Chapter 347 - 251: Siege 2

"Most mercenaries are just a bunch of guys who sell their lives for money. While their equipment is much worse than a regular army’s, they’re a bit more ferocious, so it’s not like they’ll just get scared and run."

The Lord immediately observed the soldiers’ equipment and morale. It was more or less as Monvert had described.

Their equipment consisted almost entirely of Leather Armor and nasal helmets; only a few could afford to add a piece of Chain Armor. More importantly, their expressions were lax, lacking the solemn discipline of a regular army that treats orders as sacrosanct.

He shared his observations with Leiden, Monvert, and the nobles under his command, but no one recognized the Mercenary Corps’ banner.

’Where did Kolon scrape together this second-rate bunch?’

The Lord came to an immediate conclusion.

Debei had no shortage of powerful Mercenary Corps, some strong enough to rival a regular army. The Eagle’s Group, for instance, had around five thousand members, all cavalry. Their commander was rumored to be not only a master of Swordsmanship but also strikingly handsome.

They were an ace group of Mercenaries.

But every ace unit had one thing in common: a renowned reputation. Given that not even Monvert and his local retainers had ever heard of this Mercenary Corps in the Southern Territory, in the Lord’s eyes, what could they be if not second-rate?

"Setting aside the walls, if we were on an open field, a single charge from my Centaur squad would be enough to send them crying for their mothers."

Of course, the Lord knew that talking about fighting without the walls was just posturing. If the enemy actually dared to abandon their fortifications for a field battle, they would have to be either one of Debei’s top ace corps or utter fools whose brains had been eaten by Goblins.

He was just using the statement to make it clear that his side was far stronger.

Monvert had ten thousand soldiers under his command, five thousand of whom could be considered elite. His most formidable unit was the thousand-strong Iron Armored Wolf Guard. Though they were shorter than the elite armies of the Northern Territory, they couldn’t be underestimated.

But these men from Wolf Island had proven that Power wasn’t solely determined by size. Their frames were packed with solid, sinewy muscle, enough for them to lift a grown man with one hand as easily as taking a breath.

Clad in Heavy Armor, they might not claim to be able to take on the Panda Warrior Corps one-on-one, but they could definitely go toe-to-toe with Fulina’s Mastiff Guards.

As for High Cliff Castle, their strength was self-evident. One look at the uniform ranks of muscular brutes and their exquisite equipment would make even the most arrogant, ignorant fool offer a few words of fawning praise.

Otherwise, they’d live in fear of having one of those enormous weapons viciously plunged into their bodies.

With such a force, even on the offensive, there was no way a second-rate Mercenary Corps could possibly hold them off.

"My Lord, what’s the arrangement? Will you handle the climb, or shall I?" With no intention of being a dictator, Levi considered the question from Monvert, who stood beside him fully armed and armored.

"I’ll take the walls," Monvert offered. He was a traditional noble who valued some of the Eight Virtues of a Knight—things like keeping one’s word and being honest. So, he spoke his mind freely. "We came to aid Miss Liya, but so far, we’ve done nothing. That’s just not right.

My nobles have been eager for military glory for a long time as well."

’It had been almost a month since they’d joined the Northern Border Corps. Missing the fight at Kalia Town was one thing, but then the siege of Black Stone Castle finally presented an opportunity.’

’Just as the nobles of Wolf Island, great and small, were rolling up their sleeves to make their mark, a certain someone had unexpectedly taken the walls with his own Guard Team as if he were just slicing vegetables, then charged straight into the Inner Castle and captured the enemy leader.’

’In the end, the entire Wolf Island force was relegated to cleaning up the walls, becoming a complete afterthought.’

Seeing that Kolon was the last chance to earn any glory, his Barons, Knights, and officers were growing desperate. They had all insisted that they must be the ones to take on the assault.

Lest that inhuman Lion Hunter Knight easily snatched the glory again.

"Alright, then I’ll take the gate," the Lord agreed at once. After all, Monvert was his colleague. Since he had already eaten the meat, he had to at least let the man have some soup.

It was no trouble at all to grant him this easy favor.

Besides, the Kolon City Wall today was nothing like Black Stone Castle’s. The difficulty had gone up by more than a single notch.

