Translated by Tianic, edited by Grammarly
[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t was the third day that the Capital was surrounded by the Dark Army. In the early morning, the stone-throwers that had been firing all night stopped, and the archers who were shooting notices were also gone. The vast wilderness around the capital fell into a quiet state.
This short break enabled the rebel soldiers who hid in the corner to read the notice they had picked up during the night. There is no doubt that this notice gave direction to the confused rebel soldiers, especially the troops defending the west gate, who were excited to hear that the way out was on their side.
It was reasonable that they acted like so. The rebel’s current misery won’t allow them to turn around the war, it’s just impossible. Who wouldn’t want to live?! They were not Luhrmann’s own father, so why should they sacrifice his life for him?
Even the army police were a bit double-minded after reading the notice.
At the rebels’ daily morning meeting, the officers were very worried about the increasingly fierce attack from the Dark Army. The generals encouraged their men with vague words like “the troops from other provinces are coming, hold the city and we’ll win!”, but the effect was not slim. After deploying the day’s defense, the meeting ended hastily.
No one in the rebel army could have imagined that Cohen Kheda was going to launch a final attack today and that Cohen Kheda had asked the troops to finish the whole battle before dark.
In the middle camp of the Dark Army, all 9 dragon elders were standing in a circle with King Cohen in the center. They were listening to his arrangements.
After the business, Leila stepped forward, “Since all the elders are here, they shall remove the seal on your garment!”
“That’s right, we don’t know when we’ll meet again.” Ray nodded in agreement and said to Cohen, “My friend, keep straight.”
Cohen didn’t know what they were going to do but figured the dragons wouldn’t harm him, so he stood quietly.
The nine elders stood around Cohen. Ray asked, “My friend, what color would you like this outfit to be?”
“White is fine.”
“In the name of the Dragon Elders, with my blood and soul, awaken, the power hidden in the dragon’s supreme treasure.” The elders chanted, while reaching out to different parts of the outfit: “Dragon’s Blessing.”
The suit Cohen wore was slowly shroud with multicolored dots of light, and thin lines of golden color materialized on the cloth. The lines curved and overlapped in rings, like dragon scales.
Then came a sudden crunching sound, the dots were absorbed one by one onto the suit, and the golden lines gradually faded away. The main body of the suit, which had been somewhat dim, now appeared a soft white, while the edges were black and golden yellow.
“What kind of magic is this? It’s really effective.” Cohen dusted off the corners of his new suit, “I’m no longer hungry.”
“It’s a magic unique to the dragons, it gives you more power and uses magic faster.” Ray knew he was joking: “When you use the power from the suit, the color of the clothes will change.”
“What kind of material is this dress made of?” This question had been bothering Cohen for a long time.
“Sorry, I can’t tell you.” Ray smiled faintly, “We’ll go and get ready for your assignment.”
As soon as the dragon elders left the tent, Carlos, who was waiting outside, walked in.
“Sir, everything is ready to continue!”
“Sound the drum.”
Thirty wagons formed a single line outside the gates of the army camp, with flaming red battle flags on them. Once the leading drums sounded, the group drums followed, and the troops listened to the command of the drums and lined up outside the camp in preparation for battle. Except for the west gate of the capital, Kheda’s army surrounded Divine City on three sides.
It was the first time in the whole rebellion campaign that the drums sounded. The drummers were the thirty disciples of Gardena Jr. These guys struck the war drums with great spirit. The heavy drum beats penetrated the sky, the earth, and the walls of the capital.
Those rebels on the walls who were unaware of the situation were still lazily watching the Kheda army’s assembly, guessing what tricks the enemy would play today. But the intelligence system from the Dark Army side in the capital city was stressfully interpreting the information sent by the sound of the drums.
“Attack the south gate first, then feint the north gate. Last focus the east gate. Abandon the west gate. All operations, commencing in 1 hour.” The king’s order and other intelligence were gathered and then conveyed to all units. Quickly, all the receiving ends in each army took the position.
The drums suddenly subsided after the Kheda army had arranged itself in formation. Then the gates of the central camp opened wide. A white-gowned Cohen Kheda showed up, astride a warhorse, surrounded by guards.
Behind the horse held aloft a military flag, the same one that had seen the battle of the Clay City, with a black background and a gold border!
This military flag was the symbol of the souls of all soldiers. The veterans had guarded it with their lives and oaths. Those who joined later had heard those magnificent stories a thousand times.
