“They are retreating!!!” the mix of warriors, knights, and adventurers cheered… but Gallo, who was keeping watch on the entirety of the battle, instantly noticed ‘a small stone in the wave’ of the retreating spikes… it was walkers… around 20 of them, rushing… even mowing down some of the spikes who were responding to the retreat.

“Come back inside!! Retreat!!” Gallo screamed immediately, the urgency was in his voice. There was no way to handle them… the hero or Simon was not with them. Gallo’s face twisted, he knew that some of them wouldn’t make it but just to make better odds he calculated “Aim the cannons, array of 45, 30, 15!! Bear it to the center!!!! PERCIVAL!!! GET THE WARRIORS DOWN READY,” it was an immediate command.

The engineers followed the command followed by rhythmical clicks of metal against metal. Gallo closed his eyes and followed the sounds of the clicks through the screams and rumbles of the earth. As soon as it stopped the red-haired boy screamed “FIRE!!!”

Percival, who was on the rear guard, rallied them to go inside.

“Hurry up!!” he screamed. The cannon hit the specified spot.

“ESCAPE!! ESCAPE!!” Gallo, who was watching the aftermath of his command, screamed, using the funnel that increased his voice… but it was too late.

The explosion from the cannon was not enough to cover their path of escape. The Walkers finally rushed… a path was created from the bloody bodies of the warriors and adventurers.

It seemed that the walkers specifically targeted the weaker sides. Vish was quick in her response as she divided the knights into 2 groups going left and right; the screams were a great cue for her.

Back on the smaller gates of the northern wall. Specifically the last 3 lines of defenses.

The warriors and the forest folks on the last lines of defense tightened the grip of their weapons… they were hearing the screams. They cannot close the gates now since the retreat is still ongoing… It was coming… they praised the gods that their families were not in the town.

The battle was unfolding, and blood was spilling. The adventurers fell down, the knights breaking their shields, the walkers attacking regardless of their defense. It was chaos as it should be.

“Miss!!! Do what you want!!! I will manage the center!! Rascals with me!!” it was the adventurer who called himself Lucky Rabbit. Vish nodded at him, a smile of confidence on the battle field was rare. But as soon as they did this, the walkers changed their attack point into the center.

Gallo, who was observing up the wall, noticed this and he started scanning the horizon with his scope and saw a spike that was on the east mountain of the wall.

“4 cannons far east bear right 30 degrees, check me when ready!!!” Gallo screamed to the engineers down. After a few seconds, the engineers replied. “We are ready!!!”

“Fire 2 rounds!!!” Gallo screamed into his instrument in a tense voice, the heat of the moment all over him.

<--->

The walkers were crazy powerful. They would be ranked as an S class because of the destruction a single one could cause. Unlike the adventurers in the central, the warriors and scouts that were fighting didn’t have the same quality.

The warriors and scouts on the northern walls were trained to use various weapons depending on the situation. Their training focused on defense rather than charging into enemy ranks, which wasn't their forte. Their prowess in coordinated battles ranked around class B. Adventurers and knights had their own specialized styles, with using magic edges being the minimum requirement. While skilled, the sheer number of walkers posed a significant challenge, highlighting the vast difference between class A and class B.

The battle against walkers would take 2 good A-ranked adventurers to take one out. According to the hero of the era’s words, if the party had a kind of magic break magic, then it would be a lot easier. But the magic break was not easy magic. It required analyzing the enemy’s magic essence first and copying it a little, then using it to penetrate the magic and break it from the inside.

“Ah, probably doomed,” the Lucky Rabbit said as he saw some of his comrades die from the tail blades of the walkers.

It's actually annoying to explain so he didn’t think of it too much.

He has some kind of a special sword he got from one of his lucky dungeon dives. It's called the Magic Eater. Contrary to the name, this sword could disperse magic when it hits. He could practically cut flying fireballs and slice winds apart.

“Boys, you are lucky!!! You are lucky because I’m here!!!” the Lucky Rabbit screamed, and the adventurers and scouts who were together with him during the rescue cheered. It made the dire situation easier to take.

“Charge and survive!! We will die someday anyway!!! Fight and live!!!!” the veteran screamed, boosting the morale of his team.

<--->

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Somewhere in the deep roads.

The deep roads were dry, with the walls and road oddly well-preserved—no signs of erosion or damage. The party journeyed through the seemingly endless passage, fortunate that the snowboards held steady among the stones. Nonetheless, they still employed magic edges to reinforce them.

“There is water here… let's follow it!” Simon said. He was guiding the party. It seemed that the hero was still out of his mind.

“We are past the wall… I can feel it… there’s an exit,” Carla said.

The black hood continued to push the hero. They finally found another door with strange carvings. Carla quickly tried to open it, but Simon stopped her.

“I think that’s the exit,” he said instead. Pointing to another crack in the tunnel, it was dark but since Simon could see in the dark naturally, he immediately recognized this.

There was a sound of streaming water coming from a large hole in the wall. Simon remembered the underground river Percival told them about before.

