This is almost the limit.
Oldman panted heavily. The ice-cold air flowed down his throat into his lungs, but it couldn't calm the anxiety in his heart.
The sword in his hand was stained with blood. At a glance, the entire city wall was littered with corpses.
Although they had repelled the attacks of the nobles' private soldiers time and time again, no one knew how long they could last.
They couldn't hold on for much longer.
Oldman was very clear about this. He turned around and saw that the people around him were also exhausted. Many of them were covered in blood, including him. Almost everyone was injured. This was all thanks to the excellent armor and equipment. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to last until now and would have already been defeated.
But what could they do even if they continued to hold on?
At this thought, Oldman couldn't help but lift his head and look outside. There were hundreds of soldiers who raised shields above their heads and climbed up using ladders. Although someone attempted to topple the ladders, he was shot by arrows as soon as he stretched his body out and fell off the city wall in a miserable shriek.
As a result, a gap appeared in the defensive line. Soon, several soldiers climbed up the ladders, brandished their weapons, and launched an attack.
"It seems like you've reached your limit, Mr. Oldman."
At this moment, Tilly's voice sounded.
Oldman turned around in surprise and realized that she and the half-elf young lady were gazing at him from behind.
"Do you need our help?"
"This …"
Upon hearing Tilly's question, Oldman couldn't help but hesitate. In fact, he didn't wish for Tilly to get too involved. Apart from the reason that 'war drove women away', it was also because if Tilly were to intervene, it would easily cause a certain degree of power chaos.
James had once warned himself that even though these people were indeed rebelling against tyranny, most of them weren't averse to the nobles.
If some nobles were willing to recruit them as private soldiers, they might be more than willing to accept the invitation.
In this case, if Tilly were to increase her speaking rights and influence, she might possibly become the behind-the-scenes commander of the 'National Salvation Army'.
Even if she didn't have the habit of fighting for power, if her opinion conflicted with Oldman's, then it might affect the judgment and position of others.
It was also because of this that Oldman had always maintained a 'cooperative' relationship with Tilly, but he didn't really rely on them.
But now, if they needed them to defeat the private soldiers of the nobles, it would be equivalent to them 'relying' on Tilly. Of course, if they only relied on a girl, apart from losing face, there was nothing else.
But the problem was that Tilly's background was not small. No one knew what the force behind her wanted.
Even the knowledgeable James didn't have an answer to this question.
However …
Oldman hesitated for a moment before looking at Tilly again.
At this moment, she was still wearing that white robe. Even in the chaos on the city walls that were filled with slaughter, she still looked so sacred. She seemed to be completely detached from this place, like a resident of another world.
A stray arrow flew by, but it swayed beside Tilly, lost its momentum, and fell straight to the ground.
The half-elf young lady standing behind her still wore that innocent, romantic, and lively smile as though she didn't care about the predicament before her.
Judging from their relaxed expressions, they were either indifferent to this, or they didn't care about these small fights at all.
If they were to take action, they would definitely be able to turn the situation around. But … Should I do that?
Oldman pondered for a few moments. He turned to the city walls, only to see that the battle on the city walls had fallen into a stalemate.
The nobles' soldiers occupied the city walls, while the others resisted with all their might.
None of them surrendered. Instead, they pounced on the enemies in front of them with bloodshot eyes.
Oldman witnessed a young lad being pierced through by a noble's private soldier. The young lad screamed and hugged the young lad's waist as he charged forward. Then, the two of them rolled down the city wall and the outcome was obvious.
Another life disappeared, and at this time, more lives were falling into the brink of death.
At this moment, was it necessary for him to waste the lives of others for this meaningless struggle for power?
Oldman's breathing was heavy. He was not like James, nor was he like those old soldiers. He had never roamed the harsh world outside, nor had he experienced any large scale battles.
He was just an ordinary guard captain. Before this, he only led a dozen men and the most dangerous battle he had experienced was the encirclement with the Goblins.
Apart from that, he didn't have any experience.
He didn't understand the mobilization of troops, nor did he understand the distribution of authority and duties. Perhaps he had heard of these things, but those were the matters of high and mighty figures. People like him didn't have the qualifications to come into contact with them … But now, he stood here with hundreds of men. They weren't bandits who called each other brothers, but comrades who fought side by side for the same goal.
Did he have the qualifications to ask them to sacrifice for his little desire for power?
No!
They gathered here not to become a new ruler, but to change everything — to change the oppression of the commoners by the nobles, to change the situation of the nobles acting recklessly against the commoners. This was the reason why he raised the flag, and this was also the reason why his companions were willing to follow him.
