Chapter 39: Deathmatch
Ermo pondered for a moment, then said, "Fine, let them go."
Soon, six seemingly ordinary warriors entered the command post. Visport and Gilmore exchanged a glance, and then Visport ordered the six, "You six will mix in with the main army and charge toward the city gate. When you get close to the gate, break it open as fast as you can, leading the army into the city before the enemy can react."
"Yes, sir."
Three of them immediately acknowledged the order, while the other three looked at Gilmore. Gilmore nodded slightly. "Do as Visport says."
"Yes, sir."
*******
On the vast battlefield, countless warriors surged toward the city like a swarm of locusts. The sixteen magic crystal cannons continuously emitted blinding flashes, claiming many lives. On the walls of Kode County City, Linley, Barker, Gates, Black Shark, Anko, Boon, and others stood together.
"They're really going all out, aren't they?" Gates licked his lips and laughed loudly.
Black Shark looked at Linley, his eyes gleaming. "Lord Linley, let us go down and have a good slaughter." Among the five Barker brothers, only Barker himself had reached the Saint realm in human form; the other four were at the peak of the ninth rank, on the verge of breakthrough at any moment.
Linley watched the ongoing battle below and smiled calmly. "No rush. You'll have your chance to shine. But remember, no matter what, that magic crystal vein must not fall into their hands."
Compared to the vast amount of magic crystals, Linley valued the miniature plane chamber the most.
This treasure had to be protected at all costs.
"It's a pity that Sessler has reached the Saint realm. If he were to act, he alone could probably hold off a million-strong army," Linley remarked with a sigh. Sessler and Linley had reached the Saint realm around the same time. After becoming a Saint-level necromancer, Sessler's strength had reached an incredibly terrifying level.
What Sessler needed to do now was to subdue Saint-level undead.
A Saint-level necromancer could command a group of Saint-level undead. The sheer terror of that was easy to imagine.
"That old geezer spends all his time holed up in the mountains, training hard. He never shows up anymore," Gates said with a pout. "Last time I went to find him, he sent one of his Saint-level undead to spar with me. I have to say... that zombie was really tough." Gates shook his head in admiration.
Linley chuckled inwardly.
Sessler was just messing with Gates. Linley knew well that if Sessler got serious, Gates would lose in an instant. Necromancers were masters of the soul, and 'soul attacks' were their specialty. Once Sessler unleashed a soul attack at the Saint-level, even a powerful Saint-level warrior would struggle to withstand it.
"Boom!"
Suddenly, Linley and the others felt the entire city wall shake violently. Barker's face changed. "Not good!" Linley's spiritual sense also detected that six ninth-rank warriors below had joined forces to launch a full-power attack, directly blasting the city gate apart.
"Charge!" The attacking soldiers cheered in excitement as they saw the gate broken open.
Instantly, a flood of soldiers rushed toward the gate, led by the six ninth-rank warriors. The defenders of Kode County City tried to block them, but the six ninth-rank warriors slaughtered them with ease. Meanwhile, an officer at the gate watched coldly.
"Stone block, drop!" The officer's voice was calm and unhurried.
Dozens of soldiers immediately pulled the mechanism. With a grinding sound, a massive stone block dozens of meters thick came crashing down. The soldiers beneath it tried to dodge, but most were too slow and were crushed into meat paste.
"Boom!"
The gate was sealed shut!
The soldiers outside could no longer enter, and those inside could not get out.
"Six ninth-rank warriors, huh? Pretty ruthless," Gates roared. He flipped his hand and produced a giant axe, leaping straight off the city wall into the city. The six ninth-rank warriors were already inside. Gates jumped down, followed by Boon, Anko, and Black Shark, who also leaped off the wall.
...
Inside the city.
The six ninth-rank warriors were slaughtering wildly, and the surrounding soldiers could not stop them.
"Let's go!" one of them shouted, swinging his blade and cleaving an officer from head to waist, splitting him in two. Wherever the ninth-rank warriors passed, corpses littered the ground.
The other ninth-rank warriors knew they couldn't stay long.
They ignored the soldiers who had charged in with them. One of them, a golden-haired, one-eyed man, stomped the ground and launched himself into the air, easily clearing the thirty-meter wall and landing outside. The other five immediately followed suit—
"Trying to escape!"
A furious roar echoed, followed by a terrifying axe shadow. Gates was the first to land, intercepting a ninth-rank warrior mid-air. The warrior tried to block the axe with his greatsword, but the collision—
"Boom!"
The warrior's greatsword shattered into pieces, and he was sent crashing into the ground inside the city, cracking the earth beneath him. Gates roared, "You bastards dare to come into the city? Die!" His terrifying axe came down, and the space around seemed to freeze.
Gates had already reached the level of 'force' in his cultivation!
The ninth-rank warrior couldn't dodge. "Ah!" A bloodcurdling scream rang out as he was struck by the axe, spitting blood mixed with shattered organs as he was flung far away. He crashed heavily to the ground and never got up again.
Though both were ninth-rank warriors,
Gates was at the peak of the ninth rank and an undying warrior. The gap was too great.
