Time flowed by slowly, and soon, two days had passed.
Five kilometers away from Castellan.
On the road leading from Starfall Forest to Castellan, the troll army of three thousand dragged their feet. Every single one of them had a terrible expression, their steps heavy with exhaustion.
Over the past two days, they had continuously encountered humans. These humans possessed varying levels of strength, but all of them fought without any fear of death. However, the trolls were not afraid, as they themselves were warriors who lived for combat.
Soon, those humans suffered heavy casualties and fled.
After that, however, the humans seemed to have realized something and became incredibly cunning. They would hide in the grass from a great distance to harass them with magic, running away the moment they unleashed a single wave of spells. The trolls had tried to wipe them out several times, but they never succeeded.
This back-and-forth occurred hundreds of times over the two days. No matter how much the trolls loved combat, they were thoroughly annoyed by the constant irritation.
Although their casualties were light, their morale had plummeted.
At the same time, this had severely delayed their march.
Finally, after enduring a few more rounds of harassment, they stepped out of the forest.
What greeted their eyes was no longer the dense, sky-blotting canopy of ancient trees, but a vast, open clearing stretching as far as the eye could see.
The ground was dotted with countless tree stumps, bearing clear signs of manual clearing. The entire area had been leveled and smoothed out, resembling a natural plain.
And at the end of this plain, a brand-new, towering city stood majestically in the center of the landscape!
“Wait?!”
Savagebone, who was leading the march, abruptly halted. His massive pupils dilated, and his face filled with utter bewilderment.
“When... when did a city appear here?!”
Beside him, the beastkin Shaman Kasal's expression instantly turned solemn, his mind filled with doubt and suspicion.
Their troll tribe was located right on the outskirts of Starfall Forest, yet they hadn't seen any massive influx of humans from the Kingdom of Ariel to the south.
How could there be a city here?
Before coming, Kasal had only heard from his Father God that there was a human stronghold here, and that their numbers shouldn't be very large.
But the city before them, with its towering walls and orderly layout—how was this a mere stronghold? It was clearly a fully equipped, impregnable human town!
Savagebone turned his head to look at Kasal beside him, his voice carrying a trace of panic:
“Lord Kasal, what should we do?”
Kasal's gaze was deep and dark as he stared intently at the distant city of Castellan. After a brief pause, he commanded in a deep voice:
“The entire army will halt and rest. We will scout out the situation first before deciding our next move!”
Savagebone nodded respectfully, then turned to the nearby troll guards and ordered, “Pass down the command: the army will halt and rest!”
The exhausted troll army of three thousand, stretching for several miles, came to a halt upon hearing the order. They all let out sighs of relief, sitting down right where they stood to rest and recover their strength.
The irritation and fatigue accumulated from days of player harassment were now written all over the coarse faces of the trolls.
Kasal did not look back at the resting troll army; instead, his gaze remained fixed on the distant city.
...
Castellan.
Although dawn had barely broken, the players had all logged in early, as if by mutual agreement.
Because today was the day the trolls would attack!
It was also the day the battle for the main quest officially began.
The tall city walls of Castellan stood majestically. After two days of construction, the quest to build the city walls had been successfully completed.
In truth, the reason they were able to finish so quickly was that the interior of the walls was made of wood, with only the outer layer consisting of stone blocks.
The physical walls didn't actually need to be exceptionally sturdy. After all, the continent of Aenoria was a magical world where the application of magic in warfare had long been mastered. With Schutard's help, various reinforcement and defensive spells had been cast upon the walls. Thus, the physical structure was merely a vessel; it was the magic that did the real work.
Of course, the strongest form of defense was a divine spell barrier. However, because divine spell devices could not be constructed in the Temple of Light for the time being, they had to rely on magic.
In fact, Schutard had originally wanted to deploy a defensive barrier, but they lacked a sufficient number of magic stones. He had no choice but to settle for the next best option: the much more tedious process of manually casting reinforcement spells.
This was a massive undertaking. Every single mage who had teleported to Castellan from the Mage Tower in Windhaven Town joined in on the construction of the walls.
The heritage of the Church of Light was incredibly vast. Even after the turmoil of a thousand years ago, they still possessed a significant legacy. Their various mage lineages were highly developed, including formation masters, alchemists, potion makers, and summoners. Although their current lack of resources made it impossible to cultivate so many specialized mages, they would surely restore the glory of a millennium ago in the near future.
Furthermore, Schutard had also wanted to install Mana Cannons—powerful alchemical creations—on the walls. Unfortunately, they lacked the materials, and it would have been quite difficult for the mages of the Mage Tower to build them anyway. Not only were alchemists scarce, but this technology had also been sealed away for a long time. While it might have been quickly produced in the Sacred Aetherland Empire a thousand years ago, it was nearly impossible under their current crude conditions.
However, simpler weapons like catapults were no problem. With the players' assistance, quite a few had been mounted on the walls.
Right now, on the southern wall of Castellan.
The players had received the news and gathered on the wall to watch.
In an instant, the wall was packed with people.
“They're here, they're here! It's the troll army!”
“Holy crap?! This is the troll army? That looks spectacular!”
Lilith, Schutard, and the other believers also ascended the wall.
With a single glance, Schutard spotted the dozen or so Shamans at the front. When his eyes landed on the beastkin Shaman, his expression tightened:
“Purple Gold Rank peak?”
Over the past thousand years, due to the aging of his body and the fall of his Lord God, his Hero Rank strength had plummeted all the way down to the Gold Rank. However, after returning his faith to the embrace of the Goddess, his strength—though not yet fully restored to its peak—had reached Purple Gold Rank early-stage. His mental state and physical vitality had also grown much younger.
Thus, with just a single glance, he saw right through the beastkin Shaman's strength.
Hearing this, Lilith beside him could not help but feel a tinge of worry.
Rate on N.U.