The king by the military flag astride a godly and handsome warhorse, with a determined look on his heroic face. His long black hair was tied behind his head. A pure white cloak flowing in the wind. The soldiers suddenly realized that King Cohen’s current image surprisingly resembled the late king Fischer. At this moment, they almost perfectly overlapped.
King Cohen, who was in the midst of galloping his horse, stretched out his right arm, and in an instant, the army thundered with joy!
“Long live King Cohen, WIN WIN WIN!”
“ALL HAIL THE KING!”
It was only then that the rebels realized that something was wrong, the Kheda army was playing for real today!
King Cohen’s horses rushed all the way to the front of the line. As he reined, the horse neighed. He turned around, standing amidst thunderous cheers. Gazed by countless reverent eyes, King Cohen lowered his hand and the cheers of the troops subsided.
“Before my eyes, are my heroic troops! And you, all of you, our brave soldiers!” After a short silence, King Cohen spoke: “We have come through many hazards along the way, and we are left with this city still languishing before us! What do you say – what are we going to do?”
“Shoot it down!” The reply of tens of thousands of soldiers shattered the sky, and the majestic voice made people’s blood boil.
“If the war of rebellion drags on, all that awaits us is more death. For the sake of our dead families and friends, for the glory of Swabia, and for the sake of the justice of the world, the justice that belongs to us, what are we going to do?!”
“FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!” Countless hands raised their weapons and waved, and the army’s bravado was completely aroused.
“Let’s go to the capital city! Kill to the end regardless of gains or losses!” When King Cohen brought the air to its climax, he fiercely drew his longsword and ran along the line of horses, “There is no excuse, no pardon. Kill anyone or anything in front of you, men or god!!”
“MEN OR GOD!” The soldiers roared at the top of their voices, their eyes already redden, “Kill, kill, kill!”
The shouts gathered into an overlapping wave, and the Capital City trembled in this angry wave of shouts, and even the earth was shaking.
Seeing that the time was ready, the general staff officer hurriedly gestured to the commander on duty behind him.
“Magic attack!”
“Catapults, engage!”
“Wind up the crossbow!”
Every possible way of attack was deployed. Over the capital’s magic dome, a thousand lightning were sparking. A huge roar squeezed the eardrums of the defenders and struck their hearts.
The dragon elders have spread outside the city. They have secretly drawn a huge magic field, making the attacking side’s magic strikes exponentially more effective, therefore causing the rebels’ city defense magic array to encounter yesterday’s situation again.
As the magic dome trembled and was facing an imminent collapse, the array commander could only cry, “Send more men!”
The sorcerers who were still meditating were called out and pushed to the magic array to help. No one even noticed that the sainted maiden Bellatrix was wearing a conspicuously colored robe. And as soon as she entered the array hall, a Dark Army’s intelligence officer hiding in the distance sent this information out.
Above the capital, a red dragon was soaring. As soon as Leila telepathically sent him the message, the red dragon rolled his body and dived. When it could clearly see the east gate of the capital, it opened its huge mouth and spewed out a series of giant magic fireballs downward – fireballs with a thunderous force, smashing hard on the magic dome!
The blow triggered a series of explosions, huge columns of magical flames spewed in all directions, and the intense red light that flashed out lit up the whole city.
In the magic array, five sorcerers who were in charge of powering the east gate side of the dome vomited blood and fainted on the spot. The commander hastened to call Bellatrix and others to take over.
But he only saw a sizzling white ball of lightning in the hands of Bellatrix. Behind her were several unconscious guards.
“What are you doing?” The commander asked dumbly, reaching for his sword.
Bellatrix smiled faintly, both hands pulled out at the same time, the ball of lightning cracked open – thick lightning swept the array hall, claiming a dozen lives.
“Protect me!” Bellatrix stepped forward and gouged out several gems set in the magic array: “Now, go, run outside!”
The assault team had long been fighting the rebel guards when Bellatrix and her disciples came out.
These gems were the keys to the entire magic array, as soon as they left their corresponding positions, the energy supplied to the magic array was immediately interrupted, the huge white light curtain over the capital flickered, then slowly faded and disappeared. Once losing the magic barrier, the whole capital city was screaming!
King Cohen Kaida has been waiting for this moment!
“Soldiers!” he pointed the longsword in his hand at the capital and shouted out of his mouth, “What are we best at!”
“Kill!”
“What is the purpose of our war!”
“KILL!”
“Do we love this land?! Do we love this empire?!”
“WE DO! WE DO”
“All troops – charge!”
“CHARGE!”
At the command, the front army advanced rapidly, pushing nearly a thousand siege weapons at the forefront, this was no longer yesterday’s child’s play, nor was it the attack like any other. This was the fury, this was the iron flow, this was the punishment from the darkness!
