Tonight was unusually dark.
Thick clouds covered the moonlight, and the silent ground seemed to anticipate the incoming chaos, maintaining silence even from the buzzing of insects.
I hid in the shadows and looked up at the torch-lit castle wall.
The tall castle wall surrounding the Royal Capital of Bellia was definitely different from Erema’s rough version.
It was hard to tell just how sturdy it was from this distance, but it seemed more than adequate to prove that this was one of the richest cities in the Terra continent.
“Looks like there’s no way to take it easy until the end.”
Martini, standing next to me and gazing at the castle wall, clicked her tongue.
I nodded lightly, as this was not exactly an unexpected sight.
“Of course. It’s one of the top three nations among human states.”
They say wealthy families last for three generations, and while they suffered massive financial blows and troop losses from the aftermath of war, the Royal Capital did not seem easy to take from afar.
“To be honest, if we hadn’t struck unexpectedly, wouldn’t this be the normal situation?”
Lavina, who was scanning the terrain without any tension, spoke with a sparkle in her eyes.
“To be fair, that seems true.”
In hindsight, the Bertica Kingdom isn’t exactly known for its military strength among the top three.
The Bertica Kingdom provides the funding, and the Luminous Kingdom sends priests and knights. That’s the contract between them.
If there had been additional support from the Luminous Kingdom or if the Empire had stabbed the Duchy in the back while I was away, things wouldn’t have been this smooth.
The Bertica Kingdom must have had plenty to say as well.
At the most burdensome timing right after the allied forces’ defeat, a sudden uprising from the Suwong Kingdom made it hard to expect support from the Luminous Kingdom or pressure from the Empire. Right after that, the vampires, who hadn’t launched a preemptive strike for hundreds of years, banded together and invaded.
Looking back, although belated, Erema was actually quite prepared.
If they hadn’t managed to breach the walls and capture the stronghold on the very first night of the surprise attack, we might still have been stuck there.
I was essentially giving the ones who had been holding out against us a sudden, spicy taste of full-scale war, so it was impressive that they could withstand it.
But what meaning does it hold to ponder how things could have been then?
“Seizing opportunities when they come is a skill too.”
Whether it was thanks to the Suwong Kingdom, synergies from the cooperation between the two duchies, or just a lucky surprise attack at an unexpected time, none of that mattered.
What mattered was that we succeeded in arriving at this optimal conclusion, far more quickly and with significantly less damage than we initially anticipated. The fact that by winning this battle, the Bertica Kingdom would essentially fall into our hands.
“Honestly, buying some time for a few days wouldn’t have been bad either. I mean, this is a belated assumption.”
“If that were the case, they might have exhausted themselves and it would have been easier.”
Martini agreed, showing a hint of regret.
From the direction of the castle wall, a faint aura of divine magic began to spread.
By now, they should not have been able to visually detect the armies of vampires hiding in the darkness above the wall.
However, the neatly drawn bowstrings on the wall were clearly prepared to release arrows aimed at us.
It looked as though they were suggesting they had already noticed the vampires’ march.
Well, with this many troops moving, it was impossible for them to approach undetected, so I never expected we could strike the unguarded Royal Capital unseen, but their preparations seemed unusually intense.
You could tell just by the activated defensive magic on the walls.
Were they determined not to fall for the same trick twice? At this point, it was clear they had been replacing personnel around the clock to be ready at any moment for a vampire assault.
“But even so, our tasks remain unchanged.”
As I took my first step, the sound of arrows being fired from a distance filled the air.
This wasn’t a distance a regular arrow could reach, but arrows, imbued with a headwind, flew straight toward me in an instant.
“We crush the enemy head-on and win. That will be enough.”
I manipulated the blood in my body, piercing the tip of my right index finger to create a path for the blood to flow out.
A drop of blood glistened red, just like I had pricked my fingertip with a thick needle.
With a simple flick of my right arm, I shook off the droplets of blood.
The blood exploded as it flew hundreds of ways like bullets, colliding with the incoming arrows.
I took a deep breath.
Feeling the tremor still lingering in the air, I gently slammed my feet into the ground.
