I will be crowned king

"Fire-!!!!"

The hoarse voice was covered by the intensive gunfire. Facing the imperial advance troops rushing towards the Lighthouse Palace like a tide, the soldiers of Hantu clung to the "fortress" made of wooden boxes and various luxurious furniture, and kept pouring out Ammunition, the extravagant marble steps were already piled with corpses.

At five o'clock in the morning, less than an hour before the sun rose, the turbulent Carindia Port was still shrouded in dark clouds and heavy rain, with no light visible.

No one knows what happened... The Imperial advance army, which was still suppressing the riots in the neighborhood, suddenly gathered, and then like a group of headless flies launched a full-scale general attack on the Lighthouse Palace - the offensive was so large that the troops directly mobilized reached the total strength of the advance army. Two-thirds of the time, even the troops stationed on the defense line along the city wall were mobilized, and dark clouds were approaching the Lighthouse Palace.

Renault, who was still organizing riots in the noble district, ransacked and destroyed the warehouses of the Imperial Advance Army, had to immediately shrink his troops, and took some of the Carindia nobles who had been devastated by the Advance Army and took the initiative to be loyal to him to guard the Lighthouse Palace.

Relying on the height of the Lighthouse Palace and the solid city walls, the Hantu soldiers and Carindia nobles who were influenced by the bloodline of the "Wild Hunt Knight" temporarily got rid of their emotional troubles and turned into ruthless war machines, as silent as Each mechanically rotating gear turned the luxurious Lighthouse Palace into a fortress of guns and fire.

The expressionless Renault stood at the back of the line holding the military flag, desperately maintaining the last trace of sanity, looking through the layers of rain at the countless people outside the palace gate roaring and charging amidst gunfire and gunpowder smoke, and then being penetrated by lead bullets in the head. The figure whose torso was broken by solid bullets and set on fire by explosive bombs.

Plasma flowed on the marble steps, and the minced meat was burnt to a crisp by the flames, and then washed away together by the cold rain... But the enemy kept attacking and attacking.

Even with Leno's immature eyes, he could see that the enemy's general attack was extremely hasty, and it was completely different from the tacit cooperation during the previous encirclement and suppression of him.

But no matter how hastily it is, the strength of both sides is so great that it is despairing... The Lighthouse Palace seems to be strong, but it is equivalent to the tomb of Lenoir and his only remaining army; in fact, it is not clear when reinforcements will arrive. The superior has sentenced himself to death.

Amidst the sound of artillery fire, the imperial advance troops who were constantly gathering almost frantically launched round after round of offensives, besieging the Lighthouse Palace from four directions at the same time; they even carried the artillery on the city wall to the vicinity of the palace despite repeated bombardments from overhead artillery fire. , risking blowing up one's own people and throwing it towards the palace at an angle.

The six-pound Adlan Eagle Cannon, the eight-pound Snapdragon Cannon, the twenty-four-pound Wesen Mortar...the imperial artillerymen who came from the major principalities and were regarded as aces, aimed at the Lighthouse Palace to fully demonstrate the empire's terror to the point of making her. The enemy's desperate firepower, splashing flames and gun flames rose in the heavy rain, becoming the only light in the dark world, illuminating the crazy fight to the death in the smoke.

Although in front of the solid walls of the Lighthouse Palace, it is almost impossible for these artillery to exert their due strength against Renault's "defeated soldiers", but under the coverage of terrifying firepower, even if only one or two hits, they can cause huge casualties. .

Looking at the Imperial advance army that was still attacking, Renault felt that he would not be blown to pieces, but would be exhausted to death by the enemy's tireless and crazy attack.

What he didn't know was that there was another person at the advance army artillery position outside the Lighthouse Palace who had a similar idea to him.

After a whole day of fighting, the physical strength and energy of the advance army had also reached their limit. In theory, it was impossible to organize any effective offensive; but they were still forcibly assembled according to the order, and they were almost dragged by the rain. After soaking my body for more than ten hours, I lifted my lead-filled legs and stepped forward.

The body can be squeezed, but fighting is impossible... Facing the Lighthouse Palace, which is located on a high ground, has a complete defense system and sufficient ammunition, the entire advance army staff has nothing to do. The only way they can think of is to take advantage of the enemy's shortcomings of insufficient strength. board, mobilizing the entire army to launch an offensive from all directions at the same time.

