Chapter 71: Attack is the Best Defense. (2)
“Everyone, follow me!”
With that shout, Ghislaine vanished from sight.
“Ahhh! Young Master! He’s lost it!”
“Hurry and follow the Grand Duke!”
Belinda let out a sharp scream. Gillian, who had been observing the situation, immediately yelled out orders and bolted.
“Hahaha! Seriously, that’s insane, right? That’s not normal!”
Kaor excitedly drew his sword and charged out.
The mercenaries, clueless about what was happening, just followed along.
They had no time to think or worry.
They moved as they had trained, just following their commander.
They weren’t the only ones caught in confusion.
Zvalter and Randolf forgot they were in combat and gaped in disbelief.
Seeing Ghislaine and the mercenaries surge forward, they hastily shouted.
“Ghislaine! Come back! Just hold the castle wall! What are you doing?”
“Grand Duke! Stop! Come back! Come back, you crazy fool!”
Seriously, who charges out during a siege?
Of course, the enemies were just as startled by Ghislaine’s antics.
Count Tamos turned to Viktor and asked, “Um… did the castle gate just open? Who are those guys in black armor?”
“……”
Viktor was speechless, his eyes blinking in disbelief.
The beleaguered Perdium army bursting forth from the castle gate wasn’t something he could have imagined.
Especially since there was a hole in one side of the castle wall.
Viktor had never learned about such tactics in military school.
“What’s going on? What’s the plan? Did I miss something? Why are they out? What are they doing?”
Viktor muttered to himself in shock.
The unexpected situation outside common sense left even the commander flustered.
Naturally, the soldiers also couldn’t respond immediately.
“Huh?”
One soldier, nearly at the Perdium castle wall, felt something flying toward him.
Looking up at the sky, he saw a black shadow falling, blocking out the sun.
The figure of a person wielding a massive weapon.
That was the last sight the soldier ever saw.
Boom!
“Ahhhhhh!”
Soldiers were sent flying in all directions.
“Whoooo…”
The one who leaped into the midst of the enemy wielding a massive double-handed axe was none other than Ghislaine.
As he exhaled, red smoke billowed out from the gaps of his helmet.
Soon after, the mercenaries began to storm onto the battlefield, following Ghislaine.
Armed with heavy weapons, they swung their arms as soon as they spotted the enemy in front of them.
There was no time to even think about what the situation was or what the operation entailed.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
“Ahhh!”
“What the hell are these guys!”
“Where did they suddenly pop out from!”
In war, soldiers are on edge, moving only towards the target they’ve been ordered to.
They shouldn’t move freely, but even if they try, they can’t see their surroundings properly.
Then, out of nowhere, Gillian and the mercenaries charged in, sending the soldiers into chaos.
Boom! Boom!
“Gahh!”
As they watched their enemies fall without a fight, even the mercenaries were bewildered.
“What’s going on? Why are these guys so weak? Can we just fight here?”
“Shut up and focus! If we lose sight of the Captain, we’re all dead!”
The mercenaries began to feel a thrill as they saw the enemies being swept away.
Fueled by the heat of Ghislaine leading the front, everyone’s body started to feel hotter.
“Master! What are the next orders? The mercenaries can’t grasp the situation either!”
After smashing through the surrounding enemies, Gillian shouted loudly.
Ghislaine quickly scanned the battlefield before drawing a line with his finger.
“Kaor, take half of them and create an escape route around the breached castle wall. Just hold on until I get back.”
“That’s easy enough! Let’s go, you lot!”
Swish!
The mercenaries led by Kaor shoved the enemies back and swiftly formed a wall of shields.
Seeing the line of shields confirmed, Ghislaine’s head moved quickly again.
The target he aimed for was none other than the Siege Tower.
“Follow me! We’re going to the Siege Tower!”
Ghislaine shouted loudly, charging out with his dual axes raised high.
“Young Master, what on earth are you thinking!”
“Let’s argue about that later, for now, just follow the Captain!”
Belinda, Gillian, and the remaining shield-wielding mercenaries followed Ghislaine closely.
Especially the mercenaries from the Forest of Monsters gritted their teeth and ran madly after him.
They already knew from experience.
The younger commander was the one who needed to be followed if they wanted to survive.
Thinking and moving would be too late. They needed to follow immediately.
“Hurry up! We’re chasing the Captain! We have to do as we’re told to stay alive! Don’t think, just move! Just do as trained!”
As one shouted loudly, the other mercenaries moved as if enchanted.
“Break through!”
Boom!
Ghislaine advanced, shattering the ranks of disoriented enemies.
The mercenaries also pressed forward, shields in front, pushing the remaining enemies relentlessly.
Though it wasn’t quite the same as a cavalry charge, the sudden attack was proving quite effective.
In the chaos, Ghislaine and the mercenaries reached the entrance of the Siege Tower.
“Block this! Shields!”
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The mercenaries raised their shields in two lines, encircling the entrance of the Siege Tower.
Now realizing the situation, the enemy archers ignored their previous orders and turned their arrows towards them.
But it was of no use against the well-prepared mercenaries with raised shields.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Seeing the mercenaries had readied their formation, Ghislaine shouted loudly again.
“Castle wall! Cover our allies!”
With the target of the enemy archers changed, there was now some leeway on the wall.
On this side of the wall, Randolf was fighting.
Momentarily taken aback by Ghislaine’s unexpected actions, he quickly regained his composure based on the experience he had built on the battlefield.
Ghislaine was momentarily stunned by his own actions, but he quickly regained his composure, drawing from the experience he had built on the battlefield.
Randolf, upon confirming the suddenly changed situation on the battlefield, shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Fire! Aim for the enemy archers!”
The soldiers on the castle wall, who were in a daze, quickly sprang into action and began shooting arrows.
