The arrows fell like raindrops around the city walls, with the deafening shouts of battle filling the entire battlefield.

The booming of the Magic Crystal Cannons rang out intermittently, each time exploding into a brilliant firework and a string of screams among the dense ranks of the Sunshine Army below the city walls.

The catapults continuously hurled giant stones toward the towering city walls, striking the flickering Divine Arts defense barrier, making it even more precarious.

Below the city walls, soldiers pushed siege ladders and towers up against the walls. Like ants, the soldiers began to climb up the ladders and towers...

Fierce fighting erupted on the city walls, as defenders from Fengyue Free Territory and Elf players roared and battled with the Imperial Soldiers who had scaled the walls, engaging in a brutal tug-of-war at the battlements.

The gray city walls had already been stained a dark red by the relentless flow of blood.

This was Augus City, the northern gateway to Fengyue Free Territory.

It had been five days since Joseph gave the order to siege the city, and during these five days, the Northern Army had launched relentless assaults on Augus City day and night, placing immense pressure on the defenders.

After five days, the defenders of Augus City had suffered significant casualties under the continuous assaults of the 700,000-strong army. Six thousand out of twenty thousand defenders had already perished, with countless more wounded.

Similarly, of the ten thousand players assisting in the defense, more than three thousand had died, returning to Elf Forest, unable to rejoin the battle.

There was no help for it; the Imperial Army was simply too large, with many experienced veteran soldiers among them.

Even though the entire army lacked heavy siege units, the temporarily assembled siege towers and light catapults posed a significant threat to the defenders.

Worse still, the continuous fighting left the defenders of Augus City increasingly exhausted.

Even the energetic players were now drained, both physically and mentally, due to the prolonged intense fighting.

Commander Arthur had already called for new volunteer recruits from within the city once more.

Many civilians eagerly signed up, their enthusiasm high in order to protect their homeland.

However, this was merely a drop in the bucket.

Because most of the new volunteer recruits were ordinary civilians without extraordinary powers.

In facing a professional alliance army composed of noble private soldiers, they had no way to fight back.

Although Augus City was still barely holding on, everyone could see that the situation for Fengyue Free Territory was not optimistic.

"Mr. A Dai, how long until our reinforcements arrive?"

On the tower of the city walls, Arthur braved the dense rain of arrows, slashing an Imperial Soldier who was trying to climb up the wall from a ladder, and asked, panting heavily.

Beside him, All-Star Ah-Dai, who commanded the player city’s defense, was no longer as composed as in previous days; his body was covered in blood and filth, looking rather disheveled.

"Soon. We need to hold on a little longer, and their ranks will fall into chaos," All-Star Ah-Dai replied.

Arthur wanted to say something more.

But seeing the Elf Warriors fighting to the death, seeing the exhaustion in their eyes, he ultimately swallowed his words.

Biting his lip, he shouted to the surrounding Fengyue warriors:

"Everyone, hold on a little longer, our reinforcements will soon come to our aid!"

The pressure on the side of Augus City was increasing.

On the other hand, the pressure on the Imperial Army, as the attacking side, was no less than that on Fengyue Free Territory.

Watching days of strong attacks without capturing the city, Joseph’s expression grew increasingly grim.

He never expected that a small city like Augus could be so resilient and hard to conquer.

True, the defenders of Augus City had indeed suffered heavy losses.

But as the attacking side, as the side forcibly besieging the city, the Imperial side’s losses were even greater.

In just a few days, more than 50,000 soldiers from the Northern Army had died in the siege, and if not for the coercion of the great nobles, some soldiers, and even some participating small nobles, might have been on the verge of mutiny and retreat.

The originally high morale had been continuously weakened by the repeated assaults. The discontent caused by high casualties was gradually spreading within the army, shaking the entire Northern Army’s cohesion.

Joseph knew very well that if he couldn’t capture this city quickly, the unity and morale he had painstakingly gathered would scatter.

This was the flaw of a Noble Alliance Army.

Ultimately, everyone was only gathered together for the generous rewards of the Great Holy War, each harboring their own agendas, with the unity not being very high to begin with.

With such a setup, the army was fine for fighting easy battles, but if they encountered a tough opponent, Joseph did not believe that such a large army could genuinely unleash its proper combat strength.

"Augus City is known for being easy to defend and difficult to attack. In history, only the Elves, utilizing airships, successfully breached the city from the air. However, we lack airship technology, and the aerial Griffin units are not suitable for attacking a city with a Divine Arts defense barrier... So, naturally, the assault is challenging,"

beside Joseph, the middle-aged noble Roland sighed.

The young Duke’s expression grew even more unpleasant.

The middle-aged noble continued speaking, once again glancing at their side’s army besieging the city, and shook his head:

"However, this is not the most important thing. The most important thing is, after these days of siege, everyone has realized how tough this city is to break. Now, many of the great nobles have already begun to preserve their strength."