Chapter 163 The Helping Tail
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Alistar tilted his head at the peculiar behavior of the dwarves. Despite their short stature, they didn't equip themselves with bows or crossbows. Instead, they wore full armor at the top of the wall, as if melee combat was their only option. Moreover, their height hindered their ability to properly observe outside the wall.
"Hmmm. The dwarves certainly have a unique battle style. Are you sure we can leave this to them?" Ghander and King Garme asked Alistar as they observed from the HQ.
"We are in alliance with them. Let us have faith in them. They said they've got this," Alistar replied, his smile displaying a determination to fully trust their fate to others.
"Our forces are in reserve. Stay in contact with the dwarves to assist them if necessary," King Garme stated. Though he harbored doubts, he trusted Alistar's word.
As expected, the undead charged. When they reached the wall, the Vargmuth climbed without issue. Even with the wall polished and oiled until it shone, the creatures managed to stab their fingers in, creating cracks as they rose. Upon reaching the protruding steel pikes on the wall, they stopped and grabbed onto the poles. Like monkeys, they climbed to the top of the poles, attempting to reach the wall. The dwarves stabbed their pikes at them. The unsteady stakes shook from the sudden motion, and the slippery surface caused the Vargmuth to slip back to the ground below.
"Ohh, those steel pikes, though ugly, are efficient. The Vargmuth have to climb them, and since they are also slippery, a single poke from a dwarf is enough to send them back down," Alistar commented.
"Yes, I wonder if we could adopt that," King Garme pondered. However, Ghander shook his head.
"Those pikes would be too expensive to make. Moreover, this formation would disrupt our archers. In this case, though, it disrupted their archers and not ours. I see. That's why they didn't employ any crossbowmen on top of the wall," Ghander nodded with realization.
The assault continued. The Vargmuth no longer attempted to climb the wall but instead focused on smashing our gate. The dwarves intentionally left the gate for repair later, leaving other elves puzzled about their intentions. The gate was easily broken down after a few Vargmuth forcefully crashed through it.
When the Vargmuth tore down the wall, they were met with the mouths of five cannons. As a cannon fired, the beast's innards and flesh splattered across the floor, disintegrating into black smoke. The dwarves cheered as another cannon was aimed and fired in rotation. We looked on in awe.
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"Wait, how did those cannons do so much damage!?" Ghander and Alistar were stunned.
"Ahh! The cannons were filled with shrapnel instead of cannonballs," I muttered as I observed the dwarves reloading the cannons with bags containing shrapnel instead of the standard cannonballs. My voice was heard only by Lily, and she looked at it with glee.
"They are amazing!"
"I see I underestimated them when they said they are experts when it comes to siege defense. Those shrapnel shots were unimaginable for us to use. Not only do they decrease the barrel lifespan, but they also lose much of their lethality the farther they go, which is unsuited for placing them on top of the tower," Alistar and Ghander became expert commentators as they watched the battle unfold.
The brainless undead continued to funnel through the gate. If the gate were closed, the wall would be overwhelmed, so the dwarves intentionally didn't fix the gate, trying to maximize this strategy. When there were no more Vargmuth and ordinary skeletons left, the undead archers retreated. Lhorne rallied several archers, trying to score a few hits.
"Ah, they escaped..." everyone muttered.
"Hmm? You never said they could escape, Lord Alistar. I thought those archers would stupidly charge into the gate like everyone else. What happened?"
"Well, several weeks ago, they did exhibit this strange behavior once. I have no idea why they did that, but they did flee once." Alistar said. The undead never fled, even if they fought a hopeless battle. However, several weeks ago, they did escape from battle. We suspected that someone was directing them to do so, but there was no proof.
"I see. Our strategy was fine for defending against the undead no matter how many there were, but we could not chase after fleeing undead," King Sig muttered as he frowned in the HQ.
"That would be fine. They could either attack a human country or get stranded in the wilderness with many dangerous monsters eating them. We care not. if this fortress did not fall, the elves are safe." King Garme nodded in acceptance. While the battle left something more to be desired, it was an undeniable victory.
The battle was over, and the soldiers cheered at the easy victory. There were only 4 wounded, two from stray black arrows that found their mark despite the obstructing wall covering the dwarves and the steel pikes. The other two were injured due to a mistake in loading the cannons, which led to an injury. Edelweiss healed them all in no time, and the soldiers were already drinking beer at the cafeteria.
"Thank you, King Sig. We elves thank you for helping us in these times of need." The battle was a complete victory for us, and everyone cheered. Even the elves in reserve were amazed at the dwarves' mastery of fort battles.
"Yeah, I am also grateful to you for allowing us to have land in your country. We can now expand our country. Lord Lily!" King Sig smiled. He specifically mentioned Lily because he chose the land closest to their country, either Lily's or Silvane's land. However, Lord Silvane's land was already cramped and unfit for growing crops, so he chose our land instead. King Garme agreed, since Lily was about to be given more land after this was over.
"You may now assault the undead. We will hold this fort and rest easy, for it will never fall," Sig smiled, and our attention was now back to our main agenda—the assault on Northlangard.