The unprepared enemy unit on one side fell helplessly to the arrows.
The Shield Soldiers urgently tried to protect the archers, but the path leading to the Siege Tower had already been lost.
“I’ll handle the Siege Tower alone! You all hold on until I arrive! Belinda, stay with Gillian and help the mercenaries!”
“What? Young Master!”
“Sir! This is not good!”
Belinda and Gillian tried to dissuade Ghislaine, but they were so busy fighting the enemy that they could barely respond.
The place Ghislaine was heading to was a dangerous spot with soldiers crowding inside the tower, trying to enter.
He was saying he would go there alone.
“Don’t worry about this side!”
Ghislaine emphasized again and headed toward the Siege Tower where the enemies were gathered.
Watching the battlefield fall apart so quickly, Viktor ground his teeth.
The beautifully arranged game had turned into a mess because of some lunatics.
“Did they really just bring out the elite forces from the castle gate like that?”
He could never have imagined they would suddenly pop out during a Siege War.
The battlefield was in chaos. Countless soldiers clashed against the castle walls, and screams echoed incessantly.
In a situation so disordered that he wouldn’t even notice if allies died right next to him, it was hard to see the big picture.
“In a situation like this, they think they can read my thoughts and catch me off guard?”
No matter how superior the troops, once they engaged in war, avoiding death completely was impossible. Pushing too hard only led to greater damage.
He intended to conserve troops for a day, looking for an opportunity. Supplies had been cut off, but he thought Perdium would be enough to manage.
If he utilized the Siege Tower first, he could minimize the allies’ casualties while draining the enemy’s strength.
And when their smaller troops got exhausted, he planned to charge in with a full force.
In other words, the battles so far were merely a procedure to gauge the enemy’s strength.
In a situation where victory was expected, he didn’t want to engage in a war that incurred losses.
Even if the opponent caught on to his intention, he believed they wouldn’t be able to move.
Most of the Perdium troops were clustered on both castle walls, and they weren’t properly deploying soldiers even at the breached sections.
“No, it’s not over yet. I need to disperse the forces at the gate to weaken them more, and then launch a full assault…”
Viktor’s strategy was close to textbook.
A castle with neither a moat nor a tower, and no proper traps even in front of the gate, yet he had confirmed everything in advance to avoid any losses.
Once he drained the enemy’s strength using the Siege Tower, they wouldn’t be able to hold the crucial castle gate anymore.
It was a perfect method to minimize allied casualties.
Even as the soldiers climbed the breached wall, he was brimming with confidence.
He was just about to move other troops when Ghislaine and the mercenaries barged in.
“Of all times, now? Did they really intend to strike at that exact moment?”
It was a movement that exceeded the speed of thought, seizing the brief gap in hesitation.
In all that chaos and danger, the enemy read Viktor’s thoughts, grasped the flow of the battlefield, and captured a single opportunity.
Seizing a single opportunity.
To open the castle gate and come out in front of such overwhelming troops.
The enemy must be either a complete moron…
Or a beast exhibiting terrifying hunting instincts.
“Profit, castle gate! To the castle gate!”
Viktor opened his eyes wide and observed the battlefield.
But the castle gate had already closed again.
Should they just push through everything like this?
‘No, no. The damage would be too great in this state. They have no choice but to take the risk.’
His mind began to race.
One flank of their forces had already been attacked and fallen in an instant.
“Such incredible speed. Did they rush out blindly, trusting that combat power?”
If the siege tower fell, it would certainly be a setback, but the troops tied to it could be redirected elsewhere.
Caught off guard by unexpected tactics, but it wasn’t significant enough to change the war’s outcome.
“Send more knights and troops towards the left siege tower! Quickly, reclaim the siege tower first! Troops from the siege tower, turn your bodies and strike at the enemy’s rear!”
Those guys in black armor looked quite skilled, so they would need to send knights to secure the siege tower.
Their formation had collapsed, and the ranks were broken, but there were still troops remaining beneath the siege tower, so they could encircle the enemy commander.
Twenty knights and additional troops moved towards the left siege tower.
“If we push them, our forces will be insufficient, so we’ll attack the castle gate at the same time! Move the battering ram and ladder forward! Prepare to march!”
Following Viktor’s orders, the soldiers began to change formation.
The troops that had been waiting to enter the siege tower sensed something was off and turned around.
“What’s that guy doing?”
One knight stared at Ghislaine approaching alone with a look of disbelief.
Thud, thud, thud.
The two-headed axe that Ghislaine carried was as big as it was lengthy, and he dragged it behind him as he approached the siege tower.
“Is he really coming back here to block us alone?”
The knight smirked wryly as he turned around.
The enemy blocking the siege tower was too busy dealing with their comrades in front.
Excluding the soldiers who had entered the siege tower, there were still over a hundred troops waiting here.
With an empty back, if they charged, they could immediately set up an encirclement attack.
“Don’t worry about those going up, just keep climbing! The rest will strike the enemy’s rear immediately!”
The commanding knight shouted loudly, causing the waiting troops to turn around.
Whoever was daring enough to confront this number alone, the knight knew there was no strong man in Perdium capable of such.
‘That guy is probably just showing off.’
It was a matter of swiftly slaying him and then dealing with those idiots blocking the way.
“Ha!”
The knight released mana and jumped, closing the distance to Ghislaine in an instant.
Just as the knight approached right in front of Ghislaine and was about to swing his sword.
Ghislaine’s axe made a large arc as it struck the ground.
Boom!
Thud!
The soldiers following the knight momentarily froze in their steps.
The leading knight’s body was cleanly sliced in half.
Between the two pieces of the corpse that split apart, a devil wearing a black helmet emerged, glowing with red eyes.
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