Gloominess +3: Reign of Decay. A LitRPG series: Book 3

by Elian Tars

  The seriousness on their faces was genuine. One could feel the power and confidence in their actions. These were the attributes that distinguished professional warriors from those who until recently lived a steady life, working in the fields from dusk until dawn. The villagers of Ilyenta, who followed me here from the battle against the Decayed and Tsunter’s people, clenched their teeth. Glancing at the archers, some started getting furious like caged animals. They knew that they had every right to stand next to real warriors, but they were still afraid of the enemy.

  The newcomers, the villagers who did really well during training and who managed to reach level fifty in a short time, were having it the hardest. I thought that by achieving such results they demonstrated that they were “of a different breed” than their brethren, that they were born to be fighters, but I turned out to be wrong. Maybe one third of them were ready and sure of their strength, but the others had lost their nerves and even looked smaller somehow, shifting unsure glances between their fellows-in-arms and the walls of Al-Harum. Fighting against weak peasants during training was nowhere near close to fighting a well-trained army.

  “Followers of the God of Darkness!” I rode in front of my army and stopped with my back to Al-Harum. It was risky to have your back turned to your enemy, but Berg, who was beside me, was keeping an eye on the archers. He’d cover me if something happened. Or so I hoped. “My friends, I’m happy to stand here, in front of Al-Harum beside you! It’s an honor to have so many vigilant warriors follow me! I’m proud and happy that I can be the one who’ll lead you into this fight! After this victory, we’ll be one step closer to another one! To a long-awaited victory that once seemed to be impossible — to the victory over the Decay!”

  I took a deep breath and looked over the troops — people were listening to me attentively. I had never thought that I’d ever pass a Public Speaking skill check but...

  Public Speaking: 4

  I wondered what would’ve happened had I leveled Eloquence. Combining Personal and your Elemental Skills resulted in creation of some pretty powerful ones. But what were eloquent Followers of Rugus capable of? I didn’t want to be the one to find out.

  Casting those thoughts aside, I returned to the matter at hand.

  “For some of you, this’ll be your first fight! Maybe you aren’t afraid, but a little bit nervous. That’s fine. There’s no need to be ashamed of it. Sometimes I feel nervous before a fight, too. But once the battle begins, you’ll forget about your worries. Besides, you’re not alone! Our faithful friends are with us! They won’t let us die. They’ll come and help us! The Followers of Noriduel are here, too. They’ll have the honor of beginning this battle and opening the gates of Al-Harum for us. My friends, gather your courage, a little bit more and…”

  “W-A-A-A-A!!!” Hundreds of mercenaries roared in unison, drowning my words in their battle cries. I smiled, looking my soldiers turn their heads as if bewitched. The crazy energy of Noriduel’s people encouraged those who weren’t inspired by my speech.

  And in a moment, the assault began.

  Chapter 28

  The Assault

  Ten days ago in Sautz, when we were discussing the operation, I was surprised to hear that the mercenaries weren’t planning to take the siege equipment with them. After Horn and Tael explained why, I calmed down a little, trusting their professionalism. Seeing what was happening now, I realized that the mercenaries were right.

  Their methods differed drastically from the ones that were, according to history books, used in our world. The best way to describe what was going on now would probably be “furious onslaught.” Each of the 700 mercenaries had a massive rectangular shield in their left hand that protected them from arrows. And although the archers had a special skill that allowed them to easily pierce through the thick wood and armor, they couldn’t rely only on them.

  The distance between the mercenaries and the walls dwindled. The sky over the mercenaries’ heads was obscured by the looming walls. Five grappling hooks flew toward the battlements simultaneously.

  They all had devices similar to my Joy of the Acrobat so there was no point in breaking down the gates with a battering ram or climbing the walls via ladders. Horn was very proud of his sieging strategy, as it was available only for his army. Sure, the convenient device had been invented in Glozeysk, but according to Horn, Glozeysk’s Followers didn’t mass produce it, so there was only a small number of them available. However, the mercenaries managed to collect enough of them thanks to an agreement between Noriduel and Glozeysk. Whether that was true or not didn’t really matter right now. What mattered was that every second more and more hooks lodged themselves into the battlements and merlons.

