The Immortal Genius Spearman

Chapter 56

“Uwaaaaah!”

“Block them! Block them! Kill these bastards!”

Amidst the clashing weapons, crimson blood splattered.

Someone fell, their life snuffed out.

Before they could even mourn their fallen comrade, an enemy’s sword and spear slipped through their side.

“You damn bastards…!”

“Push them off!”

The border defenders pushed the enemy soldiers climbing the wall, sending them tumbling down.

But the enemy soldiers used their fallen comrades as stepping stones to leap up, and the defenders began to lose ground.

Thud!

Damian rushed over, stabbing his spear into the side of an enemy climbing the wall.

Thwack!

“Get down.”

Damian swung his spear sideways, sending the enemy flying.

He glanced at the fallen enemy before turning his gaze elsewhere.

“Hm…”

The border defense base was small but sturdily built.

The only downside was that the walls weren’t high enough, making it easy for enemies to climb over.

‘More and more of them are starting to climb.’

The enemy, seeing that the defenders were holding the high ground, were now recklessly charging, determined to die if needed.

Damian quickly looked at his unit members.

“Dianal, Kyle! Jerka, Terka! And the rest of you, form three teams and hold the left wall. I’ll handle the right wall.”

“Understood.”

Dianal responded and swiftly climbed the wall.

The top of the wall was narrow, like a scaled-down fortress wall, leaving little room for many people.

This gave the climbing enemies an advantage.

Only a few defenders could come to stop them.

But with the right preparations, the defenders had the upper hand.

‘Even if they come up, it’s only one or two at a time. If we form pairs, we can hold them off. So…’

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The loud banging on the front gate echoed through the base.

The noise suggested one thing.

‘They’ve already prepared for a siege?’

Damian peeked over the wall and looked down.

The enemy was using a battering ram with a sharpened, pointed wooden end to strike the gate.

Damian’s expression twisted.

“Damn bastards, they came prepared.”

After all, these were the enemies who had been hiding here for around six months.

Such preparations were expected.

Fortunately, the battering ram was manually operated with ropes, meaning it would take time to break through.

‘But still, it’s only a matter of time.’

Stopping the climbers alone wouldn’t be enough.

Thud!

Damian quickly ran along the right side of the wall.

The border defenders had already formed teams of three, holding off the enemies climbing the wall.

‘They’re a bit late, but their response isn’t bad.’

Their experience defending the border was proving useful.

However…

‘The real problem is those outside.’

Reinforcements wouldn’t arrive until at least dawn.

They had to hold out for a few more hours.

Damian looked at the border defenders.

“Pour it over their heads!”

“Die, you bastards!”

Whoosh!

They desperately poured boiling water on the enemies, but it wasn’t enough to stop them.

A few enemies fell, scalded, but others picked up the battering ram and resumed pounding on the gate.

Damian shook his head.

‘That won’t work.’

Pouring oil and setting it alight might work, but that risked burning down the base and the forest.

Damian approached Vincent.

“Captain Vincent, the enemy is trying to break through the gate with a battering ram.”

“I know, but all we can do is hold out.”

Vincent acknowledged the dire situation but had no immediate solution.

Damian frowned.

Pereron was busy directing the other defenders, but he too was struggling to find a way to reinforce the gate, which was now showing visible cracks.

“Bring anything heavy! Block the gate with whatever you can find!”

“Uraaaah!”

“Don’t let it break!”

They dragged carts used for transporting supplies and pressed them against the gate.

Bang!

“Ugh!”

Bang!

“Aaah!”

Each strike of the battering ram shook the defenders holding the gate.

Damian looked at Vincent.

“Commander.”

“…?”

Vincent’s expression hardened at Damian’s next words.

* * *

“…Damn it.”

Pereron’s face contorted with frustration.

They were holding the base, but it wasn’t designed for sieges.

With the overwhelming enemy numbers, it wasn’t easy to maintain their defense.

‘The reinforcements still need more time to arrive…’

They had prepared for the possibility of an attack.

But there were still many shortcomings.

Given the situation, defending against a force more than 1.5 times their size was no simple task.

They had no magic scrolls or gunpowder, which would have been advantageous for defense.

Even using oil and fire wasn’t an option given the surrounding terrain.

Just then.

“Captain Pereron.”

Pereron looked up to see Damian approaching.

The skilled vice-commander of the Caion Unit.

Pereron spoke.

“What is it?”

“I have something to discuss.”

“Can’t you see the situation? For now, help stop those climbing the walls.”

“Is there a secret passage to sneak out of the base?”

“…?”

Pereron’s eyes turned menacing at Damian’s question.

If the Caion Unit planned to sneak out alone in this situation, he was ready to cut their heads off.

“Why are you asking that?”

