The Return of the Iron-blood Sword Hound
chapter-463

Chapter 463: Infiltration Operation at the Water Supply Area (10)

Red death was spreading at a scary speed.

The Tears of the Saint, kept deep inside the Tochka Fortress, were gradually drying up.

As Dolores and the priests led by her spread holy water on the walls, the Poison Human’s full-scale attack became fiercer.

The once towering walls had significantly lowered.

This was due to the large number of poison human corpses piled up, raising the ground level.

The siege, which began at dawn, continued until dusk.

…Boom!

A huge black hand appeared over the wall.

Larger than the bodies of the regular soldiers, the hand was rotten and corrupted by poison.

[Grooooaaaah!]

A mutant, surpassing the combat power of regular Poison Human soldiers, revealed itself over the wall.

The creature's appearance had become even more grotesque due to the oil, fire, gunpowder, and nails it endured while climbing up.

“Arghhh!”

“A Poison Human! No, it's a monster!”

“Stop it! If something like that gets inside...!”

The soldiers tried to push the mutant back with crossbars and spears, but it was like trying to move a rock with toothpicks.

The heavy monster did not budge.

[Grrrrrrr...]

Finally, the mutant fully climbed over the wall.

It was the first Poison Human to successfully scale the wall of Tochka Fortress.

The nearly six-meter-tall monster, with its tongue hanging out from where its lower jaw used to be, looked around for prey, a truly bizarre sight.

It soon spotted a young soldier who was too slow to escape.

[Oooooooh!]

The mutant raised its huge hand.

“Ah... Ahhh...”

The young soldier, tripping over a stone, could only sob, unable to comprehend the impending death.

Then.

Rip-

The poison human had a mouth, sharp teeth, and purple tongue all over it’s body.

The mouth in the center of the mutant's hand aimed at the fallen young soldier.

“No!”

Some soldiers rushed to save the young soldier, but it was already too late.

...Just then.

Bang!

A terrifying explosion echoed.

It felt like something huge and fast had just passed by in a flash.

“...?”

When the young soldier came to his senses, the monster was no longer there.

Because it had been flung through the air like trash and disappeared into the sky.

...Boom!

The airborne Poison Human vanished into the sky, only to crash back down as a bloody mess.

And in front of the young soldier stood a tall old man looking down at him.

Warden Orca, the great commander of Nouvellebag.

He stood on the wall, holding a huge baton.

“Hold your position, young soldier.”

Orca, adjusting his grip on the baton, walked along the wall as if nothing had happened.

“Yes, sir!”

The young soldier, who had been sobbing moments ago, saluted energetically.

His eyes, once dim with despair from lack of sleep and water, now shone with renewed hope.

Empowered by Orca's presence, the soldiers began to push back the Poison Humans again.

They gathered whatever oil they had left and lit it with the last of their gunpowder.

They resolved to throw even stones if they had no metal pieces left.

Orca issued booming commands.

“Each captain, report the status of the castle defenses! Abandon the damaged parts of the outer walls! We’ll defend from the inner walls!”

“Have all the vigilantes responsible for the internal security come up! The situation inside the castle no longer matters!”

“Focus arrows on the Poison Humans! Prevent them from breaking the base of the walls!”

“Fire crews, use all the oil and gunpowder! Hold out until the next drum beat! Just until the next drum beat!”

His gaze reached every corner of the defensive line.

He meticulously assessed which parts were holding and which were collapsing and deployed reinforcements accordingly.

Of course, he did more than just issue commands.

He was at the forefront, smashing Poison Human heads with his baton.

Neither long, sharp spears nor thick, fast arrows could penetrate Orca’s thick fur coat.

...Clatter!

The baton, wrapped in chains, soared through the air, and all the mutants clinging to the wall fell headfirst, their heads shattered.

“Oh! Warden Orca! The god of defense!”

“The master of siege warfare!”

“As long as Orca is here, Tochka will not fall!”

