“Kill! All of you, get your heads in the game! Don’t let these mongrels succeed!”

A Northern Expeditionary Army officer slashed a gnome attempting to scale the wooden wall, shouting at his soldiers.

“Don’t worry, sir, even if ten of these mongrels rush us, I could take them all out.”

“Shit, if ten of them made it past you, I’d twist your head right off.”

“Pfft!”

As they spoke, another gnome clambered up the wall. Before it could clear the crenellation, a swift Northern Expeditionary Army captain cut its head clean off with a single strike.

These gnomes possessed low combat power but excelled in agility, able to climb the walls with ease without any tools. However, once they made it onto the wooden wall, they posed little threat to the defending army and only served to harass their foes. The real danger still came from the occasional cannibal demons mixed in with the horde.

“Captain! A cannibal demon is approaching our section!”

A soldier spotted a cannibal demon attempting to climb up the wooden wall amidst the gnomes and alerted his officer, his tone now devoid of the levity he had when facing the gnomes.

“Ballistas, prepare to fire! Don’t let it climb up!”

The Northern Expeditionary Army captain immediately tensed. Although he was a quasi-knight, he had no confidence whatsoever in taking down a cannibal demon if it managed to reach the top.

Two burly soldiers swiftly brought over a thick and heavy palisade log studded with spikes.

“Ready!”

On the command, the two soldiers tossed the log over the wall. A moment later, the roar of a demon was cut short by a muffled thud—the log had struck the demon squarely on its head. Even with its thick skin, a blow from hundreds of kilograms of falling timber was too much, and the demon died instantly upon impact.

Fortunately, Marquis Wade had taken some of Lint’s advice and made strategic preparations at Heuer Castle, stockpiling plenty of defensive materials like palisade logs and stones, as well as food sufficient for several months.

The Northern Expeditionary Army garrisoned outside Heuer Castle was now defending a hardy encampment built entirely of ironwood, sturdy and well-fortified. The soldiers stationed within coordinated closely with the defenders inside the castle, successfully repelling waves of assaults from the demons.

Yet today, the situation seemed to have changed slightly. While the soldiers cheered for having taken down a demon so easily, a sharp-eyed soldier spotted more demons approaching. Today’s assault appeared to be no simple probe.

“Cap’n, look over there!” Following the direction of the soldier’s pointing finger, a hundred-odd demons in heavy armor could be seen forming a formation under the escort of countless gnomes, approaching the palisade wall.

Even more frightening, a dozen or so gnomes were pushing a giant siege hammer toward their section of the wall, keeping pace with the rest of their formation.

“Is this…is this a joke?”

The captain was visibly startled; he had never imagined gnomes possessed the capability to construct siege machinery. And what siege hammer was this, larger even than the standard variety?

“Prepare to engage!”

There was no need for him to yell; the soldiers, who had only just relaxed, had already grabbed their weapons and assumed a combat stance. As veterans of the Northern Expeditionary Army, they possessed a solid foundation in basic combat skills.

Bang!

The gnomes rammed their siege hammer into the wooden wall, the entire fortress trembling visibly in its wake. No matter how well constructed, a log fortress was still made of wood, after all—no match for a castle built from stone. If the enemy were allowed to continue battering away at it with this siege hammer, it wouldn’t be long before a breach was opened.

The defenders on the wall were well aware of this danger, but what they found troublesome was that they were unable to inflict any damage upon the gnomes operating the siege hammer. These enemies wore heavy armor and kept a distance from the log fortress, making it difficult to hit them with logs or arrows, while their armor rendered bows and arrows practically useless against them.

“What are you standing around for? Pour the kerosene!”

“But…”

“Bang!”

Another impact, and the wooden wall shook even more violently than before.

“What’s the matter? Hurry up!”

The shouting soldier was a captain, who had rushed over with his men as soon as he spotted the danger. The defenders usually kept a supply of kerosene, but the log fortress was also made of wood, and even though it had been treated to resist fire, using kerosene here risked setting the defenders’ own fort aflame. But this was a crisis, and they could only cross that bridge when they came to it.

“Pour!”

A cascade of kerosene doused the battering ram, and when they tossed a lit torch onto it, the entire apparatus ignited, torch-like, scaring away the nearby demons.

Luckily, the fire failed to ignite the log fortress, and without their battering ram, the demons began to slowly retreat. The garrison had weathered this storm.

At this time, Marquis Wade stood atop the watchtower of Herlfort with several senior Northern Expeditionary Army officers, observing the battle in its entirety. As the defeated demons disappeared into the horizon, Marquis Wade turned to his subordinates and commanded, “Have the outlying strongholds withdraw.”

