Chapter 24 (1/2)

Chapter 24: The Battle On the City Walls

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

It was 3:35 in the morning. The cold dawn of early fall weather caused one’s breath to mist.

…

The northern city walls of Gladstone.

The color from Annie’s rosy cheeks drained as she watched the Dark Elves surging over the city like a dark tide.

There were just too many. It looked as if there were at least 15,000 of them.

She had entered the city guards’ barracks and managed to gain control of 1500 city guards. With them, she had cleaned up the remaining Dark Elf Assassins lingering on the streets and recruited any wandering Warriors she could find.

She’d tried her best, but there hadn’t been enough time. Even now, there were less than 2000 Warriors manning the city walls, and most of them were unseasoned, new recruits.

Looking around, Annie saw fear and uncertainty on their faces. Some of them were even shaking. Each of them knew that they had just a small chance of making it out of this battle alive.

She suppressed the fear in her own heart and spoke up.

“Straighten up! Let those damned bloody-eyed elves taste our strength!” she shouted loudly, attempting to raise the troops’ morale, “Soldiers, our city walls are tall and strong—we have crossbows! We have trebuchets! We have nothing to fear!”

Before she could finish speaking, a terrible battle cry rang out from the Dark Elf Army below as they filed into their ranks below the city walls.

“Kill!!!”

It had obviously been let out by a single elf, but like a clap of thunder, it shook the entire battlefield.

Annie’s heart skipped a beat. As the daughter of a duke and the head of an intelligence agency, she had significant knowledge and experience. She instantly recognized her opponent’s skill level just from his voice alone.

Crap, this opponent is a Level-6!

She was as good as a child in front of such an enemy. No one could stop him if he were to charge into the city. The Dark Elf Army followed his lead.

“Kill!!! Kill!!! Kill!!!”

Their battle cries came in like a multitude of tsunamis. The 2000 soldiers on the city walls were like little boats adrift the terrible waves, about to topple over and get washed away at any moment.

“God, there’s just too many of them. There’s no way we can stop them!”

“No, I’ll die! I can’t, not here!”

“Let’s make a run for it!”

The voices were all from the soldiers who had been drafted at the last minute. Though the regular city guards wore pale faces, they showed no signs of giving up, perhaps due to the training they had received.

Without needing a signal from Annie, a city guard strode over and chopped off the head of a new recruit who was trying to desert with one swing of his sword.

Annie’s eyes constricted. She’d never experienced war, and all its cruelty. She could be harsh and ruthless to her enemies, but not towards her own. Knowing it was necessary, she suppressed her misgivings and bellowed in rage, “We are the last line of defense for Gladstone! Deserters will be killed on sight!”

This shook many of the new recruits to their core, stabilizing the situation on the city wall.

…

Below.

With the night vision of a Dark Elf and the sharp eyes of a powerful Level-6 Warrior, Lorde saw everything on the city walls. He laughed, saying to the generals beside him, “Look, a little girl, leading a pack of cowards. How is it any different from just opening up the gates for us?”

All the generals saw what was going on. The few who had been uncertain made up their minds, and rushed to volunteer, “Marshal, let me be the first wave to attack.”

They wanted to take the glory of such an easy battle.

Their enemies were few and weak. In contrast, the Dark Elf troops were eager and in high spirits.

Lorde laughed haughtily. He picked several of his generals at random. “You, you, you, and you. Lead the Warriors to attack the city!”

“Yes, Marshal!”

The four generals accepted his command. Each of them led several battalions carrying grappling hooks and charged at Gladstone’s walls.

Gladstone was just a small city in the Norton Kingdom. Its walls weren’t very tall—they stood at less than 50 feet. Off the generals chosen to attack it, three were Level-3 Warriors while one was a Level-4 Warrior. As long as they managed to climb up the walls, no one would be able to stop them.

Annie watched as the Dark Elves attacked the city ferociously. Each of them glowed with Battle Aura, one of which who glowed brighter than all the rest. This gave her quite a lot of pressure.

He’s much stronger than me. I’m no match for him! I can’t let them get up here!

Inside Annie panicked. “Attack!!!” she yelled.

The archers rained arrows down on their enemies. The crossbows howled, releasing bolts as thick as children’s arms. Several trebuchets flung stones the size of basketballs down at the Dark Elf troops below. Their vicious attacks managed to cause some damage to the Dark Elves, but their largest threat, the powerful Dark Elf generals, remained unharmed.

Due to the Battle Aura enveloping them and the thick, heavy shields they held, the elves were easily able to evade the bolts and stones despite the human soldiers’ heavy rain of attacks. Their speed was also completely unaffected—they were now less than 160 feet away from the city walls.

The Level-4 Dark Elf General swung a large grappling hook around in the air, slowly accumulating speed until he finally let it fly out of his hands and shoot up onto the city wall like an arrow.

Ka-thunk. The hook lodged into one of the battlements, and the general pulled it tight immediately. The human Warriors beside it rushed towards the hook and started hacking at the thick ropes with their swords.