Chapter 2: Attacking the Fortress with a Secret Strategy
Accompanied by my escort soldiers, I climbed the circular hill in the Diras wasteland.
At the top of the hill, the flags of the Lion and the Suzuran (lily-of-the-valley) fluttered in the wind, with rows of escort soldiers standing guard. Among them, there was no sign of Spirii, the secretary officer, but I paid no mind and instead turned my gaze toward the basin below. At its center lay the Gangaruga Fortress, surrounded by the allied forces.
The siege of Gangaruga Fortress had already lasted over twenty days. But this wasn’t unusual—capturing a castle or fortress always took time.
The allied forces began to move into position, but their movements were sluggish, their morale visibly low. In contrast, the demon army on the fortress walls moved swiftly, their spirits high and their morale unshaken.
“Hey there, young lady.”
A voice called from behind me. When I turned, I saw Foreman Ganze, a bearded man, climbing the hill.
“Foreman Ganze, what brings you here…?”
I quickly deduced his reason for coming.
Foreman Ganze was usually busy with work at this time. For him to leave his post, there could only be one explanation.
“Just finished the final inspection. The job you requested is complete.”
“Thank you. I expected it to take thirty days, yet you managed it in twenty.”
“Save your thanks for the workers. I just supervised. Besides, you bringing so many magic soldiers was a big help. And that Cleat—his mouth’s foul, but his skills are solid. He finished modifying the magic tools in just ten days. Made the job much smoother.”
Foreman Ganze spoke with pride.
“You’ve done well. Please rest today.”
As I thanked him, the sound of a war horn echoed across the battlefield—the signal for the assault to begin.
“Hm? The attack’s starting? Perfect timing. I wanted a good look at the new weapons from each nation.”
Foreman Ganze, who had never had the chance to witness a battle firsthand, turned his attention to the basin.
“Then please, join me here.”
I gestured for him to stand beside me as we watched the battlefield unfold.
Today’s plan was as follows: the Hamiel Kingdom and the Hurion Kingdom would assault the front gate, while the Hovos Federation and the Heiren Kingdom would strike the rear gate. Our Lionel Kingdom would attack the right flank, and the Fulgus Empire would pressure the left.
Hamiel’s archers advanced, loosing arrows as magic soldiers fired spells. Under the cover of long-range attacks, infantrymen raised ladders against Gangaruga Fortress, scrambling to scale the walls.
Meanwhile, beneath the protection of their comrades, a wheeled triangular roof moved toward the front gate. Beneath the roof peeked the tip of a massive log—a battering ram, shielded from above as it inched closer to breach the gate.
Almost simultaneously, a towering structure resembling stacked boxes began advancing toward the rear gate. It was tall enough to reach the fortress walls.
“A siege tower… Hovos Federation’s work?”
Foreman Ganze eyed the colossal structure.
Siege towers were weapons designed for breaching castles and fortresses. Built from wood and fitted with wheels, they allowed armies to deploy soldiers directly onto enemy walls.
“Fast for its size. Impressive design.”
Foreman Ganze praised the Hovos Federation’s engineering.
Constructing massive siege towers was a delicate task—too tall, and they risked collapse; too heavy, and mobility suffered. Yet they had to be sturdy enough to withstand impacts, which inevitably added weight. Crafting them required advanced calculations and skill, a field where nations fiercely competed.
Further to the right, the Heiren Kingdom deployed massive catapults, hurling boulders at Gangaruga Fortress to support Hovos’ advancing siege towers.
“Catapults, huh? Unusual design. Heiren’s latest model?”
Foreman Ganze scrutinized their construction.
Heiren’s catapults differed from our own, appearing to boast greater range and power.
With cutting-edge siege weapons from both Hovos and Heiren, the allied forces surrounded Gangaruga Fortress. Under such an assault, no fortress should have held.
But then—Gangaruga Fortress moved.
