Chapter 193: Siege Warfare

Daylight gradually faded from the west; tonight was not as clear as yesterday. The bright moon had just risen, while the stars were hidden behind one dark cloud after another.

On a low hillside outside the city, the Witch-king of Angmar, holding a steel sword in one hand and a flail in the other, rode a tall black horse that radiated an evil aura, his terrifying gaze fixed on Pelargir not far away.

His cruel and filthy heart harbored anger, for that Fell Beast, wounded by Angalimir, could not fully recover in a mere day's time.

At the very least, he would be unable to command from the sky during tonight's battle.

Beyond this, what displeased the Witch-king even more was that the flag representing the House of Dol Amroth had been raised atop the walls of Pelargir this afternoon.

This meant that the Human prince he had struck had not died; in fact, at dusk, the Witch-king had even seen the old man patrolling the ramparts, encouraging the Human soldiers around him.

This caused the fury in the Witch-king's heart to burn to its peak.

However, Angalimir was not as healthy as he appeared, for he was already near death.

Even wearing finely crafted armor and possessing the bloodline of a Silvan Elf, that heavy blow from the Witch-king had dealt the old man a fatal injury.

Being able to appear on the ramparts that afternoon to encourage all the soldiers was nothing more than a final flash of vitality.

Having returned to the inner city of Pelargir, Angalimir had fallen back into a coma, and before losing consciousness, he had entrusted all matters within the city to the commander of the Royal Navy, Berilach.

This was a seasoned man over fifty, with skin as dark as pitch and eyes that had weathered many storms.

Berilach's family had not been particularly prominent in the Kingdom of Gondor before; his kin had lived for generations in Lossarnach, where they owned a vast and beautiful estate, having once been wealthy Manor Lords.

It was only around the year 2700 of the Third Age that his ancestors officially joined the Royal Navy of Gondor.

And in the war against the Umbar Pirates in 2758, they rendered great service, earning the favor of the then Steward of Gondor, Beregond, and rising in one stroke to become high-ranking officials in the navy.

Since then, Berilach's family had always held very high prestige within the navy and had served the ruling house of the Steward of Gondor with unwavering loyalty.

Berilach also possessed the bloodline of the Númenóreans, and he was the castellan of Pelargir, though not its lord.

Because the status of this city was extremely unique—being one of the oldest and most important ports of the Kingdom of Gondor, where multiple kings had built palaces—this harbor city was under the direct jurisdiction of Minas Tirith.

It was a territory directly under the royal crown.

During the fierce battle last night, it was precisely Berilach who, when the prince led his troops to break out, issued the order to sally forth and rescue them, successfully saving a portion of the friendly forces from the enemy's encirclement.

At this moment, looking at the enemy forces gathering outside the city, his mood was extremely heavy, especially when several ferocious-looking catapults were erected; the pressure in his heart reached its peak.

After all, the walls of Pelargir were not as sturdy as those of Minas Tirith, and under the bombardment of catapults, they could still potentially collapse.

As for those Uruks, busy as ants, digging dense trenches starting an arrow's flight away from the city, they posed no great threat compared to those massive machines.

Yet, all of this could not compare to that Shadow not far away.

Berilach knew that it was the shadow that brought despair, the spear in the hand of evil, the chief of the Nazgul, known in the Kingdom of Gondor as the Black Commander.

The name alone was enough to make one wary, let alone seeing him standing alive outside the city, commanding this battle.

The night grew deeper, and the evil outside the city had accumulated to a degree that satisfied the Witch-king.

Subsequently, the chief of the Nazgul, sitting atop his horse, slowly raised the steel sword in his hand, pointing directly at Pelargir ahead.

"Boom—" "Boom—" "Boom—" "Boom—"

As the drums sounded, the Orcish offensive officially began at this moment, and the pirates in the river channel also coordinated with the Orcish army, becoming entangled with the ships of the Royal Navy.

The first to launch an attack on Pelargir were naturally those massive machines that had been erected; however, unlike what Berilach had feared, the enemy did not waste ammunition on the sturdy walls.

The projectiles launched by the catapults fell directly into the city districts behind the high walls amidst a whistling sound.

These projectiles had been treated with the Witch-king's secret arts, and upon impact, they exploded instantly.

Clusters of flames began to burn on the wooden buildings within the city; amidst billowing smoke, the city fell into chaos, and shouts and screams rang out over Pelargir.

