The Grey Tide

“Sister Vera, I have a few words to say.”

Rosie spoke up to Vera.

Vera paused slightly and looked at her.

The knight captain turned to look at her as well.

Rosie’s tone was calm and unhurried. “I know you want to hunt down Elizabeth, and if we let her go now, it’s going to be hard to find her later. But there’s a more pressing matter at hand. If the knights fail, forget about hunting vampires—we might not even make it out of here alive.”

Vera’s brow furrowed slightly, her lips parting as if to say something.

Rosie didn’t give her the chance to speak, picking up her pace slightly:

“If we help the order stabilize the situation, they’ll definitely return the favor when we need to track down Elizabeth later.”

Vera’s brow remained furrowed, but Rosie caught the slight softening in her eyes and added another line:

“There will always be other vampires. Kill this one, and another will just take her place. But once people are dead, that’s it... Plus, these knights are all nobles...”

Vera remained silent for a long moment, then let out a long breath. “...You’re right.”

She sheathed her rapier back at her waist, turned to Nikus, and said in a deep voice, “Let’s go. First, let's pull your men out of that jam.”

Nikus nodded, skipping any unnecessary pleasantries. “I owe you one.”

Time was tight, leaving no room for further small talk or tactical discussions.

The group set off immediately.

Lucius put his helmet back on, picked up his broadsword, and fell into step behind them.

As he passed Rosie, Lucius gave a subtle nod in gratitude.

Rosie gave a light smile. “Don’t mention it.”

The group of six—four knights, plus Rosie and Vera—moved swiftly through the corridors.

Relying on the descriptions she had gotten from the servant earlier, Rosie rapidly pieced together a route in her mind, guiding the party through several passages until they finally arrived before a pair of massive double doors.

The doors were tightly shut, barred by a thick iron beam.

No wonder the knights outside had been trapped in the main hall with no way through; something like this couldn't possibly be broken down by raw human strength alone.

In front of the doors stood a small guard squad equipped with the castle's standard half-plate armor and medium round shields.

Faint shouts of battle echoed from behind the doors—the knights in the main hall were currently engaging the castle rebels.

Spotting the six newcomers, the guard squad immediately raised their weapons to engage.

At the head of the group, Nikus didn't say a word, charging forward first.

His broadsword carved a wide arc through the air. The frontmost soldier instantly raised his iron-rimmed round shield to block.

However, the blow was so immensely powerful that it sheared straight through the shield, followed by the helmet and skull, scattering a spray of red and white matter across the air.

Immediately after, the other three knights, including Lucius, pressed hard on his heels. Leveraging their heavy armor and sheer force, they smashed into the guards' defensive formation like a battering ram.

The guards’ arming swords hacked against the knights’ plate, producing a shower of sparks.

When the knights’ broadswords came down, however, flesh and blood splattered everywhere, severed limbs flying through the air.

Blood splashed against the doors, leaving fan-shaped, dark-red smears across the wood.

Agonized screams and clashing metal erupted in rapid succession in front of the threshold.

Facing four veteran Norman Knights, the guards' will to fight crumbled instantly upon contact.

In a matter of moments, nearly half of them had fallen, and the remaining soldiers threw down their weapons and turned to flee.

Rosie and Vera didn't even get a chance to strike.

The knights didn't give chase. Instead, all four worked together to lift the heavy iron bar, dumping it onto the adjacent floor with a loud clang, and drew back the iron latch.

The massive doors slowly creaked open on their hinges.

The moment they opened, a tragic and brutal scene burst into view.

Severed limbs littered the floor, and some Norman Knights had been crushed beyond recognition along with their armor.

Before the outer gates, that wall of iron formed by heavy tower shields and halberds was still firmly in place.

On the second floor, a fresh batch of crossbowmen had replenished the ranks and were firing downward.

Even the squad of heavily armored infantry that had pursued Rosie was still up there, guarding against a surprise rear attack from her.

