Terror Fortress, 300 meters before the moat
Marco didn't have time to admire the uniquely designed fortress. Right now, he was too excited collecting his experience points.
After fighting for so long, Marco's experience had been stuck at that critical point, barely moving. He hadn't expected that after eliminating these fish-men, he would finally reach Level 15.
With each level up, the experience needed increased exponentially. It had taken Marco quite some time to accumulate 15,000 points, but he believed that with enough time, he could reach the legendary state—killing a Level 7 creature in a single blow!
"Ding! Congratulations, host! You have achieved a glorious victory and gained experience points…"
"Ding! Hero leveled up! Please choose an ability:
Advanced Offensive Technique: Increases the attack power of soldiers under your command by 15%.
Beginner Logistics Technique: Increases the movement speed of units under your command by 10%.
Beginner Destruction Magic: Allows the hero to learn 3rd-rank destruction magic and increases its potency.
Beginner Summoning Magic: Allows the hero to learn 3rd-rank light magic and increases its potency.
Marco chose Advanced Offensive Technique, finally reaching Level 15. In the game, Level 15 was a watershed moment. On smaller maps, reaching Level 15 already made a character quite formidable.
For Marco, however, it wasn't hugely significant. Even at his peak, he couldn't cleave through a castle wall with a single strike—he wouldn't be truly "invincible." But if he could reach Level 30, he felt he'd be close enough, and at the top Level 40, he might even be able to tear through space itself.
These thoughts were still far off. What truly excited him was the chance to learn new Adventure Magic. The system contained four in total: "Sarasa's Vessel", "Troop Summoning", "Dimensional Travel", and "Town Space Gate."
"Dimensional Travel" required Level 15, while "Town Space Gate" required Level 20. Marco wondered what modifications the system would grant him this time.
"Ding! Troop Summoning activated. Location: Gryphon Fortress. Level 4 Magic Guild construction in progress…"
"Ding! Congratulations, host! You have learned the Adventure Magic: Dimensional Travel."
"Ding! Magic materialization in progress… Ding, excluding the Group Teleportation template, excluding…"
"Ding! Congratulations, host! You have learned One-Way Portal Creation. You can now spend half your mana to create a one-way portal. Its distance is 300 meters by default, which increases to 500 meters after learning the special ability Hawkeye from Enlightenment Magic. The portal duration is calculated as mana divided by minutes."
"Hahaha! This is hilarious, Brinden! I'll leave this to you for now. I'll go bring the siege forces over—they'll be in for a shock."
"Roar…"
As soon as Marco gave the command, the crystal wyvern soaring in the sky descended. It was just barely large enough now for Marco to ride.
Over time, Marco had been training his coordination with the crystal wyvern, but it still couldn't perform high-difficulty aerial maneuvers. He guessed this was because it was still too young; by the time it reached over a hundred years, it should be able to perform any aerial stunt.
Meanwhile, the power of crossbows had increased significantly. According to Marco's intelligence, the Bolton family had equipped over twenty massive crossbows, rumored to have been purchased from the Esos continent across the Narrow Sea.
They were specifically bought to counter Marco's dragons. Some Bolton knights and generals even boasted that these weapons could kill a "Black Death God" at its peak.
Using his light magic "Teleportation Swap", Marco spent just over a minute to appear on the western bank of the Weeping River Bridge. The guards saluted upon seeing him.
Marco waved back and walked straight into the camp, summoning the two commanders stationed there: the spirit creature leader Harveys, and Marco's former thug captain, Bobby Lee.
"You two, summon the troops immediately. We're going straight for Terror Fortress. The enemy is ready and waiting."
Bobby Lee frowned. "Your Majesty! Excuse me, I don't quite understand. Do we have a new bridge? Or has the wildfire under this bridge already been cleared?"
Marco said mysteriously, "You'll see soon enough. Hurry up! Brinden's troops are waiting for us!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Bobby Lee and Harveys responded in unison, exchanging a glance that showed mutual confusion.
While they energetically rallied their troops, Brinden's side was equally bustling. His forces were mostly cavalry, and reinforcements were on their way. Brinden planned to use this opportunity to intimidate the Terror Fortress soldiers, collecting the heads of the fish-men from the Moonlight Guild.
At Brinden's command, griffins swooped down, picking up the bags and flying high. Once at the right height, they dropped the bags, scattering fish-men heads over the fortress. Helmets fell alongside them, and the rooms and towers shook with the impacts.