"Miss Tilly, I need your help!"
At this thought, Oldman no longer hesitated and shouted.
Upon hearing his words, Tilly smiled. Then, she clenched the Sky Scepter in her hand and gently tapped it on the ground. It seemed that she had imitated Jenn's action quite well.
Nothing happened.
At least in Oldman's eyes, he didn't see the scene of the sky collapsing, the earth cracking, and the magic flying everywhere.
After all, he was just an ordinary person. He didn't have the qualifications to witness high-level battles. Cannon fire filling the sky didn't necessarily mean that the battle was intense. On the contrary, calm didn't mean that there was no danger.
Soon, Oldman realized that the soldiers had changed.
The soldiers who tried to climb the city wall screamed and let go of their hands, falling down.
Some of them hugged the ladders tightly and didn't move an inch.
On the other hand, the soldiers who had climbed up the city wall wandered around the streets with their eyes wide open. Oldman even saw a soldier running three rounds on the spot before being hacked to death by his subordinates.
However, he didn't retaliate until he fell to the ground and breathed his last. It seemed that he didn't know where the attack came from. Even though the attacker was right in front of him.
The situation of the battle changed in an instant.
If Oldman were at the bottom of the city wall, he would be surprised to find that in the eyes of the nobles' private soldiers, the city wall, which was only four to five meters tall, suddenly rose a lot higher. They couldn't even see the top of the wall when they lifted their heads.
On the other hand, the soldiers on the siege ladders were even more unlucky. When they looked down, they realized that they were hundreds of meters above the ground, which was enough to send chills down their spine. Not to mention, when they lifted their heads and tried to climb up the city wall, they realized that the city wall was endless and the top of their ladders were leaning against the solid, ice-cold city wall. It seemed that falling to their deaths was their only outcome.
On the other hand, the nobles' private soldiers on the city wall had as though fallen into a boundless maze. The city wall had disappeared and there were only walls, sealed ceilings, and endless paths leading to unknown places.
And at this time, Ina also began to move.
The half-elf young lady raised her bow and pulled the bowstring to its fullest. She didn't even aim as she released the arrow aimlessly into the sky.
Then, a mysterious ray of light shot out from the bowstring, splitting into two, two into four, four into eight … Shortly after, a storm of arrows swept across the battlefield. After the rain of arrows swept across, the standing soldiers fell to the ground like harvested wheat.
But this wasn't the most important thing.
A noble's private soldier raised his shield, and the arrows flew down, hitting the shield with a clanging sound. He felt a sudden pain in his arm, followed by a burning pain.
But he gritted his teeth and continued to wait.
After the wave of arrows passed, he put down his shield and scanned the surroundings.
Wails and cries filled the air, but not long after, these wails and cries became strange and hurried.
Damn it …
The veteran scanned the surroundings with bloodshot eyes. The pain from the burning wound on his arm seemed to be spreading. In the blink of an eye, his body was burning with flames. He felt that his sanity was crumbling and he felt as though he was in a furnace. Then, he couldn't hold it in any longer. He yelled and pounced on his comrade. Both of them crashed to the ground and hugged each other before they could even remove their leather armor. Shortly after, the screams were replaced by heavy panting. In a blink of an eye, this region had turned into an equally intense 'battlefield'.
The soldiers on the city wall gazed at the bustling scene below with ashen expressions. Then, they shifted their gazes to the strange longbow in the hands of the half-elf young lady and drew a distance from her. Even Oldman took a few steps back to avoid being implicated.
"What's going on?"
Looking at the chaotic battlefield in front of him, Viper frowned. Originally, he thought that defeating these thugs was only a matter of time. But he didn't expect that in the blink of an eye, the entire battlefield would become so chaotic. Not only that, their previous advantage was almost gone. The soldiers were running around as though they were possessed and …
Looking away from the three burly men who were stacked together, Viper felt a wave of disgust.
"What the hell is going on?"
Viper asked loudly. At this moment, he realized that the soldiers around him had also begun to stir.
However, what surprised him was that these soldiers weren't looking forward. Instead, they were all looking back with shock and fear on their faces.
"S-Sir, something bad has happened!"
What happened?
Hearing his deputy's shout, Viper frowned. Then, he turned his head and looked behind him. Then, his eyes widened in surprise.
Under the contrast of the azure sky and the pure white snowfield, a thick black smoke was clearly visible. It was like a poisonous snake flying into the sky and gradually spreading.
At this moment, Viper felt his entire body turn cold.
I've been tricked.