The surviving knights were pinned into a corner of the main hall, several using their shields to form a semicircular defensive barrier against the incoming barrage from above.

Of course, the knights weren't merely taking the beating passively.

Some knights were utilizing the heavy crossbows Rosie had dropped earlier to fire back.

Crouched behind their shield wall, they rested the heavy crossbows on the rims of their shields, shooting up toward the second floor.

However, the enemies upstairs enjoyed the advantages of parapets and high ground; firing upward made it difficult to hit anything precisely, though it did manage to suppress the crossbowmen's rate of fire.

Vera didn't utter a word. The instant her foot crossed the threshold, she unslung the repeating crossbow from her back.

The moment a crossbowman poked his head out from behind the second-floor railing, a bolt struck home, driving clean into his throat. Clutching his neck, he tumbled backward.

An adjacent crossbowman was just about to turn his heavy crossbow to counterfire when another bolt whistled through the air, piercing straight into his eye socket.

Vera locked her gaze onto the second floor. Whenever a crossbowman dared to show his face near the railing, no matter how fast he moved, he couldn't escape the sights of her repeating crossbow.

After several unlucky souls were picked off in rapid succession, the remaining crossbowmen pulled back behind the parapet completely, not daring to peek out.

The trapped knights finally gained a brief moment to catch their breath.

Standing before the doors, Nikus bellowed at the top of his lungs, “Order! Rally to me!”

The shield wall parted slightly, and several shield-bearers guarded the cleric and the rest of the surviving knights as they rapidly moved toward the doors.

The rebel crossbowmen attempted to take advantage of the movement to open fire, but the instant one leaned out, a bolt from Vera’s repeating crossbow struck him square in the face.

Seeing their encirclement falling apart, an opposing noble officer began shouting across the hall.

“You can't escape! The whole castle is ours! Surrender while you still can!”

Hearing the noble's voice, Rosie stood just inside the doorway, took a deep breath, and shouted at the top of her lungs toward the rebels:

“Countess Elizabeth was heavily wounded by us and has already fled! All of you have been abandoned!”

An unmistakable stir rippled through the enemy ranks.

Because they had just seen that the doors were opened from inside the castle.

Which meant the interior of the castle had already fallen.

“Lady Elizabeth wouldn't be defeated by strays like you! Soldiers, do not listen to her lies!”

The noble officer's voice immediately echoed from the rear of the formation, louder and harsher, suppressing the growing commotion.

“Soldiers! Advance! Crush those bastards who slander Her Ladyship!”

The heavy shield-bearers lifted their tower shields and began stepping forward in a steady, measured advance. Spearheads thrust out in unison from behind the iron wall, pressing forward like a slow-moving forest of steel.

However, after taking only a few steps, a sudden commotion broke out at the rear of their shield formation.

Followed by chaotic, panicked screams.

The entire forest of steel ground to a halt.

Standing tall, Nikus instantly caught sight of what was unfolding at the far end.

“Ghouls?!”

At his words, Rosie grabbed the edge of the door frame and vaulted herself up, using the height to look out over the hall.

Then, her eyes widened in shock.

Behind the shield formation, a vast swarm of hunched, grey figures surged forth, crashing into the rear ranks like a tidal wave.

Agonized shrieks and furious shouts intermingled as the tower-shield wall began to warp and buckle. Men threw down their weapons attempting to flee, but countless feral ghouls were already dragging them down from behind.

In less than a moment, more than half of the steel forest was swallowed up by the grey tide.

Rosie dropped back to the ground and yelled, “Quick! Close the doors!”

She grabbed the edge of the heavy wooden door beside her and pushed with all her might.

Several knights closest to the doors reached out at the same time, grabbing the wooden edges and iron handles to pull the heavy doors back toward the frame.

The iron hinges emitted a sharp, grating screech as the final sliver of light in the doorway narrowed with the closing doors.

Outside, in that last fading gap, the defensive line made of steel and flesh was completely engulfed by the grey tide.