275 – I will buy some time. (2)
Chapter 275 – I will buy some time. (2)
Fortress, Stonehaven.
The largest and most fortified fortress guarding the south of Penris Territory.
Gillian was overseeing the recruits training in this area.
“Is everyone gathered?”
“Yes, as the instructor said, everyone is here.”
The one answering while fiddling around was none other than Lucas, who claimed to be a ‘genius of spear fighting.’ Recognized for his rapidly improved skills, he was currently assigned as Gillian’s deputy.
Gillian had sent all important resources, including recruits and iron ore, to Ghislaine. He had gathered the troops and food scattered throughout the southern region to this location.
“Hmm.”
Gillian nodded as he looked at the soldiers and knights stationed on the castle wall.
Now, all that remained were the 1,000 soldiers and 100 knights who had completed their training.
The soldiers were clad in calm silver armor. From their appearance, one could mistake them for knights.
They were the elite among the elite, having participated since the Cabaldy War and undergone rigorous training until now; so, the assessment of them looking like knights was not unfounded.
And the 100 knights were all donned in new black armor. They were granted the rank of ten-man commanders, meaning each knight led ten soldiers.
Gillian knew that with just these forces, even a sizable mid-level territory could be swept away in an instant.
However…
Gillian’s gaze shifted outside the fortress.
‘Desmond…’
They couldn’t compare to the 30,000 large army camped out there.
Desmond wasn’t nicknamed the strongest in the North for nothing. That territory was fortified with countless elite troops and high-ranking knights.
He understood he couldn’t win against them, but Gillian also knew he couldn’t back down.
With a heavy voice, Gillian spoke to everyone.
“Our objective is not to defeat them. It is to buy as much time as possible for the Lord to finish his preparations.”
Instead of responding, the knights nodded in agreement. Gillian continued calmly.
“If this place falls, the enemies will quickly reach the heart of the territory. We have to do everything we can to hold them back, even if it costs us our lives.”
A road connected the entire territory and the fortress. If this fortress fell, the 30,000 troops would advance swiftly towards the Lord’s Castle.
Lucas, who had been smacking his lips, suggested, “Wouldn’t it be better to just retreat? Knowing the Lord, he wouldn’t want us to die. Despite his bad temper, he’s the type who looks after his own, right? Can’t we just reclaim this place later?”
Gillian shook his head decisively.
“No, the situation has improved too much while we’ve been here. If Count Desmond occupies this place, it will become impossible to handle.”
“Won’t the Crown Prince Faction assist us later?”
“If they did, they would use that as an excuse to take over this place. We might never reclaim it. The Duke Faction might also support Desmond before that.”
Lucas fell silent, unable to counter.
Originally, the iron-rich Cabaldy Territory was thriving like never before. The standard of living for the people had improved, and the population increased significantly with new immigrants.
No lord will just consume this place and spit it out. Instead, as the state of the territory becomes clear, they will only engage in meaningless struggles with those eyeing it.
With a sharp gaze, Gillian addressed the knights surrounding him.
“There is a dream of the Lord here.”
“……”
“We have come this far along with the Lord. Think of how much preparation we have made to claim this place. If we lose this territory, all our efforts will be in vain.”
One knight raised his hand and asked, “Can anyone who wants to run away go?”
At that, Gillian grinned fiercely.
“No, you all will stay with me and die here for the Lord. Stake your lives on holding back the enemy.”
The knights chuckled and chimed in one by one.
“Ah, he really is a hardliner.”
“What’s with the loyalty? How cheesy.”
“You must have honored contracts well as a mercenary. Truly a man of integrity. Such integrity.”
“Back in my mercenary days, contracts were always honored. People are really trustworthy. Trustworthy.”
“I just want to run away and live well somewhere else.”
Gillian laughed again as he watched the chattering knights. They all mocked, but no one would actually run away.
They were no longer just simple followers. They were companions who had grown thanks to Ghislaine’s grace and shared many experiences together.
Bong! Bong! Bong!
The sound of drums echoed. The enemies had begun to move.
Drrrrrrrr…
The first to move was the catapults. A whopping 12 of them.
The knights and soldiers surrounding the fortress had grim expressions as they looked at the catapults.
Gillian raised his hand and spoke.
“Combat preparation. Spread out and get ready for the catapult attack.”
As soon as he finished speaking, huge stones began to fly through the air.
Crash! Crash! Boom!
The stones mercilessly pounded against the castle wall. Some fell inside the fortress, smashing the supplies and buildings they had gathered.
The relentless incoming attack left the Penris Army with nothing to do but frantically dodge the flying stones.
Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash!
Stone fragments flew as the relatively weaker upper part of the wall began to crumble. However, thanks to the solid reinforcement done previously, it wouldn’t collapse easily.