There was only boiled blood and boomed shout, the first goal was to break through the walls!
The sorcerers on the attacking side had long changed their tactics. Countless chain lightning bolts descended from the sky at the same time, lit the entire wall white.
The rebels who remained on the walls, and those who stayed on the waist of the wall, were long ago beaten into powder by this bucket-thick lightning.
Meanwhile, the nine dragon elders cast an earth-shaking spell, the sacred capital city walls began to tremble violently, and finally collapsed in a loud boom. The collapsing stones smashed the rebels who came to support into dead blood and flesh.
Before Cohen’s front troop could rush to the wall, the dragon elders had already created more than a dozen hundred-arm-wide breaches in the wall. With the rocks tossed over last night that filled the moat, there were no more obstacles on the attack route.
All magic attacks in the section that had been broken were immediately suspended. Cohen’s vanguard hence accelerated, rushing through the breach in the wall. The densely arranged wingmen troops in the air were marching along. They were here to clear potential threats for the ground troops.
Sharp whistles rang out in the air as the wingmen began to swoop, along with crossbow arrows, javelins, and even kerosene rocks rained down behind the walls, turning the rebels’ crossbow field and archer formations into a sea of fire. Even the rebel troops who had rushed to seal the gap were beaten to pieces.
Once inside the walls, it turned into close combat.
The rebels near the walls had already been badly hit, and in the face of the tidal wave of Kheda’s army, the remaining rebels were unable to resist. They either died horribly or ran away. The walls have changed hands in the blink of an eye.
The real tragic battle took place behind the city walls in the adjacent district. After crossing a small open area, the assault infantry of Kheda’s army took on the rebel army police.
If Cohen’s elite were the king’s guard, then the rebels’ elite were the army police, who came from Luhrmann’s hometown and were regarded by Luhrmann as the closest army. Among the entire rebel forces, the police were the best treated and the most powerful.
The three regiments of army police, having built their defense in the high-rise buildings and streets near the city walls, engaged in close combat with the oncoming Kheda army. In the small space, lances and other weapons are completely useless, both armies used short weapons, with the support of crossbow arrows.
Kheda’s assault infantry were all veterans of street battles. They appeared to be quite cunning in this kind of situation; but the rebel army’s police showed great valor that the rebels had never shown in the whole war, they held the defense line, preferring to die rather than retreat.
In fact, this force had nowhere to retreat, they were not ordinary rebels, they had a deep blood feud with the Kheda family long ago. Cohen can spare others, but he won’t let these people go!
In addition to hatred, this army had a slogan: always loyal to the king!
The commander-in-chief of the army police went to the frontline and ordered the troops to spare the attacking front of the Kheda army and see the opportunity to assault the breach of the wall with the latent elite force, trying to regain control of the wall.
Well-equipped policing soldiers poured out from the tunnels under the ruins, massed with a huge number of scattered rebels, shouting frantically and killing towards the wall breach. This sudden attack actually created superior forces on the local front!
The site at the entrance was narrow, the consequences would be very serious if it was sealed by the rebels.
“Fight to the end – no surrender!”
The commander gave an order, and the Kheda army formed two lines of defense on the ruins, guarding the entrance tightly. The calm veterans crowded up and put the new recruits behind them.
In the midst of a sky full of flying arrows, the two armies engaged in a cruel fight. Blood rained down on the battle line, limbs were flying about.
The soldiers of the rebel army shouted “Protect the king!” Then they rushed forward, eyes reddened, leaving life and death behind them.
It was a melee, a massive melee, with the two armies fighting over an area measured in arms. Even an ordinary two-story house saw multiple battles. Often when the first floor was in the hands of the Kheda army, the rebels have taken the second floor; when the Kheda army took the second floor, the rebels climbed to the roof; then when the Kheda army fought all the way up to the roof, the rebels reoccupied the first floor.
Seeing the momentum of the attack stalled, the Kheda army sent a powerful troop of sorcerers to support the first line, forcibly clearing every building with magic and crossbows. The reformed wingmen troops flew back again and cleared those rebels hiding on the roofs with intensive crossbow arrows.
“If it’s too dangerous, just blast the houses into rubble!” This is what the frontline commander of Cohen’s army said, “Set it on fire if they don’t come out!”
The battle lasted for a brutal half an hour from the time the walls were broken down. With strong support, the arrows organized by the Kheda army were finally deployed, cutting apart the fields occupied by the rebel police.
