Chapter 39: 39. Siege (1)
12th day, at night.
Harley looked at the sky, which seemed to have stars, although few. He glanced around him. He was leading a group of over twenty people who were all inside the small abandoned shed in the kingdom’s streets.
"The siege would begin once your team takes out the archers and opens the gates." Marcella, the fallen princess, spoke, getting closer to him.
He nodded, smiling ever so slightly.
"I understand. By the way, what’s your relationship with that idiot?" Harley pointed at Vernox and the princess turned around, smiling all of a sudden.
"It doesn’t matter. Go, take care of the tower and we’ll storm the gates." She twirled, walking away from him.
’She’s the one who is to face off with the king?’ He couldn’t imagine it.
A lot about this trial confused him, but he knew his goal and that was what he was after.
But he knew that while the dragon had emerged from the castle, the princess would go to face the king, Knave, for the crown—as she was the rightful heir.
Harley looked at a young woman who stood in front of the twenty warriors. She had two knives on her.
"Listen, I have an ability to not be seen normally. Basically an invisibility spell, if you would prefer it that way. I’ll distract them, and then the rest of you start taking them out."
"Yes, captain." The small team echoed in unison and Harley noticed that the young woman in front of them didn’t reply.
Her short black hair was currently braided backwards, and she had dark circles drawn with a black marker under her eyes. Her sharp dark eyes stared at him nonchalantly.
’Aha.’ He moved out, stepping into the night.
The rest of the members wore their black cloaks, hiding their weapons underneath.
They were supposed to hit the main gate, so Harley ran towards the gates at the other end of the kingdom.
The rest of the group split up, walking around at random while heading towards the gates. They were in no hurry, but Harley was...
He needed to finish as fast as possible.
It didn’t take him long, considering that he was almost currently as fast as a horse.
And his essence replenished his stamina so he wasn’t getting burned out quickly.
Not long later, Harley reached the main gate. It was shut tight. All trades happening outside the kingdom were done during the day.
There were torches on the walls, along with knights patrolling on the walls with crossbows.
Just from a glance alone he could see over 20 knights all holding swords and archery equipment.
’Is it even right to call the weapons "Archery equipment"?’ Harley snorted, looking at the tower itself.
It was over four metres in diameter with windows all around on all floors. He could see the ballistas facing out of the windows.
’I have to take those out first.’ Harley thought, and then he waited for the rest of his squad members to arrive.
It didn’t take long. Soon he started to see people wearing cloaks all over the place. Close to a pile of trash there was a person wearing a black cloak picking up dirt. In front of a building there was another one sitting down with their hands out.
There was another in front of a fruit stall. And many more in the most random places ever. Harley was sitting in front of a building itself.
Ahead of this, there was an open space which served as a wide interchangeable road for carriages before going into the kingdom. Charging in from here to the wall was suicide.
Harley closed his eyes, and then vanished from where he sat, like he wasn’t there at all in the first place.
Atop the tower, one of the men quietly enjoyed the view of the lands outside the gate, drinking alcohol from a bottle.
All of a sudden he heard a loud shout, and he turned to his colleagues.
"Did you all hear that?" He asked, pulling out his sword.
The ones closest to him followed him into the tower to check what was going on. And as this was happening, all the cloaked figures began to move towards the gate.
Harley was currently surrounded by over twelve knights holding their swords out at him. He was slowly backing away as he faced all of them with the single silver sword.
"State your business?" One of the knights asked, waving the sword in his face.
Soon, the sounds of sprinting steps reached their ears and Harley smiled, looking behind him to see a window.
"ARGHHHH!" A scream rattled the knights in front of him as multiple steps began to ascend the stairs.
"Where did he go?!" One of the knights noticed that Harley was no longer there and then a group of warriors charged into the small room ferociously.
Harley appeared once in a while, dealing fatal blows to the knights who stood up after getting dropped once.
Outside, on the wall.
Harley emerged, seeing more knights already heading towards the entrance and he sprinted forward with the silver sword.
"What the...?" The knights unsheathed their swords.
A silver sword flashed, cutting down the knights one after the other. Remembering the black winter who went by the name of Aurelius.
The black winter is deadly in its own right. Each of its attacks was only meant to kill and nothing else.
A white aura seeped through Harley’s body and he fought, bringing down multiple enemies at once.
{You have earned a new attribute!}
Ignoring the voice of the damned Oracle, he proceeded to finish up the rest of the knights before they could do some real damage or make contact with troops not far away.
At the same time, all over the kingdom, various places were getting hit by the rebellion. A lot of people still had their businesses open, not having any idea that a storm was brewing in the kingdom.
Harley stabbed through the armour of the last knight, kicking him backwards. He looked around. Over fifteen knights were dead and Harley’s gaze remained cold.
From the tower, the same woman who didn’t give Harley respect emerged. He stared at her. She held a torch which stood out in the night.
"The tower has been cleared." She spoke, raising the torch upwards, giving a signal.
From the valley ahead, a multitude of people emerged from it, heading towards the gate.
"Open the gates!" Harley shouted, jumping down from the wall.