Watching this, Harold stopped the catapult attacks and said,
“You’ve made quite a bit of money, huh? You’ve taken care to reinforce the fortress. You even outfitted the soldiers with such armor. Quite a lot for a capital.”
All the visible enemies were in armor like knights. But Harold didn’t think they were real knights.
There’s no way there could be that many knights.
Looking at the different colored armor, he suddenly recalled something he had forgotten.
“Could they be the Black Brigade that was said to have fought in the Perdium skirmish? Their numbers have increased since then.”
He had received reports of around 50 of them, but at a glance, it seemed like there were about 100 now.
Even without using mana, he had heard their skills were quite remarkable. It seemed they had made enough money to increase the size of the Black Brigade.
Perhaps they were the ones playing the role of knights in this territory. Not real knights who used mana, but elite soldiers better than infantry.
“We’ll take a brief break from the catapult attacks. Mages and archers, prepare yourselves.”
An old man with white whiskers stepped forward from behind Harold. He was Willow, Desmond’s exclusive mage, who had reached the impressive 6th Circle.
“What shall we do?”
“We’ll be advancing with the siege tower anyway, so until then, cause as much damage as possible. Check for traps on the ground while advancing.”
“Understood.”
With a wave of his hand, about twenty mages followed behind him.
Since the distance was too far, the mages needed to get closer to effectively cast their spells.
Bong! Bong! Bong!
The drums sounded again, and Desmond’s heavy infantry slowly began to advance, escorting the mages and archers.
The mages scanned the ground with their mana, checking for runestone traps. Having faced one before, they were quite cautious in their movements.
“It seems there are no traps. Increase speed.”
With Willow’s command, the speed of Desmond’s advance increased.
Gillian eyed the approaching enemies with even sharper focus, gauging the distance before shouting.
“Fire!”
Swoosh!
In an instant, thousands of arrows filled the sky as they were shot.
The Penris army trained to use all kinds of weapons. Naturally, all the remaining soldiers here could shoot a bow to some degree.
Tatatatatatang!
The heavy infantry hurriedly raised their massive shields to block. They were startled by the sudden barrage of arrows, causing their feet to halt for a moment.
Harold was equally astonished.
“Huh? What’s this? Were they all archers?”
By his common sense, no matter how elite the troops were, they couldn’t all wield every weapon.
The time required for training was one thing, but the training costs would increase exponentially. There were reasons why other lords chose to specialize and divide their troops into types.
Because of this. There was a reason why other lords took the time to specialize by categorizing their troops.
“Well, that’s good. Everyone is weak at close combat, so we should quickly attach the siege towers. Move immediately. And resume catapult attacks until we get close. Let’s keep them on their toes.”
A total of eight siege towers began to move slowly. At the same time, mages protected by heavy infantry began their assault on the fortress.
Boom!
Giant fireballs were shot out among the heavy infantry.
The fireballs accurately targeted the locations where the soldiers were gathered. They were far more precise than the catapult’s attacks.
“Retreat!”
The Knights of Penris stepped forward, holding their massive shields made of Galbarium.
The soldiers assigned below the knights either hid behind their squad leaders or completely ducked for cover.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
“Ugh!”
Each time they blocked a fireball, they felt their insides churn and were pushed back involuntarily. However, the knights wrapped their shields in mana and gritted their teeth to hold firm.
But Desmond’s Army wasn’t done yet. Archers moving with the heavy infantry fired a massive volley of arrows.
Simultaneously, the catapult attacks resumed.
Crash! Crash! Crash!
“Take cover! Take cover!”
“Scatter! Raise your shields over your heads to avoid the arrows!”
“Damn it! Is this really something we can endure?”
The knights were on the brink of losing their minds. They hadn’t even engaged properly yet; they were too busy avoiding and blocking the attacks.
Even though they considered themselves a formidable force, they could do nothing against Desmond’s Army.
While it was true that numbers spoke volumes, the issue was not simply about numerical superiority. Desmond’s Army expertly pressured the soldiers of the fortress without giving them a moment to breathe.
There was hardly a chance to do anything. At least thanks to the Galbarium shields, the soldiers had some relief in blocking the arrow attacks.
Whoosh!
Even as they were bombarded with continued assaults, they felt tremendous mana gathering above in the skies. It was a precursor to high-circle magic.
As the knights scrambled to either block or dodge the attacks from Desmond’s Army, they looked up and muttered.
“Damn… this is no joke…”
“Our lord really had us fight against these bastards?”
“They’re on a completely different level from anyone we’ve met so far.”
Their grumbling didn’t last long. Mana began to coalesce from various spots in the sky.
Willow, having finished casting, waved her hand leisurely and muttered.
“Fire Rain.”
Whoosh!
Hundreds of giant fireballs erupted in the air above the fortress. They started pouring down below in an instant.
The knights screamed in shock at the indiscriminate rain of fire.
