Chapter 72
Chapter 72: The Best Defense is a Good Offense (3)
The face of the remaining knight hardened.
To split a knight who could wield mana in a single strike was no ordinary feat.
‘Is there someone like that in Perdium? Could that be Randolf?’
The knight took a step back and surveyed the situation.
Drum, drum, drum.
Ghislaine dragged her blood-soaked axe along the ground as she approached quickly.
“If you’re going to charge, do it all at once. There’s no time.”
Provoked by her arrogant words and gestures, the knight twisted his face and shouted.
“Form up! Everyone, attack at once!”
Swish, swish!
The soldiers raised their shields and pointed their long spears forward.
“Strike!”
“Waaah!”
Over a hundred soldiers rushed toward one person.
Ghislaine narrowed her eyes and swung her axe arm wide.
“Huup!”
The axe again drew a large arc as it struck the ground.
Boom!
“Uaaaah!”
A dozen soldiers running at the front exploded like fireworks.
The onslaught was so strong that even the shields in their hands proved useless.
Whoosh!
Creak, crackle!
Ghislaine grabbed the axe with both hands, spun half a turn, and mowed down the front line of the enemy.
“Uh? Uh?”
“What, what the heck! That bastard!”
“He’s not someone we can handle!”
As the front line was shattered in an instant, even the enemies who had been galloping forward hesitated and took a step back.
Normally, such powerful warriors would be dealt with by fellow knights, not left to the soldiers.
Soldiers only engage strong foes when they can overwhelm them with sheer numbers.
Skiiii!
Seeing the red smoke seeping from the gaps in the black armor, the soldiers took another step back.
Approaching felt daunting. It truly resembled a demon’s form.
The knight commanding this area was even more flustered than the soldiers.
“What are you doing! Everyone, attack! I said attack!”
Even a single clash had caused the morale of the allies to plummet rapidly.
Normally, he would be the one to step forward and confront the threat, but honestly, he didn’t feel confident about winning.
If he were to collide with that gigantic axe, his sword would be shattered in an instant.
The knight swallowed hard.
‘Maybe I should have brought a bigger weapon.’
In front of that terrifying axe, his sword appeared exceedingly pathetic.
While everyone was momentarily stunned, the black demon exhaled more red smoke and moved again.
“Not coming? Then I’ll go.”
Whoosh!
Suddenly rising, Ghislaine dove into the midst of the enemies.
Boom!
With every reckless swing of her axe, the enemies burst apart like minced meat.
Ghislaine opened her stage two core and unleashed her power to the fullest.
As the soldiers tried to back away, the knight yelled in frustration.
“Attack! You fools! If you flee, you’ll all die anyway! Stab him somehow!”
A few brave soldiers lunged forward with their spears, trained as usual.
Thud! Bang!
However, their gritty attacks failed to penetrate the armor and were blocked.
Ghislaine was enveloped in mana, making typical attacks nearly ineffective against her.
If they carefully chipped away at her, it might be a different story, but right now, it was impossible for just the soldiers to face Ghislaine.
Boom!
Ghislaine rudely withstood the attacks with her body, sending soldiers flying.
Crash!
At that moment when her axe struck down another soldier—
“Die!”
The knight who had been patiently waiting for an opportunity seized the small gap and thrust his sword.
Since he couldn’t take Ghislaine on alone, he was using the soldiers as bait to find an opening.
Ghislaine felt the sharp intent targeting her neck and turned her head to the side.
Clang!
Caught!
The shoulder part of the black armor cracked and blood gushed out.
Thud!
Despite the blood streaming down, Ghislaine reached out and grabbed the knight’s face.
“Truly, you lot are impressive.”
It was pure admiration and compliment.
To possess the skill to break through mana and cause injury, and to have the cold calculation to sacrifice soldiers just to get a chance.
He had to continue fighting such formidable foes.
“Thus, I can’t let you live.”
Boom!
Ghislaine smashed the knight’s head into the ground.
The knight’s head embedded into the ground as he instantly met his demise.
Crack!
Even crushing the head of the corpse beneath his foot, Ghislaine picked up her axe again.
Boom! Boom!
With a few swings of her axe, more than half of the soldiers were sent flying.
With the commanders eliminated, the remaining soldiers had no way to endure or the will to fight back.
“R-run! Run!”
As the remaining enemies scattered in all directions, Ghislaine took a moment to catch her breath and looked up at the massive siege tower.
A monster on the battlefield that sapped the morale of allies just by existing. They had to eliminate this siege tower to change the tide of battle completely.
“I need to take it down quickly.”
She marched inside and attacked the rear of the advancing forces.
