Leo endured the pounding headache and said, "I jumped down from the lookout tower, and my head hurts a little. I need to rest for a while. Ignaz, prepare the defenses according to my orders."
Deputy Squad Leader Ignaz hurriedly agreed. Leo sat with his back against the outer wall of a stone building, frowning as he fought the violent headache. At the same time, he issued orders from time to time, and the others got moving under Ignaz's direction.
Stone after stone was carried onto the narrow road. The cover they built from them stood half a man's height and was four or five stones thick. Only when everyone was panting for breath did Leo finally nod in satisfaction.
Then Leo said, "All right. Get behind the stone cover, take out the longbows, and wait for the enemy to come."
The lookout squad had only three longbows. Even those had been obtained after Leo became Squad Leader and sent someone to apply for them from the City Defense Battalion. Although the lookout tower had been blown apart, this cliff was still the highest place around Blackport City apart from Mount Morn.
Leo took a telescope and used it to watch the distant fighting. The lookout squad had already completed its warning duty. What Leo needed to do now was make sure his squad survived the battle. The aftereffects of using the Principle of Out-of-Body Soul Tempering were still with him. The hand holding the telescope trembled.
The West Empire fleet brazenly poured a volley of stone shot onto Black Harbor, which was still being rebuilt. Black Harbor, which had only just begun to recover, was destroyed again. The people of the West once again redefined what a ruin looked like.
The wind came from the northwest. Four galleons adjusted the angle of their sails and pushed directly upstream into the Loire River against the current. One galleon remained out at sea, apparently as a reserve.
The galleons slowed considerably, and West troops landed along the river outside Blackport City. The West Empire's forces began clearing away resistance outside the city.
If that was the case, then the West Empire fleet's objective might not be limited to some minor raid and destruction. Perhaps they intended to take Blackport City in one stroke...
The 3rd Corps organized a charge in an attempt to stop the West troops from landing, but the powerful broadside fire of the four galleons drove them back. Huge galleons were perfect platforms for artillery. Amid the roar of broadside cannon, the Cavalry Battalion returned without accomplishing anything.
It seemed the Count of Blackport had no intention of meeting the enemy head-on. After the probing attack failed, the Unicorn Legion did not try to stop the West troops from landing at any cost.
Defense.
Leo understood. At a disadvantage, the Count of Blackport had chosen to defend and let the enemy exhaust themselves.
The price of that strategy, however, was handing Black Harbor outside the city completely over to the West Empire. Then again, Black Harbor was already in ruins. How much worse could a little more destruction make it?
This time, the West Empire soldiers had brought fire oil. Even without a telescope, Leo could see fire oil being poured over Black Harbor's wooden structures. Black smoke rose across the entire harbor, then almost immediately turned into ghastly crimson flames.
"Attention!" Leo roared. "The West enemy is coming this way!"
The West troops had burned Black Harbor, and they would certainly go on to burn the naval port. Clearing out the lookout tower between Black Harbor and the naval port while they were at it would hardly cost them any effort.
Leo watched the main road at the foot of Mount Morn. Sure enough, two squads broke away from the main West force. The targets of those two ten-man West squads were none other than the lookout tower on the rugged cliff.
Leo said quietly, "Two ten-man squads. Twenty men are approaching us! The enemy has matchlocks. Don't stick your heads out. Archers, conserve your strength. Don't draw until I give the order!"
After speaking, Leo continued watching the distant enemy. Little Locke could not help asking, "Uncle Ignaz, what's a matchlock?"
Ignaz held his longbow and said, "A weapon of the West Empire blessed by demons. By the way, I'll tell you all a secret... I went to Battalion headquarters and asked around. Our Squad Leader earned two Third-Class Merits in combat during the last battle with the West Empire. He's got some skill."
Little Locke disagreed with Ignaz's assessment. Two Third-Class Merits in combat, and that was only "some skill"?
At a distance of around 150 yards, or 140 meters, Leo said softly, "Longbowmen! Prepare for a high-arcing volley!"
Ignaz and the other two hurriedly loosed their arrows upward at an angle. At the same distance, the West Empire matchlock troops saw people expose their heads and immediately returned fire. Matchlock bullets were faster. Arrows needed much longer to reach their targets.
"Get down! Get down!" Leo shouted.
The three longbowmen were still craning their necks to see what effect their arrows had. Lead balls flew through the air, and in an instant one soldier was struck in the head. Ignaz and the other soldier dropped flat in fright. Leo cursed under his breath and took the longbow from the dead soldier's hands.
To the soldiers of Blackport County, the matchlock was still a very unfamiliar weapon. When people first faced matchlocks, they did not know how to respond.
When matchlocks first appeared, people either charged or died. Even something as simple as dropping prone when fired upon was a lesson learned only after countless deaths.
Leo picked up the dead soldier's longbow and quiver, then stressed again, "Without my order, no one sticks their head above the stone cover!"
There was no possibility of pushing artillery up this rugged mountain road, so the defenders held an enormous advantage. Three longbows posed little threat. The three arrows they had just fired had not caused a single injury, while the lookout squad had already lost one man.
A longbowman generally needed at least two years of training before he could kill enemies with reasonable accuracy at long range on a battlefield. The men of the lookout squad were clearly not skilled with longbows.
Leo watched through a gap between the stones of the cover and saw the West Empire soldiers advancing cautiously.
He lightly nocked an arrow on the string, then suddenly stepped sideways and dropped onto one knee in a low lunge. In an instant, he drew the bow and loosed an arrow. He did not even look at the result. Leo immediately withdrew again and vanished from the West soldiers' view.
With the support of a Haste Mage's Projectile Intuition, the arrow flew rapidly forward and struck a West soldier squarely in the throat.
Leo's soul power increased by one point. At this point, Leo could no longer worry about anything else. He put the new point of soul power into the Haste Soul String, which could significantly increase his current combat strength.
Leo's Haste soul power reached 2, making him an E-Grade Tier 2 Haste Mage. His number of available casts rose to twenty, which should at least be enough to handle today's situation.
Behind the cover, Little Locke shouted excitedly, "The new Squad Leader shot an enemy dead! What a shot!"
He liked the idea of killing an enemy from a hundred paces away too. Unfortunately, he was still too young to draw a longbow.
Leo felt pretty good about it as well. With Projectile Intuition working for him, he felt like a sharpshooter who could hit every shot.
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