"They're humans?!" A horrified voice echoed on the other side of the wall.

"Yes! Yes! Stop attacking! Viscounts! We are sorry for our mistake!"

"You are sorry?! You killed two of my men! And you wish to brush that out by saying you're sorry?!"

"Please understand, Lord Viscount! We were tricked by vampires masquerading as humans! They destroyed our beacon and prevented us from asking for help, and killed many of our comrades! We can't afford to send out our men in the middle of the night as they might be attacked! We had no choice!" Scarlet cried.

"You had no choice, so you killed my men without even confirming things?! I'll kill you! Men!"

"Gradier! Stop! That archer is right! Relax!" Esmeralda shouted at Gradier.

Querk held on to Gradier and whispered to him.

"Calm down! You can kill them later! But attacking recklessly will cause more of our men to die!" Querk was greatly displeased at Gradier's impatience.

"Wait! There were three platoons! What if the vampires enslaved humans like they said they did! Most of them could be humans!" Gregory shouted.

FWIP! FWIP! FWIP!

Three arrows flew in the air and struck the huge barbarians that were part of Querk's family.

The arrow was more precise and aimed for the neck of the giant warriors.

Three barbarians began to choke and stumbled as blood spilled out of their mouths.

Martha was officially part of the Coven. She had drunk the blood of Kyros after getting bitten by Scarlet. While she still had great injuries, her new constitution as an undead allowed her to shoot accurately.

"The other family also has humans," Martha reported.

"KILL THEM!" Querk raged as the power of the Ragion erupted. A thick blue Force Energy covered him.

"Tsk! A Ragion. We really are domed. My arrows would be useless against that man's defenses!" Martha cursed.

The warriors ran towards the gate and readied to strike it!

"Wait! Wait! We'll open the gates! We'll open the gates! We have to ascertain that you are humans! This is the order of our Earl!"

Those words startled the three Viscounts.

"An Earl?! You serve an Earl?"

"Yes! Why did you think the vampire attacked this place?" Scarlet asked in a respectful tone.

"Our Earl had retreated here, and vampires pursued them!" Gregory asserted.

The Viscounts were silenced.

"An Earl? Which respectful Earl has retreated here?"

"Why should we tell you? There are various viscounts and barons from enemy kingdoms! If they find out an Earl is here, won't they attack us and make our lord fall into harm!?"

The three Viscounts glanced at each other and couldn't help but find logic in this.

"Is an Earl really here?" Esmeralda asked.

"The chances are next to zero, but it's not impossible..."

"We can't afford to challenge an Earl. Even if it's one that managed to rise, not through strength and personal power, and Earl's connection could kill us!" Esmeralda frowned.

"That archer! It's her! She could be lying! Our reports stated that the girl was rather tricky and could create traps when necessary!"

"Then we can be certain that there's no Earl here! If there were, we'd have seen more men and more powerful warriors! Break the gates! Men!" Querk ordered immediately.

The hesitant barbarians drew courage from the order of their Viscount and charged towards the gate.

They smashed their strong fist with their huge clubs.

"Stop! The gate will fall! You will draw the wrath of our Earl!"

"Then what is the name of your Earl! Prove it to us that you even know one!" Querk shouted.

"It's Earl Yuri!"

"Yuri? Who is Yuri!"

"You retarded! Do it!" 

The discussion allowed Gregory to scale the wall push the large barrel that was prepared at the top. It contained half of the flammable gas that was used. Some of the wood was used to become footholds that hid the barrel. Gregory reached it in time, right before the barbarians could break the gate.

The barrel was flipped over, and all the gas fell on the barbarians right in front of the gate.

Martha shot a flaming arrow which caused the soaked barbarians to burn in flames.

"GYAHHH!" The screams of the Barbarians who were soaked in flames echoed loudly in the 

The soaked barbarians and some of the knights at the front were burned.

The group retreated, and the Viscounts began to curse.

"Shield bearers! Protect the mage! Mage! Cast an ice spell to destroy the heat. Archers, shoot down that archer!" Gradier began to order the troop. As the military expert, the other viscounts agreed.

"Leave that door to me." Querk ran towards the gate.

"Querk! Retreat! Wait for the ice to weaken the door and put out the fire!" Gradier urged.

"No! I have a feeling that there are just three or four soldiers inside! Don't be fooled by their antics and the attacks they prepared!" Querk answered as he rushed forward.

"Esmeralda, kill that archer!"

"My pleasure!" Esmeralda laughed as she began to channel a terrifying lightning power.

"Mages, if what Querk is saying is true, then there should be just a few archers. Illuminate the skies! My Lightning will kill them!" Esmeralda ordered the few mages who were with her to prepare for an attack.

