Traitor Of Humanity

After he washed off the soap, he threw out the dirty water, and then refilled the bath.

He covered himself in soap a second time. He took some freshly made soap water, gargled it, and spat it out. Then, he took some more freshly made soap water, drank it, jumped up and down a hundred times, and forced himself to throw up. Although he didn"t think that he had swallowed anything from that red moat, he couldn"t help but feel paranoid.

He cleaned his eyes, his ears, his nose, his... every other part of his body.

It wasn"t until his third bath that he was able to just relax and soak in the bubbles. That was just how dirty he felt after falling into the moat today. He is even planning on using some magical methods to purify his body later...

Seth felt that, not including his fall into the moat, the day had gone smoothly. They had managed to deflect the enemy with minimal casualties, while killing plenty of enemy troops as well, although the ones that were killed were mostly the weaker grunts.

The citizens had went into a panic once again, but that should have been expected. After all, they are not deaf. They were certainly able to hear the shouts of the bandits trying to climb up the city walls. The news spread quickly, and there was almost another insurrection. Luckily, they quickly accepted the reality.

If they were to rebel now, and hinder the soldiers of the city, then that would only make it easier for the bandits to break into the city and slaughter them. Thus, no matter how unhappy they are with the city lord for not informing them of the invasion beforehand, and locking them inside the city, they have no choice but to cooperate and to not cause a ruckus.

While the citizens spent their night worrying, and the soldiers spent their night resting and recuperating, the date changed, and next day arrived.

There is a saying, that to deceive your enemies, you have to deceive your allies as well, or something like that.

But perhaps it is better to be more blunt.

If you cannot and do not deceive your allies, then you might as well be an open book to your enemies.

That was the mistake that the Wolfing gang had made.

At the start of the 2nd day"s battle, the Wolfing gang"s bandit officers did not toss pineapples atop the city walls. Instead, they tossed up cans that would released purple smoke after landing.

The purple smoke would then engulf the entire top of the city walls, turning the visibility up there extremely low, to the point that one can only make out the shadows of the human beings within it.

The bandits that were climbing up the walls, covered their faces with clothes to prevent them from inhaling the smoke.

After the smoke started to clear enough for them to be able to tell friend from foe, those bandits charged up the walls to attack the city"s soldiers, whom they expected to have been weakened by the poison... Contrary to their expectation though, what they met with when they stepped atop the city walls, were the blades of soldiers whose faces are now covered by black gas masks.

"D*mn it! Those losers rat us out!" Ronold Wolf cursed, and he was right. The fact that this tactic of theirs, which should have been highly effective, was seen through by their opponents beforehand, was all thanks to the captured members of the Bilin family ratting them out. Ronold Wolf now regretted telling them too much.

Weeks before the battle with the bandits began, Merab Zefer decided to interrogate the remaining adults of the Bilin family. When Seth heard that, he happily volunteered to be the interrogator.

But in reality? Seth never felt that he was very good at interrogating people. He is not patient enough to slowly torture them while waiting for them to speak the truth, nor is he good at playing psychological games. What he really wanted to do, was to ask a question, wait for his stubborn adversary to lie, and then immediately after, he would swing the hatchet, skipping the entire torture process. This way, he could have his fun killing people with justification.

When Klark Bilin entered the bas.e.m.e.nt"s interrogation room, saw the little boy innocently smiling at him, and then, saw one of his male relatives lying on the cold hard floor, with a hatchet stuck in his head, and blood leaking out into a pool, he immediately blabbered everything that he possibly could think of.

He started off with all the secrets of the Bilin family. Then, he went to everything he knew about the Wolfing gang, including what he knew about their connections. Finally. he ended with all the shady things that he ever did in his life. He did not give any chance or excuse for Seth to kill him with... which caused Seth to turn rather depressed.

One of the connections that Klark Bilin mentioned the Wolfing gang having, was with a certain Alchemic school.

Any Alchemic school in this world, not only deals with medicines, but also with poisons.

Having learned of that connection, how could Merab Zefer NOT make some preparations to deal with poisons?

Those preparations were showing their use today, preventing the soldiers on the city walls from falling over to those poison gas grenades and allowing the bandits to walk all over them. Without the gas masks, the city could very well be taken today.

The rest of the day followed the same route as yesterday.

The bandits continued trying to climb the city walls. The soldiers continued to either drop them down or kill them once they got atop the walls.

The weaker bandits continued to die, while the city continued to use up its consumables. Some soldiers died as well, either having been sniped, or having been pulled down by those bandits whom have managed to climb up only to suffer a fatal wound.

At night, the bandits tried to mount a sneak attack under the cover of the darkness. They cloaked themselves in black, allowing them to camouflage into the night. Unfortunately, they were still noticed by the watchers doing night duty atop the city walls.

The bandits were forced to run away in retreat. If they could not sneak in, then they would rather not force themselves to fight a battle in the darkness, where they would barely be able to see where they walk, and when their gang"s officers would not be able to provide them any effective support fire.

Eventually, the sun rose and the next day arrived.

On the third day of battle, the bandits began trying to fill up the moat. If they could accomplish that, then not only would it be easier for them to get to the city walls, but they also would no longer need to worry about blinding themselves every time they fall into the red water.

Their men spread out into the city"s vicinity.

The barren land was even more barren after the soldiers and slaves of Haradur city took any usable materials from the city"s surroundings during the last month. All rocks of a size large enough to crack a man"s head were taken. Any branches that could be turned into arrows were picked up. Any trees that could be used to make the catapults and other woodwork, were cut down.

What was left for the bandits to use wasn"t much. They dug up dirt, pulled up tree stumps, and picked up pebbles. To get anything better, they had to travel further out. They poured everything they could find into the moat, including the corpses of their dead comrades. They did all this while enduring the arrows and the burning bandit stars falling at them. Their work was done until the sun set.

After just a day, the danger of the moat that had taken the slaves of Haradur city an entire month to dig, had been significantly reduced. Now, the depth of the red water at the area closest to the city walls had been decreased from reaching up to the bandits waists, to being able to reach up to their thighs. So long as they do not fall flat into it, the bandits will be able to avoid being blinded by it.

The situation further away from the wall though, didn"t change at all.

It was also questionable whether all the lives, and all the time, that were sacrificed during the day, to fill up the moat by just this much was worth it or not.

Still, thanks to the moat being partially filled, the fourth day of battle went much more smoothly for the bandits. Although they still did not managed to get pa.s.s the wall, the number of times that they managed to get atop it, and the number of soldiers that they managed to kill, increased.

On the fifth day... Ronold Wolf finally lost his patience. He knows that the goal of Haradur city is to buy time for reinforcements from the immortal city behind them to arrive. Thus, he had set a time limit for himself and his gang. If they cannot break into this city by the end of the fifth day, then they would turn and leave. Staying any longer than that would simply be seeking death.

He decided to use his trump card. "Bring forth the cannon!"

A ma.s.sive black cannon was dragged forward by 10 strong bandits, pulling it by the ropes. Its giant spiked wheels left heavy trails on the earth"s ground. Every inch it moved was accompanied by loud creaking sounds. Its muzzle pointed straight at the sealed gate of Haradur city"s western wall!