Swords, magic, and martial arts

Rhodes had no time to check his wounds. He wielded his two-handed sword and kept slashing his way toward Hammer. When he met up with Hammer, there were no enemies left. Hammer, who was injured in the shoulder, was standing next to Weber, whose left arm was bleeding profusely. Apart from the three of them, only four wounded Nord infantrymen survived.

"Long live Nord!" they shouted in unison atop the pile of corpses.

Rhodes's feelings were complicated. The people he killed had no grudge against him, and they had only become his enemies because they were loyal to their duty. If he had met them in a tavern, he might have been able to have a few drinks with them.

However, after killing them, he felt a sense of exhilaration. Was his primal desire for slaughter slowly breaking through the constraints of morality?

From Hammer's perspective, it was about protecting their homeland. But for him, a transmigrator, there was no difference between the Nords and the Imperials. It was just that he had transmigrated to the Nords. If he had transmigrated into an Imperial, he might have become an enemy of Balonhammer and his group.

Baron was still on horseback maneuvering against several cavalrymen. He was not very experienced in mounted combat. If it were a frontal charge, he would be fine, but in this kind of battle, he could only rely on his fairly skilled horsemanship to maneuver.

Rhodes used his magic orb to control the weapons scattered on the ground and slashed at the hooves of the warhorses beneath the cavalrymen. The warhorses sensed the danger and stopped, rearing up, but were accidentally injured by the cavalrymen behind them. Rhodes controlled the speed of several cavalrymen.

Baron turned around and charged at the cavalry, wiping them out after a few rounds.

"We'll climb the walls and attack the enemy from behind!" Hammer shouted, leading the way to the siege ladders.

The fighting on the city wall was no less intense than that below. The Imperial soldiers on the wall were focused on the battle in front of them and were unaware of what was happening behind them. They quietly climbed up the siege ladders and crouched in the darkness.

Baron picked up a two-handed single-edged battle axe from the ground. The three-meter-long Mo Dao was inconvenient to use on the city wall, so Rhodes put it back into his system space. Baron didn't find it particularly strange; he probably thought Rhodes was still wearing his space ring.

"Let's keep our voices down," Hammer whispered. There were only eight of them left, and most of them were injured. Even a sneak attack from behind would be extremely dangerous.

The castle's defenders were engaged in a fierce battle with the Imperial cavalry, who had dismounted, on the city wall's staircase. The Imperial soldiers were on the top of the stairs, while the Imperial soldiers were using shields to protect themselves from being shot by Nord archers below, as the city walls offered no cover.

Under the cover of their comrades, the Imperial soldiers picked up longbows from the city wall and returned fire at the few scattered archers in the castle training ground. It took more than a dozen lives to kill those Nord archers.

Imperial soldiers at the front of the stairs were engaged in close combat with the castle garrison. Imperial soldiers behind them kept surging forward, trying to rush down the stairs and form a battle formation. They were trained in battle formation and believed that if they could form a battle formation against these castle garrison soldiers who only knew how to defend the city and had little experience in open battle, they could reduce a lot of casualties.

They assumed there were cavalry guards below and were focused on breaking through the castle guards on the stairs, so no one paid attention to what was behind them.

The sounds of Rhodes and his men fighting the cavalry below the city walls were drowned out by the sounds of slashing and roaring that were closer to them.

"This is a time for me to take care of," Weber said in a low voice. He gestured for the others to stop and then, like a ghost, approached the Imperial army and blended in, continuously reaping the lives of the unsuspecting Imperial soldiers with his short sword.

However, soon after, an Imperial soldier screamed as Waver slit his throat, and the others noticed Waver behind them. Upon seeing this, Hammer shouted "Long live the Nords!" and rushed towards Waver.

Baron, wielding an axe, charged ahead with Hammer. With each attack, Baron, wielding a two-handed single-edged battle axe, could cleave the Imperial soldiers in front of him in two, along with their shields. The stairs were so narrow that only two people could stand side by side.

The city wall was very narrow, and Rhodes was squeezed at the back and could not attack the Imperial soldiers in front of him. Suddenly he sensed something and looked back to find a group of people climbing the siege ladder. Looking down at the faint firelight on the city wall, he found that these people looked familiar. He thought about it carefully.

These are mercenaries from the Blood Ravens. Could it be that they have already resolved the battle at the south gate of the town and come here to support these Imperials?

Without giving it any further thought, Rhodes took his two-handed sword and headed towards the siege ladder. The Blood Ravens had already climbed halfway up. He tried his best to push the siege ladder down, but found that he couldn't budge it at all. If it were easy to push, the castle garrison would have already pushed it down.

Rhodes thrust his sword at a mercenary who was almost at the top. They were so close that Rhodes could see the vegetable leaves sticking out of his teeth as he grinned.

People can walk on these siege ladders without having to climb them with their hands and feet. The mercenary blocked Rhodes' attack with his shield and swung his right-hand mace at Rhodes, who dodged it.

