Chapter 161: The Defense of Brandenburg – The Torch

George found that the fireball staff right in front of him was the one Val the Knight had previously exchanged for a Gnome Temple. After reaching out to take the staff, George felt a warm sensation from it. The staff’s own warmth was far higher than the current room temperature; it seemed it could be used as an alternative hot water bottle.

Looking at the staff now in his hand, George turned his head and checked the approaching siege towers through the observation port. He frowned with some difficulty.

Those tall siege towers were wrapped in fire-resistant leather that was almost identical to the leather on the Brandenburg watchtowers on the easily attackable front and sides. George did not know how effective the fireball spell released by this staff would be against such fire-resistant measures.

Suddenly remembering something, George asked, “Sir Ahuatan! I would like to ask, what exactly destroyed the enemy’s giant catapults last time?”

“You don’t mean to use that against the siege towers in front of you, do you! If that’s what you’re thinking, then I can only advise you to give up the idea!” Sir Ahuatan said helplessly.

“What’s wrong? The distance is much closer, isn’t it! It shouldn’t be impossible to hit them! And in terms of material strength, there isn’t much difference between the two, is it! And the closer the distance, the greater the impact force should be!” George looked at Sir Ahuatan, not understanding this.

Seeing this, Sir Ahuatan asked back, “Do you know what attacked those giant catapults before?”

George shook his head to show he didn’t know. In fact, George’s attention at that time was not on that. He was indeed thinking about whether there was a corresponding solution. But because of this, he only saw the moment those giant catapults fell apart at the end.

“It was lead balls. Relying on the lead balls thrown by Sir Chrispus Feld, those giant catapults fell apart during their throwing process. But for these exceptionally sturdy siege towers, the effect is definitely not ideal,” said Sir Bart, miming the action of throwing a lead ball on the spot.

By now, George finally understood why the enemy’s giant catapults had been taken down so easily before. That Sir Chrispus Feld was basically a human smoothbore cannon, though in terms of accuracy, he seemed to be more like a rifled cannon.

Moreover, it was this world, or rather, the enemy’s terrible structural design, that was the main reason for Sir Chrispus Feld’s great success. When the enemy designed and built these giant catapults, they had not considered any structural redundancy at all. Of course, this was not just the enemy’s problem; in this world where mathematical knowledge was not well-developed, this situation was often the norm.

The bloodline and heritage of the Sir Chrispus Feld family made their arms far stronger and more developed than others under the same conditions. Especially on the right arm, although the difference could not be clearly seen from the outside. The strength of the two arms was incomparable. The difference in this aspect far exceeded the usual difference between a dominant hand and a non-dominant hand in daily life. If one had to use an American superhero to describe it, this family was all right-arm heroes.

Previously, it was that lead ball, like a 16-pound cannonball, thrown by him that caused relatively serious structural damage to the enemy’s giant catapults. If they had stopped to repair it at that time, although it would have been troublesome—requiring the replacement of large-sized timber—it would never have led to such severe consequences later. Those barbarians without experience and who did not pay attention to this continued to launch attacks regardless. As a result, before the third wave of Greek Fire and stone shots could be successfully thrown, those giant catapults fell apart on their own.

To be able to attack catapults with lead balls and achieve results, Brandenburg was not just Sir Chrispus Feld. But among those of equal strength, he did the best. It could be said that he was used to his full potential. At least, there was no problem of using an anti-aircraft gun to shoot a mosquito.

Those large siege towers were completely different from catapults. Its structure was exceptionally sturdy; even after suffering such attacks, it only had a few holes. It had little effect on its combat performance.

Having understood, George began a internal struggle in his heart. ‘It seems I have no choice but to use this fireball staff! Although I don’t own it, I did spend a lot of money on it! Thinking about it now, it really hurts my wallet! Although I think exchanging money for large-scale enemy casualties is indeed a worthwhile thing. But the biggest problem is that this staff cannot be bought with money! The network of relationships involved cannot be handled by the current Bolerum Territory.’

‘Calculating it, I don’t know how many lives will be lost if these guys are not dealt with! Speaking of which, after paying such a price, the Duchy should compensate our Bolerum Territory, right! Otherwise, who would be willing to pay in the future?’ Having made a decision, George asked, “If we make a relatively large hole on the front of those siege towers, the fireball can explode inside them. I think the effect will definitely be much better than attacking from the outside.”

“Then wait, I’ll have people drill a few holes in these big guys for you right away.” Saying this, Sir Ahuatan ran towards the tower.

He quickly found the Sir Chrispus Feld mentioned earlier. After the two whispered to each other for a moment, they immediately took action.

