As the saying goes, "You can’t control knights unless you see them with your own eyes." That’s what Arte had said, so with Lou and Kamshin’s protection, I made my way to the top of the wall. To be safe, a semi-circular protective barrier was also set up on top of the wall. It looked just like the buildings in Odaiba.
"Lord Van, we should go back down immediately. Right now, please?"
Til'ss pale face appeared in my view, and hearing her urgent plea, I smiled wryly and nodded.
"Do you think we can hold out?"
I created a horizontal slit in the protective barrier and, peering through, asked Arte who was beside me. Arte trembled but nodded firmly.
"...It’s fine. The silver knight, Aventador, please!"
With that, Arte performed her magic as if praying. Immediately, a loud noise came from outside the protective wall. Through the slit, I could see a long, slender hand from a puppet and a gleaming mithril greatsword.
Ah, as expected, it moves as smoothly as a human. I thought to myself, watching them, when suddenly, both of them jumped down from the wall. Even though it was a medium-sized fortress, the wall was still quite high. The light armor wouldn’t be much of an issue, but the puppets themselves were made of wood blocks. I figured they had the same strength as iron, but I still wondered if they’d be alright.
I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to disturb Arte, but I was anxious, watching the puppets as they fell. But it seemed my worry was unnecessary. As soon as the puppets hit the ground, they sprang into action, charging straight for the enemy knights. At that speed, the artillery wouldn’t even be able to aim in time. The real concern was something else.
"Arte, be careful of the black orbs. If you see anyone preparing to throw something, dodge left or right immediately!"
"Y-yes!"
Arte responded obediently as she desperately controlled the puppets. I thought we were getting close enough, so I had Arte send them out, but it still felt farther than I had anticipated. I couldn’t help but worry about Arte’s magical stamina.
Just as that thought crossed my mind, a series of explosions rang out near the puppets. As expected, they had black orbs.
"I... avoided them."
"Good. Now, let’s have the puppets run through the enemy knights while attacking, so they can’t throw black orbs recklessly."
"Understood!"
Arte immediately followed my orders, and the puppets darted through the smoke from the explosions, crashing into the enemy knight formation in a split second.
Like bowling pins knocked down with a single strike, the two puppets spread out through the enemy knights' line. Their sheer power was enough to make some of the knights drop their swords and flee. Well, if I saw knights running towards me, not even caring if they got slashed or stabbed, I’d run too. That’s terrifying.
"Lord Van! Wyverns are here! The wyverns are coming!"
While I was still shaken by the terrifying might of Arte’s puppets, the report came in about the wyverns. I strained my neck to look through the slit in the protective wall, and sure enough, I saw shadows of wyverns high in the sky, flying in a diagonal direction.
"Those aren’t something we can hit with the ballista, huh? I wonder if Panamera is around."
I strained my eyes, trying to spot her. Just as I did, Panamera’s face suddenly appeared from behind the protective wall.
"You called?"
"Ah!"
I jumped back in surprise, and Panamera burst out laughing, clearly enjoying the moment. Even though the artillery was still firing, she was so fearless.
"Don’t scare me like that!"
I complained, but Panamera only smiled mischievously, shaking her head.
"I didn’t mean to scare you. I just came out because you called me."
After hearing that, I realized she hadn’t tried to startle me on purpose, though knowing Panamera’s personality, it was more likely that she had. But I’ll choose to believe in her good intentions.
I sighed, then pointed at the wyverns.
"Panamera, do you think you can do something about those wyverns?"
"That was the plan from the start, wasn’t it? Leave it to me."
With a confident grin, Panamera walked off, and within just a few seconds, the sky above began to turn red.
"W-woah...!"
"This is on the same level as Marquis Fertio..."
The knights handling the ballista below stared in astonishment at the sight above. It seemed Panamera was successfully driving the wyverns away.
"Stradale! While you’re leading the ballista squad, keep Panamera safe!"
"Understood!"
I spotted Stradale running across the top of the wall, and added a new task for him. Used to chaotic situations, Stradale nodded without hesitation.
"Alright, alright, let’s get the puppets back."
I glanced back at the battlefield and said that. Arte turned to me, her eyes wide in surprise.
"Eh? Can we return them already? The rear ranks are still in position..."
Looking somewhat disappointed, Arte said this, and as I saw that rare expression from her, I pointed toward the battlefield.
"Well, this is a siege. With the enemy’s formation falling apart, ballista shots alone should be enough. For now, the real concern is the wyverns gathering in the sky. I want the puppets to help with that."
"Got it."
After explaining my defensive strategy, Arte nodded and began controlling the puppets. After confirming that, I created a door in part of the protective wall and stepped outside.
"Is it okay to go out there!?"
Tir, her face pale, asked in concern. I waved a hand dismissively and pointed toward the bottom of the wall.
"The big cannons shouldn’t be able to shoot here now, so I’m thinking of fixing the wall while I can... Some sections have been broken, right? Arte, Til, stay here. Kamshin, can you come with me?"
"Of course!"
Kamshin, like a loyal dog, sprinted after me. Lou had gone off to give orders to the Ceat Village knights, so it was just the two of us moving quickly toward the base of the wall. I couldn’t help but feel uneasy with just two of us.
At the bottom of the wall, Targa was running around with a group of earth mages, overseeing repairs.
"Targa-san! Where did you just reinforce?"
When I called out, Targa looked over, relief spreading across his face as he turned his whole body toward me.
"The west side! I’m heading to the east side now to continue repairs. Is that alright?"
"Sure! Once you’re done with the west side, I’ll head over to the east."
"Thank you so much!"
We exchanged our usual brief words and then set off in different directions. Targa had been working hard with the earth magic while I was giving instructions to Arte. It must have been tough, using earth magic to restore the collapsed wall, especially since if the magic supply stopped, it would crumble almost immediately. The wall’s height and thickness made it even harder to handle with two teams.
I had to rush over to reinforce the west side. If I didn’t, the enemy could get through the gaps and breach the fort.
"Once the enemy retreats, we need to make sure the walls can never be destroyed again!"
"Right! I think if Van-sama made the walls, they’ll be perfect!"
With Kamshin urging me on, I quickly ran to the west side of the fort. If the siege continues the way it has, we should be fine. It’s not easy to circle around and cut off supply lines because of the fort’s geography.
The real threat now would be poison or disease. I’d heard of a tactic from past wars where they’d send dead bodies into the enemy’s camp to spread plague. But that’s unlikely to be the strategy here. If worse comes to worst, I’ll have Panamera burn all the bodies.
My biggest fear, though, is dealing with a large number of wyverns dropping bombs. The fort’s structure still isn’t reinforced enough, and if they bomb it or attack from the air, we’ll face countless casualties and be thrown into chaos.
"...So far, there’ve only been about five wyverns showing up at the same time, but we can’t let our guard down."
I muttered to myself while running, when suddenly Kamshin, who had been running behind me, shouted loudly.
"Lord Van! Watch out...!"
No comments:
Post a Comment