Land of Mirriam

There were no casualties and their defense was going great. But something was still strange; the Spikes, who would typically retrieve their fallen comrades' corpses, instead left them on the field. There were hundreds of them if not thousands, their bodies painting the snow red as fresh snowflakes continued to fall from the sky. They were relentless… the wave would sometimes break but only lasted an hour.

As the battle continued, the stench of the battlefield permeated in the air. The burnt meat was not a pleasant smell but they were getting used to it… after a while the red color in the field would be buried under the falling snow. The defenders knew that this cycle would continue for a while.

And then the sun rose.

“There were no Crushers,” Gallo remarked in a tense atmosphere. Even though the attacks had stopped, he couldn't shake the memory of reports indicating that the wall crushers were clearing the path for the main army.

The ground still shook beneath them. Gallo recalled the records of past sieges, where mentions of crushers were always intertwined with the movements of the main army. The sheer scale of those reports made him apprehensive about the current siege.

“Tomorrow… try to conserve the bullets… I have a feeling that something is amiss,” Gallo instructed as he tallied the cannon bullets.

He had brought enough ammunition to sustain continuous firing for a week. Afara, always by his side in his forest folk attire was always beside Gallo ready to prepare his favorite tea. Not only that, the tall forest folk had been acting like his assistant.

“I will pass it to the engineers,” Afara said in agreement.

Lowering the fire rate might lead to the wall being more easily scaled, but it was a necessary adjustment. They decided to send the hero to the top of the wall to assist, allowing the warriors on the wall to rest.

<--->

“It's our time… the rest can relax for now; we are the fresh batch!” Paramour arrived at the top of the walls.

He directly reported to the commander of that watch, Percival. Together with some of the warriors below, they exchanged greetings. They could clearly see the cannons firing below the floors they were standing on; they were lined up on the veranda below, and there were some on the walls too. The cycle of the cannons from the veranda and top walls was effective. The smoke never died on the exhaust chimneys that were all around the top of the walls.

The hard work of taking the cannons up on the wall was really paying off.

“We will be going now then… at your leisure,” Percival said, tapping the hero on his shoulders like a tap out. Although they were not tired yet, Gallo recommended a shift for the warriors on the upper and lower walls.

“We got the walls…” Paramour said.

The fresh batch of warriors and adventurers started to trade places with their stations; some were still fighting with spikes that reached the top. Simon was included in the newly arrived replacements. There were 3 batches to change watch. Simon arrived by slicing the Spike's head; although the spike that he felled already had iron spikes on its body, it was still moving before he sliced its head.

Some of the forest folk were together with them; they were the logistic team that carried ammo and food around. The reason was because they could run on the wall and they didn’t need the elevator to go up and down.

“Son… although I know you're very strong, please still be careful,” the warrior who traded places with Simon said, the boy just nodded. The warriors who stood on the wall the whole night were to eat and sleep until the next shift in the afternoon.

“Okay, guys, let's continue! Remember their weaknesses, ask for help… you can especially disturb me and the little guy on the west side of the wall!!! Stand firm!!! Actually, you don’t even have to move as long as you call him.” His allies cheered; Simon scratched his head.

The boy wasn't sure if it was a compliment or something else but for the first time, he was feeling something inside his heart. (Happy getting the compliment)

<--->

The 3 watches would take turns on wall duty for around 4 hours each, allowing for up to 8 hours of rest for each batch—a clever strategy devised by Gallo. This rotation would continue until dusk, with the hero and the elite forces handling the 4 to 8 watch.

Time really passed so quickly as the busy schedule of the siege kept them busy as hell. The cycle went on and another day began, it was the elite team's turn for duty again (4-8 a.m.).

“Oh, shit! It's them!” one of the wall watchers screamed. The wall crushers had appeared, prompting an immediate wake-up call for Gallo.

Through the ringing bell and swift relay of messages, Afara, who was by Gallo’s side, roused him from sleep. Gallo, who had been resting on the left-side tower with a suspended sling bed and ear muffs, quickly grabbed the wooden box and peered through his spyglass.

“It's a 3-layered front line! Stop the cannons!” Gallo bellowed through his voice magnifier.

The elite team, still on watch, was promptly alerted and the shift rotation adjusted—they would now execute a 6 to 6-hour shift, with the elite forces on standby at all times.

“Call the Mayor too! We have to discuss something!” Gallo added, laying out his plan.

<--->

They were now conversing near the gates of the wall. A few minutes after the call had been made, the elite team was already on the stand by just waiting for the final instructions. They were talking about the uncertainties that could probably happen.

“That is a problem… I’d say the strength of the crushers is around a B-class monster from the dungeon… if we get lucky I can slay one in around 5-10 minutes depending on how it struggles, and a flash without sparing my strength…”

Paramour was asked about the crushers and his take on their strength. As a veteran adventurer, he could gauge things like this by eyeing and feeling the magic in their bodies.

Gallo looked at Simon. “I always ambush them, so... 4 slices on the vital parts, takes a long time if they struggle hard, but if I cut with weight it was actually easy,” he said. As vague as it gets Gallo took it with a grain of salt. But there were clues there and Gallo didn’t miss it.

“Okay… that’s good to know… we will change the objectives now… how about disabling them?” Gallo asked, considering another perspective. The talk started revolving around the three of them. (Gallo, Paramour, and Simon)

“It's possible… I can hammer down their bones and such,” Paramour answered.

“Okay, that’s what we will do… and to finish it up, Simon…” Gallo called.

“You said 4 slices, right?” Gallo had a terrible idea in mind… Simon nodded.

“Then cut them enough to bleed them to death,” Gallo coldly smiled.

