Chapter 895 The Siege Of The Border (1)

Another month passed in flux. Some days, the undead would push forth relentlessly, breaking through the border wall and spilling forth. Other days, they would not even move out of the forests.

When the wall failed, reinforcements would move forth from Llyn in the West, and from Bredon in the East. With Pelaros always staying at Pyknos Fort, he was ready to bolster both the west and east.

Sofiera would join him should magic support be required, but else she would remain in the Fort in case of another break.

Luckily, most of the imminent city management had been handled before the siege began, thus Pelaros could bring his might to the front. As a Tier 8 warrior and Tier 7 mage, and even a competent ranger, his presence was a great relief to the militia.

Everyone capable of fighting, and not better suited to crafting, had been drafted for the siege. This bolstered their numbers. Though many were as green as the grass that had been trampled to mud over the course of the siege.

The highly effective emergency treatments allowed most to survive, and while about 20% were too injured to fight, they still supplied their mana to the front.

Even those in retirement had been called forth, those of old age sent to the border towns to manage the flow of soldiers and the injured. The injured or less experienced were then sent to command the gate towers where a loss would not be catastrophic.

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The most experienced were lastly sent hold the forts. This ensured that each location had at least one Tier 6 combatant for emergencies, and a dozen Tier 5s. Sadly, Tier 7 combatants were only Sofiera and Evale. The latter of the two constantly moved to relieve the area under the most stress.

Competent fighters were clearly lacking. Luckily, it had been enough. Especially once the suggestions for create a type of moat had come from the Chosen.

Thanks to their suggestion, the entire area around before the walls had been turned into a quagmire of ditches and mud.

Pitfalls would do little against the undead, even if spikes awaited them at the bottom. However, ditches, even just a meter deep, did wonders to slow their advance.

Often, their charge would be completely broken by a single such trench. When ordered to charge without further instructions, the undead would stumble and crush one another. Making them prime targets for mages and their fire spells, or an area of effect spell from a priest.

As soon as the suggestion had been given, rested mages and civilians capable of earth magic had been rushed to expand the ditches along the entire border wall. While digging, they ensured these ditches would not stretch for undue distances.

Unconnected and more like large pitfalls, the possibility of the undead using it for cover was lessened. Especially since the depths were maintained at less than a meter drop. With a slanted edge towards the wall, cover was lessened even further.

These could also be filled with oil, though sadly the city's finances and the supply in the kingdom was too low to waste oil like that, unless truly required.

Clever enemies certainly made use of the offered cover where they could find mistakes in the ditches make. The higher undead archers and mage hidden amongst the horde of the lower undead did this especially often.

However, these ditches still perfectly stalled the lower undead. Effectively preventing them from using simple mass to break through. Which had greatly reduced the number of times that the wall failed.

The closest ditches to the wall also had their northern sloped sides turned to stone, preventing the undead from using them to sap the walls. Of course, it remained a constant threat. But with vigilance, the status quo had been maintained.

The duke of Taurtania was also on constant standby. Players would rotate relay duty in his estate, ready to relay an emergency should one occur. And twice, this had proven highly effective when the lich had shown its skeletal face.

Only to be stalled by a barrage of cannons, and flee with the duke's arrival. Leaving its army to be annihilated as it retreated.

And so, today, like many others, Eldrian stood upon the half ruined magic tower of Pyknos fort. Repairs had been conduction, and its functions had been returned. However, the tower part of it was still damaged.

Looking out on the carnage that a month of warfare, Eldrian wondered how much longer this would continue. All the nearby trees had been ripped from their roots, and nearly half the forest was gone. Nature had truly lost this battle.

The undead called the remaining half their home. Along with the woodlands to the east. It was from here and there that they launched most of their attacks.

Having given up on the westmost wall due to the difficulty of needing to cross a river and being in constant view of the nearby towers as they did.

"What do you think?" Pelaros asked. While tired, the centaur had managed to get some rest recently. With the ditches mostly completed, the undead had slowly reduced the frequency of their attacks. Having learned it would cost them too dearly to harass the resting soldiers.

Honestly, if not for the refugees from Diades, Pelaros was confident they would not have had the numbers to withstand the waves of undead until now. It was thanks to the increase in population that they had had enough people to man the wall.

Of course, the undead's hesitation to use their numbers to simply overwhelm them had also helped. Plans had been made to deal with that should it have come to pass, but Pelaros was glad they had not been needed.

"Their numbers haven't fallen much. But they are clearly reluctant." Eldrian replied. Other than him and Pelaros, Sofiera and Evale were also present, as well as Elizabeth and Nikki.

Purely in numbers, the undead outnumbered Kynigo five to one. While undead were harder to kill and more deadly than normal soldiers, the advantage of having a defensible structure in the border wall more than made up for it.

Still, given their advantage, the undead could possibly push through with numbers and win. Their last two attempts, however, had ended in quick retreat once the duke arrived. The lich was a clear coward.

"They must be planning something." Elizabeth said, recalling their last siege and quickly coming up with several reasons for the recent lul.

"I agree. The past week had been much too quite." Evale said, and added. "I've attempted to scout the forests, but they have formed a veritable wall of undead to prevent us entrance. I am certain they are doing something there."

Thanks to the previous appearances, Eldrian had the lich marked on his map. "The lich is at the edge of the encroaching. Waiting in the mountains. Is it possible they are digging tunnels?"

Those around frowned. It certainly was a possibility. Though such an attempt would be near the height of foolishness. After all, they would need to dig a tunnel of a hundred kilometers in length if they started from those mountains.

For the undead, this was not an impossibility. But the danger of cave-ins, or running into monster invested cavities were a real possibility. They might even lose their sense of direction and dig in the completely wrong direction.

Doing so from Pyknos forest was much more likely to succeed, but it would only cause the walls to collapse. Or give them a single path under the walls. Unless they made it large enough, it would not be enough to change the state of things.