Chapter 122 - Progress

Your Magic Spearmanship has reached level 01.

While there wasn't much room for training between battles, Zaos still decided to check if his theory was correct, and, in the end, he confirmed that was the case. He made fire pass through the tip of a spear and confirmed that flames were more powerful if compared to the sword. Probably because the mana was on a single point.

Health: 425/510

Mana: 820/1110

Stamina: 830/950

Strength: 255

Magic: 555

Endurance: 475

Resistance: 555

Focus: 04 + 01 

Sorcery Lv 45, Meditation Lv 23, Magic Swordsmanship Lv 22, Magic Spearmanship Lv 01, Alchemy Lv 06, Magic Resistance Lv 05, Magic Perception Lv 06, Swordsmanship Lv 36, Axemanship Lv 09, Spearmanship Lv 09, Archery Lv 15, Shield Mastery Lv 18, Pain Resistance Lv 17, Blacksmithing Lv 11

Lesser Heal, Heal, Holy Light, Detoxification, Cold Whisper, Mend Bones, Dispel, Protection, Magic Barrier, Stone Skin, Fire Sword, Water Sword, Earth Sword, Wind Sword, Earth Bullet, Ignite, Spark, Agony,

"As expected, my mana stamina increased by ten points when I learned Magic Spearmanship, the same thing happens when I level up Magic Swordsmanship," Zaos nodded to himself. "However, I can't obtain the same results by using magic with different types of weapons."

Zaos will need to train that, but he didn't have time, and practice in the middle of an important battle was too risky, even more so when Zaos wasn't that used to spears.

Before something could happen, Zaos decided to sleep for a while. As soon as he closed his eyes, he fell asleep. While he slept for a few hours, it looked like only a couple of minutes had passed when he opened his eyes. After a few moments where he started at night, the sky clouded, something passed right above him, and then Zaos heard the sound of something cracking in the distance. Zaos got up and then grabbed his sword, only to fight the three tied-up corpses at the top of a house.

"Shit… I knew this was coming," Zaos clicked his tongue in annoyance and then said.

During the last year, Zaos learned and studied many of the documents in the Northern base. He read a few where siege battles happened, and some of them, the enemy side used the corpses of the fallen and threw them inside cities and towns being attacked. While they rarely caused any real damage, they could be used to spread diseases, and they were a very useful tool to decrease the morale of the targets. Naturally, the mercenaries didn't use their own soldiers' bodies.

Zaos climbed the walls to check the enemies' positions, but he couldn't see anything aside from shadows in the distance. The sky was too cloudy, so the visibility was that bad. Upon noticing that, all those who stayed outside the walls were forced to retreat since a battle at night would be disastrous for them.

The catapult that threw the corpses was so far away that they couldn't even be seen. Suddenly, the soldiers heard a weird sound in the area, and then they crouched down. Several corpses passed right above them, and while no one got hit, some houses had been damaged as the corpses hit them and broke into several pieces.

"Little pieces of shit," Verkan appeared and then said. "Zaos, can you try to hit their toys from here? Hit and make it burn, of course."

"I can, but I don't think the projectile will hit," Zaos replied. "They will see the Flame Sword approaching and even if they don't react in time to block it, the projectile will lose a lot of power thanks to the cold."

As soon as Zaos replied, some other corpses were fired again. Weirdly enough, they hit the same places the others hit… the enemies wanted to kill anyone who wanted to try to move the bodies.

"They are more than five hundred meters away from the walls, their catapults are quite powerful," Verkan said. "Protect yourselves near the walls! They can't hit anything within a certain range of the walls!"

In the end, attacking the siege weapons at night also wasn't possible since they might be ambushed by some troops hidden in the darkness of the night. Verkan cursed his caution during that day, he had planned to attack the siege weapons, but they never got within their range. Thousands of enemies were blocking the path toward those.

The mercenaries didn't do anything aside from firing corpses with their catapults through the entire night. While not a single person got hurt, they managed to destroy several buildings and tire out the soldiers inside Rustburg, not to mention, having to see the destroyed bodies of their previous allies made a lot of people throw up.

When the sun began to rise, Verkan approached Zaos, and he looked tired and angry. That was quite the odd combination that someone could have on their face.

"Zaos, don't you have any trick that might help us deal with the siege weapons?" Verkan asked. "You could try something like you did before combining swordsmanship with magic."

"It isn't that simple, sir. I wish it were," Zaos said. "Only an experienced magician would be able to give the answer that you… want."

When Zaos said that, he had a certain idea. He recalled Merkin and the thing he did with the Earth Bullet. How come Zaos forgot about that? It was such a simple thing to do, almost basic.

"I am sorry, sir,' Zaos said. "I just recalled something that a certain mage showed me… I think I can increase the range of my attacks and attack the siege weapons, but now it is too late, isn't it?"

"No…" Verkan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I think your mistake might give us a chance." 

"How, sir?" Zaos asked.

"They spent the entire night attacking us, they probably think that we don't have any means to stop their siege weapons," Verkan replied. "Today they will use everything in their power to make the walls fall, and we will use that against them."