After passing by the fortress' command center, the brightly-lit place that was made of rocks truly felt depressing at a first glance especially the map on the high wall that noted the war situation. Wellington paused and looked at it carefully.
The Deiss had three combat units at the border. The one that attacked Blackwood Fortress was naturally the protrusion unit. (Sixty divisions?) The young Steinberger officer doubted a little. Wasn't that fifty thousand people? If the one that attacked the fortress was truly the protrusion unit, then their number would be between eighty to one hundred thousand people.
Until this point, all combat members of Steinberger's Loantz Front were guarding at Blackwood Fortress. Wellington's First Independent Infantry Brigade was not in the combat line-up of the fortress. His unit was to fight in the forest at the back of the fortress. That was to say, the commander of the hero unit turned his head away in embarrassment.
As for such a battle, he could not be of much help. The First Independent Brigade not only had to reduce the overall burden but also stayed in the primitive forest for a few months. It was just that no one knew how many would be able to walk out of Saijo Mountain and Blackwood when the war ended.
At dawn on the 22nd day of the 8th month in Year 801 in Church Calendar, it was a waste of energy to check out the weather. The rain was still continuing. The sky was pitch black. The storm during summer brought rare refreshment and chill to the warriors. They even lit up the fire in the army's hole.
There was lightning flickering at a distance. After a while, the sound of thunder came rolling in. The fortress stood under the dark sky in the middle of the curtain of rain. Except for the spattering sound of rain and the whooshing sound in the drains, the loud shouts of the warriors could be heard from the fortress.
Through the wide cannon opening, the world under the curtain of rain could be seen very clearly. There were a few young birches standing at the ancient battlefield in front of the fortress. They stood on the battlefield stubbornly as they watched the scenery in the rain with a calm gaze.
The Steinberger warriors in the fortress were mumbling in a soft voice. They had never seen such a storm in a long time. The usual storm always stopped before continued to pour. However, this year's storm seemed to bear the spirit of the Deiss – endless and overwhelming.
The watchtower was located at the highest point of the fortress. A few soldiers on watch were hiding under the rocky roof. They stared at the curtain of rain, feeling bored. (Maybe the Deiss won't come.) The soldiers thought. The storm had put off the fire of the beacon. It was just by the side of the watchtower. Yesterday, the smoke from the beacon had raised the alert of the whole forest. The news of enemy should have reached Dulin by now.
The soldiers who were guarding this place were not afraid of war. They longed for the mind of the forest and planned to protect the forest with this mind. They had fought with the Deiss for two hundred years. Victory was rarely determined but everyone knew this time was different. The Deiss had put in a lot of units to the point of rendering the Steinberger to give up most of the land and defend at a specific point. The soldiers thought, (What would become of the forest, great fairy and the citizens they loved after this?)
The sky had brightened up a little. The sun was probably hiding behind the clouds. The rain did not seem to have any sign to calm down at all. All Titan warriors had their breakfast under the roof in the fortress. The breakfast was very filling. The commander of Loantz Front had ordered the fortress commander to let the warriors enjoy everything they had.
With a taste of fried sausages and apple pie, the warriors already put on a smile. They said such breakfast was most suitable to send their comrades away. To where? To send the souls back to the forest and to return the mind to the forest. Just when the tomato soup in the pot was beginning to release a nice aroma, an urgent horn sound suddenly rang from the watchtower! Then, the tower's bell rang, and the cannon platform also released the signal of cannon preparation.
Blackwood Fortress shook violently. The Corps commander gave an order to division commander, division commander to group commander, group commander to platoon commander, and at last platoon commander to his soldiers. When the orders were conveyed level by level until the most basic combat unit, the rain began to weaken just at the right time. The sunlight could not penetrate the thick clouds. Instead, it only added a pale greyish color to the cloud. Cold haze slowly crept out of the forest and dispersed into the sky just from a blow of the wind at the ancient battlefield. The scenery in front of the fortress slowly became clear.
"Front battlefield...three kilometers away...Deiss Kingdom Army...23 thousand-men formation...the Eleventh Infantry Corps, Ninth Infantry Corps and Sixteenth Heavy-armored Infantry Corps..." the soldier reported the situation observed with a telescope loudly to the messenger beside him.
The Steinberger soldiers stood at the northern wall. Their officers gathered in the tower. The commander of Loantz Front was a local. He had a pair of large, blue eyes that were envied by all forest warriors. The commander blinked his beautiful eyes and stared outside of the window. What could a thousand-men formation do to their fortress?
