The Count’s Youngest Son Is A Player - Chapter 76
Episode 76
“Second Outer Fortress, Area C, Sector 12. The defense network has been breached.」
「First Outer Fortress Area B, Sector 5. “A battle between noble families’ private soldiers and monsters!”
“4th Outer Fortress, Area A, Sector 16. “The siege has been breached and some monsters have entered the city!”
During the battle, reports continued to come from guild members stationed in each area.
The D-class gate, where the First Knights were concentrated, was easily defended, but the area in charge of the guards and temporarily hired mercenaries was gradually being surrounded.
No separate troops were deployed to the first outer castle, but priority was given to the defense of the mansion.
Because it was an area densely populated with noble families, there were also many private soldiers and knights, so they gave up.
Of course, the major blood relatives of the Earl of Ashton and people from noble families who were close to him had already evacuated to the mansion.
Also, at the mansion, Bernard was guarding the operation headquarters on Raoul’s behalf, monitoring the war situation, and reporting only major details to Raoul.
The second outer city did not have many residences. So the capital guards and mercenaries were deploying a defense network focusing on residential areas, and although it was breached here and there, it seemed to be holding up well so far.
As expected, the problem is the third and fourth outer voices.
It was difficult to defend because the area itself was so large and there were no troops other than the guards.
Since Raoul could not move hundreds of thousands of residents as he pleased, he had no choice but to plan a strategy to minimize damage as much as possible.
“What is the situation of the Central Army?”
As soon as the gate wave exploded, a guild member stationed near the Central Army headquarters delivered the news.
Since about 20 minutes had already passed, there had to be some news.
“Some of the on-duty troops and cavalry have deployed, but it looks like it will take some time to deploy the rest of the troops.”
“What are you talking about? Corps commander?? “They should have left by now!!”
“That’s it… It looks like the corps commander and executives are all at their homes in the 1st Outer Castle. Since there are only low-ranking officers except for the officers on duty, it is not possible to easily move troops. I’m trying to contact the corps commander via magic communication, but the connection isn’t working… It looks like the officer on duty has no intention of moving the troops on his own. “It seems like you are concerned about liability issues, so what can I do?”
“What the fuck!”
Raoul gritted his teeth.
The commander of the corps was from the Randall family, and many of the officers were from the Marquess of McNeil.
Still, given the situation, I thought they would move regardless of the faction, but it seemed like they just ignored his message.
This was not a situation that could be resolved just by getting angry.
“First, tell our officers to move. Since it is an emergency situation, there will be no liability issues or anything like that. And Bernard!”
“Yes, Master.”
“Send some of the knights and troops to the corps commander’s mansion. Take the magic communication tool and connect the communication network with the central army as soon as you go!”
“I will leave immediately.”
The damage was going to be much greater because of the stupid corps commander. However, there was no intention to unreasonably expand the scope of operations.
“All troops must strictly guard the operational area. Damage can be reduced by protecting the defense line. Unfortunately, the monsters that leak out are left to the reserve forces and the central army.”
“Yes, master!”
Fighting in a defense line with barricades and temporary watchtowers was the most efficient and could reduce damage to subordinates.
In the first place, it made no sense to cover this large capital city with 12,000 people.
‘Whew. There will be more victims than expected.’
A deep sigh flowed from Raoul’s mouth.
* * *
Quang!!
“Hehe…”
Three dog-headed monster gnolls broke through the front door and entered the house.
Sniff sniff.
The gnolls were drooling and their noses were flaring. Then, as if they had detected a human scent, they all rushed towards a certain room.
“Oh, no!”
Sam screamed as he hugged his wife and child.
‘If I had known this would happen, I should have evacuated a long time ago.’
Since I had to open the bakery early in the morning, I ignored the advice of the First Knights, but I never thought something like this would happen.
Kkeung kung!
The gnolls that soon approached showed their flashing teeth at their prey and let out howls of joy.
Sam, who was completely frozen, could only hug his family and tremble.
‘Someone, someone, save me!’
Before he knew it, the gnoll’s breath was touching the back of his neck. And at that very moment the gnome was about to bite Sam’s neck with its wide open snout.
bang! Seokyeong.
“Where is this bastard from?”
The knight who came through the window blew off the gnoll’s head.
Kkeung kung!
The other gnolls, surprised, pulled out their claws and tried to attack the knight.
puck. Damn it!
Others appeared behind the gnolls and cleared out the remaining ones.
When Sam, covered in gnoll blood and startled, looked up, a very young-looking knight was smiling.
“Are you hurt?”
“Oh yes yes. thank you thank you!”
Sam’s legs gave out at the thought of surviving. The pattern of a knight’s cloak caught his eye.
golden falcon. That was the symbol of the First Knights.
“This place is dangerous. “The main road has been cleared, so hurry and evacuate to the nearest temple.”
“Oh, I understand. Thank you very much, driver.”
Sam, who kept his head down, left the house with his family on shaky legs.
The young knight looking at them was none other than Dalton. And the two people standing next to him were Raoul’s classmates and had joined the First Knights as trainees.
“phew. “Has this sector been cleaned up?”
“Where should we go next?”
“for a moment.”
While Dalton received Bernard’s instructions via guild communication, his classmates sighed.
