A day after the demon army’s first attack, at night….
The vibration and sound woke Welner from his nap. Welner smiled bitterly and thought, ‘For me to wake up because of this sort of thing, as expected I feel tense because of the battle.’
Welner then got off from his bed and put on his armor. With his spear in hand, he went outside with Neurath and Schunzel, who came to his room to wake him up. Outside, a kneeling knight greeted Welner.
“What happened?”
“The demon general attacked the north gate with… Hmm.. It would be easier for you to see it yourself, sir.”
“Okay.”
Welner exchanged glances with Neurath and Schunzel. Then, he gave some instructions to Frenssen, who was preparing the horse to gather all messengers in the north gate.
After that, Welner headed to the north gate. As he got closer to it, the mysterious sound also got louder.
‘Eickstedt, today’s night guard duty must be the one that made the top of the enclosure wall become this bright’, Welner thought as he approached the wall.
When Welner finally saw the wall from a closer distance, he was shocked to find that the wall was vibrating. Welner hurriedly went to the top of the wall.
“What happened?”
“Your Excellency. Please look outside.”
Welner looked outside and was shocked to see Gezarius throwing a big log to the wall, as if he was throwing a javelin. No human could throw a log that size alone.
Although Welner was prepared for this kind of attack, both the scale and the actual power behind the attack were far beyond his prediction. To think that the impact created by that log was strong enough to shake a wall made of stones…
“That damn monster!”
Although the darkness made it difficult to see far, Welner could still make up the image of several logs just as big as the one he saw earlier lying near Gezarius. It seemed like the demon army had made sufficient preparation. Welner could also see that the logs seemed to have been ripped off the ground, not being cut by an axe or anything.
All of this made Welner break out in a cold sweat inside. This situation was indeed beyond anyone’s imagination. Welner clicked his tongue and observed Gezarius’s surroundings more carefully.
Strange… Welner couldn’t see any demons near Gezarius.
“To think the enemy can gather that many logs in just a day.”
“Maybe the reason they didn’t attack us this afternoon was because they were gathering the logs.”
Welner didn’t reply to Neurath and Schunzel’s astonished words and kept observing the situation around Gezarius silently. After some time passed, he finally spoke. “Sir Eickstedt, stay here and remain vigilant. I will increase the number of guards in the town, so in case the enemy attacks us, use the blinding agent to buy some time.”
“Understood. Permission to use the ballistas?”
“If the situation calls for it, granted. Be careful. Neurath, Schunzel, let’s go.”
The top of the wall was noisy because Gezarius kept throwing logs toward the wall. It would be hard to have a meeting here, so Welner chose to descend from the wall. As the three arrived on the ground, they saw that ten or so messengers had gathered.
“Your Excellency, why have you summoned us?”
One of the messengers immediately asked Welner.
“We have little time. Tell Kesten to lead the members of the support troop who are on duty tonight to the east gate, tell Holzdeppe to lead the rest of the support troop to the west gate, and also tell Holzdeppe that the governor’s infantries and cavalries will now be under my direct command. Last, tell everyone to wake infantry and cavalry.”
After Welner gave his instructions, he immediately rode his horse and left without hearing the messengers’ reply. Neurath and Schunzel followed Welner. Their destination was downtown.
“Welner-sama, why did we come here?”
“It looks like they haven’t arrived in the town yet.”
Hearing Welner’s words, Neurath and Schunzel exchanged glances and after a few moments, they finally realized Welner’s meaning.
“The demon general is hitting the wall on purpose.” (Welner)
“Is he trying to divert our attention?”
“Yeah. For the proud demon general to make himself the bait was unexpected, though…”
Suddenly, a loud bang resounded, making Welner complain inside. ‘Did that guy not know how to control his strength!?’
Welner raised his voice toward the soldiers, who had finally gathered, “The 1st, 2nd, 3rd divisions of infantry troops will be under Neurath’s command. The 4th, 5th, and 6th divisions will be under Schunzel’s command. Because the enemy has yet to make any movements, I suspect they are currently digging underground tunnels. Neurath, you go lead the troops to check the water containers in the west while Schunzel will go to the east. Report back your findings to me. I’ll be staying here.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Understood. What will you do with the south side?”
“I’ll leave the south to Sir Gekke. He won’t make a mistake in his judgment.”