The fortress commander shrugged at the Front Commander, "They don't want anything. They just want to get in. No matter what, we will fight until we die!"
Orders quickly came to the frontline of the battlefield. The Steinberger warriors took up their bows in the storm. They had stored all sorts of arrows in their arrow pouch by their leg. Lightweight arrows, protrusion arrows, wide-slotted arrows and barbed blood arrows... Arrows that were enough to welcome sixty divisions of Deiss soldiers were placed in the walkway from the storeroom for the use of the forest soldiers. If this was not enough, rolling wood with blades and boiling oil that was prepared from midnight were the traps that had been prepared a few months back.
If what was stated was still not sufficient, the soldiers would carry the double-blades on their backs. The blades would present themselves on both sides of their shoulders. If there was one stair leading to the wall or a Deiss who dared to climb up here, they should not say it to this extent. The Deiss would definitely climb up here! Those uncivilized Yarans had taken Blackwood fortress four times in history, but history remained as history. Regardless of whether that tragedy would happen again, the Steinberger warriors had stood here for these two hundred years! The warriors would not care about the loss of a fortress. Wherever there was an enemy, they would fight there. This was the wisdom given to the warriors by the forest.
The First Independent Brigade of Loantz Front were ready to move out. They gathered under the southern wall. By utilizing the last moment, the warriors bid farewell passionately to their comrades who had to stay here. Fathers hugged their sons while brothers bid their siblings goodbye. The warriors who were not at the frontline were all here to bid the First Independent Brigade goodbye.
Until this moment, Wellington finally realized how interesting his father, Duke Steinberger's arrangement was! Rather than trapping in a fortress that needed to wait for aid, the chance of survival while carrying our guerilla attack in the forest was much higher. He hesitated for a while in front of the monastery in which Sully was placed in. At last, he did not have the courage to enter it alone.
"Take care of him!" the young Brigade Commander saluted to the officers in the Loantz Front, "O, God above! May the great fairy and Blackwood protect you!"
"O, God above! May you be in the embrace of the great fairy and Blackwood!" the officer returned the salutation to the warriors.
The southern gate of the fortress slowly rose. A refreshing aura of grass immediately approached them. The soldiers did not show much emotion on their faces. It did not matter if it was the fortress of their families whose fate was unknown. They were all a part of Blackwood. The Blackwood still stood here without fail – never burning down, never snatched, never going away!
"Let's go! Quick!" Colonel Wellington yelled as he dashed out of the fortress first. Behind him were about five thousand forest warriors who only brought half a month worth of supplies. The warriors dashed into the forest along the slope. The gate slowly closed behind them. The soldiers on the wall did not seem to have any interest in the approaching enemy. They welcomed the rain and gazed upon their brothers who walked further away from them.
"Alert! Northern frontline...twelve thousand-men formation...five iron towers...entering limit of fire weapons..."
The breathing sounds in the watchtower had attracted the attention of the warriors. At the edge of the curtain of rain and amidst the cold haze, the soldiers of Deiss Kingdom stepped on mud as they hummed their army tune. Boots and spurs trampled over Titan Empire's land. The sound of clashing metal came out from the combat tower. Black armors were just like slow-moving, cold waves. They surged up and down in the current and advanced forward. A knight suddenly dashed into the invaders' base camp. The chief commander of Loantz Front inserted an arrow in his bow at the overhang gate. He stared at the war horses as he calculated the vibrating frequency of the enemy's body on the horses. When this messenger was three hundred steps away from the overhang gate, the Steinberger soldiers raised their bows and released!
Arrows left the bows and surged forward. The icy arrow heads shot a clear water line in the rain, then that knight fell into the mud with a yelp. Deafening cheers immediately filled the fortress!
The forest warriors saw it. It was three hundred steps! Their marshal had shot the enemy's chest from three hundred steps away. If they had to consider the fluctuating wind direction in the rain, the weight of the rain and the speed of the knight, how skilled they had to be to be so accurate!
"We should at least listen to what these people have to say..." the fortress commander glanced at the front commander rather sadly.
The beautiful blue eyes blinked again, "No one here can understand Deiss language anyway..."
This time, a Deiss knight who could understand Titan language dashed forward. He paused at a place four hundred steps away from the wall. The Steinberger warriors could not see his face at all so they could only throw him humiliating words like coward and such. The wind carried the words of the Deiss man, "Put down your weapons...open the gate...or else..."
