Chapter 369
Chapter 369: Can Everyone Hold Up? (2)
The swordsmanship book Ghislaine had given me before included techniques for dual-wielding swords. Surprisingly, it suited Kaor quite well.
“Even if my finesse is slightly lacking, the movement itself feels more comfortable this way,” he remarked.
After all, Kaor’s combat style disregards defense and sharply aims at the enemy’s vital points.
So for him, dual swordsmanship was a great technique that opened up another route for attack. It felt like a waste of life that I hadn’t realized this sooner.
Kaor swiftly wielded two swords, cutting down enemies one after another.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
“What the hell is this guy!”
“Why is he so fast!”
“That guy is Count Penris!”
Regular soldiers couldn’t even begin to block Kaor’s attacks. It’s understandable why they mistook him for Ghislaine.
In the dark night, blue lines of light danced through the air, and in an instant, enemies’ heads separated from their bodies.
Due to his excessive use of mana, a blue light flickered in Kaor’s eyes. It looked just like a beast stalking its prey in the dark of night.
Thanks to Kaor piercing through the enemy ranks like a sharp stake, a path momentarily opened up.
“Hey! Jump down quickly! Use all your strength now!”
Kaor didn’t drop right down but stayed at the edge of the walls, wildly swinging his swords. His body was already drenched in blood.
Zing—!
The knights’ armor activated simultaneously. Though covered by robes, light spilled out through the gaps.
The knights moved with an unprecedented swiftness.
Boom! Boom!
“Ahhh!”
With the sudden surge of vigor from the knights, the soldiers nearby dropped like flies.
Clearing the soldiers before them, they jumped off the walls.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Executing a ‘one-arm break and survive’ falling technique, the knights landed safely on the ground, enveloped in mana.
But landing wasn’t the end. The enemy commander shouted as he spotted them.
“Stop them! Don’t let them open the gates!”
Soldiers climbing the walls immediately turned and rushed back. The tightly packed soldiers on the walls were also scrambling down the stairs in a hurry.
After landing below the walls, Kaor yelled out.
“Block them! Just a few of you follow me to open the gate!”
All the knights immediately followed Kaor to open the gate. No one was willing to stand in the way.
“Hey! You crazy idiots! Just you and you follow me! Quickly block them! Close the gate! They’re coming!”
Kaor was startled and designated people directly. Only then did the knights turn back, looking disappointed.
“Waaaah!”
As the soldiers charged in, the knights braced themselves and stepped forward.
It was more dangerous than above the walls. The space was wider, and the soldiers could surround them more easily.
Bam!
As the two sides clashed, screams erupted, and blood burst forth in all directions. A few soldiers used their numbers to bypass the knights and head for the gate.
The knights quickly followed the soldiers passing by and killed them, but holes were inevitable.
No matter how skilled they were, they couldn’t stop all those soldiers.
Fortunately, while they were momentarily holding off the soldiers, Kaor and the knights following him reached the gates quickly. They swiftly turned the crank of the barred gate.
Creeeak…
The barred gate creaked open. Meanwhile, soldiers who had evaded the knights approached.
Kaor dashed out, killing soldiers as he shouted.
“Quickly, open the gates!”
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
His swords moved more dazzlingly than ever. After fighting countless monsters, he had become a strong man in the chaos.
As Kaor held the front, the remaining knights finally opened the gates.
Boom!
From afar, Ghislaine smiled and waved her hand.
“Everyone’s skills have improved significantly. Let’s go.”
Heeying!
As Ghislaine pulled on the reins, the Black King let out a long cry.
That roar was analogous to announcing the defeat of Baron Deiker’s Territory.
The Black King galloped swiftly, as if merged with the darkness. Following behind were the knights of Penris.
Thud, thud, thud!
The sound of hooves shook the ground. However, the Deiker forces, focused on the Penris assault group, failed to notice Ghislaine and the knights approaching.
Only when they got close did the faces of the Deiker commanders turn pale in realization.
“Close it! Hurry, close the gates!”
The commanders on the walls shouted continuously, but the soldiers were still blocked by the assault group.
Even those who had made it to the gates couldn’t close them. They needed to get past the red-haired one standing in their way, but they couldn’t kill him.
