Chapter 611

Yan Liu reorganized the surviving soldiers to begin firing arrows. At this moment, he had lost his left arm, but it was of no consequence; the wound had already been stanched with medicine.

"We absolutely cannot let them cross the Colin Fortress. Fire arrows!"

"If you're not dead, stand up and attack!"

"Let these foreigners witness the spirit of our Emperor Tianwu men!"

"They can breach the fortress, but they can never defeat us, because they cannot conquer our spirit!"

On the city wall, soldiers continuously nocked and released arrows. Some soldiers who were not heavily injured brought crates of sharp arrows from the temporary warehouse beneath the wall. A rain of arrows fell; although most of the cavalry and soldiers wore armor with decent defensive capabilities, there were always a few arrows that found their mark, even if they only struck the joints of the armor.

Even better, they attacked the warhorses beneath the cavalry. As long as a warhorse was injured and lost its balance, the rider could be unhorsed.

Even though the Holy Kingdom had abundant resources, they could not afford to equip all their soldiers with armor, let alone the warhorses. They didn't even have enough for the soldiers, let alone the horses.

To craft a set of barding for a warhorse—not to mention that the weight would slow down the charge—a set of horse armor consumed the materials of two soldiers' sets of armor. By this calculation, a horse could be ready for slaughter in less than two years, while a soldier required at least 20 years from birth to adulthood and subsequent training!

Which was lighter and which was heavier, it was clear at a glance.

In this desperate battle, most Holy Kingdom soldiers felt that a single charge would be enough to rout the Nightless Legion soldiers. However, they had greatly underestimated these warriors filled with a determination to die.

A Nightless soldier dared to step forward and gamble his insignificant life for a chance to kill the enemy, using the blade in his hand to bring down the enemy's warhorse. When this will spread from one person to the next, it became undoubtedly difficult for the Holy Kingdom's cavalry to make a single breakthrough.

With limited space, even if a Nightless soldier couldn't unhorse two cavalrymen, they would drag at least one down with them. Coupled with the relentless rain of arrows from above, the casualties of the cavalry were far greater than those of the shield-spearmen.

The Holy Kingdom General soon discovered this situation and hurriedly ordered the archer phalanx to provide support. However, the Nightless Legion relied on the fortress to block most of the arrow damage, and even if a soldier was occasionally hit, the casualties were far less than those of the enemy cavalry.

Soon, the Holy Kingdom General signaled with his horn for the cavalry to retreat. His heart was bleeding, and his eyes were burning with rage.

This time, he had brought only four phalanxes, totaling ten thousand cavalry, but just as the battle had begun, he feared he had already lost over 5,000 elite Holy Knights. However, the enemy's casualties were about the same.

The cavalry was the only threat to the Nightless Legion. Their casualty rate was far lower than the enemy's, with only about 2,000 men lost, some of whom felt they could still be saved.

The cavalry units began to retreat one after another. Next, a combination of shield-spearmen and archers moved up. With shields and spears in the front and archers supporting from behind, it initially caused the Nightless Legion soldiers trouble, forcing them to retreat.

But soon, the Nightless Legion retreated near the breach and began dropping giant boulders from above, instantly crushing a large number of shield-spearmen. Without the protection of the front-line shield-bearers, the Nightless Legion soldiers charged out again. Facing those archers, it was almost a massacre. Many archers were forced to use the swords at their waists to fight, but facing the death-defying Nightless Legion, they didn't care if they were injured; as long as it wasn't a fatal wound, they ignored it completely.

Even if they were to die, they would give their all to take one down with them!

The fierce battle between the two sides became increasingly intense. Several times, the Holy Kingdom's formations, organized by their commander, nearly breached the gap, but were quickly pushed back by the crazed, fearless Nightless Legion.

Countless died on both sides. The intense battle lasted for two hours. Seeing that morale was beginning to flag, the Holy Kingdom commander had no choice but to order the horn-blowers to withdraw.

The Holy Kingdom's army retreated like a receding tide, but the Nightless soldiers seized the opportunity to keep firing arrows, taking the last few lives. The ground at the breach of Colin Fortress had been raised by nearly two meters, as it was piled high with the corpses of both sides.

"General, should we dispose of those corpses?"

A soldier came to ask Yan Liu. Yan Liu shook his head and walked to the breach of the fortress. Feeling reluctant and full of apology, he said to them, "I'm sorry, brothers. I should have brought you home, but the current situation is not optimistic. We might all die here... I'm truly sorry! I can't take you home."

Kneeling on the spot, Yan Liu kowtowed several times to his fallen brothers.