The soldiers’ morale was soaring.

However, there is a saying that many see the back of a hero, but few see his front.

No one could see the expression on Orca’s face as he stood on the front lines.

‘…This is a difficult situation.’

Orca’s brow was deeply furrowed.

Due to his stiff white hair, beard, and thick fur coat, no one noticed the cold sweat running down his temples and back.

Orca looked out over the horizon below the wall.

It was all dark red.

Red specters of death filled the sky, and the number of Poison Humans swarming in seemed endless.

“It’s enough to start a civil war.”

Reviadon indeed possessed enough power to overwhelm the combined forces of all other houses alone.

Moreover, the Poison Humans now approaching were mutanted, each with massive size and great strength.

No matter how impregnable Tochka was, it would eventually fall under such overwhelming numbers.

Even Orca, a master of siege defense, could not overcome this numerical disadvantage.

Especially when the majority of his forces were a ragtag band of vigilantes drawn from refugees.

“It’s a lamentable situation. If only my subordinates from Nouvellebag were here…”

Orca groped his chest with his free hand, the one not holding his blood-soaked baton.

He was looking for a cigarette.

But all his cigarettes had long since been burnt away.

Orca scratched his dry throat, unable to drink any water.

It was his habit when he was out of cigarettes and craving one.

At that moment.

A pack of cigarettes was held out to Orca's right.

It was full of the thick cigars he usually enjoyed.

“...?”

Instinctively, Orca took a cigarette.

Then.

A match was struck to his left, lighting the cigarette’s end.

“...?”

Just as Orca was about to turn his head.

[Grooooaaaah!]

Two gigantic Poison Human mutants leaped at Orca.

Then.

Boom! Boom!

In the blink of an eye, the two mutants were torn to pieces.

One was pulverized by a storm filled with sharp winds, the other impaled by countless stone spikes erupting from the ground and the wall.

Under the shower of falling flesh and blood, two figures stood up.

“So.”

“Who will you choose as the next warden?”

Two people, a man and a woman, confidently asked in front of Orca.

Both were faces Orca knew well.

“D'Ordume. Souare. How did you two get here...?”

Major Orca had a somewhat bewildered expression.

Then a cheeky voice came from behind him.

“You can’t see me because I’m small? I’ve grown a bit taller.”

Orca’s gaze turned to a girl in a black helmet.

Bdissem.

She extended her hand, wielding countless Bdissem restraints.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The Poison Humans climbing the wall suddenly became powerless and fell to the ground as helpless fools. Although the effect was less potent outside of water, it was enough to slow down the Poison Humans' assault.

“…Wow.”

Orca seemed greatly surprised by the appearance of the wardens of Nouvellebag at this location.

And then, something even more surprising happened.

Rumble… Shhh…

From one corner of his field of vision, a green hue began to spread, gradually covering the entire area.

It looked as if the entire wall of the Tochka Fortress was being overrun by moss.

The green substance seeped out from between the bricks making up the fortress wall, eventually covering the vast expanse of the wall.

[ …Ooh?]

[ …Grr?]

[ …Squeak?]

The mutant Poison Humans, who had been climbing the wall by inserting their fingers into the gaps between the bricks, were taken aback by the green liquid filling all the gaps.

It was slippery, soft, and intensely hot!

Sizzle!

The green liquid, highly acidic, began to cover all the Poison Humans climbing the wall.

[ Aaaaargh!]

The Poison Humans flailed as they watched their skin, flesh, and bones melt, but it was too late.

Slurp, slurp, slurp—

The liquid, which flowed out from the gaps between the stones of the wall, moved as if alive, engulfing the Poison Humans and increasing in volume.

“Even that one came…”

Orca muttered as he watched the green slime creature flowing down the wall and devouring the Poison Humans.

Flubber.

This mysterious indigenous creature, which had been living in the Nouvellebag area even before the discovery of Nouvellebag.