Chapter 910: The Siege
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Thus, tonight was the night.
The great land of the kingdom, which was supposed to be peaceful and quiet, trembled continuously due to the heavy treading of horses’ hooves.
"Worchester is right ahead!"
The bishop had been following Grant from behind, flying nonstop for almost half the evening. They’d finally seen the city under the protection of the barrier upon the horizon in the distance; thus, he could not help but yell out. As for Grant, he seemed to feel relieved as well, upon seeing the dim light emitted by the Runic Defense Technique.
"...They have not withdrawn."
The bishop immediately added to that as well. "Yes, we’ve rushed so quickly that they won’t have time to run!"
Behind them was the black mass of troops that comprised of priests. Only, they seemed to have been flying for too long, therefore every face looked rather weary. Right beneath the entire airborne troop was the cavalry troops of the royal army, which had been advancing with them all the way. The dust and sand kicked up by the hooves of their horses were like a fog being spread; under its cover, the red veins of blood in their eyes did not look so obvious anymore.
As for even more of the royal army troops, they had now already been left behind a long distance away because they could only rely on their legs. According to the plan, the vanguard would rush to Worchester first and prevent the Black Nightmare Army from escaping. They would then wait until the troops in the back had joined them before they launch the general offensive.
This plan involved a bit of a gamble, in fact. After all, their main force, which was numerous Cannons of Holy Lights, was all with the troops in the back. If the Black Nightmare Army were to harden their heads and come out from the city to engage in battle with the vanguard, the royal army would suffer heavy losses themselves.
"When is the fleet arriving?" Grant turned his head to ask.
"They are already trying to be as fast as possible, but... The direction of the wind isn’t optimal today. They really can’t increase their speed much." The bishop hesitated for a while, before saying cautiously, "Due to this condition, they’d probably only arrive after midnight."
"After midnight... After midnight it is."
Very quickly, after advancing hurriedly for another section of the journey, the vanguard led by Grant stopped approximately eight hundred meters away from Worchester. They readjusted their condition here, waiting for the battalion to join them. At this distance, they would have the opportunity to react even if the Black Nightmare Army planned to take this chance to receive them in battle or escape.
The priests landed back to the ground. All the soldiers were panting for breath, and many horses immediately collapsed to the ground. A few of them even stopped breathing.
The bishop immediately felt anxious. This period of time was when they were at their weakest. Most of them were fatigued and without much energy to engage in battle. The remaining people who could still fight had to be alert, with their eyes fixed stubbornly upon the city under the night sky.
Worchester was extremely quiet right then, as though the thousands of families were already peacefully asleep, not knowing that the royal army had now come to a halt before them.
There was a slightly hollow feeling in the bishop’s heart once more.
According to their investigations, the Runic Defense Technique required mages to activate it once every now and then, after a certain period of time. That much had been confirmed. However, the light of the barrier did not necessarily mean that the Black Nightmare Army was still in the city. They could have activated the rune one final time to confuse the outside world, before abandoning the barrier and the entire city in their escape.
If that was really the case, then their run tonight would have been all for naught.
"You... and the both of you. Go over and check out the situation, confirm how many men are still on guard inside the city of Worchester." He hurriedly turned his head and appointed a few priests who still had energy left as sentries, so that they could verify whether the Black Nightmare Army was truly still in the city.
Those few priests nodded, and flew over carefully.
The bishop could not help but take a deep breath. He even put both hands together and closed his eyes, and started to pray quietly.
All they could see were those few priests flying near the city gates of Worchester and encircling the barrier once, before turning around to fly back quickly.
"There are people in the city." The one who had flown in front reported. "There are many Black Nightmare Army soldiers on the wall, and all of them are extremely alert. The moment we got near, they’d glared at us immediately. Some mages even tried to come up and attack us, so we did not dare to linger too long there."
Hearing that, the bishop felt relieved.
Whatever happened, it was enough that the Black Nightmare Army had not run off.
Thus, the vanguard of the Church waited here, slowly recovering their physical and spiritual energies. Meanwhile, Worchester was being strangely quiet. There was barely any movement. After two hours or so had passed, along with the trembling of the earth, the black mass of the royal army’s battalion hurried over from behind. The spirits of everyone in the Church were immediately lifted.
"...Alright. We lay siege to Worchester and launch the general offensive after the fleet arrives."
At the sound of Grant’s command, the royal army surged towards Worchester. They divided into three forces, forming blockades outside the three city gates in the east, west and north. Grant personally brought a team of priests flying towards the exit in the west of Worchester, where the wharf was. They stayed put there, preventing the enemy from escaping through the sea.
The power of the army from all four sides were rather great. Meanwhile, priests flew here and there, directly above the barrier. They were ready to provide aid at any moment, ensuring that their military power on every side would far exceed that of the Black Nightmare Army.
However, when Grant flew up high into the air and looked down, he could not help but frown at the abnormally quiet Worchester.
It was too quiet...
The streets in the city were all pitch dark. There were no soldiers who were moving back and forth, and even more so, no citizens fleeing in a panic. It did not look like a city that was about to engage in battle at all. In addition, upon closer inspection, the soldiers on the city walls seemed to be quite scarce. Thinly scattered, there did not even seem to be enough to form an entire troop.
Everyone in the Church began to feel that something was not quite right.
It was at that moment when, all of a sudden, the sound of a huge disturbance rang out from within the city of Worchester. The priests flying in the air were astonished. Looking from the perspective of the royal army, what they saw was all three city gates of Worchester opening up in unison now!
At that moment, everyone was dumbfounded.
Through the wide open gates, they could see lines of many objects that resembled chariots behind the gates. The moment the city gates opened, those chariots had suddenly begun to move. There was clearly not a soul to be seen on them, but they still did not know how they were being moved, as they began to increase their speed, charging towards the troops of the royal army.
"This, this is..."
Their sudden burst of speed had shocked the royal army.
It was as though someone had suddenly knocked the stables open, causing huge teams of alarmed war horses to shoot out from within at a speed that was beyond the ordinary person’s ability to react. In addition, during the moment right before the chariots reached them, the soldiers seemed to see... Mounds of red, moving things being carried by the chariots?
In the next second... In the next second, they could no longer see anything.
That was because, at the moment the chariots had charged into the crowd of men, the fire elements in their surroundings had suddenly undergone a violent Elemental Change. Immediately after that, huge, fat bodies jumped down from the chariots and crashed headfirst into the embrace of the nearby soldiers. In that instant, the people around them even caught a whiff of a weird stench.
Then, there was a deafening sound.
Bang!
Outside Worchester, to the east, west and north of the city, huge, alarming explosions rang out at the same time. From the perspectives of the priests in the sky, it looked as though three batches of fireworks had unfolded on the surface of the ground, looking strangely magnificent in the dark night.