Episode 233 – Crisis (2)
Blood from the dead flowed down between the collapsed rubble.
Drip, drip, drip.
A wide pool of blood spread across the ground.
The thick dust was slowly being absorbed into the damp earth, thinning away.
“You damn bastards!”
Natone, who had been swinging his axe without rest, used a brief moment of respite to wipe away the blood dripping down near his eyes.
He wiped the sticky yet slick blood off the handle of his weapon, groaned, and looked straight ahead.
“...It's starting again, huh?”
He slowly raised his shield.
He had noticed that the charging cavalry weren’t in a normal state.
Under these conditions, their momentum should have died down, but these men kept charging with bloodshot eyes, as if possessed, knowing full well they’d die.
Did they decide they could break through?
The fortress wall of the dwarves, long considered impregnable, had finally cracked—so perhaps they saw this as the perfect opportunity.
Fools.
If the wall had collapsed and Lord Dorneth hadn't yet shown himself, it was for a reason.
Beneta was a fortress designed meticulously by the dwarves.
Even if the outer wall fell, there were second and third lines of defense.
Trying to capture it using human logic would only turn it into their grave.
Of course, even the mercenaries under Beneta’s command didn’t know the full extent of that.
“Shouldn’t we pull some troops back behind Sir Natone?”
The mercenary captain assisting from the rear retracted his spear and voiced his concern. He glanced back—toward the inner city.
Letting hundreds of cavalry through at the start was proving problematic. They were now rampaging inside the city and setting fires everywhere.
Left unchecked, the damage would only accumulate. But Natone shook his head without worry.
“The city will be handled by the Black Roses. Don’t worry about the inside.”
The Black Rose unit, led by Master Fenry Chaser, was in the city.
As the Roses took position by windows and rooftops, arrows rained down, and the cavalry roaming the streets began to fall with screams.
In addition to dark elves, many beastkin had joined the Black Roses. Returning to their primal forms, they launched surprise attacks with sharpened claws.
The city’s structure was tailored for urban warfare.
That was Beneta’s second line of defense.
With the Black Roses at its center, the highly coordinated guerrilla units operated in sync, making it possible to respond effectively even after a breach.
Natone looked up at the countless shadows flying across rooftops and nodded.
Just as expected, the city was stabilizing quickly.
The mercenary captain beamed with excitement and cried out in victory, but Natone remained vigilant.
Instead, he tensed, fingering the object tucked into his coat as he surveyed the surroundings.
The ‘real’ ones still haven’t shown up.
He grasped the signal flare.
If enemies too strong to handle appeared, all forces were to rally at the flare’s location for support.
Things were under control now, but if the real forces under Kamel appeared, there was no telling when the wall might fall.
Hiiiiinnng!
The whinnying of horses, which had echoed from all directions, gradually subsided.
“Their numbers are dwindling!”
“Keep it up!”
As time passed, the relentless cavalry assaults began to ease.
Why haven’t they shown up?
Natone had expected a different response once the surprise attack failed, but instead, it felt like they were slowly withdrawing troops.
Maybe I won’t need the signal flare after all...
Natone took his hand off the flare and looked ahead.
Through the gaping hole in the wall, the dark outside was visible. On the collapsed terrain, countless corpses were strewn about.
A grim scene that spoke to how fierce the battle had been.
He raised his hand slightly.
If the enemy was truly retreating, he planned to immediately begin patching the breach.
By estimate, the gap could be repaired within a day.
“What about the enemy?”
Natone looked up toward the fortress wall.
A red flag was waving frantically. It was a signal that large enemy forces were still nearby.
Should they ignore them and begin repairs?
His hesitation didn’t last long.
“W-what is that!?”
The soldiers recoiled in alarm at the strange phenomenon before them.
A red mist began to flow in from the outside and slowly filled the ground.
The collapsed terrain was swallowed by the mist, and the corpses vanished from sight.
Natone sensed a sinister energy from within that fog.
“Shamans! Hold your ground!”
The shamans’ nest.
One of Kamel’s core forces had begun to move.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWANG—!
Explosions erupted from within the red mist—large and small, a cascading chain of blasts.
The material? The corpses.
Every corpse that came into contact with the mist exploded violently, sending shockwaves throughout the area.
Cracks spread anew around the already collapsed wall, and unable to withstand the pressure, more sections came crashing down.
“D-dammit!”
The gap had widened even further.
Now it was large enough for more than a dozen adult men to pass through.
Cursing, Natone looked up at the wall.
Two red flags were now waving like mad.
The second wave.
Through the bloodstained earth, cavalry once again appeared.
Seeing them, Beneta’s soldiers murmured in shock.
“Deploy all troops to this location!”
The moment he saw the new cavalry unit charging, Natone shouted for reinforcements.
Drrrrrrrrrrrumble!
Across the shaking earth, the new cavalry pointed their lances forward.
This charge was different from before.
They were in full gear.
Even the horses were armored. These were elite among elites.
“B-Blyer!”
“Etor!!!”
The elite cavalry of Blyer and Etor had entered the fray.
Because the gap had widened, more cavalry could rush in at once—but even more threatening enemies appeared behind them.
Natone’s expression twisted as he pulled out the signal flare.
Cloaked in blood-red mantles.
The shamans' nest.
Black shamans appeared in the rear, supporting the cavalry with curses and magic.
The joint attack of elite cavalry and black shamans.
Natone realized the attack before him was the real one.
This was—
Unstoppable!
Without hesitation, Natone ignited the flare.
