I was a knight in the Middle Ages

Chapter 469 Mining City Crisis

Late at night, the moonlight was as red as blood, scattering mottled light on the winding mountain road.

A team was moving forward quietly. In the quiet atmosphere, only the occasional neighing of horses and the sound of light footsteps could be heard.

The elf Evelyn rode a sturdy white horse with a worried look on her face. She approached Alpha and asked softly, "Lord Alpha, can we really delay those bandits if we don't leave any of them alive?"

Evelyn's eyes sparkled with doubt in the moonlight, her hair fluttered gently in the breeze, and a faint fragrance emanated from the elf.

Alpha rode on a tall warhorse, his posture upright and his expression calm. He turned his head slightly to look at Evelyn and explained calmly: "Others dare not say, but those bandits who disregarded their own people, when they killed their own wounded, I can guarantee that they will not do their best. At least they can buy us two days."

Alpha recalled that when he received the news that the bandits had killed his wounded, he had already realized that these bandits were just a group of rabble. At this moment, they must be lazy whenever possible and have no team spirit at all.

Evelyn still did not give up and asked, "What if they send someone to scout our camp and find that there is no one there?"

There was a hint of urgency in her voice, and her hands unconsciously tightened around the reins.

Alpha raised the corner of his mouth slightly, revealing a contemptuous smile, and said: "Someone will definitely find something unusual, but it is hard to say whether they will report it."

In Alpha's opinion, these bandits have many internal conflicts and are not united. Even if they find that there is no one in the camp, they may not report it truthfully.

"We killed another two thousand of their men in this operation. Now they have at most five thousand men. If they catch up with us, can they kill us?" Alpha's tone was full of disdain. It was not that he was arrogant, but that these bandit knights were indeed vulnerable.

They were just a team put together in a hurry, with no discipline or tacit understanding, and could only barely cope when things were going well.

Once faced with a tough battle, their flaws will be revealed instantly and they will not be able to exert any advantages at all.

Today, Alpha and his men have greatly expanded their military strength.

Originally there were only more than 1,300 soldiers, but now Da Gama's group of prisoners has reached 1,400 people. Together with the 1,000 people from the Druid tribe, the team size is as large as 3,600 to 3,700 people.

Excluding the five hundred non-combatants among the druids, they have more than three thousand people who can join the battle.

With such a large force, Alpha is confident that he can easily deal with the enemy even if it faces a head-on attack.

At the same time, the main group of Eagle Cliff bandits was a completely different story.

In the middle of the night, there was a commotion in the camp. Centurion Axe was standing on a high place with a furious look on his face, roaring angrily: "Kill into the enemy group and don't let a single enemy go."

His voice echoed in the night air, with a hint of hysteria.

The adjutant ran to Axe in a panic and said anxiously, "Captain, the passage we have opened now can only accommodate one person and one horse at a time. If something happens ahead, we won't be able to mobilize troops. Let's open the mountain pass."

The adjutant recalled the stampede that had just occurred with lingering fear. At least thirty people died in the chaos, but less than ten were killed by the trap.

Axe's face turned pale, and he shouted helplessly: "Quickly move the obstacles away for me."

He knew clearly that if they continued like this, the team would be wiped out sooner or later.

But the centurion also knew the temper of Captain Stanford. At this moment, he did not want to fight desperately without reservation. He had to retain his strength while not being discovered by the captain that he was being lazy.

Watching his men working together to carry the stones, Axe's mood gradually calmed down.

As long as everyone has something to do, it will not arouse the suspicion of the leader, and he can continue to preserve his strength in this chaotic fight.

……

Gun smoke obscured the sky of the Portos Mining City, and the pungent smell of sulfur mixed with the smell of blood filled the streets.

This city, famous for its precision machinery and magical firearms technology, is suffering an unprecedented disaster.

The fierce battle with the pirate alliance has lasted for nearly thirty days and nights. The towering city walls are riddled with holes from the bombardment of artillery fire, and layers of dried blood scabs are condensed on the mottled bricks and stones.

The most brutal battle took place on the southern wall, where the battlements looked like wounds gnawed by a giant beast, and the broken arrow towers were swaying in the wind.

The pirates attacked repeatedly like a black tide, and the defenders of the mining city fought back desperately like trapped beasts. The blood-stained flag on the top of the city changed hands several times.

When the morning light dyed the city walls red for the seventh time, the defenders finally regained the commanding heights, but found that the corpses piled up under their feet were almost level with the broken city walls.

