Chapter 22: Struggle
Day Three, Morning.
On the city walls of Iron Fortress Territory, there was dead silence.
Kaito stood at the rear of the undead army, standing quietly like the most ordinary skeleton.
Before him lay 3,100 silent machines of war, an endless white ocean.
He issued no complex tactical commands, nor delivered any morale-boosting speeches.
He simply raised his pale bony hand and waved it gently forward.
Command, given.
The next instant, hell descended.
Standing beside Skele-Envy, the Tier 3 Skeleton Mage appointed as his adjutant raised its bone staff high.
A massive fireball burning with ghostly blue Soul Fire condensed at the tip of the staff, expanding until it scorched and distorted the surrounding air.
WHOOSH—!
Dragging a long tail of flame, the fireball tore through the morning gloom like a meteor, smashing precisely into the heavy city gate of Iron Fortress.
BOOM!!!
A violent explosion tore the dawn apart.
Wood chips and iron shards flew everywhere. The entire city gate shook violently, its hinges groaning under the unbearable burden.
On the city wall, Viscount Andrew's pupils constricted abruptly.
"Drop the rocks! Quick! Throw all the rocks down!"
He roared hoarsely.
Soldiers and commoners, already prepared, worked together to push the capstans, shoving massive boulders off the wall.
The stones whistled as they fell, crashing into the undead formation with dull thuds.
However, what greeted them was a moving wall of bone.
"Aegis Legion! Advance!"
Skele-Gluttony's muffled will echoed in the legion's soul network.
Four hundred skeletons took heavy steps forward, raising their giant bone shields over their heads to form an airtight tortoise formation.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Boulders smashed onto the shield formation. Several Skeleton Soldiers were pulverized by the massive impact.
But the companions behind them didn't pause for a moment, immediately filling the gaps.
Shattered bones squirmed on the ground, pulled by Soul Fire, and clicked back together.
This army knew no fear of death.
While the Aegis Legion advanced steadily, Kaito's will flowed again.
"Extinction Legion, suppress."
Envy's whisper-like command rang in the Soul Fire of 350 Skeleton Archers.
They raised their bone bows in unison. No aiming, no hesitation—just nocking arrows, drawing full, and releasing.
Thwip-thwip-thwip-thwip—!
Bone arrows soared into the sky, merging into a small dark cloud, then accurately covered the entire city wall.
This wasn't to kill, but to create chaos and panic.
Screams, sounds of weapons dropping, and curses rose and fell on the wall.
The human defenders' formation was scattered by this sudden rain of arrows, and the efficiency of the rock-dropping plummeted.
Opportunity arrived.
Kaito's will turned to his very first soldier.
"Pride, break the gate."
"I dedicate everything to My Lord!"
Skele-Pride's soul roared.
He raised his only remaining bone arm, pointing the bone sword at the teetering city gate.
"Punishment Legion! Charge!"
Five hundred Skeleton Swordsmen, the sharpest spearhead of Evernight Territory, launched instantly.
Moving with uniform steps, they bypassed the flank of the Aegis Legion, turning into a sharp white wave surging straight for the city gate!
On the wall, Viscount Andrew watched all this helplessly, his heart sinking to the bottom.
He knew the gate couldn't be held. All defenses were futile.
He looked at the soldiers beside him, pale with fear, and the commoners clutching pitchforks and kitchen knives, the light in their eyes extinguishing.
"We're out of rocks!"
A guard shouted in despair.
Viscount Andrew took a deep breath and drew the sword at his waist.
"Everyone!"
He roared with all his strength.
"Abandon the wall! Gather behind the city gate! Prepare to... CHARGE!"
The soldiers were stunned.
Charge?
Charge against whom? Against those unkillable monsters?
Dropping their bows and empty slings, they stumbled down the wall, standing behind the massive city gate.
They could hear the sound outside—Skeleton Swordsmen hacking at the gate with bone swords, dense as a rainstorm.
