Chapter 75: Judgement.
Edgar didn’t hesitate to pull up his status screen and bring out the stones to fix the Fortress Wall.
But, at the last moment, he stopped himself from doing it.
His gaze shifted back to the ape-like Nightmares who had begun shouting like crazy as if they had achieved their goal.
Taking in a deep breath, Edgar pulled back his hand and let the Fortress Wall melt and fall.
’Take the bait, you useless fucks.’
If he repaired the wall right now, the Nightmares would keep on throwing stuff at them. He needed them to come closer.
Chunks of stone crashed onto the ground below.
A cloud of dust erupted into the air, and from a distance, the breach looked devastating.
The ape-like Nightmares immediately erupted into deafening cheers.
"OOH! OOH! AHHH!"
They beat their chests with excitement, pointing toward the broken section of the wall.
Even though Edgar remained calm, the rest of the people on top of the wall were scared shitless.
"My lord!" Gordon yelled with urgency in his voice. "We need to do something about the wall."
Edgar looked at him with a calm and collected face that showed no signs of panic.
He said in a low voice, "Just believe me."
Gordon had myriad expressions on his face, but he quickly suppressed all of them.
All he did was nod and signal the other soldiers not to panic as well.
"Hold your positions! No one moves without the lord’s order!"
The guards looked at one another nervously before tightening their grips on their weapons.
They had no choice but to trust the man with their lives.
Edgar, meanwhile, never took his eyes off the battlefield.
The bombardment had stopped.
The ape-like Nightmares were dragging the trebuchets backward.
While they did that, a part of the Fortress Wall fell down completely, creating a big gap for anyone to pass through.
That frightened everyone on top of the wall and those inside the Fortress.
A deafening roar echoed across the battlefield.
"OOOHHH!!"
The thousands of waiting Nightmares suddenly began charging. The ground trembled beneath countless feet.
Most of them were on foot, but a few of the apes were riding wolf-like Nightmares as well.
"They’re coming!" one of the guards screamed with fear that reflected everyone’s feelings.
Edgar slowly raised his hand.
"Wait..."
The horde kept on rushing toward them like an inevitable tidal wave.
They covered three hundred, two hundred, one hundred.
Edgar kept looking at them as his heartbeat began to quicken.
Fifty metres. All the soldiers were already praying to the Goddess.
Edgar’s gaze remained fixed on the broken wall.
"Eighty meters..."
He counted softly.
"Sixty..."
The ape-like Nightmares at the front laughed wildly as they charged straight for the breach.
"Thirty..."
Edgar slowly lifted his right hand and summoned his screen.
"Twenty..."
The leading monsters reached the collapsed wall.
Edgar smiled. "Now."
As soon as those words escaped his mouth, chunks of Nightmare Stones flew into the air.
They instantly cracked, and the white liquid that came out covered the entire broken wall.
As the Nightmare that had jumped looked closely, the wall began to repair itself, and before it could even reach it, it was brand new.
BAM!!
The ape-like Nightmare slammed into the new wall and slowly fell to the ground.
The Nightmares that were just behind him paused as well with baffled looks on their faces.
The cheers of excitement and voices came to an abrupt halt.
Many of them looked up at Edgar, who was staring down at them with a big grin on his face.
Like a Mad King sitting on an Iron Throne, he shouted from the top of his lungs.
"BURN THEM ALL!!!"
The muzzles of the Flamethrowers rotated, and the next instant, blazing fire covered everything in front of them.
The fire rolled over the front ranks of the charging Nightmares before they could even react.
"OOOH AAAHHH!!"
The ape-like monsters screamed as their thick fur ignited instantly.
The wolf-like Nightmares rolled desperately across the ground, trying to extinguish the flames.
Within seconds, dozens of burning monsters crashed into those behind them.
The orderly charge instantly dissolved into chaos.
"They’re burning!"
One of the soldiers shouted in a loud voice that resembled excitement.
"Hahahaha."
But the happiest of them all was Edgar, who cherished the feeling of his enemies getting burned.
Though his laughter made everyone around him uncomfortable.
---
After losing the first wave in such a devastating way, the rest of the ape-like Nightmares fled away.
There wasn’t any more attack from them for the rest of the Eternal Night.
In silence and tranquility, the night passed, and the murky grey-black fog took over once again.
Edgar, who had been on the battlements throughout the night, rubbed his tired eyes.
But the work was still not done. Pushing himself up, he walked down the staircase.
Finding Gordon, Edgar ordered, "Go out, look at the trebuchets, and bring them back in."
The veteran soldier bowed his head and replied, "As you wish, my lord."
’I am not your lord.’
Edgar was too tired to argue, so all he did was nod his head in acknowledgment.
Then he turned toward the remaining guards, who had just finished their shift and were returning after a few hours of sleep.
"Go with him and search the area. See if you can find anything that is worth looking into."
"Yes, sir!"
They bowed their heads and walked out of the Fortress along with Gordon.
Left alone, Edgar began to wonder what he should do now.
Walking around, he looked at the people going about their lives.
Some were moving toward the Agricultural House while others headed outside to collect the corpses.
’We were really lucky that none of us died last night.’
Edgar began to review what he did and what he could have done differently.
His gamble of not fixing the wall immediately paid off, but it was risky nonetheless.
Next time, those Nightmares would be more cautious and more foolproof with their plans.
’I don’t think those Nightmares will give up anytime soon... We need to be ready.’
Edgar took in a deep breath and looked at the ⟨Watch Tower⟩s stationed at different places in the Fortress.
’It’s time to upgrade them to Level 4.’