Chapter 924: The Slack Army
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It was only after a minute and a half when Miles reappeared in the streets below, dressed in a new set of clothes.
"No one would’ve recognized me just now, I think..."
He rubbed his eyes, which were still feeling slightly uncomfortable due to the intense light. Mumbling to himself, he looked out.
By then, Benjamin had already flown from high up in the skies to the north of the town. The barrier was as good as new as well. Large amounts of mud water accumulated outside the Runic Defense Technique, encircling the entire small town, but the turbulent strength they had at the beginning was no longer there. Also, the mudslide was not pouring down from the northern mountain slope anymore. They seemed to have already withstood and gotten through this wave of attack.
Meanwhile, Miles had even discovered that, further up north, the royal army had already appeared through another winding and narrow path. They stood on top of a high slope, only to watch the Town of Crewe from afar, unmoving. It was very obvious that their plan had completely failed because the Runic Defense Technique had not been blasted apart and the mudslide had not harmed the Black Nightmare Army in the slightest bit. They had to rethink their next battle strategy.
Seeing that, Miles gave a secret sigh of relief.
It had been his mistake for not finding out about the surge of mudslide onto the town. Luckily, he had just redeemed himself by saving the entire town. It was a pity, however... To retain his reputation as the legendary mercenary, there was no way he would claim the title of ’hero".
"Hey, you’re okay, right?"
However, Benjamin discovered Miles the moment he had hurriedly reached the northern district of town. It was then that he could fly down from the sky, asking with a frown.
"...What?" He could only feign ignorance.
"You’ve saved the Town of Crewe, and saved the Black Nightmare Army." Nevertheless, Benjamin completely ignored his pretense of innocence. Slapping his shoulders energetically, he said, "That move you’ve just pulled has turned the entire situation around, I don’t know how to express my gratitude! Don’t worry about the clothes you’ve just scrapped under the artillery fire, I’ll definitely get someone to make a totally identical set!"
"..."
Miles could feel that he was doing this on purpose.
He hurriedly digressed from the topic. "Then... What about the situation outside?"
Hearing that, Benjamin turned to glance at the royal army in the distance, finally sparing Miles. He answered in a serious manner. "Better than I’d imagined. The mudslide hasn’t rushed in and broken the barrier. Instead, it’s piling up outside the barrier. There’s no way for the royal army to charge at us, even if they wanted to."
Saying thus, he pointed at the muddy water that was accumulating outside the barrier.
Water, mud, rocks... A disorderly array of things had heaped up outside, reaching a height of quite a few meters. Affected by the heaviness of the rain, it was still growing continuously, even. Without a question, this had become a natural city wall for the Town of Crewe; unless the royal army came over by rowing boats, they could not even think about coming near them.
Seeing that, Miles could not help but nod in a strange manner.
"Then what are you guys planning to do now?"
"Delay." Benjamin took a deep breath and spoke slowly. "News has just reached me from Elizabeth. The Wood army had successfully grouped up a short while ago, and their distance from Havenwright is merely a few miles. We just need to drag things on here, and it’d be equal to a slow death for the Church."
"It’s impossible that the Church would let you drag this on."
"I know."
Benjamin nodded. All of a sudden, he got up, and flew into the air again.
He halted in midair and exchanged looks with the royal army in the distance, under the vast, heavy rain. Although everything he saw was very blurry, making it difficult for him to see who was who clearly, he seemed to be able to feel Grant’s furious glare stubbornly fixed upon him, piercing through the long distance.
Because of that, he suddenly lifted his chin and made a provocative action.
Ding!
Sure enough, a limited light silk came shooting at his face in the next second. It was blocked by the Runic Defense Technique in the end, and did not hurt Benjamin in the slightest.
Benjamin then put on a thoughtful expression.
Grant must be in an extremely irrational state at the moment. Because of that, he could disturb his opponents through provocation and cause them to be slow in coming up with a new battle strategy. However... such a method would not be able to affect the overall situation. No matter how he delayed them, the cannons of the Church were still hidden in the mountains, ready for the next round of attack.
