Chapter 164: The Defense of Brandenburg — An Interlude

Although Ben tried to keep things hidden, secrets often cannot be kept from those who are determined. Before George could even ask his three other friends, Chrispian, Aldred, and Green, for information, he got the news from Knight Ahuatan.

On the section of the wall where the Barbarians had climbed, the enemies first consciously protected the breach in that defensive line. The defenders on the wall top, however, could not organize an effective counterattack to drive them off the wall in time. Things got out of hand quickly. The defense line became like a dam with a hole in it, expanding constantly under the impact of the enemy army, which flowed like a rushing river.

Once enough enemies had climbed onto the wall top and could stand their ground there, they swarmed toward the fragile line formed by the soldiers on the wall. The Barbarians roared, waving their weapons as they charged forward. Although the Barbarian who charged at the very front was killed instantly by an arrow from a crossbowman on a distant watchtower, the others rushed up one after another.

At that moment, the only person in the defending army wearing iron armor clenched his right fist and waved it forward. Immediately, a ring on his right middle finger flashed with Spirit Light. That ring, made of a hard aluminum-iron alloy, was decorated with magnificent gold patterns, and its face was shaped like a ram-headed siege ram.

As Spirit Light glowed in the eyes of the ram head, a semi-transparent, ram-headed siege hammer made of a Force Field appeared in front of the user. This powerful siege hammer knocked all the rushing Barbarians back to their original positions. Several of them were even pushed off the crenelations and fell back into the pile of corpses below. The Guards took this chance to sound the alarm; one man ran to the rope and rang the bell, while the others picked up their shields and prepared to hold the line until help arrived.

His boots, made of calfskin and reinforced with iron plates, made a familiar, crisp sound against the wall. But the owner of the boots was no longer as relaxed as he had been when walking before.

Ben, who had been marching hard, was the first to arrive at the support point. Before him were soldiers who, while not exactly in full retreat, were completely suppressed, and a defense line that was on the verge of collapse.

Ben took a single step and leaped over the line of the foot-soldier Guards. Normally, such a sudden leap in the middle of a battlefield was a major taboo, especially for people who could not move freely in the air. The Guards hiding behind their shields showed no attempt to hide the surprise on their faces. At the same time, those Barbarians also swung their knives at the “meat target” in their eyes.

Of course, there was no time for hesitation. Once a Knight’s sword was drawn, it was always to defend something. Honor and protection brought powerful strength to the mind. Whether one won or lost, the wails of the defeated would surely be heard. With the sound of flesh tearing and swords cutting through the air, those Barbarians, who were only wearing sheepskin coats, were knocked away one by one. Their weapons broke, their bodies twisted, and several were swept into the air and thrown off the wall.

Ben retracted his left leg, which had just kicked a Barbarian away. He then threw the shield he had been holding tightly forward with great force, knocking several spear-throwers who had managed to climb onto the wall to the ground. At the same time, he sneered disdainfully in his heart, “Too weak. They are really too weak.”

With that final judgment, Ben did not look back at the Guards behind him, who were trembling and pale, nor did he notice the bodies he had cut in two. As for the Barbarians who were still alive but lying on the ground, vomiting blood and twitching, someone else would naturally finish them off. If soldiers could not even do this, they had no reason to exist.

He turned to look at the most obvious breach in the watchtower on the wall. That place, which was heavily guarded by many Barbarians, was his target. As long as the opened breach was blocked, the crisis of this defense line would be temporarily over. As for how to block the breach? Of course, it was not to repair the severely damaged watchtower, but to wipe out the Barbarians who had already climbed onto the wall. At the same time, he would destroy the siege ladders that had become a path to the sky.

But at this time, because of the harassment from the Barbarians on the already breached section of the defense line, the nearby Guards were also affected to some extent. This was why, once a hole was torn in the defense line, there was a possibility of a total collapse. Even if the enemy who had entered could not expand their gains further, the threat they posed was not only tying up enemy manpower but also had a huge psychological impact on the other defenders.

Once the originally smooth actions were interrupted, the exposed gaps gave the Barbarians below an opportunity to attack. Sure enough, the struggle for the wall top in these nearby sections had become extremely intense. The pressure on the defenders increased instantly, and the back-and-forth fighting was very lively.

“No, I cannot keep waiting like this. Otherwise, there might be a risk of a total breakdown.” Realizing that the reinforcements had not yet arrived, Ben made his decision.

“Follow me, everyone! Prepare the Greek Fire!” Saying this, Ben charged into the enemy ranks at the very front. In this action, Ben showed a spirit of rushing forward without looking back. It was a spirit that would crush all enemies and would never submit to them.