He looked back and saw that the other people on the siege ladders had also climbed up, and more and more people were climbing the city wall. Originally, they wanted to attack others from both sides, but now they were the ones being attacked from both sides.

Rhodes stepped back, blocking the entrance to a passage. Behind him were Baron and his men, who were fighting the Imperials on the city walls. A Nord infantryman who had previously been unable to get involved turned around and joined Rhodes in dealing with the Blood Raven mercenaries who had climbed the walls.

I only need to hold them off temporarily. I just need to hold out until all the Imperials on the walls and stairs are dealt with.

Rhodes used the White Rainbow Sword Technique to defend against the mercenaries' attacks as much as possible. Even though the wounds inflicted by the cavalry were still throbbing with pain, he was confident that he could stop them all before he ran out of strength.

While defending, he could also find opportunities to inflict some injuries on the opposing mercenaries. Their current position only allowed someone of Baron's size to pass alone, and he and that Nord infantryman could perfectly block them.

The Nord infantryman next to Rhodes was quickly overwhelmed by the mercenaries' fierce attack and was hacked to death by a flurry of swords. Rhodes could only stand in the middle of the passage entrance, ceasing to use the White Rainbow Sword Technique, and instead use his two-handed sword to force back all the mercenaries who tried to approach, thus blocking the way.

Previously, when he used the White Rainbow Sword Technique, the mercenaries' weapons couldn't even touch his body, but now their weapons are constantly striking Rhodes' body.

Even with the protection of his dragon scale armor and golden bell shield, Rhode's body still ached from the constant attacks of the mercenaries.

Unless they are willing to risk their lives and rush up to me, squeezing me out of this narrow entrance while my two swords are riddled with corpses and I can't pull them out, they won't be able to break through me even by tomorrow afternoon, Rhodes thought to himself.

The mercenaries' morale was somewhat low after facing Rhodes, who was only slightly exhausted from the attack. Rhodes thought that once Baron and his men finished the battle, these mercenaries would definitely flee at the first sign of trouble.

"If you lay down your weapons and surrender, we might spare your life," one of the mercenaries said menacingly, trying to demoralize Rhodes.

Rhodes, beneath his knight's helmet, gritted his teeth and persevered, feeling his basic swordsmanship and Iron Shirt skills steadily improving.

"Are you still dreaming? Are you still asleep?" Rod replied.

The mercenary swung his mace and slammed it heavily into Rhodes' chest. The force made it difficult for Rhodes to breathe. If it had been an ordinary person taking that blow, their chest would probably have been dented in.

Looking at his arrogant smile, Rhodes resisted the urge to rush forward and kill him. He stood still, blocking the passage, trying his best to deflect all the weapons with his two-handed sword, but he was still constantly attacked by the mercenaries in front of him.

After a mercenary rammed Rhodes' two-handed sword with his shield, he tried to stab Rhodes with his one-handed sword. In desperation, Rhodes concentrated the energy he channeled into his two-handed sword, which unexpectedly unleashed a sword aura that directly severed the mercenary's sword in two.

However, this reduced his internal energy considerably. He suppressed his curiosity and stopped channeling his internal energy into his two-handed sword. Instead, he focused his internal energy on his arms. He found that this greatly increased the strength of his arms, allowing him to deflect all the weapons of several mercenaries.

Rhodes was relieved that none of the mercenaries in front of him were using spears. There seemed to be cavalrymen with spears behind him, but they were blocked behind the crowd and couldn't get through.

Some mercenaries wanted to cause trouble, trying to push the mercenaries in front of Rhodes forward and try to break through Rhodes by sacrificing a few of them.

However, the mercenary with the toothpick stuck to his teeth seemed to be of high status. After being secretly nudged a few times, he turned around and glared at them, and the mercenaries behind him dared not make any rash moves.

Fortunately, they didn't swarm forward all at once; with so many people, even a troll would be pushed backward by the force of the crowd. If they had dared to rush forward, Rhode would definitely have been knocked to the ground and trampled to death.

Just as Rhodes was silently thanking the mercenary in front of him with vegetable bits stuck in his teeth, he felt a pair of large hands pat his shoulder. "You can step aside now; we're here for you."

Rhodes stepped aside, and Baron, covered in blood, emerged from behind him, cleaving a mercenary in two with a single axe blow. The splattered blood on his bald head made him look like a demon straight out of hell...

The blood-red sun rose, and the battle on the city walls finally came to an end.

Exhausted, Rhodes leaned against the wall to rest, surrounded by corpses and blood. The intense fighting all night had left his arms aching.

Without even taking off his dragon scale armor, he knew his body was covered in bruises. However, the most serious injury was probably the desperate blow from the cavalryman below the city wall, which pierced his waist, though it likely only pierced his skin and some muscle.

He removed his helmet with his blood-stained, sticky hands. The sunlight shining on his blood-covered face made him want nothing more than to close his eyes and sleep...