Chương 148: Breach

I turned to the crowd, trying to bask in the glow of victory. For a moment, it was enough to make me forget everything else that we were dealing with. A smile crept onto my cheeks. First, I glanced at my squad, then at Lord Ceonwin and the others in the audience stand. Then my gaze drifted across Lord Hinlaw, and his cold smirk. He'd watched his son die, and now, only now, was he smirking? There was probably some honour code, some rule that allowed him to take revenge. Or try to take revenge.

But I'd be ready—he would be a thorn in my side that I was going to have to deal with, no matter what. Then my stomach plummeted. I swallowed. That's not why he's smirking. In the distance, at the castle, a horn sounded, and I scrunched my eyebrows. It was a warning horn. A signal, a call for help. I sprinted to the edge of the jousting grounds, then jumped up onto the fence, trying to see what laid ahead. Smoke rose from within the castle, and someone screamed. More shouts erupted from the other side of the camp.

That had to be the orcs. Hinlaw's final plan.

"Get back!" I yelled.

"Find shelter! Get—" I was about to yell at them to get to the castle, but that wouldn't be good enough for shelter. If orcs had already breached walls, getting people inside it wouldn't do much. The better question: How did they breach the walls?

"Levi!" Anchor yelled. My squad followed him—Brawl, fully armed, and Sage and Morph, ready for battle. As they approached, Sage healed my injuries, and I gave her a thankful nod. Anchor passed me my old armour, and as I swapped my current gear with my proper Dupe armour, I asked, "What's the situation? Do you know anything?"

"I'm picking up a whole bunch of Iron-tier orcs swarming the camp," Anchor said.

"Higher density closer to the castle."

"How many?"

"About fifty out here," Anchor said.

"More Steels are coming, according to my senses," Sage added. I tightened my pauldrons' straps and attached my old vambraces.

"From where?"

"It is difficult to tell," she said.

"They're getting closer, though."

"I am ready for a fight, brother," Brawl told me.

"My senses may not be all that effective, but my flail is ready to split some yelloweyes' skulls." I pulled on my helmet, then tightened the chin strap. The little Perception boost it gave me triggered, but I barely noticed now, given how tiny it was.

"We can't afford to waste any time. The longer the orcs are out, the longer they rampage."

"What about Lord Ceonwin?" Anchor asked. I glanced back at him, watching as he swung down from the audience stands and drew his great warbrand.

"He'll catch up," I said. For a moment, I considered taking Burr, but none of my other squad was mounted, and she was relatively safe here. There were enough thegns and lords around that it would take a lot to slaughter them all. But then again, if Hinlaw wanted to kill Lord Ceonwin… this force of orcs had to be powerful enough to do so. There had to be something here that could kill a Gold. What was I supposed to do about that? There was always something I could do to help, though. I said, "With me.

We aim for the castle gates. Once we're there, we can reassess." I picked my spear back up, then ran across the tournament ground, purposely slowing myself so my squad could keep pace. They were sprinting, but at the moment, I was only putting in the effort of a jog. We pushed through throngs of fleeing civilians. They shouted and clamoured, trying to escape the orc attack, but they parted out of our way without a fight. Halfway to the castle gates, we encountered our first orc.

It scrambled through the streets on all fours, armed with massive steel claws on the backs of its hands, chasing after a fleeing boy. I leapt at the beast, then struck it in the flank with a knee. I hadn't meant to hit it very hard, but it was enough to send the beast tumbling off to the side of the road. Anchor stuck it with a regular unenhanced arrow, sending it sprawling onto its back, dead. We could worry about Presences later.

Me gaining an extra point or two wouldn't matter in the grand scheme of things, especially not with how much time it would cost us. So we kept moving. As we ran, more and more orcs flooded along the tournament camp's packed streets as we returned to the castle. We slew what we could, but some made it past us. They weren't in high enough numbers, and I prioritized figuring out what was going on before chasing a couple weak orcs around the camp.

When we reached the bridge where I had first met Alis, I stopped, then jumped up on the railing for the best view I could. Smoke still rose from within the castle walls, and sappers stood on the ramparts, firing arrows down at something inside the castle. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Orcs streamed out the main gate.

A cluster moved toward us, and our squad took fighting positions, but before the orcs could reach us, Romance and his squad of riders plowed through them, trampling them and cutting them down. More were coming, but at least now, I had a little backup. I sprinted over to Romance, and he shouted, "Levi!"

"That would be Sir Levi," Anchor said.

"Not the time," I insisted.

"Romance, what's the situation?"

"We know nothing," Romance said. An archer in his squad fired an arrow, nailing a distant orc in the shoulder and sending it sprawling to the ground.

"Seems like they got into the castle first."

"Yeah," I said.

"I need you to gather as many of your riders as you can, and do your best to contain them here. The gate is a natural chokepoint. Don't let them into the tournament camp. Once you've contained as many as you can, close the gate."

"Understood, sir," Romance said. Then, he whispered, "You have a lot of explaining to do. Are you a thegn?"

"Later," I insisted.

"Where are—""Sir Levi!" came Lord Ceonwin's voice from behind me.

