Siege on Korce 2

Will stood on Korce's battlements and wondered how he'd become trapped in this empty city. Will was sieged inside an Albanian city, with more than 5,500 soldiers and mercenaries. He'd somehow invaded Albania and sieged a city.

For 12 days, Will waited for the war to officially start. Currently, he observed the Albanian camp. From time to time, enemy mages would cast offensive spells. Terramancers were balanced elemental mages, whose defensive spells were as powerful as the offensive spells.

Will lazily blocked their spells and in return cast [Erosion] on their catapult, as sat and blocked the spells.

Lord vont Heinrich and Lord vont Dervish created this plan to trap Will inside the castle. Since Will was the only mage among his soldiers, they used their mages to keep him busy, while they finished the battering ram.

Since only about 10% of the population had large enough mana pools to be mages, knights, or marines, the Albanian army still need medieval weapons to siege a castle. Lord vont Heinrich and Lord vont Dervish brought with them two aquamancers and one pyromancer.

Anne's mood wasn't as relaxed as Will's. She was used to fighting in the open, not behind a wall. Her men were not well equipped for a castle siege. Anne brought more pugilist than archers.

It was already the 10th bell when Lord vont Heinrich and Lord vont Dervish received word the sieging weapons were already assembled.

There was no point in waiting any longer. Lord vont Heinrich decided to launch a full-scale attack on the east gate.

Korce's city walls were kilometers long. Along the east wall, Lord vont Heinrich posted a soldier every meter. Eight thousand-foot soldiers and archers stood in formation. Lord vont Dervish rode with a thousand Marine Calvary. Nine thousand Albanian soldiers pointed their weapons toward Korce and begin shouting.

The catapult and mages release several spells at once. However, Will was not able to block everything. The boulders and a spells hit the array.

Suddenly Will saw a flash in the corner of his eye. When he looked, he saw something he'd never seen before:

[Trigram Protection Array 99,997/100,000].

Who knew Korce had such a strong protection array? Gadreel only had an [Earth Elemental Gathering Array].

Yesterday, Will had imprinted his mana on the array and turned it on. He unwisely assumed it was a gathering array as well.

"Damn you, Viscount vont Ballard," Lord vont Dervish yelled from the top of his lungs, straining his vocal cords.

Lord vont Dervish thought the array was still off. He did his best to hide the array from his nemesis. He believed it had worked too, as Will blocked his mages' spell from hitting the castle wall.

Now, he realized he had been tricked. How many times had he bragged to Lord vont Heinrich about his hiding the array formation?

Once again, his nemesis had bested him and made him to looks like a fool.

'Why won't he just die!" thought Lord vont Dervish. The more he thought about 'he who should not be named!' The more a vein bulged on his forehead.

When Lord vont Henrich realized the protection array was active, he immediately ordered his men to spread out. But it was too late.

Will had already bottomed out his mana whirlpool by casting, [Sandstorm], [Earthquake], after [Earthquake], and launching as many [Meteors], and [Quicksand] as possible.

Before the mages could clear the sandstorm from the blinded archers and soldiers, the ground and sky ripped open.

The Albanian army was thrown into confusion as hundreds of soldiers fell, burned, or suffocated to death.

The mages had trouble countering, as they kept being bumped into by the soldiers.

By the time the sandstorm was cleared away, the Albanian army had been decimated. They had lost half their infantry. Hundreds more were wounded, and hundreds more fled.

More than 4000 infantry had died because of their defensive resources and Lord vont Dervish's arrogance. Over 3,000 footmen and archers fell back to their camp.

As for the 1000 cavalrymen led by Lord vont Dervish, they did not play much of a part in attacking the city.

Earlier when facing the Albanian infantry Anne, Eliot, and Bubba had worried expressions. Each of them was powerless. They could only trust in Will's plan. When they saw the barrage of missiles and spells, they held their breath and swallowed.

They watched as the rocks and spells hit the transparent array. The array shimmered where it was attacked. They watched the spells dissipate, and the rocks fall to the ground.

Then they watched as Will's released a tyranny of spells on the unsuspecting army below.

Anne, Elliot, and Bubba watched the destruction unfold. It was gruesome. Yet, stood in solidarity. They were more thankful to be Will's subordinate than his enemy.

After the Albanian army fell back, Lord vont Dervish was called to Lord vont Heinrich's tent.

When Lord vont Dervish entered the tent, two soldiers grabbed him and tied him to a post.

"You cowardly weasel! First, you abandoned your castle, and then let invader just walk in.

Then you beg the king for support saying you could easily retake your city. It's been four days and we've lost over half our army to surprise attacks and your array blunder.

Before you arrived, I sent a letter to his majesty requesting reinforcements. I reported on the situation and your lies. Your negligence has cost me honor. I seek my recompense through your blood," Lord vont Heinrich said.

Then he began to whip Lord vont Dervish

After the first lash, Lord vont Dervish cursed Will and passed out.

After Lord vont Heinrich's anger subsided, he gave his army new orders to shell the array until it crumbles.

Last night and into the morning the mages and catapults shelled the array.

To make up for the deficit, the soldiers assembled a movable arrow tower. The archers stood on top of the tower and fired toward the array. The Fermion and Albanian archers on both sides fired at each other, from behind cover.

Will watched array tick down as the Albanian soldiers shelled the array: [97,080/100,000] … [96,888/100,000] … [95,273/100,000].

