The central army, totaling over eighteen thousand men, began their full retreat. Marquis Anxi and his deputy, Baron Pierre, discussed the military situation. After the total annihilation of the left army, the outcome of this knightly war was doomed to failure.
"After Adelaide's foolish defeat, our war has already been lost," Marquis Anxi said bitterly, wishing Adelaide had already fallen in battle.
"Now, we have no choice but to return to support Yulsen Castle, where a large amount of military supplies and the army's food are stored!" Baron Pierre said urgently. "Yulsen Castle only has a thousand defenders and a few dozen knights. They won't last long against the orc hordes."
"Do you mean we march forcibly?" Marquis Anxi considered, seeking Baron Pierre's opinion.
Baron Pierre immediately nodded: "We must hurry. The army has only seven days' worth of food left. Without Yulsen's supplies, the soldiers will collapse once they run out of food."
Marquis Anxi agreed, his troops running low on food, previously relying entirely on supplies from Yulsen Castle. Now, without food, even the strongest knights would lack the strength to fight.
However, the blond, blue-eyed Marquis thought for a while, then shook his head: "No, no, Pierre. If we can think of this, can't the orcs as well? Do you know what tactic I've thought of?"
"The orcs will besiege Yulsen Castle but won't launch a strong attack. Instead, they'll let Adelaide and his soldiers shiver in the tall castle, anxious and uneasy, and then... the orcs might ambush us on our way back, catching us off guard!"
Marquis Anxi, a graduate of the Knight Academy in Kurona, had an excellent grasp of tactics. He realized that to quickly support Yulsen Castle, if they could think of it, so could the orcs.
"Send out a large number of scouts. We must be the first to know if there are ambushes nearby!"
"Yes!" the knights responded loudly.
Indeed, in the next two days of marching, relying on numerous scouts and cavalrymen scouting at great cost, they discovered multiple ambushes, allowing the central army to proceed cautiously. Under Marquis Anxi's command, the army steadily embarked on the return journey.
The Beast King "Bloodhorn" Malas realized the humans were prepared for ambushes, so he changed his strategy, beginning a full assault on Yulsen Castle.
One by one, orc warbands attacked Yulsen Castle under the Beast King's command. Minotaurs cut down forests to make crude ladders, and cyclopes threw stones, suppressing the serf archers on the towers.
Count Adelaide anxiously hid in the tower, every scream and the sound of impacts outside nearly driving him to collapse. In one day of attack, the castle lost over a dozen knights and more than two hundred serf soldiers.
Fortunately, the castle gates were sturdy enough, and lacking powerful siege weapons, the orcs retreated after a day's assault, leaving behind a field of bodies, thanks to the knights and soldiers' sacrifices and determined defense.
At night, when humans needed rest, the orcs did not. Thus, an anxious Count Adelaide immediately grabbed the magical communicator: "My Marquis, my Marquis, it's the third night already. Where is the reinforcement?"
"The orcs have set up numerous ambushes on the march route! We must proceed with caution, Adelaide. The orcs shouldn't be attacking you fully," Marquis Anxi's puzzled voice came through the magical communicator.
"No! The orcs are attacking Yulsen with all their might, they are fully attacking Yulsen!" Adelaide shouted into the communicator, frantic: "Listen, my Marquis, this is the sound of me and my soldiers resisting!"
Sounds of orc roars and stones hitting the walls came from outside the tower, indicating another round of orc attacks was beginning.
"What? Hello? Adelaide? Can you hear me? Hold on, just hold on, we'll be there in one more day!" Marquis Anxi immediately realized the situation on the battlefield had changed.
The orcs had given up on ambushing them on the road and instead turned to a strong attack on the castle.
Thus, he immediately ordered the central army to break camp and hasten towards Yulsen Castle.
"Should we notify the right army for support?" asked a knight.
"No need, we are enough," Marquis Anxi was confident in annihilating the orc army. He didn't want the Holy Grail Knight and the third son of the Red Dragon Duke to share this merit. Moreover, even if the right army came to support, it would take several days.
One after another, Count Adelaide's calls for help became more urgent, the orcs continuously attacking Yulsen Castle, causing heavy casualties among the defenders.
On the afternoon of September 13th, under a high sun and clear sky, the situation at Yulsen Castle had deteriorated severely. More than half of the defenders were casualties, with only a small number still resisting. The arrow rain from the castle walls had thinned considerably, and many parts of the castle were smoky from damage, with significant breaches in the walls. The orcs had reached the castle gates.
A wooden siege hammer was pounding the gates, making a thunderous noise. On the gatehouse, soldiers directed serfs to shoot arrows downward. The charging horned beasts fell under the barrage, but more rushed forward. The siege hammer, made from tree trunks, was crude and ineffective. The gate shook but remained intact.
After continuous assaults, the orcs suffered heavy casualties, with bodies piling up near the castle, filling ditches.
A Doom Bull approached the Beast King "Bloodhorn" Malas, panting heavily, steam blowing from its nostrils: "The gate... is sturdy, the wood... weak."
"We... can't open... the gate," the Doom Bull said to the Beast King.
"Waste... waste!" the Beast King roared in anger, knowing they needed to hurry as the knightly army could appear at any time: "Attack again!"
"Another attack... can't open... the gate," the Doom Bull continued.
"Ugh... all useless." The Beast King pushed the Doom Bull aside, smiling: "No matter... we have... Gril."
At the Beast King's command, a five-meter-tall cyclops named Gril stepped out from the orc ranks.
