Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 25: 4th Floor Trial: Siege BattleThe battle was just beginning as I arrived.
Below the roughly ten-meter-high castle walls, thousands of soldiers, their morale soaring, were charging forward.
The vanguard had already reached the foot of the walls, and various pieces of siege equipment—ladders, battering rams, and siege towers—began to press against the ramparts.
"Waaaaaah!!!"
"Charge!! Forward!!"
Of course, the enemy wasn't idle. As the commander positioned directly above the main gate swung his sword through the air to signal…
- Swoooosh!!
Countless arrows rained down, felling our brave soldiers like autumn leaves.
- Thwack-thwack-thwack!!
"Kuaaargh!!"
"Damn it, kagh!"
"Aaaaargh!! Help me!!"
The thud of arrows finding their mark and the screams of falling men echoed from all sides.
The air grew thick with the stench of blood and iron.
It wasn't just arrows.
Boulders, oil, and fire rained down from above.
The enemy was defending with everything they had.
The scene below the walls was utter pandemonium.
'Huu... Stay calm.'
I pushed their desperate cries from my mind and kept running.
I spun my spear to deflect the arrows aimed at me, weaving past the hesitating soldiers as I pressed on.
"Get the ladders up!!"
"Move the ram forwa—argh!"
The vanguard planned to breach the gate with the battering ram, but more than half the men carrying it had already been shot down, and the ram itself was now engulfed in flames.
'Just as I thought. This won't be easy.'
I left the deaths of my comrades behind and kept running.
I was now just fifty meters from the gate.
'I only get one shot.'
I broke into a full sprint.
- Th-th-th-thud!!!
Archers on the wall spotted me and fired, but they couldn't match my speed, their arrows striking harmlessly into the dirt.
"Huh? What the hell is that?"
"Some weird woman is..."
Activating all my buff skills, I gathered every ounce of strength in my body and ran—
- Wham!!
I slammed my spear hard into the ground and used the recoil to launch myself high into the air.
Using the spear like a pole vaulter, I shot into the sky. This was exactly why I'd foolishly dumped all my points into Strength.
The incredible force launched my body as high as the gate, my forward momentum accelerating even more as I flew.
I wasn't tracing a slow, graceful arc. I flew at an angle just steep enough to clear the wall, so to the defenders, it must have looked like something had just erupted from below.
- CRACK!!
Spinning three times in mid-air, I channeled all my momentum into a single point and brought my armored elbow down on the enemy commander's head.
I hadn't even aimed by sight; I had simply positioned my elbow where I knew the commander would be. The combination of incredible speed and force was too much. Neither the commander nor his guards could react before his head exploded.
"Huh?"
"Commander... sir?"
The tide had turned.
I took a deep breath—
"The enemy commander is dead!!"
I roared, announcing my triumph.
...
..
.
So, did the siege end just like that?
Not a chance.
Swords swung at me from both sides, radiating a menacing aura as they closed in, intent on cutting me in two.
"How dare you touch the commander!!"
"Die!!!"
I was trapped.
I dodged by arching my back completely, the blades just grazing my chest and sending sparks flying.
"Kgh...!"
From that awkward position, I slid forward and lunged for the commander's corpse. I pried his still-warm fingers open and snatched his sword.
"You bitch!!!"
"How dare you touch our lord's treasured sword!!!"
- Shing...
'Oh, nice sword!'
It was a magnificent blade that shone with a brilliant luster, as if it had drunk its fill of blood.
I raised the blade to block a downward strike from behind, then dodged the next attack with a quick roll to the side.
- Squelch!
"Whoops..."
The guard, in his attempt to strike me, had sliced open his dead lord's stomach. Blood and viscera splattered across his face and armor.
"Kuaaaargh!!! You bitch! I will not forgive you!"
"Kalleon, calm down!"
The knight, Kalleon, lunged forward, swinging his sword wildly.
He had lost all reason.