Streets and blocks held by the rebels became fragmented, evolving from what was a whole block to what was now half a street and a dozen houses.
The arrows of the Dark Army did not rush forward, but turned a corner and circled back, bursting again in the other direction into the place where the police were entrenched and continued to tear apart the rebel positions with a fierce attack.
Smoke rolled from several places of heavy fighting and the sound of killing echoed.
Meanwhile, King Cohen Kheda himself and his command were closing in on the city walls.
Having the experience of a close victory in the Clay City, Kheda’s army paid great attention to the smooth passage in and out of the siege, while extra troops were deployed to build defenses in the occupied sections.
Shaman physicians and their assistants followed the troops right on the frontline to rescue the wounded, and later transport them out of the walls on stretchers through the special passages.
“Send my order, after capturing the outer city, the attacking troops are to set up defenses on the spot.” King Cohen, with his general staff officer, boarded the highest one of the siege tower and directly observed the battle on the frontline, “Leave the attack on the residential areas and the palace to the king’s guard.”
“Yes, Your Grace!”
Cohen’s tactics were quite correct, the warriors of the king’s guard had been honed for a long time and had the highest tactical quality. If the assault infantry were to enter the inner city, they would be lost in the spider-web-like residential alleys.
Besides, the intelligence system has the best cooperation with the king’s guard. The new recruits might shoot the help who came to guide them as rebels.
The king’s guard crossed the assault infantry and stormed to the inner city.
The guides from the intelligence system had been waiting for a long time, dressed in civilian clothes and hiding in concealed places since morning. These people hence emerged from street corners, residential roofs, river bridges, and even sewers and made contact with the king’s guard.
Amart and Marfa’s intelligence work was well prepared, and in each street, they had a specialist. Under the guidance of these people, they knew exactly where to ambush the rebels, where there were traps, and where the command post was.
Therefore, during the attack of the inner city, the soldiers of Kheda’s army were like prophets, stabbing the rebels in their soft spots as much as they could. Either they broke through the weakness of the defense, or they stabbed the rebel’s heart – right into the rebel command post!
The rebels defending the inner city lost one by one, and their will to fight was no match for that of the police, plus there were always people shouting: “Escape from the west gate! West gate, you will live!”
Over time, there was a widespread rout on many fronts. One person fled, ten followed, and the number grew.
In the end, the situation became so unmanageable that the streets leading to the west gate of each district were filled with deserters.
The police began slaughtering the deserters, but the number of deserters was too large for the police’s manpower to be of use, and there were police officers and soldiers trampled to death at all major intersections.
These outright “rebels” gathered at the west gate, waving their weapons and shouting to open the gate.
Several senior officers came out to intercede, but were killed alive; the war police came to suppress them, but were hacked to pieces by the frenzied soldiers – in this life-and-death situation, whoever did not let them out was their enemy!
Driven by a strong desire to survive, they dared to destroy everything in their way.
It was true that a castle was easiest to break down from the inside. Soon, the rebel deserters forced open the gate and poured out, running for what they hoped would be their place of survival.
Of course, Cohen Kheda had said they would not be attacked, so within a distance of a dozen miles or so, they would not be pounced upon. But beyond that distance, beyond the capital, a cavalry was waiting and preparing to take their heads in exchange for medals.
Think about it, who was Cohen Kheda? Would he spare a single rebel? The command had ordered before the battle started that they would not take prisoners below the rank of Brigadier General.
After a one-hour clearing battle, the king’s guard has completed the siege of the palace.
“Report, sir!” A colonel officer ran up to Cohen and reported in a proud tone, “Our troops have finished clearing the main streets. Your Grace, it is absolutely safe! The capital is yours”
Cohen nodded, mounted his warhorse, and entered through the cleared gates of the city.
The city walls were filled with his own soldiers, Dark Army’s banner wiped waved on the city head, waves of cheers rolled up and down the walls, smiles of joy spread across the stained faces. Cohen stopped the moment he crossed the gate.
Only Carlos and Leila, who were closest to him, saw the corners of his mouth twitch slightly, and the tears contained in the corners of his eyes.
Carlos gave a wink to the officer in the doorway of the gate hall, who shouted: “King at the gate, ten-hut!”
“Your Grace!” Above and below the city, all the soldiers shouted in unison, giving the most formal military salute to the king they admired.
Cohen scanned his soldiers and slowly raised his hand up to return the salute, the gaze in his eyes was incomparably firm.
“Welcome, Your Grace, to the city!”
This chapter was originally published on Wuxianation; any despicable reposts or copies without proper citings are strictly prohibited.