Chapter 269

Chapter 269 - Potential Energy

"Shouldn't we go rescue them immediately?"

"If you just give us weapons, we will fight with all our might."

The tribal chiefs spoke with resolute faces.

Nomads wandering aimlessly turn all their wealth into high-value items and carry them on their bodies or horses. Therefore, having been captured and released, they were practically penniless now.

With nothing to lose, they had to fight hard and establish merit in front of the master of the place they would live in from now on.

"It's fine. It's not urgent, so don't worry."

"I know it's a castle with incredible defense, but didn't you bring the main fOrce with you? Furthermore, if it's being attacked in the middle of enemy territory..."

"It's impossible to breach from the outside as long as the castle gates are closed. We'll speed up a bit, but there's no need to overdo it."

The Big Foot Tribe female chief, who had been listening quietly, gestured to her tribe members.

"Everyone dismount. There will be a battle, so we must conserve the horses' stamina."

Everyone had good hearing, so this part was convenient. Even if spoken roughly, everyone nearby understood.

"I'll go ahead and check the situation. Sirs, lead your units and follow at the current pace."

"You wouldn't listen even if I told you not to go without an escort, would you?"

As soon as Hind finished speaking, Homi flew in from somewhere and sat behind Eugene.

"Here. Escort."

Smiling, Eugene disappeared into a speck in the distance.

Upon arriving at where the Moving Castle was parked, what entered Eugene and Homi's eyes were three armies.

"Fire. Keep firing."

The Moving Castle garrison pouring arrows from above the castle walls.

"Please just open the gates!"

"Fight with all your might! Those bastards can't fight with full strength because of the castle behind us either!"

The noble faction army forming a defensive line in front of the firmly closed castle gates.

"Ignore the castle! Don't shoot anything at the castle!"

"But Captain. How many of our men died to those bastards..."

"Our crossbows won't even reach up there anyway. Focus on smashing those Western Army bastards in that time. Bring more shields!"

The Imperial faction army pushing hard to somehow catch the Western nobles while getting battered by the Moving Castle garrison.

"I thought as much. The scout saw it wrong."

"I don't see any ladders or siege towers. They are purely aiming for the noble faction army."

The messenger had mistaken the noble faction and Imperial faction fighting in front of the castle as the castle being attacked.

Homi stood on the back of Might's seat and placed her hands on Eugene's shoulders to watch the battlefield. Just like when she used to swing with Eugene in her hometown.

* * *

While Eugene defeated the pagan army and captured Hesed, the Western allied fOrces hadn't been playing around either. After entering the south and splitting into several units, they engaged in sporadic skirmishes with the Emperor's fOrces.

During this, one of the Western armies ambushed Viscount Peyton, a close aide of the Emperor, and achieved a great victory.

"Catch the Viscount! I will grant 10% of his ransom to whoever catches him!"

"You must keep that promise! My Lord!"

"I swear it on my honor!"

Pursuers eagerly chased after the fleeing Viscount Peyton. He was a wealthy family head and a vassal favored by the Emperor. Catching him meant hitting the jackpot.

"Sir! We've come too deep. There's no place nearby to ask for help, so going any deeper will jeopardize our escape route."

"Then are you telling us to let go of the target we've almost caught? Our opponent isn't some rural noble, but Viscount Peyton."

Blinded by merits and loot, they were the ones who had pushed deepest among the Western armies. As the pursuit dragged on, anxiety began to creep in, and it soon became reality.

"Enemy fOrces to the east! A new enemy! The banner is a bear head wearing a helmet!"

"Damn it all! It's the Brown Bear Mercenary Group! We need to get out immediately!"

Hearing the scout's report, the mercenary cavalry's faces distorted. As a mercenary group hired directly by the Emperor, they were usually fiercely aggressive. And there were many of them.

"Count Bram's army has appeared from the northwest! Seeing knights positioned at the very front, they seem intent on striking us directly!"