This chaos did not last long; under the leadership of city officials, a large number of residents began to emerge from their hiding places to join in the firefighting efforts.

Fortunately, Pelargir was a port city near the Anduin River, and the streets were filled with carved water channels, which provided convenience for the firefighting work at this time.

However, the second wave of the enemy's catapult attack arrived quickly, and the weapons the enemy launched this time were not so easily accepted by the residents.

Because what the enemy had projected inside were hundreds of pale heads.

Though small in size, their lethality was immense; after the baptism of fire, the residents in the city looked nervously at these terrifying objects scattered everywhere, either screaming in shock or weeping bitterly.

The owners of those heads had suffered immense terror before death, and their expressions of fear were frozen on their pale faces.

Moreover, every head was branded with that evil mark, the lidless Eye of Sauron.

How could the residents in the city not be sorrowful and fearful upon seeing such terrifying things?

And this method of attacking the heart was one of the most common strategies used by the Witch-king of Angmar when laying siege to cities.

First, use fire to lure residents out of their hiding places, keeping them in a state of tension, then project heads to suppress the Human will to resist, letting fear take root in the hearts of Humans to achieve maximum effect.

As sorrow and fear began to spread in Pelargir, the general offensive of the Orcish forces also began.

With the third wave of catapult fire, large numbers of Snaga, carrying siege ladders hastily constructed, jumped one after another into the previously dug trenches.

Like black dragons, they approached the walls of Pelargir along the pre-dug trenches.

The Human guards on the walls, discovering that the enemy had entered their attack range, immediately began to strike back at the enemy.

A large number of arrows flashed with cold light, falling toward the heads of the Snaga; some were blocked by the earthen slopes on both sides of the trenches, while others accurately hit the vital points of the Orcish, causing their dead corpses to trigger a series of disturbances in the trenches, thereby delaying the speed at which the enemy approached the walls.

But the advancing Snaga soon threw their dead or wounded comrades who could not move out of the trenches.

Some even placed the corpses of their own kind directly onto the siege ladders to block the arrows falling upon their heads.

Their forward pace was hindered, but it did not stop.

At this time, the targets of the catapults began to change, and projectiles that would ignite flames began to be launched toward the walls.

Although the accuracy of the catapults was not high, out of every five or six projectiles, one would still barely manage to land on the walls.

While causing an impact, the bursting flames also splashed onto the guards.

The scorching flames instantly ignited the clothing on the guards, and the pain of being roasted caused these burning Humans to scream in agony.

Even for those with the firmest will, Humans who could remain rational under fire were, after all, a very small minority.

In an instant, under the influence of the flames, the speed at which the guards on the walls fired at the enemy began to slow down.

And most of the residents in the city remained affected by fear and panic, indifferent to what was happening around them; only a very few firm-minded people, under the shouts of officials, reacted quickly, grabbing water containers and rushing onto the walls to help the soldiers guarding the walls extinguish the burning flames.

And the Orcish archer units, after the catapults fired, also began to approach the direction of the walls, holding wooden shields that could block arrows.

There was no other way; the average Snaga simply could not draw a long-range Longbow, and most of the Uruk in this force led by Angmar were experts in melee combat.

At this moment, the Ballistae on the city wall that had not been affected by the flames also found targets worth their effort.

Thick Arrows were shot directly from the city wall, and while shattering the enemies' cover, they also struck down an entire line of Snaga.

A single volley took away dozens of filthy lives.

Its terrifying lethality even caused the surrounding Orcish to halt their advance.

Just as the Humans guards seized the time to reload the Ballistae.

The sound of drums urging the Orcish to attack grew increasingly urgent.

"Boom," "Boom," "Boom."

An entire army composed of Uruk began to march with steady steps, closing in on the direction of the city wall.

They wore complete armor, held strangely shaped scimitars suitable for melee combat in their right hands, and had a round Wooden Shield strapped to their left arms.

And the symbol of the Dark Lord was imprinted upon them.

Following the departure of the Uruk army, the Snaga who had been stagnant suddenly quickened their pace of attack.

If they were caught up to by the Uruk who had set out later, they would be met with a ruthless blade, and their deaths might be even more miserable than being shot, so it was better to risk their lives and charge forward, as they might just find a way to survive.

At this time, the Snaga carrying the Siege Ladder and running along the trench had already reached the end of the trench.