  “Are we really going to keep standing aside, sir?” Tense, Kazimir observed the walls. Sharing the feelings of his new master, his Wolf was baring its teeth and growling. Yes, I made all the horsemen switch their mounts, because the Wolves, unlike horses, weren’t only means of transportation, but also fighters.

  “We’re waiting,” I said firmly, not taking my eyes off the battle that was developing in front of us. The city’s defenders managed to unhook some of the grapnels, sending the mercenaries falling down into the sand on the outer side of the wall. Only a couple of them failed to climb the walls; the vast majority had successfully reached the goal and locked the archers into close combat.

  “Those swarthy-faced sure know how to wield a sword,” Greiv, one of the fledgling commanders and a leader of a group of fifty former peasants, said and smacked his lips thoughtfully.

  I had already told the commanders that the combat training system in Ishiria differed from ours. The locals didn’t have much respect for classes based on worshipping one specific God, like Longoria’s rangers, who were mostly Followers of the Gods of the Hunt. Here, they preferred to be multi-class and able to use different kinds of weapons. So now we had professional archers switching from bows to yatagans with ease. According to Horn, they could just as easily wield spears against the enemy cavalry in an open field.

  It was a strange feeling to watch a bloody battle from the sidelines. I wanted to rush into the thick of it to help our people, but at the same time, it was interesting to watch the coordinated mercenaries at work. Although their attacks seemed chaotic at first, I now realized that the pre-formed hirds were lining up under the command of the housecarls on the walls. Each hird occupied a specific part of the wall. They also displayed amazing cooperation — as soon as the HP of a fighter in the first lines dropped below fifteen percent, their comrades would pull them into the back of the hird, where they would immediately start drinking wine. It probably shouldn’t come as surprise that alcohol increased the regeneration speed of the Followers of Noriduel.

  “Boys, doesn’t this seem a bit too easy to you?” Mara asked. “The outer walls will be ours soon and the gates will be open. I’m glad and all, but… This isn’t my first city siege.”

  “And how many times have you seen the Sautz army in action, sweetheart?” chuckled Wenceslaus, one of Kazimir’s confidants, a stout, bald warrior in armor with a big birthmark under his right eye. “They’re animals. And professionals. Only the Followers of Bers could be scarier than them. Luckily, those psychopaths don’t like being in big squads.”

  “Right,” Kazimir nodded. “Followers of Noriduel are a deadly weapon. I admire people who do their job with passion and love. But when their job is killing, I begin to feel uneasy.”

  “And that’s exactly what we need now,” I said calmly, turning my head in Horn’s direction. He was fighting side by side with Tilda and other high-leveled fighters, and was crushing the enemy. Their group had fought its way to a small tower to the left of the gates, in which one of the mechanisms that opened them was located. The other mechanism was in the tower to the right. Both needed to be activated simultaneously, and by the look of things, we’d be able to do it.

  The mercenaries successfully “cleared” the walls; the defeated defenders fell limply on the s
and with amazing regularity. The cleared up space was immediately occupied by more and more mercenaries, until all 700 of them stood proudly on the city walls. Part of their forces had already gotten over the walls.

  “Look, they got into the left tower!” Golin, a commander of another group of fifty, blurted out with excitement. “Come on, dammit, do it already!”

  “They’re in the right one, too,” Mara informed, noticing the success of the second group, in which Tael was fighting.

  We couldn’t see what was happening inside the towers. All that my companions could do was fidget on the backs of their Wolves, and me — on Vella’s. We did so until the gates began to open with a creak.

  “Everyone, wait!!!” I roared, stopping the most zealous from getting into the city. Honestly speaking, I wanted to rush forward myself, but we needed to know what was behind the gates first. What if an army of Ishirians was waiting for us there, ready to kill anyone who got in?

