One could say it was a pain for the attackers and a worry for the defenders.
Remedios led the paladins in a charge, and the angels attacked the subhumans up on the city wall.
But here and there, angels took hits from the subhumans, turned to particles of light, and vanished.
They were up against the bufolk like at the previous prison camp, but as they were defending a city instead of a simple village, they posed a greater threat here.
One with a splendid spear stood out in particular, though he concealed himself behind a parapet. He seemed to be the one slaying many of the angels.
Then he howled a battle cry.
It was probably some sort of skill, but it didn’t affect the angels or the paladins trying to bash through the gate. It was unclear whether the area of effect was just small or if it was a power that affected allies only. But it was probably a good idea to remember that he had a skill.
Below, the two sides were clashing fiercely at the gate.
Behind the grate—from inside the city—the bufolk were thrusting their spears, but knights blocked those attacks with shields that had spikes on the bottom, defending their allies working the battering ram. Remedios was even slicing the protruding spears apart.
Boiling water poured down from the brattice, and the steam rose back up. But the paladins had anticipated this sort of attack, so they had preemptively cast Fire Energy Protection. It bothered them about as much as a splash of water.
Of course, it was winter, so once the temperature of the water dropped, it would present a different issue, but for the time being, they were fine.
If it had been boiling oil instead of water, they might have had trouble keeping a grip on their swords, but perhaps oil was too valuable to the subhumans; they didn’t use that type of attack.
The slowly advancing commoners put down the wooden barrier they had brought from the previous camp and used it as a shield. Really, something metal would have been better, but they hadn’t been able to procure those materials, so this was the best they could do. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. Behind their barrier, they began hurling slings. They aimed at the subhumans the angels were fighting. Granted, they weren’t used to combat, so they hit the angels just as often.
That amounted to friendly fire, but the angels had resistance against physical attacks, so it wasn’t an issue. Of course, the damage was only reduced—they weren’t completely immune—but the rocks the people were slinging didn’t cause that much damage to begin with. Ultimately, the subhumans they were aiming at were hurt more.
Each time an angel was defeated, the priests summoned a new one and sent it to the front line. Though there weren’t large numbers of them, since fresh, uninjured fighters kept being added, the gradual decline of subhuman resistance was visible even from where Neia was watching.
“…Huh. I guess assuming the enemy has cast a defensive spell and pouring cold water instead would be more useful. In the winter cold, their body temperatures would plummet in no time… And usually they’d have protection against fire, not chill.” The King of Darkness seemed to be matter-of-factly analyzing the battle in a low voice.
Neia had no idea how to reply. No one had died yet, but some had sustained serious injuries in this fight; how could she just say, Yeah…?
“So you don’t want to fight? With the bow I lent you, you could probably do pretty well.”
Neia’s role was to attend the King of Darkness and be his shield, so she wasn’t ordered to participate in combat.
But—and she had this feeling last time as well—he seemed to want her to use the bow.
He wants me to use the weapon he lent me? I could try shooting from here, but I would hate to miss the first shot I take with it…
As Neia was about to answer after mulling it over, a roar went up from the gate. It appeared the grate had gotten bent out of shape.
The roar must have been cheers from the paladins and shrieks from the subhumans.
When the gate broke, the paladins flooded in.
With Remedios showing off her skills, the stunned bufolk would only become more panicked.
But then the paladins fell back as a murmur went through the group.
With her sharp vision, Neia could see what was happening between the gaps in the crowd of knights.
It was the same scene as before.
A bufolk holding a smaller child than last time was giving orders to the paladins from the other side of the gate.
She couldn’t hear what he was saying from where she was, but she could imagine well enough.
The paladins pulled back, with Remedios and Gustav leading the way. They ordered the priests, “Have the angels retreat. If we don’t, he’ll kill the kid.”
“This again? We can’t hear the conversation from back here. I’d like to go over there and join in. Would that be okay with you?”
“You don’t need to ask my permission, Your Majesty.”
Gathering nervous looks from the people between the gate and their original position, Neia and the King of Darkness advanced to where Remedios was debating what to do.
“We should negotiate with them, like I thought.” It was Remedios who said that. Everyone else had their helmets off and their brows furrowed. Their faces said that, knowing what had happened at the first prison camp, they couldn’t agree with her.
When the king arrived, they still hadn’t come up with an answer.
No, it seemed that everyone was trying to convince Remedios that it was impossible to save the child.
A pointless exchange of opinions ensued, generating no concrete plan, and a few people were trading glances when eventually Gustav focused his eyes and raised his voice. “Commander! Didn’t we debate all
