Chapter 162: The Defense of Brandenburg — War Cry

The large battering ram moved forward slowly. But neither the arrows shot from the city walls nor the stone shots and fire pots thrown by the catapults in the high towers could effectively damage it. However, the Thunder Lizards pulling it often went crazy because of this, crashing around blindly. This caused heavy casualties to the Barbarians in the formations around them. But they immediately threw these corpses aside, and others took their places.

Ignoring the fierce firepower of Brandenburg, the battering ram continued to advance. The swaying heavy hammer drove the iron chains on it to make a chilling sound.

The sound of war drums on the battlefield rang out wildly. An exceptionally burly figure appeared on the mountain of corpses, a tall Barbarian warrior whose whole body was shrouded in darkness. He trampled on the corpses and walked forward slowly, not caring about Gondor’s arrows at all. Then this guy stopped, raising a large club made from the leg bone of an unknown animal.

After he beat his chest and let out an earth-shattering roar, both the attacking and defending sides fell into extreme fear within a certain range. George saw many Barbarians on the battlefield drop their weapons, loosen their bowstrings, and fall into a dead silence. Even the guards beside him were momentarily stunned, and the speed at which they drew their bows paused. It seemed as if even the sound of the War Drums had stopped.

“That must be the Barbarian’s War Cry!” George pointed at the big guy showing off his power below and asked Hiren beside him.

“It’s just enough to bully those guys holding pitchforks! If he dares to come up, I can take care of him alone.” Hiren seemed to show some disdain.

Listening to Hiren’s words and looking at that frame even taller than Yao Ming, George asked in disbelief: “You mean that guy specializes in War Cry and took the support path.”

“That’s right. Don’t look at his huge size. If we really fight, he just has brute strength.” Hiren’s words carried a somewhat sarcastic tone.

Although these words didn’t amuse George, they made him think of something else: “Hiren, have you fought against that guy before?”

You have to know that Hiren had always given the impression of speaking without a filter over the past years. But sarcastic words, although not exactly rare, were very few. As a warrior on the battlefield, even when facing enemies, most would give them the most basic respect. So George naturally wondered if there was some grudge between them. Otherwise, given Hiren’s true personality, he wouldn’t say such things easily.

“Honestly, that guy is really wasting his good talent. With such a big body, he actually went to specialize in War Cry. Don’t look at the fact that he has already touched the edge of Bronze. But actually, at this time last year, I alone could entangle him and stop him from being effective.” Hiren spoke with certainty, without any concealment. This seemed absolutely credible to George. Besides, there was no benefit for him to lie about this; it wasn’t like he was one of the Four Great Braggarts of Tianchao.

George also understood something from Hiren’s words just now: “You said ‘entangle’, which means last year you were probably suppressed by him!”

Now Hiren stammered a bit: “It was just that I wasn’t used to his fighting style at the beginning! If I hadn’t been hit by a stone thrown by a catapult later, later on. After I got used to it, I would definitely have taught that mighty-looking big guy a lesson. Let alone now, once I get close to him, finishing him off wouldn’t even take the time of a meal.”

‘So that’s how the grudge started.’ George understood quite a lot from Hiren’s explanation. He tried asking: “Don’t tell me that last year, you guys didn’t even use forked sticks much?”

“With the cowardly look of those Barbarians last year, if we had used forked sticks, how could they have gotten onto the city walls? Just shooting arrows couldn’t be considered training! We can’t all be training to be archers here. Besides, these new recruits who just put down their pitchforks need a chance to see blood, don’t they?” Hiren suddenly looked at George with a strange look. This was the look that many others, including George, often used to deal with Hiren’s behavior in the past.

George, receiving this ‘special treatment’ for the first time, complained in his heart, ‘I didn’t expect that I would enjoy this kind of treatment one day! And from Hiren of all people. Can this be called karma, where retribution is swift? No, I must let those guys back in Bolerum Territory experience this feeling too. After going back this time, I should start arranging the plan. But compared to those unlucky Barbarians, it’s not a big deal.’

What Hiren revealed was a semi-open secret circulated only among military nobles within the Duchy of Nohan. The reason George didn’t know was, first, he never thought about it in this direction. Second, when asking for information before, everyone assumed he knew and didn’t tell him.

Of course, a big reason for this was the influence of the history from before George transmigrated on him. In those histories, whether it was Tianchao or the countries of Western and Eastern Europe, before truly entering industrial society, they all suffered from nomadic raids. In this world, whether it was the Kingdom of Lucia to the east or the Northern Lands Union to the north, they were all plagued by Barbarian looting.

