63
Chapter 63
As soon as I ran up the stairs, what unfolded before my eyes was literal hell.
"F—fuck! My arm!"
"Fall back! Incoming!"
A soldier groaned, clutching a broken shield.
Corpses hung over the castle wall, still holding their spears.
The ground was pooled with blood, and arrows continued to fly in endlessly.
The sky was covered with black dots.
"Arrows! Get down!!"
I instinctively lowered my body.
Thwack, clatter, clatter, thwack.
Sharp popping sounds brushed past my ears.
Some lodged into the wall, and others struck dead center into foreheads.
"Shields! Raise your shields!!"
A soldier shouted, but before he could raise his shield, arrows rained down again.
In the end, he collapsed with a thud right as he finished speaking.
Two arrows were stuck in his back. Blood splattered, staining the surroundings red.
"Ugh, Mister!"
"Urgh, hnnng......"
Rimson.
The hairy mister who had been standing by with me on the castle wall for the past few days.
Before he could even lift a shield, he was hit in the abdomen by an arrow and crumpled down.
Bloody water flowed out from between his armor and soaked the stone floor beneath his feet.
I peered through a narrow gap across the moat.
It wasn't far away.
The group that had set up camp with the moat between us.
They had formed a rather organized formation.
In the front row stood shield soldiers holding wide shields.
Long spears poked through the gaps, and behind them, archers raised their bows in unison.
Their attire, the condition of their weapons, and the uniformity of their movements... This was no simple group of bandits.
"What... is going on...."
"Attack!"
A soldier yelled out.
Only then did our side begin to counterattack.
The leading soldiers holding shields staggered into position, and the archers behind them hurriedly pulled out arrows and loaded them.
The bowstrings echoed with a swish— and fired in succession.
The sound of iron arrowheads slicing through the wind echoed above the castle wall.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
The screams of bandits could be heard from the direction the arrows flew.
However, those bastards didn't just stand still either.
Arrows flew in once more from the opposite side.
"Inhale, exhale... inhale, exhale...."
I repeated deep breaths and calmed my mind.
My heart was pounding like it would burst, and my fingertips were trembling, but... I couldn't stop now.
I pulled out the staff from my waist.
Mana condensation began at the tip of the faintly vibrating staff.
A thin film formed, and the energy of water gathered at my fingertips.
"Eileen!"
"...!"
Eileen lifted her head at my shout.
Cowering behind the wall and shivering, her eyes shook as soon as they met mine.
She stared for a long while, then pressed her trembling lips together and quietly nodded.
She slowly raised her body and gripped her sword tightly once again.
Silon was still bobbing his head in and out with his bow in hand, but he was moving one step at a time with bated breath.
"Don't back down! Reload your arrows!"
"Maintain the attack! Do not break formation!"
The shouts of the soldiers crossed over the castle wall.
This place was now a battlefield.
I added even more strength to the hand holding the staff.
[Water Barrier]
Swoosh.
A water drop formed at the tip of the staff, and an impenetrable shield was instantly formed.
The current of water swirled and enveloped above my head.
"What is that...!"
Seeing the barrier floating above my hand, a soldier looked at me with surprised eyes.
It was a gaze still unaccustomed to magic.
But I had no time to pay attention to their stares.
The next step was already set.
I drove mana into the tip of the staff.
The water gathered inside the staff, and the water from the canteen at my waist.
Even that wasn't enough, so I melted down part of the Water Shield to force the condensation of moisture.
Blue water drops floated into the air one by one, merging together and beginning to grow.
The crystal ball attached to the tip of the staff vibrated strangely, ringing wildly.
Whir, whir, whir, whir.
The moment the barrage of arrows ended, the top of the castle wall fell into a brief silence.
As if taking advantage of that opening, some of the thieves began to rush forward.
"What's with those guys?"
"What the, are they crazy?"
Several thieves threw down their weapons and sprinted barehanded toward the castle.
At that insane sight, the soldiers on the castle wall exchanged bewildered looks.
"The bridge is already raised. Even if they run, they'll just fall into the moat... Have they lost their minds?"
"Stop! Fire! Don't let them get close!"
As the Captain of the Guard, who seemed to know something, issued his order, the archers on the castle wall loaded their arrows in unison and fired.
However, the thief archers following behind them poured down precise counter-fire, scattering our arrows.
In that gap, the rushing thieves reached right in front of the moat.
And then, they suddenly stopped in their tracks.
"W-what are those bastards doing...?"
With everyone watching, they reached into their pouches and pulled out black stones one by one.
