Regret

The battle became extremely brutal, chaotic, and protracted.

The narrow streets became a labyrinth of death, with soldiers from both sides engaging in bloody hand-to-hand combat under the eaves, in courtyards, and even in residents' kitchens and bedrooms.

Taking advantage of their familiarity with the terrain, the defenders appeared and disappeared unpredictably, striking and retreating at will, causing great trouble and casualties to the Sauron had a numerical advantage but were unfamiliar with the terrain.

Many Sauron soldier, thinking they had cleared a section of the street and lowered their guard, were tackled by defenders jumping from the rooftops or killed by stray arrows fired from seemingly empty cellars.

However, in the face of overwhelming troop superiority, the effectiveness of any tactic is limited.

Asgeir quickly lost his patience and resorted to the most barbaric yet effective method: arson! He ordered his soldiers to set fire to the houses lining the streets, using the flames and smoke to force the hidden defenders out.

In an instant, towering fires raged throughout Ward Town.

The wooden houses crackled in the flames, and the rapidly spreading fire, accompanied by thick smoke, engulfed the streets.

Many of the defenders who refused to surrender were burned alive in their homes, while many more were forced out of their hiding places by the thick smoke and flames, only to be exposed to the swords of the Sauron soldier and mercilessly slaughtered.

Governor William led his last dozen or so core men in a fighting retreat, with soldiers falling one after another along the way.

They eventually retreated to the most fortified building in the town center, the ancestral home of the William family.

This is a mansion built of heavy stone, with small towers and sturdy oak gates, resembling a small castle.

Thanks to the strong defenses of their ancestral home, William and his men held out tenaciously for a considerable period of time.

They fired their last remaining arrows from the firing ports of the towers and behind the battlements, and hurled heavy stones at any approaching enemies. The narrow open space in front of the ancestral home was piled high with the corpses of the Sauron.

But even the strongest fortress cannot withstand a sustained attack from an overwhelmingly superior force and a human wave tactic.

The Sauron brought in heavy battering rams, and under the heavy cover of shield bearers, began to rhythmically and violently pound the thick gates of their ancestral home.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Each heavy impact struck like a death knell in the heart of every guard inside the mansion.

The door groaned, the door frame trembled, dust fell in clumps, and an atmosphere of despair silently spread among the survivors.

Governor William stood in the center of the ancestral hall, listening to the increasingly loud and close sounds of ramming and enemy shouts outside the door, yet his expression remained unusually calm, even carrying a hint of relief.

At that moment, his thoughts suddenly drifted away, back to three years ago when he was still the governor of the Northern Border Province.

At that time, Carnford, the last stronghold in the Northern Territory, was on the verge of collapse. A wounded old soldier Andre Andrei broke through the encirclement and came to him, pleading with him to send troops to his aid.

At that time, out of consideration for the safety of the Fran City troops, and perhaps also out of a selfish desire not to deplete his own strength, he coldly refused on the grounds of insufficient troops.

He still remembers the despair, anger, and even contempt in Andre's bloodshot eyes, and the poignant curse he uttered as he turned away, "Governor, you will stand by and watch me die! You will regret it sooner or later!"

"Ha..." Governor William's lips twitched almost imperceptibly, a bitter smile spreading across his face. He murmured to himself, his voice so soft only he could hear, "Andre ... Lord Marcus ... perhaps, back in Carnford Castle, when you faced your desperate situation, you felt exactly as I do now... isolated and helpless, watching death approach... this is truly... the retribution of fate..."

Boom!!!

With a deafening roar, the heavy gate of the ancestral home, along with part of the door frame, was finally smashed to pieces by the battering ram!

The Sauron soldier, as fierce as wolves and tigers, roared with triumphant excitement and swarmed in!

"Father!" Little William cried out, swinging his sword to cut down an enemy charging in front of him, trying to retreat to protect his father.

"Don't come any closer!" Governor William abruptly raised his hand to stop him, his voice authoritative and calm.

He looked at the ferocious-looking enemies surging into the hall, a complex light flashing in his eyes—a mixture of determination and regret—which ultimately dissolved into a sense of relief and calm.

He slowly placed the knight's longsword, which had accompanied him in battle for many years and was now full of nicks, across his neck.

"Carnford... Marcus... Andre... and all... all the souls who died because of my cowardice and scheming back then..." he murmured, as if making a final confession, or as if bidding farewell to another world, "Today, I use this broken body and the blood of the William family... to atone for my sins!"

