Chapter 306

They seemed poised to charge towards the castle at any moment.

But it was just a facade. Their steps were measured and calm.

The Crown Prince’s army advanced cautiously, gauging the distance.

They held their shields high, protecting themselves.

“F-Fire!”

A panicked shout rang out from the castle as the enemy closed in from all sides.

*Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!*

A volley of arrows rained down from the castle walls.

But.

*Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!*

The arrows fell short, landing harmlessly on the ground.

“W-Wait! Stop! Don’t fire! Don’t fire!”

The castle commander, realizing his mistake, hurriedly tried to stop his soldiers.

But the arrows continued to fly haphazardly, as if they were out of control. It took a while for them to finally stop.

Marius smirked.

“What a mess.”

It was a sign that their chain of command wasn’t functioning properly.

It also meant that the enemy was panicking.

They were surrounded by a massive army, with nowhere to escape.

They were overwhelmed by despair, their minds clouded by fear.

And their arrow attacks were a mess.

They were firing desperately, as if they had to fire at all costs, but their attacks lacked focus and accuracy.

He could see right through them.

“Hmph, they never expected an army of this size.”

Mobilizing a large army had been a bold move by the Crown Prince.

The enemy must have been scrambling to respond when they heard the news.

It wouldn’t have been easy to calm down their panicked soldiers and residents.

“Advance.”

Marius ordered, a cruel smile on his lips.

The Crown Prince’s army resumed their advance.

This time, the enemy’s response was delayed.

It was probably because they had wasted their arrows earlier.

“W-What are you doing?! Fire! Fire your arrows!”

The castle commander shouted desperately.

Finally, another volley of arrows rained down.

This time, the arrows reached the Crown Prince’s army.

They were within range.

*Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!*

But they posed no threat, bouncing harmlessly off their shields.

The Crown Prince’s soldiers smiled, amused by the enemy’s feeble attacks.

They had gauged their strength.

They knew that they wouldn’t have any trouble capturing this castle.

“Advance a little further.”

Marius ordered.

The closer they got, the fiercer the enemy’s attacks would become.

He wanted to test their defenses.

*Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!*

The Crown Prince’s army advanced a little further.

As expected, the arrow attacks intensified.

*Whoosh!*

*Boom!*

Magic attacks also came flying towards them.

But they were just ordinary magic attacks.

Cast by average intermediate-level mages.

There were no high-level mages with devastating firepower.

They could withstand the arrows and the magic attacks and continue their advance.

They posed no real threat.

“That’s enough.”

“Yes, sir.”

A knight beside him waved a black flag.

It was a signal to retreat.

*Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!*

The Crown Prince’s army retreated in an orderly fashion.

They maintained a tight formation, showing no signs of weakness.

This display of military might boosted their morale even further.

Celtrine Castle seemed even more vulnerable.

At least on the surface.

* * *

“Good work, everyone.”

Max chuckled.

The first battle was crucial in a siege.

The enemy had shown their strength, while we had shown our weakness.

The enemy’s momentum had increased.

But it didn’t matter.

Because it was all part of the plan.

“They’ll launch a full-scale attack next.”

They had confirmed our weak defenses, so they would try to crush the castle with their siege weapons and magic.

“Then?”

“As planned. We’ll initiate Operation Mage Extermination.”

“We’ll be ready, Savior.”

Milia raised a turtle flag and then lowered it.

It was a signal to prepare for the operation.

The residents calmly made their final preparations, ready to fire the large ballistae at any moment.

Their eyes were fixed on their targets.

The mages stationed within their assigned firing arcs.

“Stand by.”

Max said.

And so they waited.

For the perfect opportunity.

* * *

“As you instructed, we drew out their arrows and assessed their range and strength. We should be able to attack without any problems.”

“Yes, I saw it too.”

Vinchel nodded at Marius’s report.

“Let’s eliminate the enemies on the walls with magic before we deploy the siege weapons.”

Arrows were still arrows, no matter how inaccurate they were.

They were a nuisance when operating large and cumbersome siege weapons.

If they could eliminate even a third of the enemies on the walls, it would make it much easier to use the siege weapons.

Marius knew that too.

“Understood, Captain. We’ll bombard them with magic first.”

The Imperial Capital had many skilled mages.

And the mages who had joined the army were no exception.

Most of them were high-level mages.

They were capable of bombarding the enemy from beyond arrow range.

Especially against an enemy with a shorter range, like the defenders of Celtrine Castle.

“Prepare the mages.”

“Yes, sir!”

At Marius’s command, a knight waved a white flag.

It was a signal to prepare for a magic attack.

“Advance. Stop just outside arrow range.”

“Yes, sir!”

A blue flag waved in the air.

“Charge!”

“Charge!”

*Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!*

The Crown Prince’s army resumed their advance.

* * *

“Fire your arrows when they get closer.”

Max didn’t use the ballistae immediately.

Deception was a fundamental part of warfare.

He wanted to confuse and deceive the enemy by firing a barrage of ordinary arrows.

“Yes, Savior.”