In fact, the vast majority of Knights, as well as Squires who longed to become Knights, often showed such behavior on the battlefield. Because although Knights were not unruly, they could never be obedient followers. If you asked why, it was because deep down, they were all violent people who only believed in strength! Conspiracy? Ignore it. Open schemes? Useless. Even a direct head-on clash would be crushed by absolute strength!

After casually cutting down another Barbarian who blocked his path, Ben, feeling that a single weapon was too slow for killing enemies, broke off a rib from the damaged watchtower and used it as a secondary weapon.

For Ben at this moment, no matter what tricks or schemes the enemy had, as long as his strength was enough, what use was any calculation? Besides, the Barbarians who had just climbed onto the wall had no time to set up any traps. And for some low-class tactics, even if they were used, Ben believed he had a way to deal with them. So he released his power without any hesitation, making the ebony stick strike the enemy with a sound like metal hitting stone.

Ben led the charge against the enemy formation. Unfortunately, the Guards behind him, who were almost scared out of their wits, did not follow in time. This created a gap that was neither too short nor too long. Fortunately, Ben did not have high hopes for those Guards, and this included their leader. As the saying goes, “If a soldier is useless, a whole group of soldiers is useless; if a general is useless, an entire army is useless.” If the whole group showed such a state, then what their leader must be like could be imagined.

Barbarians kept climbing up the siege ladders on the wall top one by one. Most of them were cannon fodder who had not been trained for long. Of course, some of them had received professional training and reached the level of Gray Rock beginner or even standard strength. Roughly speaking, there were at least a dozen of them. Adding the twelve Barbarians Ben had already dealt with earlier, who were strong enough to dare to charge forward, the number of Barbarians who had climbed onto the watchtower was probably just over twenty to thirty.

Speaking of strength alone, these Barbarians did not seem to be stronger than the defenders who were here before. Plus the support from the leader and Squires, the gap in strength between the two sides was almost incomparable.

“How could this happen? These guys actually managed to climb up here. Even if they were exhausted from long-term fighting, it shouldn’t be like this!” Although there was still confusion in his mind, Ben’s hands did not stop moving for a second.

When he saw a certain Barbarian among the crowd seem to be taking something out of his pocket, Ben narrowed his eyes. His right hand touched the weighted throwing axe tucked in his waist belt, then he pulled his hand back and threw it hard! The axe, spinning horizontally, flew past the scalp of the Barbarian in the front row like a high-speed circular saw. All that could be seen was a circular silver flash. Then, a Barbarian who was searching for something could only instinctively raise his round shield on his left hand. And then, the shield was destroyed, and the man died.

Casting a two-pound throwing axe at a speed invisible to ordinary people with a light wave of the hand was not a difficult task for a Squire like Ben. But to fly over the heavy obstacles formed by the Barbarians in front and hit the person surrounded in the middle with a single blow to kill him was not that easy.

In fact, Ben’s throwing axe skills were learned from George, and even the waist belt on his waist was a gift from George. Of course, he paid a corresponding price. As for why he chose a throwing weapon like an axe, the most important reason was its versatility. For example, if he encountered a monster like a skeleton, which was full of holes, a piercing weapon like a javelin might just fly past it.

After eliminating the potential threat, Ben strode forward without any hesitation. With one swing, he cut the two people in front of him into upper and lower halves. This kind of battle was no longer a difference between wild wolves and sheep; it was like a Dragon suppressing mortals.

The living Barbarians and the ones constantly climbing up the siege ladders remained silent. They simply organized the formation they had just learned and prepared to use their collective strength to resist Ben’s attack.

As for one-on-one? Are you kidding! In the eyes of these Barbarians, Ben was basically like a human disaster. Touch him, and you die; brush against him, and you get hurt!

These cannon fodder, who could not even be called elite, had not scattered because of that terrifying pressure because they, as the vanguard on the wall top, had nowhere to escape.

Of course, jumping off the wall was also a viable option. But jumping from such a height, with their current strength, would certainly lead to death. If they banded together to resist, they might have a slim chance of survival.

But a formation of only four by five was far too thin. Most importantly, the Barbarians couldn’t even stand in a proper formation. With this number of people and this level of strength, it seemed they didn’t even exist in Ben’s eyes at all, posing no threat whatsoever.

Actually, it couldn’t be blamed on the Barbarians. These people never had the habit or tradition of learning the art of warfare. They were used to moving like the wind on horseback. The cavalry units they formed attacked like a storm passing through. They arrived silently and left without a trace. This perfectly matched the two principles from Sun Tzu’s Art of War: “Move like the wind, attack like fire.” But to make them stand still like a mountain in a battle formation was indeed too much to ask.