"..."

With the successive appearance of the Imperial faction armies, Viscount Peyton, who had been running for his life, also turned his army around. In an instant, they fell into the worst situation of being surrounded on three sides.

"Damn it! Everyone retreat!"

"You're giving up on the Viscount we almost caught here?"

"Then do you intend to be annihilated while surrounded like this? If you want to be a prisoner, stay behind alone."

It was incredibly frustrating, but there was no choice. The problem was that the path they came from was blocked by the enemy army, so they had to flee into the Imperial faction's territory.

To make matters worse, the horses exhausted from the reckless pursuit couldn't pick up speed. At the sight of the pursuing army getting closer, more and more began dropping their shields and other heavy items.

"We're going to get caught at this rate!"

"Wait. Wh-What is that?"

They discovered a massive fortress standing alone in the empty wasteland.

Its presence was too clear to be called a mirage, making one's breathing heavy just by looking at it. Yet its appearance was too transcendental to be built by humans.

It would be more plausible to claim it had been there since the beginning of the world.

As always, the Moving Castle plunged everyone who didn't belong to it into ambivalence. An intimidating presence that fOrced onlookers to lower their weapons, yet compelled them not to avert their gaze due to swelling awe.

A selfish and greedy creature.

"Look at that banner. It's the banner of House Mayer."

"Then His Excellency the Count's Moving Castle?"

"W-We're saved!"

Both knights and mercenaries of the Western Army turned their horses toward where the Moving Castle was. Joy, shock, wonder, fear, desire. Various emotions fluctuated on their faces.

The problem was that the entrance to the Moving Castle they barely reached was firmly closed. The noble faction army deployed in front of the castle gates as if forming a last stand, and the Imperial faction army deployed immediately to surround them.

The Western Army knights waved both arms toward the Moving Castle while glaring at the Imperial faction army that seemed ready to pounce at any moment.

"Let us in! We are allies!"

"You want us to open the gates with that massive army trailing behind you? Does that even make sense right now?"

The garrison commander shouted from the spire of the Moving Castle. Because he spoke through a stationary bronze megaphone, it echoed deeply across the entire battlefield.

"Right! Right!"

"Stupid bastards who don't even know the basics of warfare!"

The Imperial faction army pursuing the Western Army showered them with jeers. The Western Army knights were furious at the sight, but there was nothing they could do.

It wasn't even their own castle, and they were asking to open the gates while trailing a bunch of enemy fOrces. Even the most thick-skinned knight couldn't help but blush.

"I swear on my honor to not let a single Imperial faction soldier enter! I mean it!"

"Then you can fight hard with that honor and drive the enemies away!"

"No!"

"Frankly speaking, we doubt if you are truly part of the Western Army. What if you are disguised Imperial soldiers trying to trick us?"

A knight who stepped forward pushing aside the aggrieved Western Army knight took off his helmet.

"Call His Excellency the Count! He will recognize me!"

A knight from Samur with bronze skin shouted. Perhaps too excited, his southern dialect, which he had restrained while living in Roman, popped out.

"Who are you?"

"Hamon of House Werner!"

"...Who is that guy?"

The garrison commander looked at the accompanying heralds, but it was a family name they were hearing for the first time too.

"I had a meal with the Count at the banquet before the expedition! We went hunting togAAether too! And..."

"His Excellency is out on an expedition! We are following the orders he gave in advance! A strict order not to open the gates under any circumstances!"

"..."

Hamon, who had been speaking passionately, shut his mouth. Another knight stepped forward pushing him aside.

"Have some flexibility! So if His Excellency the Count comes, you won't open the gates either?"

"That's right. We won't."

"???"

"His Excellency is the true master of the castle. He can open the castle gates with his will alone, so he doesn't need our help. That's why he ordered us to keep the doors shut even tighter. How do you think this massive castle dropped here in the first place?"

