School Transmigration: I, Chosen as the Saint by Dragons at the Start-Chapter 184 --The Assault on the Inner City

The battle at the northern wall was far less intense than on the other three fronts.

The main force of the champion army showed no signs of deployment, with only the light infantry and mounted archers engaging in assaults on the city walls.

The mounted archers maintained a considerable distance from the walls, while the infantry conducted only tentative attacks.

Owen knew the Champion King was waiting for him to attempt a breakout, and yet he couldn’t afford not to.

This made the Champion King a formidable adversary indeed.

With the city gates now open, Owen led his cavalry at the forefront, scattering caltrops as they advanced to hinder pursuit.

The infantry and archers followed, maintaining a distance from the cavalry to avoid the caltrops.

As the eastern city wall finally fell, the soldiers at the northern wall, now facing attacks from three sides, could only fight desperately to buy time for the main force to break out.

Owen had no choice but to abandon these brave souls.

But the ones to be forsaken were not only these men...

Before long, Owen’s cavalry had reached the edge of Ironblade Bridge.

The bridge was wide, with Owen leading the charge.

He swept his trident through the front ranks of the demon army’s heavy infantry stationed at the bridgehead.

The first row of the demon army fell victim to this devastating blow, yet the unit remained unshaken, steadfastly holding their spears in defense of Ironblade Bridge.

Owen’s cavalry had to slow down, but at the same moment, countless thunder bombs were hurled towards the bridgehead, causing carnage among the demon army’s heavy infantry.

The demonic military formation began to show signs of disarray, and following closely, Owen’s four lieutenants threw barrels of gunpowder into the fray.

With a swing of his trident, Owen detonated the barrels, completely routing the heavy infantry unit.

Owen’s cavalry broke through Ironblade Bridge.

Shortly thereafter, the infantry and archers also arrived at Ironblade Bridge.

However, they did not press forward but instead took up positions at the bridgehead, facing an incoming demon army force that outnumbered them several times over.

Owen pressed on, his infantry and archers beginning to face encirclement from two sides, his cavalry constantly intercepted by enemy forces.

Small squads of cavalry broke off from the main force to counter these intercepts, but Owen spared them not a glance, focusing solely on cleaving a path through the enemy with his trident.

Finally, Owen and the remnants of his two hundred cavalry reached the edge of Ironblade Forest.

The forest was not large, but its terrain was unique, with a royal road encircling the south and a sheer drop to the north that made passage impossible.

Owen had already discerned that the royal road was heavily guarded by the demon army, yet he broke through to this point, driven by knowledge of a secret path within the forest.

This path was known only to the high command of Ironblade City and the core members of the imperial family of the central kingdom; it was unlikely the demon army would have placed troops within the forest to defend it.

With his two hundred cavalry, Owen entered Ironblade Forest, and after a quarter of an hour, they arrived at a clearing in the woods.

Owen moved to the spot Kistan had told him about and activated a mechanism on the ground, causing two stone slabs in the center of the clearing to slide apart, revealing a secret passage.

"Success," Owen thought.

But in the moment Owen relaxed, screams and groans erupted behind him.

Turning, he saw demons with faces resembling apes leaping from the treetops, slashing the throats of dozens of cavalrymen in the rear.

In the middle of the formation, several warhorses were dragged into the earth by another branch of demons known as earthwalkers.

The melee began, Owen’s cavalry struggling to maneuver in the forest and quickly finding themselves at a disadvantage.

The situation was barely stabilized when the four lieutenants returned to the fray.

Owen intended to join the battle, but then sensed several powerful presences hidden on the other side of the clearing.

Four grotesque orcs appeared in an instant, surrounding Owen.

The intense pressure left him no choice but to focus solely on the confrontation.

After a long while, the screams finally ceased.

The orc to Owen’s left spoke up, "Over two hundred cavalrymen, right?"

The orc on his right confirmed, "Yes, we are thirty champions and a hundred auxiliary troops."

The orc in front added, "It was a fierce battle, and not a single one survived. Those four lieutenants of theirs can really fight."

The orc behind chuckled, "Pity they’re nowhere near our league. Let’s send this loner to the afterlife."

The orc in front cautioned, "He’s quite formidable, be careful."

The four orcs leaped forward, landing about five meters in front of Owen.

Three of them stood behind one, channeling arcanergy to the one in front, who lashed out at Owen with a whip.

Owen had no time to dodge and used his trident to block, only to find the trident nearly ripped from his grasp by the strange arcanergy.

Competing in arcanergy, Owen was no match against the combined force of the four; continuing this way would surely lead to defeat.

Resolute, Owen gathered all his arcanergy and with a thunderous noise, forced the whip away from the trident.

The surrounding trees were obliterated, leaving Owen and the four orcs severely injured.