“I will open it up!” Carla said, activating magic to enlarge the crack. Even going as far as making it a half-circle hole. They went inside and found the river… and a path on the cliff. She seals back the hole she made just for insurance.

It was a large cavern with ancient carvings on it, from the sculptures and stairs, murals, and indiscernible carvings. The group was clearly surprised seeing this.

They followed the river and finally found the mechanism that turns by the river’s flow. “What a large wheel…” the Black Hood said, but nobody cared.

“Can you guys see that?” Simon said but of course, they couldn’t, although the wheel was turning because of the river flowing down and the waterfall on its side. It was also bringing up water. Simon who noticed this smiled. “We have to go there.”

The cavern had already made paths and stairs; it was quite slimy. They had to go through highly inclined stairs with only a carved handle on the cavern’s wall side.

In a few hours, they arrived at the bottom of the water wheel. It was ancient and mossy. The water was coming out from the top, the wheel had scoops on it that turned when the water flowed, it scoops when it got deep. There were holes in it so that it would only take a specific amount of water.

They had to do a little swim to go to the other bank where the side of the water wheel goes up.

Simon was the first one to go up. There at the top, the scoops would mechanically flip and spill into another canal that was high on top, this was where they would be going. It took a few tries since they needed to remove the water on the scoop. They had to because the wheel would stop turning if the scoop was too heavy.

The canal was long, it was a little bit inclined to ensure that the water that the scoop brought would go down.

To their surprise, they arrived at a dead end. It was the bottom of a well and one of them was familiar with it. “We are in the town already!!!” Andy, who was familiar with the layout of the town, said so.

Cluttering sounds, whipping and screams could be heard at a low volume from where they were “Can you hear that?” Simon, who was leading the group, said again.

“There is a battle above?” Carla answered.

<--->

A few hours earlier… in the northern wall battle.

The core fighters who engaged where the walker concentrated managed to hold the line, and the retreat proceeded smoothly, albeit with some casualties.

Vish was impressed by the lucky rabbit veteran, but she couldn't dwell on it. They were currently in combat with four walkers. After a few exchanges, Vish could gauge that the walker fell somewhere between A and S rank in terms of strength. Engaging in team combat against an S-class monster was commonplace when delving into dungeons, especially the harsh ones on the frontier.

The knights split into two groups, rallying other warriors and adventurers around them.

“Three escaped!” the Lucky Rabbit yelled, his movement followed blood trails from his lost arm that was first aided by tight clothes and magic.

Percival spotted the walkers and prepared to intercept them. Percival, unlike typical northerners, had traveled extensively and picked up a few tricks, such as using the Magic Edge. His axe gleamed as he jumped into the air, using 'Blur' to erase his presence. Descending, he swung the axe, a shield strapped to his back. Although unnecessary, he carried it for added weight. His strike took down one walker, surprising the other two, who quickly evaded him.

The remaining walkers leaped high, aiming for the next gate. They began attacking it to break through. The walkers were methodical, targeting weak points and slicing open the gate. Percival swiftly launched an attack from behind. One walker engaged them while the other continued onward.

Percival and his group launched a defensive attack, focused on preventing their escape. Two more gates remained before reaching the town's exit.

“MORE WALKERS!!!” Gallo's voice rang out.

<--->

Deep Roads.

The well was as deep and as wide as one and a half times an adult's body. The party walked, standing on the water within the well, while the bucket remained suspended above. Simon planned to propel himself upward using his wind and water blades, dropping down the pail for the others to climb up.

Glancing back at the party, Simon noted their exhaustion.

The water in the well was icy cold. Having grasped how the magic edge functioned, Simon could now distinctly differentiate between using the wind blade and the water blade.

“I'm going up now,” Simon informed them. They nodded in acknowledgment. Despite Paramour's audible sighs, Simon remained unfazed.

Riding atop the water blade, with the wind blade in hand, Simon began manipulating it. He utilized the water blade to carve a path in the air and the wind blade to propel himself upward.

The rest of the party watched as he dashed upward.

....

In a few moments, the pail dropped along with a rope. “Walkers breached the wall!” and Simon screamed.

Paramour’s senses snapped like he was suddenly awakened. “We have to get up there!! Follow my lead!!”

Paramour rode on a snowboard and literally aiming sideward, he started a rotation that was going up. He used the rope of the pail to guide himself upwards, and after that, he started climbing while he would still use the rope to align his board properly.

Andy totally got it and followed his lead. The same with the black hood too… but the princess had a bit of a hard time. “I’ll just climb up… normally,” she said. The black hood nodded as she left the princess in the well.

…

“They really left me…” Carla said like it was a curse. She stomped her feet twice before starting to climb up… but then as she was beginning to climb up, the rope started ascending, and she gripped it tightly. Slowly it got faster and faster.

“TOO FAST!!! YOU IDIOTS!!!” she screamed. “Aim for the farthest walker!!! it was the voice of the hero she heard. In a few moments, she was literally slingshot into the air, and she saw the situation of the battle.

2 of the gates in the town had already been destroyed, and 10 to 15 more walkers were going in of the wall’s gate. “Shit!!! FIRE BALL,” she started firing fireballs all around aiming for the farthest walkers.