Chapter 1019: Act 190 – The Battle of the White Lion XIII
The first wave of battle quickly erupted, but Shulu’s attack was severely hindered. After firing an arrow towards the southern section of the sea cliff fortress wall without success, they soon exposed their target and fell into an ambush, having to retreat. For a time, the frontline fell back to a midpoint between the main wall of Fatan Port and the sea cliff fortress. Delphine reintroduced two squads of the harbor guards into the battle, barely stabilizing the situation.
On the southern section of the sea cliff fortress wall, the knight commander Sok, who had just faced a false alarm, also discovered that the undead’s attack was thwarted. “It seems the previous attack was detected,” he realized immediately. The intention of these harbor guards was clearly to recapture the sea cliff fortress, but they evidently did not realize how numerous the enemies inside were. The opposing forces were still stubbornly resisting, likely trying to buy time for the allied troops behind them to set up defenses.
When did the fighting spirit and tactical skill of the Fatan Port guards become so high? He couldn’t help but feel surprised. It was not that he had a deep understanding of these garrison troops, which could hardly even be considered a second-line corps, but rather a general awareness. As an elite of the Empire and the vanguard of the White Legion, Sok certainly had the qualification to look down on these local brothers. However, the performance displayed by the harbor guards that day was clearly beyond his expectations.
After deploying two squads of fresh troops, the battlefield situation momentarily shifted. Shulu and his colleagues managed to push back to the base of the southern section of the sea cliff fortress wall. They even attempted two charges up the rocky slope towards the wall, but unfortunately, they were repelled by the necromancers and skeletons above.
This was not surprising. Due to the extremely narrow terrain outside the sea cliff fortress, a broad and flat area only appeared near the latter half of the sandbar. Yet Shulu and his colleagues firmly held the sea cliff path, where the undead’s numerical advantage could hardly be utilized. Although the harbor guards were insignificant in front of the White Legion, they held an absolute advantage when facing the equally numbered but weaker skeletons.
However, the necromancers soon called in skeleton archers from behind, once again changing the battlefield dynamics. Rows of skeleton archers, lined up on the southern section of the sea cliff fortress wall, unleashed a rain of arrows downwards. The dense hail of grimsteel arrows caused heavy losses to Shulu’s squad, and the other two squads fared similarly. The recently boosted morale of the harbor guards immediately plummeted to zero, and they almost retreated all the way back to the main wall of Fatan Port.
Seeing this scene, Baron Ludwig on the wall couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed. Although he wasn’t the military commander of Fatan Port, the harbor guards were under the direct command of the lord of the port. Witnessing the harbor guards returning from the battlefield in such disarray almost prompted him to leap down and scold them, but realizing who the commander was, he had no choice but to swallow his cursing, his face darkening.
Delphine, however, remained much calmer, as if she had anticipated this. She quietly observed the scene below and ordered, “Prepare arrows.”
Her voice was not loud, but the herald faithfully relayed her commands in waves. The soldiers in the front row stepped back, revealing two rows of archers holding longbows in the rear. Archers were a rare commodity in Vaunte; they were almost all professional soldiers or mercenaries. In regular armies, crossbowmen were common, with even heavy crossbowmen outnumbering archers significantly. Archers, lacking years of training, were typically not fit for battle, yet this mere harbor guard boasted a trained squad of archers, reflecting their strength, which could not help but impress. In fact, when Marjory and Oni learned of this longbow unit, their expressions showed signs of surprise.
In Vaunte, archers almost exclusively used magical bows, as the investment in training an archer far surpassed that of crafting a magical bow. Longbowmen using magical bows exceeded crossbowmen in range, accuracy, and projectile density, and could also wield enchanted arrows. The power of a longbow far surpassed that of a heavy crossbow when using enchanted arrows.
As the archers under command readied their longbows, the arrowheads glimmered with a faint golden light, clearly recently consecrated with holy water. Rows of longbows were raised amid the rain, arrows aimed precisely at a certain angle. This was another point where magical bows surpassed heavy crossbows: water resistance. Regular arrows and crossbow bolts would lose impact when wet, but magical items had no such concerns.
