Chapter 881: Attack on Worchester
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
When the question that had been in everyone’s heart was asked, they averted their gaze at the same time.
As the great nobles of the Kingdom of Helius, they still bore the responsibility of protecting the elitist ranks, even if they had temporarily lost their power. Before them, the only one left in the royal bloodline was the little Princess, who knew nothing still and was obviously unable to carry out any important functions. They needed to be responsible for the Kingdom of Helius, and more importantly, they needed to find something to rely on for themselves.
At the moment, that something was Benjamin. The authority over the army was also in his hands. After the Church was dispelled, the Black Nightmare Army would become the official army of the new Kingdom of Helius. Although this army technically belonged to them, their authority over them was actually not that strong.
It was because of this, that the elderly noble had raised such a question.
"Duke, sir, it’s probably a little too early to talk about this... Let’s wait until the Church has really been gotten rid of, before we discuss such things," Duke Collin gave a dry laugh, saying thus.
"It’s never too early to prepare," the elderly noble lowered his voice, "who else do you have in mind? The Lithur family might have been destroyed, but they were once great nobles as well. It could still work, arguably."
"Her Highness the Princess is still alive,"
"But she has nothing in her hands, she can’t even write the names of her parents."
"She will grow up one day," Duke Collin’s tone of voice remained resolute. "Whatever it is, the Church is our real problem now. We should talk about the future when the future comes."
The elderly noble gave Duke Collin a cold gaze for a few seconds, before finally nodding.
"Alright... Since you’re so resolute, sir..."
Without a word, the six of them shifted the topic of their discussion away, as though that conversation had never happened.
A week passed by. The Black Nightmare Army continued their rampage through the small cities and towns of the Kingdom of Helius, destroying countless churches and weakening the Church’s control in various places, little by little. At the same time, the plan to attack Worchester was slowly being created by them.
After investigations, they found out that there were not many garrisons in Worchester city. There were only about two thousand of them, and a dozen priests. Because it was not in an area where the Black Nightmare Army was active in, and there were few rogues in the surrounding areas, the Church had not sent extra troops here as aid. It felt as though the entire city was pretty out of the picture.
However, as the place where the Black Nightmare Society had received its acclaim, there were still a lot of residual rebel forces in the city. The Church had temporarily suppressed them, but the first incident of the strike was still in in every heart. All they needed was an opportunity, and they would definitely stand out once more.
Because of that, Benjamin discovered that they did not need too many soldiers.
"I can lead a troop myself. With only three thousand men, we can guarantee a takeover of Worchester, at no risk at all," at the battle conference, he gave his orders. "After that, the remaining people can move there slowly, through the tunnel."
Everyone there nodded.
They had arranged their troops; they were to separate at the exit of the tunnel, and disguise themselves as commoners, slowly making their way towards Worchester to gather there. As for Benjamin, after he had finished preparing for the shifting of their materials, he left with a group of people, meeting the army that had already set up in the southern region of the Kingdom.
Another day passed. To the west of Worchester, the forces of the Black Nightmare Army had already gathered there.
"...Everyone is here. Let’s prepare for battle."
Under the night sky, Benjamin gazed upon the quiet city moat, nodding as he spoke in a calm voice. The battle tonight was extremely important as the first step towards building their stronghold. However, for the Black Nightmare Army, they had already been through hundreds of battles, so tonight was just another routine surprise attack.
Hidden by the pitch black night, they quietly made their way within a hundred meters of Worchester. Subsequently, with the sudden sound of a horn being blown, Benjamin flew up. A hundred over mages followed him from behind, and three thousand soldiers roared in one voice, as they stormed Worchester like an ocean wave.
Benjamin flew at the forefront. He could see the panicked faces of numerous soldiers atop the city walls.
An expression he had seen countless of times.
"There’s- there’s an attack!"
Shouts rang out in the distances, but Benjamin did not care. From the air, he swept his sights across Worchester. The dark city was slowly being lit up, and a few figures shining with Holy Light were flying towards them from the same direction...
This city was as completely unprepared as the reports had stated.
Thus, Benjamin immediately flew over the city walls and above the city, taking out a specially made sound amplification magic horn, and began shouting into it. "What are you waiting for? People of Worchester, the Black Nightmare Society is back!"
His voice exploded in the city like sudden lightning.
The people walked out, onto the streets, with shocked expressions on their faces. The priests who had been flying towards Benjamin were stunned; after that, they turned around to escape, without hesitation.
"You can’t run."
Benjamin summoned the water elemental sprite; along with flashes of water silks, the figures, wrapped up in Holy Light, began to shake violently. Right after that, they began to fall to the ground, like ripe apples.
By then, his army and the mages had broken through the great gates of Worchester.
Battle cries rang throughout the entire city.
However... it was clear that the noises this time did not last long.
After approximately ten minutes, the sound of killings began to subside. Panicked people surreptitiously peered out from the slits of their doorways, watching the soldiers of the royal army kneel on the ground as other soldiers, who were dressed in black, began tying them up, one by one. The royal army now looked completely different from the impression the people had of them. They let out moans of anguish, like hunting wolves that had lost their fangs, shivering with their heads bowed.
The soldiers in black escorted them towards the direction of the city hall.
From that moment onwards, the people were hit by a sudden realization: Worchester had changed its lord.
After half an hour.
In the city hall of Worchester, Benjamin stood in the middle, looking down at the people. After a battle that could not even be described as difficult, they had gotten rid of all the priests in the city, and many amongst the ranks of the royal army had been killed as well. One third of them had surrendered and became prisoners of war. He finally walked into the center of administration here, in the eyes of the public. The officers of Worchester were all on the ground, trembling without ceasing.
The soldiers were busy dealing with the captives and clearing up the battlefield. He thought about it, and decided to first lock the city officers into prison and seal up the city quickly, before bringing a few mages to start setting Runic Defense Techniques in Worchester.
Without those things, his heart was unable to rest easy.
Of course, he had sent news to the underground camp so that the Black Nightmare Army could begin moving in groups.
"According to our understanding, the latest that Church will be receiving news of Worchester’s fall is tomorrow morning," the person in charge of the Academy’s Black Operation hurried in, and reported as such.
"Tomorrow morning, huh..."
Benjamin rubbed his chin.
It would not be a difficult task for him to defend Worchester. In another half hour, the Runic Defense Technique would be complete, and the Church would not be able to attack them easily. His concerns were about the moving of the Black Nightmare Army, and the possibility that they might encounter sudden changes in the situation.
If the Church were to seal up the roads surrounding Worchester, they would definitely meet with some trouble.
"Is there any way to spread some false news to them?" After thinking for a while, Benjamin suddenly asked.
"What false news?"
"For example... That we are planning a trick, and the true target of the Black Nightmare Army is the capital. That we have pretended to attack Worchester to lure the Church into action, and the main army will suddenly attack Havenwright immediately after that," Benjamin had not yet made his decision. He spoke uncertainly, "False news such as that, to confuse the Church’s sights, so that they wouldn’t dare to act hastily."
Hearing that, the person in charge nodded immediately.
"Understood. We can immediately set people to spread false news like that. The Church has some spies in the city. After they hear about it, they will send word of it to the capital together."
"Good."
Benjamin nodded, as the burden on his heart lifted considerably.
Slowly walking out the doors of the city hall, he stood at the top of the stairs, looking forward. Worchester at night was strangely quiet, after the short battle. Other than the faint scent of blood carried by the wind, it was like an ordinary night.
However, he knew that no one would be able to sleep peacefully tonight.