Chapter 142: Entangled and Intertwined
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 142: Entangled and Intertwined
Breaching Wolfenheimer’s gate didn't guarantee victory. As a fortress city, it was built with a double-wall structure.
In fact, this moment, right after breaking through the first gate, was the most dangerous. We were completely exposed to the defenders positioned on both walls.
The one fortunate thing was that the soldiers guarding the gate were utterly stunned.
Their response was slow, even as my allies began pouring in behind me like a flood.
"What? Never seen a man break down a gate before?"
"You… monster—!"
The nearest enemy soldier squeezed his eyes shut and thrust his sword.
I didn't even flinch. The blade missed me by a hand's breadth.
In his panic, the soldier had simply lunged without judging the distance.
"You can't fight with your eyes closed."
It may not have landed, but it was a grand welcome nonetheless.
I returned the favor by swinging Trollsverd. The sword, far longer than a typical longsword, lopped off the head of the enemy soldier as he tried to stumble backward in shock.
"Mac! You son of a bitch—!"
The gate guards, seeing their comrade fall, finally snapped out of their daze. But what good did that do? One by one, their heads were sent flying by my sword.
After clearing the area in front of the gate, I quickly gave orders to the mercenaries who had followed me in.
"Hodgson! Seize the outer wall first!"
"Yes! I will obey your command!"
Hodgson, the mercenary captain, led his men and immediately began to scale the wall.
"The rest of you, from here to here, come with me!"
"Yes, sir!"
I took a contingent of mercenaries and headed for the second wall. The inner gate was wide open, as if they never expected the outer one to be breached.
An oversight made for the smooth movement of their troops. Thanks to them, I was able to infiltrate the second wall without the same grueling effort as before.
I slung Trollsverd onto my back. The space atop the wall was barely wide enough for one person to move, and the stairs attached to its side were only half that width.
Instead, I drew a shield and a war hammer—more effective in tight spaces—and started up the stairs.
"E-enemy!"
I was halfway up when I ran into a group of soldiers coming down to close the gate.
An enemy soldier reflexively thrust his sword. I angled my shield, deflecting the blow and causing it to slide off. The movement left his torso wide open, and I smashed it with my war hammer.
Unable to withstand the force, the guard plummeted backward.
He likely felt no fear. The war hammer would have killed him instantly.
"You—!"
The guard right behind him swung his sword down, aiming for the inevitable opening after such a powerful blow.
The problem was, contrary to his assumption, my previous attack hadn't been at full strength.
As if time had rewound, my war hammer swung back. The hook on its back caught the enemy's descending sword and sent it flying.
"Aargh!"
The soldier's hand was torn open as he tried to hold onto his weapon. His timing was good, and he seemed to have some training with the sword.
But all he did was prove that conventional methods of fighting humans were useless against me.
I thrust out with the edge of my shield. He desperately threw himself back, twisting his head away, but my shield was faster than his reaction.
"Gack."
His nose bone shattered, and blood gushed from both nostrils. He staggered, shaking his head, the shock clearly having rattled his brain.
In that moment, I hooked the war hammer to my belt and grabbed his head instead.
"Ugh…?"
Still dazed, he looked up at me with unfocused eyes.
"My apologies. But now is the time for cruelty."
Even I couldn't face over a thousand soldiers alone. I had to instill a fear so deep they wouldn't even dare to confront me.
To do that, I needed to be cruel. This soldier, with his decent sword skills, would make an excellent example.
"N-no…"
As if sensing his impending fate, the soldier's face went pale. He grabbed my hands with both of his, trying to pry them off his head.
But before he could, I lifted him by his head. I swung his dangling body out over the open air and let go.
"Aaaaaaaah—!"
The scream lasted for a long time before it was abruptly cut short.
He didn't get back up. Instead, the occasional twitching of his limbs seemed to protest that he had been alive just moments before.
"All who stand in my way shall share this fate!"
The enemy soldiers, who had just watched their comrade get thrown alive from a height of a four or five-story building, couldn't hide their horrified expressions.
As I took advantage of the momentum and bounded up the remaining stairs, they tried to back away.
The problem was that the stairs were barely wide enough for one person, and they were lined up like a train.
