Chapter 177: The Siege of Mils Fortress
Back to the Dark Elves’ side.
Once the decision was made to attack Mils Fortress, the leading elf jumped down directly from the giant tree, landing securely on the ground.
Of course, this Dark Elf general didn’t charge out of the woods right away to assault Mils.
It was still early in the evening; according to their plan, they needed to wait a little longer.
The best time to act would be once darkness fell.
Even if some Dark Elves were getting impatient, they had to contain their eagerness for now.
Charging out into the broad daylight, with no obstacles in sight, would make them quite noticeable.
This would significantly increase the difficulty of the attack.
Time passed swiftly, and soon, the sky darkened.
At that moment, the gates of Mils Fortress were firmly shut.
Under the cover of night, the Dark Elves began to emerge from the forest.
It was as if the heavens themselves were shielding them; a crescent moon was conveniently covered by passing clouds.
This made it even harder for anyone to notice the Dark Elves.
“Keep your eyes wide open and pay attention! Don’t miss the slightest rustle!” The patrolling officer on the city wall spoke to the stationed soldiers. “According to reliable intelligence, Dark Elf scouts are nearby, and their target could very well be us. So, if you don’t want to end up as another Dark Elf’s victim, stay sharp!”
The soldiers diligently perked up at his words.
Their eyes were nearly bulging as they stared into the darkness outside.
However, in the pitch-black night, they couldn’t see a thing; it was all enveloped in darkness.
The Dark Elves who had slipped out of the forest moved cautiously, making no sounds whatsoever.
With their eyes blind and ears unable to detect anything unusual, their approach remained undetected.
As expected, the Dark Elves moved closer to Mils Fortress without any issues.
Meanwhile, once the officer finished his rounds, the soldiers on the wall started to feel drowsy.
Guarding the night was a tedious and exhausting task.
Especially when it was so dark that they couldn’t see anything, it was easy to lose motivation.
As long as there was leadership around, they could keep awake, but once it was gone, who wouldn’t want to take a little nap?
However, not all soldiers were succumbing to drowsiness.
Some remained vigilant at their posts, though they were certainly a minority.
Outside the walls, the Dark Elves continued to stealthily advance under the cloak of night.
After reaching a certain distance, they began to scatter and continue their stealthy approach.
For this next stretch, they had to be extra careful not to make any noise and avoid traps.
Fortunately, their night vision wasn’t severely impaired.
This allowed their progress to remain quite smooth.
As they neared the human city wall, the kill instinct in their hearts began to stir.
They were practically itching to rush in and wreak havoc.
But first, they had to scale the wall before they could unleash their carnage.
Prepared for this, some Dark Elves retrieved grappling hooks from beneath their cloaks.
After spinning the hooked end in their hands a couple of times, they threw it toward the wall.
The synchronized action looked quite striking.
However, the sounds of spinning and launching the hooks caught the attention of the human soldiers on the wall.
“What was that noise?”
Some soldiers began to search for the source of the sound.
“What’s happening?”
The soldiers who had been dozing off asked, confused at the sudden commotion.
“Didn’t you hear that noise just now?”
“What noise?”
Rubbing their eyes, the drowsy soldiers leaned over the edge to look down.
“It sounded like something cutting through the air; the source should be nearby.”
As they spoke, they all began to search.
In the darkness, the Dark Elves, dressed for night operations, were hard to see.
But soon after, they spotted the grappling hooks the Dark Elves were using to scale the wall.
The hooks, now secured to the wall, were quite conspicuous under the flickering light of torches.
This “dark under the lamp” situation meant they didn’t realize it at first.
“Enemy sighted!”
This realization jolted all the human soldiers to attention.
“Boom boom boom!…”
Immediately, the alarm bells rang out across the walls.
The persistent sound echoed into the fortress interior.
In an instant, the previously quiet castle erupted into chaos.
At the same time, the Dark Elves hidden in the shadows began to ascend the wall.
After reaching a certain height, they pushed off the wall with their legs, using the recoil to leap onto the battlements.
As the human soldiers witnessed enemies suddenly “drop down from heaven,” they instinctively tried to guard themselves.
However, this response was utterly misguided.
Once they steadied themselves, the Dark Elves immediately went on a killing spree atop the wall.
The human soldiers were no match for them.
Without even needing their general to step in, they easily overpowered the human soldiers.
These human soldiers lacked effective leadership and courage.
All they wished for was to save themselves instead of fighting back.
On the wall, the stationed human soldiers were pushed back relentlessly by the Dark Elves.
Before long, some human soldiers began to flee in panic.
The Dark Elves took the wall without losing a single breath.
However, the humans inside the fortress were already reacting.
The defensive officer of Mils Fortress, along with his men, rushed in for reinforcements.
Leading the charge, Officer Mondi wore a serious expression.
Though he had prepared for this assault, recalling the warning from Arthur earlier in the day left him feeling uneasy.
If the Dark Elves had the audacity to launch a surprise attack, they must have felt quite confident.
In contrast, his last-minute preparations might not be enough.
Yet even with insufficient readiness, he had to brace himself.
As the defensive officer, it was his responsibility to guard this place while the main forces were away.
If anything went wrong here, he couldn’t evade responsibility, let alone a breach.
Meanwhile, the messenger sleeping at the relay station was also startled awake by the alarm bells.
Now fully awake, the messenger was wide-eyed, fully aware of what was unfolding.
So, he immediately mounted his horse and left the station.
Initially planning to depart the next day, the urgency of the situation forced him to leave that very night.