Only then did the knights recall the modifiers following the Moving Castle. It didn't get the name Magic Castle just by being big and sturdy.

"If we get wiped out, His Excellency the Count will definitely hold you responsible! For the crime of causing a pillar of the noble allied fOrces to be annihilated!"

"It doesn't matter."

The final threat didn't work on the garrison commander either. He kissed the medal pinned to his chest and shouted resolutely.

"Returning the castle intact to His Excellency is my only goal. Even if I am reprimanded and sentenced to death for this, I will walk to the gallows with a smile."

Speechless, the noble faction knights looked behind them. A situation where the numerically superior enemy had completed their encirclement. They had suddenly ended up forming a last stand themselves.

"Do not worry too much. If those bastards attack, we will provide covering fire from above too."

"Hah... That's so damn reassuring."

The noble faction army braced themselves to fight. It was at least better than being completely ignored.

* * *

The garrison commander's words were clearly heard by the Imperial faction army deployed a distance away.

"What did I say? I said there's nothing to lose by pursuing. A stupidly large castle gate like that takes ages just to open and close. What stupid commander would open the gate when a pursuing army is right behind them?"

Viscount Peyton, his eyes burning with vengeance, spoke as if chewing his words.

"That's not all. The solidarity is incomparable to ours, united around His Majesty. WhAAether it's the Southern Army or the Western Army, they're only united on the outside; they're all separate stews inside."

Count Bram, a loyal subject of the Emperor, added a word. He took great pride in their organized chain of command.

"Excuse me, Lords. You don't intend to attack that castle, do you?"

The Brown Bear Mercenary Group Captain, wearing a bearskin helmet, asked with a trembling voice.

With 30 years of mercenary experience, he was a veteran warrior who had tasted everything one could experience on the battlefield except death. However, just imagining attacking the massive castle before his eyes made his legs give out.

"We'll all die if we ram into that."

"Do you think knights care about such things? If push comes to shove, they'll push us from behind to attack until we all die."

"I don't think we could climb it even if we piled up all our corpses."

"Would it be about 70m to the roof?"

"I think it's more."

Behind them, the mercenaries murmured with anxious faces and stole glances at the lords. The recklessness and obsession with reputation of the species known as knights were famously irrational.

"Do not worry. Our target is only those noble faction bastards. We won't hang a single ladder on the castle wall."

As Peyton spoke coldly, the mercenaries' faces relaxed a bit. Although they were knights who didn't value their lives, they didn't seem crazy enough to ram into such a monster-like castle.

'Arrows will hurt a bit, but as long as we don't scale the walls.'

More than 90% of the massive casualties during a siege occur while scaling the walls. If they only assumed ground combat, it was worth trying.

However, the mercenary captain's worries still remained.

"What if Count Mayer comes out of the castle and launches a pincer attack?"

"If he were going to do that, he would have opened the gates and come out already. The Count led his main fOrce to Hesed city after subjugating the pagan army. The garrison commander's words about his absence probably aren't a lie."

"Couldn't he have captured it already and be on his way back?"

"Are you just throwing out any words now? You should know how impregnable that city is, right?"

The mercenary captain shut his mouth, having nothing to say. Count Bram looked at him as if he was pathetic.

"Are you really the captain of the Brown Bear Mercenary Group? Why have you become so timid?"

"Don't worry about reinfOrcements coming from the castle and just prepare for the attack."

In front of the two rebuking lords, the mercenary captain swallowed his dissatisfaction and bowed his head. Although he was someone leading hundreds of mercenaries, he had no justification or authority to defy them any further.

"Your Excellency Bram. The assembly of the ballistae is complete."

"Good. Give the order to attack. Send the crossbow units and shield bearers forward as well."

Thus began a bizarre battle.

* * *

Eugene and Homi watched the battle while waiting for the main fOrce to arrive. The two armies exchanged attacks while shouting as if looking at sworn enemies.

