Chapter 24: The Fall of City’s Gates
by tinytree“Damn commoners!”
It wasn’t just the guards on the walls who cursed aloud. Even Kagard III, staying at the top of the church tower, instinctively swore.
The Roman Empire’s teleportation network was a marvel combining industry and magic.
Based on ancient human ruins, the design was provided by the former regent, infused with magic by the mage corps, and supplied with essential parts by the steam factory. Only through this four-way collaboration could such an expensive teleportation portal be built.
Although initially designed to shine in military and industrial applications, its commercial value was evident to all. In emergencies, it could evacuate citizens and, if a city was under siege, quickly bring soldiers from another city for support.
The teleportation portal in Kagard Town was supposed to serve this purpose.
But the problem was, there were just too many people in Kagard Town.
Under attack, the panicked citizens’ first thought was to escape through the teleportation portal.
Not to mention, the destinations people wanted to flee to were numerous. Some wanted to run straight to the capital, others to the military district, and some simply wanted to go anywhere but here.
In such chaos, the teleportation portal’s anchor point changed from the capital to the military district in seconds.
Furthermore, due to poor communication, merchants from other towns wanting to join the festival were also using the portal.
And, over the past year, with the steam factory dismantled and the necessary parts for maintaining the portal only producible by hand, the portal’s condition had been deteriorating daily.
Even though the teleportation portal had a device called a safety valve, without maintenance from the steam factory, it was unable to function effectively.
Under these adverse conditions, the portal finally reached its limit.
The chaotic flow of magic turned it into a massive bomb, which detonated directly among the crowd.
At first, there was a wisp of purple flame. The panicked people didn’t notice the signs of the portal’s collapse and kept pushing forward madly, trampling those who had fallen.
Next, the mirror of the portal suddenly shattered, trapping half-entered merchants, farmers who were halfway through, and all the supplies that hadn’t been transported out or in, instantly turning them into countless smooth-surfaced fragments.
Finally, with the people in the front unable to move forward or back, purple smoke rose, and the portal exploded.
It bathed the entire area in purple light, transforming the vicinity into a violet hell. The purple magical flames were not only more deadly and threatening than ordinary fire but also burned the magic within the town to ashes, turning it into magic residue unusable by most mages.
Now, ordinary mages were rendered useless.
On the church tower, Kagard III turned to his mage advisor, finding that he couldn’t even conjure a fireball under the surge of magical flames. Gritting his teeth, he issued his orders to the messenger.
“Immediately have the town’s police maintain order at all costs. Don’t let those burning people spread the fire further! Hurry!”
After the messenger rushed off, Kagard III knelt humbly on the ground and kissed the boots of the town’s priest.
“And… Reverend! After you cast a calming spell here, please head to the city wall immediately. We must hold off the enemy’s attack until reinforcements arrive, or we might all die here, or worse, face the shame of failing to advance in our careers!”
“Say no more, I have my plans.”
The priest understood the gravity of the situation. If he failed to protect Count Kagard’s territory, he would face punishment from St. Peter’s Cathedral.
Every priest aspired to become a bishop, and punishment from the diocese could halt their only path to advancement.
With a devout posture, he loudly praised the greatness of the God of Light, casting a calming spell over the entire town of Kagard to soothe the panicked citizens. This allowed the police to restore order. Afterward, the priest, accompanied by his attendants, left the church.
When the priest and his attendants arrived at the city wall, the guards’ morale instantly peaked.
The guards, emotionally charged, knelt before the priest, calling out the name of the God of Light and pleading for the priest to use divine power against the slowly approaching stone monsters below the walls.
“Never mind, continue to do your duty.”
The priest casually passed by the kneeling guards, extinguishing the flames engulfing a burning tower with a low-level Smothering Spell, further boosting the guards’ morale.
They returned to their posts, using their bows and crossbows to shoot at the tall figures nearing the walls.
The priest could tell at a glance that these were magical constructs. Magical constructs could be easily dispelled with a Dispel Magic spell.
But judging by the destroyed siege equipment on the walls, the enemy commander certainly had more tricks up their sleeve. There were likely not just 30 magical constructs but at least 50 or more.
A difficult enemy, but foolish for using magical constructs instead of flesh and blood to attack Kagard Town.
The priest sneered, raising his hands high and chanting the sixth verse from page 27 of the Holy Book of Light.
“The Lord says, the created should return to its origin, and not walk the earth in a monstrous form.”
This was the Church of Light’s dispel spell.
A golden light appeared in his hands, which he cast towards the figures below, eagerly awaiting these magical constructs to crumble into dust. But when the golden light struck them, it only caused a slight wobble in a few of the smaller ones, achieving nothing.
‘What’s going on?’
The guards turned back, shocked, to look at the priest, who was equally stunned, staring at the magical constructs below. He cast the dispel spell again, and seeing that the magical constructs remained nearly unaffected, he realized there was a problem.
“Lord, grant me light!”
He then cast an illumination spell called Light, bathing the area in golden radiance. Finally, he saw the problem.
Without a doubt, the stone giants below were indeed magical constructs.
But the issue was, these constructs were wearing armor?!
Over the stone, there was an additional layer of stone armor not controlled by magic. Whose brilliant idea was this?
The priest was speechless, as the armor was truly effective. After all, the dispel spell only worked on magically controlled objects, and the non-magical stone armor on the constructs shielded their vulnerable bodies from the spell’s effects.
This was remarkable.
The priest shook his head, realizing that the dispel spell could not effectively damage these stone giants. He had to resort to another, more dangerous divine spell.
