Ch.628Warriors Climbing Up

The Ka’har soldiers charged forward without hesitation, even as their limbs were scattered by catapult and ballista hits. Eventually, they reached within arrow range. The proper siege defense had begun.

“Archers, commence firing!”

“Commence firing!”

Archers lined up on the walls, towers, and inside the barrier simultaneously drew their bowstrings and fired at the enemy. Black streaks of arrows rained down diagonally, piercing the enemy soldiers’ shields. Relentlessly.

“Keep shooting!”

The Ka’har front line was turning into a porcupine. Most arrows were blocked by shields or armor, but unless one’s entire body was completely covered in steel, not all arrows could be stopped. Arrows that found gaps pierced through their bodies.

“These western fools couldn’t even catch a bird. You call those arrows?”

“White Banner troops! Show those bastards how to shoot!”

The Ka’har responded by drawing their composite bows and firing back.

One-third of the advancing infantry drew their composite bows under the cover of their comrades, while warriors hidden inside the siege towers poured a rain of arrows through the gaps in the wooden railings.

“Watch your heads! Helmets won’t stop them!”

“How dare these barbarians—gack!”

The smell of blood grew stronger. Our casualties clearly increased under their precision shooting, which was on a completely different level from the Imperial army’s. Soldiers with arrows lodged between their eyes collapsed with dying groans.

Amid the growing screams and shouts, I also drew my bow and began sniping at the warriors on the siege towers.

“Gaaack!”

Warriors hiding behind the railings of the siege tower fell dead as my arrows pierced through the wooden barriers like paper. At least until the fourth shot.

“It’s a longbow sniper! Block the front with large shields!”

Before I could nock my fifth arrow, they had erected a wall of steel shields right behind the punctured and broken railings to protect themselves from my sniping.

Perhaps because they were a people who hunted with longbows every day, their response to my sniping was faster than expected.

‘I’d love nothing more than to plant a few fire lances in there.’

[I too find it difficult to suppress such desires… but if we did that, Orhan would fly straight here. Shouldn’t we wait until those bastards start climbing the wall?]

…That’s true. Ludwig’s plan to bury Orhan hadn’t even begun yet. Until then, I needed to avoid revealing my position as much as possible. That’s why I was suppressing my aura and simply shooting arrows like an ordinary soldier.

“Cursed barbarians! Taste the Flash of Einfeld!”

Unlike Frederik, who was laughing heartily as he began throwing explosive javelins like lightning.

– Whoooosh!

Though his strength was less than half of mine, he was still a knight who had reached the realm of heroes. His javelin, carrying power that easily surpassed a ballista’s tension, was launched with a fierce resonance.

Tale of Heros, Flash of Einfeld.

Each time Frederik’s javelin hit the enemy lines, dozens of soldiers were scattered into fragments of flesh amid earth-shaking explosions.

“Here comes another one! Dodge!”

Even the warriors who had been advancing regardless of catapults, ballistas, and arrow rain couldn’t ignore javelins that were nearly tank shells, so they scattered to somehow escape the blast radius.

“Move aside! That one’s mine!”

Until one warrior stepped forward through their ranks. A broad square jaw with a thick nose. Short goat-like beard. A familiar face.

Harun Ivamay, one of Orhan’s three warrior generals. He raised his massive axe high, spun it around, and then brought it down forcefully toward the ground.

“Startling Heaven Ice Peak!”

Ivamay’s Tale of Heros that appeared in the original work. The moment his axe, imbued with a hero’s karma, touched the ground, a massive chunk of ice rose like an iceberg. Though less than ten meters high, it was enough to block Frederik’s javelin.

– KWAAANG!

The javelin tip collided with the suddenly risen ice wall and exploded with a thunderous sound. Shattered ice powder scattered in all directions, wetting the helmets of the eastern people.

[To think such a feat is possible with just an axe. Judging by appearance, it’s hardly different from sorcery.]

Hersella let out a quiet exclamation of admiration. Well, elemental Tales of Heros do look a lot like magic when you consider the results. Still.

‘You’re not one to talk, are you?’

I chuckled as I replied.

Isn’t Field of Mortality the prime example of a magical Tale of Heros? Spreading a mist of murder karma that extinguishes all life within its range—how is that a warrior’s technique? It’s more like something a sorcerer would do.