Damian answered Pereron’s question.

“We won’t last an hour like this. If the gate is breached, holding the walls becomes meaningless.”

“So?”

“What if we send some of our troops outside to strike the enemy from behind?”

“…!?”

Pereron’s eyes widened at Damian’s suggestion.

Attack the enemy from behind?

Damian continued, seeing Pereron’s shock.

“Many enemies have died trying to climb the walls. By my estimation, about 40 to 50 of them have already been killed.”

Even considering this, their numbers were still much larger than theirs.

“If we can flank them and cause confusion, we could create an opening.”

“But if it fails, everyone dies.”

“We’ll create chaos and retreat immediately, hiding ourselves. Then, we’ll strike again when the opportunity arises.”

“You plan to conduct guerrilla attacks?”

“Yes.”

If successful, the enemy would constantly be on guard, unable to focus solely on the front line.

“And if we manage to destroy the handles of the battering ram, they won’t be able to breach the gate anymore.”

“…”

That would be ideal, but it wouldn’t be easy.

For the enemy, the battering ram was their lifeline.

‘However…’

If they could manage to reduce the enemy’s numbers with a surprise attack, they might stand a chance in a frontal battle even if the gate were breached later.

If they positioned archers in a semicircle around the gate and rained arrows on the enemy, they could further reduce their numbers.

“And if we place archers at the rear, inflicting damage one by one, we should be able to hold them off.”

“The risk is too high, and we can’t spare many troops.”

The entire border defense force amounted to only about 200 men, and over ten had already died in the current battle.

How many would they need to send for a guerrilla operation?

Damian’s plan was brilliant.

In theory.

But they lacked the numbers to execute it, and most importantly…

‘Who would carry it out?’

It was like running into a fire with a bundle of sticks on their back.

One wrong move from the commander could lead to their annihilation.

But then.

“I’ll lead the charge. Just give me 30 swift soldiers. They don’t need to be exceptional fighters, just fast on their feet.”

Thirty men would be 1/6 of the 3rd Division’s defenders.

It wasn’t many, but considering their total force, it wasn’t a small number either.

“You?”

“Yes.”

Damian’s response was without hesitation.

Pereron’s eyes wavered.

“Can you do it? It’ll be dangerous.”

“If we stay put, we all die anyway. Better to struggle and fight.”

The Spanian Kingdom soldiers had no way out, and desperate enemies were the most dangerous.

So, they had to be reckless too.

Pereron hesitated, but…

“Did your commander approve this operation?”

“I approved it.”

Vincent, who had approached, answered before Damian could.

Pereron turned and shouted.

“Michael! Gather 30 fast soldiers quickly!”

“What? Right now?”

“Hurry up!”

“Yes, sir!”

The officer, Michael, moved quickly under Pereron’s command.

A few minutes later, thirty defenders were assembled in front of Pereron, as if they’d been dragged there.

“Are these men enough?”

“And… I’ll take those guys as well.”

Damian pointed to the Caion Unit members fighting desperately on the walls.

Pereron nodded.

“Michael, reposition the troops to the other side. Leave the main gate alone.”

“But…”

“Just follow orders.”

“Yes, sir!”

Michael hurriedly moved the troops as Pereron looked at Damian.

“Good luck. Succeed.”

“Yes, sir.”

Pereron and Vincent quickly rejoined the battle.

Damian faced the roughly forty assembled soldiers.

“We’re going to exit the base through the side gate and strike the enemy from behind.”

“What? With just this force?”

“Isn’t that too reckless?”

Kyle and Jerka asked.

Damian nodded.

“It’s reckless. But what choice do we have? If we don’t act recklessly, we’re all going to die.”

Damian grinned.

Seeing Damian’s sudden smile, everyone’s faces tensed.

They wondered if he had gone mad.

“Just remember one thing.”

Damian’s expression suddenly turned serious.

“If anyone’s going to die, I’ll be the first. I’ll fight at the front and be the last to retreat… So trust me, and fight with everything you’ve got.”

And a few hours from now, we’ll all be back here.

Every single one of us, alive.

Kyle chuckled softly at Damian’s words.

“Haha, don’t worry. I’ll watch your back, Vice-Commander.”

“I’d do it better.”

“Hahaha! But Vice-Commander, if we pull off this mission, are we going to get a nice reward?”

“I’ll empty my own pockets to reward you all, just come back safely.”

“Damn! Our Vice-Commander’s loaded! You better keep that promise!”

Kyle’s comment made the others’ eyes gleam with anticipation.

Coming from someone who had been in the same unit as Damian, his words carried weight.

The atmosphere lifted significantly.

Damian continued.

“From now on, we are the Special Assault Team.”

Damian turned.

“Special Assault Team, let’s move out.”