Night of the Soulless Heathens – 96



#96. The Tribe of Arael 6

Azadin and Arael are twins born from the same womb.

Arael was born with the strongest magical power ever seen in the history of the Herald Clan by tearing off the magic book of the Flower Bird Wind and Moon that was originally supposed to belong to Azadin. On the other hand Azadin was born as a deformed child who could not use a single proper magic and did not even have eyes.

It is a very difficult request to not hate a twin who was born with the talent that should have been his. Azadin was no exception and he hated Arael. However on the other hand there was something he could admit.

The charm and power that captivates everyone.

But such charm and power are also questionable.

“What reason could justify cooperating with someone who kills people so wantonly?”

The air smelled of blood and burning. If you climb up to the watchtower of this fortress and look around you can see the smoke from several burning villages.

Count Lantarik’s army has already plundered the surrounding area and killed many people. They are utter garbage. Even if there is some sad story why did Arael join hands with a man who does such unacceptable things?

“I’ll take care of the defense here for a while. Any complaints?”

“Uh um.”

“We have no complaints.”

Even the soldiers on the watchtower and the captain of the fortress guard surrendered.

In normal times I wouldn’t entrust my leash to someone as suspicious as the Heralds. But in this situation the only people I can trust are those suspicious Heralds.

“Then bring the arrows from inside the fortress and store them here! All soldiers retreat from the battlements!”

Azadin stood on the wall himself. With the sound of the wind cutting arrows flew towards Azadin. However Azadin swung his cloak and swatted away the flying arrows.

The arrows that had lost their power were piled up on the fortress and one of them ended up in Azadin’s hand.

-Wedge!

Azadin returned fire. The arrows flew towards the approaching soldiers curved and fell low to the ground hitting the soldiers moving with their battering rams.

-Pfft!

The bow’s power was so strong that an arrow pierced one person and then the next.

“Eww!”

“What are you doing Bar Shield Soldier!”

“Damn it! I shot from above why are you coming from in front?”

The soldiers screamed but Azadin fired arrows again.

-Waaaaaaaaa!

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With a crack of wind the entire right column of battering ram bearers collapsed. With one column of bearers gone the other side had no choice but to let go of their battering rams and some were tripped or even crushed by the battering rams they had dropped.

“Ugh!”

“My damn!”

“That’s ridiculous!”

As the ram-bearers fell the NCOs picked up their shields and encouraged their men.

“Shield bearers! Guard the battering rams! Soldiers! Go and take up the battering rams!”

“….”

But the soldiers’ faces were filled with fear.

If you pick up a battering ram you will be the target of concentrated fire. If you want to die try to get attached to a battering ram.

Azadin was saying that with his arrows.

“You can just block arrows like that with a shield…”

-puck!

As soon as he finished speaking the sergeant’s jaw which was holding the shield flew off. An arrow that flew through the gap in the shield had blown off the sergeant’s jaw.

“Whoaaaa!”

The sergeant his jaw blown off fell to the ground screaming.

“Give up the rams! Let’s just use axes!”

“Pick up your shield and axe!”

The soldiers ran towards the fortress with their shields raised above their heads but this time arrows came flying from the fortress windows.

The arrows were shot by Ismail and Midiam and they were enchanted with the magic of the Heralds allowing them to move more freely than Azadin’s arrows and taunt the approaching soldiers.

“What are our archers doing! Shoot!”

Lantarik’s archers fired arrows up the fort and through the windows but Azadin caught the incoming arrows nocked them on his bow and fired them back.

-Pfft!

Another soldier falls. The archers’ morale was bound to be dampened by the sight of him openly holding an arrow and shooting it back.

“That thing…..”

“Even if we shoot won’t we only be supplying arrows?”

“I can’t go!”

“Are you an idiot? The opponent is just one guy and you can’t even approach the gate?”

But now in a brief skirmish about ten soldiers were killed.

Five dead five injured.

Even if it were not much ten people would be five percent of the entire force of Count Lantaric currently gathered here. It was too many lives lost in a short period of time. The morale of the soldiers could not help but fall to the bottom.

“Is this the messenger clan!”

“What a truly horrible monster!”

The soldiers could only pray to their gods that no arrows would fly at them.

*********

“What are you doing messenger clan!”

Count Garnahair of Lantaric was indignant at the messenger clan who stood by and watched the situation unfold.

“We are shooting too.”

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“It’s a waste to shoot at the fortress. That guy is one of our kind too. If the arrows flying at him don’t have enough power we’ll catch them and shoot them back.”

“Even if we shoot here we’ll only be supplying arrows.”

The messengers on Count Lantaric’s side also fired arrows over the walls but because of the difference in altitude the power of the arrows was drastically reduced so they were not able to cause much damage.

Of course if you enchant the arrows and shoot them it would be a different story but the heralds here are not loyal to Count Lantaric. They are a loose alliance that only joined hands for a short time for common interests.

“That’s why I recommended that you attack at night when the sun has set. If you don’t have enough time and dare to attack the fortress in broad daylight I also said that you should rush in with all your troops and finish it off in one go.”

