Chapter 23: Prelude in Kagard

Two hours ago, while the people of Kagard were celebrating in Kagard Town, awaiting the arrival of midnight to commence the sacrificial ceremony, the yawning guards on the city walls enviously watched the joyous scenes below, while also calculating how much money they had made the last time they ventured into the Monster Forest.

“We captured several monsters. Each of their antlers can sell for thousands of gold coins. On average, each farmer gets one, each common citizen gets four, and for us, we might get ten coins.”

“Ten gold coins, huh?” one guard smiled, “If only we could make another haul like that. These days, ten coins don’t last long with prices soaring the way they are.”

“But if this year’s sacrifice pleases the God of Light and he blesses us with rain, and if the harvest turns out well, we’ll rise to be the top dogs in this backwater place.”

“Top dogs, indeed.”

Though the guards sighed over missing the town’s celebrations, they were quite pleased with their tangible earnings.

After all, what could they say? A single trip to the Monster Forest this year, capturing a few heretics, earned them more money than five years of guard duty might have saved up.

Even after distributing the money among all the residents of Kagard County, there was still plenty left.

How could they not feel jubilant? How could they not be hopeful for their new life?

As they calculated how to spend their money, they turned to look at the wooden altar rising in the town square.

With each resounding, festive cry of “Praise the God of Light,” the corners of the guards’ mouths turned up slightly as if visualizing the evening’s spectacle of heretics being burned alive on the altar, receiving the God of Light’s judgment.

“Praise the God of Light,” a guard echoed the deep chants coming from the square, closing his eyes in devotion. “Praise the God of Light!”

But in the next instant, as he closed his eyes, he heard the sound of wind behind him.

Suddenly, his face was splattered with a hot liquid. The guard, who had been praying sincerely with closed eyes, swore and shoved his nearby companion. Just as he was about to shout, he heard the soft thud of a body hitting the ground.

What on earth?

Bewildered, he opened his eyes.

“Huh?”

What he saw was the shadow of a stone flying into the night sky, and his companion lying dead on the ground, his head crushed by a fist-sized rock.

He was stunned.

The people celebrating below were equally stunned when a barrage of stones began raining down from the sky.

The songs praising the God of Light turned into screams and cries as the volley of stones from outside the town transformed the joyous celebration into chaos.

***

Outside Kagard Town.

Yang Hao and his group were hidden in a mill on the outskirts, surrounded by the corpses of farmers crushed by Golem.

Initially, Yang Hao had intended to simply drive them away. But upon seeing a surgical kit exclusive to the chief doctor of the Red Cross, along with the post-surgical stitches on the farmer’s family members and the gold coins hidden behind the fireplace tools—items no farmer should possess—he understood everything in an instant. 

After executing everyone there, he turned the mill into his makeshift command post.

Now, the Golems were engaged in a repetitive loop of digging up stones, grabbing, and throwing.

The rocks flung by the Golems were as powerful and fast as projectiles launched by a counterweight trebuchet.

He could clearly see a defensive ballista on the city wall being destroyed by a stone, the pockmarks left by the stone projectiles on the walls, and the guards who had been killed by the rocks, along with more stones flying towards the town.

He turned back and ordered Naluja: “Stop throwing stones into the town. At least not until we’ve found your people. If the people I’m trying to save get killed by our own stones, it would be incredibly shameful.”

The Ling tribe chieftain heeded Yang Hao’s words.

Meanwhile, the nun who had been accompanying Yang Hao shook her head and said, “Just throwing stones won’t accomplish our goal. Besides, after doing something like this, the Roman Empire won’t let us off easily. We need to ensure that the pursuing forces are delayed as much as possible in the aftermath of the attack.”

“We’ll address that issue when the time comes. For now, we need to continue throwing stones to destroy the trebuchets and ballistae on the towers. Otherwise, even armored, the slow-moving Golems will be vulnerable to enemy attacks. After neutralizing their siege weapons, we proceed with our offensive.”

Yang Hao was no stranger to the battlefield.

Although his command ability might not compare to that of the young empress’s father, who was also his sworn brother, he understood one fundamental principle.

When you’re poor, you rely on tactics.

When you’re rich, you rely on overwhelming force.

The Ling tribe’s ammunition reserves were exceptionally abundant.

Unlike siege engines, the Golems didn’t have strict requirements for ammunition. No need for specialized bolts or stone projectiles for ballistae, no need for proper arrows to make bows and crossbows lethal. The Golems had no such worries.

They simply had to dig up stones from the ground, they could be used as ammunition and thrown.

Even if no stones could be found, they could simply dig up the cracked bricks from the national road and use them as projectiles.

If even bricks and wood were unavailable, they could compress dirt into clumps and hurl them like water bags.

