Cursing slightly, I waved my hand and willed a dozen crescent blades of razor sharp winds down onto the charging army, each thick, solidified gale tearing through the human soldiers with frightening ease.
Each blade cut into flesh like a knife through butter, and the spray of blood created clouds of red around the dead as limbs and torsos fell to the ground with a plop.
More and more soldiers arrived at the border each hour, and the castle was officially under siege.
Continuous waves of attacks rained down on our earthen walls, and the Earth Mages worked day and night to keep the castle standing, but each hour resulted in another chip being unable to be replaced, another crack in the foundation of our fortress.
Julius and Matilda now alternated their appearances, sometimes not showing up at all...
However, when they did, the impact was noticeable.
Julius' potent lightning scorched and shattered the solid earth walls, while it burned and singed the soldiers manning said walls.
When he was present, he managed to push the Western Army up to our gate with ease, forcing the entire Legion to fight against those attacks.
But, even with his presence, the difference between the Empire's Legion and the Western Army was vast, and they were forced back each time...
Not that it was a solid, amazing victory when we pushed them back, what with each attack leaving noticeable damage to our gate and walls, slowly whittling away at our defenses.
When Matilda took charge, her pressurized water would leave deep gouges in the walls, while her thick water dome protected the Praetor Squads as best she could, allowing them to hurl spell after spell towards the castle.
These hours of combat were slowly taking their toll, and the constant nag I felt at the back of my mind to look out for another arrow wore at my mental state.
I could feel myself slowly slipping, the sight of blood so tantalizingly close, yet so damn far teasing me to no end, all while the rational side of me continued to grow paranoid as I waited for an arrow to fly towards our tower from behind didn't help at all.
So, those hours drained me, each consecutive wave of enemies slowly draining my mana, my mental energies, and slowly tiring my body out as well; who knew that being tense for hours on end would exhaust you?
Nirinia often stood down by the gate, anchoring the Cohorts down there as she prepared to fight against the Justiciars, should they break through.
For the moment, while we awaited the reinforcement of a real Knight, she was all we had to dissuade the enemy from rushing the castle gate with all their might.
Of course, they also had the option of hoping to take us down before those reinforcements arrived, but the chance was slim...
But still there.
"This is... fucking annoying... how many people live in this Western Kingdom?!"
Jahi complained as she nocked another arrow, her fingers slightly raw from the long hour of shooting her bow down into the sea of soldiers.
Long ago we ran out of normal arrows, and now Anput needed to mass produce her own before distributing them to Jahi as well, since the Demoness was still following the advice of not displaying her Light Magic just yet.
From what we had seen so far, the Justiciars either didn't know that we were here, on this battlefield, or simply hadn't located us just yet; each of us had hoods over our heads, and thankfully Jahi's horns could be mistaken for a normal Goatkin or Ramkin, and Anput and I were amongst the more common of the Beastkin lines, which were the Canines.
As for Leone, she didn't have any features that could be seen from afar, especially not when her hair was pulled back into a ponytail that was stuffed down her cloak, keeping her hair hidden.
Chuckling wryly, the Vampire slung another bolt of explosive flame into the crowd, saying "If you must know, the rate at which the average human procreates is astoundingly fast; they can birth a child a year, one after another... hence their giant population of a few million in such small territories. So... yes, there is quite a few bodies that can be sent our way."
The Demoness growled at that, while Anput grinned as she let another stone arrow fly, the shards shattering inside the unlucky woman it hit, her shrieks swiftly drowned out by the other booms, screams, and thunderous sound of boots thumping against the ground as more soldiers charged forwards.
"Personally, I'm rather enjoying this~! It's pretty fun, shooting into a crowd of idiots and slowly whittling them down, but I would prefer to be down there with a blade..."
Jahi nodded, her eyes flickering gold for a moment as she snarled "That would feel much better then being stuck up here... by the Goddess is this annoying..."
Her displeasure made me grit my teeth for a moment, the burst of emotion from the soul bond forcing me to blink for a moment to gather my thoughts again.
