Chapter 169 – At Dawn, They Came

  Fort Westmarch.

  The first great bastion linking the frontier to the inner realm of the Pinta Kingdom.

  The final shield of Margrave Vaeloe’s domain.

  Now under siege.

  Through the night.

  Silva the Slaughter commanded from beyond the field, his Beast Army pressing like a tightening fist.

  Margrave Alaric Vaeloe had sensed something wrong days ago.

  He left his capital to oversee the defense personally.

  And walked straight into a trap.

  Three thousand soldiers manned Westmarch.

  Three thousand trained men.

  And they were falling.

  Not because they were weak.

  Because they were human.

  Beast soldiers possessed denser muscle.

  Greater agility.

  Instinct sharpened by blood and hunt.

  They reacted faster.

  Dodged cleaner.

  Countered without hesitation.

  One beast required three to five ordinary soldiers to guarantee a kill.

  Captains could duel one.

  Beast captains required multiple human officers.

  If numbers were even, humans lost.

  And numbers were not even.

  The defenders estimated roughly one thousand beast soldiers assaulting the fort.

  Which meant Westmarch was fighting the equivalent of three to five thousand.

  And losing ground.

  Garron Leader of Meteor Fall

  “ORAAA!”

  Garron’s war mace crushed a skull inward with a sickening crunch. He pivoted instantly, slamming his tower shield into another beastman mid-leap.

  Borik Sweeper of Meteor Fall

  Boric slipped past him.

  “HUIII!”

  His halberd swept low, severing tendons and dragging three beasts into a heap.

  “Damn humans—!”

  CRASH!

  Thorne Executioner of Meteor Fall

  Thorne’s axe ended the sentence permanently.

  Behind them, Elysha stood amid chaos, holy light bursting from her palms in rapid succession.

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  Sister Elysha the light that bind them together.

  “I cannot keep up with the wounded!” she shouted. “My mana is dropping!”

  The west wall—entrusted to [Meteor Fall] and nine allied parties—was holding.

  Barely.

  Elsewhere—

  “BREACH! Northwest breach!”

  “The inner district is compromised!”

  “CURSED—!”

  Garron’s jaw clenched.

  “Borric. Thorne. With me. We plug northwest!”

  “Southern wall collapsing!”

  He froze.

  He could not split himself in two.

  “We’ll take south.”

  Figures peeled from shadow.

  The assassin group who had once refused Garron’s escort stepped forward.

  “You?”

  “Debts,” their leader said calmly. “We killed at demon command. Let us repay.”

  Shadows moved with him, vanishing over rooftops toward the southern breach.

  Not for glory.

  For atonement.

  Garron nodded once and ran.

  The defense was fraying.

  Each sealed gap opened another.

  Each victory cost two lives.

  Elysha’s breathing grew ragged.

  She pulled another soldier back from collapse—

  Her back exposed.

  A tall dark figure vaulted the wall.

  Garron saw it too late.

  “ELYSHA!”

  Claws descended—

  PIERCE!

  The demon froze mid-air.

  A short spear burst through its torso, pinning it against the stone.

  CRASH.

  The corpse slid down lifelessly.

  Elysha blinked.

  “That spear…”

  She turned.

  The eastern horizon had begun to glow.

  At the crest of the slope—

  A knight in full silver armor rode a magnificent warhorse.

  Behind him, an amazon archer balanced with impossible poise.

  “In the name of Sir Caelum Ardent! His steed Valeriant! The party [Dragon Piercer]! And the knights of Valmor Barony—WE HAVE COME!!”

  Hope roared across the walls.

  Maris leapt from the saddle, already drawing another short spear-arrow.

  Lysette began chanting.

  Sylra vanished.

  “CHARGE!”

  Fifty cavalry thundered downhill.

  Lysette’s fireball crashed into clustered beasts, scattering them.

  Those who dodged were crushed under armored horses.

  “Reinforcement!”

  Steel clanged in signal across the battlements.

  Morale surged like a second wind.

  “Only fifty!” a demon officer snarled. “Crush them!”

  That's what the demon hopes to do.

  But in reality, the Calvary crush their line in a single charge.

  They plunge inside their ranks and cause chaos in a wide scale.

  "Surrounds them!"

  Sir Caelum smiled beneath his helm.

  He pivoted.

  The cavalry veered.

  Beasts pursued.

  “Cowards! Stand and fight!”

  BOOM!

  Lysette’s magic detonated behind them.

  Maris’s spear impaled four in a single shot from her compact Ballista.

  Sylra cut throats in the confusion.

  “Scatter! Do not group!”

  They adapted quickly.

  The beasts disengaged.

  But when they scatter.

  Sir Caelum and his Calvary crush them.

  The back and forth between regroup and got blast and snipe from afar.

  Or ger crushed by Calvary charge when they're scatter.

  It took some time, but the officer finally stabilizes them

  The cavalry could no longer bait them.

  The rear began to stabilize.

  Then—

  “Blow apart thy enemies—Adept Storm!”

  A colossal vortex tore from the sky.

  Beasts were lifted screaming.

  Some were hurled high—

  And fell as shattered remnants.

  A robed figure lowered her staff from a distant sky.

  Serapine.

  “More reinforcement!”

  “Everyone Reg—”

  Slash.

  The officer’s head separated cleanly from his body.

  It rolled.

  Stopped.

  Blood steamed on stone.

  And there—

  She stood.

  Silver hair stirred by the dawn wind.

  One eye bright sapphire.

  The other—

  Ashen grey.

  Not rage.

  Not fury.

  Just stillness.

  A sword rested loosely in her hand, its edge clean despite the spray at her feet.

  “… Who?” one beast muttered.

  She didn’t answer.

  She stepped forward.

  And the air shifted.

  A beast lunged at her throat.

  She tilted her head.

  Step.

  The blade traced a small arc.

  The beast got cut from collarbone to hip before it realized it had been cut.

  Still alive.

  Wounded.

  No wasted movement.

  No flourish.

  Another charged.

  She vanished from its sightline.

  Reappeared behind it.

  Thud.

  It dropped in scream.

  Now the beasts hesitated.

  Predators felt it first.

  That instinct they prided themselves on—

  It screamed.

  Danger.

  She finally spoke.

  Her voice was quiet.

  “You’ve killed enough.”

  No introduction.

  No banner.

  Just a statement of fact.

  A beast captain roared and lunged.

  Steel met claw—

  Once.

  Twice.

  On the third exchange—

  Her ashen eye gleamed faintly.

  Her bracelet flicker.

  Mana circuilt trace along the blade

  The magic sword roar.

  And slash.

  The captain’s arm slid off his shoulder.

  A delayed realization.

  Ivaline swung it two more times.

  Air pressure cut the beast captain apart with some beast around her.

  Then collapse.

  Fear spread faster than flame.

  And behind her—

  An army.

  Valmor’s banner rose against the dawn.

  “Break the encirclement!” Selene commanded. “Rescue the Margrave! Destroy your enemies!”

  “OOOOOO!”

  The charge rolled like thunder.

  Fresh infantry slammed into the exposed rear.

  The Beast Army faltered for the first time.

  On the wall, battered soldiers stared in disbelief.

  At the very edge of the advancing host—

  A boy staggered forward.

  Tattered.

  Exhausted.

  But standing.

  He raised the Margrave’s banner in one hand.

  Valmor’s flag in the other.

  The signal caught the dawn light.

  A murmur spread along the battlements.

  Then—

  Cheers.

  Some laughed.

  Some wept.

  Hope had not died in the dark.

  It had run through it.

  And returned at dawn.