Chapter 93 - 25: Guardian of Justice (3) (Second Update)
In the thirty-sixth hour of battle, Duke Fernandes fell. This was undoubtedly the worst possible news for Benedict II.
He had to face the Silver Moon Knight Order alone, with no chance of even a brief respite for one or two hours. Meanwhile, upon hearing the news of Duke Fernandes’s downfall, Duke Tangjis, Fernandes’s close ally, would also be unable to appear around Lion King City for the foreseeable future.
The moment of failure was already approaching him, measured in hours.
Thus, in the fortieth hour of battle, Benedict II resolutely made a decision—retreat.
He reluctantly abandoned part of his forces, including the wounded, rearranged his formation, and endured the relentless pursuit from the Silver Moon Knight Order, heading east. Finally, by the fifty-second hour of battle, he reached an eastern town, taking over the castle and its surrounding defensive facilities. From there, he began a defensive standoff against Gray.
Of course, failure still awaited him, though he might be able to hold out a little longer. Although the presence of the castle prevented Gray’s Silver Moon Knight Order from fully leveraging their mobility as they would in open battles, food became Benedict II’s major problem.
The castle, originally designed to accommodate only one thousand soldiers, turned unbearable with ten thousand soldiers squeezed inside. Including the provisions already stored in the castle, the food he had on hand could sustain his remaining army of ten thousand men for less than a week. After that, he faced three possible outcomes: venturing out of the castle to be harassed incessantly by Gray’s Silver Moon Knight Order until his forces collapsed entirely, starvation within the castle, or a mutiny driven by hunger.
Meanwhile, Yilin had already begun to gather the soldiers fleeing from him and Duke Fernandes.
This was, undoubtedly, a nightmare. And Gray was the nightmare incarnate.
"I must hold on. I refuse to believe it—the old men in the Church will tolerate his behavior!" Benedict II spat bitterly.
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