Keeping the dome of wind around us was slowly fraying the edges of my mind, and I held back a growl of my own as I glared slightly at the girls, before shaking my head.
Its not their fault... its not their fault...
Taking a few deep breaths, I sat down and closed my eyes, focusing instead on the dome and keeping it up.
Fumbling through my pouches, I searched for my remaining focus potion, uncorking it and sniffing the contents to gauge the remaining efficacy of the yellow liquid.
I had been watering down this one potion for a while now, and it was slowly losing its potency.
Sighing, I brought the vial to my lips and took a swig, wincing slightly at the sharp tangy flavor of the herbal concoction.
Corking it back up, I stowed it away, saving the last drop for later to alleviate the worst parts of the headache that's going to make tonight excruciating.
Focusing back on the dome, I kept the gale up and spinning as best I could, keeping my attention on the edges for whenever someone might hit it or touch it.
Besides the initial assassin that shot the arrow, and the dark skinned woman from earlier, we hadn't been targeted again, but I had a feeling they were waiting for me to lower my guard.
So, a few hours from now would likely be the ideal time for them to strike; when I was exhausted and asleep, when we were all trying to regain some of the energy expended throughout the days battles.
Sighing slightly, I let those thoughts drift away as I focused on the here and now, barely listening to the girls as they chatted like nothing was happening; the current wave of enemies were just normal soldiers, which worried me slightly.
There were no Praetor Squads, none of those Cloud Mercenaries, no Justiciars...
The Western Kingdom was simply sending a large amount of bodies our way with the hopes of wearing away at us before sending the Elites forwards...
And considering they were still getting reinforcements, this was a problem.
This meditation of mine did help slow the drain of mana from my core, and I took the chance to empty my mind and instead run on base instinct, resting slightly.
The others seemed to enjoy this to some degree, and Leone had stepped past her reluctance to kill, though she did sometimes show remorse for her actions.
Most likely, this war would have lasting effects on the girls mental state, but we should be able to help her overcome it with ease...
More and more random thoughts drifted through my mind, before I was shook 'awake' by Leone, the Vampire's serious expression making me frown as I stood up.
Walking to join the others at the parapets, I sighed as I muttered "I was right then..."
The remaining soldiers rushed back to their encampment, where the Elites had begun to gather and gear themselves.
While not as numerous as the basic soldiers, this army still numbered in the low thousands, and standing at the forefront were two imposing figures; one tall, lithe man and one shorter, curvy woman.
Seeing the flags of the Western Kingdoms, Cloud Mercenary Group, and other countries unfurling, I sighed again as I said "Well, this is it. They'll be banking it all on this next attack. The Knight shouldn't be here for another two or three hours, so..."
We all nodded to one another, quickly handing potions and pills to one another as we replenished our bodies, minds, and cores as best we could.
Every small ounce of energy we could get would be necessary, as I had a feeling this castle of ours would come crumbling down in an hours time.
With that much arcane firepower lining up opposite us, we needed to be prepared for that possibility; the possibility that the gate falls and leaves us exposed to melee combat.
That the tower itself might be targeted.
We needed to prepare for that, and each of us made sure that we had our equipment at the ready.
"Well, this is definitely it. Prioritize helping one another; I... I can't lose any of you. Stay safe, let's work together, and we'll come out of this unscathed. We did it before, against that Lord Pele, so we can do it again! Alright?"
Jahi looked between us, worry in her amethyst eyes as she scanned our features, before smiling as we all nodded back at her.
"Remember, be careful of allies as well. Keep an eye out for anyone that tries to get to close. I would like to say just cut them down before they can do anything, but that'd cause too many problems, so just avoid them as best we can..."
Again, we all nodded before turning back to the gathering army, each of us smiling wryly at the storm that was heading our way.
Whether or not we would be able to withstand this storm was yet to be seen, but I had faith in us all.
We could overcome this trial laid before us...
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