Crack! Creak!
“Uaaah!”
The enemies in the rear were caught off guard, collapsing without even putting up a fight.
The siege tower was designed for defense, with all sides blocked except for the entrance at the bottom, meaning those inside had no idea what was happening outside.
“Enemies! Enemies are inside the siege tower!”
The soldiers at the lower levels turned around as they sensed the chaos.
However, there was no one who could stop Ghislaine, wielding her axe and spewing red smoke.
All the soldiers gathered at the base were annihilated in an instant.
“Up, up we go!”
“Why is there an enemy here?!”
“It’s a monster! A monster has come in!”
The soldiers climbing the tower hurriedly shoved the person in front of them.
The sight of Ghislaine moving closer as she created countless corpses was pure terror.
The Perdium army was holding the wall, trapped with nowhere to go. They were caught in a blind panic.
Though they trembled in fear of being caught, Ghislaine didn’t follow them up the tower.
Instead, she stood amongst the fallen corpses, surveying her surroundings before starting to smash the stairs leading up.
Boom! Boom!
The first floor of the siege tower, made of three tiers and staircases, was soon shattered to pieces.
Now the enemies could no longer come down.
The enemy soldiers were left restless, unable to penetrate the Perdium forces in front of them or descend from the tower.
“Phew…”
Ghislaine took a deep breath atop the broken stairs and corpses.
Whoosh!
The three cores began to spin furiously, releasing even greater power.
Vivid red mana wrapped around her axe. Ghislaine didn’t hesitate to swing it.
Boom!
The left side of the siege tower exploded, creating a massive hole.
Screech.
The remaining structure creaked and groaned.
Yet the enormous tower showed no signs of collapsing.
Ghislaine clenched her teeth and summoned even more mana, swinging her axe at the opposite wall.
Boom!
Debris exploded outwards like a cannon.
Drum, drum!
At last, the siege tower began to shake. Just two walls remaining were far too weak to support its bulk.
Creeeak, drum, drum!
The flimsy iron plates and wood left on either side twisted and screamed in agony.
“Ugh, ughh!”
“It’s going to collapse!”
“Quick! Get to the walls!”
The soldiers below, realizing what was happening, pushed against those in front of them.
The terrified soldiers poured forth towards the walls as if illuminated by the fear of death.
The power of a human facing death is beyond imagination. In an instant, the Perdium forces were pushed back.
“Block them! Hold!”
Randolf shouted, slicing through the enemy at the front.
They had to somehow hold the entrance to prevent the enemies from taking the walls.
At that moment, as both sides clashed fiercely atop the wall, Ghislaine swung her axe again.
Boom!
Ultimately, a hole was created in the wall barely holding the siege tower up.
The giant with broken legs could no longer stand.
Drum, drum, drummm!
The wood that had barely held on from one side shattered, causing the others to fail in a chain reaction.
“It’s collapsing!”
Despairing screams erupted from within the shaking siege tower.
Crackle! Boom!
The internal structures shifted out of place, starting to break apart.
Boom!
The bridge spanning the wall came apart and fell down. The enemy soldiers standing atop it were pulled down as well.
Crash!
The siege tower, having lost its strength, tilted with a loud crash.
Wooden pillars erupted forth from the gaping wall.
“Uaaah!”
The soldiers inside the tower fell alongside the crumbling floor.
Boom!
In the end, the giant that had been a pillar of the battlefield let out a final rumble as it completely collapsed.
Puffffff…
As the broken siege tower took its last breath, a cloud of dust swirled around the debris.
For a moment, silence enveloped the battlefield.
“Could it be the Grand Duke… did it alone?”
Randolf and the Perdium forces fighting on the wall stared dumbfounded down below.
“Our siege tower… has collapsed…”
“The, the commander did that? Alone?”
Even the enemy soldiers and the mercenaries blocking their path looked on in disbelief at the collapsed tower.
Everyone on the battlefield was stunned by this nonsensical situation.
Yet, even in that breathless silence, someone was on the move.
“Young Master!”
“Prince!”
Belinda and Gillian turned away from their enemies, leaving them behind.
Amidst the wreckage that resembled a giant’s grave.
In between lay corpses pierced and torn apart.
Some were still writhing, perhaps still clinging to life.
As the two attempted to clear away the debris, their faces twisted in horror.
Boom!
Suddenly, Ghislaine sprang out from the center of the wreckage.
Skiiiii!
The blood of enemies covering her body evaporated as she continuously released red steam.
Tat, tat, tat!
Ghislaine charged straight at the dumbfounded enemies.
Whoosh!
Crackle!
One soldier had his head split open, dying instantly.
