Chapter 61: The Siege of a Lone Warrior (1)
Realization struck Kyle as he saw the blade nearing his throat.
“This is treachery!”
At Kyle’s outcry, the soldiers stirred but hesitated in front of Bexter’s intimidating presence.
Trapped without an escape, Kyle glared at Bexter, anger evident in his clenched teeth.
“You ungrateful fool, to forget the favors my father bestowed upon you…”
“Favors? I am a knight of the Empire. Did you expect me to serve another lord just because I retired?” Bexter remarked in disbelief. The loyalty of the Empire’s knighthood remains with the Empire even in retirement. Bexter was promised a secure retirement and brought over by the previous Lord Hendrake to nurture knights.
Despite this, Bexter felt uneasy pointing his sword at Kyle.
“Surrender peacefully. It’s your only chance at salvation.”
It was better to subdue Kyle now for the sake of the previous Lord Hendrake. If a conflict ensued, leading to devastation and loss of lives, there would be no opportunity for redemption.
Bexter believed in dying for a cause as a knight, but this situation was different. It was an ignoble struggle to endure.
“This isn’t about honor; it’s about being controlled by a disrespectful individual. I’ll try to ensure your clemency. Keeping the lands might prove to be a challenge, though…”
Seemingly accepting his fate, Kyle dropped his hands weakly.
“Forget everything else, but what about the alleged mental incompetence?” Kyle’s question caused a rare flicker of emotion on Bexter’s usually stoic face as confusion spread among the knights until one quietly spoke to Bexter.
“Wait, you seriously didn’t know?”
“The fact that you’re clueless says a lot about your skills, Kyle Hendrake.”
Kyle felt unfairly blamed. Accusations of embezzlement, betrayal, and stirring up trouble – all of these charges were unjust, but being called mentally incompetent hurt the most. But he didn’t have a chance to defend himself.
One of the knights came over and tied Kyle’s hands.
Bexter signaled to another knight.
“Head to the village and let Count Reinhardt and the Holy Grail Knights know that Lord Hendrakeee is surrendering. Our real enemy isn’t Lord Hendrakeee, but is among us…”
“Bexter, sir.”
Suddenly, a familiar voice approached, much louder than usual.
Bexter, instinctively reaching for his sword, turned around. His expression twisted.
Raella was coming closer, her red hair flowing in the wind.
“What disrespect is this towards the lord?”
“Raella.”
Bexter said sharply and ordered the knights.
“She’s a Red Chalice witch. Detain her right away and throw her in the dungeon.”
Bexter had all the information. The investigation had been ongoing since the previous lord’s death.
He had used all possible resources and discovered that Raella was part of the Red Chalice Club.
But to deal with Raella, they needed to first remove the manipulated lord. So, he convinced the Hendrake knights he was training to join in. Recruitment wasn’t hard since the lord’s incompetence had already caused delays in payments.
In the meantime, someone claiming to be a Holy Grail Knight came to the village with a maid from the Red Chalice Club. This made Bexter urgently check with Isaac about the situation before taking action.
“How impolite to call me a witch.”
Raella smiled at the approaching knights. Then, Bexter noticed a Black Knight standing behind Raella. The other knights thought he was just one of the Hendrake knights and ignored him, moving in closer.
But in an instant, the Black Knight drew his sword.
Bang, crack!
Before the other knights could react, the Black Knight sprang into action. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, one knight’s body was sliced in half, armor and all, and dropped to the ground while another’s upper body was cut off and tumbled down the ramparts.
Bexter was stunned by the sudden twist and raised his sword.
“Owen? What are you doing here!”
Only then did Bexter realize that the Black Knight was Owen, who was supposed to be sick in bed.
Owen was the knight Bexter had trained the most rigorously, but as far as he knew, Owen wasn’t skilled in this manner.
Without a word, Owen advanced.
Bexter clenched his teeth and aimed his sword. With what had happened to the previous knights, it seemed Owen possessed remarkable swordsmanship.
Of course, Bexter was no slouch when it came to sword skills…
Clash, snap, slash!
The swords clashed in a split second. Three strikes came at Bexter; he managed to block the first two, but the third one cut his thigh mercilessly. Bexter collapsed.
He glanced up at Owen.
“You cursed…”
Without a word, Owen beheaded Bexter. The gruesome sight of his head rolling was witnessed by the knights and soldiers on the walls, and by Kyle. Kyle, who never expected Bexter to lose, stared in shock at the rolling head.
Owen just stared at the knights, not saying a single word. The knights quickly dropped their weapons and surrendered. Surprisingly, the soldiers did the same thing.
Raela walked up to Kyle, who was still looking stunned.
