Chapter 377: Breaking Through the Gate
The most famous aspect of the Doyle Territory was naturally the Doyle Knight Order.
However, not all Tier Four knights were part of the Doyle Knight Order.
For example, the City Guard Governor of Doyle City and the three captains of the City Guards were all Tier Four knights.
Following Bishop Jeremiah's orders, the Governor, accompanied by one City Guard Captain and a hundred and twenty guards, stationed themselves at the main gate.
A City Guard Captain commanded one hundred guards, while a Governor had twenty personal guards.
Of course, in Doyle City, which housed nearly ten thousand residents, these were not the only City Guards.
There were nearly two hundred other guards patrolling within the city.
However, those patrolling guards were merely responsible for maintaining order, unlike these Tier Three elites stationed on the city walls.
The Governor had already dispatched orders to gather the rest, but time was too short; they had yet to arrive.
Only a portion of the patrolling guards lived in scattered garrisons within the city, while the rest returned home after duty, thus gathering them required more time.
In truth, the Governor arrived at the city wall at the main gate the moment he received the command, but both he and the Captain responsible for the gate hesitated.
After all, they understood the purpose behind the arrival of the Allied Nobles, and they knew Marquis Gregor had invited them. Yet now, Bishop Jeremiah ordered them to hold the wall and forbid entry.
The commands from the Bishop and the Marquis clearly conflicted.
Moreover, how could they possibly stop the Allied Nobles with just their men?
Even if Doyle City’s walls were tall and sturdy, the difference in numbers was starkly realistic.
Before their hesitation lasted long, three arcing beams streaked across the sky. What followed was a terrifying sight visible to all — the majestic Castle of Doyle collapsed with a roar within a rising miniature sun, and the knights’ and officials’ residences were engulfed in its light.
Cold sweat formed on the brows of both the Governor and the Captain.
They silently thanked themselves for not choosing to live in the Second Tier.
They had the right to live in the Second Tier, being both officials and knights.
However, something about the atmosphere of the Second Tier had always unsettled them, prompting them to move into the City Guard quarters, bringing their wives and children to the Third Tier.
It was the choice of those within Doyle City who had the strength of Tier Four knights but refused to join the Doyle Knight Order.
Within their feelings of gratitude, they no longer hesitated and chose to obey Jeremiah’s command.
After all, with those three beams, it was uncertain if Marquis Gregor had survived.
Even if he had, with such forces outside the city, an attack was inevitable.
And those beams had come from outside the city — where only the Allied Nobles resided.
As the main city of the Doyle Diocese, where the Great Cathedral was located, Doyle City had two Magic Cannons installed on each of its three gate towers.
These were the earliest models of Magic Cannons.
To sell them to nobles beyond the York Territory, the Monastery had modified them for easy activation. One simply needed to toss a mana-filled gemstone into the magic node at the cannon’s base to fire.
After all, outside of the York and Adrian Territories, few mages were willing to reside in Greenwood.
Usually, these Magic Cannons were covered with cloth and carefully preserved.
Each shot cost a gemstone, which in itself was expensive — even more so when filled with mana.
A City Guard Captain would have to work half a year to afford a single shot.
However, with the First and Second Tiers outside already bombarded, the Magic Cannons had to be deployed.
Even as the arcs in the sky made their disparity apparent, they did not fall into despair — for they still had the Doyle Knight Order.
Though the knights of the nobles were also in the city, they were outsiders loyal to various lords, and could not compare to the unified Doyle Knight Order.
They believed firmly that unless those five arcs had killed every knight within the city, victory would belong to the Doyle Knight Order.
Of course, if all the knights had perished, they could only choose to defend the city.
Just as they thought this, before they even saw the enemies outside, a dark wave of knights surged from within the city. These knights bore bloodstains, but the Governor could see the armor beneath — armor of the Doyle Knight Order.
The Governor was reinvigorated. He saw more than a hundred knights among them and believed the Doyle Knight Order had triumphed.
If so many had survived, then surely Marquis Gregor had as well.
He believed that once Marquis Gregor led the Doyle Knight Order in a charge, no matter how many nobles besieged Doyle City, they would be crushed.
Was there any force in the world more powerful than a knightly charge?
The Governor believed not.
Even with the devastating might of the Magic Cannons, even after witnessing those arcs obliterate Castle Doyle — in war, men were still what truly mattered.
But before he could shout to the oncoming knights, he noticed knights in unfamiliar armor among them.
The City Guard Captain murmured, his voice trembling, “Governor, I have a bad feeling about these knights.”
“I see it too,” the Governor replied, his voice losing its calm.
He saw the ferocity on their faces — fear, rage, and a suffocating aura of slaughter bearing down on them.
Before he could issue any commands, the foremost knights swung makeshift sling-stones, hurling them up the wall.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Like rain, the sling-stones slammed into the wall, shattering stone, forcing defenders back. One unlucky soul had his neck snapped clean by a stone, his head flying from his body.
The Governor and Captain stood their ground. They were knights in full armor and could endure such attacks.
They lowered their visors and shouted for their warriors to guard the passage leading up the wall — to stop what now seemed like rebelling knights.
But no one dared move.
Who would dare face these mad knights?
The Governor and Captain understood.
So the Governor turned to his Captain. “Quick, assign men to aim the Magic Cannons at these rebels.”
Then he drew his sword and led his personal guards to block the wall’s passage.
But he alone could not hold back the tide.
Against the rebelling knights surging like a wave, the Governor was torn apart like a common soldier.
Despite having advantageous terrain and his guards assisting with long spears, the knights’ iron armor let them ignore the spears, crush skulls, and advance.
Only the Governor’s full-force strikes could pierce their armor, but one knight used the gaps in his armor to catch the blade, and others swarmed him, ripping apart his armor and body alike.
He didn’t even have time to scream.
A knight’s charge was indeed fearsome.
When the rebel knights burst onto the wall, the Captain was commanding his men to move the Magic Cannons.
The knights’ eyes locked onto the cannons.
The Captain froze in fear, no longer caring about the Governor’s fate.
He screamed, “Run!”
But he didn’t need to — the moment those savage-eyed knights appeared, the guards dropped their weapons and fled.
The rebels looked like beasts, low growls and a stench of blood trailing behind.
These knights did not wait, nor did they speak.
They swarmed forward and gave the Captain a death like the Governor’s.
They seized the wall’s defenses — one group opened the gate, another began dismantling the Magic Cannons.
These were powerful weapons, rare outside cities with bishops.
They suspected those arcs in the sky were Magic Cannon shots.
So, they reasoned, these must be troops from the Senate.
But where was this army?
Where had the arcs come from?
If the Second Tier didn’t have such towering walls, they might have gauged the distance.
But their view was blocked.
Not knowing how far the Senate’s forces were, they moved quickly, hoisting the cannons and preparing to leave the city.
They were unwilling to abandon such power.
With the cannons and the Allied Nobles outside, nearly two hundred knights and close to eight thousand soldiers could carve out a new marquisate — perhaps even threaten the entire Greenwood.
As for the nobles’ Sacred Relics — such a number of knights would not fear them.
And they had two Magic Cannons.
Even if less powerful, they doubted nobles would dare to constantly unleash their relics.
They were flushed, eyes bloodshot, mad with dreams.
If the New Testament Era’s Greenwood no longer welcomed those who clung to Old Testament traditions, then they would go where those traditions still lived.
There, they would remain high-standing knights — even new nobles.
These rebels fantasized thus, finally dismantling the Magic Cannons and carrying them out.
Then, they heard the clear beat of drums.
And footsteps echoing in unison with the drumbeats.