Chapter 308

After deciding to march, Ryurik had been running non-stop for half a day, but he wasn’t planning to launch an attack right away.

To wage a siege, it was necessary to rest his legs a bit and conserve stamina. Even for the hardy Suin, half a day of sprinting was an exhausting march.

Following Ryurik’s orders, the Varyakrus legion stopped running and began walking as soon as the fortress walls came into view.

The mixed-blood soldiers breathed a sigh of relief, their expressions showing they had lived through something intense. For them, being mixed-bloods, this kind of advance was honestly overwhelming.

The heavy breaths of beasts. Deep footprints were carved into the snowy ground.

Birds, startled by the beasts’ killing intent, flapped their wings and took off in unison.

Ryurik glanced at the tired mixed-bloods, chuckled, and turned his head.

Even such weaklings were his subordinates now.

In his days as a mere warrior, he might have scorned the weak, but… he was now their king. The strong and the weak alike were all his people.

‘So, I should let them die as warriors.’

That was Ryurik’s mercy as a king.

There would be no greater humiliation than dying without even being able to show their true strength.

—

“Alright, let’s start thinking about how to take that fortress. Anyone got any useful ideas?”

Ryurik, who had gathered his seven great warriors around him, spoke casually as if he were out for a stroll.

He wasn’t expecting much, but with seven heads together, even Ryurik himself might be surprised by a brilliant strategy. Like the tactics Abigail and Nazar had used to play a key role in capturing the northern wall.

“Can’t we just fly in and smash them like last time? That was pretty awesome,” Oleg, the snow tiger, joked, cracking his neck.

It was a bold, brutal, and shocking method, and it seemed to perfectly suit his taste.

“Hmm… I doubt they haven’t prepared for that. If they were that foolish, they wouldn’t have held off our kind for so long,” said Vasily Cheslav, the polar bear Suin, stroking his chin with a skeptical tone.

‘If we fight head-on, His Majesty won’t lose. But… if it’s a trap, that’s a different story. Humans have always been more cunning than us.’

If the humans had prepared countermeasures against Ryurik’s assault, it could end up isolating their king deep in enemy territory. While it was unlikely that such weaklings could defeat the king of Varyakrus, anything could happen on the battlefield.

“Fine, whatever,” Oleg backed off, not arguing with Vasily’s point.

Given Vasily’s size and the fact that he was ten years older, even Oleg hesitated to challenge him aggressively.

“Do we even need a strategy? They’re just weaklings who’ll die with a single hit. Just crush them head-on,” Viktor sneered, his long nose twitching.

As a staunch Suin supremacist, he saw worrying about humans as a waste of time.

“This is important. Our forces aren’t infinite, so we need to use them efficiently. We’ve already lost four in this war. If we lose more, it’ll be trouble for the homeland. You understand, right?” Valentin Ivanov, the black wolf Suin, tried to persuade Viktor.

His teasing tone made it sound like a provocation, but Viktor brushed it off. He knew Valentin’s personality well—it wasn’t anything new.

“Thinking about it won’t get us anywhere. The only ways to attack a fortress are climbing or tunneling… but will the frozen ground even be easy to dig?”

“I don’t want to dig. It’s hard and annoying. I’m against it.”

“It’s not like you’re the one digging, so why the fuss?”

Lyudmila, the striped hyena Suin, and Abigail, the snow leopard Suin, laughed as they faced each other.

Lyudmila, who was notoriously prickly, and Abigail, who was overly flippant, were polar opposites in personality… but perhaps because they were the only two female warriors among Varyakrus’ great warriors, they got along surprisingly well.

“Hmm… If we had enough time, surrounding them and launching sporadic attacks might have worked. But if we drag it out too long, their reinforcements will arrive. We should at least start with a light skirmish to test their strength. We still don’t know the full extent of their forces,” Nazar chimed in, though he didn’t have a clear solution either.

Their greatest strengths were their resilience and the overwhelming presence of Ryurik.

In the northern frontlines, they had used these advantages to wage guerrilla-style attrition warfare, reducing enemy numbers and even launching Ryurik onto the northern wall to breach it.

‘Did we use the aerial assault strategy too quickly? No. It was the best move at the time. Thanks to that, we destroyed the masters on the northern wall with minimal losses.’

The decision back then wasn’t wrong. At least, Nazar thought so. If they hadn’t launched Ryurik via catapult to catch the enemy off guard, they would have had to expend an enormous number of troops to breach the northern wall.

