Chapter 37: The Veed Kingdom's Royal Strongmen

The King of the Veed Kingdom was so infuriated by the insults that his beard was crooked, but he didn't dare to leave the castle to fight. Though Veed men were often seen as brutes, they weren't mindless; they didn't conquer such a large territory by brute force alone.

After a devastating defeat in the field, the King of Veed had fled to this castle called Vasili with only two hundred of his personal guards. The castle held another two hundred soldiers, and with the remnants gathered along the way, they had barely five hundred men in total.

Meanwhile, the foul-mouthed fellow outside had over a thousand soldiers.

The Saint Martin Kingdom had already set up camp outside the castle and begun constructing siege engines. They weren't worried about being harassed by the Veed forces; in fact, they welcomed it. When it came to field battles, Saint Martin Kingdom had never been outmatched.

However, the Veed forces weren't acting rashly this time. They stayed hidden within the castle walls, which were tall and sturdy, and they had ample provisions. The King of Veed still had a fighting chance.

He mustered his troops within the castle and found the situation grim. He only had twenty Veed Royal Guards, fifty Veed soldiers, and about four hundred other infantry and archers.

This made the King particularly regretful—why hadn't he brought more Royal Guards on his journey?

But this was the situation they had to deal with, so they had to make do. He stationed the twenty Veed Royal Guards at the most vulnerable points on the castle walls.

Three days later...

The Saint Martin Kingdom finally managed to construct some basic siege engines. It's worth mentioning that several of their engineers had been executed by the King for their incompetence. However, it wasn't entirely their fault; Saint Martin people simply weren't suited for such precision work.

Despite the difficulties, they managed to build ladders and a battering ram. As for catapults, there was no way their engineers could have made those in three days.

On this day, the King of the Saint Martin Kingdom stood before Vasili Castle, full of confidence. He was already imagining how he would humiliate the King of Veed once he captured him.

Behind him were over a thousand fully equipped warriors. In the sunlight, their armor shone brightly, and their raised banners formed a continuous line.

A closer look would reveal that there were hardly any horsemen on the battlefield. Only the nobles of Saint Martin remained on horseback, directing the battle in style. 

After all, no one was foolish enough to ride a horse in a siege. Firstly, horses were useless in such a fight. Secondly, being on horseback made one an obvious target—did they think the enemy archers were blind?

However, some people just have to take the road less traveled. No one knew what the King of the Saint Martin Kingdom was thinking, but he insisted on riding his warhorse around the open ground in front of Vasili Castle, as if proclaiming his imminent victory. Miraculously, not a single Veed archer shot at him from the castle. This must have been by order of the Veed King, as they still adhered to certain noble etiquettes.

Then the King of Saint Martin shouted the ancestral war declaration of the Saint Martin Kingdom:

"Our banners will cover the sky!"

"Our iron hooves will trample the land!"

Behind him, the young and strong warriors raised their swords, spears, and shields, roaring as they charged towards the solid castle walls like a flood about to engulf a rock.

The Veed men on the walls weren't going to stand there and let them climb up. Arrows rained down like a storm, trying to halt the enemy's advance. But the warriors of the Saint Martin Kingdom had already raised their large shields, trying to cover themselves as much as possible. Their advance was only slightly slowed.

It was clear that arrows alone couldn't stop the Saint Martin army's siege. The Veed Kingdom didn't expect it to. When the Saint Martin troops reached the base of the walls, the Veed men had a big surprise waiting for them.

Throwing down rolling stones and logs was just a minor part of their defense. The Veed even poured down... boiling oil.

"Wow, what is this?"

"The despicable Veed don't play by the rules."

"Damn, it's so hot..."

After a grueling attack, the warriors of Saint Martin finally set up the siege ladders. Along with the scaling ladders, they prepared to climb the walls and engage in close combat with the muscle-bound Veed strongmen.

But when they reached the top of the walls, the first thing they saw were figures standing in front of them: wearing helmets that only revealed a pair of cold, merciless eyes, clad in heavy Veed striped armor, one hand wielding a massive battle axe, and the other holding a Royal Guard shield.

These battle axes were supposed to be wielded with both hands, but in the hands of these guys, they were like one-handed axes. The poor warriors of the Saint Martin Kingdom were met with the kings of close combat—the Veed Royal Guards—as soon as they reached the walls. And then... there was no "then." The Veed Royal Guards took down enemies as easily as eating a meal. One swing of the axe could split even shields in half, vividly illustrating the phrase "unstoppable force."

The problem was, they could even pause in the middle of battle to put down their axes, pull out heavy throwing axes from their waists to support their teammates, and then pick up their axes to continue fighting. The whole process was seamless. In the heat of battle, some Veed Royal Guards would strap their shields to their backs and wield their axes with both hands. 

These warriors, who could wield an axe with one hand to achieve the power of a two-handed weapon, had unimaginable destructive power when using both hands. They truly lived up to the name "Veed War God" inscribed on their helmets.

At that moment, it felt as if the valiant ancestors of the Veed had come back to life. Their spirits fought alongside the Veed Royal Guards, making these Veed warriors fearless. The twenty Veed Royal Guards blocked all the critical paths up the walls for the Saint Martin troops. They were like boulders stopping a flood—no matter how hard you tried to wash them away, you couldn't get past. 

It was a real case of "one man holding the pass against ten thousand enemies." With the support of the Veed soldiers and other infantry beside them, the walls of Vasili Castle turned into a meat grinder for the Saint Martin forces. 

Watching this, the Veed King felt his blood boil and even took up an axe himself to join the fight for a while.

...

"Let's go. It's hopeless," Alexander said, shaking his head with a sigh on a hill outside the castle. 

He had come with the intention of taking advantage, standing far away and planning to rush in with his troops to pretend they were part of the siege as soon as the Saint Martin King took the castle, hoping to share in the spoils. But after observing the battle, it was clear that not only would the castle not be taken, but they might also end up getting a sound beating.

This was the biggest weakness of the Saint Martin Kingdom—they were terrible at sieges. The horsemen, without their horses, couldn't show their prowess.