Seeing that their leaders had settled the arrangements, a handler from the Beast Hall cracked a whip against the soft underbelly of a Thunder Lizard Beast. The Giant Beasts whimpered and began to move their pillar-like limbs with heavy grunts.

The massive Cloud Ladders and Siege Vehicles began to advance slowly, groaning and creaking as they left two deep ruts in their wake.

The Mercenaries on the walls quickly let loose a dense volley of arrows, but they merely clattered harmlessly against the tough Scales of the Thunder Lizard Beasts, posing no threat whatsoever.

Unless these Mercenaries could somehow shoot up from underground, there was simply no way for them to harm the Thunder Lizard Beasts.

They clearly realized this and began shouting for men to man the Bed Crossbows.

Only these massive weapons could hope to harm the Thunder Lizard Beasts, whose natural defenses were even tougher than Iron Armor.

With a series of grating sounds as they were wound, a dozen massive Crossbow Arrows were fired at once. In an instant, a Thunder Lizard Beast let out a mournful cry, its enormous body crashing to the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust.

Taking down a target with the very first volley was an impressive start, but they had no time to celebrate.

Dozens of stone balls, each weighing several hundred pounds and wreathed in roaring flames, soared into the sky and came crashing down upon them.

It was clearly the enemy’s first volley as well. Though the sight was terrifying, the stone balls only caused a slight tremor when they smashed against the base of the wall.

"Hahaha! These Northern Guys must have screwed themselves weak! Light ’em up, boys! Give ’em hell!"

The man commanding the dozen or so Bed Crossbows was a brawny man with a scarred face named Kerry. He was a Thousand-man Squad Captain in the Red Poison Snake Mercenary Corps and had killed countless women and children. The thought that he had nearly pissed his pants in fear from a few stones a moment ago only made him more vicious now that he’d survived.

Unfortunately for him, his ferocious expression lasted only a few heartbeats before it shattered, replaced by a look of utter despair as he mumbled to himself.

"My God!"

Right after the stone balls came a dense hail of Crossbow Arrows, and that wasn’t all. An Explosive Earth Element Meteorite, a Fire Element Fierce Fireball, a Wind Element Round Blade—a whole menagerie of colorful Magic came hurtling through the air.

An ordinary person might not see such Magic in their entire lifetime, but Kerry was now getting an eyeful, taking it all in at once.

They followed their own trajectories, homing in on their targets before exploding violently.

Even at the moment of his death, Kerry couldn’t understand it. All he’d done was order the Bed Crossbows to kill a single beast. How had that been tantamount to kicking a hornet’s nest, bringing all this down on his head?

In an instant, half of the dozen or so Bed Crossbows were destroyed. The Mercenaries who had been lucky enough to survive didn’t dare risk manning them again.

The Lord, watching through a spyglass, found the sight quite enjoyable. Since this was the final battle, there was no longer any need for his High Cliff Castle Casting Team to hold back.

Four Zor Priests chanted their Magic in safety, heavily protected by the Centaurs.

Since the goal this time was to destroy the enemy’s ranged capabilities, not to smash the wall itself, there was no need to use Molding Magic to create another one of those hugely draining Meteorites like last time.

The Lord had simply told his ’little Zor beauties’ to use whatever worked best. He hadn’t expected it to result in such a colorful display—more thrilling than watching fireworks.

The Giants were also grunting with effort as they hauled stone balls to the Catapults. There, under Leiden’s direction, craftsmen would douse the stones in oil and set them aflame before they were launched, smashing against the top of Kolon’s wall.

Their Bed Crossbows weren’t idle, either. Arrow after arrow was loaded and fired, aimed precisely at the most densely packed sections of the wall.

From the very beginning, with Kolon having no Priests to counter the Magic of the Zor Priests, the enemy’s ranged attacks were doomed to be suppressed.

Unfortunately, after just a few rounds of Casting, the Zor Elves’ faces turned deathly pale, and they were forced to stop.

After all, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and no such thing as free Magic. Powerful spells came with an equally high cost.

This made the Lord’s heart ache with concern. He personally escorted Heather and the other female Zor Elves to a luxurious, velvet-lined carriage, ensuring they had a quiet environment to meditate and recover their Magic Power.

As for Sam?

He had sent the Shaman, who only knew two low-level spells, off to laboriously cast the Stone Skin Technique on Monvert’s men.