The Lord Of Blood Hill

Beneath the city walls, screams continue without end.

The attacking soldiers suffer heavy losses. Some die miserably, and the scene is terrifying.

This creates enormous psychological pressure on the attacking soldiers, but as several more hundred-man teams press up against the base of the wall, pressure begins to build on the defenders' side.

On the wall, some squad leaders, clad in heavy armor, bravely lean over the wall under the cover of their comrades' arrows and swing battle axes to cut off sections of the siege ladders.

Other soldiers immediately use push poles, trying to push the siege ladders over.

But very soon, they discover that they can't move them at all.

Someone leans out to take a look and discovers why.

It turns out the attacking soldiers have already tied several ropes from the siege ladders to the corners of the wall.

Those are wedges they temporarily hammered into the base of the wall. They are used to secure the siege ladders and prevent them from being pushed down.

Each hundred-man team carries four ladders. Now, more than sixty ladders have already hooked onto the top of the wall.

But the battle continues for more than an hour, yet still no one manages to climb onto the wall.

In the end, the attackers suffer too many losses, and their morale finally collapses.

No one knows who starts it, but they rush toward the rear in a swarm.

Still, these are professional soldiers. Even while routing, they know to carry their shields on their backs.

This causes the defenders' arrows to have a poor pursuit effect.

Seeing the situation turning bad, the commanders of the two warbands can only sound the horns for retreat.

But punishing deserters is still necessary. As for who fled first, that can no longer be determined. Perhaps that person died the moment he turned around.

The commanders order the first ten soldiers to run back to be beheaded. Whether officers or soldiers, all are executed.

Arius puts down the telescope. "Good. Their morale is gone. They won't launch another attack today."

Early the next morning, the two warbands launch another attack.

This time, the other side is clearly more cautious. They have brought many bows and crossbows to suppress the archers on the wall.

But after a bitter fight for the entire morning, they still fail to break through the wall's defensive system.

At this time, the mercenary guard regiment starts perking up again, thinking that war isn'thing more than this.

But that afternoon, the attackers shows them what a harder fight looks like.

Several knights join the siege formation, and for the first time, the attackers climb onto the top of the wall.

The knights climb at an astonishing speed. Before the rolling stones and logs can smash down, they swiftly leap onto the wall.

The knights, supported by heavy swords and heavy armor, begin cutting through the defenders on the wall as if no one can stop them. In moments, they clear out a section of the defensive line.

In the end, the veteran squads form up and force them back down.

After a bloody battle, they manage to surround and kill only two knights, while three veteran squads are crippled.

The mercenary guards lose more than a hundred men. For the first time, they witness how difficult knights are to deal with when they cooperate with soldiers in battle formations.

The usual fighting method of mercenary guards is to fight if they can win and avoid the edge if they can't, then strike when the enemy shows weakness.

But battlefield slaughter emphasizes fighting to the death without retreat. There is no room to simply give ground.

Fortunately, the knights' defeat quickly causes the attacking soldiers below to lose their will to fight and rout again.

At dusk, some quick-witted soldiers follow ropes down from the wall, planning to pull out the wedges at the corners.

After all, these wedges can secure the siege ladders and save the enemy a lot of trouble.

But the attempt fails.

Those wedges are all made of steel and have hooks. They are already firmly stuck in the cracks at the base of the wall.

It is hard to get them out.

At this point, many mercenary guards have begun to think about retreating after facing such a brutal battlefield.

But what happens the next day gives them the idea that they can make easy money after all.

Reinforcements have come to rescue the little prince.

The number of arrivals isn't large, but it is a good beginning.

Windson and the others are also very surprised. At a time like this, there are still people who dare come to support Arius.

After seeing the banner clearly, everyone understands the reason.

The one who has come is Viscount Cronin of the kingdom, the kingdom's diplomatic etiquette officer.

He is one of the few people who dares to argue with Amir to his face.

He once followed Arius, Henwell, and the others on an embassy to Billie Kingdom, and he also experienced the Marriage Alliance War.

During Henwell's Corpse Reclamation War, he was the only noble who stood up and supported reclaiming the bodies.

Because of this, he publicly quarreled with Amir. Even Amir gets a headache when facing this elder of the royal family.

After that, although he didn't like Henwell, he still expressed his stance on matters of principle.

For example, during the three-country siege of Peace Haven, he advocated sending troops to support Peace Haven.

Of course, he also deeply hates Henwell's behavior of obeying orders in name while acting independently, and he has written plenty of letters scolding Henwell.

He has scolded all the princes many times as well. Only Arius is somewhat pleasing to his eyes.

Now that he knows what happened, he immediately leads troops to support Arius, since he is the closest.

Before coming, he even went alone to the kingdom army's main camp and caught the commanders of each legion for a scolding.

Unfortunately, none of them has any intention of withdrawing. He leaves in anger and decides to enter the city and hold it together with Arius.

Does no one want to kill him?

Of course there are people who want to. There are plenty.

But no one dares.

The old viscount has a good reputation in the country and many good friends.

In particular, several dukes all understand that this kind of old minister who is wholeheartedly loyal to Vorry must absolutely not be touched.

The commanders of the various legions already feel conflicted about strangling the little prince. And now ask them to kill an old minister of the kingdom as well?

Do they have a death wish?

Would they still be able to survive in Vorry afterward?

As for those rash young minor nobles, some of them have the foolish courage to act, but they don't have the ability.

As an old minister of the kingdom and an old royal noble, although he has only recently been promoted to viscount, he has more than a thousand elites under him.

He isn't good at commanding troops, but his son is.

His son is a chiliarch of the Blood Lion Knights, and his grandsons are also extremely outstanding. One is also a centurion of the Blood Lion Knights, while the other is a chiliarch of the Royal Guard Army.

Is someone like that a person you can kill just because you feel like it?

Most importantly, he isn't fighting alone this time. He has brought a warband with him.

The warband commander is Taitlant, who was also a member of the embassy that followed Arius to Billie during the Bloody Marriage.

Taitlant doesn't walk the Battle Knight route. Instead, he follows the Knight Commander path, focusing on battlefield command.

After all these years, he has also advanced to the Knight Commander rank, equivalent to the Grand Knight rank.

As one of Amir's former trusted aides, he secretly received Amir's secret message long ago.

Originally, he led an elite warband and prepared to receive Arius back in the east.

In the end, Arius turned south, so Taitlant could only chase him all the way here.

At this time, Cellarwine City has long since been sealed off. He doesn't dare try to cross through, or he will certainly be attacked.

While he is worrying about how to cross the blockade line and support Arius in Cellarwine City, Viscount Cronin arrives angrily with his troops.

So he comes in under the old viscount's protection and comes beneath Cellarwine City.

The arrival of reinforcements makes everyone in the city cheer.

What excites Arius and the others even more is that the old lord has brought news.

Henwell of Peace Haven has already led troops north.

Everyone from Peace Haven breathes a sigh of relief. It seems they didn't choose wrong, and they didn't destroy Peace Haven's plan.