Chapter 337
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The army of the Karl Kingdom surged toward the castle.
The soldiers on the other side were also short beastkin, but perhaps because they were enemies, they looked larger and far more imposing compared to their allies.
"Chik! Chik! All troops, prepare to fire!"
The beastkin lieutenants gave orders. The archers atop the walls, in perfect unison, nocked arrows to their bowstrings and aimed at the black tide of enemy soldiers surging toward them.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Even after entering the range of the bows, the waves rolling beneath the castle walls did not stop.
"Fire! Chiiiik!"
Countless black arrows poured down, and the wave below rippled as though it had been struck. Soldiers struck by arrows collapsed one by one. Behind them, other soldiers trampled over the corpses and charged forward in a rush.
"Chiiiik! Aim again!"
"Shorten your reload breath! Fire!"
Once again, arrows poured down like a torrential rain.
Formidable firepower. The black arrows pierced through even armor, skewering the enemy soldiers. Cases of one arrow killing two men were not rare.
"Huhehehe! Did you all see that, huh?"
Dick, on the wall, spoke with a flushed face.
"Isn't my enchant really specialized for siege battles? Once I enhance the soldiers' arrows and weapons, they'll do the rest on their own…!"
"Focus before I pierce that mouth of yours too."
At Maelyn's words, Dick's mouth snapped shut.
Simon let out a faint chuckle and turned his gaze back to the front.
The soldiers of the Karl Kingdom were just as fierce. Without fear of the arrows, they roared and charged at the castle gate.
Before long, they began striking the gate with weapons like logging axes. The gate shuddered violently, fragments flying off.
"Battering ram!"
And from atop a hill, they sent out a battering ram as well. Soldiers pushed a cart mounted with a log reinforced with metal straight toward the castle gate.
"Simon! I've enchanted the gate, but if that ram hits it, it won't last long!"
"Leave it to me."
Around Simon stood a total of sixteen skeletons—eight wielding staffs, the skeleton mages, and eight regular skeletons.
"Throw!"
The regular skeletons flung oil fruit one after another. They rolled down the hill in front of the gate.
Then, through cross deployment, he set the regular skeletons to standby and connected to the minds of the eight skeleton mages. Above the staffs they raised, magic circles began to form.
"Dark Blaze."
It wasn't as strong as Maelyn's Dark Flare, but it was a lower-tier spell in the same darkness-flame category.
Above the magic circles, balls of fire swelled like blooming flowers. Perhaps influenced by Simon's darkness color, they took on a deep blue-black hue.
"Launch!"
Fwoooosh!
Eight dark blue fireballs cut through the overcast sky.
Drawing slow arcs, the fireballs dipped their heads toward the base of the gate.
The pupils of the Karl soldiers quivered. The approaching flames seemed like a living fire demon opening its jaws wide.
"D-dodge!"
Kwooooom!
The fireballs exploded in unison, incinerating the soldiers. The moment the flames touched the oil fruits lying on the ground, they burst one after another, splattering oil across the earth.
The flames leapt onto it, and soon a grand sea of fire spread around the wall and hillside.
"Wow!"
Dick let out a cry of admiration.
The soldiers climbing the hill were, of course, burned alive, and even the siege engine, the battering ram, was consumed by flames. Soldiers with fire clinging to their bodies rolled down the hill screaming in agony.
"Chikchik! As expected of the Guardian!"
"The Guardian fights with us! Chiiik!"
Showing them a fire show also boosted the morale of their own troops. Even Maelyn, standing nearby, snorted but wore a faint smile on her lips.
"Your darkness-flame magic is pretty decent."
"I still have a long way to go."
Though he spoke humbly, Simon felt a certain sense of accomplishment.
A summoner's strength was in numbers.
He might not yet be able to cast advanced black magic like Maelyn, but being able to unleash eight Dark Blazes at once was a definite advantage that didn't fall short of her in its own way.
"P-put out the fire!"
While the Karl soldiers tried to clear away the flames and oil, preparing to send another battering ram, their assault on the gate was delayed.
But the Karl Kingdom was already ready with their next move.
"Ladders!"
Tall siege ladders were set against the walls, and soldiers scrambled up them. Others hooked grappling hooks and climbed rapidly.
"Chiiiik! They're coming up the wall!"
"Block them!"
The allies atop the wall fought to keep the Karl soldiers from climbing up.
Then arrows began to rain onto the wall, dropping allied soldiers.
The Karl Kingdom's archers on the ground had begun firing at the top of the wall.
"Target their archers! Fire back!"
This time, the archers of the Aoun Kingdom counterattacked. The battle between archers was fierce, and the sky was filled with an unending rain of arrows going back and forth.
Watching the situation quietly from the wall, Simon turned around.
"Lieutenant."
"Yes! Supreme Commander, sir!"
The beastkin lieutenant who had been waiting in the rear bowed his head.
"I can handle the gate alone. Focus all forces on the wall."
"A-are you sure? I wouldn't want to place too great a burden on you…"
"I'll be fine."
Even as he spoke with the lieutenant, Simon was still launching fireballs through his skeleton mages.
The commander nodded and moved the gate's defending troops to the wall.
'I thought the outer wall would be easily breached since it's low, but at this rate, we're holding out pretty well.'
Not just the south gate Simon's group was defending, but the other gates were still intact as well.
'However…'
This war had powerful variables.
* * *
"Block them! Block them! Chiiik!"