Suddenly, a heavy bombing sound occurred in Blackwood Fortress. A cannon platform at the northern wall shook violently and a string of white smoke immediately rose in the rain. The cannon surged forward with a screech. In the next moment, the place in which the Deiss knight was at crumbled into pieces. Mud was thrown off and the cannon debris was all over the place! The cooked human flesh and large pieces of horse meat flew in the air while the scorching cannon let out a sizzling sound when it touched the muddy water.
"What did that guy say?" the commander asked the fortress commander.
The latter shook his head with no clue. He did not hear it properly.
The Front Commander shrugged with no concern whatsoever. Through the rain, he could already see the messenger and flag-holder dashing about in their base. It was the precursor of launching an attack.
The commander took his blade out, "It's our turn!"
The fortress commander nodded. He faced the warriors on the wall at the same time, took his blade out, "All hail Titan..."
Almost at the same time, an earth-shattering yell was released from the Blackwood Fortress. The Steinberger warriors put in all their strength into the cheers to welcome the enemy that outnumbered them by multifold!
The defense war began. The Deiss Kingdom Army was still strong as before while the Steinberger was as determined as well! The Deiss sent arrows and the Titan warriors returned with javelins. The Deiss' trebuchet made a hole in the fortress while the cannon unit buried the enemy's infantry platoon with canister shots. Obviously, the Deiss had no reason to attack during the rainy season. Steinberger had built a cover for the cannon platform on the fortress, so the heavy storm would not corrode the cannons like before. The Deiss not only had to attack under heavy rain but also to attack under the threat of arrows, fire guns, and cannon fire.
"It's impossible!" the commander of Loantz Front was confused. The battle had continued for an hour and more. There was not a thousand-man formation in the first badge of attack that could maintain the formation. They had already lost thirty percent of their combat strength in the first hour of battle and it was only the first battle of the first day.
"Can anyone make sure these are all Deiss have?" the front commander suddenly thought of this question. He had only listened to the report of the scouts and agents. He did not see the enemy's army group composed of ninety thousand people with his own eyes. If...and only if, the scouts and the agents made a mistake.
The Loantz Front commander was shocked by his own question. He had fought Deiss for his whole life and had seen all sorts of attack pattern. If Deiss Kingdom Army was still the powerful brigade as before, they should have surrounded Blackwood Fortress, destroyed the water source and supply route, and attacked the aid sent from the northern line. However, they did none of the above. They only started a brainless attack. This was illogical.
The battle was continuing. Five attack towers were all destroyed by the cannons. Countless bodies of Deiss soldiers lied on the wet ground. After much difficulties, the infantry unit finally placed the stairs at the fortress wall. When the first Deiss who came to the top was cut into pieces by blades, the attacking changed their flag to the retreating flag.
Steinberger warriors cheered loudly at the retreating enemy, only the front commander was searching all over furiously. Finally, he found the Deiss warrior who climbed to the top. There were not many things left of his body. He lost an arm and a leg. On the remaining arm of this Deiss man, the experienced front commander finally found what he wanted. It was a tattoo pattern.
Deiss nobles would usually brand this sort of mark on slaves who were forbidden to leave this land.
"They aren't the true Deiss army. They are only slaves! Cannon fodder!"
The fortress commander felt that the front commander was exaggerating. Deiss used slaves to test the enemy out. This was reasonable.
"There's nothing to worry about! The true army will enter the battlefield sooner or later."
The front commander could only think that, but he still told the fortress commander, "I am only worried that they may not be here at all..."
"The first day of Blackwood Fortress Defending War. Deiss lost half of their people during the attack. They retreated from the battlefield rashly in less than four hours of battle..."
"The second day...the attack of Deiss finally seemed more logical! They arranged a large number of the trebuchet and built army holes to avoid cannon firing the night before. At the same time, the heavy-armored unit finally joined the frontline. The long-range archery unit was replaced with a crossbow with a longer shooting range."
Wellington Steinberger was in his army tent while he studied his diary. The battle had entered its second week in a blink of an eye.
"The third day, Deiss tried to surround Blackwood Fortress. My unit, the First Independent Infantry Brigade engaged in battle with the enemy in the forest. Both sides suffered losses, but we were able to stop the enemy's plan to enter Blackwood in the end."
"The fourth day!" Wellington scratched his head. He still felt frustrated until now.
"Deiss sent a whole infantry corps to the forest behind the fortress on the fourth day of battle. There were three companies in the First Brigade that were eliminated by the enemy. My unit had no choice but to go deeper into the forest. And so, we have lost contact with the fortress army."
