Chapter 204: A Trick (4)

Shortly after recruiting Shawn, the Lester Kingdom had created the stainless steel and he had insisted that a full-armored group of infantry be created. Milton had agreed and appointed him as the commander of the unit. He had also made Shawn personally train the unit. He believed that with Shawn’s military experience and talent, as well as his Training trait, it would be best to entrust the entire unit to him.

And so, the Iron Wall Unit had been born. Shawn had carefully and thoroughly trained the Iron Wall troops. Not only did he fully utilize the stainless steel’s qualities through group tactics, but he had also trained and ‘armed’ each soldiers’ mentality. It was thanks to Shawn’s perfectly disciplined soldiers’ mental strength that they had been able to stand strong as an iron wall against Master Siegfried even as he swung his sword in front of them.

The mental strength of the Iron Wall Unit was shining again now. The Republican soldiers were attacking like lunatics, but the Iron Wall soldiers didn’t flinch and stood steadfast. They had been trained so that no matter what the other side did, all they had to do was believe in their comrade and do what they’ve been told to. They became one solid group and stood firmly and endured against the enemies.

And while they held out, Milton quickly joined them

“Piss off, you f*cking zombies!”

With Milton swinging his Aura Blade around to deal with them, the Republican soldiers who had been swarming the castle gates finally cleared up. However, the moment Milton left his position, the castle walls had been in danger again. 

“Shawn. I’ll leave the castle gate with you. You think you can hold it till the end?”

“Leave it to me, sir.”

“Good, I’ll trust you with it then, Shawn.”

Milton climbed up to clear the walls again and Shawn immediately rearranged the Iron Wall troops to a new formation.

“Divide into two groups of 100 and form separate formations. Block the stairs leading from the castle walls!”

“Yes, sir!”

The first group removed themselves from blocking the gate and went to block the stairs leading down from the walls.

‘I will never allow the gate to be breached.’

Shawn was determined to faithfully carry out Milton’s orders.

No matter how much of a genius a person was, an absence of information would inevitably lead to errors and Siegfried, he didn’t have any information on Shawn. 

***

“So the gates can’t be opened.”

Siegfried frowned. The Republican soldiers had managed to scale the wall and some of them had even been able to get over it. Even the cavalry was ready to rush in, but the gate continued to stay closed.

“Perhaps Milton Forrest dealt with them, sir?”

“That is indeed possible. But, he won’t be able to leave the walls empty for long… Ah! Maybe it’s him?”

At that moment, Siegfried remembered the existence of Jerome, Milton’s right-hand man. If he was able to survive fighting against Jake, then Republican berserkers wouldn’t have survived their encounter with him.

“Perhaps… Milton Forrest is on the wall and Jerome is waiting on the ground?”

Having realized the enemy’s locations, Siegfried’s lips rose into a smile.

‘And if that’s the case, then I’ve confirmed the enemy’s battle formation.’

In that case, there was no difficulty in carrying out his plan.

“Jake.”

“Yes, sir?”

“Carry out the operation.”

“Understood, sir.”

He had shaken the enemy’s morale enough[1] and understood the enemy’s situation. It was time to pull out his real weapon. 

“My Lord! Siegfried himself is moving!”

“What?!”

Milton had been dealing with the Republican soldiers up on the wall but when he heard the report from the Southern Knight, he was so startled that he stopped and looked over the wall.

There, he saw that Siegfried was leading the Ghosts and heading towards the castle gate.

“A small bridge to cross the moat and a battering ram as well? He’s using standard tactics now?”

Milton gritted his teeth. It was only the third day of the battle but the intensity of it had been so high that his men were exhausted. But now, Siegfried was leading the Ghosts and was conducting a frontal attack on the castle gates?

‘What should I do?’

Shawn was blocking the front of the gate with the Iron Wall Unit. Even if the gate was breached, Shawn would be able to defend it, but that was only if it was an ordinary enemy.

‘It’ll be dangerous if Siegfried leads the Ghosts and fights himself. Maybe that guy, Jake, will also be there?’

Milton was anxious.

The castle gate, which was protected by the moat, was usually the most difficult part of the castle to attack. However, just because it was difficult didn’t mean that there wasn’t any way to attack it. It was possible to lower the drawbridge and smash through the gate itself by using a battering ram. Of course, the people on the walls wouldn’t just stand there watching it. Since the people on the wall would focus their attacks on the invaders in front of the castle gate, that would be a very difficult strategy.

However, right now, there were Republican soldiers everywhere on the walls. In other words, it would be impossible to hold back the enemies attacking the castle gate.

‘What should I do? Should I join? Should I abandon the walls and stop Siegfried? But then…’

No matter which one he chose, it seemed like it would be difficult to protect the castle.

It was at that point that Siegfried prompted Milton to make a decision by standing at the front and shouting towards his troops.

“Smash open the gate! We’re charging in!”

Milton strengthened his resolve when he saw Siegfried waving his Aura Blade and making his presence known.

“Let’s think of this as an opportunity instead.”

It was unreasonable to expect himself to defend both the castle walls and gate while being besieged. In that case, it would be better to switch from defending to attacking.

‘With Shawn’s Iron Wall Unit’s protection, I’ll take Siegfried’s head.’

Regardless of the outcome of this battle, as long as he could cut off Siegfried’s head, he would be getting the best result possible. With that in mind, Milton immediately ran down to the gate shouting, “Open the gate!”

***

It was only natural to defend the castle gate so it wouldn’t get destroyed.

But there were times during battles where it would get so dangerous that it would become impossible to protect the gate. In that case, the commander would choose the next best option: to open the gate and fight than to have it be destroyed. Usually, when the gates seem like it’s about to be destroyed, it’s because the swarm of enemies in front of the gate hadn’t been dealt with in a timely manner. In other words, if you are able to push back and get rid of those enemies at the gate, then you could close the gate again and go back to being safe behind the castle walls.