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly exerted force on his wrist and pulled horizontally without hesitation!

A blinding flash of blood!

This governor, who once held immense power in the Northern Territory and had also committed the mistake of failing to save someone in distress, ended his life in this most heroic yet helpless way, fulfilling his oath of loyalty to the kingdom.

His body slowly collapsed, and warm blood quickly soaked the luxurious yet filthy carpet in the ancestral hall.

"Father! No!!!" Little William witnessed this horrific scene and let out a heart-wrenching scream. He was instantly overwhelmed by immense grief and despair, almost causing him to faint.

Just then, a fierce Sauron soldier noticed his disarray, grinned maliciously, and slashed at the back of his head with his sword!

"Father, watch out!" At this critical moment, his sixteen-year-old son, whose face still bore the innocence of a child, suddenly burst forth with astonishing courage and speed, rushing from the side and using all his strength to push his grief-stricken father away!

"Pfft!"

The gleaming scimitar, accompanied by a fierce gust of wind, slashed viciously into the boy's back, the blade cutting deep enough to see bone!

The boy didn't even get to utter a complete scream before he coughed up a mouthful of blood, collapsed to the ground, twitched twice, and then fell silent.

"Son! My son!" Little William staggered to the ground after being pushed away. Turning around, he saw his beloved son die tragically, shielding him from a knife. His eyes widened in horror, and he completely broke down! In just a few moments, his father committed suicide, and his son died tragically. These successive blows were beyond his capacity to bear.

He looked up to the sky and let out a mournful howl like a dying beast, his eyes turning blood red as he lost all reason!

"My William family has received the Emperor's favor for generations! Today we die to repay His Majesty! Kill!!!"

He leaped to his feet like a madman, raised his longsword, abandoned all defense, and charged recklessly and frantically into the crowd of Sauron soldier pouring into the hall!

He was like a madman, his swordsmanship was completely chaotic, he only attacked and did not defend, and his fighting style was completely risking his life. His roars were quickly drowned out by the shouts of more enemies and the dull thuds of swords entering flesh.

Moments later, Governor William's eldest son, covered in wounds and bleeding profusely, collapsed beside the bodies of his father and son, his wide-open eyes staring at the smoke-blackened roof, dying with unresolved grievances.

The last resistance within the ancestral home completely collapsed with the deaths of Governor William and his two descendants.

The remaining small number of defenders either died in battle or were captured and executed on the spot, and the last organized resistance in Ward Town ceased.

Ward Town has fallen completely.

The victorious Sauron, especially the Tiger Corps which suffered a setback yesterday and paid an even greater price today, unleashed their pent-up anger and bestiality.

They began their usual, inhumane massacre and plunder, which Asgeir may have intentionally condoned to deter any towns that might dare to resist.

Whether it was an elderly person with white hair, a woman without weapons, or even an infant in swaddling clothes, no one was spared.

Sauron soldier kicked open doors, dragged out the residents hiding inside, and slaughtered them on the spot.

Cries, pleas for mercy, maniacal laughter, the sounds of weapons hacking and slashing, and the crackling of burning houses mingled together.

Blood flowed like rivers in the streets, and corpses piled up like mountains.

The once peaceful and prosperous border town has been completely transformed into a scene of carnage, with corpses strewn everywhere and flames raging in the sky. The air is thick with the stench of blood and burning.

To further intimidate, Asgeir ordered that Governor William's body be hoisted up with a long spear shaft and hung high atop the dilapidated, still-smoking gate tower of Ward Town.

The governor's silvery beard fluttered in the wind, his lifeless body left to be pecked at by crows—a scene of utter misery and humiliation.

The fall of Ward Town, along with the scattered refugees who escaped and the horrific messages intentionally released by the Sauron, spread rapidly through the Northern Territory like a deadly plague.

In the bloodiest and most direct way, it showed the entire Goldflower Kingdom, especially those towns that were still watching and hesitating, the tragic consequences of resisting Sauron's iron hooves.

Governor William and his soldiers and civilians upheld the dignity of the nobility and demonstrated indomitable courage with their lives.

However, faced with the Sauron ' overwhelming power and deliberate policy of terror, this tragic resistance ultimately only fostered deeper fear and despair in many places.

The Northern Territory sky grew increasingly dark, stained by thick smoke and blood, as if there was no hope of clearing up.