"Where did all you bastards who chased us like dogs in heat go? Stop cowering in front of the castle and come out here! Let's fight like men!"

"Get rid of those fucking ballistae before you run your mouths!"

The Imperial faction army was nearly twice as large in number, had several siege weapons, and had the upper hand physically. However, the side winning was the exhausted and numerically inferior noble faction army.

It wasn't because they fought well, but because the covering fire pouring from above was ridiculously powerful.

"There are too many arrows!"

The Imperial faction knights who bravely charged at the front were unhorsed in droves by the hail of arrows.

"Everyone stick to the fallen horses! It's safe if you set up shields on the horses' bellies!"

Following the old knight's shout, the knights crawled while enduring the shock of being unhorsed. They took cover behind the bodies of the fallen horses and raised their shields.

Thwack!

Neigh!

Thud!

Thwack!

Countless arrows rained down on the horses that were dying or already dead. The unpleasant vibration of flesh being dug into was transmitted through the shields. It was a sensation they would never forget until they died.

Clang!

Because the arrows were fired from such a high place, a considerable shock came even when blocked with a shield.

"Didn't you say Count Mayer's main fOrce is outside?"

"It's confirmed information. There was a report from Lord Walter, and the spies confirmed it over and over again."

"Then what is that? Can't you see them shooting arrows from everywhere we look? Just how large is the garrison?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know?!"

Mercenaries with good eyesight confirmed the faces of the archers aiming their arrows from the balconies.

"The ones shooting arrows are women? I see several old people too."

"What?"

The communal balconies scattered across the Moving Castle were usually resting places to enjoy the view and chat. However, they were now filled with retired warriors holding the bows they used during active duty.

"How dare they come here!"

"Mother. This is their land down there."

"What are you talking about, dear? If we parked here, it's our land."

"Wow."

Gathered in family units, they showered arrows at the Imperial faction army below. Since the draw weight of their bows was strong and they were shooting from such a high place, the destructive power and range were incredible.

"We really have to thank those guys just for today, don't we?"

Middle-aged Dark Elves who had retired due to injuries excitedly drew their bowstrings.

-Shooting arrows at enemies from up here feels amazing.

-Yeah. It really feels like becoming a god, doesn't it?

Experiencing what they had only imagined normally brought immense pleasure.

Swoosh!

A large boulder flew past the Dark Elves aiming their arrows.

Thump!

Rumble!

The boulder, falling with a fierce spin, bombarded the Imperial faction camp.

"The Dwarf guys are having a blast."

The Dark Elves glared upward. Surely, the pleasure wouldn't compare to the artillery unit firing catapults from the roof.

The artillery squad leader, measuring the wind direction and speed in front of the Mangonel catapult, shouted.

"Adjust firing angle downward by 10 degrees! Add one turn of tension!"

While the operator lowered the angle, two loaders on both sides moved large ratchet wrenches. Every time a clicking sound was heard, the basket, resembling a giant's spoon, was slowly pulled back.

These small catapults designed for the defense of the Moving Castle lacked range and power, but reloading was easy and fast.

"Fire!"

Clunk!

A boulder the size of a human torso flew right into the middle of the Imperial faction army.

"Uwaaah! Here comes another one!"

"Dodgeee!"

The faint screams of mercenaries could be heard, followed by a dull thud echoing.

Clunk!

Clunk!

Other catapults nearby were also launching boulders in succession. Every time they did, wails erupted from the ground.

"Hey! Shoot one at that shield wall over there too!"

"Just scatter them roughly, and we'll handle the rest!"

At the requests coming up through the bronze megaphones, the Dwarf squad leaders laughed heartily.

"You heard the pointy-eared friends, right?"

"Correct 15 degrees to the right!"

The shirtless squad leaders all had bushy beards. Abundant facial hair was useful for calculating the wind, a prerequisite for handling catapults.

Clunk!

Clunk!

Clunk!

