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Chapter 143: Militaily Mobilization
🕑 Added 2023-05-16 07:10:23 +0000 UTCChapter 143: Militaily Mobilization
A week later, the beacons arrived. They were shaped like glowsticks commonly used by idol fans. Lily had already asked Lhorne to attach one to his five arrows. Even though it wasn't necessary, Lhorne had been practicing shooting with them for almost a week now.
"Lhorne, you didn't need to practice with them. All you have to do is shoot them as far away as possible."
"Well, it has become a habit now, Lord Lily. It's my only strong point in this war. Besides, I enjoy shooting with new arrows. You might not realize this, but each arrow has different characteristics, especially when made with different materials. For example, the Arrow of Proghethrade has a different weight than a normal arrow. On the other hand, the arrow of purification is lighter. The difference is only a few grams, but it can make an impact," Lhorne said with an abashed smile, indulging in his arrow nerdery.
"Don't be too hard on yourself, Lhorne," Lily said. Suddenly, an alarm bell rang, and we hurriedly made our way to the wall as usual. However, instead of a small swarm, we were met with hordes of skeletons and Vargmuth filling the horizon. We were stunned, our jaws dropping open. It was a much larger assault than we had anticipated.
"Summon everyone, even if they are off duty. This is a larger assault than before," Lily ordered a soldier to run to the barracks. She then used her status to command another soldier to warn Alistar about the attack.
"So, what's the situation?" Alistar asked. Ten minutes later, he arrived at the wall, and the undead marched steadily toward us. A sense of dread enveloped us, sending shivers down our spines as we took in their numbers.
"Prepare the oil and flaming tar, even if it means using up all of our reserves," Alistar instructed. "Use everything we've got!"
"They really caught us off guard this time. We were just about to launch our attack on them," Lily muttered.
"Yeah, if we suffer heavy casualties, we might have to delay the assault even after the mithail stakes arrive," Alistar nodded. "Call for Edelweiss. She needs to come here with her wizard staff."
"But sir, what about the wounded? Wouldn't it be wiser to let her heal them first?"
"Get her here immediately. We'll need every bit of magic to defend against them," Alistar said, and the soldier saluted and carried out the order. An hour later, Edelweiss arrived with her staff. The battle was already underway, with Vargmuth scaling the walls and the skeletons using ladders and grappling hooks. We retaliated with a hail of arrows and fireballs, engulfing half of them in smoke.
"Alistar, are you sure the casualties will decrease if I switch to offense?" Edelweiss asked.
"Yes. We'll be overrun unless we increase our firepower. If that happens, we'll die regardless of your healing."
"Another overtime today, huh?" Edelweiss whined, her shoulders slumping. But she quickly straightened herself up, preparing her spells to attack the undead. Together with us, she unleashed a barrage of fireballs. The skeletons faced relentless bombardment, leaving behind a trail of devastated terrain marked by deep craters that scarred the earth.
However, the undead persisted. The Vargmuth were hard to kill, and many of them managed to survive the bombardment and reach the top of the wall, facing the sharp end of our spears. Despite our efforts, the relentless onslaught continued, undeterred by death and injuries. Although less than half of the ladders made it to the wall, there were still five of them, and the skeletons rushed toward the top.
"Mages, stay back! Knights, forward!" Alistar shouted, bracing his sword. With a shield, he became an immovable wall, mowing down enemies atop the wall. We didn't stand idle. We hurried to other parts of the wall, swiftly decapitating several skeletons. Lily sought a workout for her swords, and these skeletons provided precisely that.
"Let Lord Alistar and Lily handle those two ladders! Soldiers, follow me to the other ladders!" Rhegar commanded. His hand raised, he charged toward the thicker group of skeletons on the other side of the wall. Everyone followed suit, roaring as they smashed through the ranks of the skeleton army atop the wall.
We held on, but the day turned into night, and the assault showed no signs of abating. Lily and Alistar continued to hold their respective posts, but the soldiers merely circled around us. I could catch some of them with my fire magic, but Alistar had no choice but to let those leaking soldiers be dealt with by others.
"Fire! We need more oil!" desperate soldiers shouted as darkness enveloped the fortress. Torches were carried back and forth as reinforcements from the tailfolk poured out of the barracks to plug the gaps in our defenses.
"Shiro! Help them!"
"There are too many of them. My mana won't last if I have to help them all!" I replied.
"At least take out the Vargmuth that have been killing our soldiers!" Lily retorted.
"On it!"
"Lily! Use the Fire Dragon now!" Alistar approached us and shouted. With him gone, skeletons poured out from the remaining ladders.
Lily nodded, and I summoned all my power to conjure the dragon. Flames rose from my tail, forming a dragon wreathed in fire. It circled around and unleashed a blazing breath, reducing the ladder to a crisp. The dragon provided a momentary pause, a brief respite that allowed us to evacuate the wounded to the infirmary. Fresh tailfolk recruits, under the orders of their captains and officers, carried the injured and fallen to safer locations while others filled in their positions. Even Edelweiss had to resort to using her staff as a physical weapon, smashing the skeletons in front of her.
The assault continued until morning, when the undead finally retreated. We stood there, gazing at the scene before us, our heads tilted in confusion.
"They... retreated?" Alistar and Lily muttered simultaneously, still trying to process the bewildering situation.