Only the Duchy of Nohan actually viewed them as annual large-scale training and live-fire exercises. In the years when Brandenburg was just established, the northern Barbarians were definitely a significant threat to the Duchy of Nohan. But as Nohan’s own strength continued to increase, and after lacking the important economic source of looting, the strength of the Barbarian tribes in this area continued to decline. With this ebb and flow, the real threat of the Barbarians to the Duchy continued to decrease.

Of course, if these guys really crossed Brandenburg and entered the hinterland of the Duchy, it would still cause considerable destruction. So even after the threat weakened, the defense work of Brandenburg was never relaxed. Similarly, the propaganda line for the internal ordinary people had never changed.

For example, allowing the Caravan to be attacked before the southern invasion was also to meet the needs of propaganda. At the same time, under this threat to life, those greedy merchants would willingly pay high taxes to ensure the smooth flow of trade routes. Of course, they had to let those Barbarians see a little hope of success. Otherwise, if they never came again, where would the Duchy find such a good training ground!

After the two whispered and understood the ins and outs of this, George felt a little dizzy in his head for a moment. Fortunately, the side effects of Hiren’s Secret Art had disappeared now, otherwise it wouldn’t have been so easy to explain clearly as before.

Of course, George wasn’t unable to understand the meaning inside. It was just that such a big shift in cognition required time to sort out psychologically. This could also be said to be the destruction of one’s worldview!

However, a situation like this, where the Barbarians came out in full force and received massive aid from other countries, could not be handled with the same attitude as before. Now this was a life-and-death battle, although the situation seemed optimistic at present. But before the Barbarians truly retreated, one could not be careless in the slightest. Because the number of opponents was really too large, and it was possible that our side might actually fail unexpectedly.

Although these thoughts seemed many, in reality, only a short while had passed. Without the threat of the large Siege Towers, the pressure on the defenders on the city walls was also reduced a lot. Of course, this also had a close relationship with the powerful combat effectiveness of the soldiers from Bolerum Territory. Otherwise, if those Barbarians climbed onto the city wall, George and Hiren wouldn’t have the leisure to discuss things here.

But just then, the War Drums sounded again. When the giant battering ram was about to arrive, the Thunder Lizards responsible for pulling it were temporarily released. At the same time, those Barbarian soldiers who were using small battering rams on the main gate also retreated to both sides to make room for the real thing.

Under the concerted cooperation of the Barbarians braving the rain of arrows and stones, the giant battering ram finally reached the place where it could unleash its power. Then, under the monstrous strength of the Ogres, the heavy hammer was thrown towards the main gate. It first hit the outermost gate. The gate shook, and a huge sound like muffled thunder rang through the whole city. But the pure steel gate shared part of the impact force with the iron gate behind it and still withstood this attack.

This situation obviously wouldn’t satisfy those Barbarians. The strong man George and Hiren had just discussed puffed out his chest. From his mouth came a piercing sound that made one’s blood run cold, seemingly reciting an ancient and forgotten language that people couldn’t understand but made them feel trembling.

“There seems to be something to this sound!” George completely put down the work at hand and temporarily handed over command to the officer who came with him. Together with Hiren, he focused on the situation about to unfold outside the city gate.

Unfortunately, Hiren’s answer was completely irrelevant: “By the way, there are two city gates on the north side. Why are they attacking this one so desperately? Is there something we don’t know about?”

“You’re asking me, who should I ask! This is my first time in Brandenburg! How would I know the structure and secrets here?” George scratched his helmet and said, “This shouldn’t have anything to do with the architectural structure of Brandenburg itself! I think the enemy just wants to concentrate their forces to open a gap in our defense line as soon as possible. Besides, if they attacked two city gates at the same time, wouldn’t their attacking power be obviously dispersed?”

With the shout of that strong man, the strength of the Ogres seemed to have greatly increased. The huge battering ram was then swung at a higher frequency. Amidst the huge sounds of the city gate, under the huge impact of the battering ram, the part under continuous attack, the pure steel forged gate, also slightly deformed. And the iron gate behind it also had parts that showed not-so-obvious dents. Although it wasn’t about to collapse at any moment under such an attack, this change seemed to let the Barbarians present see the dawn of hope.

Listening to the disturbing crashing sound, Hiren said: “George, let’s get ready! If the city gate is really breached, it will be our turn to hold the line. My baby is now thirsty and unbearable, it seems it can’t wait to taste the blood of the Barbarians.”

The baby Hiren referred to was the Star-Iron Longsword he obtained from the Dwarf Temple. Although he hadn’t been able to encounter incorporeal creatures like ghosts, so the effect of the Ghostly Enchantment had never been utilized. But in terms of the sword itself, it was countless times better than the Masterwork steel swords used by George and the others.

