Chapter 57: Hesitation
It was night, Twilight Fortress.
“…Quick, quick, quick! Drain the water from the storeroom!”
“…Where’s the craftsman? Go and look at the right side of the city wall. A soldier just reported that there was a collapse over there!”
“…Don’t let the grain soak in the water!”
In the pouring rain, the drenched Gallio wiped the rainwater off his face while giving orders to the soldiers one by one.
In the fortress, the soldiers were running back and forth, carrying food, cleaning up the accumulated water in the storehouse, and repairing the collapse. The entire fortress was in chaos.
The pouring rain did not stop at dusk. The rain quickly covered the fortress and accumulated a thick layer. If the drainage was not carried out in time, all the strategic supplies would be ruined.
After giving the orders, Gallio returned to the main building.
He reported to heath, “Sir, the water in the warehouse has been cleared temporarily. The collapse of the city wall has also been rushed to be fixed. The soldiers are cleaning up the food now.”
Heath nodded. “Very good.”
Gallio frowned and said, “But the clearing is only temporary. If the rain continues like this, it will sooner or later flood up.”
Pausing for a moment, he said solemnly, “Furthermore, the walls on both sides of the city wall have already started to show signs of loosening. If the rain continues to come down, there is a high possibility that the city wall will collapse.”
Twilight Fortress belonged to a generation of arid lands, and there was very little rain all year round. Therefore, when the fortress was built, it basically did not consider the flood prevention here.
The walls on both sides of the fortress had even less vegetation, and the soil was soft. Not long ago, a mine had been dug out.
Normally, it would not be a big deal, but once the heavy rain fell, there was a high possibility of landslides. Now, the soil on both sides was showing signs of loosening and slipping.
The entire fortress was embedded in the mountain walls. Once a landslide occurred, it was basically equivalent to the city walls collapsing.
Without the protection of the city walls, fighting the undead army of 10,000 people head-on…
In short, Heath and the others were in big trouble now.
Gallio said, “Sir, what do you think we should do now?”
‘What should we do?’
‘This scale was at least caused by an official-grade Wizard magic scroll. What could a young Apprentice like me do?’
Heath said in a deep voice, “Let me think about it.”
It was time to make a choice again.
At this time…
Should he run away?
…
That night, the exhausted soldiers who were trying to save the city wall spent the night in the water.
Even so, something bad happened.
At dawn the next day, with a loud rumble, the mountain on the right side of the city wall slid down, crashing down the right side of the city wall.
This was equivalent to fighting the enemy on the same level.
Standing in front of the collapsed city wall, every soldier’s eyes were filled with despair.
Gallio looked at the collapse in front of him and asked Heath again, “Sir, we now…”
This time, the Knight’s voice sounded very dry.
Heath felt a headache coming on. “Let me think about it.”
He was not going to leave, and he was currently in a dilemma.
…
Before Heath could make a decision, his soldiers had already handed in their answers.
During lunch time, when the Knights went to take attendance, they suddenly found that there were more than a dozen soldiers missing. After some investigation, they found that these soldiers had deserted and disappeared.
There would always be some. Although the Knights had tried their best to stop them, they still managed to escape before sunset.
Even one of the two Witches sent by Shadow Tower had escaped.
In fact, strictly speaking, it was understandable for these soldiers to escape. After all, they were loyal to Count Kroya. Now that the count was dead, there was naturally no reason for them to continue fighting in the castle.
The Witches were even more so.
All spell casters had the priority to leave the human battlefield. They could leave at any time if they encountered danger, and Heath could not stop them at all.
There were only eight hundred people in the fortress, to begin with, and they had lost nearly two hundred people in the previous two battles. Now, nearly one hundred people had run away, leaving only about five hundred people.
On the other hand, although the enemy had lost a lot of people in the front, most of them were undead, and there was basically no lack of real living troops.
There were more than one thousand living troops, seven to eight thousand undead troops, and a high-level Apprentice who was holding an official-level Wizard gear. The difference in strength between the two sides was unusually large.
As for Heath’s reinforcements, they would only arrive at sunset the next day at the earliest.
The enemy’s third round of attack would definitely be the next morning. Regardless of whether the high-level Apprentice Wizard would be able to arrive in time…
Without the protection of the city wall, even if he arrived in time, he might not be able to decide the outcome.
