Lady Windsor had set out even before Norton and had already reached the city walls to command the defense. Though her instincts were slightly dull, she excelled in battlefield command, swiftly reorganizing nearly two thousand undead troops and positioning the newly arriving ones appropriately.
The undead army from the underground armory was a closely guarded secret, so unless absolutely necessary, Lady Windsor would not deploy them. Thus, the defensive garrison at Dekenhof Castle would not exceed three thousand troops.
But that was enough.
From the window earlier, Norton had seen the Strigoi family's ghouls and skeletons spread across the hills, but they were just the basic, ordinary soldiers. In terms of strength, they were akin to regular human infantry, perhaps even weaker. From his vantage point on the city wall, Norton estimated that the opposing force consisted of no more than thirty thousand.
Approximately ten thousand ghouls and twenty thousand skeleton soldiers, with less than a thousand crypt fiends and over a hundred Strigoi ghoul kings. Additionally, something else seemed to be lurking in the darkness, not undead but living creatures, possibly some beast the Strigoi family had bred.
The Strigoi family had no siege engines. While undead made for formidable soldiers, they were not skilled craftsmen. Ghouls, being malformed and foolish, could not be expected to contribute. Some crudely made ladders couldn’t even reach the castle walls, spelling doom for the over twenty thousand skeleton soldiers.
Unable to reach the city walls, they couldn’t participate in close combat. The skeleton archers wielded poorly made bows, their arrows barely scratching the black iron-plated tomb guardians. Even the few enchanted arrows were deflected by the newly erected defense barrier, rendering them useless.
The skeletons were of little use, and the crypt fiends, despite their might, couldn't topple an eight-meter-thick mithril wall. Thus, the enemy relied mainly on the ghouls.
These ghouls boasted exceptional climbing and leaping abilities. Even without siege ladders, they could grip the tiniest crevices with their claws to climb up. Once within a meter or two of the city wall, they would leap, attempting to pounce—only to be met by the awaiting tomb guardians who would cleave them in half with their halberds.
The tomb guardians, outnumbered but with vastly superior combat prowess, calmly held the line, effortlessly defending the city wall. In no time, the bodies of ghouls that failed in their frontal assault piled up. The stench of their blood, guts, and odor mixed, creating a nauseating atmosphere.
"…Still not giving up?" Norton observed the battlefield calmly, surrounded by over a hundred Blood Chalice Knights. With only a short sword in hand and his short stature, Norton didn’t need to act; any ghoul nearing him was promptly sliced or diced by the knights, leaving him free to survey the scene.
Despite the poor nighttime visibility, vampires like Norton had no trouble seeing clearly. The ghouls charged relentlessly at the city wall, seemingly mindless of death, leading to their systematic slaughter, which struck Norton as odd.
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Ghouls were not undead. Dumb as they might be, they still possessed basic biological instincts like fear. Given their stupidity and the Strigoi family’s dire straits, they were unlikely to have undergone strict military training.
Despite this, these ragtag ghouls faced heavy casualties under the blows of Kastan’s professional army. Logically, they should have already crumbled. Yet they continued their crazed assaults without hesitation… something seemed amiss.
"It's magic," Lady Windsor explained to a puzzled Norton. "If you observe closely, all these ghouls' brains show magical influence, retaining a hint of magic."
"…Indeed." Activating his magical vision, Norton confirmed that the ghouls' brains contained a trace of chaotic, impure magic. From a young age under Triss’s tutelage, Norton’s inaugural lesson in magic was purification.
Triss had always decried such chaotic magic usage as the work of "barbarians." Norton had encountered mixed magic use, but only with precise configurations, akin to an intricate art form, enhancing pure magic’s use. This chaotic jumble was something else entirely.
"What is this... abomination?" Norton frowned, seeking Lady Windsor's guidance. "Such magic doesn’t make soldiers brave; it turns them into bloodthirsty lunatics and severely damages their bodies. It doesn’t belong to any known magical discipline."
Lady Windsor nodded in agreement and elaborated, "True. It's very primitive and brutal. But in certain scenarios, like now, it’s effective—this is a crude, savage form of spellcasting. The barbaric green-skinned orcs, ogre mages, and the northern chaos cultists, along with beastmen tainted by chaos, are skilled in such spells. It’s often referred to as bloodlust magic."
"Is this the work of the Strigoi family?" Norton inquired further.
"Unlikely," Lady Windsor shook her head. "No matter how degenerate, they wouldn't need or choose to use such magic."
"Then, have they formed an alliance with some barbaric race skilled in this magic?" Norton speculated.
Lady Windsor paused to think, then remarked, "If that’s the case, things are more complicated."
"But it doesn't matter, does it? The alarm has sounded throughout the entire county. The nearby garrisons and every vampire noble will rush to aid. We’ll crush these Strigoi rebels, uncovering the truth in the process," Norton said lightly, and Lady Windsor nodded in agreement.
Dekenhof Castle is surrounded by three full undead legions, totaling thirty thousand well-equipped undead soldiers. Additionally, two to three hundred nearby vampires, each with undead servants numbering in the thousands, were on their way. This force was more than sufficient to annihilate the Strigoi rebels.
During their conversation, the battle took a new turn! A unidirectional teleportation magic circle within the castle suddenly activated. A company of black knights bearing red dragon emblems was teleported outside! Among them, equipped with standard Blood Dragon Knight armor and riding a nightmare steed, was Annie!
Annie's sudden appearance caught the enemy off guard. She led her black knight retinue in an uncompromising charge against the thickest part of the enemy lines. Her three hundred black knights pierced into the rebel lines like a spear, breaking clean through.
Uniformly equipped, each black knight bore a kite shield and a 3.2-meter-long lance. Their formation was as precise as if carved by blade and chisel. As they charged, the sound of shattering bones and ghastly ghoul screams echoed. In an instant, they shattered several lines, eliminated thousands of rebels, leaving only remnants of bones and corpses in their wake!
However, despite witnessing Annie's forces display unmatched prowess among the enemy ranks, Norton was far from pleased. In fact, he appeared furious. "Foolishness," he muttered before turning to shout, "Who told her the location of the teleportation circle?!"