"The fifth day..." the incidents that confused the young forest warrior appeared, "What does the Deiss really want? If they want to defeat Blackwood Fortress, they must attack from both the south and north sides. But they retreated from the forest after roaming for a day! The scouts of the Brigade finally regained contact with the fortress army again. The front commander ordered the First Brigade to retain our true strength to defend against the true sudden attack!"
"True attack?" Wellington thought about this word repeatedly. The current situation only indicated that the Deiss had not put in all of their strength. They did not seem to be serious when they were attacking. Upon thinking about the night attack a few days ago, the young forest warrior cursed softly. Who would build an advancing attack camp that looked like a fortress? That unit that was responsible for the night attack was found by their scout even before getting close to the enemy's base. Following that was a horrible battle at night. Then, the enemy kept flooding in from all directions and they had to divide into batches to get away. At last, everyone got separated from each other. The warriors who could return to the temporary base point were not even sufficient to make a squadron.
"Night attack on the sixth day of battle was a total failure. The First Independent Brigade had lost more than five hundred combat members." The young Brigade Commander closed his diary in frustration. He did not understand where had gone wrong! The Deiss launched an attack but seemed to not care about defeating the fortress as soon as possible. Instead, they managed their attack base like a metal pail and put up a defense posture, "This was not how the Deiss do it! It wasn't the usual tactic Deiss Kingdom Army used as well!" Wellington planned to analyze this problem from the war strategy point of view, but he could not come to an answer no matter what. Did the Deiss plan to waste their time here? Or did they want to isolate the Steinberger's northwest defense line and focus the Anti-Titan Alliance's attack at the north or the west?
"Sir! Sir!" A messenger crashed into Wellington's tent happily.
"An enemy's patrolling unit found our rabbits in the west!"
Wellington nodded. Sending rabbits to attract the wolves were the wisdom taught to the Steinberger warriors by the forest.
The young commander kept his diary and wore his armor and held his weapons. When he walked out of the tent, the forest warriors immediately stopped their noise. They did not line up or hold any strict army posture. Nor did they have a formation that terrified others upon seeing them. The soldiers simply stood together with no apparent formation.
Wellington's gaze scanned the forest and every soldier's face. He had stayed with this bunch of cute rabbits for three years. Some even five years. He understood every one of them.
"Guys! Let's attack the wolves!"
The command of their higher-ups induced exclamations of an agreement. The forest warriors soon left the forest. They dashed in the dense forest like agile leopards and entered the attack area that had been prepared for the wolves without a sound, like ghosts.
The weakened sunlight gradually disappeared. Thin clouds darkened, and rain soon fell in Blackwood again. The rain was not heavy. It was only a few drops at first, then it fell in a swoosh from the sky. They could only hear the rain and see the rain in the forest. The rain crashed through the leaves and diluted the soil. The flickering light of the rain was sent to the battlefield. This weak light kept teleporting along with the rain's direction. Sometimes, it would be at the bush in the east. Sometimes, it would be in the forest in the south.
Some noises came from the forest in the west. The rabbits sent out by the forest warriors dashed forward hurriedly. This was just a normal scouting platoon. Only four of them were left out of the ten members. A strong soldier was still carrying an injured one whose head was drooping.
Wellington showed himself from his hiding spot. His arrow was placed on his bow and was aimed at his comrade's body.
The scouts who were running away approached their commanding officer. Wellington's bow tightened.
When four warriors entered the attack area, their exhausted face finally flashed a smile. Their comrades took in the injured member but the injured one was not in a hurry for medication. He told his comrades, "They have a squadron. Crossbows, iron-clad armor, and great reflexes. They are the real army!"
Wellington had already heard his report, but his gaze had not left his bow. He knew that this was a qualified forest warrior. Even if he was about to lose all his blood, he would want his comrades to grasp accurate information of the enemy. As expected, the forest drowned in the monotonous rumbling of rain again. That scout lied in his comrade's embrace. His eyes had gone wide. Even if his injuries were tended by the rough army doctor, he did not let a sound out. At last, he was leaned against the wet spruce. The soldiers who had surrounded him gradually went away. Maybe they forgot, or they wanted him to see the result of the attack. No one closed his eyes.
A Deiss warrior's figure appeared in the bow slot. His speed was quick. In the blink of an eye, he had passed by a few tall oak trees. Just as he had done numerous times, the leader of the forest warriors released his bow without much difficulty. The arrow was sent into the forest in a whoosh.
The great fairy woke up from his slumber. All living things in Blackwood served as his eyes. He saw gleaming blood dripping onto the ground along the grass blade. He saw human bodies connecting to the tree bark by arrows. At last, the great fairy found with surprise that the chest of the warriors all had a precious heart of the forest.
