Coiling Dragon

by welyjesch

  “Yes, milord.”

  Three of the men immediately acknowledged, while the other three looked at Guillermo. Guillermo nodded slightly. “Act as Weiss Porter said.”

  “Yes, milord.”

  On the massive, wide ground, locust-like hordes of men were charging wildly against the city. Sixteen magicite cannons were constantly flashing with brilliant light, taking lives away with each flash. On the walls above the prefectural city of Cod, Linley, Barker, Gates, Hazer, Ankh, and Boone, and the others were watching the battle.

  “They are fighting wildly enough.” Gates licked his lips, grinning as he spoke.

  Hazer looked at Linley, his eyes shining. “Lord Linley, let us go and teach them a lesson.” Of the five Barker brothers, only Barker had reached the Saint-level in his human form. The other four were at the peak of the ninth rank, about to break through at any moment.

  Linley looked at the battle going down below. Laughing calmly, he said, “No rush. You will have your chance soon. But remember, no matter what, you cannot allow them to seize the magicite mine.”

  Compared to the large amount of magicite gems, Linley actually valued the pocket dimension more.

  That was a precious training place that had to be preserved.

  “Unfortunately, Zassler has reached the Saint-level as well. Otherwise, once he acted, he would probably be able to counter a million soldiers at once, all by himself.” Linley sighed as he spoke. Zassler and Linley had reached the Saint-level almost at the same time. Zassler was now a Saint-level Grand Magus Necromancer. After becoming a Grand Magus Necromancer, Zassler’s power had reached a terrifying new height.

  What Zassler currently spent his time doing was collecting Saint-level undead.

  A single Grand Magus Necromancer could collect and tame a group of Saint-level undead. One could imagine how terrifyingly powerful they were.

  “That old bastard. He spends all his time hiding inside the mountain and training. He never shows himself these days.” Gates grumbled. “Last time, I went to look for him, and he actually sent a Saint-level undead to battle me for a while. I have to admit…that zombie was really pretty damn powerful.” Gates sighed.

  Linley secretly snickered.

  Zassler was only joking around with Gates. Linley himself knew…if Zassler was really acting in earnest, Gates would probably have been defeated in an instant. This was because necromancers were highly skilled in matters pertaining the soul, and were extremely talented at ‘spiritual attacks’. Upon reaching the Saint-level, once Zassler used a spiritual attack…

  Even a powerful Saint probably wouldn’t be able to take it.

  “Bang!”

  Suddenly, Linley and the others felt the city walls suddenly shake violently. Barker’s face changed. “Not good!” Linley’s spiritual energy had also discovered that below, six warriors of the ninth rank had joined forces to smash through the city gates.

  “Charge!” The attacking soldiers found, to their delight, that the city gates were down.

  Immediately, a large number of soldiers began to pour towards the city gates. The leaders of the soldiers were those six warriors of the ninth rank. The garrison guards of the prefectural city of Cod wanted to block them, but they were easily slaughtered by those six warriors of the ninth rank. The commander of the south gate, however, simply watched coldly as this all happened.

  “Boulder, drop!” The commander’s voice rang out without a hint of panic.

  Instantly, dozens of warriors pulled at hidden levers. With clanking sounds, a massive boulder that was over dozens of meters thick began to fall down. The soldiers below wanted to dodge, but most weren’t able to do so and were smashed into meat patties.

  “Bam!”

  The city gates had been sealed!

  The soldiers outside weren’t able to make it in, and the soldiers inside weren’t able to go out either.

  “Six warriors of the ninth rank. They really are going all out.” Gates roared angrily, and then with a flip of his hand, he retrieved his massive greataxe as he charged down from the top of the walls into the inner courtyard. All six of those warriors of the ninth rank had been inside the city already. Gates jumped down, and he was immediately followed by Ankh, Boone, and Hazer as well.

  Within the city.

  The six warriors of the ninth rank were engaged in a wild slaughter, with none of the soldiers around them able to fend them off.