The other four ninth-rank warriors encountered Boon, Anko, and Black Shark. Anko, in particular, forced two of them back with a single axe swing. Black Shark, Boon, and Anko all had murderous glints in their eyes.
The skirmish ended quickly.
*******
"Sir, aside from myself, the other five... escaped," the golden-haired, one-eyed man said, looking frustrated.
Visport and Gilmore's faces darkened.
"How is that possible? You're all ninth-rank warriors!" Visport's face turned pale.
"I saw Linley and those undying warriors on the wall earlier," Gilmore suddenly said. With his strength, even from a kilometer away, he could clearly see Linley and the others on the city wall.
Visport's voice was low. "Gilmore, could it be that Linley ignored the earlier agreement and attacked the ninth-rank warriors?"
"It shouldn't be Linley," Gilmore shook his head. "If he had acted, none of the six would have escaped. I suspect it was those undying warriors who haven't yet reached the Saint realm in human form. With their strength, dealing with ordinary ninth-rank warriors is no challenge."
Visport frowned deeply.
"You may leave," he dismissed the surviving ninth-rank warrior.
Then he barked at the messenger, "Order the attacking army to retreat. That's enough for today."
"Yes, sir." The messenger ran off.
Gilmore looked at Visport with confusion. Visport closed his eyes, and only after a long pause did he open them and say calmly, "Gilmore, we'll attack again late at night. We'll use lives to fill the gap. We must capture the city before dawn tomorrow."
"Late at night?" Gilmore frowned at Visport. "Even if we disregard the soldiers' lives, it won't be easy to take the city."
Neither Gilmore nor Visport cared much about the lives of ordinary soldiers. Their territory's population density was already high, and thinning it out through warfare was acceptable. Ordinary soldiers could be trained in a year or two.
They didn't care about them.
What they cared about were their elite legions.
Like the hundred thousand troops sent to attack the east city not long ago.
"Tonight, we'll attack with everything we've got. If we haven't taken the city by five in the morning, we'll use our final trump card." Visport looked at Gilmore. "What do you think, Gilmore?"
"Final trump card?" Gilmore thought for a moment.
He knew what Visport was referring to. Gilmore nodded slightly. "Alright!"
Even if the frenzied attack from midnight to five in the morning didn't capture the city, it would exhaust the defenders of Kode County City. When the final trump cards of the Radiant Church and the Dark Church were deployed, success would be almost certain.
*******
Countless soldiers below the city retreated like a receding tide.
Watts stood on the city wall, expressionless.
Linley watched Watts from a distance, a look of approval in his eyes. He had already reviewed the day's battle from the command post and seen how Watts had handled the enemy's multiple assaults—whether it was the arrangements at the east and south gates or the various defensive measures, everything was flawless.
"Watts." Linley, Barker, Boon, Anko, and the others walked over to Watts.
Watts saw the group and immediately bowed.
Linley smiled and said, "The battle is over for today, Watts. You should get some rest."
"No, sir." Watts said seriously, "The enemy commander today launched several attacks—a surprise assault with elite troops at the east gate, sending ninth-rank warriors to break the gate, and a frenzied full-scale assault. I can tell that this commander isn't a patient man. I think he'll use all his tricks within the next two days. For example, they might launch a night raid tonight."
Watts looked toward the enemy camp.
In warfare, understanding the enemy commander's personality made it easier to predict their actions.
"Oh?" Linley smiled slightly.
Gates laughed heartily. "Lord Linley, don't doubt him. Watts's predictions are right nine times out of ten."
...
That night, Linley, Barker, and the others were still gathered in the courtyard, drinking. Since Watts had predicted a possible night attack, they decided to wait.
"Miniature plane chamber?" Boon looked surprised when Linley mentioned it.
Barker nodded. "Yes. Even I, who have no particular sensitivity to elemental energy, could clearly feel all kinds of elemental energy in that chamber. It was a special feeling... an unprecedented closeness to nature."
"Barker, Boon, Gates, Black Shark. Train hard. Once you reach the Saint realm, you'll be able to cultivate in the miniature plane chamber," Linley said with a smile.
A chamber with a diameter of ten meters could accommodate several people meditating together.
Suddenly, fierce battle cries erupted from the south gate, followed by the roar of magic crystal cannons, the screams of the dying, and the whistling of arrows. Linley, Barker, and the others exchanged glances and smiled.
"Watts was right on the money. Let's go." Linley felt a growing respect for Watts.
The group hurried toward the south city wall. As they got closer, the sounds of battle grew more intense. Under the light of torches, the ground below was littered with corpses, and many soldiers had fallen on the wall as well. The attacking soldiers below fired arrows wildly.
"Siege towers." Linley suddenly spotted a row of massive structures approaching in the distance.
The siege towers were forty meters tall, built entirely of steel and stone. These enormous mobile fortresses were steadily moving toward the city wall. The side facing Kode County City was reinforced with thick steel.
"Boom!" A magic crystal cannon blast struck one of them.
The scorching flames only melted a thin layer of the several-meter-thick steel. The behemoth was barely shaken. There were ten such siege towers, lined up in a row, steadily advancing toward the wall.
Day Off Request
Caught a chill last night, and I've been on a long-distance bus all day. I'm feeling completely out of it now. Sorry.
Requesting a day off...