Chapter 53: Paris (3)
Despite the cheers of the French, Joan"s golden helm hid an unsightly expression. If she wasn"t certain before that Leonel"s goal differed from her own, she was now.
In truth, even if he did this, it shouldn"t have been so obvious so quickly. However, Leonel only had himself to blame once more. The reason Joan was able to realize there was something wrong with his actions was because of those words he spoke to her in English that day.
Nigelle and Reimond simultaneously turned their gazes toward Joan as though trying to gain an explanation. But, what they found in return was her warped expression, making the answer to their question quite obvious.
These two weren"t one of them.
On the castle walls, Leonel and Aina stood back to back, facing enemies on all sides.
From front to back, the walls averaged almost ten meters in thickness, so the number of knights and archers here was definitely not just a few. In addition, since there was so much s.p.a.ce, the pair didn"t gain any advantage due to the landscape.
However…
Leonel and Aina both took a strong step forward. Though it wasn"t enough to shake the ma.s.sive castle walls, the loud boom was enough for the warriors around them to look on in shock. Before they could react, tens more fell from the high walls.
This was only the first day of the siege. Or, rather, it really should have been the first of many days. As a result, most of the warriors on the castle walls were archers. Though there were some knights, they weren"t high in number. With this, it became very obvious very quickly just how disadvantaged they were.
Aina and Leonel swept through them as though adults playing with children. The fear filled Englishmen were so shocked by the sudden s.h.i.+ft in the battle that they didn"t even realize that though many of them were being heavily injured, the majority of them hadn"t even died.
"What"s their…" Nigelle was confused. What exactly were they trying to do? However, it was at that moment his expression changed. "… The gates! Stop them!"
He pulled up his longbow and was about to use it, but then his expression became unsightly. There was only a distance maybe 20 meters between him and Leonel, a distance that practically meant death to anyone who offended an archer like him.
The problem was that there were cl.u.s.ters of Englishmen in his way, there was no clear path for his shot!
Leonel might have been a kind hearted soul who often did foolish things for the sake of his moral code, however he wasn"t a fool.
He had guessed that Joan and these two men with abilities were working together. And, he guessed that if he and Aina just suddenly appeared, they wouldn"t have time to communicate between themselves to understand what was going on. As a result, they wouldn"t be able to stop them from getting to the top of the walls. And, if they couldn"t do that, then…
The path to the gates would be too easy to reach.
Leonel jumped up and onto the edge of the wall, sprinting along it at a speed that surpa.s.sed the human body.
There was no shortage of those who tried to push him off or knock him off balance, but his coordination stat had reached a level far beyond anything these soldiers could imagine.
"Charge toward the gates!" Leonel roared.
His voice blanketed the battlefield, suppressing the cheering of the Frenchmen who immediately regained their senses. That was right, they were still in the middle of a war.
Leonel and Aina had caused the archers to become completely disorganized on an entire segment of the wall. Even if there were more parts left unscathed, it was still a huge pressure off of them, especially since the part of the wall now unable to send attacks toward them was exactly the part that protected the draw bridge gates.
For a moment, it seemed as though Leonel had become their Commander and many forgot that they still had to wait for Joan"s order. Maybe it was the confidence in Leonel"s tone or the fact he was very much used to leading groups of men or maybe it was that they all had taken a liking to him in the past few months, but they completely disregarded everything and charged forward like madmen.
Seeing this, Joan"s visage darkened even further. This was completely out of her control. What could she do? Tell them to come back? What kind of blow would that strike them?
All this time, she had never forgotten that she was a woman. In modern times, this wouldn"t matter too much. But in this era, it already took her several years of G.o.d-like feats to gain the acknowledgment of these men. She was very much aware that even a single mistake could cause everything she had worked for to come crumbling down.
Leonel"s lip curled as he leaped onto a defensive tower, dodging the sword of a defending knight and kicking him away.
He shot forward and down a set of winding stairs.
Castles were designed with defense in mind. Even something as simple as stairs kept this in mind. They made it difficult to use your dominant hand to wield your weapon and even had irregularly shaped steps that promoted losing your foothold.
But, before Leonel"s coordination stat, none of it seemed to matter at all.
It wasn"t long before he made it to the gear room, finding the large chains that held up the drawbridge dangling before him. Unfortunately, he also found something else.
Reimond stood before Leonel with a curious expression, blocking the way to the chains. By his side, there were a group of ten silver armored knights, looking toward Leonel with dull expressions. Three of them wielded longbows, four were spearmen and three were swordsmen.
"I thought that something out of expectation would happen today, but I didn"t expect it to be this. Who are you two? Where are you from? Have you not considered the reaction of the Bishop?"
To Leonel"s back, Aina blocked the constant flow of knights and warriors. Considering how narrow the pa.s.sageway was, it didn"t put any pressure on her at all, but her eyes still narrowed at Reimond"s words.
Leonel surprisingly didn"t waste any words, completely out of Reimond"s expectations.
With one swift motion, he tossed his spear into the air, allowing it to spin.
His freed hand pulled out his atlatl and a dart, hooking it as he took a strong step forward.
Leonel"s Force surged, his eyes turning to a bright green glow that caused Reimond"s eyes to widen.
"You…"
Reimond"s words had barely formed when a violent surge of wind sent his helmet flying. He could only barely see the streak of silver as it cut through the air, its destination the very chains Reimond had thought to protect.
Like a knife through b.u.t.ter, Leonel"s dart sliced through the thick chains. How could the forging of the 1400"s match up to a spear created by higher dimensional beings?
The sounds of rattling and accelerating chains resounded as the roars of the French continuously became louder.
Leonel holstered his atlatl and caught his spinning spear before it fell, pointing it toward the group.
"Come."