[1,000 knights of the Alons Knight Order have died.]

[1,000 cavalrymen of the Agnis Kingdom army have died.]

[2,000 soldiers of the Agnis Kingdom army have died.]

The forces sent to rescue Condrick had been annihilated. This was all part of the master plan devised by Heires, commander-in-chief of the Kantaim Kingdom. She had heightened their anxiety by holding off the siege for a day, then used Condrick to exploit Prince Rinal’s youth and inexperience. Finally, she had perfectly countered their cavalry and knights, cutting off their mobility and retreat. It was a flawless strategy, luring the Alons family’s knight order to its doom.

[The morale of the Agnis Kingdom army has decreased.]

[Some soldiers of the Agnis Kingdom army have lost their will to fight.]

With morale plummeting, the loss of so many knights and soldiers was a devastating blow. It was like amputating a limb before the real battle had even begun.

“H-How can this be? My knights!” Kubic gasped in horror.

“We failed to rescue Father, and we only lost our troops…” Rinal lamented, his voice trembling. “What are we to do?”

A grim atmosphere instantly filled the room. The favorability of all three NPCs had dropped. Combined with Deis’s disappointment, the mission was as good as a failure.

[Kubic Alons]

[Favorability: 12]

[Status: Dissatisfied, Shocked]

[Deis Brotanian]

[Favorability: 41]

[Status: Anxious, Disappointed]

[Rinal Balconis]

[Favorability: 69]

[Status: Despair, Anxious, Regretful, Affection]

‘This is serious,’ Hendrik thought. ‘I should be raising their favorability, but it’s dropping across the board.’

The only silver lining was that Kubic hadn’t personally joined the disastrous charge, but his favorability was so low that even starting a conversation felt awkward. Hendrik broke into a cold sweat as he watched the Kantaim army wheel a guillotine into view.

“His Majesty Condrick, whom you all followed so loyally, is now ascending the guillotine himself,” Heires’s voice echoed across the field, magically amplified. “Does anyone have anything to say?”

Condrick Balconis slowly climbed the steps to the platform. It was a clear provocation—a public spectacle designed to show the Agnis army that all hope was lost. The rescue party had been wiped out. If their king was beheaded so miserably, their morale would shatter.

“We must save Father! Right now!” Rinal cried, frantic. “What are you all doing? Give me a plan! Tell me any way to save him!”

Kubic choked, unable to speak.

“I am sorry, Your Highness,” Deis said softly. “But there is nothing we can do.”

Rinal was on the verge of panic. Hendrik watched the three of them for a moment before casting a short-range teleport, vanishing from the room.

[Short-Range Teleport has been cast.]

[You have been moved to the top of the castle wall of the capital, Baltricia.]

[Short-Range Teleport uses remaining: 2/3]

Only two teleports left. Hendrik paid it no mind and turned his attention to the nearby archers. Every one of them stared down at the scene below, their eyes full of despair. He approached the closest one.

“Can you hit that spot from here?”

“S-Sir Hendrik, the Great Mage… why do you ask?” the archer stammered.

“Can you reach it from here?” Hendrik repeated, his voice flat.

“W-Well, with a precision shot, it’s a reachable distance. But…”

Perhaps from years of defending the capital, the archers on the wall all possessed the Precision Shot skill. Hendrik pointed to Condrick on the platform. “Prepare a precision shot. Your target is His Majesty Balconis.”

“A-Are you telling me to shoot His Majesty?!”

“If you don’t, he will be killed by those bastards anyway,” Hendrik said coldly. “Grant him a merciful end.”

“B-But I just can’t…”

“Do you not see your king on that guillotine? Draw your bow. Now!”

The forceful command left no room for argument. The archer hesitated, then bit his lip and drew the bowstring.

[Agnis Kingdom archer Mars has cast Precision Shot.]

[Mars’s range increases.]

“The responsibility will be mine,” Hendrik stated. “Aim for the center of his brow.”

