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And at last, the operation to capture Tübahn began.
The commander was Firniel the “Mad Gallop.” She brought about 1,500 warriors from the various centaur tribes.
Our reinforcements included Merlené, the famed Vampire Queen. She had previously summoned 300 waxcorpses and joined us with them.
My mentor, the Great Sage Gormoviroa, also participated, bringing 1,000 skeleton soldiers.
And me, I dragged along my hidden stash of 2,000 skeletons.
Nearly 5,000 troops in total.

In contrast, Tübahn has a population of 5,000.
Their archer cavalry unit, which also doubles as the city guard, is estimated at 150–200 riders. I’d already taken out about 50 before, so their numbers have dropped. Archer cavalry isn’t easy to replace.
There should be a good number of citizen soldiers, but their total number is unclear.
Assuming half the population is male, and half of those are healthy adult males, there might be around 1,000.
From what I’ve heard, the citizens of Tübahn are trained in handling crossbows, and they’re quite good shots.

The biggest issue is Tübahn’s famed impenetrable fortress.
The walls are higher than those of Lüenheit, and large fixed crossbows are installed all over. They shoot massive bolts at high speed, able to pierce both cavalry and siege engines.
Impressive for an industrial city. But can we really take this place without a surprise attack?

“The encirclement is complete, it seems.”

Engineer Kurtze murmured at my side. He’s responsible for managing gunpowder—what they call “dragon’s breath.” He came along to blow up the gates if needed.
This city is extremely secretive, with only one gate on the north and one on the south to monitor ingress and egress. So we just needed to focus on sealing those.
To assault the southern gate, we’re sending 1,000 expendable skeletons, 300 waxcorpses, and then the 1,500 centaurs for urban combat.
At the north gate, Merlené is managing 2,000 skeletons for the encirclement.

Once the encirclement was complete, Firniel sent a messenger to urge surrender.
But the centaur carrying the message was hit by concentrated crossbow fire before he could even approach the gate.
I see. So they have no intention of negotiating.
Killing an unarmed envoy enraged the centaur warriors. Looks like they won’t calm down without bloodshed.

From a distance, Firniel waved her spear.

“Senpaaai! Bones, please!”

…Try acting more like a proper commander. Whatever.
I nodded, formed the seals, and began my spell.

“Ye who returned from the Gate of Gewenna, and were denied the Gate of Hauland—behold my right hand; for it is the frozen sun.”

My usual necromancy spell.
Supposedly, Gewenna is a world of darkness and restful death, while Hauland is a shining world of reincarnation.
Which one’s better? Who knows. Not my problem—they’re working for me now.

The skeletons reacted to my voice. I ordered them forward.

“First wave, raise shields! Anti-air stance!”

With a unified thud, the skeletons raised their shields.

“Target: Tübahn’s southern gate! Advance at full combat speed!”

Five hundred skeletons charged with spears and shields.

Immediately, arrows rained from Tübahn’s walls. As expected, their range is long. The bolts hit hard.
Even with shields raised, many skeletons were skewered, shields and all. Not even undead can keep fighting with a shattered spine.
Still, breaking a few ribs doesn’t impair movement. They’re a great match against arrows.
More than half fell before reaching the gate, but for undead, that’s acceptable.
If we had used the centaurs, the losses would’ve been much worse.

“It’s a battle of attrition,” Kurtze muttered nervously.

I nodded. “We’ll have to endure it for now. Time for the next step.”

Confirming Firniel waving her spear again, I ordered the second wave forward, just as planned.
They surged in right behind the first wave that had already clustered around the gates.
Reminded me of those tower defense games I played a lot in my past life.
Except this time, I’m the attacker.

The first wave was half-destroyed by the counterattack, but the second wave faced less resistance.
Makes sense. Those massive crossbows are reloaded by hand—fire too many, and the crew gets tired or the weapons break down.
Plus, Merlené’s waxcorpses—zombies mummified in white wax, really—are mixed into the second wave.
Definitely feels like a tower defense setup now, but they’re the main act this time.

Waxcorpses are basically dried and preserved zombies, they have long shelf-life. The downside is that they’re extremely flammable.
But that weakness becomes their strength here.

Escorted by skeletons, the waxcorpses reached the gate and, by preset command, self-destructed.
I couldn’t see clearly from this distance, but I bet it was gory.
The main gate must be soaked in fat by now.
The thick, dry wood likely absorbed all that grease nicely.

But we can’t get complacent.
If Tübahn figures out what we’re planning, we’re screwed. If they douse the gate with water, our setup falls apart.
That’s why we’re using these roundabout tactics, pretending to launch a wasteful assault.
We can’t use this strategy with living soldiers, but skeletons and zombies won’t file a complaint.
They have no emotions or souls, just dead puppets.

With my undead spent, I rejoined Firniel’s centaur unit along with Kurtze.

“Thanks, Senior!”
“So far, everything’s going to plan. And quit calling me that.”

Now all we have to do is light that fat-soaked gate on fire. But thanks to the crossbow range, we can’t get close enough to shoot fire arrows.
This is where our master comes in.
She’s going to strike it with lightning for ignition.
If we had copper wire, this would be easier, but we don’t—so it is what it is…

The Great Sage Gormoviroa has been chanting for minutes, an innocent face clouded with focus.

“Sir Veit, what is the Great Sage doing?” Kurtze asked in a whisper, curiosity overwhelming him.

She’s not casting a lightning spell, actually.
Destruction magic in this world isn’t that useful.
Most spells originate from the caster and obey real-world physics, so if you don’t carefully control them, you end up damaging yourself the most.
That’s why we use various support spells to control magic. Otherwise, it’s faster to just hit things with a sword.

I didn’t fully understand the spell, but I had a good guess.

“She’s probably creating a lightning path.”
“A lightning path?”

Before lightning strikes, a pathway is formed between cloud and ground by ionized air.
Something something about positive and negative charges inside clouds… uhh. I don’t really remember.
Anyway, if she just blindly fired off lightning, it might hit someone in the Demon King’s army instead. So it needs guidance.

“She’s fine-tuning it so the lightning hits the gate directly. If she didn’t, no telling where it would go.”
“I see…”

Kurtze eagerly started jotting down notes.

“Lord Veit, could you cast that spell?”
“…I can’t.”

Please don’t remind me.

“Hm, good. Now’s the time.”

Apparently the lightning path was ready. My master immediately began the lightning spell.
This part is fast. You just tweak the mana in the atmosphere to convert it into electricity.
As soon as the chant ended, she swung her staff.
A blue-white flash lit the air, and a thunderous roar shook everything around us.