Chapter 163: The Paused Offensive

The siege hammer, which had been reattached with Iron Chains, was pulled back towards the Barbarian camp by the Thunder Lizards. As for those large Siege Towers that were half-burned, they were completely abandoned by the Barbarians. It made sense; burned like this, repairing them would not be an easy task. Especially now, when time was not on their side.

The defenders in the ramparts did not make any move to pursue their victory. Except for using several waves of arrow rain to leave behind over a hundred corpses while the enemy was still within range.

Seeing this situation, aside from Hiren, who had a face full of regret because he didn’t get a chance to test his sword, the others all let out a long sigh of relief in their hearts, even if they remained calm on the surface.

“It looks like today’s battle is settled. Those Barbarians probably won’t be able to organize a decent attack again for a while.” Saying this, George took off the full helmet that had been making him feel stuffy.

He shook it slightly, and water droplets fell from the cowhide padding used for cushioning inside the steel helmet. In this weather where the temperature was less than ten degrees, for this to happen, it was no wonder George felt uncomfortable. After all, being Immune to Cold and Heat only referred to temperature, not being waterproof!

“They wouldn’t really stop coming, right! How about we let those Barbarians come up a little?” That guy Hiren had a brain cramp again; he actually said something that would anger the crowd.

Look at the others, not to mention anything else, just the way the Guards from Bolerum Territory looked at Hiren changed drastically. It was somewhat like alienation mixed with a hint of vigilance. Although it was also possible that George’s feeling was influenced by his subjective consciousness and became not so accurate, the change that occurred was real.

No soldier would like a brainless commander, especially when such a commander disregarded the lives of his subordinates during battle. This didn’t mean those soldiers were afraid of death, but that they wanted to die a worthy death. Or rather, they didn’t want to be pushed into a fire pit by their own people.

And in their view, Hiren’s words just now clearly had the suspicion of sending them to their deaths for nothing. Giving up the advantages of these fortifications and terrain to let those Barbarians up for close combat. This kind of action was simply courting death!

In their view, Hiren himself was powerful, so in such a battle, he basically wouldn’t be in much danger. But for these ordinary soldiers, it was different; they couldn’t guarantee their own safety in a chaotic army.

Although the soldiers of Bolerum Territory were outstanding in strength within the Duchy of Nohan, and compared to most Barbarians, they were streets ahead, they were far from reaching the point where quantity caused a qualitative change. Even for the most elite City Guard, most of them wouldn’t dare say they could crush those cannon fodders.

After all, Gray Rock entry level was Gray Rock, and Gray Rock peak was still Gray Rock. As long as one didn’t enter the Red Iron Rank and complete muscle brutalization, there was essentially no difference. In a melee, they couldn’t protect themselves well, and they didn’t have much advantage in stamina either.

Of course, after stepping into the Red Iron Rank, one only gained the ability to protect oneself in a chaotic army. Only after stepping into Black Lead and breaking the barrier of mortals could one achieve the ability to turn the tide of a local battle, like one rider against a thousand. And the role of a Knight on the battlefield was several times more effective than other professions of the same Rank.

So, although those soldiers didn’t know that Hiren was already a Formal Knight, they knew the gap in strength between the two. It was precisely because of this gap, which used to be a safety guarantee, that they took Hiren’s words just now as remarks disregarding the lives of ordinary soldiers.

Treating soldiers like one’s own children was something few people in this world could do. But generals who ignored their soldiers’ thoughts were destined to pay the price for their actions. On the battlefield, the difference between soldiers fighting with their lives and soldiers being alienated was very significant. Even a strong person who could Break Army alone couldn’t cover everything.

George discovered that Hiren’s ability to court death seemed to have improved compared to the past. It seemed that after his intelligence returned to normal, even this aspect became stronger. Just as George was thinking about how to clean up Hiren’s mess, the nearly spotless Knight Val appeared behind Hiren.

“Clang—” This knock on the head was louder than ever before. Knight Val had just managed to solve those White Dragons that scattered after the invasion. He was just in a slightly good mood, but as soon as he came back, he encountered Hiren’s brain-dead remarks, which made him as frustrated as could be.

Whether it was that fake smile, the corners of his mouth twitching constantly, or the veins gradually appearing on his forehead, they all clearly indicated to the people around that someone was in a very bad mood right now. And the culprit who caused all this was now in a state similar to squatting with his head in his hands.

Although this was only similar in posture, what expression would you have if a muscular man did this in front of you! George now had an awkward look on his face.