After passing by the fortress' command center, the brightly-lit place that was made of rocks truly felt depressing at a first glance especially the map on the high wall that noted the war situation. Wellington paused and looked at it carefully.
The Deiss had three combat units at the border. The one that attacked Blackwood Fortress was naturally the protrusion unit. (Sixty divisions?) The young Steinberger officer doubted a little. Wasn't that fifty thousand people? If the one that attacked the fortress was truly the protrusion unit, then their number would be between eighty to one hundred thousand people.
Until this point, all combat members of Steinberger's Loantz Front were guarding at Blackwood Fortress. Wellington's First Independent Infantry Brigade was not in the combat line-up of the fortress. His unit was to fight in the forest at the back of the fortress. That was to say, the commander of the hero unit turned his head away in embarrassment.
As for such a battle, he could not be of much help. The First Independent Brigade not only had to reduce the overall burden but also stayed in the primitive forest for a few months. It was just that no one knew how many would be able to walk out of Saijo Mountain and Blackwood when the war ended.
At dawn on the 22nd day of the 8th month in Year 801 in Church Calendar, it was a waste of energy to check out the weather. The rain was still continuing. The sky was pitch black. The storm during summer brought rare refreshment and chill to the warriors. They even lit up the fire in the army's hole.
There was lightning flickering at a distance. After a while, the sound of thunder came rolling in. The fortress stood under the dark sky in the middle of the curtain of rain. Except for the spattering sound of rain and the whooshing sound in the drains, the loud shouts of the warriors could be heard from the fortress.
Through the wide cannon opening, the world under the curtain of rain could be seen very clearly. There were a few young birches standing at the ancient battlefield in front of the fortress. They stood on the battlefield stubbornly as they watched the scenery in the rain with a calm gaze.
The Steinberger warriors in the fortress were mumbling in a soft voice. They had never seen such a storm in a long time. The usual storm always stopped before continued to pour. However, this year's storm seemed to bear the spirit of the Deiss – endless and overwhelming.
The watchtower was located at the highest point of the fortress. A few soldiers on watch were hiding under the rocky roof. They stared at the curtain of rain, feeling bored. (Maybe the Deiss won't come.) The soldiers thought. The storm had put off the fire of the beacon. It was just by the side of the watchtower. Yesterday, the smoke from the beacon had raised the alert of the whole forest. The news of enemy should have reached Dulin by now.
The soldiers who were guarding this place were not afraid of war. They longed for the mind of the forest and planned to protect the forest with this mind. They had fought with the Deiss for two hundred years. Victory was rarely determined but everyone knew this time was different. The Deiss had put in a lot of units to the point of rendering the Steinberger to give up most of the land and defend at a specific point. The soldiers thought, (What would become of the forest, great fairy and the citizens they loved after this?)
The sky had brightened up a little. The sun was probably hiding behind the clouds. The rain did not seem to have any sign to calm down at all. All Titan warriors had their breakfast under the roof in the fortress. The breakfast was very filling. The commander of Loantz Front had ordered the fortress commander to let the warriors enjoy everything they had.
With a taste of fried sausages and apple pie, the warriors already put on a smile. They said such breakfast was most suitable to send their comrades away. To where? To send the souls back to the forest and to return the mind to the forest. Just when the tomato soup in the pot was beginning to release a nice aroma, an urgent horn sound suddenly rang from the watchtower! Then, the tower's bell rang, and the cannon platform also released the signal of cannon preparation.
Blackwood Fortress shook violently. The Corps commander gave an order to division commander, division commander to group commander, group commander to platoon commander, and at last platoon commander to his soldiers. When the orders were conveyed level by level until the most basic combat unit, the rain began to weaken just at the right time. The sunlight could not penetrate the thick clouds. Instead, it only added a pale greyish color to the cloud. Cold haze slowly crept out of the forest and dispersed into the sky just from a blow of the wind at the ancient battlefield. The scenery in front of the fortress slowly became clear.
"Front battlefield...three kilometers away...Deiss Kingdom Army...23 thousand-men formation...the Eleventh Infantry Corps, Ninth Infantry Corps and Sixteenth Heavy-armored Infantry Corps..." the soldier reported the situation observed with a telescope loudly to the messenger beside him.
The Steinberger soldiers stood at the northern wall. Their officers gathered in the tower. The commander of Loantz Front was a local. He had a pair of large, blue eyes that were envied by all forest warriors. The commander blinked his beautiful eyes and stared outside of the window. What could a thousand-men formation do to their fortress?
