1098. That’s romantic, really.
Today, I will.
It was certainly difficult to hold off such a large number without the full force of knights. Ingis and some of the knights descended from the walls to fight.
Aurelia played an active role, keeping pace with them. Some of the soldiers, particularly those well-versed in tactics, said that there had been many heart-stopping moments if it hadn’t been for Aurelia.
Don’t break the formation.
She was active in actual combat before I could even gauge her power.
With a cool head, she orchestrated the battlefield and designated where Ingis should fight; when she fought herself, she stabbed and slashed with more ferocity than anyone else, slaying monsters.
She severed the heads of over thirty trolls with her sword alone. Even though half of them were swinging their fists with their heads severed, Aurelia did not back down.
She wielded a spear, a shield, and a sword, and was skilled enough to make any weapon her primary weapon.
Meanwhile, Ingis killed creatures even tougher than those Aurelia had faced.
Since his opponents were things like telekinetic ogres, his struggles were no less severe.
Thus, when the Red Cloak held off the battle for one day, Sinar and the Elf army stepped forward the next.
“Damn devils.”
Some of the soldiers realized that the Woodguards had foul mouths, more than expected. After all, even among elves skilled at concealing their emotions, the Woodguards were a bit of an anomaly.
They blended in with humans and became assimilated.
Bran, in particular, was even more so.
“Kill them all. The devil has no meaning unless he dies and disappears.”
Well, considering he muttered such words.
On top of that, the sight of him puffing away on a cigarette was shocking to some.
Whatever the case, the elves, including Bran, fought just fine.
Some of the Woodguard, trusting in the shells wrapped around their bodies, crushed the heads of ghouls with their fists.
A few of the Dryuers slashed the blood-born, plague-spreading demons with their crescent-shaped blades. With that, the demons vanished into black smoke. They endured another day like that.
“It’s our turn. Lien.”
The next day, Cypress and Lien stepped forward again.
Except for the initial attack, no monster as dangerous as the Partaran Scaler ever showed up.
Usually, ghouls formed the core of the attack, attacking in numbers too numerous to even bother counting. The only exceptions were things like the Drowned born of blood; the Black Drowned, born of black blood, charged in like a swift animal.
Drowned are not typically that fast, but these ones were. Yet, it was not a crisis.
They could still somehow hold out. As for the defense of the castle, it was a success.
There were few casualties. Instead, the stamina of the knight force had simply increased insanely.
The enemy’s strategy was simple. It was a question of what they would offer in return for protecting the lives of their soldiers and the castle walls. There was
only one thing to weigh on the scales:
the breath exhaled by the knight force running around with their own hands. Therefore, it was stamina.
You’re relaxing.
Aurelia saw through the enemy’s strategy. However, just as a person with only one body cannot go to two places at once, and a person with two hands cannot wield eight swords simultaneously, it was a wave that could not be stopped even when one knew it was coming. It
was a tomorrow destined to collapse and shatter despite preparations. She could
hear the will of the Demon Mirror horde. Their intention
was to destroy the city walls and the lives of the soldiers in an instant once their strength was depleted to a certain level.
Aurelia blocked it, knowing full well what was happening. And she decided that this was the right thing to do.
‘spring.’
They looked forward to spring.
But could they really suddenly kill them all just because spring came while they were fighting like this?
Wouldn’t it be a crisis if a winged creature or the Scaler that attacked first appeared even tomorrow?
Those with good instincts judged that it was a fight hanging on the edge of a cliff.
At this point, Aurelia also began to have some doubts.
What if it’s a calculation error?
What if we can’t hold out on defense? Wouldn’t it have been better to gather all our strength and fight, regardless of winter?
What if this is the core of the power we have assembled? Did we delay the timing for nothing?
If I can’t hold out here.
If the enemy’s forces are stronger than expected, the defense will fail, and they will cross over to the continent.
What if the power on this side is insufficient compared to expectations?
Anxiety rears its head. Yet, she endures.
Returning to the Southern Front from her previous post in the Border Guard, Aurelia realized just how foolish hasty judgments were.
Hadn’t she risen to the rank of Knight through such means?
She endured. She persevered.
Snow fell for days on end. The temperature dropped so low that white breath naturally escaped her lips. The cold had arrived.
