Chapter 358: First to the Wall
Luca regrouped and pushed three more assaults, throwing his best thousand heavy infantry at the head of each charge, straight at the gatehouse.
But those two or three hundred elite cultists were monstrously ferocious, fully armoured, heavy shields locked shoulder to shoulder across the wall, an unbroken wall of iron in their own right.
Anyone who got close met a maul swinging down with a resounding clang, an absolute meat grinder.
Three assaults, three times crushed. Luca's men simply couldn't break through that crimson wall of iron.
Down below, Luca had tried hurling boulders straight at the gatehouse, hoping to crush the elites outright. But their position was well chosen, and the gatehouse's design gave them near-total cover. Every angle above and around them was shielded by thick stone, and every boulder Luca threw was deflected harmlessly.
Realizing this approach wasn't working, Luca pulled his forces back and called for a new plan.
"We need warriors stronger than theirs if we're going to crack that iron wall and take the gatehouse."
One officer, who'd taken part in every assault so far, spoke up loudly.
"These damned cultists, their strength is terrifying! Their mauls crush our armour like nothing. A hit to the head means brains everywhere, a hit to the shoulder shatters the bone completely. Even our heaviest plate does nothing to stop them, one solid hit and you're crippled for life."
Listening to the officer's account, Kian guessed those two or three hundred elites had already stacked several rounds of Khorne's blessing.
This world was a strange mix of primitive and advanced. Their helmets were hydraulically press-formed in a single piece, thick and precisely shaped, the kind of thing no ordinary human strength should be able to crush.
With everyone stuck for a solution, the Enginseer spoke up again.
"My lord, if there's truly no other option, let me send my brothers forward. We're equipped with power axes, and most of us have undergone neural and bionic augmentation, well beyond baseline soldiers. We might be able to break through where the others couldn't."
Luca hesitated at the suggestion.
The Enginseers were the elite core of his entire retinue, not just in combat capability but in the knowledge they carried. Without them, his Knight suits would go unmaintained and slowly degrade. And with all the heavy vehicles and transports in his column, someone still had to drive them, and that was the Enginseers too.
The Enginseers were the true bedrock of Luca's entire traveling little kingdom. He wasn't willing to throw them into a meat grinder like this.
That was when Kian spoke up.
"Luca, once you reach Throne Mountain and finish your world tour, you're planning to leave this planet and head out into the stars for good, right?"
The sudden question drew every eye in the group.
Luca thought it over for a moment and understood exactly what Kian was getting at.
"Count Voss, it sounds like you're hoping to extend our journey together, is that it?"
Kian nodded.
"How about we head out into the stars together? See what the other worlds out there have to offer?"
Kian's pitch was bold, and in that moment his entire field of vision seemed to shift.
Luca's character portrait appeared front and center, a dialogue box unfolding beneath it, a small heart icon blinking in the upper right, an affection meter ticking below it.
At Kian's confession, Luca's portrait flushed pink, affection jumping from 20 to 30, and text scrolled across the dialogue box.
"O-oh my, senpai's words are so forward... I don't dislike it, really... but I do prefer boys with real spirit~"
Two options popped up beneath the text. Option one: ask what exactly counts as having "real spirit." Option two: give up.
Kian picked option one.
"As for boys with real spirit~ well, obviously, being first over the wall, cutting down the enemy commander, and capturing the banner. A boy who does all three has the most spirit of all~"
Kian laughed and drew the Demon-Cleaver from his back.
"Then it's settled, Luca. Once this fight's over and your world tour's done, you're coming with me into the void.
Now, leave the gatehouse to me."
Luca asked, "Count Voss, how many men do you need?"
"To crack open that shield wall of elites? None. Tell your men to keep their distance and stay out of my way. But the moment I take that gatehouse, get your army moving fast and hold the position before the enemy can retake it."
Luca lit up at that.
"Then it's all in your hands, my lord!"
Luca's forces formed up beneath the wall once again, making a show of preparing another assault. This time, though, they didn't advance. They simply waited.
The cultists atop the gatehouse watched the whole thing, and broke into mocking laughter.
"Cowards. Weak as women in our hands! No matter how many times they charge, our iron fists will keep smashing them flat."
Another cultist gave a cold chuckle, licking blood and brain matter off the head of his maul.
"Ignore them. Let them waste their time, easier for us. The commander's ritual has been running for six days now. Eighty thousand heads, offered up over eight days, that's the price. Just two more days, and the gods will bestow their blessing upon us."
While they chatted, relaxed and comfortable, something changed in the army below.
A figure in gold armour, a greatsword slung across his back, suddenly broke from Luca's ranks and shot forward.
His speed was so extreme it looked like frames skipping. One second he was five hundred meters out, the next he was already at the base of the wall.
Before the cultists could even react, Kian was already up a ladder, closing twenty-plus meters in two or three strides, bounding up the wall like a spring-loaded rocket.
The two cultists chatting near the gatehouse looked up in disbelief, straight into Kian's eyes as he sailed toward them mid-leap.
Before his feet even touched the stone, his sword swept out, and both their heads went flying.
His boots hit the wall the same instant the two heads did, and hundreds of cultists along the rampart turned to stare at him in shock.
Kian thumbed the activation switch on his sword hilt, and the blue disruption field flared to life along the full length of the blade.
"You lot like cold steel, huh? Come on then, let's see how you like my disruption field!"
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