"Boom!"
The wall beneath trembled, and dust settled from the beams and rooftop, even bringing so fragnted stones with it.
Unconsciously picking at the blister on his lip, Ursion lay numbly on the gateway tower, paying no heed to the dust and stones tangled in his greasy hair.
His gaze pierced through the narrow window, darting towards the south section of the east wall.
After five days of continuous bombardnt from one Griffin Cannon and four Sand Eagle Cannons, the bricks of the outer wall had shattered and fallen off, exposing the yellow-white ramd earth.
Each cannonball impact was accompanied by a rattling sound, the noise of ramd earth crumbling and cascading down the wall.
The originally blue-gray wall surface had been stripped of its skin by shellfire, each bombardnt a sign the temple's protective shield was slipping away.
Ursion could even see a large stone shell lodged within the exposed ramd earth of the wall, akin to an ominous eye watching him relentlessly.
It felt like being stared at by the eye of that distant Saint's Grandson, always sending a chill down one's spine.
Though he had never seen that demon personally, he recently encountered him frequently in his dreams.
"Boom—Boom Boom Boom—" Another cannonball struck the wall, this ti the tremor was unusually intense, yet Ursion remained oblivious, silently drinking grape wine.
Why not drink grape wine? Would he go out to die instead?
With a bitter chuckle, Ursion glanced at the wall where the letter from Duke Bodosa was pinned, which he had considered a lifeline, motivating himself incessantly just days ago.
But now, the letter was covered in dust.
The most despairing fact was his lack of any ability or ans to retaliate.
Even if crossbows were mounted on the wall, their range was at most around one league.
Ten crossbows atop the wall, the few Extraordinary Knights were exhausted to the point their waists nearly broke, achieving nothing except a few unlucky Snake-n killed by bowstring.
He even attempted to order the Demon Hunters to sneak out and destroy those several trebuchets, but after going out, the Demon Hunters had never been heard from again.
Thus, urged by two hundred Extraordinary Knights reinforcents yesterday, he reluctantly agreed to engage in battle outside the city.
He drank an entire pint of high-proof liquor and Khan potion, and under the blessing of the Master's "Divine Technique of Walking on Flat Ground", led the two hundred new knights in a charge toward that Griffin Cannon.
At that mont, he was determined to seize that dreadful trebuchet, if not outright destroy it.
However, before he could get close, fist-sized iron balls rained down like a storm, their force sufficient to break a spine or pierce through a chest.
Ursion even saw with his own eyes, a knight's chest erupted with an iron flower, fragnts of his insides scattering explosively.
Exaggeratingly, so were hit by the iron balls and sent flying, upon dismounting, the shattered neck bone fragnts shot from the knight's neck, wedging into Ursion's armor seam.
He only discovered that when cleaning his armor after returning.
Honestly, traces were present at that mont, yet under the influence of liquor and potion, a dazed Ursion ignored them.
In his hazy mory, he only recalled seeing the black barrel, seemingly close enough to reach out and touch.
However, in the next instant, countless winds from Fire Prison blew past on both sides.
Sideways-whistling lead bullets struck armor with a cacophony, and knights on both sides groaned, spewing blood mist while clutching wounds and falling backward.
But it wasn't over, upon nearly reaching 200 steps away, as he was about to order a full-speed charge, he heard a roar in heavy Thousand River Valley dialect - "Load the shrapnel."
The subsequent events Ursion rembered nothing of; according to attendants, he was directly hit on the forehead by the shrapnel fired at close range from the Eagle Falcon Cannons.
Fortunately, his armor was made of sturdy steel plate, quite solid, he was just knocked out, thus barely managed to save his life.
Following the shrapnel sweep, the Long Spearn began their attack, and that was when Ursion was taken away from the battlefield by his attendants.
The remaining two hundred Extraordinary Knights reinforcents had only a handful of survivors, technically speaking, considering surrender and fleeing as deaths, only forty knights managed to return to the castle.
Sadly, many hadn't even seen the enemy's face clearly.
