Chapter 206: The Drums Sound, Discord Arises

On February 8, 1377, at 11 AM, news arrived from both wings of the battlefield surrounding Sacheno City.

The rampant demon army had completed its control over all of the eastern region of the Province of Fran, and was now encircling Sacheno City, which, despite being on the western side of the Star River, jutted out like a stronghold due to its unique topography.

The Star River flowed rapidly; although it didn’t hide dangerous magical beasts like many areas of the Beast Kingdom’s Black River, powerful creatures lurked beneath the surface, primarily those who were generally gentle and harmonized with light but held a natural enmity toward demons.

Thus, most demons, especially large entities like the Giant Hammer Demon, found it nearly impossible to cross the Star River by their own strength.

Let alone facing the opposition from the other shore and the bombardment of light-based magic.

Therefore, demons could only gather their forces and attempt to take this prominent stronghold on the western side of the Star River after completely occupying the eastern bank and crossing over from other suitable directions.

Of course, if the demons were a bit more foolish and chose to ignore this heavily guarded fortress once controlled by the Holy Kingdom, and instead continued marching westward to invade other cities within the Province of Fran…

Then the holy forces stationed here would have an excellent opportunity to flank the demon main force while they were engaged in the siege, delivering a more painful blow to the demons.

After all, with Yuna’s prior arrangements, all cities in western Fran Province had already been locked down, encircling the demon-occupied areas like a large round package with the Star River as a boundary.

Unless the demon forces temporarily gave up on advancing, they would inevitably have to engage in a large-scale battle with the holy forces stationed at Sacheno City, and even if they couldn’t annihilate them, they needed to at least push back the holy army here to avoid being attacked from both fronts.

The above was what Miss White Fox heard during the last pre-battle military meeting that morning.

At 1 PM, the two vanguard legions responsible for stopping the left wing of the demon forces retreated near the south gate of Sacheno City according to the predetermined plan and joined up with the main forces led by Yuna, forming a formidable army of over a hundred thousand Temple Knights.

According to the information they brought back, the demon vanguard would reach the south gate of Sacheno City along the Star River within two hours at most.

At 2 PM, the remnants of the over ten thousand Temple Knights, who had retreated from the capital city but had reassembled on the western bank after being routed by the main demon forces, reported that they had done their utmost to block the crossing demons until running out of ammunition and supplies and were about to fall back to the western city for replenishment and regrouping.

After completing their supplies, this unit would merge with a part of the Redeeming Saintess that was coming from the rear to provide battle support at Sacheno City.

As for how the support would come, the right-wing demon forces would also advance toward the north gate of Sacheno City and launch their attack before nightfall.

Although the timeline was tighter than expected, overall, it was still within the predictions of Yuna and the others.

Next, it would depend on how the demons would act, whether to attack this stronghold that had been hastily fortified by the Holy Kingdom.

Moreover, although there was the Star River as a barrier at the east gate of Sacheno City, demons were not completely devoid of the capability to cross and launch attacks, so they still had to prepare for possible surprise attacks from that direction.

The same applied to the west gate.

Standing on the battlements of the south gate, a stream of decrees from the Saintess fell like raindrops, dispatching troop assignments, making a certain Miss White Fox, who was merely observing, suddenly curious about where Yuna’s remarkably intricate and seasoned military talent, despite never having experienced war, came from.

The scene resembling warfare was something Miss Vilyric had witnessed when she first arrived in this world during the western war between the United Kingdom and the Beast Kingdom, where the number of participants and scale were even greater than in this holy war.

But if discussing actual combat capabilities…

“Report! Your Highness Mingguang! The barrier has detected a large number of demon responses coming from the city’s southern area! The numbers are hard to estimate!”

The barrier set up at the central temple of Sacheno City could detect demon movements outside the city’s limits for early response and deployment, and the holy knights sprinting up to the south gate brought news that confirmed Yuna’s assessment of the enemy’s first wave direction.

“All troops, prepare for battle.”

“Yes!”

Though a rather straightforward command, as Yuna’s “All troops, prepare for battle” spread through the messenger and magic communication, the atmosphere around the south gate of Sacheno City, and the entire city, instantly grew heavy and ominous.

The sound of the holy bell echoed in the air, and the pounding of war drums beat fiercely in the hearts of every soldier present—tense and excited—the saintly knights gripped their long halberds, staves firmly while Edwina, acting as deputy commander, secured her holy sword at her waist, her expression solemn.

“Miss Xī, do you need to step down from the battlements for now? This place is likely to become the front line of battle quickly.”

To Edwina’s goodwill, the White Fox Miss, flanked and protected by two white-feathered maidens, merely glanced at her and smiled lightly.

“What do you think?”

“…That’s true.”

As if self-deprecating, the Holy Knight Lady also laughed and shook her head, exchanging glances with Yuna, drawing her long sword with a forceful motion, her beautiful eyes erupting with unprecedented fervor and soaring fighting spirit!

“Then, please bear witness to our battle!”

“Boom… boom… boom… boom…”

From far away, heavy footsteps resounded.

“Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom!!!!”

The slow, heavy steps trampled the earth, harmonizing with the increasingly urgent and passionate war drums atop the walls, clashing like two opposing forces, as if the battle had already begun at this very moment.

Thus, terrifying shadows emerged from the slopes.

They were terrifying beings wielding over ten-meter-long weapons that resembled terrifying instruments of war with dull round and sharp conical ends, standing over ten meters tall.

Clad in coarse but even thicker armor than tower shields, their pitch-black bodies bulging with rock-like hard muscles, their emerald green eyes exuding a cold and fierce glint.

The Giant Hammer Demons marched toward the city walls with heavy strides.

Although there were only a little over ten of them, these behemoths lined up like unstoppable war chariots looming upon the land, ready to crush all before them.

Following closely were countless demonic beasts, their numbers so vast they were almost unrecognizable to the naked eye, trailing behind the Giant Hammer Demons to bolster the main forces of the demon army.

Behind them were the backbone fighting forces of Demon Guardians, Demon Cavalry, and Demon Priests—while not as numerically formidable as the demonic beasts, their solid and heavy aura pressed forward through the formation.

High above, nearly ten figures which appeared to be just two to three meters tall hovered in the air, resembling humans, suspended by magical wings or other means.

They wore intricately splendid armor far more elegant than the Giant Hammer Demons, wielding sharp blades and seemingly driving the demonic beasts below them forward.

Undoubtedly, these were true high-level demons, whose appearances always brought immense disaster and death to the Holy Kingdom and this world—the Harbingers of Killing.

   

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