“But, my lord, without those outlying settlements, Herlfort will be utterly alone.”

“If we can’t defend it, we might as well retreat and preserve our strength.”

“Pull back to the fortress, per the established plan.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Marquis Wade didn’t want to abandon the outlying strongholds, but now that the cannibals had constructed siege weapons, those log fortresses were in no position to hold out. The soldiers stationed there would be better off returning to bolster the defenses of the fortress and await reinforcements.

“Retreat, everyone, retreat back to the fortress—quickly!”

An officer of the Northern Expeditionary Army shouted at the soldiers retreating through the gate, directing the Northern Expeditionary Army back to Helburg.

“Close the gates!”

As the last soldier passed through, the captain of the flag turned to rush back toward the gate as well.

“Bang!”

The heavy iron doors slammed shut just after he entered, leaving the pursuing horde of gnomes standing at the foot of the wall to be mowed down by gunfire.

Although the gnomes suffered heavy casualties, the orcs achieved their strategic objective. After ten days of siege, the army of orcs finally captured all the camps surrounding Helburg.

Helburg was now a fortress under siege.

Marquis Wade stood atop the walls, observing it all, face devoid of expression—but anyone with a basic understanding of military tactics could tell that Helburg’s true crisis was now at hand.

The Northern Expeditionary Army had constructed their camps around Helburg with formidable fortifications, and initially, the orcs besieged them only lightly, driving gnomes to make suicidal attempts at breaching the defenses as they observed.

This did little to threaten the camps in practice; though the Northern Expeditionary Army had suffered a recent defeat, they were still an elite force well-trained in warfare. Their enemies were monstrous beasts like gnolls and orcs, who held no possibility of surrender. The soldiers defending the sturdy camps had easily repelled these weaker creatures.

Yet after a mere few days, the orcs—who had never possessed true siege capabilities—unexpectedly produced serviceable siege weapons. These machines could not breach the sturdy Helburg fortress, but they easily overpowered the log fortresses surrounding it.

In the cannibal demon’s main camp, Grugesh sat inside a massive, gold-embroidered tent, which was growing increasingly opulent. The tent’s furnishings, from the rug to the decor, were all of exquisite taste.

If not for the fact that the tent was filled with hideous cannibal demons, one might mistake it for the banquet hall of some noble family, were it not for the fact that the tent was filled with hideous cannibal demons.

“Sir Grugesh, the humans have abandoned their camps on the outskirts and retreated into their castle.”

“Hm.”

Grugesh responded simultaneously, and the overlapping sound made the simple utterance “hm” sound terrifying. Fortunately, none of those present were lacking in terrifying features.

“Surround them first. Do not allow a single person to leave the city. We will wait a few days and create some siege weapons before deciding our next move.”

“Yes sir.”

“How many human castles have we taken down?”

“Sir Grugesh, as the four great tribes surround Helm Fort, we must rely on the smaller tribes to attack the others. The human castles are quite sturdy; we’ve taken down very few so far.”

This time only Grugesh spoke. It was understandable that these cannibal chiefs struggled to distinguish between him and his brothers.

The four great tribes counted as Grugesh’s base of power, and with the small tribes he had absorbed after his victory, he could command a force of roughly twenty thousand cannibal demon warriors, nearly a hundred demon champions, and the four great cannibal chiefs.

Many small tribes remained unaffiliated and did not directly heed Grugesh’s orders, though they answered his call to invade the northern lands.

With a mindset of reusing resources, Grugesh ordered his men to attack the human lords’ castles, raid their territories, cut off their roads and communications, and do everything possible to prevent the lords from joining forces.

“Wait a bit, then give them some siege equipment too.”

“Also, when we capture human craftsmen, we must take care of them. As long as they’re willing to forge weapons and equipment for us, they’ll be given all they need to eat and drink, and their families will be guaranteed safety. No indiscriminate killings.”

“Yes, Lord Grugesh.”

“Is there anything else?”

“Lord Grugesh, it seems that several tribes in the northeast have been exterminated by the humans.”

“What happened?”

“It’s likely that some human lords have joined forces.”

A chief had obtained some vague information, but the tribes in question were too far away and weren’t direct subordinates.

The source’s intelligence was incomplete, providing only a rough outline of events. It seemed that some human lords had formed an alliance and eradicated a few small tribes whose names weren’t even known to the demons. The exact strength of this allied force remained unclear.

Grugesh tapped on the table before him. “This budding trend must be extinguished. Send a thousand-man team over there, and recruit a few small tribes as well. Make sure to annihilate them.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Though the intelligence was murky, Grugesh wasted no time responding. In the faraway Barand, Richard remained unaware that he had attracted the attention of one of the demon realm’s most powerful warlords…