The fortress commander shrugged at the Front Commander, "They don't want anything. They just want to get in. No matter what, we will fight until we die!"
Orders quickly came to the frontline of the battlefield. The Steinberger warriors took up their bows in the storm. They had stored all sorts of arrows in their arrow pouch by their leg. Lightweight arrows, protrusion arrows, wide-slotted arrows and barbed blood arrows... Arrows that were enough to welcome sixty divisions of Deiss soldiers were placed in the walkway from the storeroom for the use of the forest soldiers. If this was not enough, rolling wood with blades and boiling oil that was prepared from midnight were the traps that had been prepared a few months back.
If what was stated was still not sufficient, the soldiers would carry the double-blades on their backs. The blades would present themselves on both sides of their shoulders. If there was one stair leading to the wall or a Deiss who dared to climb up here, they should not say it to this extent. The Deiss would definitely climb up here! Those uncivilized Yarans had taken Blackwood fortress four times in history, but history remained as history. Regardless of whether that tragedy would happen again, the Steinberger warriors had stood here for these two hundred years! The warriors would not care about the loss of a fortress. Wherever there was an enemy, they would fight there. This was the wisdom given to the warriors by the forest.
The First Independent Brigade of Loantz Front were ready to move out. They gathered under the southern wall. By utilizing the last moment, the warriors bid farewell passionately to their comrades who had to stay here. Fathers hugged their sons while brothers bid their siblings goodbye. The warriors who were not at the frontline were all here to bid the First Independent Brigade goodbye.
Until this moment, Wellington finally realized how interesting his father, Duke Steinberger's arrangement was! Rather than trapping in a fortress that needed to wait for aid, the chance of survival while carrying our guerilla attack in the forest was much higher. He hesitated for a while in front of the monastery in which Sully was placed in. At last, he did not have the courage to enter it alone.
"Take care of him!" the young Brigade Commander saluted to the officers in the Loantz Front, "O, God above! May the great fairy and Blackwood protect you!"
"O, God above! May you be in the embrace of the great fairy and Blackwood!" the officer returned the salutation to the warriors.
The southern gate of the fortress slowly rose. A refreshing aura of grass immediately approached them. The soldiers did not show much emotion on their faces. It did not matter if it was the fortress of their families whose fate was unknown. They were all a part of Blackwood. The Blackwood still stood here without fail – never burning down, never snatched, never going away!
"Let's go! Quick!" Colonel Wellington yelled as he dashed out of the fortress first. Behind him were about five thousand forest warriors who only brought half a month worth of supplies. The warriors dashed into the forest along the slope. The gate slowly closed behind them. The soldiers on the wall did not seem to have any interest in the approaching enemy. They welcomed the rain and gazed upon their brothers who walked further away from them.
"Alert! Northern frontline...twelve thousand-men formation...five iron towers...entering limit of fire weapons..."
The breathing sounds in the watchtower had attracted the attention of the warriors. At the edge of the curtain of rain and amidst the cold haze, the soldiers of Deiss Kingdom stepped on mud as they hummed their army tune. Boots and spurs trampled over Titan Empire's land. The sound of clashing metal came out from the combat tower. Black armors were just like slow-moving, cold waves. They surged up and down in the current and advanced forward. A knight suddenly dashed into the invaders' base camp. The chief commander of Loantz Front inserted an arrow in his bow at the overhang gate. He stared at the war horses as he calculated the vibrating frequency of the enemy's body on the horses. When this messenger was three hundred steps away from the overhang gate, the Steinberger soldiers raised their bows and released!
Arrows left the bows and surged forward. The icy arrow heads shot a clear water line in the rain, then that knight fell into the mud with a yelp. Deafening cheers immediately filled the fortress!
The forest warriors saw it. It was three hundred steps! Their marshal had shot the enemy's chest from three hundred steps away. If they had to consider the fluctuating wind direction in the rain, the weight of the rain and the speed of the knight, how skilled they had to be to be so accurate!
"We should at least listen to what these people have to say..." the fortress commander glanced at the front commander rather sadly.
The beautiful blue eyes blinked again, "No one here can understand Deiss language anyway..."
This time, a Deiss knight who could understand Titan language dashed forward. He paused at a place four hundred steps away from the wall. The Steinberger warriors could not see his face at all so they could only throw him humiliating words like coward and such. The wind carried the words of the Deiss man, "Put down your weapons...open the gate...or else..."