Periodically, Will would block a spell as he waited for his mana pool to refill.

The 3000 Albanian infantry weren't empty-handed, they through everything they could to bring the array down.

"Will open the south gate, let's run out and attack them!" Anne encouraged.

"Wait until I can provide you cover," Will said.

"How much longer can the array hold out?" Anne asked.

"What little I remember from the academy; this is a good one. The array was meant to stop Fermion from sacking Korce. They never expected it to work in reverse. If we control this city, Fermion controls the entire valley. This city is the key to invading Albania. It's better to sit here and wait for reinforcements," Will advised.

"I'm bored," Anne said.

"Your men are alive, be grateful," Will said.

Just then Bubba ran to Will and warned," they crossed the moat. The infantry has begun attacking the array."

"We're out of time. Anne, send your men to the walls," I'll shoot rocks from above," Will said.

"Finally," Anne said.

"Major, the Albanians were able to hook 15 ladders onto the city walls. Once they were able to hook onto the wall, the Albanians quickly began climbing," a guard entered.

"How!? How were they able to get through the array?" Bubba asked.

"I don't know how? Bubba, send 1,000 soldiers to re-organize. I want 50 men around every ladder, and 50 men on reserve," Will ordered.

Thankfully, the city battlements came prepared with logs and rocks. When Lord vont Dervish abandoned the city, he left all the defensive equipment in place.

The Fermion soldiers began rolling heavy logs and giant stones at the Albanian soldiers. Each strike caused many Albanian soldiers to fall to their death and prevented the soldiers from being able to climb up the walls.

At the same time, Anne's mercenaries began fighting the Albanians on the ground and burning the siege ladders, and battering rams. Five catapults that were tossing stone balls at the array were burned.

Will cast [Arrowhead] and pierced the Albanian soldiers. The soldiers that he hit instantly died from the gaping holes in their bodies. Will methodically cast rock bullets, to save an injured mercenary or kill an enemy soldier in their blind spot.

Seeing the brutal scene, Lord vont Heinrich couldn't handle it. He gave the order for a full retreat.

Watching the Fermion soldiers use logs and rocks, put his soldiers at a disadvantage. Not to mention the mercenaries that wedged his soldiers against the moat. His soldiers could only retreat by swimming or using the floating bridge. The swimming soldiers were picked off by the Fermion archers, and the floating bridge was burned by the mercenaries.

In this battle, Albania lost five catapults, 15 ladders, and one floating bridge.

The only good news is, that they were able to kill some of those Fermion invaders!

On the other side, Will lost 130 soldiers.

Will shook his head. "How were they able to cross through the array? They were only able to inflict 5% damage, and they were able to get through," Will said, thinking out loud.

Will ran to the City Administration office and touched the array again. This time more information appeared: [Trigram Protection Array 92,386/100,000] [Allow Entry: ✔️(Yes) or (No)].

Earlier Will only saw the name and its strength. He glossed over the rest. For a second time, his failure with an array had put people in jeopardy. Will cursed himself. How many times must he fail before he remembers?

He quickly checked the (No) button and promised to reimburse the family of the dead. His carelessness cost their sons' his life.

Across the moat, Lord vont Heinrich lashed Lord vont Dervish again and again.

"You worthless worm. How could you leave the logs and rock? You told me, you got rid of those anti-siege weapons. At least your idea to test the array worked, I guess I should be thankful," he said and stopped beating the old city lord.

Lord vont Dervish was black and blue. His fine clothes were ripped, and his fragile naked body peaked through. His back was scabbed and bloody. His mind was broken, and he became like a servile dog.

"Master when do the reinforcements arrive? When the military arrives won't they have good weapons for defense," Dervish said.

Lord vont Heinrich nodded and said, "Of course, without massive reinforcements and siege equipment it shall be impossible to take back that city. The question is, what should I do until the reinforcements arrive?"

"Master taunt them, send out the 1000 Marines. We must pressure them." Dervish said.

"Good idea, now get out!" Lord vont Dervish said cutting Dervish's restraints.

Will met with Elliot, Bubba, and Anne.

"Although we successfully got rid of the threat from the catapults and ladders, dangers still exist," Will said.

"Defending against those towers was difficult. It was hard to withstand those arrows and defend against enemies climbing the ladders. Even though we were able to throw down the rolling logs and giant stones, they were very heavy and took a toll on our soldiers' stamina and strength," Bubba informed.

As they were discussing in the City Administration office, outside over 1,000 Marines heckled the soldiers.

After Will learned of this, he told his soldiers to focus on protecting the gates.

With that, the soldiers at the north gate numbered 500, the other gates had 1,000 soldiers each.

With the array in place, the marines were unable to break through. Watching them struggle against the array, after all their bluster, the Fermion soldiers began to heckle them.

As the banter on both sides devolved Will knew that he needed to raise his troop's morale. He unsheathed Heavenly Malice and called out to Nisha.

"Nisha are you ready to show everyone what Master Sage Aldrin taught us?" Will asked.

"Hopefully you can keep up with me," Nisha joked.

Everyone stopped talking when the eastern gate opened. Seeing their lord walk out with his Shadow Panther to fight 1,000 Marines rose the Fermion soldiers' fighting spirit. They cheered wildly, and their morale grew. Everyone watched as Will and Nisha stepped outside the array.