City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Proofread by Thomas F

Leonas Cardin

“Gailhorn,” I said as I looked at the large port in front of me.

It has large sandstone walls that reach high, with cannons mounted on them. I could see people, but also the undead filling the wall.

It is the third largest city in the region, after Deepond and Ashton Harbor.

Capacity to house nearly a million people. Though it only has a population of around 200,000, excluding the army.

I have to conquer and do it quickly, but it won’t be easy.

“Looking at things, they planned to defend from the wall,” said Trask. It’s no surprise to me, even with the edge, they wouldn’t want to fight us directly after what happened in the Greltheaven.

They would want to tread as carefully as possible, especially after they have lost two cities.

Soon, we reached the edge of their cannon’s range and stopped.

A moment later, a man appeared on the wall. He is in his early fifties with thick, long, black hair, a sharp nose, and a stern face.

He is Cleon Daphus, the Lord of Gailhorn

He looked different from the last time I saw him. He is wearing a blue half-artifice armor and a black, red spear, an artifact.

Both of them are a grace of the former Lord of Gailhorn.

I know him; we have served in a few campaigns together. The last time I had met him was here two years ago, in the Mirador Hold.

Slightly behind him is a person in a dark brown cloak. Nothing could be seen other than a long blue staff in their hand.

It is Lich Sarava, the head of the undead forces. It could be said that he is the real master of Gailhorn.

I looked at them for a few seconds before finally opening my mouth to speak.

“Lord Daphis, I have come to Gailhorn with orders from Lord Silver to capture the city.”

“I would prefer that it happen peacefully, but wouldn’t hesitate to use force if you didn’t surrender,” I said, with my voice spreading far with spells.

There was a silence for a moment before the man opened his mouth.

“Use force, Cardin, but let me remind you. Once you do, I will bury you and your army on this very earth you are standing on.” He replied.

Bang Bang Bang!

I opened my mouth to ask him to consider, but before any word came out of my mouth, cannons roared and archers released the arrows, along with long-range spells.

Seeing that, I sighed.

I knew he wouldn’t surrender, but I held onto a glimmer of hope. Now, I will have to fight, which fills me with both sadness and excitement.

“Attack!” I commanded with a Rallying Cry and intensified Commanding Presence as I charged forward with my army.

At the same time, cannons roared from behind, and they were far louder. I had brought all seven Roaring Boars, which we had along with other cannons.

They let out a volley, while I moved forward with my army.

I didn’t bring the siege engines and other siege tools. It would take too long, and besides, I don’t need them since there is something better.

I have brought 70% of our mages, including a powerful High-Mage, such as Chief Elar and High-Mage Aldridge.

It will be a two-pronged attack. First, I will use the mages to break through the wall directly. It is well-maintained, but it could be breached if we blast it with enough spells.

The second is to capture the wall with soldiers; the mages will take us there with their spells.

A few days ago, this strategy wouldn’t have worked.

They had sufficient undead and mages here, but they had pulled a lot of them for the great horde.

Still, it wouldn’t be easy. Daphus is a capable commander with extensive battle experience under his belt.

Bang Bang Bang!

Cannons and spells came above us immediately; our mages activated the shield to deal with them, while I also activated General’s Disruption.

It is a rare General-type skill. It can be used to cause any disruption in the battle.

It is a vast attack, but as I activated it. Soms spells clashed against another, enveloping the cannonballs.

Destroying quite a lot before coming close to us, when our shields materialized and began to defend against volleys coming toward us.

Our cannon fire has reached them as well, and they begin to use the shield to defend, but don’t defend all.

They left many of the cannonballs that had gone into the city.

He understood, he has fewer mages than us and is defending only necessary attacks to save the mana of his mages. I would have done the same if I had been in his place.

“I will begin,” said Chief Elar, and a moment later, she and her group of earth mages cast their spells.

Waves of earth appeared and moved toward the wall.

Bang Bang Bang!

Mines begin to explode in front of us. I have to admit that their numbers are greater than I imagined. Seeing that, I focused General’s Disruption on it as well.

We are not undead, that could roll through the minefield. We have to destroy every single mine.

So, it wouldn’t kill our people.

We moved fast, destroying and defending through every attack.

I didn’t order my mages to attack those on the wall; they are in a better position to defend against it, with merlons and parapets.

It is better to save the mana for the right time.

…

Cleon Daphus

“He brought a lot of mages,” I said, with a frown appearing on my face.