Count Lantarik fell silent as Nephthy spoke.

It was true that Nephthy had advised him to do so. However Count Lantarik ignored the advice and boasting that he could knock down such a small fortress he detached a ram unit and charged. He thought that rushing all his troops to such a small fortress and cutting down its doors with axes was a waste of manpower.

This was the result. The morale of the soldiers was low so they reached the end of the offensive without doing anything. Nephthys was secretly criticizing the Count for that.

‘You dare to accuse me?’

Garnahair a great noble is not accustomed to criticism. However he has come to feel the power of the Herald Clan deeply and he cannot treat them lightly.

“You’re a good shooter. You can shoot by yourself and do the work of ten archers. How many times can the Heralds shoot that much?”

“I can easily shoot about a thousand shots a day.”

“A thousand shots a day? That’s how strong the bow is?”

Even skilled archers using ashwood longbows would be exhausted and drooling after shooting a hundred rounds a day. But a thousand?

‘Isn’t that just empty boasting? No but if it’s true it’ll be hard no matter how many troops I send at it? I’ll have to build a catapult to be able to siege it! But it’s not a proper castle it’s just a fortress like a guard post…’

Originally it was just a small fortress that didn’t even need to assemble catapults. But when the famous archers the Herald Clan moved in it was transformed into an impregnable fortress.

‘There was a reason why that guy was so confident when he negotiated the opening of the gates.’

Garnahair could not help but admit that he had made a mistake.

“Please wait until night falls. Then our clan will infiltrate the fortress and resolve the issue.”

“You’re going undercover?”

“A fortress wall like that can be climbed as if it were flat ground.”

“Um I understand. Let’s retreat. If we charge any further we’ll just lose our troops.”

If you get tired after firing about 40 or 50 rounds you can send in a lot of troops to destroy the fortress but if you get tired after firing a thousand rounds then even a wave attack is meaningless.

“Then can we also step back and rest? If we’re going to move at night we need to rest now…”

“Do that.”

Count Lantaric although displeased allowed them to rest and withdrew his troops.

*********

Yaravin a young man from the Herald Clan was Nefty’s servant. He gave up on becoming a servant but he continued to conduct business and information gathering independently under Nefty and was dissatisfied with the structure of the Herald Clan.

Originally he had enough skills to become a servant but in order to support his poor family he had no choice but to choose to be a servant rather than a servant. If he did not earn something by doing business his siblings and sick parents would starve to death.

However he is also a talented person who can use the magic book of the Flower Bird and Moon and unfold the second palace. He was proud of himself for not falling behind any lower-level messenger and in fact he had that much skill.

So I couldn’t help but be delighted when Arael announced that she would reject the existing order of the Herald Clan and create a new structure.

That’s not all. The heralds currently under Nephthy’s command are all dissatisfied with the existing order and that’s why they gathered under Arael’s banner.

“Hehehe. That Count is really cool.”

Yaravin was delighted to see Count Lantaric’s face being ruined. Although he did not like Azadin he was still an Aragasa. He could not help but feel proud to see the Hybris nobles who had looked down on Azadin being humiliated. The Aragasa had a grudge against the Hybris nobles for one reason or another.

“Don’t be like that. You’re a customer.”

Nephthy stood up stopping Yaravin. The soft moonlight passed over her body which resembled that of a sleek panther.

He is a strong and attractive person. It was not just luck that he achieved the status of 75-year-old at a young age without any special background.

“Okay then let’s climb up that fortress. Everyone be careful. Azadin is no pushover. I’ve tried my hand at it and he’s quite skilled.”

“But didn’t you say you seemed injured?”

“I can’t believe that Azadin became such a great person.”

“He appears to be injured but even that may be a feint. Be careful. They say Kazas specializes in killing.”

Nephthys also did not know much about the Kajas method. However I heard that Elder Kajas although not an Aragasa and not born with the Book of the Flower-Bird-Pung-Wol acquired the Book of the Flower-Bird-Pung-Wol through his own method and that the technique was dangerous and destructive.

They could never let their guard down if they thought Azadin had figured it out. Especially now that they had to climb up the fortress.

“The cover team is down below with arrows ready and let’s choose the assault team. Who will go up?”

“I will go.”

Yarabin volunteered.

“I will stay below.”

Kashan who was injured after being thrown by Azadin declared that he would support him with his bow from below as he was having difficulty climbing the fortress.

“Okay then Yaravin you and I will go up. Kahsan Nema Kodanus. You guys cheer with arrows from below. What about the forerunners?”

A servant named Nemara was casting a foresight spell and circling the fortress to watch over the surrounding area.

“There are no lights on the fort. There are guards but they are hiding behind the walls and looking down.”

“You’re looking down? I was expecting it.”

Nephthy noticed that Azadin was wary of a night attack by having his sentries hidden behind the ramparts and looking down and that he was also wary of the messengers scaling the walls.

“It might be a trap. Should we avoid it?”

“No. If you tease the Count like that and avoid it his patience will run out. Let’s break through.”

“Even if there are traps?”

“You can do that much right?”

Nephthys smiled confidently.