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Though I was cutting down paladins that were climbing up the walls at a good pace, the overall situation wasn’t going well. The siege towers had crossed the moat by using the paladins as a sacrifice.

“Huh? The anti-magic is gone now. Everyone, counterattack!”

The mages that had retreated to the back tried to once again come back to the castle walls, but most of the siege towers were safely crossing the moat by now.

“Mages and healers, stay there and be on standby outside the inner castle walls.”

In this chaotic situation, the mages wouldn’t be of much help even if they were able to come back to the top of the walls. It would be better for them to just stay in the back and cast support magic or maintain distance in which they could quickly retreat back to the inner walls.

I wasn’t sure if the division commanders also thought the same way I did but they obeyed their commands and retreated back towards the inner walls.

Rumble… Boom!

The siege towers that had arrived close to the castle walls gave clamorous noises as they successfully bridged onto the wall. At a glance, it would seem like it was a very dangerous situation, but this very moment was the last time the defending troops could see the biggest upset against the enemy.

Even if the siege towers had bridged onto the walls, at the same time the number of siege towers was limited and their bridges were narrow. So it was obviously advantageous for troops stationed at the castle walls specializing in ranged attacks to focus on those specific areas.

“Sword and shield division, advance!”

However, the Shining guild had shown an admittedly smart hand, showing that they were deserving of being in the top 8 of the greatest guilds in the server. From the siege towers emerged troops wielding giant tower shields that weren’t normally used to tank against our ranged attacks.

It seemed like they had already applied various buffs on them a moment ago since even with ranged and magic attack focus on them, they wouldn’t go down easily.

I realized that this was the moment I needed to move in myself. I felt that I had warmed up my body quite enough from killing all the enemies that were climbing up the walls.

I also knew the most effective skill that I could use against a similar troop formation and had once used it in the Ianus incident. This very moment was perfect for me to repeat what I had done back then.

I stabbed the Excalibur down onto the ground with both my hands holding the handle and inputted the command skill. Usually, I didn’t need to do all this motion first, but the more motions I put into activating the skill, the more mana it cost me in exchange for increasing the skill power proportionately.

“What is she doing?”
“No way, is that Artoria?”

The enemy forces that had crossed around halfway of the siege tower’s bridge saw me standing on the wall and stopped in their tracks. As not only my outer appearance but my ID had been put out to the public, it would be weird if anyone didn’t recognize me.

“It seems like she’s planning to use a skill. Damn it! Everyone, attack!!!”
“A… Attack!”

The judgment they gave was correct, but unfortunately, it was too late for them. My skill was ready to be executed now.

As it was an active skill of the ‘explosion’ variety, there were numerous ready stances for the skill, but the effect was still the same altogether.

Sky blue beams of light that exploded out from the Excalibur slowly started to take form and turned into a powerful wave of force as it crashed against the enemy forces.

The only way to reduce the damage from the attack was to block it or to jump off from the siege tower, but unfortunately, there weren’t that many who figured out that simple fact in such a short amount of time.

“Woah!!!”

There were only a few people screaming as they fell off the siege towers, only the scene of a massacre was left behind in the area which the moonlight beam had crossed.

Those who weren’t fully aware of the situation and only saw how their comrades being brutally slaughtered just as they climbed to the top of the tower ladder could only stare helplessly at the horrifying sight.

The misfortune of the enemies didn’t stop there. As the top part of the siege towers had been cut cleanly in half, the axis of the tower which was holding up the bridge was gone and caused the tower to collapse on itself.

Rumble…

Loud noises of wooden structures breaking apart rang out as the legs of the siege towers broke and soon the giant tower collapsed, spreading a wave of dust onto the ground.

“Aaargh!”

Along with the clamorous noises of destruction, screams of enemies that were standing around the siege towers rang out as well. With that attack there were sure to be dozens who received a ‘Game Over’ from it, I looked away from the destruction after confirming that and moved towards the next victims for me to attack. The Requiem guild members who were on standby to defend against the siege tower attack found themselves not needed here anymore and moved to other battlefields that needed help.

“Front line troops, secure your locations and endure until the backline troops arrive!”
“You must never allow enemies to get over the castle walls!”

Shouts from commanders from both sides of the forces rang across the battlefield. Ones that were commanding the troops to get over the wall, and ones that were commanding them to stop the opposing troops from doing so. They were both passionately doing their best to control the situation.

For a battle like this, it was no longer about who won the first confrontation but rather who took control of the advantageous higher ground first. Even though we were much less in number in comparison to the enemies, the guild members of Camelot had fought greatly against the enemy forces. Compared to the enemy forces who were at least twice in number, the guild members of Camelot displayed extremely effective and complementary tactics that they were practically perfect in their execution of defence as opposed to the enemies who were all mixed up.

If the number of troops was even on both sides, we would have won already. However, the number of our troops was still much less than the enemy forces so the situation wouldn’t turn favorable for us easily.

Crack!

With another sound of a siege tower breaking apart ringing across the battlefield, the allied forces stared with awe filled eyes.

The enemy forces that were able to barely cross the bridges onto the castle walls looked to be at death’s door already, and I had shown mercy on them by not toying with their lives but bringing swift death to them with clean strikes.

Though I had destroyed the siege towers located near me, they were still some on opposite sides of the castle wall so there was no way for me to block them as well.