“Ugh… I understand!” Mars, a soldier of Agnis, knew the truth in Hendrik’s words. There was nothing more humiliating than for a king to lose his life at the hands of another nation. He held his breath and squeezed his eyes shut.

‘Thwip!’

The world fell silent. Every soldier’s gaze snapped to the guillotine. Condrick, who had been kneeling, slowly tilted backward, a single arrow embedded in his forehead.

Heires, who had been standing beside him, looked momentarily flustered before her eyes shot up toward the castle wall.

“This seems a bit extreme, Seonghwi,” she murmured, her voice laced with amusement.

“It’s Hendrik here,” he replied, his voice a low whisper only she could hear. “And I was pushed into a corner. They say a cornered man will do anything, don’t they?”

“How amusing. I’ll be watching with great interest to see how long you last.”

“I’d appreciate it if you went easy on me.”

The two turned their backs at the same time and returned to their posts.

—

Day four of the mission. A full day had passed since Condrick Balconis’s death. The Kantaim Kingdom army began its siege in earnest.

[The Kantaim Kingdom army’s catapults are being loaded.]

[Kantaim Kingdom siege engineers begin to load stones onto some twenty catapults.]

The siege engineers rolled out their catapults and began to load them. Their target wasn’t the castle walls, but the city of Baltricia itself. Heires dispatched troops to each gate and gave the order to fire.

‘Thud! Thud! Thud!’

Dozens of boulders soared through the air and crashed into the city. Soldiers who had been ordered to wait on standby were mercilessly crushed.

“Shieldbearers, keep the mages and archers on the walls occupied and continue to advance!” Heires commanded. “Priests, cast defensive barriers to the rear! Soldiers, set up the ladders!”

The archers and mages on the walls were currently the main line of defense for each gate. Heires used her shieldbearers and priests’ barriers to carve a path forward.

Just then, a knight named Lapuda spoke up beside her. “Lady Heires, wouldn’t it be easier to use the catapults to eliminate the defenders on the walls first?”

“You don’t understand,” Heires replied, a cunning glint in her eye. “Look closely at where I ordered them to fire. They’re all aimed at the soldiers defending the gates from the ‘inside’. Baltricia has five gates, and the easiest to breach is the fourth. The terrain makes it difficult to station troops there. They know that, so they’ve concentrated their forces at the gate itself. If we can just break it down, a breakthrough is more than possible.”

The approach to the fourth gate was narrower than the others. While that made it harder to storm, it also meant that if they could just destroy the gate, her knights could pour inside with little resistance. Once even a single gate was breached, the soldiers on the walls would become irrelevant.

“So you mean to thin out the soldiers defending the gate’s entrance in advance,” Lapuda surmised.

“At least you’re a quick study,” Heires said with a smirk. “We’ll start with the fourth gate. Once we’re inside, we can open the other gates from within, and the city will fall. You and your knights should prepare for that moment.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Lapuda returned to the dark knights. Heires watched the seemingly stagnant battle and curled her lips into a smile. The Agnis army was holding its ground for now, but it wouldn’t last. Their morale was shattered, and soldiers were already deserting. All she had to do was slowly, methodically break down their gates while minimizing her own losses.

[Dark Knight Order Vice-Commander Lapuda]

[Dark Soldier Playana]

[Dark Mage Kailis]

‘The Agnis Kingdom still has its core forces, but so do we,’ Heires thought. ‘It’s only a matter of time before Baltricia falls. Do your best, Seonghwi.’

Slowly, inexorably, Heires tightened the noose around the city.

—

“Pour the oil! Burn the ladders!”

“Stop the shieldbearers! Concentrate your fire!”

“Aaaah! Boulders! Everyone, take cover!”

The soldiers defending the gates fired arrows without pause while those stationed inside scrambled to avoid the relentless barrage of stones. Half a day had passed since the siege began, and they were somehow still holding on.

But Hendrik, watching the chaos unfold, felt a growing sense of unease.

[First Gate Durability: 42,932/50,000]

Heires was focusing her assault on the first gate. Consequently, most of the Agnis knights and soldiers were deployed there. It made sense; the wide stairs behind it would make for an easier entry. But the trajectory of the catapult stones felt… wrong.