“Gather everyone!”
What was coming from the front was something they could try to block. But they couldn’t stop what was falling from the sky.
Even with Galbarium shields, the soldiers wouldn’t withstand high-circle magic effectively.
The knights channeled mana into their armor.
Zzzz!
Light burst forth from the gaps in their black armor. The magic circles engraved on their armor activated, creating a translucent force field.
Crash! Crash! Crash!
Fireballs crashed down in every direction, obliterating everything. Even the solid stone floor was made to turn to dust in an instant under such powerful attacks.
As expected from high-circle magic, the destructive power was terrifying.
However, the knights and the surrounding soldiers remained unscathed, without a single burn.
Swish.
The falling fireballs around the knights scattered before they could even hit the force field.
The castle walls and towers were destroyed and left in ruins, but the knights and soldiers survived unscathed.
And Willow, who had been watching intently, murmured.
“Dispel? Could there be a 6th Circle Mage among them?”
She sensed the mana waves spreading everywhere disrupting her magic. If she was a 6th Circle Mage, that meant there had to be at least an equal mage capable of dispersing her magic before it activated.
But something felt off. If there was indeed a 6th Circle Mage, then they would have dispelled her magic before it even took effect.
Before the magic was activated, it must have been released.
And the magic power felt everywhere was quite insignificant compared to his own magic.
“Did you set up a magic circle using a runestone? You must have money to burn. But where did you invite a 6th Circle Mage to create this?”
Willow clicked her tongue and prepared her magic again. If it was blocked by a magic tool, she just needed to keep attacking until the tool couldn’t withstand it and shattered.
Bam! Bang! Bang!
She tried the magic one more time, but the same phenomenon occurred.
“Hmm… I don’t know what it is, but it’s well made!”
Annoyed, she prepared her magic once again. Since it was a 6th Circle spell, her mana was quickly draining, but since she was safe anyway, she could keep trying until her mana ran out.
Doom! Doom! Doom!
However, before she could cast her spell again, the siege tower moved. Willow clicked her tongue and stepped back. She felt quite bruised in her pride, thinking she hadn’t delivered any real damage.
Harold watched the scene indifferently.
In fact, they could tire the Penris Army by just continuing long-range attacks for days. Although he wanted to do that, he couldn’t.
‘The Kingdom Army must be moving.’
They had already wiped out the 2nd Corps. Marquis Branford had surely sent his troops.
And… Ghislaine was not here.
‘Who knows what that guy will do while stalling for time.’
With the pressure from the Crown Prince Faction and Ghislaine’s unpredictable schemes, he couldn’t afford to stall here for too long.
He had to push through with overwhelming troops and occupy Penris as quickly as possible. Only then could he shape the game he wanted.
In other words, Harold was also pressed for time, just like Ghislaine.
Dudududududu.
So he decided to pour out his troops all at once. They had to occupy this place within today.
The knights gasped as they watched the approaching siege towers.
Activating the armor’s abilities and blocking the magic attacks had almost drained half of their mana.
“Heh… Why are you already exhausted? We haven’t even started fighting yet.”
The knights laughed bitterly. Having already used so much mana, it was clear the upcoming battle would be tougher.
Still, if it weren’t for the armor made by the dwarves and mages, they would have suffered severe damage.
Dudududud!
The siege tower approached. Desmond’s archers fired arrows continuously to suppress it. The archers on top of the siege tower also shot arrows toward the castle wall.
Lucas, who was just holding up his shield, shouted loudly.
“Instructor! What are we going to do? There are so many siege towers coming! They’re coming in droves!”
“Wait. It’s better for the siege towers to attach to us.”
There was no answer from long-range attacks. If they stayed like this, they’d just burn out and die.
But Gillian knew the enemies were in a desperate situation too. The Penris Army was catching its breath while waiting for them to come closer.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Eight siege towers began to attach one by one to the castle wall. Desmond’s troops started to swarm up from underneath the siege tower like ants.
Gillian looked at them with a fierce glint in his eyes and said, “Get ready.”
Click! Click! Click!
All the knights and soldiers lowered their helmets and completely covered themselves. Until now, they had opened their faceguards to secure their vision, but that was no longer necessary.
With no arrows coming from Penris, Desmond’s troops grew bolder.
More and more troops continuously entered the siege towers.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The legs of the siege tower rested against the castle wall. The Penris Army glared at the siege tower. It was clear that numerous soldiers of Desmond, filled with murderous intent, were packed inside.
Zing—!
Bright light burst forth from the gaps in the Penris knights’ armor again.
Their eyes began to fill with the same murderous intent as Desmond’s soldiers.
Gillian discarded his shield and pulled out two massive axes.
He spoke with a heavy, vicious intent in his voice.
“You’ve done well to come. Now let’s fight properly.”