Sir Chrispus Feld looked to be around thirty years old, of medium height. He wore a blue tunic over his armor, with a very wide leather belt around his waist; this made the tunic appear tight-fitting. However, this outfit could only be called unusual, not beautiful. Of course, this might just be a difference in personal taste.

He did not wear heavy plate armor on his upper body, but rather a combination of a breastplate and chainmail. At this time, his developed muscles protruded sharply on his shoulders and arms; even the custom-made chainmail seemed like a tight-fitting garment due to his bulging muscles, further enhancing his powerful presence.

With only short hair, his hair stubble was thick and black; on his round face, beneath his wide, thick eyebrows, a pair of shrewd and deep eyes sparkled. Just when he was talking with Sir Ahuatan, his full set of white teeth was revealed, which was very eye-catching in this era. Looking at him as a whole, he seemed more like a strong and handsome farmer from Northeast China before George transmigrated than a knight. Of course, farmers from the South were not unattractive, but in terms of robustness, they still felt a bit lacking compared to the number of people here.

When he extended his palm, which was as big as a palm-leaf fan, and took a 16-pound lead ball from a wooden shelf in the corner of the wall, everyone around scattered. They must have known beforehand what the other was going to do.

These lead balls were specially custom-made by Sir Chrispus Feld, just to bring out the best effect when needed. Of course, in terms of price, they were not cheap; under the same weight, they were almost as expensive as small javelins, but their versatility was far inferior to the latter.

He slightly stretched his sturdy arm. His bent right leg pushed against the ground, his upper body turned to the left, while his left knee extended outward, and his weight shifted from his right foot to his left leg, which was bending and turning. Then both legs actively rotated, pivoting on the ball of his left foot towards the throwing direction, his body tilted towards the throwing direction, and the throwing arm holding the lead ball relaxed and pulled back behind him.

Sir Feld spun rapidly inside the tower. If George were there, he would find this scene very similar to the discus throw preparation he had seen on TV before his transmigration.

Then, suddenly, he stopped his body. At the moment his left foot touched the ground, his right foot continued to push and rotate, actively rotating and pushing his right hip towards the throwing direction. His left arm was slightly bent in front of his chest, and his chest began to thrust forward. When his body weight shifted to his left leg, his right leg continued to push and exert force. With an explosive burst of rapid force, he thrust his chest forward and swung his arm, launching the large projectile.

Just at that moment, the barbarians below also made new progress. After a long time of hacking with swords and axes, the four iron chains on the drawbridge finally could no longer bear the stress and broke.

“Bang!” A loud crash rang out. The oak drawbridge, now free from the chain’s restraint, fell like a closed book. Unfortunately, it was unknown who gave the barbarians this idea, but their warriors who came to handle the chains used a pole-climbing method, so they all fell down together. The barbarians’ previous siege experience could also be said to be not very rich. They knew the drawbridge was going to be lowered, yet some people still stood in positions destined to be crushed.

It was unknown if this was truly due to lack of experience or some defect in intelligence. In any case, this bizarre combat casualty count had reached nearly a hundred. These attackers at the main gate belonged to the elite forces of the barbarians. In nature, they were completely different from ordinary cannon fodder. Although they might not have been in danger of losing their lives, after suffering such a huge shock, they certainly could not participate in the battle for the rest of the day.

The huge sound of the drawbridge falling also covered Sir Feld’s performance. The large siege tower closest to George’s defense zone was immediately smashed with a hole. On the outermost animal skin, a radial hole appeared, and the unknown plant fibers mixed inside began to scatter everywhere. Behind it, the teak planks, although hidden by the leather, showed obvious deformation that pushed up all parts of the leather.

In places George could not see, at the back of this large siege tower, several barbarians also fell from the high sky due to this lead ball attack. On the siege tower, except for the platform behind the movable bridge and the few soldiers inside responsible for operating it, most of the soldiers were climbing on the siege ladders.

In fact, in the so-called civilized countries of the Western Continent, only suicide squads, punishment battalions, or foolish little soldiers would use siege ladders to climb the city walls. Because climbing on a swaying ladder offered no protection at all. Just like before, Sir Feld’s thrown lead ball did not directly contact those barbarian cannon fodder. However, the suddenly intensified shaking and the ear-piercing sound of breaking air made some of the barbarian cannon fodder unable to hold on for a moment, and they fell to their deaths from the ladder.

Seeing the gap, George no longer hesitated to use this fireball staff. He immediately used Divine Arts to aim at the gap. Although there was no three-point alignment like in firearms or other aiming methods, relying on George’s own terrifyingly high physical quality, he could still hit the target with 100% accuracy when throwing a weapon from over a hundred meters away.

