64
Chapter 64
The thieves fell one by one.
Since we were defending from the highland to begin with, having the numerical advantage only helped.
The tide of battle seemed to gradually turn in our favor.
"Did we win...?"
"Hmm...."
Although some thieves still remained across the moat, the group that initially looked to be about fifty had dwindled to less than half.
In other words, it was safe to say we had practically won.
But there was no reason for me to open my mouth and jinx it.
"Get lost, you damn bastards!"
"Go home and drink some more of your mommy's milk!"
"Don't lose your heads! Realign the ranks!"
I could visibly see the morale of the soldiers and mercenaries rising.
The hope that we could definitively push them back was spreading.
That was when it happened.
Thud!
A sudden sound of impact.
The castle wall shook violently once again.
But this time was different.
There was no ear-piercing explosion, nor were there swirling fragments.
If the explosion didn't happen on our side, then what in the world—
"Captain! The western castle wall is under attack!!"
"......What?"
Below the castle wall, an urgent voice rang out.
We thought this was the only battlefield.
However, that delusion was nothing more than a momentary peace.
The thieves never had any intention of honestly charging at the castle gate in the first place.
"Then what's happening over there!"
"For now, the Peacekeeping Squad is deploying—"
Crash!
A sudden, deafening roar.
This time, a blast that felt like it was striking our ears echoed from much closer.
In an instant, the ground rumbled and dust swept through the cracks in the castle wall.
"Ah, fuck... They're inside the city! Remaining personnel, fall back!"
"Yes, sir!"
Without waiting for orders, everyone turned around.
The soldiers who had been pushing back the thieves clinging to the castle wall just moments ago were now retreating in fear for their rear.
The interior of the city had been breached.
Our rear was no longer safe.
"Damn it, what kind of bullshit is this!"
"Then what should we do?"
At the grim news, Baldic and Eileen looked at me with anxious eyes.
As their gazes fell upon me simultaneously, I instinctively kept my mouth shut.
...Why are you looking at me?
I'm just an ordinary person who got swept away to this other world.
Everyone's eyes were silently directed at me.
That gaze settled heavily upon my chest.
As if I had suddenly become the commander of this battlefield.
It was a bizarre situation where I, someone who knew nothing about swordsmanship, magic, or strategy, was expected to take charge.
That was far too heavy a burden for me.
Just then, someone urgently ran up from below the stairs.
"Survivors on the castle wall!"
"Yes, do we need to go?"
The panting soldier nodded roughly.
"Yeah, the west! The western castle wall is in danger! Move out immediately!"
Leaving only those words behind, the soldier ran back down.
Without even a moment to rest, everyone was being pushed toward the next crisis.
"We need to get out, even now...."
Baldic muttered lowly, glancing outside the castle.
"If we go out, it'll be swarming with those bastards."
Silon immediately retorted.
Breathing heavily, he shook his head.
"Fuck, we're really screwed."
Baldic gritted his teeth.
Escape was an instinctive judgment.
But in this situation, it couldn't be the immediate answer.
The outside was swarming with thieves, and there was no way to fight through them all alone.
In the end, it was either fight here, or go out and die.
Those were the only extreme choices left.
"......Let's go."
"...Damn it."
It couldn't be helped.
We ran toward the western castle wall.
The closer we got to the scene, the clearer the sounds of battle became.
Clang! Clank! Crack!
The sound of clashing metal, something shattering, and someone's scream.
"When are they coming!"
"Hold on! They'll be here soon!"
There were soldiers fighting against the thieves on the castle wall.
Their numbers were hopelessly lacking.
Fifteen people, no, fourteen?
That small group was barely holding off the thieves swarming in like cockroaches.
Beyond the breach in the castle wall, the thieves were relentlessly pouring in.
Just like a river bursting its banks.
Without a moment to catch their breath, the frontline was gradually being pushed back.
The soldiers who had been barely holding out by firing arrows from atop the castle wall.
Upon spotting us, life returned to their eyes.
"It's reinforcements!"
"We're saved!"
From below, a mix of soldiers and mercenaries came running.
They immediately joined the ranks, stabilizing the collapsing frontline once again.
Watching that opening, I had a brief thought to myself.
'I absolutely cannot miss this opening.'
Gripping the frame of the castle wall tightly, I looked down.
The moat that cut into the city, and the makeshift timber bridge connecting over it.
The reason the thieves were swarming without pause was clear.