They could feel the ground beneath their feet trembling with every impact.
Viscount Andrew stood at the very front of the line. Beside him were Honorary Knight Hamus and Guild Master Gregg—the last strength of Iron Fortress.
He glanced back at the empty street behind him, then turned back, pointing his sword at the gate riddled with holes.
BOOM—!!!
With a loud bang, the city gate exploded inward!
Countless wood fragments mixed with dust swept over everyone behind the gate like a storm.
The moment vision cleared, the doorway was filled with white skeletons.
No battle cries, no roars, only the click-clack of bone friction.
A swarm of Skeleton Swordsmen wielding bone swords, purple Soul Fire burning in their eye sockets, poured in like a tide.
"FOR IRON FORTRESS!!!"
Viscount Andrew let out the last roar of his life, taking the lead to charge headfirst into the undead tide!
"Charge!"
The remaining soldiers and commoners were infected by this fearless aura. Letting out meaningless screams, they followed their Lord in a suicide attack.
Andrew's swordsmanship was exquisite. Amidst flashing sword light, skeleton after skeleton was hacked to pieces by him.
His sword precisely pierced eye sockets, shattering Soul Fire.
However, it was useless.
The bones he scattered began to reassemble the moment they fell.
The Soul Fire he extinguished reignited after just a few breaths.
Despair spread like a plague.
Just as Andrew smashed his tenth or so skeleton, the tide of skeletons suddenly parted to the sides.
A tall, one-armed skeleton walked slowly toward him.
It didn't attack madly like the other skeletons, just quietly looked at Andrew.
The violent aura radiating from it made Andrew's skin prickle with pain.
The newcomer was the General of Punishment, Skele-Pride.
Andrew gasped for air, holding his sword horizontally across his chest, and said in a deep voice:
"Lord of Iron Fortress Territory, Andrew Conrad Von. State your name, undead!"
Pride tilted his skull. In his empty eye sockets, Soul Fire flickered contemptuously.
"You are not worthy of knowing my name."
Andrew laughed instead of getting angry, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth.
"Is that so? But before becoming a Lord, I was the Empire's renowned Gale Knight!"
Before his voice faded, he moved!
His figure turned into a blur, his longsword bringing a sharp whistling sound as it stabbed straight for Pride's throat!
Pride raised his single remaining arm. The bone sword in his hand moved later but arrived first, precisely blocking Andrew's sword.
Clang!
Metal collided with bone, making a piercing sound.
Andrew's swordsmanship was agile and swift, like fallen leaves in a gale; every strike targeted Pride's joints and vital points.
Pride's swordsmanship, however, was wide open, filled with the aesthetic of violence and destruction. Every blow was heavy and powerful, forcing Andrew to defend.
Two figures crossed at high speed in the center of the chaotic battlefield. Sword light and bone shadows flew, forming a vacuum zone that no one else could enter.
Meanwhile, the city gate was completely open.
"Fearless Vanguard Legion! Trample them!"
Skele-Wrath's will turned into a crimson torrent, sweeping through his four hundred Skeleton Cavalry.
Rumble—
The earth began to shake violently.
Four hundred Skeleton Cavalry riding skeletal warhorses rushed into Iron Fortress like floodwater from an opened gate!
Hooves struck stone bricks, splashing sparks of Soul Fire.
The goal of this torrent was to crush every life in the city that dared to resist.
Hamus stood in the crowd. He saw that cavalry unit at a glance.
He also saw the Skeleton Cavalry that had once chased him, forcing him to abandon everything and flee in wretchedness.
It was still the same, sitting on its horse, majestic and imposing.
Hamus's legs began to tremble uncontrollably; his teeth chattered, making clicking sounds.
Fear, like cold seawater, drowned his chest.
But he did not retreat.
"I have already... abandoned my home once..."
He muttered to himself, voice so small only he could hear.
"This time... I will absolutely not retreat!"
He let out a roar, gripping the longsword in his hand tightly.
