Chapter 62: The Siege of a Lone Warrior (2)
Originally, the move only had three angles, but now it had five. Not only could it slice through steel armor like butter, but the boom itself was enough to leave some knights deaf and dazed. Clearly, Gebel had a point saying this move was great for close combat.
It seemed a bit less potent than Gebel’s version.
“Could all my fights be making this move stronger without me even realizing?”
Sure, it took a toll on his body. But, luckily, the tentacles within his armor kind of cushioned the blow.
Despite feeling his body protesting, Isaac grinned.
Why? Because all eyes were on him.
“Phew, I’m a bit winded, but bring it on.”
Isaac brandished his sword at the knights. They stumbled towards him, recovering from the blast’s shock.
One knight charged, swinging his flail.
“My lord! Paladin!”
Then, amidst the thundering hooves, Reinhardt’s knights charged in. The Hendrake knight wielding the flail was flattened instantly under the hooves. Reinforcements joined in, regrouping after the sneak attack.
A less competent army might have crumbled after that ambush. But Reinhardt’s knights rallied and launched a counterstrike. Isaac’s intervention helped them regain their footing. Without him, they might have fallen apart.
As Reinhardt’s forces fought back methodically, the Hendrake knights, fierce as they were, started to give ground.
“Is the count alright?”
The knight who trampled the man with the flail and pushed back the enemies with shield and spears approached.
He was Reinhardt’s lead knight, if memory served.
“I’m a bit out of it, but I’ll manage.”
Isaac glanced at a stunned Reinhardt atop his black horse. It’d take him a moment to recover.
“Just get the count out for now. We’ve got this.”
Isaac surveyed the battle, noting the Hendrake knights’ zeal and power, but also their lack of coordination.
It was only a matter of time before they fell.
“Why won’t they retreat?”
Isaac puzzled over why the Hendrake castle didn’t call a retreat.
If things kept up, the Hendrake knights, including Sir Bexter, would be wiped out. Was this all part of a plan to get rid of them along with Bexter’s execution?
“Were they just pawns in all this chaos?”
No orders came to retreat from the castle. Most of the Hendrake knights, along with Bexter, were slain or captured.
Meanwhile, within Hendrake castle, Isaac’s planted spy was on the move.
After the failed attack on Hesabel, Isaac wasn’t twiddling his thumbs.
Sure, here it is:
So, there was this thing that seemed like an ambush by some knight from the Hendrake knighthood, but deep down, everyone knew it was really the Red Chalice pulling the strings.
At Reinhardt’s behest, Isaac played it cool, acting like he was just chilling while slyly gathering intel with his sneaky buddy, Zihilrat, who snuck into the castle. Isaac was already knee-deep in his own little war at that point.
Watching Zihilrat scale those castle walls was like witnessing some kind of magic trick.
From a hidden spot in the Hendrake castle, Zihilrat caught sight of the drama unfolding between Bexter and Kyle, and the whole show where Bexter met his unfortunate fate at Owen’s sword.
Once the rebellion settled down, Kyle took back the reins at the castle, but let’s be real, nobody really saw him as some big shot.
‘Hey, Raela.’
Zihilrat had his eye on her, for sure.
Thanks to some insider info from Isaac, Zihilrat knew there were Red Chalice supporters lurking around the Hendrake castle. While Owen shut down Bexter’s uprising, it was obvious that Raela was the mastermind.
After shutting down the rebellion, Owen swooped in, rounding up the knights and hauling them back to the castle. Next thing you know, those knights, half-crazed, went charging at Reinhardt’s crew.
Right in the middle of the chaos, Isaac, with his sneaky spying skills, had been onto everything.
He let things play out, waiting for Raela to show her true colors before swooping in just in the nick of time to stop Reinhardt from meeting a premature end.
If Isaac had jumped in sooner, maybe those soldiers wouldn’t have suffered, but then dealing with Raela would’ve been a whole different ball game.
‘What’s the deal inside the castle, huh…’
Isaac peeped the silent scene in Hendrake Castle through Zihilrat’s eyes and ears.
With the knights out on a mission, Raela was still up to her shenanigans inside the castle. But as it turned out, Zihilrat’s current body wasn’t cutting it for up-close recon work.
Being a pro at hiding, Zihilrat needed a more specific form to get the juicy details. That’s where a human body came in handy.
Lucky for Zihilrat, it stumbled upon a dead body that fit the bill – Bexter’s body, tossed carelessly in a pit below the walls.
In that pit, alongside Bexter, were a few other unfortunate bodies, probably knights or soldiers who went down swinging. But Zihilrat had its sights set on Bexter’s corpse.
[Under the Skin: Consume the interior of a target and use their skin as your exterior.]
This creepy ability was one of the options Isaac passed on once upon a time. Now, it was all Zihilrat’s – a promotion to Apostle and all.
After Isaac worked his magic, Zihilrat was reborn without a fixed form. By default, it looked kind of rodent-like, but way sleeker than before.
Body-wise, it was a mess of tentacles, teeth, and eyes, with the neat trick of being able to form a skin-like membrane.
So, Zihilrat could puff up to the size of a bear or shrink down to human size.
Taking over Bexter’s body was quite the sight – gruesome, but luckily, no one was there to see the freaky transformation happening in that pit.