Those who were listening were quite awestruck at hearing his next strategy. It was genius but horrible.

“Wait for my signal… this will greatly change the battlefield in our favor. Hero, it's in your hands now,” the meeting concluded just like that.

“Para-mi… we might be seeing the future right now… he is only a kid, imagine when he grows up… I don’t want to see him on the other side of a battlefield,” Raphael said.

The man with the black hood, together with Gallo, approached the hero, tapping his shoulder to get his attention, then walked over to the Mayor.

“Sir Mayor… can I talk to you privately?” the Black Hood respectfully said.

<--->

The siege was a big problem, imagine fighting against something that would affect the whole realm of humans and the humans who didn’t care at all. And now another problem arises.

“So they are coming… how sure are you?” the Mayor asked.

“I can’t believe it… the empire has eyes here…” Gallo was a little bit pissed.

“Don’t worry, you take them in, don’t worry I will not leave… I assure you that you have me until this is finished…” The hero affirmed his intention. The black-hooded man nodded at the hero. As the 3rd member of the hero party, he has the position to gather intelligence and back up the hero as a mage.

An ambassador coming from the empire was arriving at the northern wall a few more hours later, the nobles had their ways of traveling in any kind of weather, they would usually have someone with them who could teleport.

On that note, teleportation magic was a rare magic and is considered void magic.

It was a rare visit to the north and it was just for a pity reason, to get the hero… the black mage said that he was to be summoned to attend a ball in the central.

“I’m sorry, sir hero… as a noble, I ask for forgiveness,” Gallo said while bowing with great sincerity.

“Don’t ever ask for forgiveness for other nobles… you are different, I trust you, we will get through this,” Paramour smiled at Gallo… the ambassador would be arriving that day too while they were defending the northern walls.

“I will treat them with great respect, I assure you that.” It was a devious face coming from Gallo.

“I like how you smile, kid, tell me the details,” the Mayor was humored by the talk.

<--->

“It's the signal… open the gates!” a warrior who was watching the top of the wall started the series of signals that would get into the gate below where the hero's party was waiting, it was a simple message of how bad the proximity of the wall is.

There were four of them: Paramour, Raphael, Black Hood, and finally Simon… Gallo concluded that they didn’t need too many people for the mission… the archers on the top of the wall would provide the support if they needed it.

“Here we go!! Simon… if you are not sure, call me,” the hero instructed. Simon nodded.

“It's easy… don’t worry,” Simon assured the hero.

The gates opened up.

“Fire! Delay them!” it was Gallo screaming on the top of the wall using a funnel-like tool, it resounded on the whole wall, and cannons were fired.

The markers he left in the field were really doing their job, without the need to just blindly estimate the distance from the wall to the enemy spot, he made it easy to just anticipate and control the angle of the shot.

As the cannonball hit its intended spots, it made the crushers stagger; some fell down when they got hit in the head.

“That is the signal!” the hero said.

The hero party dashed northeast of the gate, and in minutes, their objective was visible. The black mage enchanted Paramour’s hammer, and Raphael conjured the earth to firmly hold a few crushers.

Not only was the hero an expert spearman, but he could also use any type of polearm. “Down you go!” the hero spun and used the momentum to draw the pole hammer on his back. With a loud smack, the hero broke one leg of the crusher and with a spin, another one. The crusher generally uses four of its legs to walk since it's like an elongated large ant.

He had to break at least a pair of forelimbs or hindlimbs. The hero was not satisfied with the first hit so he decided to cover the hammer with magic edge.

Raphael’s earth magic totally made the next hammer attack more effective since it was holding it in place. The wall crusher screamed in pain.

“Next!” the hero said. Raphael caught four wall crushers that were unable to move, and after that, he kept watch.

He also conjured light magic so that the people on the wall could see where they were. Raphael then checks at the boy who was in charge of bleeding the wall crushers to death “Simon, do you need light?”

Simon shook his head. “I can catch up with you, don’t worry!”

<--->

Elford’s Castle.

Elford’s army had finished their yearly dungeon dive. In the castle courtyard, they were having a small party, and there were no casualties, so everyone was really happy.

Still, the bad news about the Golden Axe that betrayed the empire has circulated, and even now, the criminal Sebas of the Golden Axe is in the dungeon under the castle.

Still, their king’s jolly humor drowns down the bad rumor. “Well, I will not kill him, I will let him rot, though, but he will be well-fed,” the king said. The knight captains knew what he was thinking. Although the king was really jolly he was the unmerciful type… to that; they would need to do another dive after a few days of rest.

Vish was one of the knights that went on the dive. She was a large woman and wore a wolf skin for her cape. During the small party, she was watching the queen go around, and for some reason, after talking to some of the knights, the queen laid her eyes on her.

The queen approached her.

“Vish… you are from the north, right?” the queen said, not asking. She finally realized that the queen was just talking to northerners earlier when she watched. Vish nodded in response to the queen’s question, starting to get nervous.

“I will be forming a small team to go up north… a siege is happening there right now,” the queen said. Even her husband had already been informed and was on the go for it, they would be dividing the diving party and would just focus on maintaining the next dungeon rather than culling it down.

“You should rest; your guys will be the first ones to go. The others will follow after a few days of rest,” the queen instructed further. There were only a few northerners serving the Elfords

Vish hadn’t visited home for years. She would exchange letters with her brother, though.

“It will be exciting to see my brother, Bibs… my queen, he is a big fan of yours,” Vish said.

“Oh, tell him my regards,” the queen smiled in a very royal way.

“On that note, you will bring some company and their supplies up north. His name is Peron Wiseman; take care of him,” the queen added before she left.

“Babysitting…” Vish muttered as the queen left.