Chapter 471

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of muffled thuds echoed; these guards, too, stared in disbelief at their chests, where short daggers were embedded.

Watching the guards lying on the ground—staring at them with expressions of disbelief, anger, and confusion—Willard and Solit’s faces finally darkened with unease.

“Gentlemen, you’ve done well. I shall faithfully report your contributions to His Beast King, and the Beast King will surely reward you both!”

But at that moment, from among the earlier dozen guards, a middle-aged man stepped forward.

This middle-aged man was the noble spy planted by the Beast Clan.

All these guards were his subordinates.

After speaking, the middle-aged man signaled his other subordinates to swiftly dispose of the corpses and take up the positions previously held by the Lie Shi family’s soldiers, avoiding detection by other wall sentries.

Upon hearing the middle-aged man’s thanks, Willard and Solit’s faces grew even more grim.

It wasn’t that they looked down on the Beast King’s reward.

It was that the middle-aged man’s tone and demeanor just now had clearly carried mockery—taunting them.

Yet regardless of whether they wished it or not, the deed was done; there was no turning back.

This time, only by cooperating with the Beast King to annihilate the entire royal army could they still have a chance at survival.

At this moment, as signals flared from the wall, beastmen from afar began creeping toward the ramparts.

They had planned to assassinate these Lie Shi family soldiers precisely to allow the BMs to sneak in undetected.

With the help and cover of the spies, more and more beastmen climbed onto the wall via ropes and baskets.

Finally, when the number of BMs reached five hundred, they no longer delayed, moving under the lead of the noble spy toward the city gate.

Along the way, they used the same method as before: the human-looking spies advanced first, feigning casual conversation with the sentries, then striking unexpectedly to kill them.

The soldiers within the city were already starving, their strength and alertness severely diminished.

Moreover, they never imagined that their own “allies”—fellow humans—were beastmen spies, so they were caught completely off guard and slaughtered outright by the infiltrators.

The path remained clear; soon, the beastmen spies and BMs reached a position less than three hundred meters from the gate.

Only here did they finally get spotted by the night sentries.

It wasn’t that these sentries were more alert; rather, the Commander-in-Chief knew the gate was the most critical point, so he had stationed heavy forces there in advance.

Thus, even if the beastmen spies tried the same trick again, they were instantly noticed by nearby sentries.

But now that they had reached this point, the beastmen no longer needed to hide.

Three hundred meters was far too short a distance to stop five hundred beast warriors from charging.

“Roar! Beast warriors, kill!”

The beastmen burst from side alleys, instantly overwhelming the sentries.

“Damn it! Beastmen! So many beastmen!”

“Quick! Ring the alarm bell! Notify the Commander-in-Chief...”

Ding! Ding! Ding!

In an instant, the area around the gate erupted in shouts of battle and the clanging of alarm bells.

“What’s happening?”

Inside Lindongbao, halfway up the mountain.

Though it was deep night, the Commander-in-Chief and the two dukes remained in the meeting hall, awake.

Hearing the sudden alarm bells outside, their faces changed instantly.

Duke Hernade rushed to the window and immediately saw a cluster of torches gathering at the city gate.

“Worse! It’s the gate!”

At this, the Commander-in-Chief’s face darkened, and he too moved to the window.

Seeing the scene at the gate, his expression turned grim.

“Come, let’s go to the balcony!”

Quickly, the Commander-in-Chief and the two dukes reached the balcony.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

At that moment, a magic swift-eagle swooped down from high above.

“Report, Commander-in-Chief! BMs have suddenly appeared inside the city—around five hundred of them—attacking the gate defenses, trying to break open the city gates!”

“Damn it! Five hundred beastmen? How did they get in? Didn’t we thoroughly scout Lindongcheng already?” The Commander-in-Chief’s face twisted with confusion and anxiety.

“What’s the current situation at the gate? Can we hold it?” Duke Hernade didn’t dwell on how the beastmen had infiltrated.

After all, the most urgent matter now was the safety of the gate.

“This... Duke Hernade, I dare not speculate on what comes next, but... based on my observation, the beastmen appeared suddenly, and our royal guards were caught completely unprepared.”

“Moreover, the guards have had no food supplies for days, their combat strength greatly weakened, so... so the situation at the gate is likely dire!”

Duke Hernade and the Commander-in-Chief exchanged a glance.

Even a common soldier could see the situation was dire—it was truly critical.

“Duke Hernade, what do you think we should do now?” The Commander-in-Chief spoke with bitter reluctance.

“A week ago, five hundred beastmen trying to break the gate would’ve been impossible!”

“But now... Commander-in-Chief, the gate will likely fall—there’s no stopping it. If we want to minimize losses, we must immediately order the entire army to retreat into Lindongbao!”

“Retreat into Lindongbao?!” The Commander-in-Chief’s lips trembled, his face ashen.

Originally, with the city walls intact, they still had one last hope.

After all, Lindongcheng was vast; if they tried to break out, the beastmen couldn’t block every exit.

Just moments ago, he and the two dukes had been discussing escape plans through the night.

Yet before they could finalize anything, the beastmen struck first—and were about to breach the city.

Now, they could only abandon Lindongcheng and retreat to the rear Lindongbao.

But if they retreated into Lindongbao, there were only two roads up and down the mountain.

Though enemy advances would become harder, so too would their own escape.

As for why they hadn’t retreated immediately:

Originally, the Commander-in-Chief and the two dukes had been discussing how many warhorses to slaughter as rations for the soldiers before the breakout, so they could eat their final meal.

With that final meal, the soldiers would have the strength to fight—and to flee.

Otherwise, even if they left the city now, they’d collapse from exhaustion and die anyway.

“Order: everyone, retreat into Lindongbao!”

Even though he hated it, the Commander-in-Chief knew they had no choice.

Ooooh!

With the sound of horns, the royal army began converging toward Lindongbao behind the city.

Naturally, the city gate, without exception, was breached by the beastmen within minutes.

As the gate opened, waves of beastmen flooded into the city.

Though the Commander-in-Chief had issued the retreat order,

time was too limited—many noble units couldn’t escape in time and were trapped inside by the beastmen.

Their fate was predictable.

Of course, the royal nobles and soldiers who had retreated into Lindongbao weren’t faring much better.

With the only two roads blocked, their final sliver of hope for escape vanished.