“All troops, charge!!”
“Those who fall behind, be ready. We go in one fell swoop.”
With Martini’s command, the ground began to shake along with Jeil’s warning.
Countless vampires charged toward the castle wall.
The plain spread out before me had a clear advantage for the defenders until we reached the castle wall.
Rushing headlong toward a well-prepared defense was nothing short of suicide, but the footsteps thudding behind me showed no hesitation.
It felt like they had heavy trust in me.
They believed that if they followed my orders, I would clear the way and promise victory.
Before I knew it, the vampires were naturally following me.
“I can’t let them down.”
Once again, arrows rained down like a storm.
However, before I even stepped forward, a tempest of arrows far surpassing the humans’ half-hearted gust arrows shot forth from behind.
The storm shattered the slender human arrows like a truck with faulty brakes, exploding near the castle wall.
Indeed, wind magic must be the work of elves.
A gaping hole formed among the curtain of arrows filling the sky.
“I’ll cover you. Please focus on paving the way.”
Just as I was about to intercept the remaining arrows, a translucent shadowy veil filled the sky alongside the fluttering maid outfit at the edge of my vision.
“I’ll handle the cover.”
Deciding that Stella and Lavina wouldn’t be outdone even without divine magic, I stopped all actions meant to protect the following forces.
I kicked off the ground and dashed forward.
In an instant, I widened the distance from the main force, casually deflecting only the falling attacks as I reached the base of the castle wall.
Before me, the heavy, sealed iron gate loomed, along with a castle wall so high I couldn’t even see the top when I tilted my head back.
However, unlike with Erema, I had no intention of climbing the wall, so it didn’t matter.
“Hah!”
With a short grunt, I swung my fist with all my might at the iron gate.
Crack! My right hand slammed into the meter-thick chunk of metal, crumpling bone and flesh.
It hurt. It was hard.
But I pressed harder, pushing in with more intensity.
The feeling of my crushed bone fragments crackling and spreading pain through my arm reached me.
Still, this wasn’t enough.
I needed not just a hand’s worth but at least an arm’s worth.
To avoid being knocked back by the rebounding force, I bent my knees to lower my center of gravity, and unleashed all the blood from my shattered right arm forward.
BOOM!!!!
With a sound that would tear the ears of anyone nearby, like a landslide, the huge iron gate shattered into pieces along with its magic defenses.
“What…! The gate!”
Panic, confusion, and fear.
“F-Fight back!! Secure the gate!!!”
Humans, who hadn’t expected this weak barrier to break so easily, suddenly made eye contact with me and began screaming bizarrely.
“The gate’s defensive magic was indeed the thickest I have ever seen.”
Did they have confidence that the castle wall itself would remain safe?
But magic is ultimately a battle of interactions and information. In their defenses, the supposed main threats are beastmen and vampires.
Beastmen cannot wield magic due to their racial traits, and vampires can’t use anything other than dark magic.
Thus, defensive magic tends to develop by physically strengthening defenses and offsetting dark magic.
In other words, humans currently have no effective means to counter blood magic.
If they could dodge or deflect it solely through their individual skills, that might be another story, but there is no way such a heavy piece of metal could withstand a simple force if it couldn’t move on its own.
“Die quietly.”
They shouldn’t be given time to regroup.
I targeted every life sign within a hundred-meter radius and drew that blood toward me.
Controlling the blood of a living creature is challenging. However, if the difference in level is so vast that they can’t even resist, it becomes different.
Among those in the area, there were sixty-seven soldiers too weak to resist me.
Blood surged up like a fountain from all directions as I ripped out their hearts and pulled the blood flooding toward me.
“Did you expect I’d come clambering up the wall again?”
After all, since last time I broke down from above, who would think I’d aim to smash through this absurdly thick iron gate?
I reversed the blood I pulled.
The streaming blood spread in all directions, consuming even the remaining soldiers alive.
What started as sixty-seven soldiers’ worth quickly swelled to over two hundred in no time.
This was sufficient.
I carefully controlled the blood stream to avoid colliding with the vampires almost at the castle gate, smashing the flow of blood against the wall from the inside.
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