Boulders flew without rest. These weren't things assembled in a rush on a poor battlefield. They were installed on a flat surface with good materials, plenty of time, and care! Naturally, there were no minor breakdowns.

The catapults were small and the stones were something two Dwarves could carry, but the overwhelming height made up for all the shortcomings.

Bang!

Crash!

With the shield formation dismantled by the merciless catapult attacks and arrows raining down, there was no way to hold out.

"We need support right now! What is the rear rank doing instead of rotating?"

Normally, they should organically change ranks to rotate the wounded and exhausted soldiers. However, the middle and rear ranks had no leeway to do so while being battered by the pouring fire.

Only the front rank, which wasn't receiving fire due to the concern of friendly fire, could properly fight the noble faction army. But this actually put the Imperial army at a numerical disadvantage.

"The Blue Deer Mercenary Group Captain has died in battle! The vice-captain who inherited command is giving unauthorized retreat orders!"

"His Excellency Count Bram has been unhorsed after being hit by an arrow! It's a serious injury!"

"We can't hold out like this! Give the retreat order for us too!"

Unable to hold out, the Imperial faction army began to rout from all sides.

"Damn it... Blow the retreat horn!"

Viscount Peyton, biting his lips until they bled, shouted.

Bwooo-!

However, what echoed across the battlefield was the horn for advance.

"It-It's Count Mayer!"

The main fOrce of House Mayer, having arrived at some point, was charging toward the routing Imperial army. At the forefront was Eugene, holding an intimidating axe.

* * *

"Sir! Should we cut off their retreat?"

"No. Our goal isn't an annihilation battle but to drive the enemies away."

Eugene pulled back Rex and the horse archers, who were disappointed about the ransom money.

"Do not forget that there are many defenseless refugees behind us. Driving away the enemies in front of the castle completely and safely bringing in the refugees takes priority."

This was territory occupied by the Imperial faction. It was a situation where a detached enemy fOrce could strike from the rear or flank at any moment.

"The heavy cavalry follows me to break through the center! Knights, cut down the enemies on the left and right wings!"

Normally, the knights, the most powerful fOrce, handle breaking through the center. However, since the Vertigos joined, Eugene's cavalry tactics had also changed.

Although their speed and turning ability were slow, they had powerful breakthrough ability and the best defense, making them perfect for holding the center.

Knights, who relatively lacked defense, were given the task of biting and retreating from the enemies on both flanks.

-Running alongside the Lord is the duty of knights.

Several knights expressed their dissatisfaction, but it couldn't be helped. For now, they couldn't propose a better tactical advantage than this.

"Spearmen, forward!"

"If we show our backs, we all die anyway! Stop them like your lives depend on it!"

"Th-Those guys are riding monsters."

A spear and shield formation consisting of experienced mercenaries blocked Eugene's path.

'My soles are ticklish.'

They all swallowed hard at the vibrations echoing every time the Vertigos kicked the ground. They had plenty of experience facing cavalry, but the monsters charging at them now gave off different vibrations from the ground.

"Fire!"

Covering fire came from behind the spear and shield formation, but it bounced off vainly against the Dwarf-made shields and the Vertigos' carapaces.

Kuaaaang!

A moment later, a wave of immense mass swept away the spearmen. The special lances held with both hands by the Dwarf riders were more than twice as long as infantry spears.

"Cough..."

In the sight of the Imperial faction mercenaries, they saw their allies spitting bloody foam while skewered by lances.

These were lances used by holding and resting them with both hands. Several heavy cavalrymen charged forward while still holding the skewered Imperial faction mercenaries. All infantry blocking the front were trampled to pieces.

"Spare me!"

"Those demon-like bastards!"

The Imperial army scattered and began to flee, abandoning their formations.

"Don't scatter! Gather here!"

The commanders tried to salvage the situation somehow, but failed. Knights whose upper and lower bodies were severed and flew around every time Eugene swung his axe. Seeing that sight, no mercenary would obey orders.