That spell was the Spear of Light. It could physically harm enemies and directly destroy magical constructs.
However, this spell required a long casting time and was very conspicuous during its release. Therefore, he needed to ensure his safety first.
“My Lord…”
He first conjured a holy barrier. It could directly block the massive bolts from ballistae. Though it could only withstand one or two shots, it was sufficient.
Next, the priest, panting, looked at the stone giant closest to the raised drawbridge.
This stone giant was raising a thick tree trunk, planning to smash the hooks and locks of the drawbridge through sheer force.
If it succeeded, the consequences would be dire.
“In the name of the Lord!”
The priest shouted, and a spear made entirely of golden light appeared above his head.
The soldiers behind him, unable to help, cheered, believing that as long as the priest was there, the battle would end in victory.
What happened next was indeed as they hoped.
The priest shouted, “My Lord!” and hurled the golden spear. The Spear of Light pierced through the stone giant’s thick armor, nailing the giant to the ground. The remaining divine power continuously disrupted the fragile magical circuits within the construct.
The stone giant struggled a bit, then stopped moving entirely, reverting back to inert stone. The soldiers’ morale soared, and the priest, not daring to rest, continued to cast and throw the spears of light as long as the divine spell lasted.
One after another.
Ten, twenty—
Under the illumination of the Light spell and the protection of the holy barrier, the priest tirelessly cast Spear of Light, pinning twenty stone giants to the ground in less than ten minutes.
Thanks to the inexhaustible power of the God of Light, the priest only needed to worry about his physical fatigue, not the sudden depletion of divine power like those poor totem gods.
He was panting, a slight smile on his lips.
If the enemy only had these slow-moving stone giants, no matter how many there were, they would all fall before him.
These stone giants would perish by his hand, and the achievement of protecting Kagard Town would become his stepping stone to becoming a bishop.
What could be more wonderful and joyous than this?
Absolutely nothing!
The priest laughed heartily, another Spear of Light forming above his head. Yet, for some reason, his right eyebrow began to twitch uncontrollably.
What was going on? Was it physical fatigue from casting too many spells?
Before the priest could figure it out, he heard a whistling sound in front of him.
“Wha—what?!”
Thud!
A heavy javelin made of earth and stone shot out from the shadows. The stone tip drilled cracks into the golden shield of the holy barrier, while the rotating shaft tried to penetrate deeper.
Bang!
It wasn’t just one javelin, but two.
Another slightly smaller javelin shot out from the remaining ten stone giants below.
The stone tips might not be as powerful as iron ones, but the force behind them, stronger than a ballista, placed immense strain on the priest.
He was now stuck, unable to move without dismantling the barrier pinned by the stone javelins. But if he dispelled the barrier, he would undoubtedly be killed by the javelins.
So, they weren’t just lambs waiting to be slaughtered, but had been biding their time to kill him?!
The priest looked down at the stone giants at the base of the city wall in despair. He could clearly see an eight-meter-tall stone giant with two stone javelins aimed right at him…
Swish!
The two javelins shot out simultaneously.
In the stunned gaze of the guards and attendants, the javelins shattered the holy barrier, one piercing the priest’s heart and the other his shoulder, launching him from the wall and pinning him to the outer wall of the church in the town square, killing him instantly.
The townspeople, who had just been calmed and were reorganizing, looked up in horror at the priest’s corpse nailed to the wall.
This time, there was no one left to calm the chaos.
“Continue, use the javelins to break the iron chains of the drawbridge. Wood won’t break that thing. Ignore the guards on the wall. The only threat to us, the priest, is dead. The rest are just trash.”
On the rooftop of the mill, Yang Hao turned and gave orders to the leader of the Listening Clan.
As another javelin shot out.
At exactly 11 PM, Kagard Town’s gate was breached.
The fifty Golems in the rear followed the front lines, with a few surrounding the remaining two entrances, while the rest stormed into Kagard Town, bringing more chaos and merciless destruction to the already tumultuous town.
The Ling tribe members sought their kin while exacting their revenge.
And wasn’t Yang Hao doing the same?
He was trembling with excitement.
But just as he was about to lose control and personally witness the hell descending upon the town that had wronged him, Sister Teresa tightly grasped his hands.
Her gray eyes were filled with worry. But finally, that worry turned into encouragement and love.
“Do what you want to do, little puppy,” she said. “Just don’t forget, we need to rescue people first. Let’s save them before doing anything else.”
“I know. But Teresa, you—”
“Me? I’m not afraid. After all, you being my little puppy won’t change. Let’s wait until the Golems take care of the threatening soldiers before we go in. Oh, and take this.”
She handed him the surgical kit they found in the farmer’s house.
Yang Hao carefully placed the surgical kit into his coat.
At the same time…
Originally waiting in the cellar for his impending fate, Joseph suddenly noticed the chaos above.
Although he didn’t know exactly what was happening, he realized that this might be his and the captured demon folk’s only chance to escape.
Perhaps because the demon folk had lost their ability to resist after their head organs were removed, they hadn’t been shackled. Even Joseph’s family had only had their valuable items taken. This was fortunate.
With his hands and feet free, Joseph endured his severe headache and moved everything that could block the cellar door out of the way. Then he turned to his wife and daughter, and to the demon folk who seemed to realize something and were all standing up.
“Everyone, help me! Hold on a little longer! If we hold on, we can escape,” he shouted.
Who knew if they could really escape?
But this was a chance. And chance only favors those who are prepared.
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