Emerging from the pit in Bexter’s skin, Zihilrat shook off any concerns about the severed head. The body was just a vessel; Zihilrat was the main act.
Using its tentacles, Zihilrat pieced together the head and body, creating a somewhat wonky look but nailing the whole movement thing like a champ.
So, having the ripped and trained body of Bexter gave Zihilrat the ability to kinda fake some sword skills beyond just wearing the shell.
But, you can’t have a supposedly dead dude strolling around, so its true identity had to stay hidden.
Luckily, with the battle prep chaos going on, weapons were scattered everywhere in the castle.
Zihilrat grabbed a helmet rolling by and plopped it on the shoulder mount. The bloody uniform might’ve been a giveaway, but the darkness and grime made it blend in as just another soldier at first glance.
“Yo!”
As Zihilrat was figuring out how to sneak into the castle, someone called out. A high-ranking soldier came over fast.
“Why are you still here? Didn’t you hear the order to stop digging and rally up?”
When Zihilrat stayed quiet, the soldier got even more ticked off and pressed on.
“Come on! Battle’s coming!”
Zihilrat just followed along. The soldier probably thought the blood and dirt were from digging graves. Surprisingly, things seemed to work out smoothly.
Guided by the sergeant, Zihilrat ended up in what looked like a huge hall in the castle, the only indoor space big enough for a crowd. Through Zihilrat’s eyes, Isaac saw most of the soldiers from Hendrake Castle gathered there.
“What’s this? A pep talk before the rumble?”
But, the boss, Kyle, was nowhere in sight.
Seems like the power had shifted to Owen and Raela after Bexter’s failed attempt to snatch Kyle.
Right in front were Owen and Raela.
The soldiers were spooked and tense, but with Bexter out of the picture and Kyle’s knights wiped out outside, no one dared to complain.
Then, Raela got up.
The murmur among the soldiers died down.
Raela strolled among the soldiers and hopped onto a table. The soldiers watched as Raela, barefoot, strutted up to them. Surrounded by all those eyes, Raela whispered.
“Respect.”
The room fell so silent that you could hear a pin drop. Nah, it was so quiet, you could almost hear your own heartbeat. Then, out of the blue, Zihilrat realized it wasn’t just the lack of noise or its senses sharpening.
The heartbeat echoed through the castle.
The life force pumping through the castle’s veins was palpable.
Then, something dripped on Zihilrat’s head. It was some dark red liquid.
“Blood?”
At the same time, blood poured from cracks in the walls and between the stones. It rained blood. The soldiers, drenched in the blood shower, stared wide-eyed at Raela, who glided gracefully among them.
Raela moved between them like she was dancing.
Covered in blood, she looked like a woman with her skin peeled off, or maybe with extra limbs, or a doll made of clay and flesh.
Zihilrat felt queasy. Blood was flowing faster inside.
“A miracle?”
Isaac, sensing the weirdness, held onto Zihilrat’s will. Even a divine being like Zihilrat wasn’t immune to the intense divine energy around it.
Fortunately, as Isaac tightened his hold, Zihilrat managed to rein in its excitement.
But, others felt a different impact.
Even the divine being Zihilrat felt the shock of the miracle.
Raela’s lips moved once more.
“Just place the enemy’s flesh on the platter, and fill those cups with blood.”
As the blood rain ceased, the soldiers’ eyes and mouths brimmed with madness and readiness for combat. They resembled the knights who had ambushed Reinhardt’s knights, but with an even deeper level of insanity.
Isaac sensed that the battle was far from over.
***
“You’re giving up on the siege?”
“Yes,” Reinhardt replied with a voice drained of life. The day’s battle had left him shocked, confining him to his chambers. However, Isaac was neither surprised nor disheartened.
‘It’s a relief that he’s not rushing back to his domain right away…’
Reinhardt was not the only one taken aback.
Even the villagers, simple yet kind-hearted, were horrified to discover that their lord had sparked such events, remaining trapped in their homes without any evacuation orders. A potential bloodbath could have ensued if the soldiers had taken out their frustrations on them.
Thankfully, Reinhardt did not issue any such commands. Overwhelmed by shock and having lost almost half of his forces, turning the villagers against him would have been unwise.
‘Given the losses, retreating and acknowledging defeat would be the wise choice…’
Despite losing nearly half his forces, Hendrake’s faction, including Bexter, had essentially been decimated. With knights serving as the backbone, Hendrake’s estate was left with disorganized remnants similar to peasant militia.
Furthermore, with no hope of reinforcements for Hendrake, Reinhardt was steadily receiving additional troops.
Using prisoners, they had gathered testimonies about potentially heretical events unfolding within Hendrake Castle. Initially, the witnesses were in no state to testify, but after Isaac intervened, they were somewhat restored.
“The Order of the Codex of Light will dispatch paladins and priests. Then, the walls will crumble,” Reinhardt muttered weakly. In this era of rampant miracles, relying on priests was indeed the most effective siege method.
However, Isaac foresaw a challenging road ahead.
‘Behind those walls stands Raela.’
Isaac vividly remembered the events of the previous night at Hendrake Castle witnessed through Zihilrat.
And he pondered the unnamed chaos that had taken notice of him the moment he laid eyes on Raela.
[The Nameless Chaos is watching you.]
[The Nameless Chaos bids you to devour the ‘Prophet of the Red Flesh.’]
[A reward from Chaos awaits you.]