  We were relieved to see empty, sandy streets. Aside from the dead bodies, there were a couple of mercenary squads that were fighting the Ishirians.

  “Fight!!!” I commanded.

  I didn’t even have to jump off Vella to fight. The trident alone was enough to defeat the remaining enemies. It took us less than ten minutes to clear up the street.

  “Grrr!!!” Vella roared, finishing off another level fifty guardsman. She wanted to rush further, but I held her in place. I saw that Tael, Horn and several housecarls were hurrying in my direction. Despite being covered with blood from head to toe, Tael was smiling from ear to ear. Horn, however, looked puzzled.

  “It was too easy!” he exclaimed. He then materialized a wineskin, uncorked with his teeth and spat the cork into his hand.

  “See!” Mara said with acidity in her voice. “I told you!”

  “And we reached the city without much problem,” Horn added, gulping his wine.

  I looked gloomily at him. He was hinting at something that we had discussed before, and I didn’t like it one bit.

  “You think that they were leading us into a trap? Since the moment we’ve arrived?” Kazimir’s voice was firm, but he spoke politely. Being an aristocrat himself, he saw an equal in the thane.

  “That’s exactly what I think,” Horn nodded.

  I looked away, having noticed that one of the mercenaries was hurrying to us. Seeing the girl, Tia quickly went to her. Nodding, she listened to the report and came back to us.

  “Our little mice, just like expected, hid themselves behind the inner wall. There are no other people here,” she pointed round the area, “aside from us.”

  Horn looked at me, waiting for an order. I looked at Kane, who slowly closed and opened his eyes. For some reason I thought that “eye-nod” would be a good name for that tic of his.

  “Regroup, and once you’re ready, begin the assault of the second wall,” I said to the thane.

  “Understood!” Horn said enthusiastically and immediately began giving orders.

  I turned to Kazimir.

  “Our losses?”

  “None.”

  “Great,” I exhaled with satisfaction. It was a good thing that I had ordered them to stay in groups of no less than ten people, and not try to be heroes by fighting the enemy one-on-one. But the main reason we avoided causalities was that there were almost no Ishirians between the outer and inner walls by the time we had appeared. “Make sure that they don’t get too relaxed.”

  “Will be done, sir,” Kazimir nodded and turned his Wolf to our group of the Followers of the God of Darkness. For a few seconds, I just silently watched him leave. He was a good guy. A kind one. We were lucky that he had spent so little time as a prince, and was only a prince’s son. Had he been his own master for too long, he wouldn’t have been able to accept the fact that he had to obey some upstart.

  I materialized a wineskin and had a gulp. I caught sight of Erg, who was walking briskly in my direction.

  “No losses. I know,” I said, as soon as he opened his mouth.

  “Should I carry out my second duty then?” he asked.

  “Yes, but…” I stuttered for a moment, choosing the right words. “Are you sure that the guys you chose are smart? I don’t want them drinking cheap booze and carrying rusty pitchforks.”

  Erg chuckled.

  “Don’t worry, Senior Disciple!” He stuttered and his eyes darted back and forth guiltily. “Mister baron, sir, don’t worry,” he corrected himself, though I didn’t ask them to address me by my title. “I’ve assigned brainy guys to this task.”

  “That’s good. Get started then.”

  He nodded and ran back. I thought that I did the right thing making him responsible for collecting the loot. Yes, the mercenaries would be the best pick for that kind of job, but for the money I’ve paid them I didn’t want them searching through chests instead of fighting. Same applied to Kazimir’s people. It’d be unreasonable to send our best warriors to rummage through chests and pockets. So I gave that task to the former villagers. Unfortunately, the task was too difficult for most of them, because they were ready to take even those things that had no use or value. However, thanks the Old Man, I had a very quick-witted guy to rely on. I believed that Erg was the smartest of all the remaining residents of Ilyenta. I couldn’t speak for the residents of other villagers, I didn’t know them well.