The herald looked towards Delphine, who eyed him coldly and nodded.
“Fire!”
“Fire!”
“Fire!” As the commands echoed, the entire wall glowed slightly, as if a dark golden line flickered simultaneously. That was the cold light of the arrows shooting forth, like a forward-moving white line through the rain, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound, as though a violent wind swept by; a rain of arrows began to fall upon the sandbar.
Generally speaking, arrows had limited lethality against skeletons, as they could easily pass through the empty spaces of their bones. Even if one struck a bone, it would merely snap a rib or two, causing little significant harm. Only by luck could they sever a tibia or cervical vertebra to create effective damage, but in the dark of night, such odds were slim.
However, this arrow rain was different. As each arrow neared a skeleton, it emitted a strong holy light, and the struck skeletons melted like butter, the arrows passing through their bodies and creating vast voids. Broken bones even burned with golden flames; even amidst the raging rain and snow, the flames showed no sign of dying down but rather grew more vigorous, turning the skeletons to ash.
On the battlefield in darkness, a golden sea of flames erupted, and a blank space was unexpectedly created among the sea of skeletons beneath the main wall of Fatan Port.
“Prepare for a second volley,” Delphine commanded, calling out, “Marjory.”
“Yes!”
“Prepare to launch. I require you to lead three squads of the White Lion Guard to drive the Undead Army back to the southern section of the sea cliff fortress and launch an attack on the fortress!”
“Understood!” Marjory replied without hesitation.
At this moment, the lined-up archers finished their second round of fire. While a trained heavy crossbowman needed twelve seconds to reload, a well-trained archer only needed a third of that time. Another wave of golden arrows descended upon the skeletons, and the mass of the skeleton army at the base of the wall was instantly rendered sparse.
However, they did not collapse. The most troublesome aspect of the undead army was their lack of morale; especially low-level undead, while lacking intellect, felt no fear and naturally did not easily retreat.
At that moment, the gates slowly rose, and Marjory charged out with the White Lion Guard.
“Archers, switch to enchanted fire arrows and prepare for the third volley, covering the rear of the Undead Army to protect Marjory’s assault,” Delphine calmly issued the orders.
“Earl Orkans, why switch to fire arrows?” Orkans asked anxiously. “The holy arrows are performing excellently, and we still have several units of them left. Fire arrows have no effect against skeletons!”
Delphine cast him a glance, her tone sharp as she replied, “Am I the commander, or are you? Follow my orders. Light the torches—”
The moment the torches lit up on the main wall of Fatan Port, Sok realized that today’s surprise attack was coming to an end. He saw waves of torches and braziers ignited on the segment of the wall five hundred meters away. Under the light of the torches, soldiers covered the walkways, and the harbor guards’ archers stood neatly arranged in two rows.
As the archers unleashed the first two volleys, he slightly furrowed his brow and instinctively glanced around suspiciously. But when the third volley, adorned with flames, flashed through the rain, Sok finally felt relieved. It seemed the priests of the Temple of Fire within the fortress had indeed not been assembled in time; the plan was well-executed. The earlier holy arrows must have been stockpiled—according to intelligence, the harbor guards’ enchanted arrows were not plentiful, and holy arrows even scarcer, especially since this area had never been previously attacked by the undead.
However, the attack was still inevitably repelled. Following the hail of arrows, he noticed an unfamiliar army bursting forth from the city of Fatan Port. This fresh force was not any weaker than the harbor guards, and was even stronger. Their equipment seemed to be between light and heavy infantry, yet their movements were extremely agile, striking explosively. Several squads of skeletons could not withstand such an offensive and were quickly forced back to the sea cliff path.
This was evidently no ordinary army. “White Lion Legion,” a term immediately sprang to mind. Duke Ambronner had made comprehensive arrangements before the assault on Fatan Port, and intelligence work was certainly indispensable, so Sok was well aware of the nature of the Erluin troops stationed within the port.