However, George’s experience with using the staff was not very much. Fortunately, in order to be safe before, he had practiced with cheap things like the Ice Ray. But this was his first time using the Fireball staff! George could imagine that after every shot, at least 300 Gold Coins would fly away from his hand.

Following past experience, after resonating slightly with the staff using his spirit, a hot ball the size of a pea appeared at the tip of the staff. It zoomed off towards the position George had aimed at. When that hot ball disappeared into the hole, a strong light immediately shot out from inside, followed by the spewing of orange-red flames with slightly greenish tips. Then, a burst of strong smoke exploded from all four sides of the siege tower.

Not long after, this large siege tower, built with who knew how much manpower and material, began to burn from the part George hit upwards. Carrying thick smoke and heat, mixed with the wild howling of the wind and the suffocating crackling sound of rapid combustion, it seemed even heaven and earth made way for this surging explosion. Constantly, burning barbarians jumped down from the siege tower. In a short while, it became a huge torch, completely losing its threat to the Brandenburg city walls.

However, not all news appearing at this time was good! After pulling out the more easily accessible elite soldiers from the drawbridge, the barbarians rushed to the gate. Under the waving of many strong arms, the tree trunk inlaid with a ram-head metal ramming horn repeatedly crashed against the city gate. If anyone was killed by the huge stones dropped by the defenders, two people immediately came to support. Again and again, the huge battering ram slammed heavily against the city gate. Fortunately, the real large-scale siege rams could not reach their positions in the short term.

Cooperating with the lead balls thrown by Sir Feld, George crossed the entire front line, constantly throwing fireballs at those siege towers. It seemed the overall effect was quite good. Six giant torches were burning fiercely not far in front of Brandenburg.

Having completed all this, George thought in his heart, ‘In the current situation, the pressure on the defenders of Brandenburg should have decreased significantly, right! If those siege towers really got close, facing the barbarians surging like a tide, although they could temporarily maintain a relatively high casualty ratio, it was not a long-term solution. After all, people always get tired. And the rotational combat that can be conducted now is based on the condition that individual combat intensity can still be endured. If it really enters the stage of all-out hand-to-hand combat, the intensity of the battle will not just rise by one order of magnitude.’ However, during this process of setting fires, George did not make no mistakes. One of the fireball spells did not enter through the previously created gap as George wished. For this, George had to fire another shot, but it could be said that he completed the mission satisfactorily.

At the same time, hundreds of siege ladders were also erected against the city walls. The enemy’s next wave of attacks unfolded crazily from both above and below the walls, and the pressure on the defenders instantly increased. And it seemed they had learned from previous lessons; the position of these siege ladders was set much lower than last time. Although this added quite a bit of difficulty for the barbarians climbing, the last step could no longer be done by simply climbing up to the watchtower but had to rely on their own arms and balance. However, it effectively solved the threat of the pole tools. Who said there were no smart people among the barbarians!

The soldiers responsible for dealing with these wall-climbers stood on the watchtowers. They constantly threw stones and lime down. As a result, most of the barbarians performed free-fall motion and crashed into a pile in the shallow pits formed on the ground. Of course, some barbarians, relying on their agile skills, managed to dodge the projectiles constantly thrown down from above. But just as they reached out with one hand to grab the wall, attempting to climb up, several weapons immediately came at them. As a result, they fell down and crashed heavily onto the heads of other barbarians.

At this moment, George also finished his previous task and returned to his defense line. Not far away, at the section of the watchtower that had collapsed due to the White Dragons’ bombing, many brave warriors were climbing out of the protective range to rush repairs, risking being hit by stray arrows. Indeed, people were occasionally hit by the barbarians’ stray arrows, but fortunately, most of the injuries were not serious.

However, because there was a large gap in the quality of soldiers between different territories, in one defense zone where the watchtower was also destroyed, some barbarians actually managed to reach the city walls.

There was a wide staircase on the city wall leading to the towers and bunkers where the reserves were stationed. The defenders who noticed the situation pulled the alarm bell. Ben, who was already standing at the bottom of the stairs, waved his shining longsword in his hand and rushed quickly to that wavering defense line. At the same time, inside the fortress behind him, soldiers in iron armor appeared one after another, supplementing the most needed section of the city wall following the sound of the bell.

Near the main gate, the enemy’s attack was also very fierce. They must have belonged to the high-end combat power of various tribes. Arrows filled every inch of the battlefield, and corpses piled up like mountains near the main gate. Cooperating with the siege towers that George had turned into torches, it was like being surrounded by a fierce fire. But driven by unimaginable crazy power, these guys still charged forward without regard for their own safety.