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The sun was high, shining through the partly cloudy sky. Aden sat on the ground under the shade of the courthouse canopy, he looked up and observed the rooftop unit. This was the third day since they arrived and he hoped it would last until the harpies were gone.

The cut wounds on his back he got from yesterday's task still stung him sometimes when the wounds grazed against his new leather gambeson.

Some of the recon knights took a rest and some of them stood guard, which is now Ser Percival and Ser Cedric's turn. They were taking turns and they needed to keep sharp just like they did in the campfire before entering the mountain range. There were always two recon knights manned the post on the rooftop.

Again, this is the quality of the imperial knights, they were disciplined and always moved or took decisions in unison, unlike Jinns who had more loose space in discipline and relied on improvisation and individual skills in battle.

In the holy wars where Crusaders from Wessen fought against Ruhimi joint forces, the Crusaders were known to have minimum casualties. The Crusaders were not as skilled individuals as Jinns but when it came to fighting in a group they were very cohesive as one body.

Some Jinns may say it was because they were people who were afraid to die thus making them more cohesive but Aden sees it more as practicality, anything that wins the war is a means to an end.

the ground unit seems like they are still fresh. they only had a few actions, some harpies flew close by just like yesterday—nothing more. they were sitting under the shade of the courthouse concrete canopy. Eating and drinking are the same as what the rooftop units have.

Sat by Aden's left side is Hjalmar, on his right, is Oliver and Victor by the side of Oliver. It was a slow day for the rescue party in this harpy mission even the Captain let Victor wander downstair and mingle with the ground unit. Aden hoped that it would be like this until they completed their mission.

Watching the partly cloudy sky with a couple of harpies hovering far away on the top of their head, even arrows couldn't reach them let alone hwachas that could not aim targets located straight up their head.

Aden recalled the horrifying sight when all the harpies were met by the Hwachas arrows barrages. wave after wave they were repelled. their agonizing scream about being torn apart by the arrows still echoes in Aden's ears. Their bodies tumbled down like leaves in the autumn.

The ground units settled down for a well-deserved respite, the sun beating down upon them from its zenith. They retrieved their simple yet nourishing rations - thick slabs of travel bread accompanied by strips of cured beef jerky, the perfect sustenance for warriors on the move.

Hjalmar tore into the jerky with gusto, his jaw working as he chewed the tough, salted meat. "Not bad," he mumbled around a mouthful. "Could use a bit more spice though."

Beside him, Aden quirked an eyebrow as she delicately broke off a chunk of the dense travelbread. "More spice? You'd burn a hole right through your stomach lining." He popped the morsel into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. "Honestly, I'm just grateful for anything that isn't hardtack at this point."

A snort of amusement escaped Victor as he joined them, Already having polished off his share of the jerky. Grabbing his waterskin, he upended it over his mouth and noisily gulped down the tepid liquid in several long draws.

"Ah, that really hits the spot," he sighed contentedly, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Hrrgh," Hjalmar stretched his arms upward. Aden saw his restless face. Hjalmar couldn't wait to trade metals with claws against the harpies.

"This is boring," Hjalmar broke silent. he squeezed his sledgehammer. It couldn't be helped as yesterday was a slow day for the response party in the courthouse. The harpies were just testing the waters, observing the extent of the defense in the courthouse from their safe space.

"Take it easy big guy," Aden assured Hjalmar that he will have his piece soon. "the worst is yet to come."

All this morning, very few harpies flew low and none of them engaged the ground unit. those harpies happened to collect their kind's dead bodies left uncollected the other day.

Even during battle, they keep their fallen sister bodies from rotting or being disgraced in the open. They risked themselves to collect their dead fellow out of practicality. Something humans should learn a thing or two from them.

"They may be done for today." Hjalmar snapped Aden out of his deep thought. Aden couldn't tell when he switched his sledgehammer to his lunch.

The huge guy gave a huge bite of the bread and devoured the jerky beef in one take. "look at all the casualties they bear because of yesterday, they have to retrieve their kind's dead bodies."

Aden pointed out to the sky with his spear, "Do they look like they are done for today?"

on his spear tip, High in the sky, away from the reach of the hwachas. a couple of harpies were seen circling at the top of the courthouse and went back to the north where their nest was believed to be located.

⁕⁕⁕

Thoom! Thoom! Thoom!

The bell in the courthouse bell tower tolled loudly.

"Harpies on the east!" Ser Percival's voice rang out, his urgency clear in his tone.

"Harpies on the west!" Ser Cedric's voice echoed from the opposite end.

Both recon knights cried out the news over and over to ensure their superiors and the village defenders got the message.

"What?" Aden was caught by surprise.