The whole city has already fallen into the frenzy of wartime operations.

The steam hammers in the ammunition workshop roared day and night, and the mechanical arms continuously delivered special magic gun bullets;

Looms in textile factories were converted into bandage production lines, and store shelves were filled with hastily made armor.

After three city-wide mobilization orders were issued, in addition to the core military industrial departments, even school teachers, tavern waiters, and even street performers took up weapons and joined the line of defense to defend their homes.

However, the offensive of the Pirate Alliance was like surging waves, one after another.

The initial vanguard force of 20,000 pirates suffered 30,000 casualties under the tenacious resistance of the defenders, but subsequent reinforcements continued to pour in, and the force suddenly increased to 50,000.

What is even more despairing is that mercenaries and speculators from surrounding countries swarmed in like scavengers smelling blood. It is secretly estimated that the total number of enemy troops besieging the city may have exceeded 100,000.

On the other hand, inside the city, more than half of the 5,000 elite defenders were killed in the continuous fighting, and the 10,000 new recruits assembled through three mobilizations were mostly civilians who had not received systematic training.

What's even more fatal is that the magic gun technology that the mining city is proud of has become a shackle in this war.

Only warriors with primary knight's fighting spirit can activate the energy core of the magic spear.

Those citizens who were temporarily armed could only hold heavy ordinary spears and fight against the well-equipped pirates like swinging sticks.

Night fell again, and the exhausted defenders leaned against the broken city wall, looking at the endless campfires outside the city, like people falling into the deep sea looking at the unreachable stars.

Every time the sound of war drums came from the enemy camp, it was like a heavy hammer hitting their nerves that were on the verge of collapse.

This once glorious city of science and technology is now standing on the brink of destruction, awaiting its final judgment.

The tungsten lights in the conference room were crackling in the humid air. Captain Lina's knuckles were turning white as she gripped the tactical tablet. The red dot on the map was engulfing the South City defense line at an alarming speed.

Lina looked up at the shrinking city defense map in the center of the conference room, and a suppressed sigh escaped from her throat: "Captain Makino, do you think the Lord has forgotten us?"

Makino's mechanical eyes flashed with a dark blue data stream. He wiped the sword at his waist, and the sound of metal friction was particularly harsh in the dead silence of the room: "Lord Alpha must be worried about us. The mining city is the result of his years of hard work, and he will never give up..."

Before he could finish his words, the iron gate burst open and a signalman stumbled in. The bloodstains on his chain mail glowed an eerie purple under the emergency light.

"South City... has been lost!" A hoarse roar tore through the air.

The cup in Lina's hand fell to the ground, and the glass cup shattered into a spider web shape on the floor.

Makino stood up suddenly, the metal chair made a sharp sound as it rubbed against the ground, and the cold light cast a shadow on his angular face.

"The South City defense has clearly increased by 30% manpower, how could it be captured so quickly!" Phyllis stabbed the tactical pen hard on the table, causing the miniature model on the sand table to tremble.

The signalman swallowed his fear, his Adam's apple rolling up and down: "It was... those black soldiers who opened the South Gate."

Lina staggered and held onto the edge of the table, memories flooding back.

Half a year ago, Alpha personally freed 2,000 black people from the slave mines, issued them standard weapons, and even said at the recruits’ oath-taking ceremony: “Freedom is bought with dignity.”

At this moment, those faces who once raised their fists and shouted "Long live freedom" have become the sharpest blades of betrayal.

“No wonder the adults repeatedly emphasized…” Lina dug her nails deep into her palms, “They never understood the weight of freedom.”

Lina suddenly remembered Alpha's warning at the strategic meeting when she was arguing for those black people. Thinking about it now, she felt a chill on the back of her neck.

"What's the progress of the evacuation of residents in South City?" Phyllis' voice was as cold and hard as metal.

"They were evacuated as early as the third siege, and now there are only a few defensive troops stationed there..." Makina hadn't finished his words.

Another soldier broke open the door, his combat uniform still stained with fresh blood. "Report! The black armed forces seized the B3 armory, improved magic guns... including the latest armor-piercing bullet technical drawings!"

The air seemed to freeze in an instant.

Makina's eyes burst into a dazzling red light. Lina grabbed the iron whip on the tactical table and crushed the glass shards on the ground with her leather boots: "Activate the second-level martial law! All patrol teams immediately confiscate the black armed forces and reduce their combat authority to the lowest level!"