Martha tried to shoot several arrows at the Ragion, but his Force Energy that was like an invisible force field, was impregnable.

After two explosive arrows could not penetrate the defense of the Ragion, Martha began to focus on the mage as she knew that their spell would be the end of them.

She began to run across the towers and jumped from one part to the other. The excess wood they got from the broken-down beacon was used as small platforms that they quickly hammered on different places to make footbridges near the wall and the towers. Despite outpost was dark and had no torches to illuminate the place. But Martha was now a vampire, and they could see clearer in the dark.

Martha and Scarlet kept shooting while using the various wooden platforms near the wall to quickly move from one side of the wall to the other.

Martha kept attacking knights and archers to kill them, but Gradier's command brought order to the group.

Scarlet's arrows were now useless. She was not skilled in shooting in the first place, and with shield bearers protecting the mages and archers, all she could do was act as a diversion.

Querk's tremendous blows on the gates echoed loudly. The heat around him did not affect him as his Force Energy prevented the fires from reaching him. It was as if he had an invisible armor that prevented anything from reaching him.

BANG!

The gate of the outpost finally gave in from the tremendous force of Querk's attacks.

The large battleax he brandished was full of Force energy that it was stronger than a team of barbarians running a battering ram on the wall.

As the wall gave in, thick smoke covered the entrance. The different wood that would have been placed on top of the beacon was now placed in front of the gate. The heat and thick smoke prevented Querk from seeing what was in front of him.

Gregory threw the barrel with the remaining gas to create another thick layer of fire.

But the Ragion did not retreat but advanced bravely.

"These childish traps are nothing to a Ragion!" His domineering steps moved quickly.

Gregory, along with eight ghouls, looked with a solemn expression at the approaching giant.

"I just have to dwindle his force energy! He already expended a great amount on those attacks! If his force energy runs out, Martha can kill him!" Gregory kept his mission in mind and led the ghouls forward.

"Vampires?!" Querk noticed the strange undead presence, but then his surprise turned to a sneer.

"Perfect! It looks like we've hit the jackpot." Querk laughed as he stomped forward.

"Force Rage!" The Ragion used his tremendous and thick harnessing of Force energy and created a powerful shock wave that blew away everything. The wood that was burning, the ghouls, and even Gregory was blown away. The explosion of force energy created a tremor that made Scarlet lose her balance.

Martha had to find her footing and lost the capability to shoot on that precise moment.

"Now!" Gradier shouted as he sensed the power of Ragion's attack.

The mages shot several bright lights that acted as fireworks that illuminated the sky.

The shield bearers that stood in front and covered the way lowered their shields for Esmeralda to have a clear shot.

Martha was trying to retain her balance and glanced at the mage.

"Found you!" Esmeralda laughed. With her level, her dexterity was large, and shooting an archer was easy as pie.

Martha sighed and chuckled. She knew her death had come.

Esmeralda's staff grew bright as the lighting energy leaked out.

But then...

"Time Haste!" At that time, Kyros emerged from the forest behind and brought his full team with him.

He had deceived Fate. He had known this was the plan and made his group move north. But in truth, Kyros knew that the Viscount team would not race to the top but travel and attack the outpost Kyros was arrived at. Meeting Martha was the main hint that allowed Kyros to discern Fate's plan. Kyros knew that Fate would arrange something since he met Martha. And so, Kyros pretended to move according to the will of Fate. But Kyros was secretly making a plan to fool Fate with his actions.

He had led his troops to the top to make Fate make its move, and then, Kyros made a quick march towards the bottom.

He took a strong leap and was right on top of the staff that Esmeralda was pointing towards Martha.

Kyros focused and activated Pronto to the maximum.

The kick must not be too strong. Otherwise, he would miss in attacking the Ragion. This was the do-or-die moment. If Kyros missed, Gregory and Scarlet would surely die.

The kick of Kyros redirected the direction of Esmeralda's aim.

The staff that was supposed to launch a charged Lightning Bolt to Martha was now aimed towards the gate of the outpost. The shield bearers' height would have proven a problem. But thankfully, Querk was a giant of a man.

ZAP!

The bolt shot towards Querk, who was now empty of his Force energy. He needed a few seconds to create a shield once more. While he could have made ample preparations to do that, he didn't count on an ambush attack.

The lightning energy struck Querk on his back and sent him flying forward.

Right after kicking the staff, the midair Kyros summoned the Vermilion Earth Sword and the Harnessed Earth Core. The energy coursed immediately, and Kyros stabbed on the ground.

"Earth Cross!"

BOOM!

The earth explosion drew caused a collapse within the enemy ranks.