Chapter 788: A Strange Way to Storm a City

In the end, two viscounts and a warband commander agree to follow Tuge's advice.

They order every unit in the area to converge on Pearl City if possible.

Mounted scouts race ahead to evacuate residents along the route and warn Stillwater City.

Pearl City must also be warned in time to prepare its defenses.

These troops came to surround and disarm the hunting force, and they expected to remain on home ground.

They brought few supplies, which at least lets them travel light.

Obilian has also introduced several military reforms since taking the throne.

Both the standing army and the garrison troops now receive some training in marching as formed units.

Some of the nearby noble armies have already fled back to their castles.

The rest are cavalry. They came to intercept Peace Haven's hunting force, after all. Bringing serf soldiers would only have embarrassed them.

All this means the retreating army can maintain a respectable pace.

Someone still has to remain behind to harass the pursuit, especially the mantis-shrimp cavalry.

Naturally, the job falls to Tuge and his men.

Lumir scrapes together a thousand cavalrymen to ride with the five hundred Peace Haven elites.

Tuge turns and launches a scissor charge, routing the pursuing cavalry and inflicting heavy losses. After that, the calamity horde no longer dares to press too close.

He also has to sweep away calamity creatures that travel ahead through the waterways.

After a full day and night of maneuvering against the enemy, the army finally reaches Pearl City, a hundred li away.

Even with the nobles brave enough to reinforce the city and its existing defenders, Pearl City has only a little over three thousand soldiers.

The more than ten thousand Lumir soldiers who just arrived are exhausted. They will need at least a full day to recover.

Fortunately, the Subterranean River Bandit army does not rush into an assault once everyone takes shelter inside the city.

It encamps around the local rivers and small lakes instead, giving the defenders a chance to breathe.

With the earlier nest exposed, Stillwater City's army seals off the surrounding area.

The lake must connect to the subterranean water network below. Nothing else could have allowed such a large force to gather unseen.

Stillwater City has to prevent more calamity hordes from emerging there, especially since none can be allowed to reach the Tranquil Sea.

That leaves it with no spare forces to relieve Pearl City anytime soon.

Pearl City is one of Peace Haven's hunting-force bases, however, and large stores of supplies have already arrived.

Lumir has also stockpiled plenty of materiel there in preparation for war.

Provisions and military supplies are the least of their worries.

The real problem is the calamity horde surrounding the city.

Tuge receives an invitation to the military council.

He keeps his opinions on Lumir's deployment plans to himself.

Instead, he shares everything the hunting force knows about the calamity horde: its troop types, the weaknesses of its creatures, and the way they fight.

He also displays weapons and armor taken from the enemy.

The Subterranean River Bandit army uses fishbone blades in close combat. Fine serrations along their edges tear flesh apart.

Its warriors wear two kinds of armor: shell scale armor and coral heavy armor.

The Subterranean River Bandits also carry ranged weapons. Their bows and crossbows are made from fish bones, with strings woven from a kelp-like plant.

Their projectiles are light and have good range, but they struggle against armor.

Lumir's officers believe the enemy cannot breach the walls quickly without heavy siege equipment, no matter how many lives it spends.

Tuge has never seen the Subterranean River Bandit army field heavy equipment either, but the officers' confidence makes him wary.

Holy Lake City had fallen during Lumir's earlier calamity wars, after all.

If the enemy could take a great city with walls dozens of meters high, Tuge refuses to believe it has no way to storm this one.

The enemy must have a way over the walls. If the defenders fail to prepare, they will pay dearly.

No attack comes during the next two days.

The rain never stops, however, and pools begin forming all around the city.

On the evening of the third day, the enemy strikes.

Poor visibility and the enemy's bizarre approach plunge the battle straight into a bloody melee.

Subterranean River Bandit troops erupt from pools beneath the city walls.

The pools act as passageways, disgorging an endless stream of attackers.

At the same time, rainwater running down the walls twists into a lattice.

The Subterranean River Bandits seize it like rope and swarm up to the ramparts.

The battle rages through the night.

The enemy does not withdraw until dawn.

Casualties are not what drive it back. In daylight, the Subterranean River Bandits cannot travel directly to the foot of the walls through the water passages.

The lattice of water ropes also fails beneath the sun.

A single night leaves the defenders devastated.

More than fifteen hundred soldiers lie dead, while over three thousand more have suffered wounds of varying severity.

Tuge and his men immediately turn to treating the wounded.

Every member of the hunting force is at least a junior officer, and battlefield medicine is required training.

With five hundred temporary medics at work, many wounded soldiers are saved from bleeding to death.

After that, the enemy attacks only at night.

Darkness, rain, and poor lighting leave the defenders half-blind.

Their bows and crossbows can no longer provide effective suppressive fire.

Every assault turns into close combat atop the walls almost at once.

The fighting continues for five days. The enemy's unexpected method makes the first night by far the bloodiest.

Across all the nights that follow, the combined casualties amount to only about a thousand.

On the seventh night of the siege, Tuge suddenly rises and looks toward the walls.

A moment later, he blows the rally whistle.

The eastern wall has fallen!

A little over ten minutes later, Tuge and his force reach the foot of the eastern wall.

The defenders have already been driven from the ramparts, and the enemy is closing on the city gate.

Tuge does not know what happened. He only knows the city cannot fall.

The ground outside is a sea of mud. If the walls break, none of them will escape.

"Form ranks! Advance!"

The five hundred elites split into five hundred-man companies and charge up through three access points.

They are fighting uphill from a severe disadvantage.

Even so, they sweep through every enemy in their path.

Nearly half the force consists of Knights.

There are more Knights in Tuge's five hundred than in the rest of Lumir's city garrison combined.

When Tuge reaches the ramparts, he finally sees why the position fell.

The sight makes him draw a sharp breath. What a bizarre way to storm a city!