Chaos erupted in an instant as they became a tangled mess—some trying to retreat, others trying to push forward to avenge their comrade, and still others frozen in place like statues.
I didn't miss the opportunity, swinging my shield and war hammer. Needless to say, I deliberately swung wide, sending more soldiers plummeting from the stairs.
"Fuck! Get out of the way! Move!"
By the time I neared the top of the wall, the enemy soldiers were pushing each other aside, trying to be the first to flee. Several fell in the process, adding to the chaos.
They were all mercenaries, drawn here by money. What loyalty or camaraderie could they possibly have for one another?
"You fools! If you run, you'll die by my hand! Stop him! Stop him now!"
Of course, the defending commander's situation was different. A voice roared from one of the watchtowers on the wall, a place incongruously fitted with a curtain.
"That's the Alliance Chairman!"
One of the mercenaries behind me recognized him and shouted, pointing.
I thought the leader of the merchants would have left the commanding to a mercenary captain and hidden in a safe place. What gave him the nerve to come to a battlefield? Was it the arrogance of thinking he was indispensable?
It was possible. The Alliance members were nothing if not arrogant. In any case, this made things simple.
"You lot, just cover my back!"
Leaving the mercenaries to watch my rear, I climbed onto the wall.
Just before I did, the enemies waiting at the top thrust their swords in unison, but Trollsverd was faster, sweeping across their ankles.
"Aaargh! My leg—!"
It was a pathetic sight, the soldiers trying to reattach their legs, whose stumps were torn and ragged.
I showed them mercy. One by one, I grabbed their heads and dropped them over the side of the wall.
"Crazy! You demonic bastard—!"
The enemies behind them, who had been spared the carnage, gnashed their teeth and pointed their swords at me.
"Soldier, you should worry about yourself."
The wall was so narrow that only one person could properly swing a sword. In other words, they had no choice but to face me one-on-one.
The man seemed to realize this a moment too late, and his face went deathly white.
From the watchtower, the Alliance Chairman, witnessing the tide turn against him, shouted.
"Get him! I swear on my name, I will grant a thousand gold coins to the one who kills him!"
The mercenaries gathered in Wolfenheimer hadn't hesitated to sign up, even after hearing of the Alliance's repeated defeats. The reason was the exorbitant pay, several times the usual rate.
It meant the place was crawling with men who valued money more than their own lives. To them, the Chairman's declaration was instantly effective.
Their retreat halted. Their eyes gleamed as they stared at my neck. The mercenary facing me bit his lip and charged.
"Diee!!"
And, like every other mercenary who succumbed to the lure of gold, he met his end.
Struck by my war hammer, which I had drawn again, his skull spun a full 360 degrees like a toy doll's. When the momentum gave out, he collapsed.
"Shit—! Kill him! Kill him!"
Even after seeing that, the other mercenaries didn't back down. Instead, their eyes flashing, they rushed me.
I answered with my war hammer.
An uppercut sent one mercenary flying into the air before plummeting down. Another enemy tried to attack through the opening, but I slammed my shield into him, knocking him and his sword to the ground.
"Keuk!"
Taking another step forward, I lightly stomped on the fallen man's chest. His chest caved in. He clawed at his throat, gasping for air, until his breathing stopped.
In that same motion, I swung my war hammer and crushed another mercenary's skull. As he was about to collapse like a puppet with its strings cut, I kicked him off the wall.
"Baron! They're swarming from below, too!"
Mercenaries who had heard the Alliance Chairman's declaration were flocking toward me. Even the nearby mercenaries, who had flinched when three of their own died in an instant, now found their courage.
"I feel like a treasure goblin."
I actually welcomed this situation. The more their forces focused on me, the more easily my allies could achieve their objective of capturing the city.
After all, war wasn't a duel between individuals, but a clash between forces.
"You don't have to defeat them! Just keep them from getting close! I'll clear a path!"
I shouted orders to my mercenaries and charged again. With every swing of my war hammer, an enemy's skull was crushed, sending blood and white brain matter splattering through the air.
"Hiek! N-not me—!"
It happened as I neared the watchtower where the Alliance Chairman was. One of the enemy soldiers, terrified by the continuous slaughter, broke and started shoving his way through his comrades to escape.
In that instant, the other enemies awoke from their dream of greed. Fear spread like a plague.