“I just saved you, my lord. Aren’t you grateful?” she whispered sweetly. It was only then that Kyle realized the true meaning behind Bexter’s words.
Surrendering was the only way to survive, but it was too late.
***
“There’s no response from Sir Bexter, as expected,” Reinhardt said sadly, gazing up at the walls. The knights, discussing their next moves for the upcoming siege, looked at Reinhardt with confusion.
“Did you really think it would be that easy?”
“I thought Sir Bexter would have Kyle surrender by now, or at least tie him up and bring him out… especially after I explicitly said we wanted a peaceful resolution,” Reinhardt explained. He had been preparing for a possible battle while hoping for a better outcome.
“I was also hoping for practical reasons. We only have 100 soldiers and 15 knights. We can’t siege until we get reinforcements.”
Despite the difference in knight levels, Hendrake’s side hesitated to attack due to Bexter’s absence of high-level knights. However, Reinhardt believed Bexter was the key to resolving the situation.
“But if things escalate inside the castle, Kyle will have to make a ‘wise choice’…” he said optimistically.
Suddenly, they heard Owen, who had escaped after a surprise attack, shouting from the walls.
“Bexter Ohar is dead for betraying us! You’re next!”
Confusion spread among the invaders, and Reinhardt’s face went pale. What he feared had become reality.
Before he could react, someone yelled, “My lord!” and pointed towards Hendrake’s castle gates, which were now opening. Knights poured out, charging towards them without hesitation.
The clash was intense. Reinhardt and his soldiers were overwhelmed, their barricades useless. The surprise attack was brutal, shattering Reinhardt’s hopes of a bloodless resolution.
“My lord!”
“Kill the invaders!”
The knights clashed fiercely, shattering Reinhardt’s illusions of an easy victory.
Reinhardt watched in horror as his knights got completely wrecked right in front of him. Swords clashed, bones broke, and bodies went flying in all directions. It was clear that this wasn’t just a matter of better training.
One of the Hendrake knights, looking wild-eyed and crazed, locked onto Reinhardt. His gaze was full of pure madness, bringing back memories of the frenzied soldiers from his early military days.
“Darn it!”
The Hendrake knight charged at lightning speed. Just as his spear was about to skewer Reinhardt, a shadow came crashing in with intense force.
Boom! Suddenly, Isaac rode in on a huge black horse and knocked the Hendrake knight to the ground. The knight tried to get up, but Isaac expertly directed his horse to stomp the knight’s head with its hooves. After a final twitch, the knight lay still.
***
“Get up, my lord!” Isaac barked, trying to snap Reinhardt out of his daze. When that didn’t work, Isaac jumped off his horse and gave Reinhardt a good slap across the face.
“Hey, wake up!”
Finally, Reinhardt started coming around. Seeing Reinhardt struggling, Isaac helped him back onto the horse and quickly scanned for an escape route.
The Hendrake knights, having decimated the soldiers, now turned their attention to Reinhardt and his forces.
Isaac spotted a charging knight heading his way. Taking down a horse wasn’t the hard part, but the speed and power of the beast made it a dangerous weapon. He needed a plan that didn’t involve a head-on collision.
“Hesabel!”
At Isaac’s mental command, an arrow found its mark in a horse’s eye, bringing down a few others charging alongside it.
With daylight still on their side, Hesabel sniped from the rooftops, causing chaos among the knights who couldn’t figure out where the attacks were coming from.
Despite being hit with arrows, the knights, driven by an unseen force, continued their relentless charge towards Isaac and Reinhardt. It was like they were ready to tear their enemies apart with their bare hands if they had to.
“If these guys went up against trolls, they’d probably win with that kind of madness,” Isaac thought to himself.
This wasn’t just some regular battle fervor – these soldiers were clearly being influenced by something beyond their control, likely drugs given their bloodthirsty appearance.
Hesabel kept firing arrows at the incoming knights, but their armor made it hard to land a decisive blow. The knights, seemingly impervious to pain, pushed forward without hesitation.
Finally, Isaac clashed with the lead knight in a fierce battle. Swinging his mace wildly, the knight tried everything to take down Isaac.
Soon, Isaac found himself surrounded, but luckily the knights’ fighting skills hadn’t improved; they were just driven by inexplicable madness and strength.
“This is it,” Isaac thought as he found himself encircled. With a swift motion, he unleashed the Avalanche Swordsmanship technique designed for close combat. A thunderous blast followed, sending the knights flying in all directions.
None of the knights escaped without getting banged up. The armor was totally wrecked or torn to shreds.
“Wow, the power… feels way stronger now, huh?” It was a whole different level from his usual wolf-hunting experience.