Though deeply wounded, the four orcs still possessed the ability to move.

They staggered toward Owen, who was in a sorry state, aiming to deliver the final blow.

"Impressive, to grievously wound four lieutenants of the champion army, especially after prolonged combat," a figure landed between Owen and the orcs.

A woman?

Owen looked intently, indeed it was a woman, unbelievably beautiful.

He had never seen a woman of such beauty, and the word "Rakshasa" came to mind, the leader of the champion army.

"Are you the Champion King?" he asked.

"Correct."

"A woman as the Champion King? Has the demon army run out of men?" Owen deliberately taunted, mocking the demon army.

"The trident, and quite a handsome young man at that," the Champion King remarked, seemingly unfazed by Owen’s mockery, only offering a slight smile as she spoke.

"With these characteristics, catching you—the little man who killed four of my champion army’s lieutenants—shouldn’t have been difficult."

"What did you say?"

Owen, still confused, barely had time to react before the Champion King waved her left hand casually, and a gust of wind later, the four orc lieutenants were decapitated.

Owen couldn’t believe his eyes.

"What exactly are you trying to do?" he demanded.

With a faint smile, the Champion King waved her right hand, and a gust caught Owen, hurling him into the secret passage where he lost consciousness.

By dawn, the last resistance in the outer city had ceased.

Several demon army legions had completely surrounded the inner city.

Kistan’s orc leader, known for his relatively short and lean stature among orcs—appearing almost like an ordinary human save for his protruding tusks and large nostrils—stood in front of the southern gate of the inner city.

"Where is the Champion King?" he inquired of a tall lieutenant beside him.

"She said, ’Leave the dirty work to you.’"

"Hmph, giving me the credit for the victory, is she?"

The orc leader looked up at the city walls, noting the fearless expressions on the faces of the soldiers.

The inner city of Ironblade City was designed with such sieges in mind.

There were no civilian homes inside to avoid consuming food supplies during a siege.

The only buildings were the Lord Manor, granaries, armories, barracks, and other military facilities, with enough reserves to last a year and a half.

Besides the lord’s personal guard, the soldiers manning the walls were mostly recruited from outside the city, their families not residing within, to prevent them from being held hostage in case the outer city fell, which could disrupt the morale of the defenders.

Additionally, the inner city was riddled with complex underground passages, making its capture no easy feat.

The orc leader neither knew nor cared about the intricacies of the inner city’s defenses.

In his eyes, the inner city was already beneath his feet.

"Will you surrender?" he called out towards the city walls.

Though his voice did not seem loud, every person within the inner city heard him, including Lord Dawson.

Yet, the defenders did not waver, with Dawson even dispatching his personal guards to bolster the city’s defenses.

After waiting for half a quarter of an hour and seeing no response from within, the orc leader loudly declared, "Very well!"

Before the echo of his words faded, the guards on the city gate tower blinked, and when they looked again, the orc leader was already standing behind them.

As a guard swung his halberd in attack, the orc leader let out a thunderous shout, blasting all guards within five meters away.

Quick as a specter, the walls were soon filled with the shadow of his fists and the screams of soldiers.

Despite the well-trained inner city guards, chaos ensued, leaving them unsure how to respond.

After slaying over a hundred men, the orc leader suddenly leaped into the air, striking the gate tower with a palm.

The force of the blow was so fierce that with a thunderous crash, the drawbridge fell to the ground.

Landing within the city, the orc leader charged toward the city gates, paying no heed to the guards attempting to intercept him.

Guards in front of him were pushed back by his arcanergy before they could even get close.

However, the soldiers of Ironblade City refused to back down, continuously attempting to block his path.

Seconds later, a horrific scene unfolded: over a dozen guards were compressed into a line against the city gate, their bodies shattered by the orc leader’s iron elbow in an instant, slamming into the gate.

With a colossal roar, accompanied by a rain of limbs and blood, the city gate fell.

The demon army surged in, and the inner city faced the same fate as the outer city, both breached from the south.

The orc leader, now almost entirely drenched in blood, observed the fierce combat between the demon army and the city’s defenders, slowly making his way towards the Lord Manor.

As he advanced, the battle line pushed forward, with the inner city’s guards desperately trying to halt the demon army’s progress, albeit futilely.

Upon the orc leader’s entrance into the Lord Manor, the demon army had also taken over other areas of the inner city.

The remaining guards in the Lord Manor retreated to the central Ironblade Tower, making their last stand there.

After the demon army entered the city, the most brutal battle ensued.

Guards continuously fired rockets from atop the tower, hurled down explosives and thunder bombs, causing havoc among the demon forces below.

Despite the carnage, the demon army had no choice but to assault upwards, facing a relentless barrage from above.