It was bad enough that he'd failed to protect his lord, but to desecrate the corpse with his own hands... He was no longer a knight.
He'd forgotten all his training, simply fueling his aura and charging straight ahead.
That made him easy to deal with.
I sidestepped him easily and slashed his side as I moved past.
- Shlick!!
The blade cut through the aura protecting his armor and sank deep, shredding his organs.
"Keoheok!!"
I spun to finish him with a strike to the neck, but another knight intercepted my blade just in time.
-Vwooom~!
His sword was also wreathed in a blue aura.
Mana is the power that creates miracles. When that miracle manifests as an aura, the sword itself becomes imbued with it.
It grows heavier, harder, sharper.
It is, quite literally, the power of a miracle.
-Clang!!
Our blades met, parted, and then clashed again.
"Kgh..."
As I thought, I couldn't match his aura head-on. I deflected his blade to the side and fell back.
He wasn't rash.
Despite believing himself the superior warrior, he was preparing a perfect plan.
"Surround her! Be careful—treat this as a battle against another knight."
'Tch, this is getting annoying.'
The commander's elite guards and knights surrounded me, forming several layers.
'Even for me, this is a bit much...'
Perhaps because they'd lost two of their key fighters so quickly, they didn't move recklessly. Aside from a few spearmen testing my defenses, no one charged. The knights, their main strength, simply watched for an opening, their blades glowing with a menacing blue aura.
This was not a good situation.
This sword could cut through their armor like butter, but their blades could do the same to me.
First, I had to calmly break their formation.
I felt a spear thrust from behind. I sidestepped, grabbed the shaft as it went past, and yanked.
"Uh... ugh!!"
As the spearman stumbled toward me, I shoved his back and sent him crashing into his comrades.
"Watch out!!"
"Kagh!!"
They had their weapons aimed at me, but for a split second, they hesitated, afraid of hitting their own man.
The moment their eyes were drawn away,
I made my move.
The muscles in my thighs coiled like springs, and I exploded forward at top speed.
"Wha—"
I shoved the spearman, still tangled with his comrades, and charged through the gap.
"Now! Kill her!!"
"Wait, he's one of ours!!"
In that confined space, as the soldiers hesitated, afraid to strike their comrade—
- Shwiiiiing!!!
The commander's sword swung in a wide, powerful arc.
- Sploosh!!
'Damn, this sword is fucking amazing.'
So good I almost wanted to take it home with me.
It lopped off the soldiers' heads with satisfying ease.
A fountain of blood sprayed around me, and I used the moment it obscured their vision to charge again.
"You bitch!!"
A knight with a faint aura—he must have awakened it recently—came at me.
I met his blade, shattered it, and cleaved his torso in two. A hot spray of blood erupted from the wound.
A good sword really makes cutting more satisfying.
For the first time in a long while, it felt like the old days.
I tore through their crumbling formation with glee.
Bodies of the soldiers and knights who swarmed me began to pile up as blood sprayed into the air.
"You... monster..."
- Shlick!!
The soldiers scrambled to form a phalanx, but it shattered easily before my overwhelming power and the commander's sword.
The knights, caught among their own men, died without even a chance to swing their blades.
"Kgh, they're just getting in the way! All soldiers, fall back!! Everyone, pull back!!"
Realizing their own men were more of a hindrance than a help, the acting commander ordered a retreat, and the soldiers began to pull back.
"You're not going anywhere!"
As if I'd let them escape so easily.
I pursued them, cutting them down as they fled.
The defenseless soldiers, their backs exposed by the order to retreat, were easy prey. One of them glanced over his shoulder and his eyes met mine. He flinched as if he'd seen a ghost and tried to shove his way through the men in front of him, only causing their formation to collapse further.
- Shuuunk!!!
I skewered the hearts of three soldiers who were bunched together. The feeling of the blade sliding through them so effortlessly was fantastic.
"Damn it! We'll take her on!"
Soon, all the soldiers had fallen back, and the knights charged forward.