Milia signaled.

Duncan, who had a booming voice and had pretended to be panicked earlier, started acting again.

“W-What are you doing?! T-They’re coming! Fire! Fire your arrows!”

The soldiers fired their arrows randomly.

*Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!*

*Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!*

But the Crown Prince’s army stopped just outside arrow range, as if they had measured the distance precisely.

“Hmph, those fools can’t even gauge the distance.”

Marius sneered.

They were panicking and firing their arrows randomly, so this was the result.

“Good. Now let’s bombard them with magic…”

He was about to order a magic attack when,

The Celtrine army suddenly removed the cloth covering the objects on the walls.

“Huh?”

Marius narrowed his eyes, trying to make out what they were from afar.

They looked familiar.

Like siege weapons… No, they were ballistae!

But why were they so big?

He was bewildered, but he remained cautious.

He knew that ballistae bolts could be dangerous.

“Ballistae! Everyone, watch out for the bolts! Mages, cast defensive spells!”

They might have thought they were hiding their secret weapon, but it didn’t matter.

The ballistae’s weaknesses were their slow rate of fire and their lack of mobility.

They just had to block the first volley and destroy them with magic before they could fire again.

It was easy to hit stationary targets like those ballistae with magic.

That’s why Marius wasn’t worried about the mages.

The mages’ expressions were also calm.

They stood confidently before the incoming bolts, their shields raised.

The sturdy walls of their shields.

The large bolts struck the shields.

And then,

*Crack!*

*Shatter!*

*Crash!*

The sounds of shattering shields echoed through the air, like breaking glass.

*Thud!*

*Thud!*

The sounds of bolts piercing through flesh followed.

Large holes appeared in the mages’ chests.

Blood gushed out like waterfalls.

Most of them were killed instantly.

“Ugh… Ugh…”

“G-Gasp…”

The rest were as good as dead.

*Thud!*

*Thump!*

*Crash!*

The mages’ bodies collapsed, one after another.

Everyone was stunned.

Marius, and even Vinchel, the Sword Saint, were stunned.

They were frozen in shock by the unbelievable sight that had unfolded before their eyes.

It was as if time had stopped on the battlefield.

Vinchel’s roar broke the silence.

“Protect the mages! Now!”

Marius snapped out of his daze at Vinchel’s roar.

“P-Protect the mages! Protect the mages!”

The knights and soldiers hurriedly moved to protect the mages.

But,

*Whoosh!*

*Whoosh!*

The second volley had already been fired.

They didn’t know this, but the residents, who were highly skilled in operating the ballistae, could fire four bolts per minute.

And this was the result of their training.

“Aaaargh!”

“S-Someone help me!”

“S-Save me!”

The mages, realizing that even their reinforced shields were useless, screamed and tried to dodge the bolts.

But it was too late for most of them.

*Thud!*

*Thud!*

The second volley of ballistae bolts also wiped out eighty percent of their targets.

*Thud!*

The mages’ bodies, riddled with holes, collapsed onto the ground.

“Damn it, retreat! Retreat!”

Vinchel finally ordered a retreat.

He realized that they would lose most of their mages if they stayed here.

“E-Everyone, retreat! Retreat!”

Marius also shouted urgently.

The Crown Prince’s army retreated in a hurry.

Their retreat was a far cry from the orderly retreat they had shown earlier.

It showed how desperate they were.

But,

They were wrong to think that they were safe now.

Because the large ballistae’s range was much longer than they had anticipated.

*Whoosh!*

*Whoosh!*

The orichalcum arrows pierced through the air, their final targets in sight.

“Ugh?! Again?!”

“B-Block them!”

“Protect the mages!”

The soldiers raised their shields, trying to protect the mages.

But,

*Thud!*

The powerful arrows pierced through their shields, their armor, their bodies, and finally, the mages’ bodies.

“Aaaargh!”

Screams of agony echoed across the Celtrine plains.

“W-What are those monstrous arrows?!”

Saya, who had managed to block an orichalcum arrow with her Sword Aura, shouted in disbelief.

She had been demoted to a common soldier.

Thanks to that, she had been able to save one mage, but that was all.

Ninety percent of the mages were dead.

The mage unit had been practically annihilated.

It was a crushing defeat.

* * *

“That’s enough.”

Max ordered them to cease fire.

Orichalcum arrows were precious, and they didn’t have many.

They had achieved their objective, eliminating the mages, so they had to conserve their arrows for the crucial moment.

“Hahaha, that was amazing!”

Duncan roared with laughter, unable to contain his joy.

“Congratulations on a successful operation, Savior.”

Milia smiled brightly.

“This will definitely dampen their spirits.”

Gwen said, clenching his fist.

“We don’t have to worry about their mages bombarding us anymore.”

Norman added, his face beaming.

“Woohoo!”

“Long live Young Master Max! Long live the Celtrine territory!”

“Long live the Savior!”

The residents and the soldiers cheered in victory.

Their morale soared.

Max smiled as he watched them.

‘We can do this.’

His eyes were fixed on the future.