It wasn’t the demon army soldiers inside moving – the entire Gangaruga Fortress itself had begun to move. Suddenly, massive shadows writhed from the fortress walls as arm-like appendages emerged and stood erect, multiple limbs stretching outward. At the end of each arm, enormous stones swayed, chained to the limbs.
“Tch… A demon weapon?”
Ganze muttered
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This wasn’t something created by the Roende Kingdom. The demons must have added these weapons later. The grotesque arms extending from the fortress reached beyond the walls and began swinging horizontally. The massive stones attached to them gained momentum as they swept across the front of the walls – their targets being the approaching siege towers.
The siege towers, being mobile structures assembled from timber, had inherent limitations in their sturdiness. They were particularly vulnerable to lateral impacts. When struck by just one swing of these monstrous arms with their pendulum-like weights, the Hovos Federation’s siege tower shattered instantly. Wooden beams exploded outward as soldiers inside were violently ejected, sent tumbling to their doom below.
The relentless assault continued, smashing tower after tower.
“Hmph… Quite the monstrosity.”
Foreman Ganze clicked his tongue repeatedly as he watched the demon-operated arms.
These grotesque limbs were a form of crane, the kind used to lift heavy materials. Such cranes can be seen at construction sites for castles.
But the demon army’s version was unlike any I’d seen.
Our cranes could only hoist loads vertically, their arms short and fixed. The demons’ cranes, however, had necks like waterfowl—long, flexible, capable of moving in all directions.
“They must use metal components at the base. Gears, like in waterwheels or windmills, redirecting force. Then, ropes pulled by crews for control.”
Foreman Ganze theorized about the fortress’s inner workings.
“Could we replicate it?”
“The metal joints bearing the load—no clue how they’re built. Won’t be easy to copy.”
He shook his head but then smirked.
“But I want it. That thing would revolutionize our work.”
Though replication seemed difficult, Foreman Ganze, a builder at heart, was eager to try. We needed this—absorbing enemy technology was vital. Falling behind in engineering would cost us the war.
“Still, the demons built something truly troublesome. Thanks to this, most of our siege towers are already destroyed.”
Our Lionel Kingdom had brought five towers; all were now wreckage. Hovos suffered worse—over twenty towers had been reduced to splinters by the cranes.
However, the Kingdom of Heiren couldn’t just sit back and take the beating—their catapults launched massive stones in an attempt to destroy the Demon King’s Army’s cranes.
Yet the stones hurled by the catapults lost momentum just before reaching the cranes, crashing against the fortress walls and shattering.
This was inevitable. Catapults were never precision weapons to begin with. Since the weight and shape of the stones varied with each shot, their trajectories were inherently unstable.
In response to the catapult attacks, movement stirred atop the walls of Gangaruga Fortress as their own catapults emerged into view. However, these were much smaller, incomparable to the Kingdom of Heiren’s massive siege engines.
The Gangaruga Fortress launched its counterattack with catapults. The projectiles flying through the air were nearly perfect spheres.
“Those are… round? Are those ceramic?”
“Most likely. It seems they were specially made for their catapults,”
I replied, making an educated guess as Foreman Ganze narrowed his eyes at the flying projectiles.
The ceramic bombs traced a parabolic arc before landing around the Kingdom of Heiren’s catapults. Upon impact, the pottery shattered, spilling their contents—liquid that ignited the moment it touched the air, engulfing nearby soldiers in flames.
Comrades rushed to help the burning men, smothering the flames with cloth and dirt, but the fire spread too fast and burned too fiercely. Instead of extinguishing it, the rescuers ended up scorched themselves.
The Demon King’s Army’s catapults weren’t mere blunt-force weapons—they were incendiary bombs. Fires began erupting all across the battlefield.
“That ain’t just oil. The hell is that?”
“Well… we don’t know what that is either. It’s a mystery how it ignites without any flame. At the very least, it’s a far more flammable liquid than any chemical we possess.”
I shook my head, just as clueless.
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