[Fourth Gate Durability: 49,531/50,000]

They hadn’t even touched the fourth gate. Yet the soldiers positioned just inside it were being steadily picked off by the catapults.

‘She isn’t targeting the soldiers on the walls. She’s killing the ones inside the gates first.’

The damage wasn’t severe yet, but if this continued, the defenders would be forced to scatter to other gates. A position with no reserves was a position waiting to be overrun. Hendrik stared at the fourth gate for a long moment before returning to the top floor of the royal castle.

“What gives you the nerve to come back?” Rinal spat the moment he entered. “Get out. I don’t even want to look at you!”

The prince’s favorability had cratered after his father’s death. For the crime of killing a king, Hendrik deserved to be executed, but the siege by the Kantaim army stayed their hands for now. Hendrik met Kubic’s sharp glare and made his case.

“The Kantaim army’s movements are suspicious. Their catapults aren’t targeting the walls but are focusing on the soldiers inside the gates. The deployment at the fourth gate is especially thin.”

“So what are you trying to say?” Kubic demanded.

“We must move some of Count Alons’s knights to the fourth gate. They’re attacking the other gates for now, but later…”

“Enough!” Kubic cut him off. “I don’t want to hear any more. What does a mage know about deploying knights? Just thinking about His Majesty makes me want to draw my sword, but I’m holding back because of those Kantaim bastards. I will not let this matter go. Until this is over, you will quietly lead the mages and follow my orders!”

As expected, Kubic was still reeling from Condrick’s death. Deis, standing beside him, no longer tried to intervene, a sign of his own deepening disappointment.

“Leaving aside the matter of His Majesty, I also oppose this request,” Deis added. “The Kantaim army is targeting the gates that offer the easiest entry. That’s why they’re using catapults to suppress the soldiers inside. If we recklessly send our forces to the fourth gate, we won’t be able to hold the others.”

“…Is that so. I understand.”

All three had turned their backs on him. Arguing further would be pointless. Hendrik sighed and left the room.

‘The food and supplies in Baltricia will last about a week. As morale continues to drop, the siege will eventually push us to our breaking point. She’ll probably show her true colors then… What should I do?’

Even if he tried to defend the fourth gate by himself, it would eventually be breached. With the NPCs’ favorability at rock bottom, there was nothing he could do alone. He thought of the Member Swap item and scratched his head.

‘Well, maybe the rookie can figure something out.’

—

On the screen, the Kantaim army began its full-scale siege. Taehyun, watching from his seat, suddenly felt a chill and rubbed his arms.

“Taehyun, what’s wrong?” Songyi asked.

“It’s nothing. I just have a feeling someone is dumping their work on me.”

“…Seonghwi?”

“Could be.” The defending side was clearly at a disadvantage. Having already gotten a rough outline of the mission from Seonghwi, Taehyun examined the situation in detail.

‘She’s using catapults to take out the soldiers inside the gates first. Her plan is to break through as easily as possible. For now, her troops are focused on the first and second gates, but the real problem is the fourth.’

Boulders were occasionally falling inside the fourth gate. Most of the Agnis forces were concentrated at the other gates, leaving the fourth gate’s interior defenses weak. Heires was clearly using the other gates as a diversion, planning to smash through the fourth when the siege dragged on. If they prepared for it, they could stop her, but Seonghwi had already driven the NPCs’ favorability into the ground.

‘He was too hasty. Deis is the NPC with the wisest judgment in the kingdom. He should have gotten him on his side to persuade Rinal.’

The situation had gone wrong the moment Seonghwi tried to help Rinal alone. He should have won over Deis and Kubic first. But he had already taken the wrong path. At this rate, even using the Member Swap wouldn’t be enough to easily salvage the situation.

—

Day six of the mission.

[The Kantaim Kingdom army has revealed a battering ram.]

At last, the Kantaim army brought out a battering ram to smash through the fourth gate. As expected, she played her card just as Baltricia’s food and supplies were about to run out.