It was exactly the same scene I had just witnessed at the castle gate.
The soldiers seemed to have grasped the situation as well, firing flaming arrows, but...
"What, it's not catching fire?"
"Damn it, they must have soaked it in water beforehand!"
It seemed the thieves had prepared in advance.
The makeshift bridge was damp, and even when an arrow struck, it just landed with a thud and sank in.
The fire did not catch.
The thieves trampled over it, carving a single path into the castle.
'If I leave it like this... we'll be pushed back again.'
I gritted my teeth.
I had used up a lot of strength in the earlier battle.
Already, more than half the mana in my body was depleted.
'I have to destroy that.'
I gripped my staff tightly and ran to the edge of the castle wall.
"Eileen! Baldic! I'm going to destroy the bridge! Go down and hold them off!"
At my shout, the two immediately reacted.
Eileen readjusted her grip on her sword, preparing to head down with the soldiers above the castle gate.
Baldic nodded as he came over to my side.
"Will you be alright?"
My canteen was completely empty, and there was no water left in my staff either.
Still, there was a way.
"Just hold on a little longer. I'm going to draw water up from the moat."
With that response, I closed my eyes and focused my mana.
Below the castle gate, I felt the moisture of the moat.
The muddy water flowing slowly beneath the cold surface.
I kept my eyes closed and tightly gripped my staff.
After taking a short, deep breath, I slowly awakened the remaining mana in my body.
Since the distance was quite far, I had to concentrate even more.
My mana eventually seeped deep into the moat, and the cold water began to faintly writhe.
Slosh, slosh.
Centered on the tip of my staff, the water beneath the surface began to swirl and slowly draw upward.
Splash!
"What the hell is that...!"
As the stream of water began to surge into the air, the gazes of the people around all converged in my direction.
Below the castle wall, in the center of the battlefield, a blue dragon was rising into the sky.
"Look at that, is the water actually moving on its own?"
"A magician... Could it really be him?"
The unfamiliar sight twisted the soldiers' faces with surprise and wariness.
The thieves crossing the bridge also flinched and took a step back.
With all eyes fixed on me, I firmly focused on the condensation of water at the tip of my staff.
'More, more...! Ugh!'
My mana, having reached its limit, sent a sharp pain through my heart.
But it was fine. The preparations were already complete.
Taking a deep breath, I fired the highly compressed blue sphere toward the bridge.
[Water Bomb]
Swoosh.
The gathered mass of water shot out sharply in a diagonal trajectory.
The roaring stream of water cleaved through the air,
Crash!!!
and collided right in the center of the bridge.
"Aaaaaaagh!"
The connecting bridge made of timber shattered into pieces and split apart in an instant.
Several thieves crossing the bridge plunged into the water without even a scream.
"The bridge collapsed!"
"Those bastards are completely isolated!"
"Kill these sons of bitches! Don't let them out of here!"
With the bridge severed, the thieves who had crossed over were completely isolated.
Unable to move forward or backward, they were truly surrounded on all sides.
"Don't fall back! We're dead anyway!"
"You son of a bitch, stop pushing! Watch your back!"
"Aaaaaah!"
A few thieves with bows remaining on the hill in the back tried to fire arrows.
However, their line of sight was already blocked by the backs of their colleagues' heads, and the indiscriminately poured arrows threatened their allies more than their enemies.
"It's over now!"
"Push them back!! Kill them all!!!"
The thieves quickly crumbled.
Their escape routes were already tightly blocked, and the tide of battle had clearly tilted in our favor.
The soldiers and mercenaries swarmed in simultaneously. Swords, shields, and all kinds of weapons sharply dug into the thieves' openings.
"Those bastards are abandoning us and running away!"
"Kill them all!"
The screams of the thieves and the shouts of the soldiers mixed together.
Bloody water splattered hotly onto the dirt ground.
In that moment, my body clearly felt that something had ended.
When the last one collapsed to the ground, leaving behind a short scream.
Only then did the castle wall fall silent.
Panting heavily, a soldier shouted.
"...We won! We won!!"
Soon after, the inside of the castle was filled with cheers.
"Waaaaaaah!!"
Some burst with joy, while others collapsed from exhaustion and prayed silently toward the sky.
The interior of the castle was bustling with moving injured soldiers, and there were also those who took off their helmets and sat down to rest their exhausted bodies.
"......We won."
Silon rubbed his face with blood-covered hands. He looked completely exhausted from pulling the bowstring.