Seemingly not understanding the situation until the moment of death, his half-shredded face was filled with despair.
Whoosh!
Boom!
As Ghislaine swung her gigantic axe again, the surrounding soldiers were thrown aside.
Only then did the surprised enemies scramble to retreat.
In the meantime, Ghislaine shouted loudly.
“Get yourselves together! We’re retreating to the walls!”
The route to the walls was being desperately held by Kaor and the mercenaries.
One side of the wall was already perfectly blocked by the Perdium forces.
Ghislaine and the mercenaries began to make a hasty retreat.
“What? Are we falling back now?”
“The siege tower is down! It’s completely destroyed! Did the commander really do it alone?”
“Shut up and hurry after the commander!”
Even the mercenaries were bewildered, so it was no surprise the enemies were clueless about the situation.
The soldiers hesitated, unable to respond to the sudden turn of events.
“What are you doing! Chase them fast!”
“They’re retreating!”
“Don’t let them get away!”
When the late-arriving commanders shouted, the mercenaries were already far away.
Some chased after the mercenaries, others still stood bewildered, and a few trembled in fear and retreated.
In the confusion, many tripped over one another. The formation was in total disarray.
Randolf seized the opportunity and shouted urgently.
“Fire! Cover the Grand Duke!”
The arrows directed at the enemy archers changed direction and flew towards the soldiers.
Pachow, pachow, pachow!
The confused enemies were caught in a hail of arrows.
Although the enemy archers began firing back at the walls, too many soldiers had already died.
Ghislaine, leading the mercenaries, took advantage of the gap to shift directions.
“Into the breached walls!”
The gates had already been shut by Skoban and the remaining soldiers.
The mercenaries swiftly slipped into the breaching wall.
“Now we block the walls! Move forward!”
Clang! Clang!
At Ghislaine’s command, the mercenaries quickly piled up shields to block the gaps.
Zvalter, who had been defending the walls, felt like his chest might burst.
‘What on earth are you…! How could you pull off such nonsense!’
Even seeing it firsthand, he couldn’t believe it.
To have burst through from the side, destroy the siege tower, and return to the walls was nothing short of dazzlingly swift.
So swift that even a seasoned warrior wouldn’t dare try.
‘No, how could someone with no experience in warfare accomplish something like this…’
Zvalter felt like he had been possessed by a ghost. No matter how much he endeavored to understand, it just wouldn’t compute.
It was more astonishing that Ghislaine defeated the siege tower on her own than that she led the mercenaries into the battlefield and flipped the tide.
It wasn’t a carefully devised tactic that had come from hard thinking.
She had instantaneously grasped the enemy’s intentions and the battlefield situation, instinctively moving into action.
‘Did that bastard have such an ability? Such an innate sense and talent!’
It was impossible unless one was a person who had only fed on war.
No, no matter how experienced someone was, they wouldn’t be able to act like Ghislaine.
Only one born with sharp judgment and decision-making skills could sharpen it to the point of drawing it out whenever needed.
Zvalter shook his head, grounding himself.
‘Let’s think about that later. For now, thanks to Ghislaine, one side has caught a breath.’
The siege tower had become useless, and the battering ram hadn’t even started moving.
The enemies could no longer come up.
On the other hand, Randolf expressed his feelings without holding back.
He was equally astonished, but his rage boiled over even more.
“You crazy bastard! You got lucky and succeeded! If things had gone wrong, we would all have been dead! We would have been completely overrun!”
His anger was natural for a commander, but Ghislaine pretended not to hear and merely shrugged.
Randolf, boiling with rage, blurted out more curses, but they were drowned out by the soldiers’ roaring cheers.
“Waaaah!”
The morale of the soldiers surged after witnessing Ghislaine’s unbelievable performance.
Now that the siege tower was down, they had the luxury to shoot arrows with ease.
An enemy knight who had been pushed back to the walls yelled ceaselessly.
“Damn it! Get yourselves together! Where are the commanders? I said control the soldiers! Rally towards the breached wall! Shield soldiers should block the arrows first! Archers, step back and provide support! You fools!”
With the formation in disarray and chaos reigning, it was difficult to issue commands.
Everything had become a mess, and no orders were coming down immediately.
‘Damn it! Are they startled back at the main camp too? Why is there no signal? Whether to send in the battering ram and additional troops, or to retreat and regroup—just make a decision already!’
At times like this, one had to take the initiative.
The knight shouted until his voice was hoarse as he began to gather the scattered soldiers one by one.
“Everyone, gather! Gather here! Charge towards the breached wall!”
Now, all that remained for them was to rush toward the broken wall.