  “Quick, flee!” One of the warriors of the ninth rank shouted loudly as he sent his warblade chopping down towards an officer, who was instantly split into two halves. Wherever these warriors of the ninth rank went, corpses followed in their wake.

  The other warriors of the ninth rank knew that they couldn’t stay here for too long either.

  They didn’t pay any mind to the soldiers who had followed them in either. A golden-haired, one-eyed warrior suddenly launched himself off the ground, easily sending himself over thirty meters into the air, flipping past the wall and arriving outside the city. The other five warriors of the ninth rank immediately also launched off the ground…

  “You want to run?!”

  A furious howl, and then a terrifying greataxe flashed towards them. Gates was the first one to land, and in mid-air, he stopped one of the leaping warriors of the ninth rank. The warrior of the ninth rank actually wanted to use the heavy sword in his hands to block the axe, but as soon as he did…

  “Bam!”

  The warrior’s heavy sword shattered into pieces, and he was smashed back down into the ground, the ground shaking from the collision. Gates howled angrily, “You motherf*ckers actually dare to break into the city? Die!” The terrifying greataxe chopped down yet again, and it was as though the surrounding area had suddenly frozen.

  Gates had already reached the ‘impose’ level of understanding!

  There was no place for the warrior of the ninth rank to flee. “Ah!” A miserable, agonized cry could be heard, and then he was eviscerated by the massive greataxe. Blood and splintered organs splashed everywhere, and his body fell heavily to the ground, never to rise again.

  Although they were both warriors of the ninth rank, Gates was at the peak of the ninth rank and an Undying Warrior. The difference was too great.

  The other four warriors also encountered Boone, Ankh, and Hazer. Ankh, all by himself, forced two of them back down. The eyes of Hazer, Boone, and Ankh were filled with savage, murderous delight.

  The battle concluded very quickly.

  “Milord, aside from myself, the other five…were unable to escape.” The golden-haired, one-eyed man clearly seemed unwilling to accept this outcome.

  Weiss Porter and Guillermo’s faces turned ugly to behold.

  “How is that possible? You are warriors of the ninth rank!” Weiss Porter’s face couldn’t help but turn pale as he spoke.

  “I saw Linley and those Undying Warriors on the city walls.” Guillermo suddenly said. At Guilllermo’s level of power, despite being kilometers away, he was still able to see Linley and the others on the city walls.

  Weiss Porter’s voice turned low. “Guillermo, could it be that Linley is ignoring our previous agreement and is acting against warriors of the ninth rank?”

  “It shouldn’t be Linley.” Guillermo shook his head. “If it was him, most likely not even a single warrior would have escaped. I expect that it was those Undying Warriors who haven’t reached the Saint-level yet in their human forms. Given their power, it shouldn’t be hard for them to deal with an ordinary warrior of the ninth rank.”

  Weiss Porter was beginning to frown.

  “You can go now.” The lucky survivor left.

  Weiss Porter sent out the order. “Let the attacking soldiers retreat for now. Today, we’ll pause for now.”

  “Yes, milord.” The messenger immediately ran out.

  Guillermo looked at Weiss Porter, puzzled. Weiss Porter closed his eyes. After a while, he opened them, then said calmly, “Guillermo, at nightfall, let’s prepare to order our m
en to attack again, late at night. We have to take down the city before daybreak tomorrow. We’ll pay whatever cost in lives is necessary.”

  “Late night?” Guillermo frowned as he looked at Weiss Porter. “Even if we don’t care about the lives of our warriors, it’ll be hard to break through.”

  Neither Guillermo nor Weiss Porter cared at all about the lives of their ordinary soldiers. They commanded a tremendously high number of soldiers, and it was in fact useful to reduce the population a bit through warfare. Ordinary warriors only required a year or two of training, after all.

  They didn’t care about them.

  What they cared about were elite soldiers.

  For example, the hundred thousand soldiers that had been sent to attack the east gates.

  “Tonight, we will attack the city, no matter the cost. If by five in the morning, we still haven’t broken through, then we will use your final trump card.” Weiss Porter looked at Guillermo. “What say you, Guillermo?”

