"Ugh-"
Taking a deep breath,
"Charge!"
With a battle cry, Evangeline thrust her lance forward.
The lance, glowing with a pure white light, tore through the space, charging forward.
Clang!
Lunared effortlessly deflected the attack with a swing of his claw. A smug smile was playing on his lips.
It was clear: Lunared was far stronger than Evangeline.
Evangeline's desperate attacks were easily parried by Lunared, but...
Zing-!
"Kuh!"
Every light attack from Lunared was landing as a heavy blow on Evangeline.
Each time Lunared's claws shimmered under the moonlight and cut through the air, plates attached to Evangeline's armor were swept away.
The armor that Evangeline currently wore was the 'Golem Armor.'
Several layers of golem plates were stacked onto it, making its defense as reliable as any other top-tier armors.
Yet, it was breaking.
Like feathers scattering from a bird hit by a bullet, pieces of Evangeline's plates shattered with each of Lunared's attacks.
"Damn it!"
Holding up her shield, marred with claw marks, Evangeline tried to steady her breath.
Scratches marred her pale cheeks and neck. Lunared licked the blood off his claws, giggling.
"To stand alone against the Nightmare Legion Commander. Quite brave."
"…"
"It's time to pay for your youthful arrogance, young knight."
Throughout all this, Damien's sniping support continued.
Without Damien's support, Evangeline would have already lost her life.
Bang! Boom-!
The problem was that Damien's sniping wasn't infinite.
After exhausting the bullets of the 'Black Queen,' Damien had refilled his magic power to continue sniping. But even that had run out.
Now, he was providing sniping support with his second rifle, the 'Hunter's Retribution.' But its power was noticeably weaker.
Snipers become formidable with their bullets and range; but without those, they are significantly weakened.
Lunared kept deflecting the incoming bullets as if swatting away pesky bugs.
As the sniping grew weaker, Lunared shifted his remaining strength to intensify his attacks on Evangeline.
Zing-!
The Wolf King's claws ruthlessly scraped the armor and shield,
Thunk...!
The last of the plates attached to Evangeline's armor fell off.
Now only in the base structure of the Golem Armor, Evangeline tightly gripped her nearly shattered shield.
"Any last words?"
A confident Lunared sneered.
"I'll listen. I have the courtesy to hear the last words of a human who held me off this long."
"Every time you open that trap of yours, it's like you're barking. Sure you're not a dog?"
Evangeline smirked mischievously and subtly gestured behind her.
"If you want last words, maybe you should've asked your minions first?"
"...!"
Shocked by her words, Lunared turned her gaze towards the northern gate.
All the werewolves, who had been attacking the north gate with him, lay dead.
The three members of the Shadow Squad had timely joined the fray and with their overwhelming firepower, had torn through the wolves.
Soldiers who had raced from the barracks joined later than the rest, but they finished off the werewolves and orderly ushered the citizens into the city.
Lunared let out a sarcastic laugh.
A lance knight and a sniper. His fight with this duo was so thrilling, he inadvertently overlooked the fact that all of his subordinates had died in the meantime.
"These damned fools."
Thud! Thwoosh!
Godhand, who confirmed the kill of the last werewolf by thrusting two lances into its neck, withdrew his weapon and turned to look at Evangeline.
"All the monsters have been dealt with, Evangeline."
Observing the tattered shield hanging on Evangeline's arm, Godhand transformed his two lances into a large shield. A fitting spell for a metal sorcerer.
"Use this for now."
Catching the shield thrown by Godhand, Evangeline gave a toothy grin.
"It's reassuring to see you after so long, Godhand!"
"I'm glad to be back on the monster front. The outside world has too many frightening events..."
"Even more than this monster-infested place?"
"Haha."
Godhand chuckled awkwardly and stood beside Evangeline.
At the northern city wall, Burnout and Bodybag were setting up a giant ballista, and Saintess Margarita was bestowing heals and shields on Evangeline.
"..."
In her broken wheelchair on the ground, Lilly still held the boy and girl from before tightly in her embrace.
Watching Godhand's retreating figure, she murmured,
"Well, Mad Wolf King. All your little dog minions are dead."
Gripping her shield firmly, Evangeline jauntily faced Lunared.
"What now? Think you can take on all of us alone?"
Reinforcements kept arriving from the southern part of the city. Lunared silently watched the growing human shadows on the wall.
"Excuse me, move aside! Make way!"
Pushing past the citizens, even the Penal Squad arrived.
With time, even more people would gather here. Eventually, Lunared alone might struggle to resist.
"..."
Lunared is strong.
His strength is raw, unbridled force. It emanates from an unbelievably resilient body, an honest display of martial might.
Hence, his limits are evident.
He can't resort to tricks and magic like other Nightmare Legion commanders to overturn the tide or perform miracles.
Though his strength is monumental, when faced with an even greater force, he would lose without any variables.
Thus, as a legion commander, Lunared never engages in direct combat with an opponent stronger than himself.
He ambushes, kidnaps, and employs every tactic at his disposal to introduce unpredictability.
"Hoooh-"
Taking a deep breath, Lunared...