His eyes were blank, as if his mind hadn't fully returned yet.
The strength also drained from the hand I used to lean on my staff.
My knees wobbled, and I slumped down, leaning against the castle wall.
"Hooo...."
I survived. I survived again. Somehow, again.
I inhaled and exhaled roughly.
It really wasn't easy.
There were no threats I had to face directly, but a single mistake would have meant the end.
There were so many of them, and their stubborn persistence was no joke, especially the suicidal ones.
At first I wondered if they were just crazy, but thinking it over, that wasn't the case.
They were dangerous weapons, purposefully created by someone.
What in the world was the purpose?
If they became thieves to make a living, why would they commit suicide?
No matter how much I thought about it, it wasn't normal behavior.
It didn't make sense unless there was something hidden.
It was a relief that I didn't take the lead.
Isn't that what a magician is? Landing one critical hit at the decisive moment.
It was actually stranger that I had been fighting on the frontline until now.
...But no matter how much I think about it, it's strange.
Even if they had the upper hand earlier thanks to the ambush, we were clearly much stronger, so why did they attack?
Even without my magic, the city would have had the advantage over time.
I couldn't tell if they were stupid, or if they had some other trick up their sleeves.
Looking below the castle wall, Baldic was sitting with his back turned, and Eileen was catching her breath while brushing the dirt off her armor.
Both were a complete mess, but upon spotting me, Eileen forced a smile and waved her hand.
"It's over."
"It is."
Baldic slowly walked up the stairs, carrying his helmet under his arm.
The traces of the fierce melee that took place below remained all over his armor.
He plopped down next to me.
"...It ended easier than I thought."
"...Yeah. I was honestly scared until those monster-like bastards came out, but in the end, they're just thief scum."
The soldiers' performance was particularly noticeable.
In a game, they'd just be village NPCs, but the soldiers in reality were definitely different.
Thanks to their trained bodies and good equipment, they couldn't help but shine when fighting the thieves.
Watching one soldier take on three by himself, I realized they could never be ignored.
Of course, that soldier was immediately finished off by a single stray arrow.
Seeing things like this, this is definitely a harsh place, for real.
While chatting with Baldic about this and that, Eileen also came up the stairs a bit later.
She looked at me and spoke.
"Are you okay?"
"I was just up here the whole time. Are you okay?"
"Yes!"
Has she already adapted to this situation too?
Whether she naturally had strong adaptability, she looked much better than Silon, who was staring blankly.
'Is it a good thing to adapt to a place like this?'
A question suddenly popped into my head.
However, I felt that surviving in this world might make it a necessity rather than a choice.
Squelch, drag. Squelch, drag.
A strange sound caught my ear.
It sounded like stepping on mud, or perhaps the feeling of blood-soaked cloth brushing against something.
"...?"
Just as I was about to stick my head out over the castle wall, someone shouted loudly.
"The, the corpses are moving!"
At that single phrase, everyone looked out at the battlefield.
Since when?
The corpses scattered on the ground were slowly gathering in one place, as if pulled by invisible threads.
Severed arms, crushed skulls, and even burst intestines.
Blood-covered flesh and bloody water flowed in from all sides and clumped together.
"...What in the world is that?"
The pile of corpses, tangled with blood clots and flesh, clumped round like an egg and began to emit a trembling as if it were alive.
Thump—
It sounded like a beating heart.
The soldiers instinctively pulled their bowstrings. But the flying arrows all bounced off as if blocked by an invisible wall.
Thump—
Another beat.
As sticky pieces of flesh stuck to and fell off the surface of the mass, the body twisted. It seemed as if something was trying to hatch from inside it.
"Is something coming out...?"
A soldier flinched and stepped back.
Riiiip. Teeeaaar.
The surface of the mass split open as if tearing apart.
A long arm popped out from between the damp flesh.
It looked like a human arm, but the fingertips had turned into sharp blades.
And then, a leg and a head revealed themselves in turn.
"...This is ridiculous."
Screams erupted among the soldiers.
The monster had four limbs as if mimicking a human, but its entire body was mushy, tangled with mud and chunks of meat.
The monster had neither eyes nor a mouth.
But it was definitely alive.
Someone shouted.
"Fall back! Realign the ranks!"
But no one could move.
Terrified legs, trembling hands.
The moment the monster appeared, everyone held their breath and froze.
'We're doomed.'
That was the very first thought that crossed my mind.