Before this, Welner had already entrusted an independent troop to Gekke and sent them to the south.
Immediately after Neurath and Schunzel left, a messenger from Kesten came to Welner and reported that the demons had begun their attack on the east gate.
The best way the enemy could avoid the concentrated firing tactic was to spread out the human army archers, yet the attack came only from the east gate, not also from other gates. That meant that as Welner had predicted, this was all diversion tactics and the enemy’s true aim was to create underground tunnels.
“What did Kesten say?”
“He said that he could handle them for the time being.”
“Okay. Then, can I trouble you, Sir, to go to Rafed and tell him to prepare the remaining blinding agent and take them to the north gate?”
After that, a troop made up of the town’s guards came to Welner. Welner instructed half of them to go to the top of the enclosure wall. When the demons attacked the wall, they were to throw whatever they could find under Eickstedt’s order toward the demons. As for the other half, Welner led them to a certain object just a short distance away from the main gate.
“First, we will move the catapult so that it can block the gate.”
Even though the catapult here was a smaller version of the usual catapult, it was pretty heavy. In addition, Welner covered the catapult with a simple armored plate made of the skin of Alligator Warrior, making it even heavier.
Welner did this to prevent Gezarius from breaching the main gate. He had already made some preparation in case the enemy tried to break the gate from the outside, although he never expected that the things that the enemy would use to break the gate weren’t a battering ram, but wooden logs.
In the meantime, the wall continued to vibrate and the loud bangs continued to resound, yet Welner’s expression remained calm even though he was quite anxious inside. Welner was army commander. If he let people see his anxiety, the army’s morale would fall.
With that, Welner and the town’s guards moved the catapult together. Although the catapult had wheels, it was still quite heavy. After they moved it to the main gate, they then fixed its wheels in place using wooden logs. Once that was done, Welner instructed the guards to go to the east gate.
By the time the guards left, the soldiers under the governor’s command had arrived. After Welner confirmed that the soldiers of the day shift no longer seemed sleepy, he took a roll call and restructured the soldiers’ chain of command. Suddenly, a soldier came rushing to Welner.
“Your Excellency. I am a member of the 1st infantry troop. Neurath-sama asks for your presence.”
“Okay, wait a minute. Send one cavalryman to Schunzel and tell him to lead his troop to the west gate immediately.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You, go to the governor’s mansion and tell Frenssen to prepare some lights and send them to the west. You remain here. If anyone came here searching for me, tell them I’m in the west. As for the rest, you all follow me.”
“Yes, sir!”
After saying that, Welner rode his horse and went to the west gate. Although the town wasn’t that big, the frontlines were scattered, so it was troublesome for him to head to the west gate.
When Welner got closer to the west gate, he saw that the gate was still closed, and he also saw that the top of the enclosure wall, a bit of distance away from the west gate, was quite bright. It must be Holzdeppe that prepared the lights. While feeling glad that everyone’s response was quick and precise, Welner went to Neurath.
“Tell me the situation.”
“Yes, sir. In this place, that place, and that place, the water vibrated more frequently than others.”
“Two… no, three places, huh…”
While mulling bitterly inside, Welner noticed something and let everyone return to their position for now. Then, a soldier asked a question.
“Your Excellency. If we intercept the demons when they are digging the tunnels, we can catch them off guard and make it a one versus many battle.”
“I considered that option too, but there are a number of problems with that plan. First, demons’ physical strength is much higher than humans so fighting them in a narrow tunnel is not the best option. Second, if demons somehow notice our plan, they can change their course midway or just run away. Third, humans will take more time to dig than demons.”
That was why Welner planned to let the demons complete the tunnels, but in exchange, he gave instruction to his army to kill the demons once they returned to the surface. Welner’s reasoning convinced the soldiers, so they proceeded to hide nearby, waiting for the demons to come to the surface.
Not long after, three holes appeared on the ground and several Lycanthropes emerged from those holes. They didn’t seem to notice the army’s presence. For better or worse, the number of Lycanthropes wasn’t that many. When Welner saw that there were no more Lycanthropes coming out of the holes, Welner ordered the army to attack.
“Turn on the light! Attack!!”
The magic lamps prepared by Frenssen were turned on simultaneously. Cry of battle rose as the human soldiers charged toward the demons.