Some used aura, others didn't, but they were all formidable warriors.
About twenty of them. This would not be an easy fight.
And then there was him.
The honor guard. His eyes burned with rage, yet he calmly issued commands in place of his fallen commander.
'He's the one I need to worry about...'
The real fight was about to begin.
But just then,
- BOOM!!
A loud crash echoed from the main gate.
"What? Hold on!"
The honor guard who had taken command glanced around.
By focusing all their elite forces on me, they had left a massive opening.
The reinforcements were pounding on the gate with the half-broken battering ram. On the walls, members of the vanguard who had made it up the ladders and siege towers were massacring the defenders.
The defending soldiers, having seen their commander fall, were in disarray. With no new orders and all their elite troops pulled away to deal with me, their morale had plummeted.
In contrast, the attacking vanguard was fired up.
"Save our whore!!!"
"For the whore!!!"
"Everyone, save the whore!!"
"I'll be the first one to fuck her!!!"
"Whore! Don't you dare die! I'll fuck you even if you're a corpse!"
"For the whore!!!"
"..."
'These... motherfuckers... Why the hell am I a whore...?'
I didn't know whether to be happy about this or not, but the situation was definitely turning in my favor.
They had seen me single-handedly kill the commander and were now watching me struggle against his elites. To save me, the soldiers were charging recklessly, cutting down the enemy like madmen.
And who made up the bulk of this vanguard?
Organized criminals, prisoners of war, violent felons, slaves, mercenaries.
Every last one of them was from a rough background. They might have received some training, but their fundamental nature hadn't changed.
And what was the defining trait of men like these?
They cowered before the strong but became tyrants before the weak.
"Kyahahahaha!! Kill them all!!"
"I'll slaughter every last one of you pathetic worms!!"
They were the textbook definition of bullies who only preyed on the weak.
They brutally slaughtered the demoralized defenders. Against a disciplined army in formation, they'd be useless, but in a chaotic brawl against a broken enemy, they were stronger than anyone.
"Shit, at this rate, the castle will fall..."
The honor guard's mind raced.
"Kgh, all knights, listen! First, we kill that bitch! The rest of you, defend the gate! Attack together, now!"
He drew his own sword and charged.
'Looks like he's getting desperate.'
His plan is to kill me first, then sort out the mess.
It's the right call.
Assuming I'm willing to just lie down and die.
'Too bad for him, endurance is my specialty.'
The knights came at me from four directions in a textbook pincer attack.
'A good strategy... but it has one weakness.'
I'd faced this tactic countless times in my past life.
There's a subtle opening just before the four attackers can perfectly sync up. Moving half a beat faster, I lunged at the one who looked the weakest.
- Clang!!
Their coordination was broken. In the instant the other three tried to recover and reset their attack, I kicked the knight in front of me away and used the recoil to swing my sword backward in a wide arc.
It was a blind, backward swing.
They had no way to counter it.
- Shlick!
The blade's arc traced a perfect line across their necks.
"Huh...?"
With a single, choked cry, the heads of three knights flew into the air.
"How...?"
The difference was experience. My body may be a woman's now, but I've fought hundreds of life-or-death battles in the Tower over the last ten years.
"This... damn it! Everyone, cover me! I'm going in myself!"
Realizing he couldn't even gauge my strength with these grunts, the honor guard charged forward himself, his eyes blazing with fury.
Once again, knights attacked from four sides.
The honor guard was the first to charge, a simple brute trying to win with pure strength.
"Tch..."
I lifted my feet slightly, shifting my weight forward.
A simple little trick.
- Clang!!
The force of his blow sent me sliding backward as if on ice, right into the knight approaching from behind.
I slid all the way to the edge of the parapet.
Reversing my grip, I thrust the sword right past my own neck.
"Keoheok...!"
The blade plunged directly into the throat of the knight behind me.
Now I faced three opponents.
The honor guard in front, and a knight on each side.