Step by step, he charged toward that unstoppable cavalry torrent!
The cavalryman targeted by Hamus noticed this tiny creature charging at him. It thought:
What is this guy... babbling about?
It urged its warhorse, not slowing down in the slightest.
Whatever. Eat my Sacrificial Charge!
Squelch!
The Skeleton Cavalry's lance easily pierced Hamus's left shoulder, lifting his entire body into the air.
Agonizing pain swept through his body, but Hamus didn't let go. Hung on the lance, his body dragged along by the warhorse's high-speed charge...
He used his last ounce of strength to raise the sword in his hand and hacked viciously at the skull of the Skeleton Cavalry within reach!
CLANG!
The longsword struck the skull. The immense force caused the Skeleton Cavalry's head to jerk violently to the side.
Hamus saw it! He succeeded!
He was overjoyed. In the final moment of his life, he let out a hearty laugh.
"Damn undead! You know the power of Knight Hamus now! Hahahaha!"
The next moment, he was flung away by a massive force. His body traced a parabola in the air and crashed heavily onto the ground.
In the final instant before his consciousness dissipated, what floated before his eyes was Lilia's smiling face.
On the other side of the battlefield, the fight between Andrew and Pride was about to be decided.
Splurt!
A flash of white light. Andrew's left arm was severed at the shoulder, blood spurting out.
He staggered back a few steps, propping himself up with his sword to keep from falling.
He could feel that the opponent had been toying with him.
This one-armed monster had several chances to kill him but deliberately avoided vital points.
It was humiliating him.
But Andrew felt no anger; his heart was calm.
Buying time. That is our mission.
What did a little dignity matter? If word got out, he might even earn a reputation for heroic unyieldingness.
Pride's Soul Fire flickered, seeming to lose interest.
"Is the performance over?"
"That Personage doesn't have much patience."
"Goodbye, little insect."
As the voice fell, Pride's aura changed abruptly.
His speed and power instantly rose a tier!
Andrew only saw a blur. An irresistible pain struck his chest, and he flew backward, knocking over several soldiers behind him.
He struggled to stand up, but what greeted him was Pride's cold bone sword.
"The Lord has fallen!"
"We... we can't kill them at all!"
"Help! My leg is broken! Ah—!"
With Andrew's defeat, the morale of the human side collapsed completely.
They discovered in horror that the enemy's numbers hadn't decreased; instead, they were increasing!
Companions who had just died in battle were twitching and struggling on the ground, trying to stand up again and become one of those monsters.
How could they fight this?
Andrew lay on the ground, watching all this, coughing up mouthfuls of blood. He knew he was about to die.
But he couldn't just die like this.
Summoning his very last shred of strength, he stabbed his sword into a crack in the stone ground, supporting his teetering body.
To the soldiers who had already begun to scatter, he let out his final cry.
"Soldiers!"
"CHARGE!!!"
This roar exploded like thunder in everyone's ears.
They remembered the Lord's words on the city wall.
They remembered the meaning of staying here.
Yeah, we're dead anyway. Can't escape anyway.
The eyes of the remaining soldiers and armed commoners reignited with the light of death-defying resolve.
Abandoning all defense, they charged at the undead army like madmen, using teeth, fists, and their lives to bite the enemy.
Pride watched this, a cold snort of disdain issuing from his skull.
He raised his bone sword, preparing to deal Andrew the final blow.
Andrew's gaze remained resolute, a smile of relief even appearing on his face.
Looking at his subjects who had rekindled their fighting spirit, he opened his mouth, used the last strength of his life, and shouted again:
"CHAAARGE—!!!"
Squelch.
The bone sword fell. Andrew's body was sliced open diagonally from the shoulder.
His body slowly collapsed.
In just one day.
This Iron Fortress Territory, which had been rising for twenty years, fell.
When the last shred of resistance was crushed, the white flood of bones drowned every corner of the city.
Inside the city, there was no one left.