Then…
It seemed that the only way left was to retreat?
Standing on the city wall, Heath rubbed his temples in pain.
In fact, he was not a greedy person. After farming two batches of attributes consecutively, this trip was definitely filled with wealth. His talent, attributes, spells, swordsmanship, and various knowledge had been absorbed by god knows how much. It had far exceeded his expectations.
Even if he retreated now, it was definitely not a loss.
As for the Shadow Tower, it wasn’t unreasonable. Up until now, his performance had been impeccable. He couldn’t be blamed for such a huge mistake in intelligence.
He had already performed exceptionally well by himself. Even if he turned around and left now, there wouldn’t be any criticism.
It was just that…
Not to mention the official-level Wizard gear and the wealth of the advanced Apprentices…
While inheriting the military knowledge of Count Kroya, he also naturally developed the professionalism of a militarist in his heart.
For example, LoL. The reinforcements lasted for dozens of minutes and fought back and forth with the enemy. But now, because of a mistake, he had lost three towers and even crystals. Should he continue to struggle and wait for the team wave to see? Or should they just use GG?
After pondering for a long time, Heath finally made a decision
‘Let’s try again!’
…
Night, Twilight Fortress.
It was 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning, and the heavy rain was still continuing.
The soldiers leaned against the city tower. This was the only place where there was no stagnant water.
Everyone did not rest. Instead, they silently looked at the surrounding scenery and prayed for the coming tomorrow.
Tomorrow morning, the decisive battle was about to begin.
Would they fight to the death? Surrender? Or flee?
Everyone felt that their future was uncertain. They did not know if they would be able to see the sunset tomorrow night.
Da! Da! Da!
At this moment, the sound of footsteps could be heard.
They saw a figure walking up from the stairs. It was their commander, the young Wizard.
“Wizard…”
“Wizard…”
Everyone stood up and bowed. This Wizard had proved his talent to them on the battlefield and was recognized by every soldier present.
Although they lost in the end, it was because of the absolute difference in strength, not because of his command.
Heath raised his hand and asked, “Is everyone here?”
A Knight came forward and said, “Yes, sir. There are a total of 528 soldiers. Everyone is here.”
Heath nodded and instructed, “Alright, gather everyone together. No one is allowed to be separated. Even if they want to take a dump, at least three people must be accompanying them. I have something to announce in a while.”
He suspected that there was an enemy insider in the team.
The Knight said, “Yes, Sir.”
The soldiers were gathered together.
Everyone looked at Heath. They were curious about what this young commander was going to say next?
Was he going to surrender? Or retreat?
Da! Da! Da!
Just as everyone was puzzled, another set of footsteps sounded.
They saw two Knights carrying a big black pot walking up.
The black pot was emitting thick smoke. Under the moonlight, one could vaguely see that it was a dark green liquid, emitting a strong strange smell.
What was this?
The soldiers all stretched their necks.
Heath said, “This is the magic potion that I made. Each of you has a bowl. Give it to the soldiers to drink.”
“Yes.”
The two Knights gave the magic potion to the soldiers, and each of them drank a bowl.
“Eh? My eyes!”
“Isn’t it night now? Why can I see so clearly?”
“It’s incredible!”
The soldiers who drank the potions were surprised because they found that they could suddenly maintain their vision in the dark as if it was daytime.
Yes, this was the [Night Vision Potion] that Heath had bought at the auction.
Other than that, he had also added some materials that could increase one’s courage and excitement.
Heath then instructed the Knight, “Bring everything up.”
“Yes.”
The two Knights who were worthy of Heath’s trust went down. After a while, they came up with two large sacks and poured all the things inside onto the floor. All of them were filled with…
Armor…
The armor of the soldiers of the Ryker Duchy!
Some of the quick-witted soldiers and Knights had already realized what Heath was trying to do, and their eyes immediately widened.
At the same time, Heath opened his mouth. Just as they had expected…
Heath said, “I won’t say any touching words, but I will grant you victory.”
“After you win, you will have everything!”
‘The Art of War: Fight to the death and live to fight another day.’
‘Since we can’t win a head-on fight tomorrow morning…’
‘Let’s make a surprise attack tonight to decide the outcome!’