"Don't they learn their lessons?" Victor exclaimed as he rushed back inside to get to the rooftop where he was assigned as the rooftop unit.

Captain Willem and Corporal Knightly were taken by surprise, their eyes scanning the horizon for any sign of the approaching harpies. Captain Willem took out his monoscope, extending it to get a better look at the situation.

In the distance, he could see the harpies breaking their formation into two groups, spreading thin as they closed in from the east and the west.

"All hands to battle stations! Man your posts!" Captain Willem roared with military lingo which half of the townspeople and volunteers wouldn't be able to catch up. "Hwacha ready!" echoed the captain, as the units scrambled to their posts in anticipation of combat.

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"Lock and loaded," All four hwachas operators were ready to unleash the arrows. Ser Parcival, Ser Cedric, ser Gareth, and Gilbert.

Captain Willem gave the command. "Percy, Cedric, take the west target! Gareth, Neckbeard, take the east target!"

"Sir, yes sir!" all four hwacha operators replied in unison.

"They wanted to break our focus by a pincer attack," Captain Willem watched them closely as they kept closing in. The hwachas were ready. the moment the harpies get into the Hwachas' firing range Captain Willem would give order to rain down the arrows.

just as the harpies were about to enter the Hwacha's firing range they dove in.

Captain Willem was taken by surprise for the second time. with just several skirmishes, the harpies knew exactly the limit range of the hwacha's effective firing range.

"Captain, we can't take a clear shot," Gilbert shouted.

"Damn it," Captain Willem clenched his fist.

"All hwacha units stand your ground!"

The hwachas were rendered ineffective, their projectiles were unable to reach the harpies as they flew low and spread out. the arrows from Hwachas would be going in a straight line and the harpies already dove under the straight line of the hwacha arrows.

at this rate, the hwachas would only waste many arrows more than the harpies they were able to shoot down.

But the village defenders had an advantage. The courthouse was located in the center of the village, surrounded by buildings that protected it from the harpies' attacks. Debris, junk, and rubbles were stacked to create barricades, while the narrow streets and alleys minimized the harpies' numbers.

It was another stroke of brilliance from Captain Willem, who had chosen the strategic location for their headquarters. The terrain already did the heavy work for the village.

"Ground units prepare to battle!" Captain Willem roared out.

"Ground unit prepare to battle!" Corporal Knightly relayed the captain's order from the ledge.

All units on the ground lined up behind the barricade.

"Tsk, that ruhimi was right, the harpies are learning from their mistakes," Captain Willem recalls what Aden said about the harpies. They are cunning, ruthless, and relentless.

"It might just be another diversion. A feign." Old man Jed replied.

"Aye, most likely they after the hwachas." Captain Willem confirmed the old man.

The old man wasn't just an engineer hired and responsible with the hwachas matters but somehow he has more insights about the harpies than Gilbert's Celestra Compendium.

⁕⁕⁕

The courthouse front yard rang with the clamor of frantic preparations, but Aden's focus remained squarely on the young boy before him. "Stay inside, kid," he ordered gruffly, giving Oliver a firm shove to send him stumbling back a few paces.

His stern gaze softened slightly as it fell upon the simple stone slinger gripped in Oliver's white-knuckled fists. "You're confident with that, aren't you?" Aden's voice lowered, adopting a gentler tone as he nodded toward the humble sling.

Oliver met Aden's eyes with a jerky nod, his expression a mask of nerves. "Y-yes."

Aden held the boy's stare, allowing the weight of his next words to sink in. "Then you shoot them from a safe distance, you hear?" Though phrased as a question, his tone brooked no argument.

Oliver's mouth worked soundlessly for a moment before he simply bobbed his head again, unable to give voice to the roiling anxiety churning within.

The veteran warrior's mouth pressed into a grim line as he took in the telltale tremors wracking Oliver's small frame. "It's okay," Aden soothed, reaching out to grip the boy's shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "I know you can do this."

It was true that Oliver had tasted the heat of battle before when dispatching a lone goblin raider. But this...this was the heart of war itself, the full onslaught of an enemy horde, unlike anything he could have imagined. At least the traumatic encounter with the harpy had helped steel his nerves fractionally. Even so, the poor lad looked poised to bolt at any moment.

Aden's calloused hand tightened almost imperceptibly, his weathered features etched with a mixture of understanding and an unspoken apology for the horrors he was asking this child to bear witness to.

"We've got your back out there," he murmured, holding Oliver's gaze with an intensity that allowed no doubt of his conviction. "And you'll have ours from in here. We're all in this together, kid."