"General, the brothers will surely understand." A soldier nearby persuaded him, unable to bear the sight.

"It is I, Yan Liu, who has failed them."

After standing up, there was clearly blood on Yan Liu's forehead, but he ignored it completely, continuing his patrol and ordering others to bring flammable kerosene to pour over the corpses. In case of necessity, they could ignite this area to serve as a temporary defensive wall.

"Brothers, rest quickly. I'm afraid it won't be long before the enemy launches another attack." Looking at the brothers standing on both sides of the breach, Yan Liu couldn't help but urge them with a pained heart.

Barring any surprises, they would likely all die here.

As for what Lord Lord Xuan Lord Xuan Wuji had said about retreating when necessary, it had already been cast to the back of Yan Liu's mind. He didn't know the situation on the other side for the Lord; perhaps he was still on his way. But he knew that they had to hold on here for as long as they could. A little more time would allow the main army to wipe out the coalition of Taji and Leidun; otherwise, these Holy Kingdom bastards would drive straight in.

Once they linked up with the Taji and Leidun coalition, the two great legions of the Empire would be the ones surrounded, and Lord Lord Xuan would be in danger. This was something he could not tolerate!

"General, will we retreat?"

A wounded soldier suddenly asked. He had had an arm broken, his leg was pierced by an arrow, and he had lost an ear. He looked at the passing Yan Liu with hesitation.

This question made Yan Liu's body stiffen.

"I'm not afraid of death, I just want to ask who can retreat. I want to leave a last message for my mother." This question made Yan Liu, who had just opened his mouth, close it again. This was indeed a problem; he hadn't thought about it before.

The eyes of others also turned toward them. They weren't afraid of death either, but they all wanted to leave a last message for their families.

"Everyone, if you want to write a last message, then write it. Let the brothers who are literate help you write it, and then hand it all to little Jess. He is still young, and he is a space-element Class Mage from the Imperial Academy. His life is more precious than ours!"

As he spoke, Yan Liu turned to look at little Jess, who was following beside him. The space Class Mage who had been responsible for delivering messages had red eyes and was somewhat choked with emotion.

Placing his hands on little Jess's shoulders, a flash of determination crossed Yan Liu's eyes. At the same time, he took off his own space ring and his token, handing them into little Jess's hands.

"Little Jess, promise me! You must deliver the brothers' last letters to their homes. I don't know when the enemy's second wave of attacks will come, but you must leave as soon as possible. I will also write a letter. After you ride your horse through the Heavenly Danger Gorge, contact Lord Lord Xuan and tell him that I, Yan Liu, have repaid him with this life!"

Ten years ago, he was merely one of a group of bandits that Lord Lord Xuan had been suppressing within the Empire. Like the low-born bandits who caused trouble everywhere, once caught, their fate would surely be execution by the Empire. But Lord Lord Xuan had unexpectedly recruited them and persuaded them to join the army, which was undoubtedly giving them a second life.

He had always kept Lord Lord Xuan's life-saving grace in his heart!

This lowly life of his, which should have ended ten years ago, has actually managed to survive until now; just thinking about it makes it feel worth it!

As for his companions from the same village back then, although he didn't know how many were left now, they should still be alive, right?

Yan Liu thought with a pleasant expression; those had also been his brothers who had shared life and death with him.

Little Jess couldn't help but let his tears flow.

"Don't cry, little Jess. You must be strong like a man!" Yan Liu lowered his head to look at him, and as he spoke, he went to pat little Jess's head, using his fingers to wipe away his tears.

He was only 16 years old. Originally, little Jess would have been very resistant to being patted on the head, but now he hoped that Lord Yan Liu could keep patting his head.

He vaguely knew that these comrades who had lived with him would all lose their lives in a foreign land today. Thinking of this, his tears couldn't help but flow.

"You should go, little Jess." Yan Liu walked down the city wall to urge him. "The enemy is starting to stir again. I estimate they will launch the second round of attacks very soon!"

"But..."

"There are no 'buts'. Sean, you take little Jess to pick a fast horse and leave through the back gate."

"Yes! General."

Not allowing little Jess, whose face was full of reluctance, to refuse, the soldier named Sean forcibly took him away after selecting a fast horse in the stables.

Soon, Sean was pulling the reins and forcibly taking little Jess away.

"General, I found this under the broken bricks of the city wall."

Just as he was worrying about when the enemy would launch their attack, a soldier holding something wrapped in gray linen cloth quickly came to Yan Liu's side.

Yan Liu turned back and looked at the gray linen-wrapped object in the soldier's hand. It had a colored fuse. He didn't know what was wrapped inside.