Chapter 73
“Boil the water!”
“All soldiers to your positions!”
“Quickly, up to the walls!”
Shouting voices, footsteps of soldiers finding their places. The sound of well-forged metal clashing against itself as they prepared for battle. The whizzing of arrows and catapult stones.
The walls were filled with all sorts of sounds.
Despite the busy commotion of countless people moving about, there wasn’t a sense of chaos. This was due to the underlying tension.
The faces that would usually gossip and giggle at the slightest provocation were all etched with intense tension.
Even as they shouted loudly and moved busily in the painfully cold wind that lashed their cheeks, their rigid expressions didn’t soften. As if the vast snowy field was swallowing all the commotion, the walls were simultaneously noisy and quiet.
Just as the air had settled sharp as a tightly drawn bowstring among the soldiers…
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
Thump.Thump.Thump.Thump.Thump.Thump.Thump.
Cutting through the heavy silence, the footsteps of disaster began to be heard.
The gaze of the tight-lipped soldiers followed the sound beyond the walls. And they saw.
A scene filled with dark green flesh and their blue shadows cast upon the blindingly white snow field.
Monsters were approaching in numbers enough to fill the entire snow field. Each one exuding greed and aggression for the land beyond, overflowing with “food.”
It wasn’t easy for new recruits to face head-on thousands of monsters rushing towards them with gleaming eyes, driven by the desire for slaughter and predation, with the recruits themselves being the “food” for which that naked predatory instinct was pouring forth.
As a new recruit gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on his spear…
“Screeeeeeech!”
Along with the sharp sound of wing beats, an ear-splitting screech was heard.
“Harpies! A flock of harpies!”
Harpies were monsters that, though not great in number, caused significant damage whenever they appeared by flying over the walls and attacking from above.
Dozens of harpies quickly approached the walls, flying across the heads of the monster horde.
“First row, ready!”
At the commander’s shout, the archers waiting in formation aimed their arrows at the flock of harpies.
“Fire!”
Fwip-fwip-fwip-fwip-
Arrows shot simultaneously, blackening the sky.
“Second row, ready!”
“Fire!”
Another volley of arrows was fired in perfect unison.
“Screeeeech!”
As harpies struck by arrows fell screaming…
“Aim!”
Crossbows improved by dwarves were aimed at the approaching monsters.
These weren’t ordinary crossbows, but dwarf-made ones with longer range and higher accuracy in the hands of the soldiers.
“Fire!”
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Powerful bolts pierced through dark green skin. Monsters hit in vital spots or struck by multiple bolts fell with a thunderous sound.
Fwip- Fwip- Fwip-fwip-fwip-
Though many monsters were felled by the relentless firing of bows and crossbows, there were still as many monsters as snowflakes falling from the sky.
The monsters advanced forward, forward, trampling over the corpses of their fallen brethren.
And finally…
Clunk-
A crudely made ladder was hooked onto the wall.
“Push!”
“Push it over!”
“Don’t let them climb up!”
The soldiers immediately clung to the wall, using their whole bodies to push the ladder over.
“Graaaargh!”
An orc pushed over with the ladder fell screaming.
But no matter how many they pushed away, ladders kept being placed against the wall.
“Roooaar!”
Before they could remove the ladder, some orcs managed to reach over the parapet.
Once monsters started rampaging on top of the wall, it would create gaps in the defense.
“Stab!”
Groups of five soldiers thrust their spears into the orcs’ bodies.
Squelch-squelch-squelch-
The coordinated attack caused the orc that had placed its hands on the parapet to fall backward. Just as the soldiers were about to relax…
“Grooooar!”
An orc climbed up the wall, stepping on the falling orc.
As the soldiers were forming ranks to fight the orc that had fully climbed onto the wall…
Thwack!
A sword flashed like lightning, slashing across the orc’s chest.
“I’ll handle this! Focus on defense!”
It was Magda, a knight of the Frost Blade Order.
While Magda targeted the orc’s vital spots with her characteristically agile swordsmanship, other knights were also active in various parts of the wall.
