Chapter 8: War of Thorns 6
A few hours passed while Lance and the Count were discussing the logistics of the plan. By now the small rumbling and rhythmic drums rang through the entire castle, forcing many to climb on the walls to see the source of the noise.
Atop the western wall, all could only look in horror at the sight that was in front of them. More enemies than can be counted, formed clouds of dust that enveloped the entire area around them, siege towers, catapults , trebuchets, battering rams, siege elephants, and many more siege weapons were at the disposal of the enemy.
For an army that only had at their best a little under 10000 men and supernatural, this was too much even with the curse on the wall.
Now more than ever, the plan Olga and the Count came up with seemed the right choice, the only choice that Lance could take.
“If you don’t plan on wasting any more time, I suggest you tell me every detail of the plan, now!” Even Lance seemed to be in a hurry, sensing the huge enemy numbers closing in.
Their plan was of the boldest of propositions, Lance alone would go into the enemy camp and sabotage their siege equipment.
At first Lance laughed at Olga, even taking into account his immortality and regenerative ability, what could he do alone against an army of such a size.
“It’s either this, or losing the war.” That statement erased the small grin of off Lance’s face.
Sensing the gravity of the situation, Lance accepted.
“If this fails, the blood of thousands of innocents won’t be on your hands Olga, but on mine.”
“They are my people, I bare just as much responsibility as you do.”
Having reached an agreement, Olga took Lance to the catapults in the castle square.
“And why are we here? Where is my horse to ride to the enemy base, or are you expecting me to run until there?” Lance asked sarcastically.
“Your ride is right here.” Lance was shocked to see Olga pointing towards a massive catapult twice the size of a normal one.
“…” Lance was speechless when she kept talking about the capabilities of the catapult.
“This was made specifically to throw a human a distance of about 2 kilometers at a velocity of about as fast as three times that of a horses top speed(150 km/h), while landing is definitely going to be a bitch, you will enjoy a view not many are going to see in a lifetime, dying or breaking a few bones are small details for someone like you.”
“So, what do you think?” Having finished her short explanation, she hesitantly asked Lance.
“Small details, hah.” Unsure of what to say, Lance stood there looking at the Catapult, Olga soon started to explain the other elements of this plan.
“My subordinates will give you 5 scrolls of Appocaliptica, a magic strong enough to rain down balls of fire around an area of about 250 meters.”
“If placed correctly, it can devastate the whole army?”Asked Lance, impressed by the spell.
“Let’s be realistic here, you’ll barely be able to place them so they destroy the siege towers, that’s your main objective, no siege weapons no siege on the castle.” Olga on the other hand, had little hope of causing major damage to the enemy army.
“Am I supposed to go bare handed there while carrying these scrolls?” Lance asked half-joking about it.
“Do you know how to use guns?” Olga seriously asked.
“My only weapon has been this body cursed by Pandora.”
“I’ll teach you, if that’s what it takes to end this damned war.” Impressed by Olga’s wish to end the war, Lance reluctantly accepts her help.
After a few days, Lance learned how to use guns and prepared himself to be thrown in the enemy base.
As the arming of the catapult began, the enemy started their siege on the castle. Making Olga hesitate in her order to launch Lance into the sky.
“Shit! They already began their siege, Lance are you sure?”
“Do it!” Bracing himself for a bumpy ride, Lance yelled the order to be launched.
Lance and his payload fly over the walls with frightening speed and on a collision course with the enemy base.
However before hecould even reach the base, one of the boulders was heading straight towards him, shocked and pumped with adrenalin Lance readied his claws for impact.
“AHHHH!!” Cutting through the stone like a knife through butter, the brief impact slowed Lance enough for him to no longer fall in the center of the enemy base.
What was even more worrisome for Lance was the steep angle at which he was going to fall down.
But before he could worry about his landing, a second boulder was hurdling towards Lance, not able to afford a second impact he pulls out one of the guns, and aimed at the boulders edge.
“I hope this works!”
Bang
The boulder deviates slightly, but enough for Lance to barely avoid it, the boulder still managed to scratch his body a little.
“Aghh, damn it!” Looking back as the boulder smeared with his blood fell short of hitting the wall, he failed to notice his increase in speed.
As he turned around again he saw that he was already falling and very fast, placing his feet in front he hoped to direct all the impact in his legs.
“THIS IIIIIISSSS GOING TO HURT!”
He crashes through one of the tents on the edge of the enemy encampment, feet first and still standing, but with most of his leg bones broken and shooting out of his skin like needles. It was clear that he wasn’t moving out of that tent any time soon.
“Gaaaaaaahhhhhh that fucking hurts!” In the few first seconds he couldn’t concentrate on anything other than the pain.
“A wound like this should heal in about 30 minutes.” Looking at the state in which his legs were, Lance knew he had to speed up the healing process, but in the tent he was in, only metal objects seemed to be stored there.
Soon after his crash, the enemy started gathering around his position, wanting to make certain that what fell was a stone and not a human body, as the ones who saw Lance come down had said.
“He fell around here, check to see if the crazy bastard is still alive!”
Hearing the enemy get closer to him, Lance noticed a perfect opportunity to heal himself.
”Perfect!”
Pulling out the guns he was given by Olga, he readied to fire every bullet he had on him.
Being in the tent, he could only rely on his hearing, but that was enough. After determining the enemies position he fired his bullets seemingly at random, but while some went in a straight line towards their target, others hit metal objects and bounced in different directions.
In the split of a few seconds, 50 enemies were on the ground, some being killed from as far as 50 meters by these stray bullets, causing confusion on the enemy side, as they were convinced that there more than one in hiding.
“Dinner time.” Oddly enough Lance shot his knees that were supporting his body together with the pieces of bones that acted as support, and as he fell to the ground, he started crawling towards the nearest corpse.
After a few minutes of continuous feeding, the healing was almost complete.
“Hmm, I can feel my legs again.” Stretching his legs to make sure they are healed, Lance got up.
“It’s time I go on a rampage.”
How much of Lance’s humanity was left in the body of a monster? Only time will tell.