  Horn returned ten minutes later. “Ken, we’re ready. I left a few people on the outer walls. There are people behind the walls, too, as you know.” I nodded. He had already told me about his “eyes.” If they saw trouble, they’d give us sign. “Well then, we’ll set off to the inner walls. Join us when we open the gates.”

  “We’ll join you, have no doubts about it,” I assured him.

  Everything seemed to be going well, but my anxiety was off the charts for some reason. In order to get from the shore to Al-Harum, the mercenaries had to go round one city and walk in a dangerous proximity from another. And yet, they saw no one. Why? Did the local rulers decided to act like this was none of their business? Did they think that if they that I wouldn’t touch them if they don’t send their army? I was somewhat ready to believe that but… Damn it, there was definitely something wrong. There definitely was…

  “Ken, trouble!” Riding on the back of a zombifie Bull, Kane and Mara came over to me. Although usually silent, Kane continued talking before I even had time to open my mouth. “I’ve felt streams of energy under the sand a couple of feet away from the city. It looks like they’re coming from the castle.”

  “Is that so…?” I mumbled, analyzing this new information.

  So, Horn wasn’t the only one with “eyes” everywhere. Unlike his people, Kane’s familiars, which were more like an extension of his body than sentient beings made of flesh and blood, could gather more information in a shorter period of time. The new Crow No. 2 was flying near the city. Through it, Kane could feel things that Horn’s spies never could.

  So then, the citizens of Al-Harum were escaping through a secret passage. Were they so scared of us that they gave up on fighting? Did they decide to just hand over their home? Something was telling me that that wasn’t the case. They would’ve become homeless a long time ago if this was how they dealt with intruders.

  “Kazimir!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. I could’ve rushed to him myself, but I couldn’t see where he was exactly, because the houses all looked alike. Luckily, he found me and was by my side in a matter of seconds.

  “What happened, sir?” he blurted out anxiously.

  “Take all of your soldiers and fifty of Greiv’s. Follow the Crow.” I cast a meaningful look at the necromancer, who immediately took the bird out of his inventory and filled it with his energy. “Listen to it. With Kane’s help, we’ll be able to communicate through it. Your task is to find the exit from the tunnel and wait for further instructions. In case of danger, your priority is to survive,” I said quickly and cast a heavy look at Kazimir. “Survive,” I repeated.

  “Got it,” he nodded
seriously.

  “Come on, go. The three of us,” I said to Kane and Mara, “will go to the thane. Berg! You’re responsible for the others! Are there any more Wights left?” I asked Kane.

  “Yes.”

  “Leave them with Berg.”

  As it turned out, Kane had gotten back to making land-zombies. Berg got a Fox, similar to the one I had fought with when I first met Kane.

  Together with Kane and Mara, I rushed along the empty streets of Al-Harum, passing the sandy-colored, parallelepiped city buildings. The architecture was drab, just like in my vision. It was getting hot. The sun was rising higher and higher. If it continued like this, we’d be dying from heat in a couple of hours. Though, we’ll probably have other things to worry about then.

  The inner wall that separated almost one third of the city from the rest looked just like the outer wall. About half of the mercenaries had already climbed it; the other half was at the gates, waiting for them to open. Both halves were ready for a fight, but the absence of enemies had thrown them off balance.

  “Ken?” Horn blurted in surprise, stopping two steps away from the left tower. He said something to his group. I couldn’t hear what because of the noise and the distance between us. I supposed it was something along the lines of “go on without me.”

  Horn took a gulp of wine and jumped from the wall with a roar. He straightened up at once and rushed toward me.

  Considering that he was the leader of an island and a big army, his actions looked strange and silly. However, the mercenaries reacted to his performance with a roar of admiration.

  “Ken, this place is empty!” Horn declared, running to me. “There’s no one here! Either they’re hiding in order to ambush us, or they’ve left through a secret passage. Decay damn them!”