Chapter 69: The Chaos

Chapter 69: The Chaos

“Your Majesty, this place is dangerous! We must retreat!”

Looking at the approaching human soldiers not far away, Hela’s expression changed as she urgently spoke to Airael.

Airael, however, seemed surprisingly calm.

She had encountered slaughter before and, compared to the earlier catapults, these charging human soldiers posed little threat to her at the moment.

“Hela, it’s too early to talk about retreating,” she firmly rejected.

Seeing Airael so unfazed, Hela felt anxious deep down.

But in that moment, she didn’t know how to persuade her.

Airael was completely impervious to outside influence.

Besides, as the Queen, it would be inappropriate for the Elves to act harshly towards her.

Noticing Hela’s emotions, Airael smiled and said, “Hela, I believe our soldiers will protect me here.”

Hela’s words ignited a fiery spirit among the Royal Palace Guards around them.

Each one seemed eager to show off their skills, but unfortunately, the human soldiers scaling the walls were still some distance away.

They couldn’t abandon Airael to fight those human soldiers.

Their mission was to protect Airael the Queen, not to guard the castle!

While the two tasks seemed similar, there was a significant difference in intention.

Airael didn’t pay too much attention to the reactions of the Royal Guards.

After speaking with Hela, she returned to her lookout spot on a small stone pedestal, observing the human army outside the walls.

The human army outside was densely packed.

Aside from the soldiers attacking the walls, many others were standing by, ready for action.

This dashed Airael’s hopes and left her feeling a bit down.

She had been counting on the human army’s chaotic formation during the assault, which would have allowed the Treeman warriors hidden in the woods to ambush them.

That would surely deal a serious blow to the human forces.

But as it seemed, while the human army’s charge was still wild, they were quite organized.

The soldiers were frantic, but the officers, especially the high-ranking generals, maintained their composure.

The battle raged on at Silnas Fortress’s outer walls.

Though the human soldiers had successfully reached the battlements via the siege ladders, holding their ground up there was no easy feat.

Yes, they had an endless stream of reinforcements, but the rate at which they could climb the ladders was limited.

Meanwhile, countless Elven soldiers surrounded them.

Under the constant assault from the Elven soldiers, human soldiers were falling every single moment.

This kept the number of human soldiers on the walls within a certain range.

The faces of the human soldiers were continuously changing.

Soon, the battlements were piled high with bodies from both sides.

Of course, the majority were human corpses.

For the attacking side, siege warfare was this brutal.

However, the situation for the humans quickly improved.

New siege ladders were leaned against the walls of Silnas Fortress.

Not only did these new ladders provide fresh pathways for human soldiers to reach the ramparts, but they also increased the number of soldiers fighting atop the walls.

At the same time, the Elves had to split their attention to these newly arrived human soldiers.

This eased the pressure on the previously ascended human soldiers.

With the arrival of these new siege ladders, Elven soldiers on the walls were completely overwhelmed with work.

Even Lov, the commander, had to join the fray.

The entire battlefield on the walls was now a frenzy, with only Airael remaining in a somewhat peaceful state.

Noticing the situation nearby, Hela grew more anxious.

Although they hadn’t yet been pulled into the fighting, it was only a matter of time.

But Airael remained unruffled.

Her gaze was fixed on the human army outside the walls.

She didn’t pay much attention to the situation atop the battlements.

As she’d said earlier, she trusted the Royal Guards to protect her.

In recent days, she had sensed their respect for her.

Watching the human army, Airael kept pondering strategies to defeat them.

Even though she wasn’t a military strategist, she had to think like one now.

She wasn’t just the Elven Queen; she was also the Grand Admiral of the navy and the master of this fortress. It was necessary for her to contribute to the fight.

Airael’s mind was racing, drawing on various battle tactics she’d heard from her past life, hoping to devise a suitable plan for the current situation.

Seeing Airael deep in thought, Hela couldn’t help but speak up again, “Your Majesty, we must retreat now; it’s already very dangerous.”

“Just wait a bit longer! Hela!”

With a glimmer of insight flashing through her mind, Airael continued to focus on the human army outside while speaking to Hela.

She looked quite anxious too.

Because she was about to figure it out, she just needed one last piece of the puzzle.

In her mind, to secure a great victory over the humans, they needed to create chaos in their formations and make them let down their guard.

This would make it easier for the Treeman warriors outside to launch their surprise attack on them.

Only such an ambush could yield exceptional results.

Otherwise, charging blindly at the tightly guarded human formations would be a recipe for disaster for the Treemen.

So, how could they make the human army lower their guard and create disorder?

This question had occupied Airael’s thoughts for a while.

In the human formation, Victor observed the frenzied Elven forces on the walls and ordered the messenger beside him, “Deploy the siege engines!”

Suratu beside him nodded lightly.

Indeed, it was the perfect timing to deploy the siege engines.

The Elven soldiers on the walls were already too occupied with pushing back their own soldiers’ aggressive assaults.

Thus, when the siege engines began breaching the gates, they would encounter minimal obstruction.

Once the gates fell, this siege battle would essentially conclude.

After giving the order, Victor felt quite pleased as Suratu didn’t raise any objections.

He knew he had made another excellent decision!

With another horn sounding through the human ranks, the siege engines, which had remained still since the start of the battle, finally began to move.

With the push of the human soldiers, the siege engines slowly approached Silnas Fortress, just like the siege ladders had before.

On the battlements, Airael immediately noticed this unusual movement in the human army.