The only concern might be that Golems could accidentally dig trenches in front of themselves, creating obstacles that could hinder their advancement.

Moreover, Golems were not biological beings. They could throw as far as they could, continuously. While humans would get tired, with sore arms and shaky hands from throwing stones all day and night, Golems could throw 300 meters without any fatigue.

In a situation where ammunition was abundant and there was no worry about physical exhaustion, only a fool would launch an attack when the enemy’s defenses were still strong.

So Yang Hao said, “Let’s wait another ten minutes.”

Ten minutes was enough for 80 Golems to throw another ten volleys of stones or other debris at the walls, which, even by the most extreme probabilities, should be enough to destroy the ballistae and trebuchets on the walls.

Yang Hao waited patiently with the nun. The Golems, under the control of the Ling Clan, did not disappoint.

Although the things they threw only caused numerous dents in the walls and weren’t fatal, when those stones hit the siege engines and the people manning them, it resulted in real casualties.

From a distance, Yang Hao could hear the chaos inside the town. He could see, from afar, a trebuchet being loaded with fire pots to attack the Golems’ position. But before the fire pots could be launched, a shower of stones smashed the trebuchet and its operators into pieces.

The fire pots were shattered, and flames, fueled by oil, quickly spread across the tower. The guards, who were huddled inside the tower waiting for the stone barrage to end, were caught off guard by this sudden disaster. They burst out of the now-blazing tower, their bodies aflame, screaming in agony, and fell off the city walls, disappearing from sight.

It seemed they fell into wooden houses below, as Yang Hao noticed increasingly thick smoke rising from near the city walls in Kagard Town.

“It’s time to advance,” he said. “The Golems have already dug trenches around here. If we don’t move now, they’ll get stuck in the mud themselves. Why has the town gone quiet?”

Narujia couldn’t answer as she was unfamiliar with human customs.

Sister Teresa, tilting her head, speculated, “Perhaps there are priests from the Church of Light in town. there are calming spells among their divine arts. Though, I suspect those spells are mainly used for illicit affairs.”

“Illicit affairs?”

“Yes, when I was in Skool Village pretending to convert, someone asked me to use that kind of magic to hypnotize a noble girl so they could abduct and violate her.”

“Uh…”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t do it. I flatly refused and made sure to lock my door tightly that night. It was really scary. But for now, let’s keep our focus on the siege.”

With a light huff, Sister Teresa gently embraced Yang Hao from behind, patting his chest as if to remind him to concentrate on the task at hand.

***

When the rain of stones finally ceased, the captain of the Kagard Town guards, Karl, was assessing the casualties among the festival guards.

Fifty-seven people were dead, and all the defensive equipment had been critically damaged; even if craftsmen were to come, they would have to dismantle and rebuild everything.

One tower was burned by oil and flames, and all the supplies needed for combat within it were completely gone.

Although the three town gates were still up, along with the drawbridges raised, Karl looked at the moonlit outskirts and saw about twenty tall stone giants advancing slowly but steadily. He quickly figured that unless the priests of the Church of Light arrived soon to help, Kagard Town was doomed.

“Captain, should we evacuate the civilians?!” 

A guard, trembling, reminded him that a large number of civilians, already in a state of chaos, were still in the town celebrating the festival.

If these civilians remained in the town, not only would the guard regiment struggle to withstand the attacks of these strange stone giants, but the chaos from within could also cost them their lives.

After thinking it over, Karl considered that managing the civilians might be better than blocking them. Since the civilians would inevitably descend into chaos, why not let them out through one of the gates? 

This could draw enemy fire and also help gauge the enemy’s strength—a win-win situation.

However, Karl angrily dismissed this idea.

“With the firepower they just demonstrated, sending the civilians out would be useless. It might even give the enemy a chance to rush into the town through the open drawbridge. They can’t only have twenty or thirty stone giants. In other words, we need more troops!”

“But, where can we get more troops?”

The guard was visibly confused, but Captain Karl firmly patted his shoulder.

“Go to the square and find the Count immediately! Have him distribute weapons. Even if they only have pitchforks. Everyone needs to arm themselves and be sent to the gates to help hold off these stone giants. The priest must be with the Count. Beg him to come to the walls and use the divine arts of the Church of Light. All our defensive equipment facing this direction has been destroyed. If the priest doesn’t come soon, we’re doomed! And you—contact other cities through the teleportation network for support, but don’t let too many of those commoners flood in at once, or—”

Before Captain Karls could finish his sentence, a violent explosion erupted from the direction of the teleportation portal in Kagard Town.

They stood frozen, momentarily ignoring the slowly approaching stone giants. They turned stiffly to see the purple flames shooting into the sky, casting a violet hue over the ground. 

In unison, they cursed, “Damn commoners!”