The Count’s Youngest Son is a Player

The Count’s Youngest Son is a Player 59

Chapter 59

Dalton swallowed hard. The weight of the crossbow mounted on his shoulder felt heavier than it did initially. “Yes, this is it!”

A tense situation on the brink of erupting. The thrilling energy of the battlefield enveloped him, stirring a palpable tension. These were exactly the moments he longed for.

He never imagined waging a defensive battle inside a gate, let alone against the imperial demon beasts. Weren’t these creatures something out of historical texts, akin to monsters?

Feeling as though he was standing in a historical moment himself, he couldn’t contain his excitement. Then, at that moment, a bizarre creature came into his crosshairs.

“Fire!”

Ping!

The bolt released with a whirl.

“Scream!”

Dalton’s shot pierced the forehead of the creature accurately.

Following this, dozens of bolts flew from the ramparts, assaulting the demon beasts.

“Roar!”

Several demon beasts, struck in the head, fell, but the others continued to charge towards the fortress, bolts embedded in their bodies, screaming wildly.

“Reload!”

While Dalton and the mercenaries were reloading, about ten knights including Raul kept firing arrows relentlessly. The crossbow was indeed more powerful, but it couldn’t match the rapid-fire of bows.

‘If only I had practiced archery more regularly….’

Aside from swordsmanship, he was only vaguely familiar with the usage of other weapons, far from proficient for real combat situations.

But what could he do? The battle was already underway.

Dalton reloaded his crossbow with blurring speed and pulled the trigger again, targeting a demon beast.

Whirr! Thump!
“Yes!”

Internally, Dalton cheered as he took down another one, and before he knew it, the demon beasts had significantly closed the distance to the fortress.

“Pikes!”

At Philip’s command, the mercenaries put down their crossbows and lifted 2-meter long steel pikes. They were seemingly easy to handle, considering the preparation of stands amongst steel shields for weight consideration.

Shrrrng.

However, Dalton opted for his two longswords instead.

‘I’ll slash them all!’

As a demon beast approached, its repulsive appearance came into clear view.

Despite wearing leather armor, the glaring blue veins and reptilian, scaly skin peeking through the armor was unmistakably non-human.

Moreover, the distorted facial features and saw-like teeth made the swamp frogs they had faced earlier seem adorable by comparison.

Kwoong. Kugung.

“Roar!”

The demon beasts rammed into the fortress walls with the full force of their charge. The fortress, made of solid stone blocks, vibrated from the impact of their massive bodies, at least twice the size of a human, headbutting it.

“If it had been a wooden stockade, it would have been smashed to pieces instantly, right?”

Fortunately, the fortress seemed impervious to such blunt impacts as ramming.

Realizing this, the demon beasts all looked up at the walls in unison.

The walls were 3 meters high, and with an additional 1 meter of iron shields mounted on top, the total height was nearly 4 meters.

“Ready!!”

At Philip’s command, the mercenaries gripped their long spears, pointing them downwards with force.

And the next moment.

Boom!

The demon beasts leaped from the ground like frogs.

“……!!”

The mercenaries’ eyes widened in astonishment as those hefty bodies almost cleared the 3 meters to grasp the shield wall.

“Stab!!”

But the surprise was fleeting. At Philip’s command, the mercenaries thrust their long spears with all their might.

“Screech~!”

Boom.

A demon beast screamed as it was speared and fell away from the wall.

However, the fallen demon beast shook its head as if dazed for a moment, then ran towards the wall again unharmed.

It seemed that typical attacks were unable to penetrate the demon beast’s thick hide, as expected.

Moreover, not all the demon beasts had fallen from the wall. After all, they were outnumbered.

Thud! Clang!!

A demon beast attached to the shield wall drew its long claws and swung them, forcing the mercenaries to hurriedly block with the shafts of their spears.

“Hyah!”

And then, Dalton, who had been waiting among the mercenaries, let out a slash and charged at the demon beast.

Whish~Thunk!

Swish!!

With the sword in his left hand, he struck down the demon beast’s long arm, and his right-hand sword traced a clean arc through the demon beast’s neck.

The demon beast, as if drained of strength, let go of the shield and dropped beneath the wall.

‘Hmm!?’

But Dalton frowned. Something felt different with his blow.

‘Did it react in that short time?’

And it seemed the hide was thicker than he had anticipated.

The demon beast that had fallen to the ground wriggled for a bit then stood up again.

‘Damn…!’

He had heard explanations but hadn’t expected them to be this tough.

‘Should I use the Mana Blade?’

It seemed difficult to end them with a single strike using a mana-infused sword, a mana sword.

The knights under Raul, already aware of this, were drawing out sword qi and beheading the demon beasts.

“Tch.”

Another demon beast attached itself to the iron shield, and this time, Dalton made no mistake.

A 10 cm length of red sword qi erupted from his two longswords, cleanly severing the head of another demon beast in an X formation.

“Hah! Come at me, all of you!!”

Dalton took a moment to steady his breath, regaining his confidence before letting out a yell. The mercenaries, who thought he was merely a friend of Raul, realized that Dalton was an expert-level swordsman and faced the demon beast with a new sense of reassurance, their expressions visibly heartened.

* * *

“Ugh.”

