Breaking the Defense

Orsaga lightly sniffed the blood in the air, and his brows eased slightly.

He was in an excellent mood.

For a creature like a Demon, peaceful days were not bad, but they always lacked a certain flavor.

The Great Purge that had taken place in the Royal Capital today was undoubtedly right to his taste, bringing him a long-lost sense of peace.

As for the matter they were dealing with, Orsaga did not care much. He had no concern over whether other Demons entered this world. At his current strength, he had no ability to take this world for himself anyway. Like a rat that had slipped into a granary, he might be able to eat his fill, but that was all.

So he had no great objection to other Demons trying to force their way in. If they could get in, then get in; if they could not, forget it.

Still, if the opportunity arose, he would not mind killing a few Demons. Killing a powerful Demon could earn quite a lot, after all. Money left unearned was money wasted.

His gaze passed through the earth above as he looked at the moon in the sky. He stretched lazily. "...I really want to move around..."

He greatly missed the simple days in the Bottomless Abyss of "you kill me, I kill you."

The next instant, his figure turned into an illusory bubble and vanished from the basement.

When dawn was nearly breaking.

Both sides finally completed their respective tasks and gathered before the Royal Palace.

The moment they met, Safi took the initiative to complain, "Your Highness Jem, I think our church has suffered too great a loss in this deal. We only intended to stop the Demon's descent, yet we ended up helping you deal with more than ten cult factions and five or six underground factions. This is entirely outside the scope of the mission."

It was obvious he wanted Jem Woz to pay more.

In response, Jem Woz merely smiled and waved his hand. "How can you put it that way? Our Duchy of Maldon paid for this, and from what I can see, although your church's people look somewhat exhausted, your casualties are practically nonexistent. Those who are capable should naturally shoulder more work!"

The implication was that the deal had already begun, and there was no chance in hell Laozi would add more money.

Safi merely smiled faintly and said nothing more, because he knew that saying anything would be the same as saying nothing.

The man before him was at least as thick-skinned as he was. He was not someone easy to fool.

After silently giving the other party an assessment he did not know whether to call high or low, Safi turned his gaze toward the several carriages behind Jem Woz that were still dripping blood. His eyes narrowed slightly as he smiled. "It seems Your Highness encountered no small amount of trouble as well!"

Jem Woz shook his head and smiled casually. "No helping it. We suddenly uncovered so many traitors and rebels. If I did not deal with all of them, then as Crown Prince, I would feel uneasy. To warn those who come after, I even had the soldiers cut off their heads. I intend to pile them by the city gates as a warning."

Safi advised, "They are already dead. If Your Highness does this, there will be quite a few rumors. It would not be very appropriate!"

"They are all minor matters, not worth mentioning. We should clean ourselves up first and prepare to enter the Royal Palace. Though this is an inspection, the Royal Palace represents the face of the Duchy of Maldon, after all. I hope the Bishop can have his priests restrain themselves somewhat."

"Of course. I understand that much."

Not long afterward, once both sides had rested enough, Jem Woz walked before the Royal Palace and made two hand signals. The palace gates were immediately opened from within, without a single word being spoken.

Faced with this, Safi's brows furrowed slightly. It seems he has already settled all the key places in the Kingdom of Maldon.

"Let's go..."

Ignoring what they were thinking, Jem took the lead and rode into the Royal Palace on horseback.

Yet what Jem Woz had not expected was that the moment he entered, he saw a familiar figure standing not far away with her back to him.

His expression shifted several times before he dismounted, dropped to one knee, and said, "Queen Mother, it has been a long time."

Without turning her head, she replied, "I have no son like you."

Her voice was filled with coldness.

Unbothered by her indifference, Jem Woz spoke as usual. "Cultists have now infiltrated the Royal Capital and are attempting to create tremendous trouble. The Royal Palace is at some risk as well, so I need to inspect it. I hope Queen Mother will not take offense."

She gave a disdainful laugh. "Take offense? Hmph, would anything I say matter now?"

With that, she left directly, not even glancing at Jem Woz, her own son.

Though Safi showed no expression, he immediately felt there was quite a bit of hidden history here. Otherwise, no matter what, a mother and son should not have ended up like sworn enemies.

After she departed, Jem Woz rose from the ground with an unchanged expression and lightly waved to the soldiers and priests behind him. "Begin the search. Take care not to damage anything if possible."

Only Shire noticed that Jem Woz's gaze had become somewhat vacant, as though he were recalling something.

Clearly, his heart was nowhere near as calm as his face.

But Shire did not ask further questions. He knew what kind of person Jem Woz was. For something to unsettle him so greatly, there had to be a reason he was unwilling to share.

So he merely stood quietly at the side and did nothing.

Not long afterward, after a round of searching.