  “Our final trump card?” Guillermo was silent for a moment.

  He knew what Weiss Porter was talking about. Guillermo nodded slightly. “Fine!”

  Actually, if they were to begin attacking at midnight and fight like wild all the way until five in the morning, even if they weren’t able to break through, they would exhaust the forces of the prefectural city of Cod. At that point, the Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows would use their trump cards, making their victory utterly assured.

  The countless warriors beneath the walls retreated like the retreating tides.

  Watts stood atop the walls, his face expressionless.

  Linley looked at Watts from nearby, his eyes filled with praise. Just then, he had watched the entire procession of battle. The enemy had attacked multiple times, at the east gate and the west gate, but Watts’ orders as well as his disposition of forces had been quite perfect.

  “Watts.” Linley, Barker, Boone, Ankh, and the others walked towards him.

  Watts bowed as soon as he saw the group of people.

  Linley smiled. “Today’s battle has already concluded. Watts, get a good night’s rest.”

  “No need, milord.” Watts had a very serious look on his face. “Today, the enemy attacked us several times with their armies. They used their elite soldiers to try and break through the east gate, then sent warriors of the ninth rank to break through the south gate. And they had their soldiers attack wildly…I can sense that the opposing commander isn’t a very patient person. I expect that his next strategy will be exposed later today or tomorrow. Tonight, they will probably attempt a sneak attack.”

  Watts looked towards the enemy camp.

  When two armies engaged in battle, if one could understand the personality of the opposing commander, one would be able to better predict the enemy’s actions.

  “Oh?” A hint of a smile was on Linley’s face.

  Gates laughed loudly. ‘Lord Linley, don’t have any doubts. Watts’ predictions are at least 90% likely to occur.”

  That night, Linley, Barker, and the others were drinking wine in a courtyard. Because Watts had predicted that the enemy would attempt a sneak attack tonight, all of them were waiting.

  “A secret pocket dimension room?” Boone seemed shocked by Linley’s words.

  Barker nodded as well. “Right. Even I, someone who doesn’t have much of an affinity for the elements, would clearly sense all the elements in that mysterious room. That sort of feeling…was very unique. I felt closer to nature than ever before.”

  “Ankh, Boone, Gates, Hazer. You need to train hard. In the future, when you are at the Saint-level, you will be able to train inside the pocket dimension room.” Linley smiled.

  The room was ten meters wide. It could indeed permit multiple people to train inside at once.

  Suddenly, fierce battle cries erupted from the south gate, immediately followed by the furious roars of magicite cannons. Miserable screams, arrows ripping through the air…Linley, Barker, and the others exchanged glances, then began to laugh.

  “That Watts. He guessed correctly. Come.” Linley began to feel some admiration for Watts.

  Their group hurried towards the south city gates. The closer they drew, the louder, the more terrifying the sounds of battle became. Illuminated by torches, the ground below the city was filled with corpses, while large numbers of soldiers were falling off the walls as well, as the soldiers below wildly shot arrows upwards.

  “Siege escalades.” Linley suddenly saw a huge construct slowly make its way towards the city.

  Each siege escalade was over forty meters wide, and was made entirely out of steel and cement. The massive mobile forts were slowly making their way towards the city walls. The part of the mobile forts facing the city walls were made entirely out of a thick layer of steel.

  “Boom!” The magicite cannons belched forth their fury.

  The blazing balls of fire only caused a layer of metal to melt, but the steel was several meters thick. The massive things weren’t budged at all. There were ten of these siege escalades, and they formed a line, slowly advancing towards the city walls.

  Book 10, Baruch – Chapter 40: Meat Grinder

  The ten siege escalades were like ten giant steel behemoths, slowly advancing despite the withering rain of fire from the magicite cannons.

  “Once the siege escalades reach the walls, then…a large number of enemy soldiers will be able to attack through the escalades to the walls.” Barker’s face was hazily illuminated by the light of the firing magicite cannons. Boone, Ankh, Hazer, and Gates all turned solemn as well.