"Gril! Gril! Gril!" all the orcs chanted his name. Several orcs placed a giant black boulder in front of the cyclops. Gril roared, lifted the boulder, and staggered towards the castle gate.
"Gril! Gril! Gril!"
Count Adelaide, hearing the orc chants inside the castle, sweated profusely. After hesitation, he picked up the magical communicator and a gemstone.
After connecting, before Marquis Anxi could speak, Count Adelaide cried out with a heart-wrenching voice: "My Marquis, the castle has reached its limit, we have too. Only over three hundred people are alive inside."
"My Marquis, for the sake of the lady and the king, please lend a brother a hand! Where is our reinforcement?"
There was silence on the communicator, then Marquis Anxi's voice came through.
"We are rushing to Yulsen Castle at full speed, Count Adelaide. Please hold on for just thirty more minutes, we'll be there soon!"
Adelaide put down the communicator, the gemstone dim and lifeless, the last of the castle's stones, and their final chance to communicate.
At the gate, the cyclops Gril, holding the black boulder, stumbled to the gate.
"Gril! Gril! Gril!"
"Ugh!" The cyclops lifted the boulder over its head, then, using the momentum, slammed it down with its head, knocking itself out.
The gate finally collapsed amid the orcs' cheers.
...
An hour later, Marquis Anxi finally led the knightly army to Yulsen Castle.
Smoke billowed from Yulsen Castle in the distance, with countless orc bodies surrounding the walls, the river red with blood.
"It seems we are not too late." The knights wiped their sweat; they had forced marched day and night. The army, over eighteen thousand strong, had finally arrived at Yulsen Castle.
Worse, the army's food was running low. After four days of marching, the knightly army now had only three days' worth of food left.
As the knightly army approached Yulsen Castle, they sensed something different.
Silence.
It was too quiet.
"Something's wrong, gather the troops, prepare for battle!" Marquis Anxi sensed the anomaly, signaling the army to stop advancing, then divided into several groups, ready for orders. He rode ahead of the formation: "Adelaide?"
"Adelaide?"
Black figures appeared on the tower, and a round object was thrown down: "Your... Count... for you!"
"Ha!"
"For you... all for you... return the humans... to the humans!" The castle's catapult was crudely activated, hurling objects that seemed like rubble from inside the castle towards the knightly army.
"Take cover!" the knights barely had time to shout before the objects hit, seemingly light and causing little harm upon impact.
"Aaah!" When those "stones" landed among the troops, many serfs cried out in fear, retreating in terror.
They were heads! Many heads!
The heads of knights, soldiers, serfs, even castle servants and women!
"Ah!" Many heads were still bleeding, their expressions of fear and despair overwhelming the serfs, some of whom turned to flee, causing a wave of panic among the knightly army. Despite the knights' efforts to suppress the serfs' fear and boost their morale, fear persisted, their faith in the knights shattered.
Without the Holy Grail Knight, they were terrified.
"Damn!" Marquis Anxi, seeing Count Adelaide's head at his feet, knew Yulsen Castle had fallen.
The orcs' main force had also suffered greatly in attacking the castle, with bodies piling up around the castle. The Marquis then led the knightly army, surrounding the remaining orcs in the castle.
Thus, the roles reversed.
The knightly army of over eighteen thousand encamped around Yulsen Castle. To prevent orc reinforcements, the Marquis arranged for the army of the Connacht Duchy to ambush the outskirts, leading the knightly army in attacking Yulsen Castle.
"Forward! My warriors! For the lady and the king! For Britannia!"
"For the lady and the king! For Britannia!"
First, the serf infantry charged, pushed forward by the knights under their stern gaze, forming dense lines, most wearing only leather armor, without shields.
Arrows rained down from the walls, with shameless minotaurs using vast quantities of arrows, now their possession. Thousands of minotaurs densely packed on the damaged towers inflicted heavy losses on the knightly army.
After serfs fell in droves, soldiers in chainmail or plate armor followed, then dismounted knights. The orc king had prepared, arming the orcs with spears and throwing axes from the armory, suppressing the knights' advance.
After five waves of assaults, despite penetrating the castle at one point, all were repelled by the orcs.
The knights suffered heavy casualties, as did the orcs, leaving hundreds dead.
The castle's elevated terrain and the river's intertwining made continuous knight charges futile, with the piled bodies hindering their approach. The castle's ample military supplies ensured the orcs had enough arrows, preventing the knights from gaining an advantage. Even if some knights and soldiers penetrated the castle, the giant minotaurs and horned beast troops harvested them one by one.
From noon to sunset, the battle's outcome was decided by Doom Bulls and four-armed demons, repelling groups of dismounted knights and even annihilating covering serf archers, forcing the knightly army to retreat.
Marquis Anxi felt uneasy, first cursing the serfs' cowardice and lowliness, then hoping for a nighttime surprise attack, personally selecting his elites for a dark assault on the castle.
Unfortunately, the orcs excelled in night battles more than the knights, who were repelled by arrows and javelins upon approaching the castle. The battle raged until dawn, with flanking orc cavalry delivering a fatal blow to the human forces, forcing the knights to retreat again.
After a day of fighting, the orcs lost over two thousand, and the knightly army lost more than two hundred knights and over three thousand serf soldiers.
The battle reached a stalemate, the knightly army surrounding the remaining seven thousand orcs in a small area near the castle, unable to eradicate them. Under the Beast King's command, the orcs' attempts to break out failed, so they decided to hold out, awaiting reinforcements.
Marquis Anxi knew orc reinforcements were en route, leaving him little time and even less food.
The knightly army had only two days of provisions left!
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