[The fourth gate has been destroyed.]

[The Dark Knight Order has entered through the fourth gate.]

[The Dark Soldiers have entered through the fourth gate.]

The poorly defended gate was breached in an instant, and Heires poured her main forces inside. It was only a matter of time before the other gates fell. Taehyun had Songyi sit beside him and waited for the inevitable message.

“Is it your turn now?” she asked.

“Probably,” Taehyun replied. “The situation is a mess, but there’s a second objective. I have to give it a shot.”

From the ground up, Baltricia was beginning to fall.

—

Day seven of the mission. The five gates that had staunchly held against the invasion were breached. The Kantaim army was already inside, occupying the outer city. The defenders were barely holding them off in the streets, but it was a temporary measure at best.

“The soldiers on the walls have all been annihilated!” a messenger cried.

“More than half of your knights are dead!” Deis yelled at Kubic. “Stop senselessly wasting our forces!”

“What do you mean by that?” Kubic roared back. “Are you saying I’m sending my knights to their deaths?!”

As the discord between Kubic and Deis deepened, Rinal watched them, his face a mask of despair. Hendrik sat in a corner of the room, checking the mission objective.

[Escape with the Prince]

[The Kantaim Kingdom army has advanced into the city. Rinal, the only remaining heir of the Balconis family, must not die. To fight another day, help Rinal escape from Baltricia.]

The mission had already moved on to its second objective. Heires must have received a new objective as well. His task now was to escape the city with Rinal and his retainers.

‘I wonder if Heires’s mission is to kill Rinal. How am I supposed to get him out of here without getting caught when he’s in this state?’

Rinal sat slumped in his chair, his eyes lifeless. He had lost all hope. Hendrik sighed and stood up. Just then, he felt a presence from the hallway below.

[Mana Detection has located a Dark Soldier in the upper floor hallway.]

It was his special ability. Hendrik urgently warned Kubic and Deis.

“Hmph. Now you’re spouting nonsense,” Kubic scoffed. “We’re engaged with the Kantaim army. How could an enemy have possibly gotten this far?”

“He’s right,” Deis agreed. “We have knights and soldiers stationed throughout the castle. It’s impossible for them to reach the upper floors.”

The two of them now doubted even the abilities of the Great Mage Hendrik.

[Mana Detection has located a Dark Soldier in the top floor hallway.]

In the time they had been arguing, the Dark Soldier had reached their floor. With no other choice, Hendrik went into the hallway alone.

[Dark Soldier Playana]

A soldier clad in black armor stood before him. The moment it saw Hendrik, it charged.

“…Death.”

“Whoops. Right, mages are weak in close combat,” Hendrik muttered.

Playana closed the distance in an instant and threw a punch. Realizing his mistake too late, Hendrik cast Short-Range Teleport.

[Short-Range Teleport has been cast.]

[You have been moved into the room where Rinal was.]

[Short-Range Teleport uses remaining: 1/3]

Hendrik reappeared inside the room, only one teleport remaining. It was a careless mistake, born from never having played a mage before.

“My, my. I acted like it was my original class and charged right in. The rookie is going to scold me for sure.”

“W-What happened?!” Kubic demanded.

“Take a look over there.”

“Gasp! A-A Dark Soldier? How dare you!” Kubic roared, rushing toward the intruder at the doorway. He engaged Playana with outstanding swordsmanship, while Deis moved to protect Rinal.

‘Well, this should buy some time,’ Seonghwi thought. ‘I’m counting on you, rookie.’

He knew he couldn’t salvage this situation himself. Now that the second mission had begun, he had to hand it over to another member.

Hendrik—no, Seonghwi—used the Member Swap item.

[Faction Item ‘Member Swap’ has been used.]

[Target is Resistance Faction Member Taehyun Yoo.]

[Seonghwi Hyun will be moved to the Colosseum arena.]

The summoned member was none other than the Dungeon Master of Balak, Taehyun Yoo. Seonghwi’s consciousness faded from the Hendrik character as he was transported back to the Colosseum.

—

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep