Chapter 90: Ritual Circle
Edgar quickly got a hold of himself.
Under hundreds of incoming arrows, he decisively created a plan.
"HIDE!!"
he yelled, and the soldiers who were on top of the Fortress Wall quickly hid behind the battlements.
The myriad of arrows hit the wall like a meteor, but they couldn’t do much damage to the Fortress Wall.
Some even reached Edgar, but the blond boy used his four Invisible Hands to block all of them.
’Where the fuck are the archers attacking from?’
Edgar’s eyes darted across the darkness. The arrows weren’t falling randomly. They were coming at an angle.
He quickly raised one of his Invisible Hands and caught an arrow before it could ricochet away.
The shaft was blackened, crudely carved from dark wood, while the fletching was made from pitch-black feathers.
’A different type of Nightmare...’
He looked toward the treeline once more.
The Eternal Night swallowed everything beyond a certain distance.
Only the crimson flashes from the Watch Towers briefly illuminated the battlefield before darkness reclaimed it.
Most of the Nightmares were having a hard time reaching the wall under the bombardment of the Watch Towers.
But even those who reached closer were burned down by the Level 4 Flamethrowers.
Many of them were dying just by inhaling the golden poisonous mist surrounding the Fortress.
Still, Edgar couldn’t help but feel anxious about the whole thing.
His gaze shifted back to the Headless Nightmare.
Its rusted sword remained raised, its grotesque horse pawing at the ground beneath it.
Neither the destruction of hundreds of Nightmares nor the failure of the arrow barrage seemed to concern it in the slightest.
’Why...?’
Edgar’s fingers slowly tightened around the stone battlement.
’If I were commanding this siege...’
He subconsciously placed himself in the enemy’s position.
’I would’ve withdrawn after losing this many troops.’
There was no doubt in his mind that the monster was smart enough to think rationally.
So, why was it attacking so recklessly, and why did it keep standing still like a statue?
Just as Edgar was thinking about all the possibilities--
"MY LORD!?"
The loud, panicked voice of Gordon echoed from the other side of the Fortress.
The heavy howling of the ape-like Nightmares kept ringing.
"Tch."
Clicking his tongue, Edgar decided to take a look at the other side.
His boots pounded against the stone as arrows continued raining from the darkness behind him.
Fortunately, with the soldiers taking cover, the barrage achieved little more than peppering the walls with black shafts.
As he ran, Edgar didn’t let his guard down.
Two of his Invisible Hands remained raised above him, batting aside any stray arrows that came into his path.
Clang!
Clang!
A pair of arrows ricocheted harmlessly off the invisible force.
His mind, however, remained on the Headless Nightmare.
’You’re too calm. What exactly are you waiting for?’
The image of the mounted commander refusing to move replayed over and over in his head.
As though the battle unfolding before the Fortress was merely the opening act.
A few moments later, he reached the western wall. "What happened?"
Edgar got his answer when he looked down from the wall.
A Soul Guardian burst open the head of an ape-like Nightmare that had crawled out of the ground.
From the same hole, hundreds of the monkey-like creatures were pouring out all at once.
They were too much for the two Soul Guardians to handle at once.
’For someone with less brains, they really come up with creative ideas.’
Edgar blinked, and he couldn’t help but praise them inwardly.
But that didn’t mean he was going to spare them.
With a wave of his hand, Edgar pointed the Flamethrower toward the Nightmares.
The range of the ⟨Unbroken Fire⟩ was two hundred meters.
The Nightmares were on the edge of it.
’Using the Ballista would be a waste right now.’
Edgar made the two Soul Guardians move back, and as soon as they did, he unleashed the Flamethrower.
FWOOOOSH!!
A deafening torrent of golden flames erupted from the Level 4 Flamethrower.
It surged forward like a raging tidal wave, illuminating the Eternal Night with brilliant golden light.
The stream engulfed the tunnel entrance in an instant.
"UOOOAAAGHHH!!"
The ape-like Nightmares hadn’t even finished climbing out before the flames swallowed them whole.
Within seconds, their desperate screams turned into agonized shrieks.
One Nightmare tried to charge through the inferno.
It managed three staggering steps before its muscles gave out.
Another attempted to retreat back into the tunnel, but it never made it.
The narrow entrance became a furnace.
The intense heat surged downward into the underground passage, turning it into a blazing chimney.
The screams coming from beneath the earth multiplied.
’Last time they calculated the range of the Flamethrowers and changed tactics accordingly.’
’Too bad for them, I upgraded my tower before they could attack.’
Still, Edgar wasn’t going to underestimate them.
’They might have some more tricks up their sleeves.’
Patting Gordon’s shoulder, he said, "Keep an eye on them. Inform me if something is amiss."
"Yes, my lord."
Edgar quickly sprinted back to the front side of the Fortress when he noticed a few soldiers clustering together.
"What happened?" he asked, lowering his body.
"Bendal has been struck by an arrow!" one of the soldiers reported.
Bendal was the hunter-like soldier that Edgar had seen before.
The blond boy pushed them aside and looked at the soldier’s injury.
An arrow had pierced clean through the flesh just below his collarbone.
Blood soaked the front of his leather jerkin. Fortunately, it had missed every vital organ.
Edgar looked at the soldiers around him and ordered, "Take him to my house and ask Hera to look at his wounds."
The soldiers nodded their heads. They quickly picked up Bendal and took him away.
Edgar drew in a deep breath and stood back up.
The Headless Nightmare was still standing in the same position despite so many bodies piled up around him.
’...Wait, were there always so many dead bodies around him?’
Edgar felt like they weren’t in the hundreds, but upon closer inspection, all the dead bodies were really close to him.
A weird feeling began to take over the blond boy’s mind.
He focused even more until he noticed an intricate circle was forming around the Headless Nightmare.
’A ritual circle?’