"Wait, that's...!"
An ominous luster carved into my memory.
A stone as rough as charcoal, swirling with a bizarre energy.
[Demon Stone]
"Stop them—!!"
A scream-like shout burst out, but it was already too late.
The thieves swallowed the stones without hesitation.
"Guaaaaaaagh!!!"
At that moment, the bodies of the thieves, who collapsed and writhed, began to boil as if engulfed in high fever.
Their skin burned black, and the gruesome sound of bones twisting echoed.
Their fingers bent like hooks, their gums tore, and their teeth protruded.
Their eyes grew bloodshot red as if they would burst, and their human forms collapsed.
"They're turning into monsters...!"
"Damn it... Are they trying to become monsters on purpose?"
Voluntarily swallowing mana stones that turn people into monsters.
The thieves' plan was pure insanity.
Those bastards were no longer human.
Having become monsters, they leaped down into the moat.
Then, they began to crawl up the walls of the moat like insects.
Thwack, thwack, thwack!
They climbed up as if carving out flesh, their claws digging into the wall.
Bizarre shrieks burst from their mouths.
"Kuaaaaaaagh!!"
"Shoot! Shoot! Knock them all down!!"
Amidst terror-filled shouts, arrows rained down relentlessly.
But the monsters crawling up the moat did not stop.
Dozens of arrows were already lodged in their skin, but they kept crawling up with their heads raised, baring their sharp teeth.
"Shoot! Keep shooting! Push them back!!"
The soldiers yelled from atop the castle wall.
However, at some point, a strange change began in their bodies.
"...What is that."
"Why are their bodies-"
Eventually, amidst the fallen monsters, one of them reached the castle gate.
That monster's torso began to turn bloodshot red.
Its blood vessels bulged out of its skin, and its body swelled like a balloon.
A mass of flesh vibrating like a heartbeat expanded with a sticky sound.
"Move! Get down!!"
"It's gonna explode!!"
Boooooom!!
As soon as he finished speaking, the body shattered into pieces and an explosion occurred.
An impact strong enough to shake the castle wall.
Irregular metallic sounds and screams that rang the eardrums.
All kinds of fragments flew everywhere, as blood drops and flesh rained down.
Riiiiiiiing—
Being close to the explosion right before it happened, my ears rang and my vision momentarily distorted.
It felt as if the world was moving in slow motion.
Someone screamed, and someone collapsed covered in blood, but all the sounds flowed by muffled as if through a filter.
"A... Ah no, another one!!"
The second one, this time much closer, turned red, and before people could even evade-
Boooom!!
-it exploded.
Bang! Boooom!
And, another one.
Another one.
Every single monster that climbed up the castle wall was a suicide weapon.
Those bastards bloated their bodies, ruptured their hearts, and charged in, sacrificing themselves to destroy the castle gate.
"Stop coming aaaaaaargh!!!"
"Move! Don't block me!! Ugh!!"
While everyone was scattered in panic and unable to gather their senses, the thieves began to move in earnest.
Like pirates discovering treasure.
The moment they saw the hole in the castle gate, their eyes glinted ominously.
"It's breached! There's an opening!!"
The horde of thieves began to swarm toward the cracked stone wall.
Our personnel, who had just managed to pull themselves together, reflexively launched a counterattack, but the balance had already collapsed.
"Toward the moat! They're placing a bridge!!"
Someone's shout was heard from behind.
Turning my head, I saw them unfolding a temporary bridge they seemed to have prepared in advance to cross the moat.
It was a makeshift structure made by connecting several log planks, but it was laid down at a surprisingly fast speed.
Several lines had already crossed the moat and were reaching near our boundary.
"Oil! Set it on fire!! Burn that bridge!!"
"It's too late! They're coming up!!"
Someone shot flaming arrows at the bridge, but before that, the thieves climbed up the castle wall using ladders, and heavily armed men even began to charge across the bridge.
"Block them!! They're coming in!!"
Spears and shields clashed as shouts echoed, and the sound of metal and screams erupted from all sides.
"Over there too! Ladders! They hooked ladders!!"
Someone shouted, and on the side I turned my head toward, dozens of ladders were simultaneously being hooked onto the high castle wall.
The thieves began to crawl up them like beasts.
"Block them! Bring boiling water!!"
"They're coming up!!"
Someone pushed the ladders, and someone else poured the boiling water from buckets right over them.
Screams burst forth along with the smell of oil, and entities on the ladders, indistinguishable whether human or beast, fell down engulfed in flames.
A desperate, chaotic mess.