With a steadying exhale, Oliver gave a jerky nod of acceptance. His feet carried him woodenly to the doorway, sling clutched in a death grip as he took up position by the windows. From this vantage point, he could rain down a hail of stones upon any foes that dared approach - provided his courage didn't fail him when the moment arrived.

The rattle of arms and rush of booted feet filled the front yard as Aden turned to join his comrades. But his eyes lingered fleetingly on Oliver's small, hunched form, silently willing the boy an ocean of bravery to draw upon in the coming battle.

Aden knew Oliver was eager to join the fight, so he wouldn't straightly tell him no. He told the boy to fight from a safe distance because the boy and the mute were responsible for distributing the arrows from the rooftop to the front yard and vice versa.

Aden knew Victor would be watching over him from the rooftop while he stood guard from below. The kid was safe in their care.

"Ground unit ready!" Captain Willem shouted to the village defenders down below from the rooftop.

Corporal Knightly swung down from the rooftop with the pulley again. landed on the front yard with an awesome pose once more and unsheathed his longsword.

"Ground unit with me!"

⁕⁕⁕

The screeching and screaming of harpies echoed through the air—louder. Their haunting cries signaled their approach. The village's defenders tensed, their hearts pounding in anticipation. They knew that a fierce battle was about to unfold.

The harpies flew low. They had learned from previous encounters and were now swooping in with calculated precision. They aimed to disrupt the defenders' formation.

Behind the barricade, Aden was ready with his spear and his stance firm. His eyes fixed on the incoming swarm of the harpies. They will come in full swing, as if cavalry charged toward the spear wall, but this was a barricade with villagers behind it instead of a spear wall formed by experienced soldiers.

Just as they reached the archer's range a fierce cry reverberated through the air.

"Archers, loose!"

Aden could hear the captain screaming orders from the rooftop. Followed by arrows swizzling toward the flying low harpy flock.

"Brace yourself!" one of the defenders shouted, his voice ringing out across the battlefield.

"Incoming!" Aden yelled, his eyes fixed on the approaching swarm.

The harpies built their speed and swooped in from two sides. They also flew low to avoid hwachas and charged towards the ground unit who ready to meet them with spears, swords, and pitchforks.

The harpies were swooping in numbers converging and focusing their attack on the front yard. As if they wanted to breach the barricade and get into the courthouse through the front door.

just as they reached the barricade, they opened up their claws—and pointed them out to the ground unit.

"Brace for impact!" Corporal Knightly shouted. He held onto the barricade. His sword was ready by his hand.

Grakk! —The harpies plunged claws first straight into the sturdy barricade made of a pile of junk. Using their legs as shock absorbers, they grabbed any junk or objects that were in the barricade and rode the wave of momentum to hurl it away and weaken the barricade.

"Attack!" Corporal Knightly opened the fight to the harpies in the front yard. The ground units retaliated. They started to engage the harpies. Swung their swords, thrust their spears, poked their poles, banged metal objects, threw rocks, blew some fire, anything they could use as a means to fight for their lives.

The deafening clang of harpy talons and claws against the defender's shield and barricades rang out through the air. War cries, yells, and screams of the wounded, accompanied by plumes of dust that gathered thickly around them, filled the battlefield in the courthouse's front yard, creating an atmosphere of intensity and dread.

"Attack! Don't let them dismantle the barricade!" Corporal Knightly warned the ground unit.

The moment the barricade exposed the windows and the doors behind it, it would be catastrophic for the people. There wouldn't be anything between the women and children inside the courthouse and the harpies but the barricaded windows which the harpies could easily breach with sheer force.

The villagers may not be combatants but they knew that they had to protect their loved ones, their properties, and their life, and they were ready to do whatever it took to defend their community.

With poles and ranged weapons in hand, they poked and prodded at the harpies, trying to disrupt their attacks and drive them away. They banged any utensils they could find, creating a cacophony of noise that disrupted the harpies' hearing sense.

The harpies screeched and flapped their wings, trying to find a way to breach the defenders' barricade. But the defenders stood firm, their eyes gleaming with fierce determination.

"Keep them at bay!" Captain Willem shouted, his voice carrying across the battlefield. "We can't let them breach our defenses!"

All the recon knights dismounted from their hwachas. They grabbed their boltcasters—a type of crossbow that could fire up to ten arrows with a single cartridge— and began shooting the harpies from the ledge.

Oliver and Martin ran around fetching the spare arrows and boltcaster cartridges—The cartridges looked like a rolled wooden cylinder with ten bolts inside it. There were mechanics inside the wooden cylinder cartridge to unleash the bolts on a rapid scale.

The defenders nodded in agreement, their hearts pounding with adrenaline. They knew that they were outnumbered and outmatched, but they refused to back down.

⁕⁕⁕