They felt like they just needed to tire him out, but the enemies were about to crash in.
“W-what do we do?”
“We need to kill that guy.”
“L-Let’s attack quickly.”
The soldiers murmured to each other, hesitating to step forward. The sight of that fierce-looking guy grinning while drenched in blood terrified them.
Just standing there with a sword in each hand, no one dared to approach.
It was also impossible to close the gates while bypassing him. There was no way he would just watch that happen.
As they were caught between a rock and a hard place, Ghislaine, who was leading the charge, stretched out her hand.
Whoosh!
Crimson mana spears materialized in the air. Soon, dozens of spears shot over the gates at the enemies.
Pacha! Pacha! Pacha!
“Gaaah!”
The soldiers awkwardly fighting at the gates were pierced by the spears and fell dead.
“A mage! A mage has come!”
The soldiers at the front screamed in confusion. They should have a friendly mage to help, but their own mage hadn’t been seen for days.
Thud, thud, thud!
Other soldiers also discovered the enemies charging over the gates. The capital’s forces hadn’t overwhelmed the enemy yet, and the gates were wide open.
Ultimately, the soldiers engaged in battle made a different choice.
“The enemies are coming!”
“Run! We can’t win!”
“This is the end!”
At someone’s shout, the soldiers turned and started to flee. Some even dropped their weapons to run faster.
However, the knights of Penris, who had already come close to the gates, were even quicker.
Bam!
“Ahhh!”
The soldiers were all infantry. Naturally, they couldn’t shake off the cavalry’s pursuit.
As over 350 knights pushed through, hundreds of soldiers were trampled in an instant.
Rumors had long stated that raiders wouldn’t spare those who surrendered. In a state of panic, the soldiers screamed and scattered in all directions.
Watching the Penris knights wipe out the enemies, Kaor finally sat down on the ground.
“Ugh! This is tough! Did it really have to be like this!”
He muttered to himself, but everyone knew who he was talking to. The knights who participated in the operation had also collapsed on the ground, panting heavily.
“Wow, today was really rough. The training was insane.”
“I even got hurt for the first time in a while.”
“If I had been just a little later, I’d have been dead today.”
They lay there, cursing and chuckling. They had exerted themselves greatly, but they were alive, all the same.
They had believed from the beginning that they wouldn’t fail. If it were truly dangerous, the lord would have participated directly.
The fact that the lord called this training meant it was possible to succeed as well. This was how the lord trained—pushing hard.
It was easy to take down the soldiers who had already lost their will to fight. The Penris knights, who had charged in, quickly sorted out the enemies.
Most of the soldiers were dead, and only a few had successfully fled.
“Waaaah!”
“We won!”
“Time to loot again!”
Everyone cheered and laughed. Those knights who hadn’t been part of the assault group were feeling particularly relaxed.
While everyone was laughing and joking, Ghislaine pointed at the gate and said.
“Close the gates.”
Everyone knew that there were enemies pursuing them.
The knights snapped back to attention and quickly closed the gates, then climbed back up the walls.
Sure enough, after a brief wait, an army appeared in the distance, carrying numerous torches.
It was the army sent by the House of Marquis Roderick and surrounding lords.
Seeing them appear so promptly, it was clear they had been monitoring the battle situation.
“They really are trying to trap us to kill us.”
“Specifically, they’re trying to prevent the lord from escaping.”
“So they’ve finally gathered all their forces, huh? This won’t be easy.”
Armies approached from three directions. Unlike the forces they had faced so far, this army would likely have many knights among them.
Those troops simply surrounded the castle without making any moves. They neither attacked nor did anything but set up camp and wait.
Seeing things unfold just as she had anticipated, Ghislaine smiled.
“Is this their attempt to starve us out?”
It seemed they had thought this through. Offering one castle and 3,000 soldiers as bait was audacious enough to be admirable.
Surely, a decision worthy of a major lord known throughout the kingdom.
“First, check the food supplies in the castle and see if any managers are left.”
Not sensing an immediate battle was likely, Ghislaine decided to start with some preparations.
The knights began to scatter, searching every corner of the castle. After wandering like this for several hours, they brought back a few people.
“Please, spare us!”
“We haven’t done anything wrong!”
“The lord and the close associates have all fled!”