Many Bolton soldiers initially thought the heads were human, but they quickly realized something was wrong. Goblin Manson picked one up, staring into the lifeless fish eyes—it was chilling.
At that moment, he recalled rumors about Bravos' socialite mermaid queen and her mermaids, who had been "playing games" with the castle's generals. From then on, rumors of fish-creatures circulated.
Outside, villagers claimed their daughters had been taken by fish-creatures, still missing, with some rumors even saying that all Moonlight Guild mercenaries were transformed fish-creatures.
"F*k! These bastards! I knew they weren't any good. The fish-creature we met at Bite Bay must have been like this. Hah… Mermaid Queen—what a fitting title!"
Goblin Manson gripped his longsword and cursed. Turning to the Moonlight Guild soldiers, his anger surged, only to fade as reality sank in: the enemy was at the gates, and now was no time to dwell on it.
A scout from the Blood Hand suddenly approached and whispered in his ear. Manson's expression changed repeatedly. Ignoring the falling "fish heads," he followed the scout down from the wall.
In the dungeons of Terror Fortress, Manson saw several injured Blood Hand members. He hurried to a relatively conscious soldier.
"Lemon, what happened here? How did it come to this?"
"Cough… Boss, those guys were monsters. Even some of the camp chickens got infected. Many of our brothers were affected. Besides the militia, many turned into half-human, half-fish creatures," the soldier Lemon coughed out.
The Blood Hand soldiers had been spies planted in Bolton forces, specifically in the bridge-guard units. Lemon recounted their experiences: the defeat, the half-fish monsters, and Marco's rescue.
Manson was at a loss, but the sound of boulders smashing shook him from his thoughts.
"What's happening? How did the enemy's siege weapons reach us? Wasn't the wildfire under the bridge supposed to stop them?"
The soldiers looked at each other in confusion, none expecting this turn of events.
"Soldiers of Terror Fortress, hear me! Your lord, Luss Bolton, has betrayed humanity and joined the outsiders. If you allow these invaders near you, soon you will become the same fish-headed monsters around you!"
Marco's voice echoed above the fortress, resonant and commanding, reaching every ear as if he spoke directly to each person.
On the towers, some soldiers noticed a massive circle of light on the battlefield. Troops and siege engines poured out, while small men scurried to operate them.
"Woo…"
At the sound of the horns, more catapults launched, hurling rocks into Terror Fortress. The defenders couldn't lift their heads under the bombardment.
Brinden issued the attack order. Giants pushed the siege towers toward the walls.
Terror Fortress was protected by a wide moat. The goblins had modified siege towers to help Imperial soldiers attack efficiently.
The first to reach the moat were the modified woehler carts, lighter and easier to maneuver. Soldiers operated them, discovering hidden traps near the moat.
Three enhanced woehler carts, filled with oil looted from other castles, were rolled forward. Flames ignited around the moat, evenly distributed, burning for about ten minutes. Meanwhile, crossbows on the fortress towers began firing.
These massive crossbows had special glass containers filled with wildfire, clearly targeting the siege towers. But Marco had anticipated this. Griffins dropped oil onto the towers while dragons unleashed dragonfire to ignite the tops.
Green flames erupted as the towers burned, causing many soldiers to scream and leap from the towers.
After the dragons and griffins finished their attack, they returned to Marco's rear guard. Maintaining high-altitude flight for long periods was exhausting, and Marco didn't want his ace units killed by crossbow fire.
The fortress moat meant most siege towers had been converted into shilling towers, leaving only a few modified siege towers.
Once the towers and shilling towers were positioned, crossbows and archers poured fire onto the Bolton defenders.
Meanwhile, the soldiers built new ladders, modeled in an "L" shape by goblins, using two siege towers. The front tower carried ropes, and the rear served as a pivot. Giants and soldiers guided the ropes, lowering the front tower bridge as an assault platform.
"Boom…"
The ladders landed on the fortress walls. Valeria Empire soldiers charged with a roar.
The defenders lit green flames atop the walls to resist, setting the two massive gate towers ablaze.
"Clang…"
Chains broke as giants pulled the massive drawbridge apart using a winch rather than brute force. The winch, made by goblins, required just two giants to operate.
Marco's special hemp ropes, reinforced by the Forest Children and Druids, were tough enough for operating siege engines and hauling heavy objects.
With just four giants operating, the chains and bridge were severed in just over twenty minutes.