"Awooooooo!"
Released a howl so fierce it seemed to pierce the heavens.
Beneath the bright moonlit sky, the Wolf King's cry resonated sharply.
All around, people clamped their ears shut, collapsing to the ground, while citizens still evacuating either fainted or fell.
Awooooo!
Awooooo!
Answering the Wolf King's cry, from all around Crossroad's battlefield, the howls of werewolves echoed.
Covering her ears and staggering, Evangeline gritted her teeth.
"What did he do? Call for reinforcements?"
"Reinforcements?"
With a smirk curling up at the corner of his mouth, Lunared took a large step forward.
"The tables have turned, Lancer."
"...?"
"Count the number of you trying to stop me."
Lunared gestured towards the northern gate.
"Isn't it a bit excessive?"
"What?"
"I mean, all these soldiers gathered just to stop me, when I'm here alone."
Evangeline, with a baffled look, glanced up at the northern wall.
Indeed— it was true.
Battles against formidable monsters like Lunared should be handled by heroes, not regular soldiers.
Yet, the northern wall was swarming with ordinary troops.
The enemy had staged a surprise attack from behind.
The regular civilians outside were now in danger.
So, it made sense that the majority of the standby soldiers had rushed to this spot. But...
"Aren't the defenses on the east and west getting thinner?"
"...!"
Confirming that the human forces' main strength was concentrated in the south, a simultaneous surprise attack on the north, east, and west ensued.
Among those, the north was led by the Wolf King himself. A successful breakthrough would be great, but even failing wouldn't matter much.
With the enemy leader's appearance, the human defense against the surprise attack naturally gravitated towards the north.
Already in a state of turmoil, defenses for the east and west were inevitably weakened.
Especially if the enemy forces there appeared small.
That's when the breakthrough command would be given.
"I brought along a hundred subordinates on this raid. I have twenty of them with me here," Lunared explained to Evangeline in a friendly, jovial tone.
"Ten each will fake attacks on the east and west, but when I signal, an additional thirty covert operatives who've been hiding will attempt a surprise breakthrough on both sides."
"..."
"They'll breach the gates and invade the city. That was roughly the plan."
Lunared's strategy had worked brilliantly.
Because the number of werewolves appearing at the east and west gates was perceived as small and manageable, almost all the soldiers had gravitated towards the north gate.
If from the beginning a huge number of werewolves had swarmed the east and west gates, reinforcements from the center and south would have bolstered those defenses, and a sufficient number of soldiers would've likely thwarted the surprise attack.
But the soldiers, assuming the main ambush was from the north, had abandoned the east and west to focus on the northern front.
If the east and west gates were to be attacked under these circumstances...
"Damn it! Send soldiers to the east and west ga—"
Just as Evangeline was about to order,
Thud!
Lunared took another step forward.
"...!"
Suddenly, a terrifyingly violent aura, like nothing before, began emanating from the Wolf King's body.
"Remember when you asked if I could take on all of you by myself, Lancer?"
Lunared bared his teeth, a mad laugh escaping him.
"My answer is 'I don't know.' We'll have to fight to find out."
"...?!"
As a military leader, Lunared would never face an opponent stronger than himself head-on.
But as a warrior, Lunared would eagerly challenge someone perceived mightier.
He was a cold-blooded hunter, yet also a passionate martial artist.
Though these two personas seemed contradictory, he embraced both as part of his identity.
He was both a wolf and a human.
"Well, let me see if I can take you all on."
Toward the fortress wall teeming with humans, the Wolf King began his solitary march.
"Let the battle begin, humans!"
***
Eastern Wall.
"Pant, pant, pant!"
Standing atop the wall, I wiped the sweat trickling down my chin with the back of my hand.
The Shadow Squad had appeared on the ally list in the system window, and the moment I confirmed they had engaged in battle at the North Gate, I redirected toward the East Gate, while Junior headed for the West Gate.
The first reason was that we had enough troops to resist them at the North Gate.
'I had a feeling these wolf bastards wouldn't just settle for a simple three-front surprise attack.'
That was the second reason.
The situation was already a chaotic mess. It wouldn't be a surprise if these bastards complicated things even more here.
If enemy forces were to rush into the East and West Gates at staggered intervals in this scenario, we would undoubtedly collapse. That's why Junior and I had split up to defend.
'Damn it, they really came.'
Boom, boom, boom, boom!
The automatic defense turret beside me belched fire.
In front of me lay the body of a werewolf sliced by a magic blade, while in the distance, werewolves affected by my [Gaze of Command] were frantically attacking one another.
'We somehow managed to defend the East Gate.'
With the help of a few remaining soldiers and my efforts, we had managed to hold the East Gate.
'Looks like the North Gate has been defended too. If only the West Gate that Junior went to hold can be successfully defended, maybe we can salvage this mess...'
Or so I thought.
Ding!
[Warning: The city's West Gate has been captured!]
"..."
Staring at the glaring red system notification in front of me, I was at a loss for words.
The absolute worst notification one would want to see in a defense game.
The fall of the city gate loomed before me.