When the mercenaries crossed the gates, several of them were welcomed by a rain of arrows. Dozens of them fell dead instantly. As for those who survived, they tried to dash at the soldiers who were dozens of meters away from them, but they were stopped by squads of spearmen. Arlen had devised a formation for when the gate was destroyed even before the first conflict started. Thanks to that, they would be able to kill many enemies for a while as they head to a death trap. However, in the end, that only lasted for a couple of minutes. Several soldiers climbed the wall and killed the archers there. Thanks to it, the number of soldiers attacking that formation from the back increased, and the same formation slowly began to break.

"Bombard them with your magic, Zaos," Verkan said, and then he grabbed his sword. "I will beat the bastards who are trying to destroy our formation."

Zaos did exactly that. He burned dozens of men with his Fire Sword. Still, eventually, he had to drink potions, and the overwhelming number of enemies became too much for him and all the soldiers. As if that wasn't enough, the mercenaries used their catapults again to put the town on fire. In the end, Zaos grew tired of waiting for the mercenaries to break the lines of archers and spearmen. Still, the very moment he stepped forward to these guys on, some riders finally crossed the gates, and the defensive formations meant nothing to them.

Some spearmen tried to stop the riders, but even though they succeeded in doing it, the numbers were too overwhelming. The formation broke, and the battle turned into a melee inside the town. In the end, Zaos had been waiting for that.

"Give me the bag, you guys can go and escape," Zaos said to the squires that had the mana potions.

"But sir…"

"I am not a sir, I am just a recruit," Zaos said and then took the bags from them. "Anyone without a weapon won't last long here. If you can use a bow, you should pick it. But if you are not a soldier, you don't have the obligation to help."

Zaos noticed the two kids trembling from head to toe in fear for several moments. While they managed to keep the rhythm and follow Verkan even though they were wearing some armor, Zaos also noticed that they almost fell unconscious at some moments due to the exhaustion.

In the end, the two boys didn't think twice about turning around and then running. They had already seen too much blood being shed in fights, and they didn't see anymore. After strapping the bags on his back, Zaos moved toward the gates after drinking two potions at the same time. He was about to piss himself after using some potions, but for all that he could care for, Zaos could piss himself even while he fights.

Two riders began to dash toward Zaos, but he stopped them by swinging his sword after casting earth magic. The durability of his weapon increased, and he easily repleted their spears. The riders passed by him, but Zaos cut the right leg of one of them. The other returned to attack Zaos, but some arrows stopped him.

Zaos turned around to see the gate again, but he only saw his allies being pushed back by a continuous wave of riders. The men who once followed Verkan's command were scattered in several groups. Thanks to that, they only now realized how much they helped him in the previous battles. Without anyone to watch his back, Zaos had to be much more aware of his surroundings.

The soldiers around and Zaos tried really hard to stop the riders. Still, the numbers of foot soldiers jumping over the walls made that task much more difficult. Little by little, they had to retreat and move away from the gate until it reached a point where the soldiers were crossing the stone bridge since they didn't have any more ground to use.

"It looks like you are still alive," Verkan suddenly appeared and then said it.

"What is the plan now, sir?" Zaos asked. "I don't believe that holding this town for three days will help us all that much in the long run."

"You are right… I guess it is time," Verkan said. "Sorry about this, Zaos. If something happens, you can blame me as much as you want. But this is absolutely necessary."

Zaos didn't like to hear that, but in the end, he had decided a long time ago that he wouldn't blame anyone if he were to die there. He was the one who decided to come to the North out of curiosity since he heard about the followers of the demon god in some books, after all.

"Soldiers of Sairus! We already lost half of Rustburg to those stinky invaders, for how long are we going to let them shit on our pride?" Verkan asked while shouting. "I didn't want to reveal this since this is pretty embarrassing, but… a ten years old boy has done much more than any of us until now in this battle. A boy who was born with a golden spoon killed more enemy soldiers than any of us… his name is Zaos Sielders and even though he wasn't supposed to be here, he asked me to bring him to this battle because we didn't give him enough confidence on our defensives."

What a liar… Zaos thought he didn't ask to come, and he still was pretty sure that Verkan killed more enemy soldiers than him. His fighting style was wild but precise, after all. Regardless, the atmosphere changed when the soldiers heard about Zaos's family's name. He heard some weird expressions like the guardian of the royal family, the king's shield, the man with the iron mask… and those weren't Zaos's titles. They were his father's. Zaos never imagined that his father's name could motivate so many random soldiers. Still, he could see that just the idea that the heir of the Sielders family was there fighting with them gave the soldiers a new source of strength.