“A skirmish, huh? Doesn’t suit my style. Sounds like a cowardly strategy, typical of a fox.”

“If you’re itching to fight, I’ll send you as the vanguard. How about going out and meeting a satisfying death? Like your clan did.”

Despite Ryurik’s warning, Oleg and Nazar continued to growl at each other. Though they weren’t drawing weapons like before.

“…Enough. No useful strategies, huh?”

I see. Then it’s better to just go with a straightforward approach.”

Rurik cut off their words.

The great warriors, who had paused their story, listened attentively to the king’s command.

“First, we’ll launch an attack to shake them up. If it seems like we can’t take them down right away, we’ll retreat for a bit. Make sure to relay that to the troops.”

As the battlefield drew closer, if there were no clever strategies, it would inevitably come down to a contest of strength.

At least, to gauge the enemy’s strength as Nazar suggested.

Of course, there was no intention to send only a small force for reconnaissance, as Nazar had suggested.

In a situation where even a full-scale battle was uncertain, sending a small force could lead to them being overwhelmed and annihilated before they could retreat.

‘Being a king isn’t easy…’

His great warriors were all reliable in combat, but they each had their flaws outside of battle.

Nazar, for a beastman, was quite sharp, but his excessive caution and passiveness were drawbacks. On the other hand, Victor and Oleg were so bold that it bordered on recklessness.

Moreover, Nazar and Oleg, whether due to clan conflicts or personality differences, would growl at each other at the slightest provocation.

Lyudmila and Abigail lacked cooperation and initiative, rarely helping anyone but each other. Valentin, with his sarcastic tone, had a knack for making enemies.

The only somewhat reliable one was the experienced and steady Vasily, but even he wasn’t particularly bright.

‘It can’t be helped. In a world where even the smart ones can’t survive if they’re weak.’

Rurik sighed inwardly.

The harsh environment of the northern snowfields bred strong warriors… but as a price, those with wisdom over strength were often crushed before they could shine.

It wasn’t a world where the weak could survive and thrive.

Thus, they needed a land that wouldn’t freeze over.

The golden fertile lands where their ancestors once roamed freely.

A vast plain filled with warmth, abundance, and game.

Though they knew it was an unattainable dream, it was a desire so great that they would fight endlessly for it.

—

It was a little over an hour after they started walking that they reached near the walls.

“Beastmen! The beastmen are here! Prepare to fire!”

“All knights, combat readiness! Knock down any beasts trying to climb the walls!”

The urgent voices of humans pierced their sharp ears.

Some beastmen with keen senses were already sniffing the air, licking their lips. Whether they would be the predators or the prey was something they wouldn’t know until the fight began.

“Siege units! Prepare the catapults! The rest, hold your positions! If arrows come, block them, don’t get hit!”

At Rurik’s command, the beastmen at the rear of the formation halted.

Large even for hybrids, they carried heavy loads. The beastmen set down their burdens and began assembling the catapults they had brought.

They had only managed to bring five catapults, and they weren’t particularly large, but it was better than nothing.

Even if they couldn’t break the walls, they could shatter the buildings and people inside.

Despite Rurik’s warning, no arrows flew their way. He had expected as much.

It was unlikely that arrows from the walls could reach their position. It would be wiser to wait until they advanced within range before unleashing a volley.

Thus, the beastmen were able to assemble the five catapults without any hindrance.

And then.

“Fire-!”

A deep roar from a bear beastman.

At Vasily’s command, not Rurik’s, the five catapults roared in unison, launching their projectiles.

There was no grand declaration or lengthy speech.

Between different races, there was no need for such formalities.

“The beastmen’s catapults are coming! Block—no, shoot them down! They must be stopped before they hit!”

Karl, clad in northern-style armor with a commander’s helmet, shouted urgently.

Thanks to the closer distance, they could now see what the projectiles were.

Four massive chunks of ice and a white beastman were hurtling through the air toward Paleun Castle.

‘Could it be… the same method as before? Are the monsters who took the north wall really that foolish…?’

Rurik’s aerial assault, they had already prepared countermeasures.

Mages gathered their mana, and knights armed with javelins readied their net-covered spears.

But their preparations were in vain.

-Screeeech!

A piercing noise followed by a red flash streaking like a beam.

**Enemy ship.**

The life-force arrow shot by Hashal pierced through the white beastman’s head, swirling like a vortex.

A crimson blade tore through the beast’s body like shredding meat.