Suddenly, a heavy bombing sound occurred in Blackwood Fortress. A cannon platform at the northern wall shook violently and a string of white smoke immediately rose in the rain. The cannon surged forward with a screech. In the next moment, the place in which the Deiss knight was at crumbled into pieces. Mud was thrown off and the cannon debris was all over the place! The cooked human flesh and large pieces of horse meat flew in the air while the scorching cannon let out a sizzling sound when it touched the muddy water.
"What did that guy say?" the commander asked the fortress commander.
The latter shook his head with no clue. He did not hear it properly.
The Front Commander shrugged with no concern whatsoever. Through the rain, he could already see the messenger and flag-holder dashing about in their base. It was the precursor of launching an attack.
The commander took his blade out, "It's our turn!"
The fortress commander nodded. He faced the warriors on the wall at the same time, took his blade out, "All hail Titan..."
Almost at the same time, an earth-shattering yell was released from the Blackwood Fortress. The Steinberger warriors put in all their strength into the cheers to welcome the enemy that outnumbered them by multifold!
The defense war began. The Deiss Kingdom Army was still strong as before while the Steinberger was as determined as well! The Deiss sent arrows and the Titan warriors returned with javelins. The Deiss' trebuchet made a hole in the fortress while the cannon unit buried the enemy's infantry platoon with canister shots. Obviously, the Deiss had no reason to attack during the rainy season. Steinberger had built a cover for the cannon platform on the fortress, so the heavy storm would not corrode the cannons like before. The Deiss not only had to attack under heavy rain but also to attack under the threat of arrows, fire guns, and cannon fire.
"It's impossible!" the commander of Loantz Front was confused. The battle had continued for an hour and more. There was not a thousand-man formation in the first badge of attack that could maintain the formation. They had already lost thirty percent of their combat strength in the first hour of battle and it was only the first battle of the first day.
"Can anyone make sure these are all Deiss have?" the front commander suddenly thought of this question. He had only listened to the report of the scouts and agents. He did not see the enemy's army group composed of ninety thousand people with his own eyes. If...and only if, the scouts and the agents made a mistake.
The Loantz Front commander was shocked by his own question. He had fought Deiss for his whole life and had seen all sorts of attack pattern. If Deiss Kingdom Army was still the powerful brigade as before, they should have surrounded Blackwood Fortress, destroyed the water source and supply route, and attacked the aid sent from the northern line. However, they did none of the above. They only started a brainless attack. This was illogical.
The battle was continuing. Five attack towers were all destroyed by the cannons. Countless bodies of Deiss soldiers lied on the wet ground. After much difficulties, the infantry unit finally placed the stairs at the fortress wall. When the first Deiss who came to the top was cut into pieces by blades, the attacking changed their flag to the retreating flag.
Steinberger warriors cheered loudly at the retreating enemy, only the front commander was searching all over furiously. Finally, he found the Deiss warrior who climbed to the top. There were not many things left of his body. He lost an arm and a leg. On the remaining arm of this Deiss man, the experienced front commander finally found what he wanted. It was a tattoo pattern.
Deiss nobles would usually brand this sort of mark on slaves who were forbidden to leave this land.
"They aren't the true Deiss army. They are only slaves! Cannon fodder!"
The fortress commander felt that the front commander was exaggerating. Deiss used slaves to test the enemy out. This was reasonable.
"There's nothing to worry about! The true army will enter the battlefield sooner or later."
The front commander could only think that, but he still told the fortress commander, "I am only worried that they may not be here at all..."
"The first day of Blackwood Fortress Defending War. Deiss lost half of their people during the attack. They retreated from the battlefield rashly in less than four hours of battle..."
"The second day...the attack of Deiss finally seemed more logical! They arranged a large number of the trebuchet and built army holes to avoid cannon firing the night before. At the same time, the heavy-armored unit finally joined the frontline. The long-range archery unit was replaced with a crossbow with a longer shooting range."
Wellington Steinberger was in his army tent while he studied his diary. The battle had entered its second week in a blink of an eye.
"The third day, Deiss tried to surround Blackwood Fortress. My unit, the First Independent Infantry Brigade engaged in battle with the enemy in the forest. Both sides suffered losses, but we were able to stop the enemy's plan to enter Blackwood in the end."
"The fourth day!" Wellington scratched his head. He still felt frustrated until now.
"Deiss sent a whole infantry corps to the forest behind the fortress on the fourth day of battle. There were three companies in the First Brigade that were eliminated by the enemy. My unit had no choice but to go deeper into the forest. And so, we have lost contact with the fortress army."