He needed support from the Black Rose unit, which was on standby in the second defense line.
Boom—! Boom—!
“…Huh?!”
Looking up, Natone was shocked by the two flares bursting simultaneously.
One was his own flare. The other—
“The Lord’s Castle?!”
A support flare had also been fired from the Lord’s Castle.
Something had clearly happened to his lord.
He looked toward the castle with a desperate expression. Support from here was impossible.
The only forces available were the Black Roses stationed in the second defense line.
The dual flares seemed to have thrown the city into confusion.
Moments later, perhaps after a quick decision, dark elves dashed toward the wall while beastkin headed toward the castle.
“Shit, hold them back!!!”
Natone surged forward with the knights. They had to slow the charge before the enemy gained momentum.
KWAANG—!
“Kill them all!”
“Kraaaagh!”
The second battle had begun.
Because reinforcements had been sent in both directions, the troops guarding the city were now minimal.
The streets were empty.
Then, from the dark alleyways, a group emerged.
“You’re holding up well.”
A man gave a slight nod toward the wall.
He glanced around the alley and adjusted his black cloak.
As he moved through the narrow paths, the sound of clanking metal followed him, filling the alleys with an eerie aura.
“My lord.”
At the familiar voice, he turned to see Rengua approaching.
Kamel Blazer, the Mad Butcher.
His elite unit had now entered the city.
"Pure"— a black shaman spell that amplifies a single emotion.
Depending on the emotion, its effects differed. In this case, Kamel had instilled ‘greed’ into the ten thousand cavalrymen during their march to Beneta.
Endless plunder.
The soldiers, who had already craved wealth and women, were easily consumed by greed—and once under Pure, they forgot fear.
What they now felt for Beneta was singular: possessiveness—a desire to destroy and claim.
Rengua looked toward the fortress wall with an uneasy expression.
“This attack will be difficult to stop.”
“It won’t fall easily. At best, they’ll make it into the city.”
“If the wall breaks, doesn’t that mean defeat?”
“If it were a human city, maybe. But Beneta is different. Its people don’t know how to surrender.”
“But still…”
Rengua trailed off, looking around. They were currently walking inside Beneta.
The army had moved out, and now it was eerily quiet—who would stop an invading force here?
Kamel smirked and walked ahead.
“This alley is the human harem district—not a place where other races come. A segregated zone ignored by most.”
Rengua glanced around again. Despite the sound of heavy armor, no one responded.
It was like a dead city with all its lights extinguished.
“The moment the army enters the district of the other races, they’ll begin a desperate resistance. They won’t collapse in a day or two. They’re a stubborn lot.”
“…And how do you know that?”
“Call it experience.”
Rengua stared in wonder at his lord’s back.
From the map sent to Harkman to knowledge of Beneta’s inner workings…
It was as if he had once been the master of this fortress himself.
“What of the curse formation?”
“It’s working so perfectly, it makes my heart tremble.”
Rengua blushed slightly, brushing aside his earlier doubts.
When the guards had withdrawn due to the massive corpse explosions, Kamel’s group had slipped into the city through the opposite wall.
From atop the wall, Rengua had witnessed a magnificent sight:
Hundreds, thousands of souls trapped by the barrier, unable to escape, being absorbed by the Dagger of the Dead.
He looked like he wanted to retrieve the dagger immediately.
“When will you retrieve the dagger?”
“I have a plan.”
“I’ll go and fetch it myself.”
“You won’t have time.”
“…What?”
No time?
Seeing his lord’s calm pace, it was a baffling response.
“Why? Do I look relaxed to you?”
“…Forgive me.”
“I’m just waiting for the right moment. If we move too soon, the scattered Black Roses might regroup. We hide our claws until the bait fully bites.”
“If you mean bait… don’t tell me—it’s Sir Harkman?”
“You didn’t know?”
He had already suspected it—Kamel wouldn’t pamper Harkman without reason.
But bait?
“Could Sir Harkman die?”
“Who knows? Maybe he’ll survive. But if he dies alongside Dorneth, that’s the best outcome for me.”
“If he survives… what then?”
“To obtain a flower with thorns, a few sacrifices are expected.”
Kamel stopped and gazed into the darkness.
The Blue Rose Inn.
Using the human district unknown to the other races, they had arrived silently at their target.
He glanced at the night sky, judging the timing.
The Black Roses were now divided between the wall and the castle—by now, their forces would be tangled.
Kamel gave a light gesture and spoke to Wiley.
“Stir it up.”
“—!”
Drawing his sword, Wiley and 150 elite knights charged toward the Blue Rose.
Five-star knights and their finest.
Suddenly, the once-silent area erupted into chaos, the clash of weapons ringing out.
The quiet inn had become a battlefield in seconds.
KWAANG—!!!
“Kraaaagh! You bastard!”
Kakang! Kakang!
Windows shattered as two flaming figures clashed atop the roof.
Fenry Chaser.
Like a nimble she-cat, Fenry collided with Wiley in a fierce exchange.
Windows burst open, and from the upper floors, elves and knights tumbled down, bleeding.
Kamel quietly watched the scene unfold.
Moments later—
“Finally crawling out, are you?”
His eyes gleamed as he pointed in one direction.
“If Harkman’s still alive and raising hell, we need our own insurance. Rengua.”
“Your command?”
“Bring that girl to me.”
“Yes, sir.”
Rengua vanished in an instant.
Through the rear alley, a group under the Black Roses’ escort was withdrawing.
A robed elf with dual blonde braids could be seen—
The priestess Nella.