Fierce Battle

"Archers! Ready, three volleys at full strength!"

Count Havent drew the longsword at his waist and pointed it toward the ghoul army charging below.

Solis stood atop the tallest tower in the middle of the southern wall, gripping his staff with both hands as a massive amount of fire elemental energy gathered around him.

The ruby at the tip of his staff flashed repeatedly.

As the magical energy accumulated to its limit, a vast red-glowing cloud appeared a hundred meters overhead.

"Ha!"

With Solis's furious roar, the clouds churned violently, and countless Fire Meteors the size of melons fell from the crimson clouds.

They crashed down upon the charging ghouls.

With Solis's opening wave of fourth-tier Fire Meteor magic, the siege battle officially began.

Huge swathes of ghouls fell before the walls. Their corpse-oil-filled bodies only fed the flames, turning the entire southern wall as bright as day.

"Watch out!

The dragon is coming!"

After completing his spell, Solis tossed his staff downward and immediately leaped toward the sacks piled atop the wall.

BOOM~~~~~~

A deafening crash rang out.

The tower where Solis had just stood was smashed to pieces by the incoming Demon Dragon. Large chunks of stone and broken timber flew in every direction.

Caught off guard, soldiers were sent flying or knocked down by the debris.

Havent rushed over in a few strides and pulled the upside-down Solis out of the sacks.

"Teacher, are you all right?"

Solis spat out the grass in his mouth, waved a hand at Havent, and looked toward the Demon Dragon with gleaming eyes.

"Did you see that, child? That is a dragon! Such a powerful body! Wonderful, simply wonderful!"

Havent was somewhat speechless at his teacher's excited expression and shouted into Solis's ear.

"What are we supposed to do now?"

"What do you mean, what do we do?"

Havent pointed at the Demon Dragon circling overhead.

Solis got to his feet, rubbed his aching backside, then turned and took the staff a soldier handed him.

He poured a little magic into it and sighed in relief when it still responded.

"What else can we do? Handle it normally. As long as we hold back the ghoul army below, the count will deal with the Demon Dragon."

"Can my father beat it? Aren't you going to help?"

Solis shook his head and leaned over to glance beneath the wall.

"I can't. I can't fly. My battlefield is here."

As he spoke, the Demon Dragon circled a few times before diving toward the soldiers on the wall.

"Don't even think about it!!!"

Count Havent, blazing with flame-like battle aura, shot toward the Demon Dragon like a cannonball.

When he was roughly twenty meters from it,

Count Havent swung his sword and slashed several arcs of sword energy at the Demon Dragon.

The Demon Dragon, enslaved by the undead, showed none of a true dragon's combat instincts. After taking several sword-energy strikes with its body, it lost its balance somewhat.

It crashed crookedly into an arrow tower. The wooden structure could not withstand the Demon Dragon's enormous body and exploded at once.

Watching the Demon Dragon fall into the city, Count Havent descended from the air.

"Hadawei, I'll leave this place to you. I'll go hold that Demon Dragon back. Otherwise, our walls won't last long."

Count Mori first bumped fists with his close friend, then heavily struck his left chest with his right fist.

"White Lion Guard, take up your weapons and follow me!"

"Father! Father! Wait!"

Havent ran over, dragging his teacher along.

"What is it, little Havent?"

"Teacher and I just discussed it. Given the current situation, we have no way of holding out until the reinforcements arrive.

You saw those Death Cultists just now. Teacher said that if they want to enslave a giant dragon with undead magic, they must have a magic array to assist them.

We need to leave the city and destroy that magic array. Then, without their control over the Demon Dragon, dealing with it will be much easier."

"Solis?"

Hearing his son's bold idea, Count Havent could not help but be shocked. In this situation, leaving the city was no different from courting death.

"My lord, I didn't—

Fine, I did tell little Havent some related knowledge, but I definitely never suggested leaving the city to destroy it."

"Son, I want to know why you want to take such a huge risk. You need to understand, we only have to endure tonight and tomorrow."

Count Havent stared fixedly at his unusually defiant son.

Havent clenched his fists and stubbornly raised his head to meet Count Havent's gaze.

"But what if we can't even make it through tonight?"

"How is that possible? We still have three hundred White Lion Legion soldiers and over a thousand armored troops, plus two thousand more from the other noble lords combined. How could we possibly—"

"Father!

But what if it really happens?

Don't you always say that in battle, we must prepare for the worst and never rely on luck?"

The atmosphere atop the wall froze for a moment. The surrounding soldiers scarcely dared breathe, never expecting that at such a crucial time,

their lord's heir would argue with the lord himself.

RUMBLE!

The sound of a building collapsing came from nearby. Watching the downed Demon Dragon struggle out of the ruins, Count Havent reached out and patted his son's shoulder.

"Taren, follow the young master's plan!

White Lion Guard, follow me!"

Watching his father's departing back, Havent pursed his lips. In his previous life, he had been a left-behind child who had never seen his parents.

Rebirth or transmigration had meant little to him, but having this old man as his father now seemed rather nice.

Once he won this battle, he would go study in the imperial capital and bring his mother back while he was at it. That old straight-laced man did not know how to coax his wife at all.

"Taren."

"Young Master Havent, your orders."

"I need thirty White Lion Knights to leave the city with me. We'll head out from the east.

According to Teacher's estimate, the magic array controlling the dragon cannot be too far away. Bring the Burning Burst Bombs. We'll destroy the array and return immediately."

"Yes, Young Master. I'll make the preparations at once."

Taren gave his young master a knight's salute, then hurried away to prepare the supplies.

After making the arrangements, Havent turned and walked toward Count Mori.

"Lord Mori, I was disrespectful during the meeting earlier. Please forgive me. I'll leave the wall in your care."

Count Mori patted Havent's shoulder.

"Little Havent, it's all right. Don't take it to heart.

Go do what you need to do, child. Once this battle is over, I'll have Wiser spend more time with you. I believe you two can become good friends."

Havent gave Count Mori and his teacher a Noble's Greeting before turning and walking down from the wall.

Baiman City's eastern gate.

Dark clouds covered the moonlight as a group of thirty riders quietly rode out. In the distance, they could still hear the earth-shaking shouts of battle from the southern wall.

"Let's go. Follow behind me.

Toward victory, advance!"