Miles was right. The Church would absolutely not let them drag the situation on as they pleased.
"...Perhaps we should take the initiative and launch an attack?"
"Forget it." The System immediately emerged. "There’s a huge quagmire outside the barrier now, how are you guys going to take the initiative and attack?"
"I meant, after the quagmire disappears." Benjamin shook his head helplessly, speaking in his heart. "The army troops of the Church have been forcibly put together, so their group cohesiveness is very weak. If we can come up with a way to incite them to desert the army, we wouldn’t have to stay here like turtles retracting our heads*!"
"Incite desertion? How are you going to incite that?"
"I’m still thinking."
"Pah!"
Benjamin paid no mind to the System’s derision; rubbing his chin, he fell into deep thought. After careful consideration, he felt that there was, indeed, some feasibility to the idea of inciting desertion. At least, based on his understanding of some information, many people had been captured and drafted into the troops unwillingly.
However, it did not seem to be that easy, if he really were to implement the idea. The crucial point was that... they had no way of coming into contact with the royal army. It would be impossible for them to come to an immediate epiphany and revolt against the Church, just because Benjamin waved his hands high up in the skies and yelled some slogans at them through a huge horn, would it?
He needed to come up with an idea...
Thus, the night passed by, little by little, as both parties remained at a stalemate. Everyone in the Town of Crewe basically did not get any sleep; they were in a state of anxiety at all times, feeling that it was possible for mud and rocks to descend from the skies, or for a series of artillery fire to raze this place to the ground. In the end, however, nothing happened. It was only until light shone from the east once more that the people knew the morning of the second day had arrived.
The rain had stopped. As the sun emerged, the mudslide that had piled up outside the barrier began to evaporate and dry up gradually... Finally, it turned into a low and fragile hillock. Heaped up outside the town, it was no longer a hindrance to the attack of the royal army.
Thus, in that instant, they launched into the offensive.
"All units, attack!"
Grant let out a shout. All the soldiers surged towards the Town of Crewe; the priests flew up into the air as well, forming groups and teams. Along with the few dozen Cannons of Holy Light that had been raised in the mountains, Grant led those few bishops by flying in front of them all, wanting to crush the Runic Defense Technique during the first wave of assault.
The Town of Crewe was only a town, after all, so it did not possess city walls. As long as they could charge through the barrier, the royal army would be able to move straight in and swallow everyone up in their sea of men.
Faced with all this, about three hundred mages flew up within the barrier, to a height that matched that of Grant and the battalion of priests. With the barrier in between them, they began to cast their spells. The runes in their eyes flashed into existence; subsequently, tightly packed Wind Blades and Ice Arrows appeared on the barrier.
"Hmph... Merely a struggle before death." Grant was not bothered by all these. As they flew, he and the priests began to cast their spells as well.
Holy Light condensed in their hands and formed cross after cross. After that, as though they had planned for it together, the crosses in everyone’s hands flew into the air at the same time, floating forwards like dandelions and facing the magical attacks created by the mages. Finally, they turned into a gigantic flag made out of pure Holy Light.
Every attack vanished through elimination the moment it hit the flag of Holy Light.
There was a sliver of a smirk at the corners of Grant’s lips.
However, it was at this time that some changes happened in the royal army below. Even their battle cries had been immediately messed up.
The priests above looked down for a moment, only to see some soldiers who had been charging in front suddenly halting their footsteps for unknown reasons. They were standing still; some were even beginning to fall back. Because of that, the entire troop that had been charging forward fell into disarray promptly. Many of them were yelling things like, "Who wants to help them fight their battle?" in voices so loud that even those in the skies could hear them.
"What was going on..."
Grant was alarmed and uncertain. Nevertheless, when he looked to the barrier below him, he could see approximately ten strange people standing inside with their eyes shut tightly. Weird but powerful oscillations were being emitted, passing through the barrier and falling upon the bodies of those soldiers.