Everyone confirmed that there was nothing wrong with the Royal Palace.

At Jem Woz's command, they began heading toward the next location.

Looking at the building ahead, Safi reined in his warhorse and stopped, his expression extremely grave. "It seems we have found the target."

"Did they sense our approach and, knowing they could not avoid discovery, simply stop pretending?"

Sensing the atmosphere around the building, which was completely different from usual, Jem Woz calmly analyzed, "It seems that by learning of our movements through the city, they have already deduced our purpose. So now they are preparing to smash their cauldrons and sink their boats."

The Beast Arena is one of the largest buildings in the Royal Capital. Its overseer has always been a position rotated among members of the royal family. If I remember correctly, the one in charge here now is my uncle, Richard Woz. Was it his negligence that allowed the Wailing Spirit Society to use this place as a nest, or was there another reason...?

After thinking it over, he gave up dwelling on that question.

Because a difficult problem lay before him. When the Beast Arena had been built, it had also been given the role of a defensive fortress for the Royal Capital. Thus, its construction standards were exceptionally high. Its outer walls stood nearly thirty-five meters tall. Aside from knights, ordinary people could only stare helplessly at the sea even with ropes. The gates were made from ironwood reinforced with metal, fireproof and bladeproof; even battering rams could not break them in a short time.

Facing the fortress before him, Jem Woz immediately abandoned any thought of entering through the main gate.

After his eyes flickered a few times, he raised a hand and shouted, "All Knight-rank and Great Knight-rank fighters, equip wall-climbing hooks and prepare to scale the walls for battle! Those below Knight rank, equip bows and tie cloth soaked in fire oil to your arrows. Shoot them inside!"

Unlike Earth, where siege warfare had to rely on large equipment such as ladders, the humans of this world had developed certain tools further due to the existence of Supernatural Power. Wall-climbing hooks were one such tool. They allowed people to climb walls to a certain extent, but they demanded too much stamina. Once someone climbed too high and ran out of strength, it was very easy to fall to their death.

Moreover, the device required all four limbs, leaving its user unable even to raise a shield. They could easily be used as moving targets by defenders, so it was mostly used for surprise attacks. Using it in a frontal battle was simply seeking death.

However, though the other side was prepared, Jem Woz did not believe that a group of Cultists who could not stand the light could hastily gather several hundred people to defend the place. At most, there would only be a few dozen. With support from archers, their side's thousand-plus Knights and Great Knights could absolutely use wall-climbing hooks to force their way up the walls. There might be some casualties, but they would at least be within acceptable limits!

At his command, the soldiers and officers did not hesitate in the slightest. They immediately began changing their equipment and quickly strapped on wall-climbing hooks. The priests of the church's Heretic Hunting Department, however, began to hesitate and turned their gazes toward Safi.

After a moment of hesitation, Safi gritted his teeth and ordered, "Those at Knight rank and Great Knight rank, equip wall-climbing hooks and prepare to fight alongside them. Those below Knight rank, use bows for covering fire."

He knew that necessary sacrifices could not be avoided at a time like this. Otherwise, once the Sacrifice Ritual inside the Beast Arena was fully completed and the Demon truly descended into this world, it would definitely cause even greater losses. That was not a sight he wished to see.

No matter what objectives he had or what designs he held toward the Duchy of Maldon, as a devout believer, his hatred of Demons was absolute. He could not tolerate such a thing happening before his eyes.

The moment the order was issued, the many priests immediately began changing equipment alongside the Duchy of Maldon's soldiers.

Wall-climbing hooks were standard weapons for them, no different from swords and blades. In the field of special operations, they often had to deal with Cultists and Evil Creatures, making them even more familiar with such equipment than the majority of soldiers!

Once everything was ready, several volleys of flaming arrows were fired, and cries of agony began ringing out inside the Beast Arena. They were the sounds of Cultists being struck.

Timing the gap between volleys of arrows, Jem Woz gave the order without hesitation. "The assault begins!"

Over a thousand warriors equipped with wall-climbing hooks clung to the walls like lizards and began rapidly climbing!

Many Cultists tried to knock them down during this time, but the constant barrage of arrows brutally suppressed most of them. Only a scattered few could free their hands to attack the climbers on the walls.

Though the climbers could not strike back against these attacks, relying on their overwhelming numerical advantage, they endured the casualties and forcibly broke through the defenders' line.

As more and more of them successfully climbed onto the walls, Jem Woz immediately had the archers cease firing.

With the change in numbers above, continuing would bring no benefit other than hitting their own people.

He did not have to wait long. Accompanied by the sound of the gate's edges scraping against the ground, the Beast Arena's gates were opened from within!

Jem Woz ordered, "All archers, switch to melee weapons! Kill anyone who resists!"