NOVEL WEB Chapter 36
"Sir Ivote, we lost fifty men today, but only forty of them are either dead or injured. The rest, I'm afraid to say, have probably abandoned posts. Our supplies are not doing so good; the archers are low on arrows, and we have no spare weapons." a soldier reported.
"Hmm, this is the most unfortunate situation. Have we found any of the missing supplies?" replied Ivote as he cleaned his weapon.
"No, sir. But there is something else. Someone would like to speak to you and you only."
"Who are they?"
"They have the Thuland Family Crest, but they wear strange armour and carry weird weapons."
"Hm, I'm surprised someone from his house is here within the walls. Fine, I will meet them."
"Yes, sir, I will bring them over now."
After the soldier left, Ivote was alone, back to cleaning his weapon. Nothing was on his mind except that he knew he might die soon. Against all odds, he had survived with a small, demoralised force for this long, but
"Sir, I have brought Sir Mute and his second in charge here."
"Mute, huh, that's an unusual name. Is it your real name?"
Mute walked closer to Ivote and nodded its head whilst showing the flag. As its name suggests, it didn't talk much.
"I guess you're not much of a talker, eh?"
Instead of replying, the other unit spoke up.
"We are mercenaries hired by Baron Thuland. We are a small advance force sent ahead to assist until the main army arrives in less than four days."
"How many men has he bought?"
"Just under one thousand soldiers and five hundred from the militia."
"That's still not enough; five thousand enemy soldiers are outside that wall, and more are arriving daily."
"How many able men do you still have?"
"Eight hundred on the walls; there should be another three hundred still at the castle. My cousin, Mihel, is one of the knight captains at the castle."
"I'm afraid to say that your cousin Mihel had attempted to rebel and was put down by one of our operatives. Lady Scarlett has left Lady Isadola to Sir Yon, and she is heading over with her troops to assist."
"That can't be true-"The information shocked Ivote as he dropped the sword in his hand. "I don't believe this; Mihel devoted his entire life to getting to his position."
"It's true, Ivote." arriving at the door were Scarlett and the rest of the Chevilar squad behind her. "Your cousin betrayed us and was killed for it. Your reaction seems like you had Nothing to do with it. But we will talk later; Baron Thulands mercenaries have information on the enemy."
"Overwatch has spotted large movement from the enemy camp; we likely need to prepare for a night attack," said Chief.
"Lady Scarlett..." Ivote looked back to Scarlett with uncertainty.
"We can trust these people, Ivote, order your men and prepare the defence immediately."
"Yes, Ma'am." Ivote picked up his sword and rushed out of the room, along with the guards stationed outside the room.
"So, what are you guys planning on doing?" asked Scarlett.
"We will station most of our current forces on the walls whilst a smaller squad be outside the main gate," explained Chief, "We have requested extra support, and they are on their way."
"I understand that you are all very capable, but the enemy force still outnumbers us."
"No worries there. We just need to delay them as long as possible. We will have all machine guns stationed around the gate, and when the time comes, we will retreat and let them take over."
"I do not understand what a machine gun is, but I trust you all to stay alive. I will take over the troops and make sure they do not interfere with your plans."
"Much appreciated. We also need to know any information on the enemy, like their weapons, formation, and if they have any long-range magic weapons."
"We don't know much, except they are mostly all Vikner warriors. I fought against the enemy leader during the last attack, and we drew. The others are probably troops sent by the prime minister's faction to keep an eye on them."
"We will have to make do with that much. Alright, let's get set up," ordered Chief.
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As predicted, the night attack happened. The Vikner warriors did not expect the whole enemy force to be waiting and ready for them. Nonetheless, they carried on with the attack instead of retreating.
They advance in a compact shield formation to protect themselves from the volley of arrows. However, since they were so close together, the grenades were even more effective, killing over twenty soldiers each time.
The attackers' only advantage was their numbers, but it was dwindling. Demo beat down soldiers and sent them flying in the air with his explosion shield. Noble and Mute dived into the middle of enemies, creating a blood storm. Riot had gone off and killed most of the enemy's commanders but kept those who looked important alive but incapacitated.
Titan and Chief protected the units setting up a small machine gun bunker outside the main gate.
As the fight continued, the Vikners reached one of the walls and prepared to climb on the ladders they had carried.
"Ladders! They're climbing up!" shouted an archer on the wall as he realised his quiver was empty.
"Clearing climbers now," replied the unit as it pulled out its side arm and shot down at the enemies climbing up. "Climbers cleared; continue to engage."
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A formation consisting of four AH-1 Cobras raced through the night sky over the city walls.
"Ground force, air support has arrived."
"Roger that, it's about time you guys joined the party. Be advised we have friendlies inside and on the walls. Keep fire to the outside."
"Understood commencing fire."
An endless hail of gunfire sprayed across the land from one side to another, obliterating everything in the way.
The enemies began to scatter like a swarm of fleeing spiders. Whether they had a shield or heavy armour, none of them could escape.
Scarlett, who was on the wall, found that she couldn't speak and could only stare at the bloodbath. Her whole life, she had trained her magic and swordsmanship to prepare for any combat situation. Nothing in the world could prepare her for something on this scale. Perhaps if she knew sage-level magic, she might be able to stand against the flying iron monster and its whirling blade of death.
After the swirling sound of the Gatling guns subsided, the battlefield became quiet. Only the loud propellers of the helicopters could be heard.