To put it bluntly, it is a pure sea of ​​​​people offensive, forcing the opponent to die.

To put it more bluntly, it is to use the lives of soldiers to consume the ammunition of the opponent... After all, the opponent is not guarding a military warehouse but a palace. The ammunition reserves are limited. Once the ammunition is exhausted, they will be dead.

But there is a "small" premise, that is, the imperial soldiers and knights serving as officers must not be afraid of death, be brave enough to stand upright even if they are hit by lead bullets, and resist a few more rounds to let the opponent attack them. It's just a waste of ammunition.

It's a pity that although the imperial knights and soldiers are very brave - at least more brave than Hantu's rotten fish and shrimps and Clovis's levy regiment - there is still a long way to go before "voluntarily surrendering to death" and "asking to die a few more times" Not a small distance.

Fifteen minutes after the battle began, mutiny broke out on the spot in the two infantry battalions. The soldiers were so frightened that they threw away their weapons and refused to attack even when the officer supervising the battle put a gun to the back of their head.

The four knights who served as commanders also stood up and refused to obey orders, saying that there was no difference between fighting and dying, and that they were so crazy that they were not fighting at all, but massacres, and they were actively asking to be massacred by the enemy.

Then they were all shot.

The resisting knights had their heads blown off by Lawrence Igor, who was already in a trance. The soldiers responsible for supervising the battle picked up rifles from the corpses, reorganized the battle line, and advanced towards the Lighthouse Palace where ammunition was continuously poured out.

At the same time, the artillery mobilized from the North City Gate was also in position one after another, and began to shoot at the Hantu Army, covering as much as possible or at the expense of constantly killing the front row soldiers, shortening the distance between the battle line and the Lighthouse Palace. Compress the enemy's living space.

Under the influence of this tactic of being cruel to the enemy and even more cruel to themselves - if this can be called a tactic - the advance army has completely completed the siege of the Lighthouse Palace and trapped the enemy in the palace. Inside, and constantly trying to break through those crude and vulnerable defenses.

Facing such a "pleasant" victory, the knight, or rather the "new" Luther Igor, who was completely numb, could not see a trace of joy on his face. His whole person was in an extremely confused state, stiff and stiff. Feedback every progress and information.

The battle that was once full of glory has turned into a simple matter of organizing broken troops and reserve troops to die in front of the enemy's guns, waiting quietly for the army to be annihilated and defeated. The defeated army shot those who led the resistance, and then killed the rest. The defeated troops and reserve troops were integrated, assembled, and sent out to die again...the cycle continued.

"What round of attack is this?"

After flicking the cigarette ashes in his hand, "Luthor" turned to the adjutant behind him and asked.

This was a cigarette found from a Hantu nobleman. He didn't even smoke a pipe in the past, and for the first time he discovered that this inferior industrial product produced by Clovis was so delicious.

"Round...twentieth."

The adjutant's voice was trembling slightly. Twenty consecutive attacks were organized in such a short period of time. Just thinking about the price paid makes one's soul tremble. If you close your eyes, you can see cold and stiff faces.

Luther nodded and took a puff of the cigarette with no expression on his face, silently watching the ashes drift away in the rain and the smoke he exhaled; the suddenly bright cigarette butt seemed to turn into the flames of the enemy's counterattack in a trance.

The adjutant's trembling voice continued: "In the 19th round of the attack that just ended, a quarter of the 2nd Infantry Regiment responsible for the offensive was killed, and the deputy commander died in a mutiny; the 5th Infantry Regiment in the rear was blocked. He crossed the offensive route and was fired upon by artillery fire from the Hantu Corps..."

"The two artillery company commanders reported that according to the current progress of the battle, they can no longer guarantee that most of the artillery shells will not fall on the heads of the attacking troops..."

"The Third Infantry Regiment reported that the southern wall of Lighthouse Palace was counterattacked by the Hantu Army. More than half of the first-line private battalion was killed. They have lost the ability to continue fighting. They are in urgent need of support but..."

"The total casualties so far are probably... probably..."

"No matter how many casualties there are, it's all worth it!"

An extremely old and aggressive voice suddenly appeared behind the two of them, interrupting the adjutant's report.

The two of them shuddered and turned around and knelt down on one knee.

"Lord Lawrence! I, we..."