"My lord." I whirled toward him. He wasn't alone—Yesman and Habit's squads followed him. For the moment, we were safe, but we didn't have much time. More orcs were going to come, and I didn't know how much time we'd have.

"They're in the castle," Lord Ceonwin said.

"I assume you planned to venture inside and retake it?"

"I was going to do my best, sir," I said.

"We need to control the castle if we're to stand any chance."

"We're with you, then," Ceonwin said.

"You don't have other orders for me?"

"Those would have been my orders. Onward."

"Yes, sir." I gave my spear a whirl, then rushed to the gate, leading the way. An orc raced at me with a club, but I deflected the blow and pierced through him with a sharp jab. The regular, Iron-tier orcs weren't a problem, and when a Steel-tier troll joined them, I cut it down with comparable ease—no Presence expended. We fanned out, pushing through the gate, making precise movements, jabbing and thrusting and slashing in a line of destruction. Lord Ceonwin took the lead once inside.

The air rippled around his Great Warbrand, almost like Hinfic's had, but instead of waves, his created cracking illusions, like every movement of his blade was shattering an invisible mirror. It created a burst of invisible shards inside his foes' bodies, ripping them apart from inside, like lightning branched away from the cuts. Inside the castle, orcs spread out, and I couldn't tell which way they came from. They rampaged around, trying to scale the ramparts and attack the archers, but there was no coordination.

Their Black Captain hadn't arrived yet.

"Should we fan out, sir?" I asked.

"We could send a squad every way and clear the outer green faster."

"Stay together until we have a better grasp of the situation," he said.

"And until we have more effective lines of communication."

"Yes, sir." We pushed directly toward the gate of the inner wall, cutting down lesser orcs as we moved. As with most castles, the inner gate was on the opposite side, so an invading force would have to navigate through a killbox if they wanted to breach the inner wall quickly. When we were only a few feet from the gate, a Titanium-tier ogre lumbered out, smashing its war-hammer on the ground. The dirt shuddered, but it wasn't anywhere near as terrible of a shudder as I remembered those guys making.

With a thrust of my spear, I pierced the beast's upper thighs, no Presence required. It roared, then fell back, and the Dupes around use jumped on it, targeting its vitals until it stopped thrashing. Then we kept pushing, navigating into the inner wall. We only took two steps in before a voice from the upper wall yelled, "Lord Ceonwin! Sir Levi!" I glanced up at the wall.

Along with a few senior sappers and workers who had armed themselves, some of the thegns of the tournament took their place on the ramparts—including Sir Peofrith. Peofrith sprinted down a stairway beside the gate, then said, "Word of your… exploits travelled quickly, Sir Levi. You are quite the surprise."

"Sorry about the challenge," I told him.

"I didn't—""There's no time for old grievances," Lord Ceonwin said.

"News, sir?"

"They're coming from underground," Peofrith said.

"From within the keep."

"From the Labyrinth," I breathed, then cursed under my breath. The other tunnel—the open one that we'd found, the tunnel between underground cities. The orcs were using it.

"We have to get down there."

"We don't have the numbers to fight them in the Labyrinth," Lord Ceonwin said.

"They'd spread us too thin. We stand a better chance if we try to hold the keep's cellar shut."

"Sir, they think something in there can kill you," I said.

"It's something strong enough to take out a Gold. And it's probably their Black Captain." Ceonwin considered, then said, "You have a plan, Levi? Let's hear it."

"The golems, sir. We haven't taken down the quarter guardians yet. They're boosting the strength of the level guardian, making it stronger than a Gold. We have to lure the Black Captain toward it, and use it to destroy them." Lord Ceonwin considered for a moment, then nodded.

"It might work. You would have to be quick."

"We'll go now," I said.

"Habit, Yesman, I'll need you and your squads."

"I will come with you, too," Lord Ceonwin said.

"You will need the help." I shook my head.

"They're trying to kill you, sir. If we sent you down with us, we'd be playing right into their hands. Besides, we're not going to be the only things escaping that Labyrinth. We'll need someone to coordinate the defenses up here." Lord Ceonwin dipped his head. He considered for a moment, mouth opening and closing, before finally, he said, "A valid concern. I will stay. But be careful with the level guardian. Once you enrage it, you won't be able to pull back and escape so easily. You will have to defeat it today."

He paused.

"All of the underground cities of the old empire contained golems to guard their main maegen core, which it possesses—that is the miniature sun in its chest. But to defeat the golem, you don't necessarily have to destroy the core. You just have to use it. You saw the temple on the opposite side of the plaza, correct?"

"Correct, sir."

"Its core belongs in the temple. You'll know it when you see it. If you can lodge its core in the temple, it will open up the passages to the lower levels."

"Understood, sir." I turned to my squad, then to Habit's and Yesman's.

"We won't have long. Let's move. And Habit, take one of Lord Ceonwin's banners. We might need it to make this convincing." This would be just like that time I used the massive Labyrinth mole to kill an ogre. Just ten times more dangerous, and on a far greater scale of power. But hey, I'd have a great story to tell Romance and Elf when we got back. If we got back.