A new wave of siege towers that were just added was coming our way, the enemy forces were trying to break in through the specific part of the castle wall that had broken down and elite assassin divisions of the enemies appeared in numerous places across the castle walls, aiming at the back of the allied forces.

Considering the situation logically, I was sure that right now was the best time to fall back.

“1st division, stop defending the front line and swap with the 2nd division, provide cover for us while slowly retreating to the inner walls.”

The allied forces that were in the front lines started to move back as the 2nd vision that were less fatigued from battle in comparison moved in. As the 1st division had suffered quite a lot of damage and already used many potions to heal themselves, they were no different from injured troops in real life.

While receiving healing and buffs from healers, the 1st division started to move back and the 2nd division that came to the front line clashed against the enemies while making sure to slowly move the line backwards to retreat to the inner walls.

In the meantime, I would look for high-level enemies marked as high-priority targets and take them down, while also finding pockets of allied forces who were locked down in their position due to enemy forces and saving them from troubles so that they could safely retreat back to the inner walls.

“Ngh…”

But since I still had limits in what I could achieve, all I could do was to feel sorry for allied forces who were surrounded by too many enemies and give up on trying to save them.

Though if I could, I would have jumped right in the middle and attacked recklessly at the enemies, but my position in this battle wasn’t a mercenary like previously. As someone who had the commanding authority of all the troops in the castle, to jump in there would mean that the entire formation would crumble without guidance and bring about the worst possible scenario.

So that was the reason I made to justify my actions.

“My lord, it was an inevitable sacrifice. There is no need to blame yourself.”

One of the guild leaders perhaps saw that I was biting my lip trying to stop myself, as he came over and assured me that my decision was correct but it didn’t comfort me very much.

If one of the people that were surrounded by the enemies over there was their close friend or himself, would he be able to say the same thing?

“It’s a small sacrifice for the larger good, my lord. You must be cold and hardened.”

Yet another guild leader came and stopped me from acting, perhaps because he saw that I was torn between going or staying. Since I had brought only those who seemed to be the highest level to this battle, they were all leaders of the guild meaning that they had enough experience in leading their troops.

The more they kept talking, the more I had a different thought. I am their lord. It may have been different if I had no relation to them, but they were supporting my orders and obeyed my commands, and ended up stranded there surrounded by enemies while following my commands.

When I turned back to them, I saw that there were still some allied forces putting up a fight against the enemies. There were only five or six of them but they were using their height advantage to the best of their abilities as they were displaying clear dominance over the enemies that they were defending against.

I used my active skill to see who they were a bit more clearly. They were a party made up of one healer, three close combat damage dealers and two tankers.

They were probably swearing at their own allied forces for abandoning them like this, it’s what I thought as I studied their lips and expressions. However, only expressions of despondency and determination went around their faces.

Finally, I was able to come to a decision.

“No one has the right to demand the sacrifice of anyone!”

And like a lake flooding out of a broken damn, I dashed towards the Shining guild forces that were starting to cover the entirety of the castle wall.

It was reckless. Yes, I was being crazy. I could end up bringing defeat to the front line that the allied forces were desperately trying to defend and tip the scale of the war to the enemy’s side. And in the worst possible scenario, I myself and every member of the allied forces here could become annihilated.

But even so, what if I didn’t jump in, stayed back and won the battle? What if I united the server together that way? Will I let the guild just be another one of those who sacrificed small and weak guilds for the profit of the bigger ones while saying it was a necessary sacrifice?

This battle that was taking place in Manchester City was not only the central focus of the England server of Blue Sky, but rather the whole world.

It may actually be broadcast live on television right now. And I’ve told all those people watching that I would not tolerate injustice…

I had declared war on the most holy succession process, and dramatized my will to carry out my words. If I were to look away at the injustice happening right now in front of me, then my actions were nothing but talk.

Therefore I was able to make this decision in my heart. Even if this was an absolutely crazy thing to do. Even if the outcome of the battle ends up horribly for us, I will never regret my decision.

“W… What the?”

With my Windwalk skill giving me peak speed in movement, I arrived at the enemy forces in the blink of an eye and swung my Excalibur. In an instant, the group of enemy forces was cut down and I moved towards the castle wall stairs to gain the height advantage. That was hardly enough, thus I continued my ascend towards the top of the watchtower.

“It’s Artoria! Kill her!”

A number of Shining guild members that were in the tower recognized me and attacked but an attempt was all they could do. After cleaning up the top of the tower with ease, I looked down at the swarming enemy forces and shouted out.

“Look here!”

At that moment, all the enemy forces that were clamoring to move forward all stopped and turned their faces towards the tower that I was standing in.

“Hah! That crazy… Everyone, focus your attacks on Artoria! If we capture her, the war will be over!”

I’m sure it was Lucas shouting that out.

“I will bequeath the title of Lord for Manchester City for anyone who captures her.”
“Waaaaaagh!”

It’s not like you all had won yet, what an arrogant presumption.

“Heh…”

I smirked. Then I saw that the 6 allied guild members who were stranded previously finally caught a breath thanks to me grabbing the attention of the enemy forces.

They were the first target I needed to reach.

“Let’s go then.”

I jumped down from the tower towards the enemies.¹

1. Robinxen: “You take 9999 fall damage.”