Free Web NovelChapter 199: The Battle for Herald City - Part 4
As she was crossing the wall to engage the horde, Celestina could have informed the city’s defenders that the beasts were capable of launching ranged attacks, but at the time, she thought such a warning would only have created panic amongst the already unstable force.
Figuring she would be fighting outside the walls for less than half-an-hour, Celestina thought she and the Spirit Initiates could make it back before the bi-pedal beasts began hurling stones; unfortunately for her, and the city’s defenders, she had been wrong.
Screams of pain rang out as dozens of rocks, ranging from as small as adult fists sized to as large as washbasins struck both the defenders on the walls, and the civilians down below.
With the attack having been launched from nearly 400 metres away, very few of the defenders were hit directly. Even the more exposed civilians didn’t suffer many casualties. As for people actually being killed, there were fewer than 5 in total.
In other words, the Beast Tide’s long-range attack was nowhere near as effective as even one volley from the human archers, but although the actual damage was minimal, the psychological effect was enormous.
The mere fact that the beasts could pose a threat to the humans from over 300 metres away, the maximum effective range of most of the archers, dealt a severe blow to both the confidence and morale of the defenders.
The defence force had a high stone wall to protect them, so being hit was unlikely, and dying from such a hit was even less likely, but that didn’t mean it was impossible.
It was this possibility of death, no matter how slim it was, where before there had been none, that caused many to panic, with quite a few archers ducking for cover or even abandoning their positions entirely.
In an instant, the situation had changed from one side essentially possessing the absolute advantage, with the enemy unable to counterattack, to both sides sending deadly projectiles towards each other.
Sasha and the other leaders were caught completely off-guard by the sudden hail of rocks, and for a moment, none of them knew how to respond. Only when some of the defenders began abandoning their posts did they snap out of their trance and start shouting, "Hold your ground! Don’t run! Fight!"
Among all the cries to stand firm, there was also some useful commands given, "Target the rock throwers! Concentrate on bringing them down!"
Unfortunately, despite the various leaders’ best efforts, none of them had the power or prestige to really maintain the defence lines, and multiple cracks swiftly began to appear.
Before the first volley of stones hit, only a dozen or so beasts were able to make it all the way to the refugees at the gates, but once the archers on the walls faltered, it wasn’t long before more than 100 beasts descended upon the helpless civilians.
It was only thanks to the elites like Captain Pierce that had jumped down earlier that a massacre didn’t immediately ensue.
Even so, in an instant, the situation had turned dire, with the humans now completely on the back-foot and things only getting worse as more time passed.
With more and more beasts breaking through and approaching the walls, it wasn’t long before calls to close the gates began to be heard.
"We need to close them, now!"
"No, we can still save everyone! We just need to buy a little more time!"
"There’s no way we can hold out long enough!"
"Yes, we can! We just need to bring down the rock throwers!"
There were still nearly 1,000 civilians trapped outside, along with the 100 elite Mortal Realm soldiers and adventurers who had gone out to help; closing the gates now would essentially be condemning all of them to death. Still, as the pressure mounted, it became increasingly clear that a decision needed to be made.
The situation reached a head when the beasts on either side of a civilians still outside the gate made contact with the actual city wall and began trying to scale it.
While Celestina and the other Spirit Realm masters were mostly successful in diverting the horde away, thinning out the number of enemies the defenders on the walls had to contend with close to the city’s north-west gate, there were far more beasts which could simply avoid attacking that specific spot by circling around it.
Facing a deadly roadblock, many beasts began circumventing Celestina’s elite unit, detouring some 500 metres or so to the right and left.
With the need to divert more forces to keep the beasts from scaling the walls, and with the defence lines already in disarray, closing the gates seemed to be the only option left; however, there was still one person who staunchly rejected any notion of doing so.
"You close that gate and abandon those people over my dead body!" Sasha firmly declared.
"And what makes you think you can stop us?" A Core Formation Realm guard leader for one of the local nobles who was strongly in favour of locking down the city snarled, even reaching for his sword in a threatening manner.
In response, Sasha simply stated, "Because my troops control the gate!"
Right now, Sasha was thanking the Heavens she had moved pre-emptively to secure the gatehouse with a full Battalion from her militia. With 100 soldiers led by a Sea Establishment Captain from the Balfour Family Guard occupying the gate, there was no way anyone would be closing it without her permission.
The revelation that someone had stealthily seized control of the gate sent a shock through the various gathered leaders, and more than one of them seemed ready to explode in anger after learning their ’allies’ had acted behind their backs.
Sasha, however, didn’t give them any time to act or even think on this new reality as she aggressively snapped back, "Don’t be a coward! You want to live? Then fight!"
Without another word, Sasha stormed off with her bow in hand as she rallied her forces, calling up more troops who had previously been tasked with crowd control, "Spears and shields to the left and right! Don’t let the beasts over the walls! Archers, keep firing! Get anyone who dared to run back up here, now! We only need to hold out a little longer!"
When the guard leader who had just been arguing with Sasha saw her disregard him entirely, his rage suddenly boiled over and he drew his weapon, intending to teach the annoying red-headed woman a lesson.
Before he could do so, though, a hand landed on his shoulder and held him firmly in place.
Turning back, the man saw the familiar face of a Captain from the local garrison he often did ’business’ with, who just shook his head at him and warned, "Don’t. You’ll die."
Frustrated, the noble guard snarled, "Bullshit! Who does she think she is?!"
The other man, the son of a minor noble who was much better informed about the situation, only muttered, "She’s a Balfour."
Hearing this, the guard leader immediately paled, panicking so much he nearly dropped his sword.
Even a relatively ignorant man like him realized instantly that the woman he was just trying to kill was related to the crimson-haired General who was currently outside the walls slaughtering hundreds of beasts all on her own.
Sighing, the Garrison Captain just patted his ’friend’ on the shoulder, "Do as she says, there’s no other choice."
Nodding instinctually, the man tried to shake off his near brush with death before venting his frustration on his subordinates, "What are you bastards doing?! Fight! Fight if you want to live!"
The nearby defenders had all naturally heard the argument just now, but none of them dared to say anything and instead chose to focus on the battle. frёewebnoѵēl.com
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Each second that ticked by felt like an hour, and the pressure was constantly mounting, causing Sasha to wonder if she had really made the right choice.
Trying to save lives was admirable, but risking the entire city to do so was naturally not a wise move from a military standpoint. However, no matter how many times she went over it in her head, Sasha just couldn’t bring herself to abandon those who were out beyond the walls.
There really were just a few hundred more refugees left, and for every second that passed, a dozen more passed through the gates to reach safety.
The process was unbearably slow.
Painstakingly so.
The need to concentrate so much manpower around the gates was also making it harder and harder to defend sections of the wall that were further away and increasingly coming under attack.
It was a race against time, and the humans were losing.
Suddenly, out in the open field, a red flare shot up into the sky, accompanied by a loud, piercing whistle. Moment’s later, Celestina and the Spirit Initiates all fell back towards the gate.
Seeing this retreat signal, Sasha was disheartened but also understood that she had done everything she could.
Just as she was about to give the order to close the gates though, another voice boomed over the clamour of the battle, "Keep the gates open! We’ll hold them back!"
Hearing the General’s command, Sasha was instantly reinvigorated as she shouted at the top of her lungs, "The Spirit Realm masters have returned to help! Hold on just a little longer!"