Information he bought from the Royal Cavalry suggested this Saint's Grandson's army adopted an elite policy, specializing in open-field battles, least suited for sieging as it heavily depleted forces, making it unwise.
Look at the situation, does this resemble being poor at siege warfare?
Monte Yac, you rascal!
Ursion gritted his teeth and squeezed the wine cup in his hand, forcibly imprinting a clear fingerprint on the copper cup.
"Boom—"
A shake more intense than before ca, yet the soldiers had long exhausted their energy and morale after five days of bombardnt.
Almost everyone went through fear—resistance—acceptance—numbness, and at this mont, the faces of the defenders in the city showed only a despairing calmness.
Horn's cannon fire wasn't random; it was well-prepared.
With the 12-pound Griffin Cannon as the main attack, and the 6-pound Sand Vulture Cannon to assist in breaking morale, five cannons were always fired simultaneously, and basically every five minutes were enough to bombard once.
"How's the eastern section on the south side of the wall?" Ursion spoke, and even he was startled by the hoarseness of his own voice.
"Count, the gap in the upper half of the brickwork is about 3 steps wide. The earth and bricks are basically all gone, leaving only the last layer of bricks." Swallowing hard, the attendant bent down and whispered, "I think at the slowest, in two days, this wall should collapse."
"I understand." Ursion was silent for a long ti. "To achieve this extent, even standing before the Duke of Bodosa, I can say I have no regrets."
......
Clouds obscured the moon, and on the night of March 28th, the west gate of the Avis Temple slowly opened, dozens of knights took a few carts and, under the blessing of the Divine Technique of Walking on Flat Ground, left through the gate.
The soldiers guarding the gate were less pretending not to see, more relieved.
These people were naturally Ursion and others, sneaking out of this dreadful place like thieves.
In the pitch-black night where one couldn't see their fingers, these knights left over three thousand fellow comrades behind, sprinting towards the dock.
Ursion knew that this small dock was the escape route left by the Holy Grandson, feeling insulted but had to admit he needed this way out.
Since the dock wasn't far from the temple, amid the vague sound of water and moist sll, Ursion could tell the dock was near.
Taking one last glance at Avis Temple, now just a silhouette in the distance, his mood suddenly lightened.
At least from today, he knew he's done with battlefields for life, and his deserter's act had basically cut off his path in politics.
Ursion didn't feel regret, honors are precious, but life is more valuable, though from now on he'd have to return to his estate and live the plainest of days with those 30,000 pounds.
Still, when returning this ti, he couldn't go through the Duke of Bodosa's camp, or else with his temper, he'd actually end up hanged there.
While Ursion was pondering how to bypass the Duke of Bodosa and return to his estate, he suddenly halted all movents.
"Sir, what's wrong?"
"Shhh." Raising a finger, Ursion focused his attention, "Do you hear any other sounds?"
Among the wind and the restless snorts of warhorses, he seed to hear a faint—creaking sound.
"Not good—" Ursion suddenly woke up and whipped the horse's rump, "Forget these goods, go fast!"
In the darkness, lead exploded blood and sparks on armor, lying on the horse's back, Ursion could only let it carry him at full speed.
The night wind passed through his armor, the violent shaking made his helt fall off, but he still had no chance to pick it up.
When he raised his head again, he could still sll the damp fishy scent, but was surrounded by emptiness.
Unfortunately, after only a few steps, the "creak creak" sound of winding gears ca again from behind the bushes.
His once neat hair scattered ssily, he pulled the reins in panic, yelling into the dark night around him: "Who's there? Co out, I am Ursion of the Morred Clan, if you have the guts, reveal yourself."
Footsteps echoed in the night, Ursion seed to have his throat gripped, falling silent.
"Looks like we caught a big fish."
A face with a calm smile was illuminated by the torchlight amidst the flickering fire.
Sitting on his warhorse, although Ursion t the young man for the first ti, he recognized him at a glance.
"You are the City Guard, Ur..."
"I surrender!"
As if shedding a thousand-pound burden, Ursion raised his hands high.
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