Spear tips clashed, and arrows tore past eardrums.
Clatter.
A ladder was hooked right in front of me as well.
Damn it, I haven't finished gathering it all yet.
"Take this!"
Thwack!
Baldic kicked the end of the ladder away.
At the same time the ladder fell down the wall with a thud, an arrow flew past, grazing his cheek.
"Shit, that startled me!"
Looking surprised, he wiped his cheek and grinned.
"How long is that going to take!"
"Just a little more."
At my words, he spat out a short curse.
"Damn it."
He probably doesn't even know what I'm doing, but he still trusts me.
That trust felt like a burden, and at the same time, a pillar of support.
Baldic threw his body toward the ladder again.
Eventually, a few thieves started coming up the castle wall using the ladders.
"One is coming up!"
Even before I yelled out, Silon swiftly shot an arrow.
Thwack!
The arrow pierced through the eye of the thief poking his head out at the top of the ladder and lodged itself.
The bastard jerked his head back and plummeted down the castle wall.
"Ugh, I took care of him!"
Silon pulled out the next arrow and rapidly drew the bowstring.
However, more ladders were coming up.
Above them, two thieves poked their heads out simultaneously.
"Gah!"
The moment Eileen lost her footing and balance, a thief climbed atop the castle wall and swung his dagger.
I reached out my hand, but it was already too late-
Whack!
Baldic rushed in from the side, pushing the thief and throwing him down below the castle wall.
"One down! Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine!"
Eileen caught her breath and stood up.
But another thief crawled up the castle wall right behind her.
"Behind you!"
As I shouted, Eileen reflexively twisted her body.
Clang! Clatter—!
The two daggers clashed sharply.
Eileen barely parried the incoming strike from the thief.
She almost lost her balance with the sound of metal deflecting, but she gritted her teeth and held her ground.
The moment the thief rushed in and tried to push her back-
"Move!"
Baldic popped out from the side, swinging his dagger vertically.
Slash!
The deflected blade grazed the thief's thigh, and the thief let out a scream and stepped back.
Not missing that opening, Eileen fixed her posture once more.
The two moved almost simultaneously and launched a counterattack.
Dagger and dagger interlocked like breathing.
After a short exchange, the thief staggered backward clutching his waist, and was soon pushed back by the spears of other soldiers and fell away.
A brief breath.
After the short but sharp engagement ended, Eileen heaved rough breaths and spoke.
"...Thank you!"
"Save the chatter for later! It's not over yet!"
Baldic readjusted his grip on his dagger and looked around.
Meanwhile, the sphere of water gathered above my hand began to vibrate with a hum.
As if it had finally reached its limit, its surface distorted jaggedly.
"They're swarming in again!"
Silon shouted in a low voice.
"I only have three arrows left now, too!"
"It's ready!!"
I gritted my teeth and gripped my staff again.
I lowered my body as much as possible and poked my head out through the gap in the wall.
And, I raised my staff high.
[Water Bomb]
Swoooosh!
The Water Sphere rotated rapidly and cleaved through the empty air.
Its flying trajectory looked like a glass bead with sparkling scales.
Booooom!!!
Beyond the moat, the temporarily placed wooden bridge and the entire horde of thieves crossing over it were completely swept away by the massive explosion of water.
"Uwaaaagh!!"
"Kuaaagh!!"
A Water Pillar surged up like a giant wave.
Amidst the collapsing bridge structure, mud and thieves mixed together and bounced up into the sky.
Along with the debris of the broken bridge, those remnants fell down into the moat one by one.
Splash, splash.
A sound like silence echoing in succession over the water mixed with bloody water and mud.
And the short, strange stillness that flowed over it.
It was to the point where even the sound of someone swallowing their saliva could be heard clearly.
Silon spat out as if in awe.
"This is magic......?"
The enemies' formation collapsed.
The thieves swept away by the water explosion tangled in mud and blood and staggered, and piercing through that gap, the soldiers began to move in unison.
"Now! Break through!"
"Start with the ones holding bows-!"
With that shout, the soldiers on the castle wall charged all at once.
They pushed in with their shields put forward, and pushed the thieves back with short swords and maces instead of spears.
The scattered mercenaries also caught their breath and stood in the front lines again.
"Uwaaaaagh!"
"Strike down! Push them back!"
The thieves, thrown into chaos, were pushed back without even a chance to resist.
They were already at a numerical disadvantage to begin with, and the hastily made ladders fell away one by one due to the soldiers' struggles.
The magic was only used once, but with that single use, we were able to buy time to regroup.