Although there was a helmet in between, for Knight Val, who had reached the Realm of Legend, this steel helmet was no different from paper. If he didn’t want to waste the equipment, poking a hole with his finger would be quite a simple matter.

And his casual strike, similar to a Monk’s penetrating force, didn’t have much impact on the structure of the helmet itself. But Hiren was like someone placed inside a large brass bell, with people outside constantly striking it. It shook Hiren until his head felt like splitting, and the sound attracted a lot of attention from the entire city wall. This time, Hiren could be said to have lost both face and substance.

Immediately after, Knight Val didn’t even have time to report the battle results or check his Loot before dragging Hiren away. It looked like he was going to receive Knight Val’s education properly in some small dark room.

Although Knight Val used his own method to temporarily stabilize the thoughts of those soldiers, what kind of impact this matter would have on Hiren in the end depended on his own future efforts and performance. In this regard, no one could help him.

After temporarily putting aside this hot potato, George began to make a post-war summary. Regarding the battle damage this morning, George felt it was acceptable. There were 6 lightly wounded, basically all injured by stray arrows that occasionally shot in through the holes.

And there were two soldiers who, although not seriously wounded, needed to rest for a day or two and couldn’t fight. They were caused by the swords of the Barbarians who kept climbing up via the Siege Ladders. Although they were numerous, under the strict defense of the Bolerum Territory soldiers, not a single one managed to successfully ascend the city wall.

But those guys’ counterattacks when dying were quite sharp! Two warriors failed to dodge in time and were slashed in positions outside their greaves. Although such injuries wouldn’t threaten their lives, being unable to move freely, they wouldn’t be able to complete their tasks in the next few days!

‘It looks like using those few Fireballs was really worth it. Even though we were in an absolutely favorable combat environment, under the human wave tactics of those Barbarians, there were still significant losses. If that damned Siege Tower had been set up, and the environmental gap narrowed, how many of the surrounding soldiers would have survived?’ Thinking this, George scanned his subordinates. Looking at these soldiers who were busy soothing their muscles full of lactic acid, moving around with poor posture and panting, George truly found that this effort had been sufficiently rewarded.

‘It seems experience really counts! Knight Val discovered the threat brought by those Siege Towers early on. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had Knight Ahuatan hand this Fireball Staff to me when he went to deal with those White Dragons. If not for this, once those Siege Towers became effective, who knows how many lives would have been lost to drive those Barbarians off the city wall!’ Thinking of this, George touched the Staff he had kept close to his body, ‘I should have a chance to return it to Knight Val later!’

Just then, Ben arrived here, covered in dust from the journey; whether it was the bloodstains on his armor or the nicks and scratches, they all showed he had just experienced a rather intense battle.

“Ben, what happened to you? Why don’t you go wash up quickly? If this bloody water dries, it won’t be easy to wash off. Besides, being so sticky now, don’t you feel uncomfortable?” George still felt quite strange about Ben’s sudden arrival.

Logically speaking, having just experienced a battle, with this free time, he should have gone to rest and reorganize properly! Why did he suddenly run over here? This made George quite puzzled.

“Something unlucky happened, I came to your place to hide for a bit.” Ben said with a rather bad complexion. Paired with his current appearance, he looked exactly like a Mercenary whose salary had been withheld.

“That shouldn’t be the case! Although this Brandenburg is a fortress directly under His Grace the Duke, it is still within the Territory of your Markin family! Who would look for trouble with you here?” Although George’s words were an ordinary inquiry, the meaning of enjoying the spectacle was revealed without concealment.

“Don’t mention it! If you were stuck with such an unlucky thing, you would definitely be even more depressed than I am now!” Ben looked at George and said angrily. Saying this, he suddenly reached out and scraped his Chainmail, then wiped it on George. Causing George’s originally clean armor to also be stained with blood.

“Hey! Hey! Hey! Did I provoke you or what? Don’t take your anger out on me when something happens!” Saying this, George hurriedly slapped away the opponent’s palm that was constantly smearing on his armor, “Alright! Tell me what unlucky thing you encountered? Let me, your buddy, give you some advice. Two heads are better than one, even if I can’t think of a good idea alone. Aren’t Chrispian, Aldred, and Green also here!”

“Although you guys will definitely help, you’re mostly just watching the joke!” Saying this, Ben glared at George unwillingly. It seemed he had experienced similar things before; best friends could often be considered bad friends too.

George shrugged and said: “If you don’t want to say it, then forget it. But I think you should still go wash up! If you dare not go back to your own camp, you can borrow ours. No one will mind this.”