With my back to the wall, I did my best to dodge their blades and buy time.
'You're the ones who are going to break, not me.'
Wounds began to accumulate.
Realizing skill and technique weren't enough, the honor guard began to press me with raw power while the other knights exploited the openings.
Blades grazed me, and blood trickled from cuts on my side, forearm, shoulder, and cheek. Nothing fatal, but my whole body stung with hot pain.
But it wasn't long before—
- CRASH!!!
'They're here.'
The vanguard had breached the gate.
"Waaaaaah!!!"
"Save the whore! Where is she?!"
"Take back our whore!!"
"For the whore!!"
'Fucking lunatics...'
At a glance, a siege seems to put the attackers at a huge disadvantage, but that's not entirely true.
The walls and smaller numbers make it difficult, yes, but the attacking side has its own knight-level fighters.
- CRASH!!!
"There she is! The whore's in danger!"
One of them came smashing through, swinging a mace with a head the size of a man's torso.
"I'm first! Whore, here I come!"
Another advanced by skewering defenders on a massive spear.
"Khahahaha! So all you little runts were hiding here!"
There was even a lunatic who was just charging in and crushing skulls with his bare fists.
The standard strategy is to group up with those powerful-looking fighters and hold a corner of the wall until the main army arrives. As long as you don't do something crazy like assassinate the commander, the elites will stay put, and you can get through it without much of a fight if you're lucky.
'But this time, everything went sideways... Oh well, it worked out.'
All the strong fighters who should have been spread out were now converging on this one spot. The men who'd just scaled the walls were also gathering above the gate. It was too late to send in more elites; they'd just be picked off individually.
"Damn it, I almost had her!!"
In an instant, the defending elite knights and their remaining soldiers were completely surrounded.
They had no reinforcements.
"Kill them!!"
"Don't you dare touch our whore!!!"
"Just you wait, whore! I'll be fucking you soon!"
They charged with reckless abandon.
Morale.
Their morale was on a different level. It was as if the vanguard soldiers were cloaked in an invisible aura, and they charged forward, sweeping the defenders aside.
The knights might have been stronger individually, but they were demoralized, covered in the blood of their comrades after suffering heavy losses just trying to catch one woman. On the other side was the vanguard, riding a wave of victory and drenched in the blood of their enemies.
They clashed.
Like a cavalry charge, the vanguard soldiers crashed into them, ignoring auras or tactics and relying on pure, brute force.
"Waaaaaaaargh!!"
"Kill them!!!"
They were pushed back.
The knights were pushed back.
Outmatched in morale, in strength, and in numbers.
No reinforcements were coming.
There was no hope.
An opening appeared, then another, and the knights' line collapsed in an instant.
They were trampled and stabbed without mercy, dying brutal deaths as their bodies were pierced and torn apart.
"Damn it!!!"
The siege was effectively over.
The regular soldiers were dead or had fled, and the elite knights had been surrounded and killed.
But one man remained.
He was still alive.
The one honor guard who carried on the commander's will.
- BOOM!!!
He slammed his hand on the ground, infusing it with mana. The resulting shockwave forced the vanguard back. Then, his chilling gaze locked onto me.
He pointed his sword straight at my heart and spoke.
"I am Loteran Arteria, Knight Commander of Count Servion's household!!! What is your name?!"
As he boomed his introduction, my allies ceased their attacks and looked to me, waiting for my lead.
'Ha. So this is one of those 'honorable knightly duels' they have in this world, is it?'
Fine. I'll accept.
I never turn down a duel with a strong opponent.
Besides, ending things here would feel a little anticlimactic.
"My name is Lee Do-hee. I belong to no house or faction."
As I spoke, the vanguard soldiers formed a circle around Loteran and me.
Screams and the clash of steel still echoed from the chaos around us.
But here, in this circle, everyone held their breath, watching in silence.
Our eyes met, a silent acknowledgment that we were both ready.
-Tat!!
"Haaaaaap!!"
We charged.
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