Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 171 The sky has changed, and the city has changed too.

The city of Karak is located on a plateau with a huge elevation difference from the surrounding areas. The southeast direction is the steepest, while there is a ridge extending outward to the northwest, which is the gentlest slope of the plateau and is easier to launch an attack.

The dull sound of drums rang out, accompanied by long blasts of trumpets, and the legions besieging the city organized an unprecedented siege.

Under the scorching sun, weapons and armor were scorched by the sun. A detachment of nearly a thousand people set out from the northern camp of Karak City and launched an attack on the nearest city wall.

On the city wall, the scorching sun cut every brick like a knife.

Lorian's hand holding the longbow trembled slightly. He stared at the huge enemy army outside the city. The soldiers hundreds of meters away could not be seen clearly, but they seemed particularly oppressive.

"so many people……"

Waldo beside him patted him on the shoulder and was about to load the string of the heavy crossbow and place it on the city wall. He tried to use this to boost his morale, but he was still trembling.

Now, Garys is not with them, Garys is not on the city wall. The figure that made them feel at ease is busy with more important matters in the city, leaving them to face the enemy.

Lorian closed his eyes, took a deep breath, clenched his hands, and stood up again. The figure in the tattered robe who was instructing them how to shoot arrows appeared again.

Then he whispered to Waldo beside him: "I don't want to be a slave."

"Me too." Waldo responded in a deep voice.

They don't want to be slaves, they just want to live upright in this world and stand here to taste the taste of freedom.

In fact, from the very beginning, the medieval Frankish cities had to build walls to fight against the wilderness outside the city and the tyranny of the lords.

From the very beginning, the urban middle class tried to pursue freedom and privileges different from those of serfs.

First, they demanded personal freedom, which would allow merchants or craftsmen to travel and live where they wished and free themselves and their children from dependence on the power of the lord.

Second, they demanded a unique municipal council to break away from the complicated and inefficient feudal administration.

Secondly, the city will establish its own judicial system, maintain its own public order, and revise the criminal law in line with the interests of the city.

Next, the citizens will demand the abolition of taxes that hinder the development of industry and commerce so as to protect themselves from being exploited by the lords.

Finally, a city will demand the broadest political and local autonomy it is capable of.

Without freedom, citizens would not be citizens.

Without freedom, the walls are nothing but prisons.

Now, Adil, Stephanie and the rich people in the city are going to kick the citizens and the poor back to the slavery era for their own freedom!
When this truth is repeatedly emphasized and demonstrated by Gellis, in many cases, personal choices become clear and unmistakable.

When the enemy approached within 200 meters of the city wall, it was within the maximum range of the longbow in Lorian's hand.

He drew his bow, poured all the panic and anger in his heart into the arrow, and then shot the first arrow of this defense of the city.

……

Garys's perception of the world has been different since he woke up and integrated his memories.

He can capture the songs of all things in the world and listen to their tunes.

Whether it was the breeze blowing through the leaves or the clash of swords, it all echoed in his ears like music.

Likewise, Garris was able to change the tempo of the music to put himself into a state that was difficult for ordinary humans to understand.

Most of the time, the rhythm of reality is chaotic and rapid, like an uneasy rhythm of seven or eight beats.

But to Garris's ears, it was simplified to a minimalist light music with a 4:1 beat.

Even when he was injured and his adrenaline was surging, the world seemed to be paused for him.

When Stephanie gave the order to attack, Garys simply climbed over the bell tower's fence and jumped down from the church bell tower.

The sound of the wind gradually dissipated in his ears, and all the movements around him slowed down in his perception.

In full view of everyone, he fell from the sky and landed on the square in front of the church.

However, before those people could exclaim, the world was paused.

In the square, the faces of the citizens were filled with panic, fear, and terror, and they tried to remain calm.

Ameyo was dignified and ready for what was to come.

The soldiers of the city guard pointed their spears at the lord's soldiers who were about to charge.

As for the armored soldiers, they drew their weapons from their scabbards one by one. Their faces showed ruthlessness, indifference, and ferocity, or perhaps they were shocked and puzzled at Garys falling from the sky.

Many of them opened their mouths, but they just opened their mouths; the sound could not reach Gailis's ears.

In fact, for Garys now, the world is completely silent, and not a single note is played.

