Chapter 471: The Fall of Lindongcheng!

Boom, boom, boom!

One muffled thud after another rang out, and these guards looked down at their own chests in disbelief—each one had a short blade buried in it as well.

Watching these guards collapse on the ground, fixing them with gazes full of disbelief, fury, and incomprehension, Minister Weilade and Solit finally showed a flicker of unease on their faces.

"Your two lordships, you've done splendidly. I shall faithfully report your contributions to His Majesty the Beast King, and His Majesty the Beast King will surely reward you both!"

But just then, a middle-aged man stepped out from among those dozens of guards from before.

This middle-aged man was a noble spy planted by the beastfolk.

Those guards were all his subordinates.

Having said that, the middle-aged man only then beckoned to his other subordinates, rapidly disposing of the corpses while at the same time taking up the positions of the Duke Lieshi family guards from before, so as to avoid the guards on other sections of the wall noticing anything amiss.

Solit and Minister Weilade, upon hearing this middle-aged man's thanks, instead turned even uglier in expression.

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

Rather, the tone and bearing with which this middle-aged man had just spoken clearly carried mockery, with the flavor of ridiculing the two of them.

However, whether the two were willing or not, the fact was already set in stone—the two of them no longer had any path of retreat.

This time, only by cooperating with the Beast King to annihilate the kingdom's entire army would the two of them still have some chance of keeping their lives.

And at this moment, as the signal was released from the city wall, beastfolk could already be seen in the distance creeping toward the wall.

The reason they had schemed to assassinate these Duke Lieshi family soldiers was precisely to let the Behemoth beastfolk sneak in.

And with the help and cover of these spies, more and more beastfolk came up onto the wall by means of ropes and hoisted baskets.

Finally, when the number of Behemoth beastfolk reached five hundred, they no longer delayed, and began, under the lead of that spy noble, to head toward the city gate.

Along the way, they used the same method as before—having these human-looking spies open the path, deliberately stepping forward to chat with the guards on duty, then killing them by surprise.

And the soldiers inside the city were already starving, their bellies pressed flat against their backs, their stamina and vigilance having long since dropped severely.

On top of that, they had never expected that their fellow "comrades," who were also human, were actually beastfolk spies, so they were all caught off guard and slain outright by these spies' surprise attack.

The path was clear all the way, and very soon the beastfolk spies and Behemoth beastfolk arrived at a position less than three hundred meters from the city gate.

Only when they reached this point were they finally spotted by the guards on duty tonight.

It wasn't that these guards were more alert, but rather that the Grand Commander also knew the city gate was the utmost priority, so he had long since deployed heavy forces here.

Thus, even though these beastfolk spies tried the same trick again, the instant they did so, they were immediately spotted by the other guards on duty nearby.

However, having reached this point, the beastfolk no longer needed to stay hidden.

Because a mere three hundred meters was already nowhere near enough to withstand the charge of five hundred beastfolk warriors.

"Roar! Beastfolk warriors, kill!"

The beastfolk surged out from the alleys on both sides of the street, instantly swallowing up those guards on duty.

"Damn it, it's beastfolk—so many, so many beastfolk!"

"Quick, ring the alarm bell, notify the Grand Commander…"

Clang, clang, clang…

In an instant, the area around the city gate was filled with shouts of battle and the pealing of alarm bells.

……

"What's going on?"

Inside Lindongcheng Keep on the mountainside.

Although it was deep into the night, the Grand Commander and the two dukes were still in the council hall, and had not yet retired to sleep.

Hearing the alarm bell suddenly ring out from outside the window, the three men's expressions changed at once.

Duke Hernande swiftly rose and walked to the window, and immediately saw a large gathering of torches at the city wall's main gate.

"Not good—it's the city gate!"

Hearing this, the Legion Grand Commander's face changed, and he likewise went to the window.

When he saw the scene at the main gate, a solemn look immediately appeared on his face as well.

"Let's go, to the balcony!"

Very soon, the Grand Commander and the two dukes arrived on the balcony.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

And just at that moment, a Demon Swift Eagle happened to sweep down from high above.

"Report, Grand Commander—Behemoth beastfolk have suddenly launched a raid inside the city. Their numbers are roughly five hundred, and they are assaulting the city gate's defenses, trying to throw open the city gate!"

"Damn it, five hundred beastfolk? How did they get in? Didn't we already comb through Lindongcheng carefully before?" The Grand Commander's face immediately showed incomprehension and anxiety.

"What is the situation at the city gate now? Can we hold it?" Duke Hernande, for his part, did not dwell on how the beastfolk had sneaked in.

After all, what needed to be confirmed most right now was the safety of the city gate.

"This… Duke Hernande, this one does not dare to speak off the cuff about what comes next, but… from this one's observation, the beastfolk appeared very suddenly, and our kingdom's guards were caught completely off guard."

"Moreover, because the guards have had no food to replenish them during this period, their fighting strength has been greatly weakened, so… so the situation at the city gate is likely to be very bad!"

Duke Hernande and the Grand Commander immediately exchanged a look.

If even an ordinary soldier like this could see that the situation was bad, then clearly it had truly reached a critical moment.

"Duke Hernande, what do you think we should do now?" The Grand Commander was full of unwillingness.

"If this were a week ago, these five hundred beastfolk wanting to open the city gate certainly wouldn't have been so easy!"

"But now… Grand Commander, the city gate being opened is probably unavoidable. If we want to reduce losses, then the best course is to immediately issue the order for the entire army to fall back into Lindongcheng Keep!"

"The entire army fall back into Lindongcheng Keep?!" The Grand Commander's lips trembled, his face ashen.

Originally, with the city still in their hands, they still had one last sliver of a chance.

After all, Lindongcheng covered a vast area; if they wanted to break out later, the beastfolk wouldn't be able to seal off every passage in front, behind, left, and right.

And just now, he and the two dukes had in fact been deliberating through the night about breaking out.

But before any plan could be drawn up, the beastmen struck first and were on the verge of breaching the city walls.

Thus, they had no choice but to abandon Lindongcheng and fall back to Winterkeep behind it.

Yet if they retreated into Winterkeep, there were only two routes — up the mountain and down.

Although the enemy's assault would also become harder, their breakout would be just as difficult.

As for why they didn't withdraw right now.

Originally, the Grand Commander and the two dukes had already been discussing, before the breakout, how many warhorses to slaughter as rations for the soldiers, so the men could have one last meal before they broke out.

With that last meal, the soldiers would have the strength to fight, the strength to run.

Otherwise, even if they got out of the city now, if they couldn't keep running afterward, that too would be a dead end.

"Issue the order — everyone, fall back into Winterkeep!"

No matter how unwilling he was, the Grand Commander knew they had no other choice.

Wooooo!

At the sound of the horn, the kingdom's army began to converge on Winterkeep behind Lindongcheng.

Of course, the gates of Lindongcheng held no surprises either — within minutes they were smashed open by the beastmen.

As the gates burst wide, swarms of beastmen poured into the city.

Although the Grand Commander had already issued the retreat order.

Time was short after all, so quite a few noble retinues didn't manage to escape and were simply cornered inside the city by the beastmen.

Their fate, one could well imagine.

Of course, those kingdom nobles and soldiers who had taken shelter in Winterkeep were in fact no better off.

With the only two routes cut off, their last sliver of a chance to escape vanished as well.