Well, though it wasn’t mentioned in the original work, the Aishan-Gioro were originally of sorcerer lineage, so it’s not strange for them to manifest Tales of Heros similar to sorcery.

—-

“Lord Median. A message from the Margrave: ‘Preparations’ are complete, so be ready…”

As the Ka’har warriors who had endured the arrow rain reached near the walls, a knight of Landenburg quietly approached and spoke to me.

With Ludwig’s message that I no longer needed to quietly snipe from here.

“Finally finished, huh. So, where do I start?”

“Please move to the side of Tower 7.”

The knight pointed to one of the wall towers, where soldiers who had been frantically shooting arrows were beginning to withdraw their bows and vacate their positions as if they’d received retreat orders.

“What about the siege tower coming this way?”

The Aishan had prepared three siege towers in total. One was heading toward Tower 7, another was approaching here, and the last one was pushing toward the center of the wall.

“Lord Joshua said he would handle it himself.”

Joshua?

Well, that man does have a Tale of Heros perfect for destroying such things. Just casually swinging his giant sword, which can grow to ten meters long, would slice through wooden towers like sticks. As long as nothing blocks him mid-swing.

“Alright. Tell him I’m moving right now.”

“Yes, sir!”

I ignored the knight’s salute as I tightened the robe I was wearing and pulled the hood down low. To maximize the effectiveness of the secret plan Ludwig and I had prepared, it was advantageous to conceal my identity until just before we began.

[Is it finally starting? I was about to fall asleep waiting.]

‘Yeah. Even when we were discussing countermeasures, I never thought we’d actually go through with such madness.’

If even I’m calling it madness, then Orhan certainly won’t expect it either. He’ll probably be shocked out of his wits.

[Heaven-shaking earth-turning…! I’m excited. This will be a spectacle one sees only once in a lifetime!]

Hersella muttered in a voice as excited as a child waiting for a birthday present, even reciting the operation name she had made up herself.

Well… I have to agree it will be quite a spectacle.

—-

After arriving near Tower 7, I shot arrows at the siege tower along with the few archers who remained for appearance’s sake.

If we completely emptied the place, they might suspect a trap and not approach. Though I wasn’t sure if they had the brains for that.

Meanwhile, the battle situation was becoming increasingly fierce.

“Climb up! Once we get past this hurdle, your time will come!”

Warriors who had reached the base of the wall shot arrows with ropes attached, lodging them at the edge of the wall, and began climbing up the ropes while stabbing the wall with daggers.

In a real siege, they would probably have prepared ladders, but rather than making and setting up ladders dozens of meters high, they seemed to have decided to rely on the warriors’ climbing abilities.

“They’re coming up! Stop them!”

Archers on the wall shot arrows at the warriors, while spear and shield-bearing infantry protected the archers and continuously threw boiling water, rocks, and burning logs.

The warriors fixed their shields just below the back of their necks to protect their backs and heads as they climbed, but they couldn’t avoid all attacks.

“AAAAARGH!”

A warrior drenched in boiling water clutches his face and thrashes about.

The rope attached to the wall prevented him from falling immediately, but death by falling might have been less painful. His exposed upper body was pierced by more than ten arrows and a rock the size of a human head.

The corpse, resembling a boiled porcupine, dangled like a pendulum, trailing spilled entrails.

It wasn’t just the soldiers’ attacks that threatened them. The defensive weapons Ludwig had installed on the wall began to operate in earnest.

– KWADUDUDUDUK!

A giant blade attached to a chain swept across the surface of the wall, dismembering the hanging warriors.

– KWAJIK!

Sharp spearheads shot out from small holes drilled throughout the wall, piercing the faces or groins of climbing warriors. Warriors who received gender reassignment surgery without anesthesia writhed in agony with terrible screams.

The wall was stained red.

“Did you think such things would work?”

“You Imperial cowards! The Champion Achubur is here!”

And then, the warrior generals and Champions began to reach the top of the wall. Superhumans who climbed the wall at a speed completely different from ordinary warriors. They avoided all the falling weapons and climbed the wall, spraying fountains of blood.

Soon after, warriors who climbed up through the gaps they created threw rope ladders down the wall. So that soldiers waiting below could climb up.

I watched the scene while glaring at the siege tower that had approached nearby.

“This place is completely empty! Lucky us!”

“No. You’re terribly unlucky.”

I said as I split in half a warrior who had desperately climbed up and swung his axe at me.