"The fifth day..." the incidents that confused the young forest warrior appeared, "What does the Deiss really want? If they want to defeat Blackwood Fortress, they must attack from both the south and north sides. But they retreated from the forest after roaming for a day! The scouts of the Brigade finally regained contact with the fortress army again. The front commander ordered the First Brigade to retain our true strength to defend against the true sudden attack!"
"True attack?" Wellington thought about this word repeatedly. The current situation only indicated that the Deiss had not put in all of their strength. They did not seem to be serious when they were attacking. Upon thinking about the night attack a few days ago, the young forest warrior cursed softly. Who would build an advancing attack camp that looked like a fortress? That unit that was responsible for the night attack was found by their scout even before getting close to the enemy's base. Following that was a horrible battle at night. Then, the enemy kept flooding in from all directions and they had to divide into batches to get away. At last, everyone got separated from each other. The warriors who could return to the temporary base point were not even sufficient to make a squadron.
"Night attack on the sixth day of battle was a total failure. The First Independent Brigade had lost more than five hundred combat members." The young Brigade Commander closed his diary in frustration. He did not understand where had gone wrong! The Deiss launched an attack but seemed to not care about defeating the fortress as soon as possible. Instead, they managed their attack base like a metal pail and put up a defense posture, "This was not how the Deiss do it! It wasn't the usual tactic Deiss Kingdom Army used as well!" Wellington planned to analyze this problem from the war strategy point of view, but he could not come to an answer no matter what. Did the Deiss plan to waste their time here? Or did they want to isolate the Steinberger's northwest defense line and focus the Anti-Titan Alliance's attack at the north or the west?
"Sir! Sir!" A messenger crashed into Wellington's tent happily.
"An enemy's patrolling unit found our rabbits in the west!"
Wellington nodded. Sending rabbits to attract the wolves were the wisdom taught to the Steinberger warriors by the forest.
The young commander kept his diary and wore his armor and held his weapons. When he walked out of the tent, the forest warriors immediately stopped their noise. They did not line up or hold any strict army posture. Nor did they have a formation that terrified others upon seeing them. The soldiers simply stood together with no apparent formation.
Wellington's gaze scanned the forest and every soldier's face. He had stayed with this bunch of cute rabbits for three years. Some even five years. He understood every one of them.
"Guys! Let's attack the wolves!"
The command of their higher-ups induced exclamations of an agreement. The forest warriors soon left the forest. They dashed in the dense forest like agile leopards and entered the attack area that had been prepared for the wolves without a sound, like ghosts.
The weakened sunlight gradually disappeared. Thin clouds darkened, and rain soon fell in Blackwood again. The rain was not heavy. It was only a few drops at first, then it fell in a swoosh from the sky. They could only hear the rain and see the rain in the forest. The rain crashed through the leaves and diluted the soil. The flickering light of the rain was sent to the battlefield. This weak light kept teleporting along with the rain's direction. Sometimes, it would be at the bush in the east. Sometimes, it would be in the forest in the south.
Some noises came from the forest in the west. The rabbits sent out by the forest warriors dashed forward hurriedly. This was just a normal scouting platoon. Only four of them were left out of the ten members. A strong soldier was still carrying an injured one whose head was drooping.
Wellington showed himself from his hiding spot. His arrow was placed on his bow and was aimed at his comrade's body.
The scouts who were running away approached their commanding officer. Wellington's bow tightened.
When four warriors entered the attack area, their exhausted face finally flashed a smile. Their comrades took in the injured member but the injured one was not in a hurry for medication. He told his comrades, "They have a squadron. Crossbows, iron-clad armor, and great reflexes. They are the real army!"
Wellington had already heard his report, but his gaze had not left his bow. He knew that this was a qualified forest warrior. Even if he was about to lose all his blood, he would want his comrades to grasp accurate information of the enemy. As expected, the forest drowned in the monotonous rumbling of rain again. That scout lied in his comrade's embrace. His eyes had gone wide. Even if his injuries were tended by the rough army doctor, he did not let a sound out. At last, he was leaned against the wet spruce. The soldiers who had surrounded him gradually went away. Maybe they forgot, or they wanted him to see the result of the attack. No one closed his eyes.
A Deiss warrior's figure appeared in the bow slot. His speed was quick. In the blink of an eye, he had passed by a few tall oak trees. Just as he had done numerous times, the leader of the forest warriors released his bow without much difficulty. The arrow was sent into the forest in a whoosh.
The great fairy woke up from his slumber. All living things in Blackwood served as his eyes. He saw gleaming blood dripping onto the ground along the grass blade. He saw human bodies connecting to the tree bark by arrows. At last, the great fairy found with surprise that the chest of the warriors all had a precious heart of the forest.