"Okay, I understand your difficulties." Lawrence's expression changed, and he patted "Luthor's" trembling shoulder very "gently":

"Keep fighting day and night. It is not as easy as it seems to storm such a highland fortress that is stubbornly resisting. I know this very well."

"But! It is precisely because it is not easy that you can truly grow up - leave the rest to me. You can just concentrate on fighting this battle and prove the honor of the Igor family to others with your military exploits... understand?"

Lawrence lowered his head, his dark and caring eyes made the blood in the knight's body almost freeze, and he did not dare to make any unnecessary movements.

"I, I understand, I understand!"

"Yeah, just understand." Lawrence took a deep breath, with a happy smile on his face, and turned to leave.

It wasn't until his figure gradually faded away that the two people still standing there realized that they were breathing heavily, almost suffocating themselves to death.

"Sir, regarding the report just now... there is another piece of information, which was sent fifteen minutes ago." Standing up panting, the adjutant's expression was still a little trembling:

"The defenders at the North City Gate reported that among the scattered Hantu Army troops outside the city, they suspected that they found..."

"boom--!!!!"

The moment the loud noise came, the vigilant knight suddenly raised his head and looked in the direction of the north city gate.

………………

It's thundering?

Renaud, who was in a daze, looked up at the dome, but his sight was completely blocked by the thick smoke and the fire of exploding artillery shells. Apart from the attacking figures of the Imperial advance army soldiers, nothing could be seen.

He could only hold on to the flagpole in his hand, using the pain, biting coldness, and all his remaining strength to maintain his last shred of sanity.

The difficulty of using the power of blood is far beyond his imagination, especially when he is desperately trying to overcome the side effects of this power; because in the final analysis, this power is similar to the organs of the body, and it is normal for problems to occur if it is overused and maintained carefully. .

The power of his own "Wild Hunt Knight" bloodline requires blood.

This power will automatically awaken when injured, and the condition for activation is more fresh blood, at the cost of showing one's extreme hunger for blood.

The more blood he gets, the stronger his strength becomes, and the harder it is to maintain his own sanity; Renault, who bit his lip, can only desperately use his own blood to satisfy the "hunger signal" sent by his body... Although this can only make him I am even hungrier.

But even without the burden of bloodline power, his body is already on the verge of reaching its limit; not only him, but also the few remaining Hantu legions.

The influence of the power of blood can only make them "forget" fatigue and pain, but the physical consumption caused by maintaining such high-intensity combat is also staggering. Some soldiers who are relatively weak even quietly fight while they are still fighting. He fell to the ground silently, without any wounds on his body.

Unlike the Imperial advance troops who could still take some rest, Renault, who was being chased and beaten, had no room to stop and breathe a breath, let alone supplies. He had been running non-stop since four o'clock in the morning the day before. Charge on the ground, non-stop fighting...not one after another, but without any stop or gap at all.

Even if they just stay in a certain place for a little longer, they will immediately be surrounded and suppressed by the imperial advance army that is more organized and better at coordinating maneuvers.

So...which round of attack was it just now, twenty or twenty-one?

Lenore, whose whole body ached, desperately opened his eyes that could no longer see clearly, trying to see clearly the lightning falling from the dome.

Boom...boom...boom...

The loud noise of thunder came again. Judging from the direction, it should be the direction of the North City Gate.

Um?

Renault was suddenly stunned.

North City Gate...no...why isn't it towards the port?

If given a choice, Lenore would prefer that the thunder be in the direction of the port, so that it would be more effective in preventing the empire's fleet from reinforcing the port of Carindia.

Wait, something's not right.

Boom...boom...boom...

The place where he is standing now is the Lighthouse Palace, which is the second tallest building in the entire Carindia Port. Thunder should be heard from any direction. Why... why only the direction of the north city gate?

Difficult, could it be said...

Lenore woke up and his eyes widened suddenly.

"boom--!!!!"

There was a thunderous roar, accompanied by fire and billowing smoke. The north city gate, which was not strong enough, collapsed, and huge cracks appeared in the walls on both sides.

"Clovis people, and Hantu people, please listen to me clearly - the situation is urgent now, and I don't have time to give you a long speech!"

In front of the position, a somewhat irritable Anson shouldered a Leopold rifle and shouted loudly, his loud voice piercing the heavy rain: "Ahead is the Port of Carindia, our Port of Carindia!"

"Listen to my gunfire and charge with me!"

"Take back our Carindia port...!"