Ancient Empire Calendar, Year 1832
Seven hundred and fifty thousand soldiers under the command of Njassar Rappa Ashterah, the Young Lord of the Ashterah Dynasty, had laid siege to Ottukent, the center of the Turvig Dynasty.
Woohyung, one of the Ashterah commanders, knelt before Rappa, bowed his head, and gave his report.
"The preparations are complete, Young Lord."
"Good," said Rappa.
As the entire army awaited the order to attack from Rappa, he was thinking about the letter he had received from Ricardo.
"If I capture Ottukent before the Kislavein Dynasty Lord arrives in the Northern Lands, I will earn his respect and support. Additionally, I will go down in history as the Conqueror of the Northern Lands."
Rappa took a deep breath, drew his sword, and commanded in a booming voice.
"ATTACK!"
Upon the order from their Commander-in-Chief, the Ashterah army attacked Ottukent.
While the exact number was unknown, it was estimated that there were more than half a million soldiers in the city of Ottukent.
As the siege battle continued, Ashterah Commander Sakamoto reported his concerns about this to Rappa.
"Young Lord, are you truly sure about attacking? It's a general rule in siege warfare to have two to three times as many soldiers as the defending side."
Rappa cut Sakamoto off.
"Enough, Sakamoto. We've already conquered half of the Northern Lands. If we capture Ottukent, the Northern Lands will fall automatically."
"But..."
"ENOUGH, SAKAMOTO! If you have energy to talk, use it to attack."
Rappa angrily mounted his horse.
"HAH!"
He galloped his horse towards the walls of Ottukent.
"COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, STOP! SIEGE WARFARE IS NOT LIKE FIELD BATTLES!"
Sakamoto's warnings went in one ear and out the other. Rappa ignored the countless warnings from those around him.
Rappa effortlessly deflected Aura-coated or Aura-forged arrows and rocks hurled from atop the Ottukent walls, as well as spells violent enough to destroy large areas, and continued his charge.
When Rappa reached the walls, he was met with the lifeless bodies of tens of thousands of Ashterah soldiers, with more corpses still falling from above.
"In Sihao's name, have we lost this many soldiers already?"
Rappa recited a short prayer.
"Guide of the Sacred Path, guide the souls of my kinsmen to the Garden of Eternal Light."
As Rappa finished his prayer, he caught an arrow mid-air that was flying towards his head from the walls.
He cast a threatening glare towards the walls. Rappa's gaze instilled a deep fear in the hearts of the soldiers on the walls.
Rappa channeled his Mana into his legs and, with a leaping spell, jumped to the top of the wall in a single bound.
He coated his sword with his Aura. With a single swing, his Golden Aura, taking the form of a crescent, claimed the lives of thousands of Turvig soldiers.
Rappa ran towards the Gate Tower to open the gates of Ottukent, slaughtering all Turvig soldiers in his path.
Ashterah soldiers safely climbed the walls through the gaps Rappa had created.
When Rappa reached the gate tower, it was extremely heavily defended.
"It will be difficult, but I can do it."
Rappa lunged forward, slaughtering thousands of Turvig soldiers with his sword and magic. With each swing of his sword, he took the lives of hundreds of soldiers; with each spell, he shattered parts of the walls.
"Finally, I've reached the lever. When I lift this, my soldiers will enter the city, and I will become the Conqueror of Ottukent and the Northern Lands."
Just as Rappa was about to lift the lever and open the city gates, he heard screams from outside the walls.
"What the hell is going on?"
Rappa ran to the walls and couldn't believe what he saw.
"KILL THEM ALL! SLAY EVERYONE WHO DARED ATTACK OUR SACRED CITY!"
Jarl Bayındır Han IV, the Turvig Dynasty Lord, was cutting through Ashterah soldiers like paper with his own forces.
"What's happening? He was supposed to be fighting Lady Marilin!"
After Marilin defeated the Turvigs at the Pass Battle, Jarl Bayındır Han, instead of finding a new route, had retreated back to Ottukent to prepare against Ricardo, who was advancing from the south.
"A complete coincidence, but a fortunate one! KILL EVERYONE! KILL THEM ALL!"
Realizing the battle was lost, Rappa began to shout curses.
"DAMN IT! THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MY GREATEST VICTORY! DAMN IT! AAAAAH!"
As he watched his soldiers being crushed like insects, he could bear it no longer.
"RETREAT!"
The Ashterah soldiers began to flee. Rappa leaped from the walls, mounted a horse, and galloped away.
"THERE YOU ARE!"
Bayındır made a move to kill Rappa.
Rappa deflected the incoming attack. The two commanders clashed swords for a full one hundred and four exchanges.
"Shit, at this rate I'm going to die. There's no way I can win... Is this where I die?"
Just then, an arrow embedded itself in a spot near Bayındır's neck, but his Aura armor stopped it. Nevertheless, Bayındır felt the pain.
"Ahh! What kind of arrow is this? WHO THE HELL SHOT THIS ARROW?"
Bayındır turned around angrily and saw Woohyung.
Woohyung was firing an arrow every two seconds, restricting Bayındır's movements.
"ESCAPE, MY YOUNG LORD! I'LL HOLD HIM OFF!" shouted Woohyung.
"Who does he think he's holding off?"
Jarl Bayındır Han performed a high-level Ice spell: Storm Tornado.
The tornado engulfed Woohyung.
"So cold..."
Woohyung turned into an ice statue and breathed his last. But his sacrifice was not in vain.
During the time he occupied Bayındır, Rappa had managed to escape.
"Hiding behind someone else to stay alive? Is this really the son of Marco Ashterah, who once defeated the Kislavein armies? Pathetic."
Bayındır created three long, sharp ice spears.
"The Ashterah Dynasty has no future. Die, Njassar Rappa Ashterah."
Bayındır hurled the three sharp ice spears towards Rappa at the speed of light.
Just as the spears were about to pierce Rappa, Sakamoto threw himself forward.
He shattered the first ice spear with his Aura. He melted the second ice spear with a fire spell. But he had no strength left to stop the third.
The ice spear pierced through Sakamoto.
Sakamoto fell onto his back. As his eyes glazed over, he saw Rappa turning to look back.
"Run, My Young Lord... Survive to fight another day..."
Victory belonged to the Turvig Dynasty.
The Ashterah army had lost three hundred thousand soldiers. In contrast, the Turvig army's losses were only fifty thousand.
Meanwhile, the Southern armies were also advancing rapidly.