The battle atop the wall was fierce.
They had to dodge the rain of arrows from the ground while striking down enemies climbing the ladders.
"Chik! Take care of the ladders first!"
"Raise your shields! Don't fall back! Chiiik!"
The one commanding this section of the wall was a veteran beastkin lieutenant.
Shouting until his voice went hoarse, he personally fought on the front line, swinging his sword.
Just as he pushed an enemy soldier off a ladder—
Tap—tatadat—
A strange sound came from below the wall. He leaned over to look down.
"…Hm?"
Something was climbing the wall.
It was a wolf.
No—more precisely, it was a werewolf.
"What the…?!"
His words never finished. The moment their eyes met, the werewolf shot up the wall in an instant and drove its claws into his neck.
"Chiiik! When did it get up here?!"
The Aoun soldiers defending the wall rushed in.
On the werewolf's wrist were triangular, blade-like claws, as if grown into swords. They were dyed pitch-black.
Shraaaak!
Shraaak!
Each time the werewolf's claws slashed, soldiers collapsed, spraying blood.
Its movements were on a completely different level from those of the soldiers. Before they could even thrust their spears properly, they were slashed by wolf claws or bitten by fangs.
"Chiiik!"
"It's too strong! Chik!"
The soldiers formed a defensive formation and charged, but their very physical specs were inferior.
The werewolf leapt in an acrobatic bound over them, landed behind, and tore open the soldiers' necks with its claws.
"Shoot that wolf first!"
Archers at the end of the wall drew arrows and aimed at the werewolf.
Seeing this, the werewolf raised its palm to its muzzle. A magic circle was drawn on its palm, and it opened its mouth.
—Awoooooo!
The sound-based area curse,
The expressions of the archers turned to sheer terror, their legs trembling. Some dropped their arrows, others felt their trousers grow wet. In that gap, the werewolf charged in and slaughtered the helpless archers.
With just one intruder, the wall was being ravaged.
[Hahaha!]
From the werewolf's mouth, which had only been growling deeply, suddenly came the voice of a young boy.
[This is crazy fun!]
The werewolf turned its back and shouted down toward the base of the wall.
[!Milena! Send them all up!]
Whooom! Whooom! Whooom!
Three siege ladders rose into the sky, defying gravity. On each were over a dozen Karl soldiers.
"Shiii! Slaughter the Aoun Kingdom dogs!"
"The Guardian fights with us! Shhh! Shhh!"
The Karl Kingdom soldiers jumped onto the wall. Below, a female student in a Keyzen uniform wiped the sweat from her brow.
"To come all the way here just to be a ladder shuttle, honestly."
She gestured, and the ladders floating in midair descended back to the ground.
"Alright."
She looked back at the waiting Karl soldiers.
"Next, get on."
"Yes, Guardian!"
* * *
[Haha! Hahahaha!]
With the werewolf rampaging along the wall, and siege ladders ferrying soldiers up like elevators, the tide of battle turned.
Before long, in some sections of the wall, there were already more Karl soldiers than defenders. At this rate, the entire wall could be overrun.
[This is fun! So fun! Now I get why they told me to try the Endolas Game once I got to Keyzen!]
Thirty Keyzen students had joined the battle as Guardians.
Now in the latter half of their first year, these young necromancers had shed their rookie skins and possessed considerable ability. For the smaller, weaker beastkin, there was no way to stop this werewolf.
[Found you!]
The werewolf spotted another officer-class Lieutenant, and sprang forward on all fours.
Fwooom!
It was a leap that truly surpassed human limits.
The aged lieutenant couldn't even react to the speed. Just as the werewolf's fangs were about to sink into his neck—
Kaaang!
A sword suddenly intercepted in midair. The werewolf skidded backward and dropped to one knee.
'It blocked my attack?'
"Uhtchatcha!"
Before he knew it, a blonde Keyzen student with a roguish grin had stepped in front of the lieutenant. The werewolf, realizing the situation belatedly, grinned slyly.
Indeed, a necromancer had to be stopped by another necromancer.
[Took you long enough to show up.]
The ferocious, hulking werewolf speaking in the voice of a young boy was a bizarre sight.
Dick stroked his chin.
"Mmm… let's see here."
With half-closed eyes, Dick began scanning the werewolf from head to toe.
"A necromancer who uses transformation black magic Metamorphosis as their main skill isn't all that common in Keyzen. What, maybe ten of them? Ah, one got expelled recently, so exactly ten now."
[...…]
Dick's tongue moved quickly.
"And with a werewolf of this quality, there's no way you learned it at Keyzen. It's got to be a family specialty. Plus, an area curse that spreads fear through sound. That means the answer's obvious."
Dick grinned, bowing gracefully like a gentleman.
"Lady Canis McGrory."
[...…]
"A high noble young lady, and you have a hobby of imitating a boy's voice?"
At those words, the werewolf's expression turned icy.
[...Who the hell are you?]
This time, it was a girl's voice. Dick shrugged.
"I'm Dick Hayword of Class A!"
[How'd you figure it out so fast? The werewolf 'Metamorphosis' is more famous for Gleck than for me.]
"Ah, Gleck Crow! Special Admission No. 9, of course he's famous. But trying to use that kind of bluff to hide your traits—"
Thud! Thud!
Dick pulled a large metal case from subspace, the corners of his lips curling upward.
"You picked the wrong opponent."