Chapter 83: Attack (3)

“Aaaah!”

Overwhelming destructive power. The flood of water pouring through the breached walls was a disaster.

The bodies of soldiers, turned into corpses by the pressure, floated around.

The survivors were equally in a state of panic. It was a situation where even stepping on the ground and moving was impossible.

As dawn broke, the sky turned blue, and the interior of Hrit Castle was like hell.

At the window of the inner castle, King Rohalak watched the scene with an infinitely calm expression.

‘In the end, it has come to this.’

The moment he confirmed that the water in the moat had decreased during the rain, he hoped it wouldn’t be a water attack.

He prayed that the empire’s intention was to drain the moat.

However, the worst-case scenario always comes true. The king faced the worst situation he had feared.

When the surprise attack on the walls began at dawn, he instinctively knew it was a water attack.

He had prepared, but he couldn’t stop it.

Whether the soldiers’ discipline was poor or the enemy had hidden well for the surprise attack was not important.

‘In any case, the result wouldn’t have changed.’

The reason King Rohalak remained calm was simple. He had retreated as if there was a chance, but it was the outcome he had expected.

There was no way out.

The best place in the west was Hrit. There was no better place for a siege. Retreat deep into the west?

That was an absurd idea.

The enemy’s supply lines would become difficult, and the soldiers would tire, but the problem was the widening front.

A long battlefield. The enemies would attack freely.

The morale of the soldiers, seeing their own land being attacked, would hit rock bottom, and it was only a matter of time before they deserted to protect their homes.

No matter how many families were taken as hostages, the nobles, who were the king, would rebel, which was a fact.

‘How tragic.’

The best scenario for the king was for the empire to attack Hrit Castle recklessly.

Unless a sword was stuck in Lüder’s head, such a thing wouldn’t happen, but...

He thought the succession dispute in the empire and the emperor’s anger might make it possible.

Commanders don’t always make the right choices. Lüder wasn’t stupid, that’s all.

Still, there was a faint hope. If the war turned into a prolonged conflict, the situation could change.

‘Karl Schurtafen. Is it all because of that guy?’

According to the information sent by the spy, this water attack was also his plan.

The king looked at the still dark sky.

Dark clouds, tinged with blue, approached mournfully. It wasn’t a good day to die.

The aggrieved king wanted to ask the sky loudly.

‘Why did you...’

Akhiten. Epidere Plain. The siege of Hrit. Everything changed because of Karl.

Let’s say the siege of Hrit is like that.

It was a battlefield where the tide had already turned. The losses on our side would only increase, and it was regrettable that we couldn’t inflict greater damage on the enemy.

But the battles in Akhiten and the Epidere Plain were a painful defeat for the king.

If he hadn’t lost there, victory would have been his.

The side that retreated would have been the empire, not himself.

The western army would have ravaged the empire until additional reinforcements arrived.

‘If the front had been maintained without any variables...’

Time was on the king’s side. If the war dragged on, the old emperor wouldn’t have lasted long.

The war would have fizzled out amidst the succession dispute, and it would have ended in a truce.

The king, who had unified the west, would have had enough time to establish a new empire.

He could have even challenged for the hegemony of the continent amidst the chaotic empire.

‘Karl, Karl Schurtafen!’

The king hated that name. To him, everything had changed because of Karl.

It wasn’t a wrong thought.

In the game Karl didn’t know, the west had made the empire struggle.

If the west hadn’t been betrayed by a subordinate noble who received orders from the empire, it would have gained the hegemony of the continent.

The water that had flooded the castle was draining away.

Along the streets, soldiers, drenched from head to toe, lay sprawled, vomiting water.

By the king’s side, his knight approached cautiously.

“Your Majesty, the nobles are rescuing their families and escaping through the west gate. The Sword Master is with them...”

He had guessed as much. The outside was bustling. But now that the enemy’s attack had begun, he had no intention of stopping it.

He couldn’t stop it anyway.

“Let them go.”

It was fortunate that they didn’t come to him with swords. The king closed his eyes.

The past few years. The past came to mind.

Living as the second prince, he had no choice but to ally with the empire to survive.

His elder brother had tried to kill him.

He killed his brother and father to seize the throne. To the king, the empire wanted the west to be divided and in chaos.

It was a situation he couldn’t refuse.

Riding the irreversible tide, the king realized that the long-standing division in the west was all the empire’s doing.

‘I have changed a lot, too.’

Does the position make the person?

To survive, he became king and dreamed of a grand revenge with an unknown sense of responsibility. He wanted to stab the empire’s heart with the sword he had taken with the empire’s help.

The plan was perfect. After receiving as much help as he could, he took control of Rohalak’s intelligence agency.

He excluded the empire and unified the west, then proclaimed to all the people of the west that the division until now was the empire’s doing.

The boiling hatred was enough. All that was left was to stab the empire.

The princes were trash, so to the king, the empire was a setting sun.

He had never even glanced at the princess.

But things had gone awry because of a guy from Haisen. The king opened his eyes.

‘Should I flee?’

It was a thought that came instinctively. Wait for the emperor to die and try to gather his forces again.