“Then thanks first, I was just waiting for those words from you! This sticky feeling is really uncomfortable.” After patting George’s shoulder again, Ben quickly left this defense zone. Judging from the direction he walked, he was indeed going to the station in that rock wall allocated to Bolerum Territory.

“This guy is really something!” George shook his head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, ‘I don’t know what happened that made this guy dare not even return to his own camp. But it doesn’t seem to be anything particularly serious; it should be a conflict among us juniors, otherwise those Formal Knights would have intervened long ago. Especially in this war time! At most, it will be settled by a duel.’

At the same time, the Barbarian camp was also in a state of ceasing activities. After all, the casualties they suffered in the siege this morning could not be considered small. In terms of personnel, although it couldn’t be said to be crippling, it was enough to make those chieftains heartache for quite a few days.

Inside the largest tent in the camp, more than twenty people sat on both sides. They were talking and cursing in the Barbarians’ own language, and the whole atmosphere was noisy—like a chaotic parliament meeting. And among them, two adult men who were out of place with this atmosphere could only eat the mutton in the basin with their hands. Of course, if someone came to talk to them, they would respond a bit, but they would never actively participate in each other’s topics.

When the two returned to their own tent and confirmed that no one was eavesdropping around, Gloras cursed: “These Barbarians are really all trash. Don’t they know how much effort those six Siege Towers cost our Kingdom of Lucia? Just the transportation cost to get those materials here exceeded 500 Gold Krans. Adding the cost of materials and labor, the price of each one reached at least 1000 Gold Krans. And the result! In just one morning, they were all destroyed by the other side. I really don’t understand how those guys coordinate; just now they were still asking me when the new Siege Towers would arrive. Damn Barbarians, there are no new Siege Towers anymore, the Gold Krans of our Kingdom of Lucia don’t fall from the sky.”

“Alright, alright, at least these Siege Towers were dealt with by the defending soldiers of Nohan spending at least six Fireballs. Although we lost a lot, it’s not a total loss.” Burks kindly comforted Gloras.

“If they were Fireball Scrolls, then perhaps the loss isn’t too tragic! But what do these Barbarians know besides asking for aid? A perfectly good siege plan was messed up by them. They couldn’t even maintain queues and formations; what do they know besides piling up human lives?” After sitting down with a thud, Gloras continued to curse relentlessly. However, his voice was never very loud; it seemed he didn’t dare to be too presumptuous in the Barbarian camp. After all, they were on someone else’s turf; if they annoyed the other party, only they would suffer.

Burks took a sip of goat milk from the silver goblet, and then said: “You should be glad that the strength of those Barbarians is just like this. Otherwise, the Territory where your family is located wouldn’t be so peaceful every autumn and winter.”

“Your words, those words make sense.” Unknowingly, Gloras’s tone softened a lot, “But what about our mission? I dare not imagine what kind of punishment we will receive after this mission fails.”

“Punishment! Even if we are just small figures in the eyes of those people in the royal capital. But the real abandoned pieces after something goes wrong will be those who look down on us and use us as chess pieces. Those staff officers who think they are wise!” Burks put down the goblet in his hand and said with a sneer.

Hearing this, Gloras’s brows suddenly relaxed a lot: “That’s right, unlike those civil staff officers who have been plotting against us these past few years. If His Majesty really wants to touch us landed Nobles, he has to be mentally prepared for civil war. Besides, the lack of smoothness in this matter itself is a considerable problem with those civil officials’ plan. But is there really no chance? After all, these Barbarians still have quite a lot of manpower.”

Burks stood up and walked to Gloras’s side, patted the other’s shoulder, and said: “In fact, from the moment those White Dragons failed, our plan had no chance of success. There is at least one Legend in Brandenburg, and a Legendary Knight who can kill a Legendary Dragon at that. You should know what this means. Relying on these Barbarians is absolutely impossible. Sigh! Even in a direct conflict between our Kingdom and Nohan, the odds of winning are not high.”

“Legend? Wasn’t that said to be a smoke bomb released by the Duchy of Nohan? Even our Kingdom doesn’t have a Legend!” Gloras exclaimed.

“That is just propaganda from the civil officials. The facts are right in front of us, aren’t they? And our country isn’t without Legends; there should be one or two. They just aren’t Knights. After all, big or small, from nations to families, everyone has their own hidden trump cards. But I think Nohan’s trump card is definitely much bigger than ours. At least they are affluent enough to put a Legendary Knight in the open.” Burks rubbed his head and said: “If a war with the Duchy of Nohan really happens, I hope I don’t have to go to the front line!”

An eerie calm appeared in the tent.