pierced through the oak shield. The sound was like thunder!
However, using this time, the enemy’s follow-up troops quickly rushed forward. They carried the sandbags and wooden planks that were scattered along the river and threw them into the moat.
“Release the arrows!”
“Protect!”
“Release the arrows!”
“Protect…”
After going back and forth like this several times, the enemy finally opened up a few simple passages on the moat after dropping over a hundred corpses.
The auxiliary soldiers at the back immediately rushed forward while carrying a high, long ladder with hooks.
“Change the bows!”
The Count gave the order, and the archers put down their longbows, which had a long range but a slow firing speed, and changed to short bows, which had a short range but a fast firing speed.
“Release the arrows!”
The arrows were like rain, covering the sky and the earth.
Heath hid under a tower, with two shield soldiers protecting him.
He looked at Count Kroya, who was commanding the battle in an orderly manner. He suddenly understood why he, who was the commander of the First Army, made such a low-level mistake of underestimating the enemy yesterday. It was not underestimating the enemy, it was just confidence.
With experienced experience and steady command, if the enemy only had 1500 troops, they might not stand a chance.
The battle continued.
Even though Count Kroya had tried his best to defend, the enemy’s numbers were simply too many. Moreover, it was as if they did not care about their lives. When they charged, they did not even turn their heads.
After dropping hundreds of corpses, the hanging ladder was finally hung on the city wall. The curved hooks stuck firmly on the bricks of the main battlements.
“Charge! Kill!”
The shouts of killing were like thunder. Under the protection of the shields, the combat units surged towards the city wall like a tide. They climbed up the hanging ladder and climbed up the city wall in groups.
Count Kroya calmly said, “Longbowmen, retreat. The rest of you, draw your swords and form a formation. Get ready for battle!”
“Draw your swords! form a formation!”
The clanging sound of metal interweaving rang out continuously. One after another, bright cross swords were raised into the sky. The silver-white radiance reflected by the bright sun shone brightly on the entire city wall.
The might was overbearing!
The next moment, there was a ‘pa’ sound.
A heavy hand pressed against the gray brick of the battlements, and a man in green leather jumped up to the battlements. The silver-white glow of the cross-blade indicated the man’s identity
Knights!
Pa pa pa pa pa!
A series of crisp sounds followed.
One by one the figure jumped over the wall and soon drew a long line at the edge of it.
Through the helmet and mask, one could vaguely see the cold and merciless eyes below, like a killing machine.
The leading Knight walked forward while raising his crossguard sword with both hands.
At the same time, the soldiers on the city wall also raised their crossguard swords under the leadership of their own teams of knights.
“Kill!” The cold and murderous shouts exploded.
The two streams of people rushed at each other and crashed into each other.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Pu! Pu! Pu!
“Ah! Ah!”
The sound of metal colliding, the sound of sharp blades cutting through flesh, and the screams of pain rang out continuously. The millstone of war was operating at a high speed under the push of the Grim Reaper.
“Dex! I’ll leave this place to you. Bran, bring your men and follow me!”
After knocking over a soldier with a sword, Count Kroya wiped the blood from his face and led a group of soldiers down the city wall.
The battle on the city wall continued.
Hiding under the arrow tower at the side, Heath observed the soldiers who had rushed up the city wall and frowned.
For some reason, he felt that there was something wrong with these soldiers.
He said to the two soldiers who were guarding him tightly, “You two go and help the others. I don’t need your protection here.”
Although the two of them were guarding him, they also blocked his way.
The soldier frowned. “Sir, this…”
At this moment, a stray arrow flew to the side. It was aimed at the head of the soldier who was speaking.
Seeing that the soldier’s head was about to be shot, Heath suddenly reached out and grabbed the arrow. The arrow that was spinning at high speed was caught by him easily.
“Ah!”
Only then did the soldier react. He was shocked and broke out in cold sweat.
Heath threw the broken arrow to the side and said again, “I can take care of myself. You guys go and help. I will explain to the Count when you are questioned.”
The two soldiers no longer hesitated. “Yes… Yes, Sir.”
After driving away the two soldiers, Heath walked forward and came to a place close to the battlefield to observe quietly.
“Something is wrong. Something is very wrong.”
As he observed, he immediately discovered even more unbelievable things.
He discovered that most of the soldiers who rushed forward did not seem to be afraid of death. They did not dodge the arrows and weapons that were coming at them. They were willing to be cut down and charged forward.
Moreover, after they were cut down, they did not even let out a normal scream. They did not even frown. They did not even let out a snort when their arms and legs were broken.
Although most siege troops had a strong mentality, wasn’t this a little too brave?
Looking at the cold faces under the helmet mask that did not even have any expression, how should he put it… It gave Heath the feeling that they were not human. They were like corpses…
Corpses?
Suddenly, Heath seemed to have thought of something.
He narrowed his eyes and cast Wizard’s Hand at an enemy soldier on the battlefield.
The power of the Wizard’s Hand was closely related to the caster’s own spiritual power. With Heath’s current maximum control of spiritual power of about two hundred kilograms, it was easy for him to control a soldier.
Soon, the soldier was caught by him. He then took out his crossguard sword and chopped off the soldier’s head.
The soldier who had lost his head was still struggling strangely.
Seeing this scene, Heath said in surprise, “Undead!”
He looked at the soldiers on the battlefield again with a sudden realization in his eyes. This time, there was a reasonable explanation for everything that was unbelievable.
Why was the weak Ryker Duchy able to pull out an army of tens of thousands of people?
Why were these soldiers so valiant?
It was precisely because they were all undead!
Heath raised his eyebrows and looked at the army formation in the distance. There was a hint of solemnity and nervousness in his expression.
The spell to control corpses was not considered a new spell in the Wizard World. It was even something that an Apprentice Necromancer learned.
However, to be able to resurrect 10,000 people at the same time and control them to attack the city and conquer the land, this was not something that an ordinary Necromancer spell could do… The amount of magic power required was far from what an Apprentice could afford…
Heath’s expression tensed up. “Could it be that a Wizard has been sent over?”
If it was a Wizard, there was no need to brush up on his attributes. It would not be enough to run as fast as possible.
However, thinking about it, he felt that something was not right.
Wizards were not cabbages. There was only one Wizard in the Red Devil’s Blood behind the Ryker Duchy. No matter how he thought about it, he should not have been sent to attack Twilight Fortress.
Although Heath did not understand military affairs, he could still distinguish between the main battlefield and the secondary battlefield.
“But what is going on…”
While Heath was thinking, a living soldier of the enemy suddenly stared at him. He looked like a weak scholar who did not have any protective gear on him. It was obvious that his head was easy to take.
The soldier decisively took out a short crossbow and shot an arrow at Heath.
Just as the arrow was about to hit the door, the space in front of Heath suddenly twisted, and a silver-white substance suddenly appeared in front of him.
It was a Mimicry Shield that automatically activated when it sensed danger.
The flying arrow hit the Mimicry Shield with a ‘crack’ and was blown away.
The soldier’s pupils shrank and he shouted, “Wizard!”
His shout immediately attracted the attention of the Knight who had led the charge on the city wall.
The Knight pushed back a few Apprentice Knights with his sword and rushed over. He grabbed the soldier and asked, “Where?”
The soldier pointed in Heath’s direction.
The Knight’s gaze instantly locked onto Heath.
At this moment, Heath also raised his head and looked in that direction. He just happened to meet the Knight’s gaze.
Their eyes intertwined. He instantly read out two words from the Knight’s sparkling eyes —
Human head.