Seeing the wailing officials, Ghislaine asked.
“When did they flee?”
“U-uh, they already scraped together all the wealth and fled three days ago.”
“And left the soldiers behind?”
“Y-yes, that’s right. They only took the knights.”
“But why did all of you stay behind to fight?”
The official hesitated, glancing around nervously before cautiously continuing.
“The soldiers didn’t know the lord had fled. It was kept completely secret.”
“And you?”
“We… we stayed behind to… stick it out till the end…”
“Be honest.”
Seeing Ghislaine’s blank expression, the official lowered his head.
“We originally planned to flee tomorrow. We had run out of food.”
Ghislaine turned to Gillian, who immediately answered.
“The food storage was empty. Upon checking, it turned out the soldiers had already distributed the last of the food they would get for tomorrow. If it had been just two days later, everyone would have fled. There were also no siege weapons left to attack outside the castle.”
Ghislaine looked back at the official and asked.
“What about the food for the people inside the castle?”
“Almost all of it has been requisitioned. Most of the people living in the castle followed the lord.”
“Why would they follow such a guy?”
The official cautiously glanced at Ghislaine before speaking.
“They spread the rumor that everyone would die if the Raider King came…”
“Raider King?”
“Yes, that’s what they called him.”
At those words, Ghislaine chuckled softly. Although she had played the role of a Raider King in the territories, she never expected to be genuinely referred to as the Raider King in the West.
Other knights let out incredulous chuckles as well.
With a gesture of resignation, Ghislaine shook her head and asked again.
“Are they really following just because of such rumors?”
“If they didn’t obey, they were forcibly taken along. They thought it would be better when they returned if there were more people to be found…”
Even while running, they thought of the future and greedily acted. In a sense, those were impressive guys.
Of course, they must have done this because they were confident they would win.
“Did the soldiers just sit by passively while knowing this?”
“Everyone thought they were requisitioning food in preparation for battle. They presumed the people had been safely evacuated.”
Truly harsh individuals. They knew they were pushing people into a corner, yet they deceived even their own soldiers to use them as bait.
The remaining officials probably were fulfilling the role of calming the soldiers down while subtly plotting to escape.
Just like how Marquis Roderick had abandoned Baron Deiker, Baron Deiker had also cast off others to save himself.
With her curiosity satisfied, Ghislaine nodded. The knights dragged the officials away.
“W-what? Please spare us!”
The greedy individuals were quite adept at reading the room. Ghislaine simply ignored them, gazing outside the castle.
“Hmmm, everything is flowing just as expected… but how long before they strike?”
As Kaor wiped the blood off his face with a cloth, he said.
“We’re going to fight anyway, right? You knew it would come to this.”
“Yeah, this is the perfect occasion to weaken the enemies further. It’s a rare opportunity to kill this many without worrying about justifications.”
“Then let’s just rest a bit and strike at dawn? We barely have any food here, right?”
At Kaor’s words, Ghislaine shook her head.
“We’ll wait until they strike.”
“Why?!”
“Because that way the mercenaries can safely transport the loot.”
“Aha!”
Currently, Ghislaine had raided a total of seven territories. For this eighth place, there wasn’t much to take, but transporting all the loot from the previous territories would require a significant number of people and time.
The mercenaries spread across various locations were hurriedly working to transport it, but they hadn’t even moved half of it yet.
Ghislaine looked at the army stationed outside and smirked.
“To loot as safely and extensively as possible, we’ll use this opportunity. The enemies will be fully focused on this area.”
To ensure the success of this operation, Marquis Roderick had allowed Ghislaine to raid other territories without intervening.
He had to ensure that Ghislaine and her group made it to this place.
Thanks to this, Ghislaine could loot comfortably without facing pursuit, and the mercenaries could transport the loot without issues.
The mercenaries were likewise surveying the surroundings and working on their tasks. Ghislaine had issued commands for them to flee if enemy troops appeared.
However, as the enemies were focused on this area, it seemed they would be able to loot safely for the time being.
Having organized her thoughts, Ghislaine addressed the knights.
“Alright, let’s take a break for a while. It’s okay even without food, right? Everyone can hold up, even if they’re hungry?”
Ghislaine spoke cheerfully, but the expressions of the knights grew gloomy.