If not for the many mountains and hills in the north blocking the way, even a military power like the Duchy of Nohan could only play hide-and-seek with them on the vast land. How could they now be so easily forced to crash into the wall and bleed?

Speaking of a storm passing through, the wall top right now was indeed like a storm had passed. Broken pieces of weapons and shattered shields were scattered around the corpses like the scraps spit out by some monster after chewing them up. A broken arm hung from the crenelation. The ebony stick had passed through under someone’s skull, and blood gushed from his mouth in spurts like a fountain. His thick tongue hung loosely from his open mouth. As the blood flowed, the dark red was gradually replaced by milky white brain matter…

This bloody and cruel scene truly stunned the soft-footed soldiers behind. Many of them immediately leaned on the crenelations and started vomiting, including the one wearing iron armor who clearly had a different status. This made Ben’s eyebrows twist into a knot. He had never seen such a terrible army in Brandenburg before.

It was mentioned before that Brandenburg was within the territory of the Malkin Family, where Ben was from. As the heir of the Malkin Family, Ben could naturally take advantage of this. Ben, who basically spent every year during the border guard period in Brandenburg, not only had an extraordinary understanding of the fortress itself but also knew the defenders inside out. He also had a relatively deep impression of their past combat effectiveness.

“Where is the Greek Fire I mentioned earlier? Why hasn’t anyone brought it over yet?” Ben stood on the wall top, showing a stance that one man could hold the pass against ten thousand. He alone defended a section of the defense line that held three siege ladders. Any Barbarian showing even a hint of climbing would be met with a fierce counterattack. But he did not dare to lean out to clear the siege ladders that were still half a section away from the crenelations. On this battlefield filled with flying arrows, that would be seeking death.

Not fearing death did not mean not caring about life! Such a meaningless way of dying was not what Knights sought. In other words, “Everyone must die, but some deaths are heavier than Mount Tai, while others are lighter than a goose feather.” Since there was a method like Greek Fire that required no risk, there was no point in taking further risks.

But the performance of those soldiers disappointed him again. Not only did no one solve the problem of Greek Fire when he first asked for support, but now they were all lying limp on the ground. It was the reinforcements that followed him that finally solved the problem of Greek Fire.

After the Greek Fire was poured and soaked the siege ladders, the torches turned the three ladders into roasting sticks. The Barbarians climbing them let out terrible screams. Many of them jumped off the ladders. Of course, no one cared how many of them would survive in the end, including the defenders of Brandenburg and the leaders of the Barbarians.

Since the sudden crisis had been resolved, the next step was to handle the aftermath.

“What? You say that Ben, who just barely saved those guys, was actually blamed by them?” After hearing Knight Ahuatan’s words, George immediately recalled the scene he had seen before and sketched the situation in his mind—Ben, who had just solved the problem and was covered in blood without time to clean up, was blamed by the others for being too slow in rescue.

After dismissing his own thoughts, George said indignantly: “They are too much! If not for Ben, who knows if they would even be alive until now! How can they even dare to complain that the rescue came too late?”

Facing George’s sharp retort, Knight Ahuatian’s face showed a strange expression: “It’s not that they complained the rescue came too late. It’s just… how to put it…”

“Oh right, after solving this problem, Lord Markin was quite critical of the defenders’ performance. Of course, this is a normal phenomenon. After all, their performance was really not something anyone would feel safe leaving their flank to them.” Thinking for a moment, Knight Ahuatan, who was not very good at speaking, finally organized his words, “In short, these words seemed to make the leader of the other side lose his temper. After that, that little girl really made a big fuss. She even said that Lord Markin came to steal their Military Merit. So it is understandable that he is in such a low mood now.”

“If that’s the case, why didn’t Ben just give them the White Gloves?” George had just been quite rude, but his tone changed immediately. “Wait, no. Hold on. Are you saying the little girl?”

“Cecilia Pasqual Cranston, the eldest daughter of the Cranston Baron’s family. Heaven knows how she managed to sneak into the border guard team this year. I had heard before that the little girl was a tomboy, but I didn’t expect her to dare to pull off something so big.” Knight Ahuatan said this with some excitement. After all, the crisis was over, and he had such good gossip. In this depressing place, wasn’t that a happy thing?

“Doesn’t the Cranston Baron do anything about her? Fortunately, I haven’t met her yet! Heaven knows why my dad found me such an unreliable matchmaking partner.” Knowing the other party’s identity, George had no mood to gloat anymore. He realized he might also get involved in such trouble.

At this time, Knight Ahuatan said unscrupulously: “I have seen that little girl! Just by appearance, she is indeed quite nice. And a tomboy, of course, has a different kind of charm, doesn’t it? She might even suit your taste, George, extra well!”