Close-Quarters Bloodbath
Amidst piercing screams, several Sauron soldier were transformed into rolling figures of fire, halting the offensive.
However, the Sauron's offensive was like a tidal wave, one wave after another! Seeing that the main gate was difficult to breach in the short term, the soldiers immediately carried heavy Cloud Ladder and swarmed in!
"Set up Cloud Ladder! Climb the city walls! Attack from above!"
Several Cloud Ladder quickly approached the relatively low side walls and towers of the castle! Fearless Sauron soldier, with scimitars in their mouths, braved stones falling from the crenellations and windows, and boiling water being poured down, frantically climbing upwards!
The number of defenders was far too small! They had to defend the main gate while also dealing with attacks from all sides, and their defenses were quickly riddled with holes!
Despite the desperate resistance of the defenders at every fortified position, with Sauron soldier constantly being impaled by spears and pelted by stones, they could not withstand the relentless onslaught of the enemy!
"Ah!" A garrison soldier had just stabbed down a climber when he was struck in the shoulder by an enemy emerging from another Cloud Ladder on the side. He screamed and fell to the ground, and the breach was immediately opened!
The first Sauron soldier successfully leaped onto the wall! Then came the second, the third... spreading like wildfire! The outer corridors and platforms on the second floor of the castle quickly descended into a fierce hand-to-hand combat!
The defending soldiers tried to push the enemy off the city walls with their bodies, but the Sauron, with their numerical advantage, managed to hold their ground and began to push inward!
"The second floor has fallen! Retreat into the inner corridor! Hold each room firmly!" Brendan, covered in blood, hoarsely gave the order after slashing down an enemy.
The last defenders began to abandon the outer walls and retreat into the castle.
However, the real nightmare had only just begun.
When the Sauron soldier roared as they charged over the outer walls and into the castle, they discovered that the battle was far from over; it had entered a more brutal and bloody phase!
Karl had already transformed the interior of the castle into a final death trap.
Every room, whether it was once a luxurious hall, a quiet library, a warm bedroom, or even a cramped servants' quarters and kitchen, has been transformed into an independent defensive stronghold!
The doors were blocked, the windows were sealed, leaving only firing ports.
The surviving soldiers, the wounded, and even some brave civilians held their ground in every corner!
The Sauron had no choice but to clear out the enemy room by room and inch by inch, as if combing their hair with a fine-toothed comb!
Every room, whether it was once a study filled with thousands of books, a storage room piled with clutter, or a narrow bedroom where servants lived, was fortified into an independent fortress.
The door was nailed shut, the windows were blocked, leaving only small firing ports.
As soon as the Sauron soldier stepped into the relatively open first-floor hall or corridor, they were immediately attacked by sniper rifles and arrows from all directions! Bullets and arrows shot out from door cracks, wall holes, and even skylights in the ceiling, and soldiers fell to the ground and died in a daze.
There was absolutely no room to dodge in the cramped room, and the battle would instantly devolve into the most brutal close-quarters combat! Often, clearing out a small room of just a dozen square meters would cost the lives of several experienced Sauron Combatant!
Every inch of land taken was soaked in blood.
In the narrow stairwell, the soldiers from both sides huddled together, hacking at each other with the most primitive swords and knives, their blood instantly staining the steps red!
The interior of the castle instantly transformed into a true hell on earth!
Every step forward for the Sauron soldier came at the cost of blood!
The defenders knew that this was their last stand; they had no way out but to fight to the death!
Although Sauron soldier successfully captured the second-floor platform of the outer wall of the Lord's castle, his real nightmare began with figuring out how to descend from the second floor to the first floor and then storm into the core area of the castle.
All the spiral staircases connecting the upper and lower levels became carefully laid death traps by the defenders.
The steps were densely covered with sharp barbed wire, which gleamed with a cold, eerie light in the dim light.
What's even more disheartening is that the entrance to the staircase and the key corners were completely blocked off by heavy furniture, marble statues, and even removed doors and windows, forming a series of sturdy temporary barriers.
The Sauron soldier tried to force their way through stepped on the barbed wire, and the thin leather soles of their boots were instantly pierced by the barbed wire. The excruciating pain made them scream and fall to the ground, greatly reducing their mobility.
Even if a few brave souls endured the excruciating pain to clear a path or attempt to climb over obstacles, they would immediately become sitting ducks for the snipers hidden in the cracks of side room doors and vents!
"Bang! Bang!"
Several precise bursts of fire came from unexpected angles, and the Sauron soldier who were struggling to clear the passage often fell to the ground.
The Musketeers of the defending army appeared and disappeared like ghosts, using their familiarity with the castle's structure to fire and then move on, making it impossible for the Sauron to defend against them.
The battle for the stairwell was fierce. The Sauron launched one charge after another, using shields to hold back the attacks, paving the way with corpses, and forcibly clearing away obstacles and barbed wire.
The defenders refused to yield an inch of ground, using spears to pierce through gaps in the obstacles and hurling stones and burning oil bottles from higher ground.
The staircase changed hands several times, and the bodies of both sides piled up layer upon layer on the narrow steps, almost blocking the passage.
The congealed blood made the stone steps incredibly slippery, each step feeling like wading through a pool of blood.
Finally, after losing dozens of elite soldiers, the Sauron, with their overwhelming numerical superiority and relentless attacks, managed to gain control of the main staircases leading to the first floor.
After a frenzied hacking and crashing sound, accompanied by the loud cracking of wood, a magnificent stained-glass window that blocked the end of the corridor and led to the central square of the inner fortress was forcibly cleaved open with Battle Axe by several blood-covered Sauron soldier!
Behind the broken window, a bright and clear view suddenly appeared!
A relatively spacious central square, surrounded by high inner fortress walls, came into view!
At the end of the square, the tallest and most majestic Lord's Castle, symbolizing the ultimate authority of Carnford, stands tall like the last giant!
At the top of the highest tower of the main castle, three flags fluttered in the wind, which was filled with the smell of gunpowder and blood.
The flag of the Goldflower Kingdom, the banner of the Schmidt Family, and the Lord's banner of Carnford!
Although the flags are torn and covered in soot, they are still flying!
The moment all the Sauron soldier saw those three banners, their eyes blazed with extreme greed and fanaticism!
The bounty that Harald the Great Chieftain has set on, the priceless Lord Carnford — Karl von Schmidt —must be in there!
"Break this window! Charge in! Grab Karl!"
"For the village! For the Battle Group Commander!"
The frantic shouts rang out again, and the surviving Sauron soldier, as if injected with adrenaline, began frantically widening the gap in the window, scrambling to squeeze through and rush toward that last, and most tempting, target!