Emil licked his lips as he watched the battle unfold before the fortress. He checked the crossbow bolt in his hand once more, furrowing his brow slightly. Although he wasn’t a master craftsman, he could easily tell that this bolt was no ordinary item. It was made entirely of metal rather than wood, and the material was not normal iron.

“Silver…,” he mused to himself.

He harbored dark magic within him, making it easy to sense the anti-demonic power of silver emanating from the bolt. If it weren’t for that, even the most powerful of crossbows would not have been able to pierce a demon beast’s skull in one shot.

“Could it be?”

Silver was not only effective against dark magic but also antithetical to the undead. It was likely prepared with the undead in mind. Moreover, the fortress that appeared out of nowhere and the spears pushing back the demonic forces were not particularly rare sights.

However, the fact that these elements had come together in this battlefield to fend off the demonic forces felt oddly fortuitous.

“The enemy’s strength is no trivial matter.”

Emil realized that each enemy was more capable than he had anticipated. He had considered the known power of the Count Ashton’s household and the newly formed First Knights in mustering his forces, but it seemed there was much he had underestimated.

“Well, even so…”

If they could’ve been cleanly dealt with by the demon beast alone, that would’ve been ideal, but he had expected it to be difficult from the moment the fortress appeared. A demonic beast, no matter how fierce, wouldn’t stand a chance in a head-on fight against an expert-level swordsman.

“It’s the limit of the first formula of demonic forces. I had hoped to drain their strength significantly… It seems they’ve brought along mercenaries of B-Ranked or higher.”

B-Grade referred to those who might not be at a knight’s level but could manipulate mana. They were more than capable of handling demonic forces.

Having assessed the enemy’s power, Emil shouted, “Prepare to fight!”

With his command, the true force of the Imperial Hounds began to move.

“Let’s see them struggle till the end.”

* * *

Woosh.

“Eh?”

Suddenly, something sparkling appeared from below the hillside. Dalton pushed back the demon beast he was facing and identified the object.

“Be careful! It’s magic!!”

A massive fireball, the size of a human torso, was raging toward the wall from the base of the hill. It seemed to be a Fireball spell, cast by a mage of at least the 5th circle.

“Good heavens, we don’t have any mages on our side, do we?”

Mages were hard to come by in the Ruben Kingdom.

The country, being a kingdom of knights, had excellent infrastructure for knights but lacked facilities for mages.

As a result, most high-level mages were concentrated in the magic towers of the Leslie Kingdom.

Most mages affiliated with noble families were at best 3rd circle, and even they were often specialized not in combat but in magical communication or the maintenance of power armor.

In any case, the fact remained that there was no mage present to counter the enemy’s magic.

* * *

Moreover, magic was not only being hurled towards where Dalton stood but also simultaneously attacking from all four directions of the fortress walls.

This indicated the presence of no fewer than four mages.

In that brief moment as a fireball approached, Dalton bit his lip and reached for his waist.

‘Is there no other way? Given the situation…’

Just as Dalton was about to act decisively,

“Hold your positions!!”

Raul’s voice resonated across the battlefield. And then.

Boom! Bang! Boom! Boom!!

The incoming fireballs exploded a few meters before the walls.

Whooosh!

“Squeal!”

The scattered fragments of fire struck the demon beast, engulfing them in flames and throwing them into chaos as they rolled on the ground.

“Wow!!”

Though unsure what had transpired, everyone cheered at having blocked the magic.

It seemed the assault of the demon beast weakened slightly due to the fire.

“Stay alert! The second wave is coming!”

But Raul did not let his guard down and shouted a warning.

As he said, another wave of fireballs revealed itself, and this time, a group hurried towards the fortress at great speed from behind the fireballs.

Philip, realizing the situation, cried out,

“It’s the enemy knights! Mercenaries, switch to defense mode!”

At Philip’s command, about a dozen mercenaries dropped their spears and descended the walls.

Carrying crossbows, they rushed toward the heart of the fortress, where a makeshift watchtower had been erected at some point.

Positioned slightly higher than the walls, the mercenaries stationed in the two-tier wooden tower began their supporting fire, mounting their crossbows on the tower.

Those remaining on the walls also backed off slightly, abandoning their spears.

Armed with personal shields and bludgeoning weapons (hammers, maces, axes, etc.), they prepared to confront the enemies.

True to their selection from a thousand mercenaries, the change in formation was swiftly executed, and any gaps were filled by members of the First Knights Squadron.

Philip, six knights, seven trainee knights, and including Raul and Dalton, a total of 15 individuals faced the enemies at the forefront.

Bang! Clash! Thud!!

“Die!”

“You die!”

The second wave from the Imperial Hound side was fierce.

Seven knights, clearly experts, launched themselves onto the walls in a single bound, exuding sword qi.

Though not to the same extent, suddenly, about ten agents, their tattoos stained red, also awaited their moment below the walls, brandishing swords imbued with a sinister black sword qi.

However, the defense on Raul’s side did not easily falter.

The knights were more than sufficient, and the magic continuously directed at them was being persistently blocked by Raul with daggers imbued with psychokinesis.

Then, from a distance from the fortress, a loud yelling was heard,

“Ten minutes left~~!!”

Upon hearing this, Lieutenant Emil, who was narrowly exchanging swords with Philip atop the walls, frowned.

“Damn it all! Remove the seals!”

The situation on the walls began to change dramatically.

(To be continued)