First of all, the material of Star-Iron alone was several levels higher than refined steel. In terms of materials for forging weapons, the most famous was Adamantine, which was regarded as a treasure by many warriors. This silver-blue, extremely hard metal could improve the quality of weapons or armor. Weapons forged with Adamantine had the natural ability to ignore hardness, and armor forged with Adamantine could effectively provide damage reduction to the wearer.

Of course, regarding Star-Iron, its physical properties were in no way inferior to Adamantine. This high-quality raw material was mainly refined from meteorites. Due to its internal magical connection with the Prime Material Plane, Star-Iron weapons could have a miraculous effect when restraining Extraplanar Creatures. That is to say, in addition to having all the effects of Adamantine, it could also cause serious damage to creatures native to non-Prime Material Planes—such as Demons.

However, Star-Iron was difficult to shape, and it was hard to make into armor even with the help of flux. So this rare material was mostly presented to the world in the form of weapons. In fact, besides obtaining it through trade with Astral creatures, people on the Prime Material Plane could only try to refine it from occasionally falling meteorites. Not all meteorites contained this substance.

Coupled with the Dwarves’ proud craftsmanship and the most basic Enhancement Enchantment, this made it a divine weapon when clashing with ordinary swords. The so-called Enhancement Enchantment was the foundation of all Enchantments. While strengthening the weapon, it was also the cornerstone for other Enchantments afterwards. Without it, other Enchantments could not be performed at all.

After Hiren obtained this weapon, his sharpness was demonstrated during practice. George fully understood his desire to get a taste of battle at this time. As for George and others going up to support after the city gate was breached, this was a tradition of the Duchy of Nohan. One reason was that the first to breach the city gate were often the enemy’s elite troops. And after the city gate was breached, seeing the dawn of victory, their morale was even higher.

At this time, if it weren’t for our own elites or high-end combat power, it would be difficult to stop these fierce guys and the tidal wave of reinforcements behind them. And like the Heirs of various Knight families, those who could come to Brandenburg were all elites above the Red Iron Rank. Coupled with the Knights’ own amazing combat power, they were naturally the best candidates for this task. As for casualties, people died in big wars. As Military Merit Nobles, while enjoying their rights, they naturally had to pay the corresponding price.

‘How is that possible! It’s only the third day! If the city gate is breached at this time, what about the next nearly a month? I think the Knights in Brandenburg would never let this happen. After all, the battle has just started, both sides should still have cards they haven’t played. I don’t know how many cards our Brandenburg defenders have. But those Barbarians probably don’t have many cards left!’ With this thought in mind, George didn’t answer Hiren immediately.

He first put the Staff close to his body and said: “It won’t be that easy. Although it has been a long time since we experienced such a big battle. But I think the defenders of Brandenburg can’t be helpless against this situation. Besides, the Knights wouldn’t let this happen so early. After all, the number of enemies is really too large. If it comes to attrition, even if we win in the end, the loss would not be something the Duchy could bear. So relying on Brandenburg’s defense system to constantly deplete the enemy’s effective strength, strike the enemy’s morale, and then resolve this Barbarian invasion with minimal casualties. That is the most suitable solution.”

Although he said that, his preparations were not slow. He began to organize the odds and ends on his body. He placed various throwing weapons in the most convenient positions on his weapon belt. At the same time, he placed the shield in a position where he could grab it immediately when reinforcing.

Because he was speculating based on common sense. If some unexpected situation occurred, it wouldn’t be good to be unprepared.

However, as if to prove George’s words, the roaring strong man suddenly swung his club and held it horizontally in front of his chest. Immediately after, he fell backward and crashed heavily to the ground. However, this guy’s life was very tough, and he didn’t die on the spot. Instead, after getting up, he quickly dragged the large club and ran towards the camp.

Without the support of his War Cry, the frequency and power of the battering ram dropped significantly. It was impossible to pose much of a threat to the city gate in a short time.

“That just now, seemed to be the lead bullet thrown by Sir Feld!” George asked somewhat uncertainly.

Hiren said with a disappointed look: “It should be that one. This is quite similar to the situation where those Siege Towers were pierced with holes before.”

But not long after that big guy ran back to the Barbarian camp, the deafening drum sound disappeared. Following that was a dull horn sound. This was the signal to withdraw troops. The principle that morale is highest at the first drumbeat, declines at the second, and is exhausted at the third applied everywhere. The high-intensity combat for three or four hours throughout the morning had already exhausted those Barbarians. With their morale affected, retreating to rest and regroup when victory was temporarily out of sight was a correct choice.