Even though the temperature here was relatively higher compared to the Border Guard region, it was bitterly cold. It
was as if a horde of demons had brought the cold with them. The naturally formed moat turned into a sheet of ice in an instant.
It was clear that some artificial manipulation had intervened, but it is a principle every spellcaster speaks of that one cannot reverse a spell aided by nature. After all,
it is easier to cast frost spells in places that are inherently cold.
In other words, her forces could not prevent the moat from freezing. The sudden cold had frozen the moat.
It is an ice golem.
Just then, a horde of monsters that seemed impervious to arrows swarmed in.
They were demons whose entire bodies were made of angular ice. Even when standing still, they emitted a chilling aura that caused the surrounding ground to freeze solid.
They were so massive that even crossing the moat from a distance, the sense of perspective was so distorted that they appeared close. If one were to get close, one would not even be able to take them all in at a glance from head to toe. Roughly speaking
, there were over a hundred of them. To think
they are only bringing them out now, despite possessing such power?
It was a gift prepared by the Demon Realm as the weather turned cold.
In response, Sinar also brought out a gift he had prepared.
“Bring them here.”
These are the ones he had saved to avoid pouring out his full power from the start.
Ten archers whom Sinar had deliberately trained in Kirhais stepped forward.
Arselina.
Sinar called for the captain among the ten. A silver-haired fairy nodded.
Unlike humans, the Queen of the Fairy City cannot do whatever she wants.
While she is respected, many fairies live internally prioritizing their own desires or acting in the name of protecting their clan, regardless of what the fairies say. She
had selected and trained ten fairies with exceptional natural talents from among them, and this in itself was no easy task.
That is why Sinar is currently so highly respected within the city, but such detailed internal circumstances are beyond the knowledge of others.
In any case, the ten archers are the forces that Kirhais has concealed.
Shoot.
At Sinar’s words, Arselina raised her head and looked down beyond the castle walls.
She watched silently for a moment, then drew the bowstring. The longbow, as tall as herself, bent silently. The shaft transformed from a long pole into a crescent shape.
In a way, it resembled the pulling of a small ballista. Above all, while she appeared slender on the outside, the forearm muscles used to draw the string were comparable to those of any soldier.
In fact, in terms of sheer hardness, they looked as if they were made of solid flint.
Even elves develop muscles with training. It is a natural principle. Sinar had learned some physical training methods from Audin and introduced them to the elven city.
This was the result. Veins bulged across the forearms of the ten archers. The longbows were crafted from a very special type of wood, and the bowstrings were woven from hair that Dryuers had soaked in the morning dew.
They were stronger and tougher than bowstrings made of bull tendons, and since they were imbued with spells, they were objects that could not be pulled by brute force alone without knowing the proper technique.
“oh.”
A soldier let out a gasp of admiration, and Arselina released the bowstring with an expressionless face.
Only a single blue vein bulged and streaked across her forehead.
She had been born with a natural talent for hitting anything she threw since childhood.
On top of that, she was very familiar with the power to control the wind.
And so, the arrow she shot struck the golem.
Bang!
But what good is it if an arrow hits? A golem wouldn’t stop with just ordinary stopping power.
Everyone’s prediction was correct. No matter how skilled an archer he was, this was impossible. It was like trying to block a stone wall with only a single spear.
The enemies didn’t even flinch at the arrows. They just kept approaching, making loud thumping noises. If they gave up enough distance to the front of the castle wall, it was over.
Ingis and the knights were about to step forward again when Cyprus stopped them.
It was the fairy of the Mad Knights who stepped forward.
Those words alone were enough to convince him. Right, that fairy wouldn’t launch a meaningless attack.
Ten arrows struck the golem’s shoulders, head, forearms, thighs, and the like.
Grant my request, my friend.
Sinar murmured from atop the castle wall. It was the moment when Arselina and the ten archers indifferently drew their bows once more.
Sinar’s eyes turned green and red, and at the same time, her cloak fluttered.
Parararak.
Heat mixed with the swaying wind. Spring was still far away, yet a warm breeze spread around.
Along with it, ten arrowheads began to glow bright red. The arrowheads of the arrows they shot were all made of heat-generating stone.
Salamander.