He isn’t using them all, but it’s easy to guess, seeing how perfectly he is defending against my attacks.

My Battlefield Tally is also telling me the same.

“That would be a problem,” replied Lich Savara in his grating voice.

I hate the bastard, since he came six months ago; he had been encroaching more and more on authority. I liked Lomos; he let me do my thing and wouldn’t interfere as long as I stayed out of his affairs.

I am more than happy to do that.

I may be in command of the forces, but the Lich’s people are in important positions. If it wants, it could take command from me at any moment.

It makes me very angry, but I feel helpless. It is why, if I saw this bastard dying, I would not help him.

“Do you think our mages will be able to handle them?” I asked. Hoping he would have some mages hidden away from me; they are sneaky like that.

It shook its head.

“Their numbers are larger than we could handle. We will act as the command had advised. Defend until we get the reinforcement.” It replied.

Hearing that, I sighed.

It is still shocking to me how Silver dealt with the Great Horde. I had gone out to see the Great Horde, and the sheer size of it had shocked me.

They have nearly wiped them out and even killed Wraithhearth and Yark.

I am happy that Silver didn’t come. It would have made things much more difficult.

I pushed those thoughts and looked at the enemies; they are only a few hundred meters away from the wall. I am throwing everything I have at them.

Cannon fire, spells, arrows, even ballista, but they were not able to stop them, even a little.

‘Until the night,’ I repeat to myself.

I had talked to Knight Liorian. He said he will send the reinforcement at night. I will just have to hold them back until then.

It shouldn’t be difficult, given the numerous undead and the fact that the lich hadn’t restricted their use.

It is also known that the consequence of losing here is severe.

Soon, there will be only a hundred meters of distance remaining, and I looked at the preparations one more time; I have something planned.

Very soon, they will learn it very painfully.

…

Leonas Cardin

Only a hundred meters are remaining between the wall and the army.

‘Generals Command: Form Steps,’ I commanded. The mages stopped while the soldiers moved forward.

As they did, the steps of earth began to form in front of them, taking them higher to the wall.

Immediately, they countered with spells, but something more—thick oil, filled with rough crystalline rocks, from which smoke could be seen coming out.

Seeing it, my expression turned serious.

“Balas Tar,” said Chief Elar, with an expression like she had eaten something bad. “I didn’t think the undead would give them this,” added Mage Aldridge.

It is balas tar, a thick, alchemical oil. It is of a death element.

It is highly corrosive, capable of corroding spells, and once it touches people, it can cause severe harm. It starts to corrode them as well while giving them unimaginable pain.

“Mage Aldridge,” I said, and the old man nodded.

He might be a scholar mage, but he had fought in war and knew the spells to defend against the undead’s ways effectively.

Many of our mages learned those spells, including Chief Elar.

The shields appeared above our people as the tar came down.

Some spells defended it, some enveloped it in a sphere and threw it away, but they knew this as well. As they spread it across a large area, forcing us to defend with our spells.

They would corrode it quickly, forcing us to reinforce the spell constantly.

We might be surprised by it, but we are prepared to deal with it.

Our mages cast spells with precision, dealing with tar while also defending from the attacks that are coming toward us.

“Chief Elar,”

A moment later, she and her group begin blasting spells on the walls.

The wards flashed, and I could feel hundreds of skills and spells reinforcing it. They will defend the wall, while we will try to destroy it.

It won’t be easy, but it is one of two ways we could enter the city.

The second is through the wall. Trask is leading that effort and is doing a good job—he is a versatile warrior who is very flexible in dealing with changing conditions.

I am surprised that Lord Silver didn’t choose him over me. If I had been in his place, I would have done so.

Time passed, and the steps went higher and higher. Now, they are very close to reaching the wall, seeing that I moved with Chief Elar following behind me.

I climbed the stairs till I reached the top.

Attacks are coming intensively, but our mages are defending us along with shield warriors.

I could feel his eyes; in less than a minute, I would reach the range of his attack. It made me feel scared. He is not weak.

On top of that, he has half-artifice armor and an artifact.

Trask would be better suited to fight him; he had an awakened aura, and he is good at surviving, but he will lead the offense on the wall to capture it, while I will keep Daphus busy.

Soon, the stairs moved further and reached the top of the wall.

“Die, Cardin!” roared Daphus immediately and attacked. He had been waiting for it.

The moment I came into his range, he attacked.

At the exact moment, the lich behind him, who had been standing in its place like a frozen statue, had also made a move.

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