Garys, who was standing right between the two forces, stood up and walked towards Stephanie's position.

He borrowed a sword from the sergeant next to Stephanie, and the blade reflected a holy light in the sunlight.

Before Stephanie could react, the sharp blade had already touched the fragile skin of her neck.

Time flowed again, and the noise of the world suddenly flooded into Garys' eardrums. Stephanie's cold and bloodthirsty orders still echoed.

However, when she finished giving the order, she saw a figure descending from the sky and then disappearing into thin air.

By the time Stephanie realized where the man had appeared, the cold blade had already cut her carotid artery.

Blood gushed out like a fountain.

Stephanie stared at Garys, her mouth open, she wanted to say something.

Garys thrust his sword again, stabbing it directly into her mouth, cutting off her last words before she died.

"There is nothing to say. When you ordered the suppression of unarmed people, we had nothing to say to each other."

"People like you will not repent. I am not like the anointed one."

"I am the one who must destroy human life. He is the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, but I am the whip that strikes the sheep."

Time seemed to freeze again, but this time it was not due to Garys's power, but to the trembling deep in people's hearts.

Those soldiers and citizens were all silent, their hearts beating as fast as drums.

The cold blade and the decisive cutting, they witnessed with their own eyes that Lord Stephanie had her blood vessels cut open the moment she gave the order to attack, her last words were blocked by a sword, and she fell on the stone slabs of the square.

They were shocked by the appearance of Garys and the casual strike of the sword.

So decisive, so ruthless, as if all the shackles in the world disappeared in that instant.

The sky has changed, and the city has changed too.

The blood stained the stone slabs, and the scepter in her hand and the halo on her head fell into the dust.

All her power and prestige disappeared when she tasted the sharp edge of Garys.

A heavy silence enveloped the city, and low whispers echoed in the wind.

The bells in the tower continued to ring, urging the new generation to arrive quickly.

In this dead silence, Gailis uttered his own question softly:

"Now, who else wants to surrender? Who else wants to sell out his brothers in exchange for his freedom?"

……

Karak is a small city with a city wall less than three thousand meters long. Therefore, the attack and defense around such a city seems quite petty.

The number of those long ladders could be counted with two hands. The catapults in the distance were like toys, launching stones at the wall from time to time.

Waldo brought a few people and pushed a long ladder with a long fork.

The heavy wooden ladder swayed in the air, then lost its balance, and fell down with several enemy soldiers who had not yet climbed to the top of the city wall.

However, at this moment, a team of enemy archers shot a volley of arrows from under the wall, one of which landed on Waldo's comrade, splashing a flower of blood.

Lorianvaldo and his men could feel that this attack was different from the previous ones. These Saracens from Egypt were really determined to attack the city.

Although the Saracens failed to successfully attack the wall, they still caused a lot of casualties to the defenders on the wall through catapults and arrows.

The passage of time seemed to be very slow. It should have been evening long ago, but the sun just refused to set.

At this moment, Lorian heard a burst of dense footsteps behind him.

Turning around, I saw Garys leading a team of fully armed armored soldiers rushing up the wall.

As he passed Lorian, Gailis patted him lightly on the shoulder.

"Well done. Now take your men down to rest. Leave this to me."

For the Saracens outside the city walls, the attack and defense of Karak, which was originally slow and more like a game, suddenly became bloody.

The crossbow bolts and arrows became dense the moment the soldiers defending the city took turns to change guard.

Those tricky arrows hit the soldiers' faces one after another.

Looking towards the top of the city, the soldiers who were originally wearing armed clothes or cotton armor were changed into chain mail, which shone brightly under the scorching sun.

Finally, the Saracens who were attacking the city retreated. They did not succeed in reaching the top of the wall, but instead suffered more than a hundred casualties.

After this battle, Adil also received a gift, which was sent from the city of Karak.

Some people approached Adil's camp holding white flags to attract the other side's attention, then stopped outside the range of arrows, left behind several corpses and a wooden box, turned around and fled back to the city gate.

The corpses were all dressed in bright red clothes, and in the wooden box was a woman's head.

For a moment, Adil did not recognize whose head the woman was, but then he remembered that Humphrey was in the army, so he asked him to come over to help identify it.

　First update. I'm not in good shape today. I was planning on updating the whole thing, but I guess I'll have to take off my clothes later.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)