Of course, even Duke Ambronner could not grasp the difference between the White Lion Legion and the White Lion Guard within that tiny kingdom. He had simply lumped the two together.
The surprise attack was discovered, and the offensive was thwarted; what had originally been an advantageous battle unsurprisingly turned into a head-on clash. However, this was still within Sok’s expectations. In fact, easily seizing the sea cliff fortress had already exceeded his anticipations, and it might have gone beyond the expectations of the overall commander of this battle, Duke Ambronner. The harbor guards and Erluin troops could not hold defensively behind the low main wall of Fatan Port. What needed to be done was to break down the city gate in one go, and then engage the undead in urban combat.
Of course, it would be best to avoid urban warfare.
He hoped that once the wall fell, the enemy troops, having lost hope, would surrender. However, given the intensity of the current resistance, it seemed that desire might remain unfulfilled.
Sok naturally attributed this to the crown prince’s presence within the city—
Yet he was not overly worried, as the undead were mere cannon fodder. Even if they were all consumed here, no one would feel a shred of pain. Using the undead to wear down the Erluin and harbor guard blood in urban warfare was clearly a profitable trade. As for the White Legion, Sok knew their only enemy was one—he suddenly turned around, his eyes fixing upon the dark valley behind him, knowing that it was teeming with tens of thousands of the undead, while in the further distance was the hilly region around the Golden Needle Valley.
He wondered if Erich and the others had already moved into position.
He silently furrowed his brow.
…
At Owessen Port, inside the Kongwei Fortress—
With a creak, the door to the room was pushed open by a servant: “Duke, Sir Erich and his griffin battalion have arrived at the designated area, and Sir Bernd has sent a magical message three minutes ago, stating that they are fully prepared—”
Duke Ambronner retracted his gaze from the stone window: “What about the Bud troops?”
“No word yet.”
“What is the battle situation at Fatan Port?”
“Frontline observations indicate that the surprise attack was very successful, with the undead vanguard seizing the sea cliff fortress in one go, but the enemy’s resistance is fierce, and the frontline is stalemated at the foot of Fatan.”
Duke Ambronner furrowed his brow slightly. “Without the sea cliff fortress, those Erluin troops cannot hold out much longer. I will have the Madara people apply more pressure. You may leave now and inform Erich and Bernd to be ready to launch at any moment.”
Earl Brill glanced back at the now closed door, turning to look: “Old friend?”
“Do not worry, old friend, it’s nothing serious,” Duke Ambronner replied, casting a glance at the floating, smoke-wreathed bone staff. “I’ve already sent someone to investigate; a few hours ago, Marjory and her subordinates lost contact near Gold Needle Forest. An imitation bone staff went missing along with them, so it seems there’s been an infiltrator.”
“Not a problem?” the former asked, his brow slightly furrowing, unease evident in his voice.
“Not a problem. The situation on the front line is quite favorable; the Bud people could never have imagined our plan. It’s not their fault either; there is probably no one in this world who would suspect that Her Majesty the Queen has already allied with Madara,” Duke Ambronner said, in good spirits. “The offensive from Madara has been even more successful than imagined; those Erluin troops in the port of the sea cliff have no way to ensure their safety. That poor Earl, used as a pawn by the Bud people without realizing it; but the Empire will show him no mercy.”
He walked to the earl’s desk, took a flint and steel piece from the desk, struck it to light his pipe, then held it up, taking a puff and deeply sighing with his eyes squinted.
“Infiltrators in Owesen, I’m sure they are scouts from the Northerners. Rest assured, someone will take care of them.”
“That’s not like you, old friend, to boast before the war has concluded,” Earl Brill replied, seemingly infected by the mood, chuckling. “What of our cautious Duke of White?”
“This war has already concluded, Brill,” Duke Ambronner shook his head. “The Bud people cannot simultaneously declare war on two empires.”
“That may be true,” Earl Brill reminded, “but do not forget the Bud still have a fleet here—”
“Yes,” Duke Ambronner answered without reserve, “so we are waiting for their fleet.”