Before their eyes lay three meters of open ground, plus a moat several meters long.

After a brief preparation, over a dozen Snaga squads carrying the Siege Ladder rushed out of the trench amidst shouts of abuse and the sound of whips, charging toward the moat.

Such an action was naturally prioritized by the Humans guards on the city wall; a dense rain of arrows descended upon these dozen squads, pinning all the Snaga carrying the Siege Ladder to the ground.

Following the deaths of these Snaga, a large number of Orcish rushed out of the trench again, but this time it was no longer the short and hunched Snaga, but well-equipped Uruk.

They held round shields in one hand and lifted the Siege Ladder at their feet with the other, charging toward the city wall, using their lives and their own round shields and armor to deliver the Siege Ladder to the side of the moat.

Soon, they were wiped out again.

And the archers composed of Snaga had already braved the rain of arrows and thick Arrow fire, approaching a distance sufficient to launch an attack.

Although they left behind countless corpses along the way, the endless Orcish phalanx behind them in the dark night always had enough Snaga to pick up the bows and arrows on the ground and replenish their ranks.

When the Orcish archers began to exchange fire with the Humans guards on the walls of Pelargir, the Orcish army in the trench finally, with the cover of the archers, placed the shorter but wider Siege Ladder on the edge of the moat.

Immediately following this, a large number of Snaga holding wooden boards, braving a slightly thinner rain of arrows than before, laid the boards over the Siege Ladder.

Although the Siege Ladder was pressed into the water by the weight of the wooden boards, the path to the city wall was opened at this moment.

At this instant, almost all the Orcish huddled in the trench rushed out from within; they carried long Siege Ladders and, along the makeshift bridges paved with wooden boards, closed in on the city wall.

One Orcish carrying a Siege Ladder died, and another Orcish immediately took their place, continuing to press toward the city wall.

Upon reaching the city wall, they attempted to prop the Siege Ladder against the high wall.

The eyes of these Orcish, who disregarded their own lives, all flashed with a red light unlike before.

At this time, the Witch-king of Angmar, who had been observing the situation of the entire battlefield, put down the steel sword in his right hand that was glowing with a faint red-black light with satisfaction, and let out a terrifying shriek.

The Uruk army that had already set out began to walk even faster.

At this moment, the Orcish who had already propped the Siege Ladder against the city wall suffered a heavy blow.

Because countless stones and Siege Logs flew down from the walls of Pelargir, smashing all the Orcish beneath the wall to death.

Berilach, who had been directing the battle on the city wall, keenly sensed the situation of the residents within the city, so he walked down from the city wall himself to inspire the residents' confidence in resisting the enemy.

Then he led them up to the city wall, joining the ranks of those resisting the enemy's invasion.

There were still too few among them who could use weapons; those with slightly more combat experience had been conscripted into the army earlier, but having them lift stones and wood to smash at the enemy was something they could still manage.

As the Orcish under the city wall were killed or wounded, most of the Siege Ladders propped against the wall were pushed down with great difficulty; these siege engines were built with iron hooks that could latch onto stones, requiring hammers to smash them before they could be pushed down.

Another small portion of the Siege Ladders could not be pushed down in time, because those Uruk who had quickened their pace had already arrived at the base of the city wall.

The siege battle reached its most tragic stage at this point.

And as the shriek of the Witch-king of Angmar rang out, dozens of Mountain Troll emerged from the Orcish phalanx.

They were seen looking up and roaring, then they strode with their thick legs, charging toward the South Gate of Pelargir.

Watching the dozens of Troll charging toward him, Berilach's expression instantly became grave.

If he had had a certain degree of confidence in being able to hold the city given the previous situation, his confidence was now teetering with the appearance of the Troll.

Yet Berilach still had no intention of abandoning the city and fleeing; he swung the Mace in his hand, smashing an Uruk that had climbed onto the wall to death, while shouting loudly: "Ballistae ready, shoot those big brutes charging over for me."

And at this moment, an army composed of Humans appeared in the west of the entire battlefield.

A small number of Cavalry, after approaching the battlefield, gripped the lances in their hands and charged toward those dozens of Troll.

And a large number of infantry charged toward the Uruk gathered under the city wall.

Only the soldiers at the very front of them had complete armor and high-quality weapons.

While those following behind were mostly militia holding crude weapons.

And the one leading them here was none other than the lord of Lamedon.

Antonius the "Fearless."