No matter how much they swung, the swords forged by dwarf craftsmen never dulled. With each flash of the knights’ swords, monsters trying to gain a foothold on the wall fell below.
“Drop it!”
“It’s boiling! Pour!”
Meanwhile, piles of stones and boiling water were dropped on the heads of monsters clinging to the bottom of the wall, waiting for a chance to climb up.
An ogre’s skull was crushed by a large stone as it tried to attack the protruding structure where soldiers stood. A troll with high regenerative abilities collapsed with severe burns.
Ping- Ping- Ping-
The archers and crossbowmen didn’t stop firing even as their fingers became raw.
At that moment, one thought crossed everyone’s mind:
‘Compared to before… We have some leeway.’
It was hard. They couldn’t deny being tired and exhausted. But it wasn’t as bad as the monster waves they had experienced before.
There were still many tar barrels left, prepared to be lit and thrown to buy time when the soldiers became too exhausted. Even considering that there was several times the usual amount thanks to support from the Steiner Guild, this was still true.
Nevertheless, there were still many monsters climbing up, trampling over the corpses of their fallen comrades with broken necks and crushed skulls at the bottom of the wall.
As time passed, wounds inevitably accumulated on the bodies of soldiers and knights.
Even if the injuries weren’t serious, they made combat more difficult. Fatigue gradually began to show on the faces of soldiers and knights.
By the time their arms and weapons felt heavy, and they had to grit their teeth to repel attacks…
“His Grace! It’s His Grace!”
“His Grace has led out the North Wind Cavalry!”
The Northern Grand Duke and Reinke’s elites, who had left through a hidden gate, were crushing the flank of the monster army.
Every time the Grand Duke swung his sword, monsters fell with chunks of thick muscle torn off. The cavalry followed like a giant hammer.
Wherever the cavalry led by the Grand Duke passed, there were only mangled corpses.
Morale, which had been flagging, began to rise again at the sight of them charging through and collapsing the center of the monster horde, which had seemed like one giant organism due to its sheer numbers.
“Uwaaaaah!”
“For Reinke!”
“Shield of the North! Protector of the Empire!”
The soldiers and knights, their spirits lifted once more, felled enemy after enemy.
The burden, which was already less than usual, was further reduced after the Grand Duke led the cavalry to cull the monsters once.
“If you can’t handle this much, you don’t deserve to be called a Reinke!”
“Hey! If only every winter was like this!”
“Anyone who dies today should be truly ashamed!”
Though they shouted exaggeratedly to raise morale, it wasn’t all bluster.
Truly, today’s battle was easier than any they had faced in previous years.
Finally, as the sun set and no more monsters approached…
Hope shone on the faces of those standing on the wall.
Hope that at this rate, they could get through the winter with significantly fewer casualties than usual.
Even though it was still only the first day of the monster wave.
* * *
The atmosphere in Reinke was unusually bright for winter.
While not as light as spring after enduring the entire winter, it was noticeably lighter than previous winters.
Even though battles continued, there were visibly fewer deaths and injuries compared to the usual for this time of year.
This was thanks to the ample resources supplied by the Steiner Guild, dwarf-made weapons and armor, new facilities, and the new defense system created to utilize them.
And… the Grand Duke’s ferocious fighting, even more fierce than usual as if venting some frustration, also played a big part.
But since injuries and deaths were “reduced” not completely eliminated…
Naturally, some of those close to Ruan were also injured.
“Ugh… I tell you I can go out…”
“Just stay still, sis.”
Ruan said, stopping Magda who was trying to get up despite her broken arm and dislocated ribs.
“No, usually we’d keep fighting with injuries like this.”
Magda protested with furrowed brows, but Ruan firmly replied.
“Now we have enough leeway that we don’t have to do that. They say we can manage without forcing injured people to fight. Stay put until your bones heal.”
In fact, this was also why the number of deaths had significantly decreased. Knights and soldiers who would normally not leave the walls for minor injuries no longer needed to push themselves so hard as they now had some margin.