  Linley stood atop the walls, staring down at the locust-like horde of soldiers, and those ten massive siege escalades. Even he felt it was rather problematic.

  “The next part of the battle will definitely be a ferocious one.”

  Even someone like Linley, who barely knew anything about military strategy, could predict how wild the battle was about to get.

  “Charge!” The soldiers screamed furiously, their faces ferocious.

  Tens of thousands of escalade ladders were placed against the city walls, and a large number of soldiers began to climb onto them, attempting to charge the enemy forces on the walls and engage them in close combat. However…escalade ladders could be knocked off, and could also be lit on fire by burning oil.

  In addition, each escalade ladder could only fit two people at once. Faced with a large number of garrison troops who attacked them at once, they weren’t able to do anything.

  A soldier on top of an escalade ladder jumped off, wanting to charge into the garrison.

  “Slash!”

  Multiple swords and sabers swung out, and that poor soldier in front was only able to make one strike before being chopped into a beehive of holes.

  “Bang!” An escalade ladder was knocked off, and a large number of soldiers fell down. For a fall of twenty or thirty meters…it wasn’t a big deal for the strong, but for the weak, they would die or be crippled from the fall. The worst part of it was…many of the weapons of the already-killed soldiers were lying on the ground.

  And so when the new soldiers fell off, they fell onto the weapons.

  “Snick!” Their bodies were pierced through by the weapons.

  A large number of soldiers also wildly shot arrows at the garrison, the hail of arrows falling onto the walls and even into the city. Many city guards fell down, shot to death by the arrows.

  Every moment, warriors were dying. Although many garrison troops were being killed, even more attackers were dying.

  “Quick, quick!” From behind the troops, the Dark Cardinal, Weiss Porter, was shouting. “Quick, have the siege escalades pushed more quickly to the city walls!” Weiss Porter simply couldn’t keep his calm any longer.

  He hoped for a sudden change in fortunes.

  The enormous siege escalades were exactly that; powerful tools which could change the fortunes of war.

  They were terrifyingly large, and were made almost completely of steel an
d metal.

  These siege escalades were just like giant mobile fortresses. The soldiers in the walls above, when dealing with the soldiers from the siege escalades, wouldn’t be at any advantage. After all, the siege escalades would allow hundreds of attacking soldiers to attack at once as well.

  “Concentrate your fire against those siege escalades!”

  The commander of the south gate issued his order, and instantly, multiple magicite cannons attacked the siege escalades simultaneously. However, the steel canopies protecting the siege escalades were several meters thick. Even powerful magicite cannons weren’t able to burn through such a thick layer of steel and break the siege escalades.

  At most, the attacks caused the siege escalades to tremble, or perhaps kill a few of the soldiers atop the siege escalades.

  But when the soldiers died, more soldiers replaced them from below. After all, one of the primary purposes of the siege escalade was to act as a delivery mechanism for soldiers.

  “Come, have the first battalion assemble here and prepare to defend against the first siege escalade.” A commanding officer shouted loudly. To defend against the siege escalades, they had to use their elite soldiers.

  The prefectural city of Cod wanted to try their best to block the assault of these siege escalades.

  However, these siege ‘behemoths’ were simply unstoppable…

  With a sudden ‘bam’ sound, a siege escalade rammed into the city walls. And then multiple ‘bang’ ‘bang’ ‘bang’ sounds could be heard in succession, as one siege escalade after another collided with the city walls.

  “Pull, pull, pull!”

  Atop one of the siege escalades, a military officer was shouting in anger. Many soldiers around him instantly began to activate the hidden mechanisms of the siege escalade, and with clanking sounds, the thick steel canopy protecting the siege escalade swung down.

  “Bang!” The hundred-meter wide steel canopy smashed hard against the city walls.

  This immediately became the equivalent of a hundred-meter wide corridor from the siege escalade into the prefectural city of Cod. The siege escalade was taller than the city walls to begin with. With the canopy down, the soldiers of the Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows were able to charge down from the higher ground in a wild attack.