It was a futile fantasy. The unification of the west had become a bubble. Who would believe and follow him afterward?

The empire’s army was entering the drained castle. The king drew his sword.

“Take the soldiers and go home.”

“I will stay with Your Majesty.”

“It’s a meaningless death.”

“Attacking the empire was very enjoyable for me.”

The knight said something different. The king turned his head. The knight was smiling deeply.

“Shouldn’t the soldiers be saved? Most of them are already dead.”

“I’ve already told those who wanted to flee to do so.”

The knight had been with him since the days of the second prince. The knight knew the king too well.

“Treason.”

“If you think so, kill me.”

“Fine.”

“Those who said they would stay are gathered below.”

The king looked into the knight’s eyes. It was unexpected. The time he had spent wasn’t in vain.

He had acted like a tyrant, but there were those who understood and supported him.

“Let’s go.”

The king, who had unified the west, took a step forward.

* * *

Most of the soldiers were dead, and the survivors were fleeing. The empire’s army entered at a terrifying speed.

Most of the soldiers were too weak to move and had no will to resist.

The only ones advancing against the incoming empire’s army were the king, his knight, and the royal guard.

It was a small group’s reckless charge over the streets filled with the bodies of the western army.

“Don’t slow down! We have to take as many of the empire’s bastards as we can!”

At first, it was fine. There weren’t many empire soldiers deep inside. But in less than two minutes, the density increased.

Still, the charge didn’t slow down. The momentum of those running knowing they would die was terrifying.

“Sir Karl!”

And the charge was heading in the direction where Karl was.

Karl? Karl Schurtafen? The empire soldier’s shout made the king look in that direction.

The king was purely impressed. He knew Karl was young, but seeing him in person was different.

The blue-eyed boy was an uncommonly handsome young man. The king and the boy’s eyes met.

The king looked at the boy’s cold eyes and thought this was all fate.

It couldn’t be a mere coincidence that the one who ruined his plans appeared at this moment.

Hatred swirled in the king’s eyes. Karl received his gaze calmly.

No words were needed.

Karl, with his blood-stained sword, lunged forward. It was an incredible speed.

“Your Majesty!”

The knight beside him moved first. One strike. The king felt as if he saw moonlight.

The knight’s extended sword was suspended in mid-air. A straight line was drawn above the knight’s standing body.

It was the path the moonlight had taken. The knight collapsed from the waist down. It was a futile death.

“Bastard!”

The king rushed out reflexively. Karl easily deflected the thrust.

The king wasn’t a skilled fighter.

“Huff!”

And then, the moonlight pierced the king’s chest and protruded from his back. The king felt his strength drain.

A handful of empire soldiers ran toward the remaining western soldiers.

The king, impaled by the sword, looked at the still dark sky after the rain.

At the end of dawn, beyond the gray clouds, the sun was rising along the horizon.

“Unjust... how...”

“Rest in peace.”

A calm voice. It was the last voice the king, who had unified the west for the first time in hundreds of years, heard.

Karl, after confirming the king’s death, shouted loudly.

“Knight Karl Schurtafen has beheaded the king of Rohalak!”

“Waaaah!”

“Sir Karl has captured the king of Rohalak!”

The empire soldiers cheered loudly. They were the ones who had hoped to join Karl during the reorganization of the troops amidst the spreading rumors.

The capture of the king was a great achievement for them.

To the soldiers, Karl’s capture of the king was not a coincidence but the favor of the war god.

“Waaaah!”

The enthusiastic cheers contrasted sharply with the deaths of the brave western soldiers.

Karl guarded the king’s body. The achievement had to be clear.

The princess, upon hearing the news, headed straight for Karl. The path she walked was filled with cheers.

By then, the news had already spread throughout Hrit Castle.

An overwhelming victory. It was a victory that seemed unbelievable for a siege.

Amidst the cheers, the princess, Duke Ryurik, and Emitter arrived in front of Karl.

“I didn’t think Karl would capture him this time...”

It was Emitter’s admiring mutter. Capturing the king in this castle was almost a matter of luck.

The princess and the duke agreed.

Karl’s performance in this war was so impressive that it seemed like a made-up story if you hadn’t seen it with your own eyes.

Karl approached and bowed.

“Your Majesty, I have captured the king of Rohalak. Unfortunately, I couldn’t capture him alive.”

“Schurtafen, it’s fortunate that you’re not hurt. I thought the king would flee, but he attacked first. It seems you’re not just a unifier of the west.”

“He was a capable person. Didn’t we struggle too?”

Duke Ryurik chimed in. It was a war that could have gone wrong. It was a reversal thanks to one person.

The princess, dismounting from her horse, patted Karl’s shoulder.

“You’ve worked hard. It’s all thanks to you that we won.”

“Thank you.”

Karl, slightly raising his head, met the princess’s eyes. The princess was sending him a firm belief.

“I seem to owe you more and more.”

“You don’t need to worry about it.”

“That’s impossible.”

The princess smiled brightly.

At the end of dawn, the sunlight began to shine. The princess’s blonde hair shone brilliantly.