"Fuck! What's the point of money if you're dead!"
"This isn't what I signed up for!"
A scene of pandemonium unfolded as fleeing soldiers tangled with those still possessed by greed.
A few, overcome with terror, couldn't push through the crowd and simply threw themselves from the wall.
Apparently, a four or five-story fall was less frightening than me.
Just as I closed in on the watchtower, the sound of bolts slicing through the air came in rapid succession, piercing the backs of the fleeing soldiers.
"Bolts?"
The bodies of the collapsing soldiers were riddled with bolts, shorter than arrows. The interesting thing was, they weren't fired by my army.
Beyond the fallen men, a line of crossbowmen came into view, aiming at me. They had formed a proper firing line in a wider area near the watchtower.
"Even if they were fleeing, isn't it a bit much to shoot your own comrades in the back?"
"How dare you compare these scum to us, the Phalangians!"
"Phalangians? What is the most famous mercenary group from the Southern Continent doing here in the North?"
My body, heated from battle, turned cold. Phalangians? Weren't they the southern war-specialist mercenary corps that would play a major role in the great war to come?
I had to be tense. A crossbow unit of the Phalangians' caliber was more than capable of forming a deadly web of fire.
Even with my eyes that saw the world in slow motion, it would be meaningless if there was no space to dodge.
"Hahaha! Do you like them? I brought them here especially for you! It cost me enough to buy a castle, but I'd say it was money well spent!"
The Alliance Chairman on the watchtower answered. It seemed he had used the power of money to drag the famous mercenary group all the way from the Southern Continent.
Just how much money did he have…? The corners of my mouth twitched. That man and the city's wealth were destined to become mine, weren't they?
"But it looks like you came in a hurry."
"What nonsense are you spouting!" the Phalangian commander roared. But for some reason, it reminded me of how a frightened dog barks the loudest.
I couldn't hold it in any longer and grinned.
"The Phalangians I know always carry obstacles with them to prepare for an enemy charge."
But there were no obstacles in sight. Had they killed their own allies to create a temporary barricade of corpses?
"That's… Fire!"
The commander, who was about to make an excuse, belatedly gave the order to fire as I charged. Just as I expected, they created a precise web of fire with nowhere to dodge.
But I was unharmed. If you can't dodge, you block, right? Just before they fired, I had lifted a corpse to use as a shield.
"You… you godless bastard!"
Ignoring the enemy commander's curses, I threw the corpse-shield aside and charged again.
The Phalangians' reload speed was incredibly fast, but in that brief moment, I was already in their midst.
"Draw your swords!"
The Phalangians gave up quickly. They immediately dropped their crossbows and drew daggers. But their proficiency with their sidearms was bound to be lower than with their main weapons.
Like a wolf among a flock of sheep, I began to slaughter the crossbowmen. As a renowned mercenary corps, they didn't surrender. So they all died.
"Dammit! We should have brought the obstacles, no matter how rushed we were…!"
The last remaining commander muttered, pointing a trembling dagger at me.
"Regret always comes too late."
"Dammi—"
Before he could finish his words, my war hammer crushed his skull.
I swung the hammer quickly to shake off the caked blood and brains, then raised my head to look up at the watchtower.
"You're next."
The Alliance Chairman's triumphant face turned pale. But only for a moment.
"Reinforcements! Reinforcements are here—!"
A rough shout erupted from the first wall. The cry spread like wildfire.
I climbed the watchtower for a better view. Despite my arrival, fresh from a gruesome slaughter, the Alliance Chairman looked triumphant.
"Huhu. You're finished now!"
He had every reason to be. On the horizon, an army numbering at least several thousand was appearing. Soon, a contingent of cavalry broke away and galloped forward.
At their head was a man wearing a crown decorated with a red jewel the size of a child's fist.
"Duke Signir…!"
I hadn't even finished capturing the city, and Duke Signir was already at my back.
"We are the Alliance! The war doesn't end just because you've captured the head, like with you nobles! As long as we continue to resist, when His Grace Signir arrives, you'll have to worry about how you're going to die!"
But Duke Signir's reaction upon reaching the wall was strange. He looked around for a moment, then, out of nowhere, he started clapping.
Clap, clap, clap.
He raised his voice.
"Don't mind me, carry on!"