706 Against The Tireless Army
"What are they trying to do? Gather more forces?" This was the only explanation Daniel could think of. Thalassar likely felt unprepared to attack Calot directly and had instead decided to target the neighboring domains first. By doing so, he could gather more corpses to bolster his army, using them as cannon fodder for an eventual assault on Calot.
The lord of the targeted domain quickly drafted their people to defend against the undead. At the sa ti, they sent a horse ssenger to Calot to request Arthur's help, offering to beco his vassal in return.
However, it took two days for the horse ssenger to reach Calot Castle and another three days for Arthur to gather his knights and march to aid the besieged domain—ti the people of that domain couldn't afford to wait.
Morgan le Fay also volunteered to accompany Arthur to help fight off the undead and protect the king.
During the march, Arthur glanced at the witch. His eyes glinted with a strange emotion as he gazed at the bare-white expanse of her back, exposed by her dress. This inexplicable feeling, buried deep within his heart for years, began to surface. Though... not enough to cloud his judgnt, it was enough for him to register it as an ugly feeling he didn't want to acknowledge.
Arthur's hidden desire, sothing he dared not reveal to anyone, remained locked away in his heart. He vowed to keep it there, taking it to his grave.
As a war orphan who had once had nothing, he felt imnse gratitude toward Morgan and rlin for everything they bestowed upon him and allowed him to achieve what he has today.
Morgan le Fay, sensing Arthur's gaze, turned to face him. "What's the matter? Is there sothing you need?" she asked.
Arthur snapped out of his thoughts. Looking at the goddess-like features of his so-called sister, he quickly suppressed his rising emotions.
"Ah… I'm sorry, Sister. I was just… thinking about sothing," Arthur said.
"What are you thinking about? Is it about the Archlich Thalassar? If so, you don't need to worry. I'm sure rlin has a way to deal with him, no matter how powerful he is," Morgan said confidently.
Her words and unwavering confidence felt like a dagger piercing Arthur's heart, deepening sharp pain, and his breath stuck, unable to breathe freely. The more she trusted rlin, his teacher, the more pain he felt. A long-buried sense of inferiority began to resurface, though it remained hidden beneath his facade as a benevolent king.
"No, Sister," Arthur said with a smile. "I was thinking… when will you marry him?"
The question made Morgan's face flush red. She acted like a lovestruck girl but quickly tried to hide it. "What… What are you talking about? I an, who's 'him'?"
Seeing her reaction, Arthur chuckled. "Oh, Sister, you know who I an. Should I spell out the na?" he teased.
That's right. Arthur believed this dark feeling within him would fade over ti if rlin and Morgan were to marry. He also realized he needed to find soone to marry himself; otherwise, he might never be able to forget her.
— Battlefield —
At the keep of the targeted lord. This domain belonged to Ealdorman Thunor, an old Ealdorman who served the king without grand ambitions. He was only interested in making ends et and managing his territory without unnecessary problems arising.
Though he didn't realize it himself, his mindset of simply doing his job and not overreaching beyond his capabilities was sothing his people deeply appreciated. It ant Lord Thunor avoided causing unnecessary trouble and wouldn't drag his subjects into unprovoked wars fueled by the overreaching ambitions that many Ealdorn tended to have.
With this crisis approaching his domain, his subjects obediently followed his orders and evacuated into the keep. Fortunately, his domain wasn't large, so the keep and its ample food storage were sufficient to withstand a siege for several months.
Outside the keep, the undead army gathered. They trampled over villages and fields, dragging the corpses of those who hadn't evacuated in ti or the brave souls who had volunteered to stall the undead, buying ti for their families and loved ones to retreat to the keep.
For the defenders of the keep, these past few days felt like years. The undead attacked day and night without pause, giving the defenders no chance to rest. The relentless assault wore down their stamina, and casualties began to mount as morale dwindled.
Ealdorman Thunor had lost sleep for more than two days. He commanded his soldiers and put on a strong front, showing confidence despite being on the verge of collapse from exhaustion.
One of Ealdorman Thunor's warriors, dragging his injured body, reported to his lord. "My Lord… I'm afraid we might not be able to hold on much longer. The undead leave us no room to rest—they attack us day and night. They don't need food or sleep like we do," the warrior said, his voice heavy with fatigue.
"Endure a little longer. I've sent word to Calot, asking King Arthur for help," the Ealdorman replied, hiding his own uncertainty deep within his mind.
"Will Calot co to our aid, my lord?" the warrior asked, searching his lord's eyes for any sign of doubt.
"He will co… He will surely co," the Ealdorman said with confidence. His confidence wasn't based solely on Arthur's benevolent reputation or character. It was also because his realm shared a border with Calot.
Arthur would likely be the next target if his domain fell to the undead. From a ruler's perspective, it made more sense for Arthur to aid his domain rather than let the undead ravage Calot. Better yet, Arthur might decide to end the threat by using his domain as a base to launch an attack against the undead.
Thunor knew Arthur wasn't a naive king. If he were in Arthur's position, he would rather use another lord's domain as a battlefield than let the devastation of war ravage his own land.
The undead's relentless assault continued until the morning of the fourth day. During this ti, everyone—whether warrior or peasant united to defend the keep, preventing the undead from pouring in.
The door had been breached, and peasants and warriors worked side by side to barricade it with wood and whatever materials they could find. anwhile, the warriors on the walls and the archers in the towers resisted the attack with all their might despite their growing fatigue, which led to more mistakes.
After four grueling days of defense, with mounting casualties among both warriors and peasants and after many had lost loved ones, the knights of King Arthur finally arrived at dawn on the fourth day.
With the knights' roar and the thunderous sound of hooves, the scene seed hopeless at first. The small number of knights appeared dwarfed by the vast undead army that could easily swallow them whole.
But the sight of the undead surrounding the knights never ca to pass. Arthur himself led the charge, and with a single swipe of his sword, a ray of light purified a large swath of undead in front of him.
"Is that… the power of Excalibur?" Ealdorman Thunor, witnessing the scene from the battlent, uttered in awe.
Moreover, the witch Morgan le Fay stood behind Arthur, protected by a group of knights. She called forth a thunderstorm from her position on a hill, striking down the undead army with lightning bolts. The lightning struck down as if heaven were punishing the undead, and the defining sound of lighting awed the witnesses of the battlent.
The sight of the thunderstorm decimating the undead army was awe-inspiring. It reignited the defenders' morale inside the keep, who fought like lions protecting their territory. Their nearly depleted stamina miraculously returned, and their fierceness was restored.
The n roar, and the undead scream under the rciless blade of the knight and the unstoppable hooves of the cavalry. However, despite the knights' bravery and unmatched skill, the sheer number of undead overwhelms them. Those undead are unafraid of death; they use their bodies to tire out the knights.
If ten undead weren't enough to exhaust a knight, then a hundred surely would be. The undead gladly sacrificed hundreds of their own to kill just one of Calot's knights.
After half an hour of fighting, Calot's knights began to suffer casualties. Though spared from fatigue and exhaustion thanks to Excalibur, Arthur grew visibly concerned for his n. His knights, despite their skill and bravery, were still mortal. They could tire, and they could fall under the sheer number of the undeath.
The undead continued to use their own lives to even the odds of the skill between the knights and them.... the knight started to falter.
But at that mont, sothing extraordinary happened. All the knights suddenly felt their strength surge. Their fatigue vanished, replaced by an unbridled power coursing through their bodies. This phenonon also spread to the defenders within the keep, who felt as though they could crush stone with their bare hands.
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