Some of the trainee knights, including Dalton and his classmates, were in charge of clearing out the monsters flowing out as reserve units.
The problem is that the area they are responsible for is too large.
The family was lucky to be saved a little while ago, but many people have already sacrificed their lives.
And many people would be dying at this very moment.
“let’s go! “There are goblins in sector 21 of area D.”
Dalton shouted and ran out, and his classmates quickly followed him.
There were broken houses and monster corpses strewn to the left and right of them as they drove down the main street.
* * *
Kane was hiding in the darkness, holding his breath and glaring somewhere.
That place was a noble family’s mansion that he was sure was the Imperial Hound’s hideout.
Since deciding to become Raoul’s vassal, he has been monitoring this place, looking for clues or timing of infiltration.
Raoul had entrusted him with surveillance, saying that if the gate caused trouble today, there would definitely be movement, so Kane was keeping an eye on the mansion without even blinking.
‘That’s strange.’
At first glance, there didn’t seem to be any unusual movement.
As usual, bonfires were lit here and there along the front gate and wall of the mansion, and guards were standing guard.
That made it even more strange.
After monsters poured out of the gate, soldiers and knights were running around the surrounding noble house as if they had been invaded by an anthill.
‘Does it make sense that this place is quiet as if nothing is happening?’
Flames are rising all over the capital, there are screams and the sound of weapons clashing, but is it business as usual?
Kane, who seemed to have gained some confidence, glared at the mansion once again and hid himself in the darkness.
‘You said that if you notice anything strange, check the sewers or underpasses around the house, not the mansion, right?’
After remembering Raoul’s advice, Kane headed to the sewer under the bridge a little distance away.
The capital, Turiam, was a city that was founded more than 1,000 years ago. As time went by, repeated expansion, reconstruction, and expansion led to the formation of extremely complex sewage passages underground in the city.
The underpass, which had become almost like a maze, was often where the city’s lowest class, vagabonds and lowlifes, lived in hiding.
In the case of the first outer fortress, it is said that guards regularly patrol the underpass to maintain public order, but all that was done was to only superficially tour the short, predetermined route.
Thanks to this, informants and spies like Kane sometimes infiltrated certain areas through underground passages.
However, no information guild understood the entire topography of the Turium Underpass.
‘It’s been a while since I’ve been here.’
Kane entered the underpass through the entrance he knew. Then, using the compass and the memories in my head, I headed to my destination.
After walking back and forth for a while along the complicated passageway, Kane hurriedly stopped and turned off the lamp.
‘Huh! ‘Can’t that be?’
Kane, with a stiff expression on his face, soon hid himself in the darkness.
* * *
Puck! Fu shoot!
Craddangtang!
“Don’t back down!”
“Evacuate the wounded soldiers back quickly!”
Again in front of the D-class gate.
Even though nearly an hour had passed, the fierce battle continued.
Most of the Armored Bores that first jumped out were eliminated, but as time went by, stronger and more difficult monsters were appearing.
A legion of ‘Boremen’, beastman monsters with the heads of wild boars, were pounding on the First Guild’s defense line, armed with various weapons such as spears and axes.
An ordinary boreman had a spear knife stuck in it, but the ‘Elite Boreman’, a C-rank monster, did not even have a scratch on its skin unless it was a sword attack.
If Raoul had not deployed his knights intensively, he would never have been able to stop the attack of more than 50 elite boremen.
About 30 knights and knights-in-training were fighting elite monsters among the soldiers, while soldiers armed with shields and spears were focusing on keeping the monsters in check defensively as much as possible.
However, in a situation where we were outnumbered, it was inevitable that there would be wounded soldiers.
“Ahh my leg!”
One soldier, whose thigh was pierced by a boreman’s spear, screamed and fell to the ground.
Then the soldiers in the rear row hurriedly took him out of the front line and sent him to the rear.
“The blessings of the bright God will illuminate the world. Cure!”
Priests hurriedly walked among the wounded and evacuated soldiers, chanting healing spells. These were priests specially invited by Raoul in preparation for today.
In addition, healers carrying various herbs and potions were providing first aid to seriously injured patients, so there was no danger to the soldiers’ lives as long as they did not die instantly.
With this immediate treatment from the rear, the siege was somehow maintained even though the troops were inferior.
Push!
“Kkuweek!”
Raoul’s outstretched spear pierced the elite Boerman’s forehead. And the spears fired in succession took the lives of three other boremen at once.
Whirling.
Raoul swung the spear he pulled out in the air and kept the monsters in front of him in check.
The corpses of fallen monsters were piled up like small hills around Raoul, and the monsters were hesitant, unable to rush forward, perhaps due to the momentum.
‘I think it’s time to come out…’
Blame. Push!
Boreman, who was trying to cross the barricade to Raoul’s left, was punctured in the side of his head.
The reason Raoul held up a spear was to cover a wider area.
In fact, Raoul was blocking the attack by himself on the nearly 10-meter-high defensive wall. Whether D-class or C-class, there was no monster that could block Raoul’s spear.
“Woooooooo!!!”
And this is the guy Raoul was waiting for.
An elite guardian who surpasses the level of the gate and decorates the final wave.
The B-grade monster [Lion’s Mane Boreman Champion] has finally appeared.
(Continued in the next part)