Sinar called out his friend’s name, and the magical metal created on the mountain due to his presence reacted to a power of the same nature.
The stone that Crys named the Heat Stone flowed directly into the Fairy City as well.
Hiss. Whoosh!
Smoke began to rise from the arrowhead, and soon flames spread to the golem’s entire body.
It also exploded with a loud bang. Parts of their bodies burned, crushing and melting the ice.
Ten masses that had frozen their surroundings merely by existing were engulfed in flames.
Ooooo.
Cheers followed from those watching the situation.
Hiss!
In an instant, pure white steam rose, obscuring not only the front of the castle walls but also the sky. It soon turned into a fog that went beyond merely blocking visibility to making the surroundings hazy.
Visibility was restricted as if a fog spell had been cast.
“stomach.”
In the midst of this, Arselina spoke in a cold tone.
A few shadows flew in from beyond the mist created as the ice golem melted away.
A skilled archer detects targets in the distance. These ten archers were the ones who accomplished this using their senses, not their eyes.
Following Arselina’s command, the arrows were aimed upward.
The ice golem was, after all, merely a warm-up.
The arrowheads attached this time were pitch-black stones. To be precise, they were obsidian arrows that pierced through anything they touched.
Without a word to shoot, when Arselina released the bowstring, the other nine followed.
Tudududung.
The flying arrow pierced the heads of ten wyverns flying overhead.
*Smack*.
*Screech*!
A flying creature with dark brown leather falls to the ground.
Bang, pop!
In the meantime, it collided with a half-melted golem, rolling across the ground and scattering the fog even thicker in all directions.
The heat, including Arselina, initially targeted the large-bodied one and fired arrows incessantly, but there were still more enemies.
Amidst this, monsters flapping their wings occasionally pierced through the fog and descended. They were harpies. And that was the main force of the Demon Realm.
Are you just going to watch!
A few soldiers on the southern front draw their bows. Even so, they cannot stop all the monsters. It was a battle against numerical disadvantage. The knights
had managed to hold back those approaching the base of the walls, but in the midst of the chaotic melee, it was impossible to stop the entire horde of harpies descending from above.
Thus, dozens of harpies swarmed the top of the walls.
“Hoop!”
Thelma pulled away and swung her sword.
earth!
I hit the Harpy’s claws, and my hand was about to go numb.
It’s solid.
It was a thought that crossed my mind in an instant. Drito thrust a heavy iron bar from the side.
Bang!
The iron bars failed to penetrate the Harpy’s torso. Still, they did push it. In a sense, they had exerted some stopping power.
The two were momentarily in danger. The Harpy recoiled briefly but held on atop the wooden wall, digging its hook-like claws into the ground.
It had intended to knock it off, but it hadn’t worked.
“I’ll block it!”
Drito shouted, but Delma did not back down.
She had no intention of retreating alone; she would rather die with him.
The Harpy glared at the two of them with gleaming eyes. She kicked off the ground and flew in.
She swung the wings that replaced her arms, and it was like swinging dozens of daggers at once.
The feathers were all so sharp that a mere graze was fatal.
Delma and Drito instinctively ducked, blocking, striking, and dodging.
Whoosh.
In the meantime, Drito was deeply slashed near his left shoulder. Even though it was just a graze, his shoulder blade was torn, and his left arm wouldn’t go up.
This is a real monster.
It is the kind of opponent that is difficult to deal with using his own spear or sword.
His mind froze for a moment.
Ah, I should have gone when I was told to.
That thought crossed his mind, but since it was too late to do so now, this feeling was what was called regret.
“Even if I’m born again, I’ll be with you!”
And just as I barely managed to utter these words right before dying.
Bang!
Something flew in and smashed the guy’s head.
That’s romantic. Yeah.
Someone spoke. Drito’s spear had not pierced the Harpy, but it was not the one of the man who had just stepped forward.
He retracted the spear he had extended while standing with his legs spread apart.
The Harpy’s scalp and fur clung to the drawn blade. He shook them into the air and muttered.
“What a mess as soon as I arrived.”
“I know, right.”
Someone spoke right beside them, and it was a face Dritona Delma was seeing for the first time.
Let’s go for now.
The man holding the spear spoke, and his name was Marco.