It means that it’s not always right to keep the gates stubbornly closed and that was what Milton was attempting to do right now.

‘As long as it’s Shawn’s Iron Wall Unit, we can block the gate from the Ghosts. And if I can behead Siegfried, then…’

It would be the ideal result.

However, it wasn’t always the best idea to think only of the best outcome while on the battlefield.

“Open the gate!”

The gate opened, Milton led out a small group of Southern Knights and behind him were the firmly standing Iron Wall Unit protecting their backs. As soon as it was fully opened, Milton quickly sprinted out and Siegfried immediately clashed against him, as if he had been waiting.

“Milton Forrest!”

“Siegfried!”

As if they didn’t need further words, they drew their swords.

CLANG!

And with that, the troops on either side collided with each other.

“Push them back!”

“Protect the Commander-in-Chief!”

The two armies fought against each other.

Under Shawn’s command, the Iron Wall Unit overlapped their shields with and moved forward as one. While they weren’t moving fast, they were overwhelming and solid. When they moved like a wall of iron, the Ghosts...

“Gak!”

“The… they’re ridiculou… keugh…”

The Ghosts crumbled too easily.

‘What is this?’

Even as he was fighting against Siegfried, Milton felt something was wrong. He knew better than anyone else in the world how strong the Ghosts were. Even though the Iron Wall Unit was his trump card, in the end, they were still a group of soldiers, they weren’t knights. He had thought that they would be able to hold out to a certain extent as long as they worked as a group to defend, but he had never thought they would be this overwhelming.

‘Surely not?’

Startled by a moment of insecurity, Milton looked up towards the wall. But then…

“You can afford to look up?”

Siegfried aimed at Milton’s neck.

“Gah!”

CLANG!

Milton staggered back as he hastily blocked Siegfried’s sword. Naturally, Leonard stepped back and balanced himself so that his owner wouldn’t lose his balance and fall off the horse.

‘What a remarkable horse.’

As Siegfried inwardly admired the horse, Milton clenched his jaw before shouting at him.

“Siegfried, you motherf*cker! Where are the real Ghosts?”

At his question, Siegfried gave him a cynical smile as he replied.

“Are you asking because you really don’t know?”

“Damn it!”

Milton gritted his teeth.

***

As soldiers were scaling the walls using the siege ladders, a group of soldiers wearing light leather armors went up with them. They quickly got rid of the spearmen who were trying to hold them back and quickly began to take over the top of the walls. The person at the front of this group was holding a giant two-handed sword. It was Jake who was leading the Ghosts to the top of the castle walls. But because he wasn’t wearing his usual black armor and skull helmet, no one realized it was him under the ordinary leather armor.

“Group 1 and Group 2.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You’ll be leading in the front and clearing up the enemies on the walls.”

“Yes, sir!”

As soon as they received Jake’s order, the two group leaders jumped into the chaotic situation on top of the walls.

“These bastards… guh!”

“Keugh!”

As the Ghosts began fighting seriously, the Republicans began to overwhelmingly dominate the castle walls. Although the Southern Knights had been stationed on the walls, the enemy was too strong for them to block. Not to mention, they had expended so much energy trying to deal with the berserkers that it was impossible for them to face the Ghost, who was fresh and in optimal conditions.

“Ack… these bastards…”

“If only His Grace the Grand Duke was here…”

The Southern Knights began to show signs of defeat as they failed to stop the Ghosts even when they were trying their best. The Ghosts were a problem, but the bigger problem was…

“Piss off, you small fries!’

CLAAAANG!

Each time Jake swung his gigantic sword, one to two knights were instantly killed. As someone else said, it really would have been different if Milton was there. In order to block the Master who had gotten on top of the wall, someone with equal power was needed, but it was necessary for Milton to be in front of the gates in order to stop Siegfried.

In the end, the walls were overrun with Republican soldiers in an instant.

***

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Keugh…”

CLANG!

Seeing how Milton was trying to run back in through the castle gate, Siegfried attacked him. But when Milton tried to counterattack, he skillfully backed away. Instead of trying to win the battle and kill Milton, Siegfried’s intent was to keep him occupied here. Unlike the previous battle, this time, their positions were reversed.

Milton shouted at him in vexation.

“You petty and cheating bastard! You feigned an attack to deceive me!”

“That’s right. But what’s wrong with that? You wanted to fight squarely and openly on the battlefield?”

“Keugh…”

“I knew if I was the bait, you’d come out to catch me. Thanks to that, my soldiers, led by Jake, were able to clear the wall quickly.

The corners of Siegfried’s mouth rose.

“Once Jake clears the walls and comes down and cooperates with me, you’ll be like a trapped rat. Even if you lasted till then, it’ll still be checkmate for you.”

By efficiently using up the Republican soldiers to tire out the Lester Kingdom’s army, then sending in the berserkers - Siegfried believed that if he used himself as bait in such a situation where his enemy, Milton, was in danger, then Milton would be easy to catch. Then, the Ghosts would thrust their deadly blade into the gap left behind by Milton. That had been Siegfried’s entire plan.

‘If only it had gone according to the plan and the berserkers had been able to take control of the gate. It’d have been perfect then.’

As long as the gates hadn’t been forcibly opened, then Milton had a choice. But if Siegfried entered through a forcibly opened gate, then Milton would’ve had no choice. It could be considered as the only mistake in the entire operation. 

1. 충분히 흔들었고 the raws only said they’ve been shaken enough, but it’s a vague sentence in English that I’ve added a bit more to it so that it would have a subject