Chapter 210.1 |
The ground trembled. Vibrations echoed.
The surrounding Knights who had accompanied Welner on his reconnaissance mission looked pale, but he could not say anything because Welner himself was gulping air.
In Welner’s sense, he could only identify it as if “A building is walking toward us”. Neurath gulped next to him.
“It’s huge.”
“Extremely so.”
The giant eagle’s head protruding from the center of the group was striking, but apart from its size, the overall design was similar to that of a Gryphon. The eagle’s wings might be a symbol of its need to lead the group.
The problem was its size. The closest Welner could come to imagining it was a six-story condominium moving on the ground. He could only think of a final mid-boss. That being was Mubrial the Wind, one of the Four Heavenly Kings.
The boss who had been seen on the game monitor was of course of a size that would be typical of a boss character. But when he saw it in real life, its presence was different.
“There really is a big difference, huh?”
Welner couldn’t help but mumble to himself, “I can’t do the acrobatic movements protagonist did”, perhaps with a bit of escapism mixed in his mind.
Surrounding that boss were probably Cyclops. The Mubrial in the center was too conspicuous, but the Cyclops also outnumbered the Finnoi and Anheim Demon Generals in size, if not in agility.
There were more than a dozen of them, each of them larger than a two-story house, moving around with a huge club that looked like a block of stone, perhaps the size of a car. It was like a battering ram moving on two legs. No wonder the seemingly solid walls were easily knocked down in the game.
The Dark Knights were deployed around the center of the group, numbering more than 20000. One of them could easily take on several human soldiers, but the horses on which the Knights were riding were also a different kind of magic beast called Bicorn.
In the game, players could damage both of them at once, but in reality, you need to think about how to deal with them separately.
The unicorns were said to be the protectors of purity, whereas the Bicorn were said to be the protectors of impurity. In the game, the Bicorn was treated just as a different color of unicorn, but in reality, the Bicorn I saw had a kind of bewitching atmosphere to it.
“So Mazell has been fighting such monsters.”
Welner blurted out once more as he watched from a distance. At the same time, he could not help but realize that his experience of living in this world for more than ten years since his reincarnation had affected him to some extent positively. It had made him mentally stronger.
He was inwardly impressed by the fact that the adventurers were also dealing with such monsters, but he was determined not to be outdone and regained his spirit.
The Cyclops, however, was not a mid-boss, but a random-encountered monster that was fought over and over again in a dungeon, and Welner had also fought similar opponents many times in the game.
The thought of Mazell continuing his journey to defeat the Demon King while fighting such beings sent a cold sweat down Welner’s spine.
As he reflected on the fact that he may have underestimated the difficulty of Mazell’s journey, Marquis Nolpot, who had arrived a short-distance away to inspect the situation, spoke up.
“That must indeed be frightening. I understand. But remember, everyone. We all have families in the royal capital. We should not be frightened here.”
Marquis Nolpot’s voice was calm and had the gravitas of experience. He also maintained a calm demeanor himself, and even his appearance gave off an air of reassurance to the soldiers. Gradually, calmness started to be restored in the surrounding soldiers.
Seeing this with honest admiration, Welner also called out to his immediate troops.
“Don’t panic. Their siege won’t last that long. At most, we would only need to hold out for a few days.”
Although this was only a rough estimate, Welner believed that the raid’s limit would be until Mazell defeated the Heavenly King of Fire.
In the game, defeating the Four Heavenly Kings may have been the flag for the destruction of the Royal Capital, but whether that would also happen in reality was a question that remained to be seen.
“The enemy attack has been expected, so we are well-prepared for it. We will win.”
This might only be half true at most. After all, the one leading the attack on the Royal Capital would not be an opponent against whom they could be assured of victory even if they were well-prepared.
Of course, there was no reason to tell soldiers all of this and decrease their morale.
“Okay, Lord Welner, let’s go.”
“Yes!”
Marquis Nolpot’s voice was answered by Welner, who also turned his horse’s direction.
Among the demon army, harpies were the first to reach the city walls probably because other demon units were big in size and moved relatively slowly. Confirming that his earlier decision to crush the harpies had been effective, Welner returned to lead his soldiers as they prepared for the attack.
On the top of the city walls of the royal capital, there was probably no one who was not terrified by the approaching demon army as they could feel vibrations getting stronger.
Normally, it was the job of the soldiers on the city walls to fire arrows from a height beyond the reach of the enemy’s attack.
However, watching their current enemy’s huge bodies, it was easy to imagine that once those giant demons reached near city walls, they would be able to easily crush the city walls.
Count Harfolk and Count Muelle, who were in command on the ramparts, tried to calm down the soldiers’ agitation by making them focus on tasks at hand.
“Listen, don’t mistakenly drop them before it is the right time.”
“Install the projectiles in the catapults, and do it quickly.”
While following orders, soldiers would not have time to think about useless things.