Phyllis quickly adjusted the city regulations: "From now on, all black workers will be incorporated into the death squad, without armor, and without new weapons supplies-"

She paused, a cold light flashing in her eyes, "Only issue the most basic weapons. Let them pay the price for their betrayal with their flesh and blood."

Alarms sounded one after another outside the window, and the sky of the mining city was turned bloody by the war.

Makino clenched his sword, and the blade hummed as it expanded. "Prepare for street fighting. Even if we have to fight to the last bullet, we must let those pirates know that every inch of metal in the mining city is stained with the blood of our soldiers."

Makina suddenly overturned the tactical sand table, and the metal bracket left long, harsh marks on the ground.

The veins in his neck throbbed. "I'll take over South City. I want the blood of those treacherous bastards to fill every sewer."

Lina clutched the broken iron whip, and drops of blood seeped from between her fingers and dripped onto the South City area of ​​the tactical map.

The image of her personally putting badges on the black recruits three days ago burned repeatedly on her retina like a red-hot iron: "It was me who gave them weapons, and it was me who taught them how to use the magic gun - this shame must be washed away by my own hands."

There was a hint of rust in Lina's voice, and the ends of her hair were still stained with the remnants of the broken glass.

"Your captain, you are best at guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare," Makina tore off his blood-stained combat cloak and threw it on the table, revealing the deep burn marks on his shoulder armor, "but street fighting requires a steel meat grinder."

His sword suddenly popped out, and the blue-white blade cast the shadows of the two men on the mottled iron wall. "My Blood Crow Squad is equipped with the latest shields. Let those traitors have a taste of being torn apart by the sword, and let them try the penetration of the magic spear."

There were hurried footsteps in the corridor, the clatter of soldiers moving ammunition boxes mixed with the beeping of alarms.

As Makina turned around, the metal heels of his boots rolled heavily over the ground of South City, crushing the puppets representing the black soldiers into powder: "Then destroy everything in South City. We don't need sympathizers here."

When the explosion-proof door slammed shut behind her, Lina was still standing in the mess.

She picked up the remains of the puppet, and the badge of freedom she had pasted on it was still on the surface of the mud.

Outside the window, the flames of war rising from the direction of South City were tearing through the night sky, and the Blood Crow Squad led by Makina was advancing forward with their shields raised, like a group of bloodthirsty giant metal birds, swooping down on their former "compatriots".

A bright red symbol was spray-painted on the chest of each shield - an inverted emblem of freedom with a thorn-shaped totem of vengeance wrapped around it.

……

Arrupes knelt on one knee in front of the melted city gate, and the metal knee pads crushed half of the floor tile with the emblem of freedom embedded in it.

He pulled off the bloodstained face towel, revealing the fresh sword burns on his cheek, which were particularly glaring in the sun: "General! This time we brought 2,000 elite soldiers, as well as the distribution map of the city's defense weaknesses provided by those black soldiers! South City will definitely--"

"Like last month?" The general twirled the whiskey glass in his hand, and the sound of ice cubes colliding was particularly clear in the silent command cabin.

In the field of vision, smoke was still rising from the alley behind Arrupes, and the skull flags of the Pirate Alliance were scattered among the wreckage of the collapsed buildings. "At that time, you also vowed to razed the mining city, but what happened? The troops transported by the three capital ships were paralyzed on the front line, and the bodies of 10,000 brothers were just brought back and buried."

"General, please look! Every time they capture the South City, they will transfer troops from other defense zones to provide reinforcements. Now the East City defense line has only 30% of its combat power left. As long as we -" Forward Arupes pointed to another corner of the map.

"War of attrition has never been the pirates' strong point." The general drank the whiskey in one gulp and slammed the bottom of the glass heavily on the tactical table, causing ripples on the large map. "But if we can use one South City to exchange for ten times their casualties..."

His eyes swept across the red dots that kept jumping on the battle map, and a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth. "Keep moving forward. Tell those black guys that after they capture the City Lord's Mansion, they are allowed to plunder for three hours."

A bloodthirsty light flashed in Arupes' eyes. "Understood! This time we will turn every building into a meat grinder and let the rats in the mining city know--"

His chain saw axe suddenly exerted force, and the collision caused a violent explosion. The flames of the explosion illuminated his hideous face, "Pirates' mercy is only for the dead!"