Second World

The ambushing army regrouped after the battle was over. Out of the 15,000 players that joined the ambush, only around 4,000 survived. Many of these players who died had also died during the first day of battle against Arther's army. These players had lost two levels and two Amulet of Rebirths, they decided to opt out of the war at this point. They were not even sure if the war contribution points they gained from these two battles were enough to cover those losses.

In the end, only 3,000 dead players returned. So they had lost another 8,000 players. The total remaining players in the reinforcement army had now reduced to 22,000.

Therribus' army, on the other hand, had a new injection of 15,000 troops from the convoy that delivered the siege weapons. The protective legion sent by Therribus went at high speed and met the convoy midway. They joined Therribus' army the day after, bringing the three siege machines. The three siege machines were not in a good condition, so they were not deployed immediately. Soldiers with mechanics abilities were tasked to repair these machines.

The reinforcement army could only watch from afar.

Jack and the others rejoined the reinforcement army the same day when the siege weapons arrived at Therribus' camp. Everyone rested while they waited restlessly for the siege weapons to start operating.

*

The next morning, they were woken up by a loud sound. The sound of a strong impact. Jack and the others came out of their tents and saw in the distance two trebuchets were up and running. One of these trebuchets swiveled its arms, a large rock was flung into the air. This rock traveled in an arc and crashed into the wall of Fort Garadhor. The loud sound that had woken them up was the sound of the rock hitting the fort's wall.

The rune diagram on the wall surface shone as they worked to repair the wall's damage. The wall's HP bar went down only a little bit, but when the next rock attack came from the second trebuchet, it was apparent that the wall's self-repair was not fast enough to offset the damage. It might take a long time, but sooner or later, the wall would fall if the two trebuchets were allowed to continue their assault.

Commander Quintus ordered his troops to aim their catapults inside the fort at the trebuchets. However, they lost in terms of firing range. Their attacks couldn't hit the faraway trebuchets.

Commander Quintus then had mage soldiers prepared on the wall that was hit. When the rocks from the trebuchets were in the air, these mage soldiers cast Magic Wall spells in layers. These magic walls were destroyed but they absorbed much of the damage, allowing the wall to only suffer a small portion of the damage.

With this, the wall self-repair should be enough to offset the damage. Commander Quintus immediately ordered more mage soldiers to come to the wall facing the trebuchets. But as they did, they saw the gigantic arrow tower moving closer. After being repaired, the tower had been pulled upright. When standing straight, Its total height was even slightly taller than Fort Garadhor's wall.

It was moving slowly on wheels. Many foot soldiers were pushing the tower as well to increase its speed. A legion followed after the tower, providing protection. Therribus also had the encircling soldiers around the fortress moved closer, until just slightly outside the catapults' range, giving the defenders more pressure.

Since the arrow tower came near, Commander Quintus redirected their catapults and ballistae to aim at it. As their attacks came, multiple defensive spells were cast and protected the arrow tower. There were abundant mage soldiers inside the legion following the tower so that they could take turns casting the spell. Additionally, the arrow tower also had a self-repairing rune diagram that was activated once it was brought upright. This rune diagram easily repaired the splash damage from the catapults. Soldiers with mechanic ability were also on standby to provide additional repairs when needed.

Once the arrow tower came into range, the ranged soldiers started shooting at the soldiers on the wall. The tower consisted of several floors, each floor housed a large number of ranged attackers. The tower also provided enchantment that boosted the range of the soldiers inside. The defenders on top of Fort Garadhor's wall ended up busy defending against the assault from the arrow's tower, they weren't able to cast Magic Wall spells to defend against the trebuchet's attacks.

A few officers inside the fort who possessed flying spells or wings tool flew up to attack the arrow tower, but officers in the legion protecting the arrow tower did the same. The arrow tower was unapproachable. Unless the defenders let go of defense and came charging out, they won't be able to touch the tower.

Arther also stood on standby near the tower. If Duchess Isabelle took action, even for a defensive spell, he would act as well. Hence the two mythical figures stood still.

The assault continued in this way. In which the arrow tower kept the defenders occupied while the trebuchets' attacks landed unhindered on the fort's wall. The wall's HP went down at a steady rate.

A day passed, and the wall's HP was almost half.

*

"We can't just sit like this doing nothing! We have to attack now!" Ahab uttered. They were now assembling inside Commander Armstrong's tent again.

"Not now. Soon. Our war fires have arrived," John said.

"War fires? You have war fires? Why didn't you say so before? Where are they?" Ahab asked.

"They are being set up as we speak," John answered.

"Where?"

"Somewhere."

Ahab gave John an annoyed glare.

"Ahaha, please forgive him. He enjoys very much keeping people in the dark. I'm also unaware of his plan," Jack hurriedly said.

"Even if you have war fires, we can't bring them to the enemies' siege weapons. It's not like the enemies would just stay still and let us carry the war fires past them," Armstrong said.

"They are not for the siege weapons," John said. "We won't bring the war fires to the enemy, we will bring the enemy to the war fires."

"How do you propose we achieve that?" Ahab asked skeptically.

"By giving them a bait that they can't resist," John replied. He then outlined the basic layout of his plan.

"You are insane!" Ahab yelled after hearing. "If there is a mistake, all our effort will be in vain."

"Then we make sure there is no mistake," John said.

"No way the ones in fort Garadhor will agree to this crazy plan," Ahab said.

"I have talked to them. They are ready to act once we do our part."

"Are you sure?" Armstrong asked.

"I know you will doubt it, so I've asked Prince Alonzo inside the fort to send a message here."

As he spoke, a small wormhole appeared above a device on Commander Armstrong's desk. A roll of paper fell from this wormhole. This was the communication device the natives used to exchange messages with the fort since they didn't have the player's instant communication system.

"Speaking of the devil," John remarked.

Armstrong went to his desk and picked up the paper. He then read it. Ahab approached and asked, "What does the letter say?"

"It says to go ahead with that outworlder's plan," Armstrong replied.

"Are they sure? It's too risky. Is that letter authentic?" Ahab asked.

"It had the third prince's handwriting and also his seal," Armstrong said and gave the letter to Ahab for him to read it himself.

Armstrong came back to the war table. He then said to John, "All right. Let's do it as you proposed."

John nodded. "We still need time. Fortunately, they didn't have too many siege weapons. From the look of it, it will not be until tomorrow noon before the fort's wall crumbled. We will carry out the plan at midnight today. Have everyone take enough rest. Separate the army into two or three groups to take turns resting, but maintain our standby façade so our enemy wasn't aware. We need to be at full strength tonight."

"I will make the arrangements," Armstrong said. After some slight hesitation, he asked John, "How confident are you in this plan?"

"A hundred percent certainty," John replied without hesitation.

Jack rolled his eyes. He had known the guy long enough to know when John was blatantly lying.

Armstrong nodded. "Well, not like we have better plans anyway. All right. Let us give it our all tonight. Success or fail, this civil war ends tonight!"

*

The day went on the same as yesterday. The arrow tower kept the defenders inside the tower busy while the two trebuchets continued to chip on the fort's wall.

Therribus looked at Fort Garadhor with a flat expression.

"Why didn't we just end this, my prince?" Claudius asked. "With our number and the siege weapons, we should be able to end it today."

"If all the siege weapons have arrived safely, that might have been the case. But with only three, if we throw everything now, we will still suffer many casualties. I have said before that I wish not for my subjects to die in this pointless war. My brother is the only life worth sacrificing for my ascension to go uncontested. As long as they don't try anything, we keep it like this. The wall will not last past tomorrow."

Therribus then looked back at where the reinforcement army was. He wondered why they still kept their calm.