Chapter 15: Blockade Battle
The Church of the God of Justice has strong influence; many stranded adventurers and believers respond to their call and fight together.
However, what Anse is worried about is not Land and the others.
His gaze swept over the crowded and chaotic crowd on the bridge, landing on Flame Fist Fortress, where that gate remained motionless, showing no sign of opening.
The worst situation has appeared!
The Flame Fist soldiers on the city wall were on high alert, with ballistae and stone throwers ready, but their orders were to guard the fortress without losing it.
If the gate were opened now, underground creatures biting at the refugees’ heels would rush into the fortress, with unimaginable consequences.
Anse looked at Priest Berg: “You go first; we’ll stay behind to blockade for a bit.”
He knew someone had to provide cover; as long as Land and the others got onto the bridge first, they could use the narrow terrain to block the enemies, fighting and retreating, and once under the city wall, they would receive ranged support from the Flame Fist soldiers.
If the duergar got onto the bridge first, the convoy might all be pursued and caught.
Berg also understood the situation and pointed out four young priests: “You stay to help.”
“Yes…” The four priests decisively grabbed bow and arrow and left the convoy.
Brat’s eyes lit up at the sight, and he hurried in small steps to the vehicle carrying weapons, taking out a longbow, a quiver of arrows, and a shield: “I’ll borrow these; I’ll return them later.”
He could also use bow and arrow, just not very proficiently.
Berg patted Anse’s arm, gave him a deep look, and ultimately said nothing, urging the convoy to leave quickly.
Anse scanned the surrounding environment and pointed to the watchtower at the bridgehead: “Let’s go up there.”
“Okay…”
The group quickly climbed to the top and watched the increasingly close monster group from afar.
In just this short time, Land’s team had lost many more people, with someone falling every second.
Anse put six sweet berries into his inner pocket but noticed his palms slightly heating up, his heart pounding wildly—not from tension, but excitement; his status was incredibly good.
“They’re coming.”
The pass was only a few hundred meters from the great bridge; in just dozens of seconds, the crowd was less than two hundred meters from the bridge.
Finn drew his bow and nocked an arrow, aiming the arrowhead obliquely at the sky; with a whoosh, the arrow traced a parabolic arc, shooting into the monster group behind the crowd, knocking down an orc and causing a small disturbance.
As a ranger, two hundred meters was within effective range, though accuracy was lacking; but with the monsters clustered now, there was no worry about missing.
Finn fired continuously, indeed relieving some pressure from Land and the others.
However, Land and his group were fighting while retreating, their speed hindered, with many duergar slaves running ahead of them. If not for the large number of commoners attracting the monsters’ attention, some monsters might already have reached the bridge.
“Targeted shots at the front ones; don’t let them onto the bridge first.” Anse commanded.
“Okay.”
At this point, the nearest monsters were less than a hundred meters from the bridgehead; Brat and the priests also began drawing bows to blockade, but unfortunately their archery was average, with low accuracy.
“Hoo—”
Anse took a deep breath, concentrated, mana surging around him, his long hair moving without wind, skin flickering with faint metallic glow.
“
（Magic Missile）
Three magic missiles dispersed, whining through the air in unpredictable curves, accurately hitting three hobgoblins ahead.
Faint thunderous booms echoed in the air as the three hobgoblins were successively flipped to the ground, knocking down more monsters.
Casting again, Anse immediately noticed the difference from before.
Mana mobilization was smooth and effortless, casting speed faster, guidance precise, range much longer than expected.
With the 「Spell Sniper」 feat, Magic Missile’s base range reached 180 feet （≥54 meters）, but the earlier range had exceeded 70 meters; he felt he could hit, so he cast early, and it indeed went as he speculated.
He speculated it was related to the growth of his primary attribute Charisma; seemingly just one point increase, but the actual boost was conservatively over 35%.
Moreover, Charisma not only affects mana, spell saving throws, and attribute checks; its enhancement for sorcerers is comprehensive.
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh…”
Finn and the others fired from above, veins bulging on their faces, arrows vanishing from bowstrings one after another.
Now, the goal was not to kill enemies but to hinder monsters from approaching.
On Land’s side, only a dozen remained; seeing the support, joy appeared in everyone’s eyes, and they involuntarily quickened their pace.
“
Anse’s dragon speech was sonorous and forceful, carrying metallic hardness; every two seconds or so, a wave of missiles smashed into the monster group.
His mind was exceptionally clear: hit whoever neared the bridgehead, occasionally slamming a few Magic Missiles into the monster group to create chaos, striving for maximum effect from every missile.
After six continuous Magic Missiles, even he felt somewhat dizzy and bloated.
Scattered attacks were hard to kill with, but the delay effect was excellent. Under this deterrence, the front monsters’ pace slowed unconsciously, indirectly hindering the pursuit.
Land and the others showed signs of shaking off the enemies, now only dozens of meters from the bridgehead.
However, for Anse and the others, this distance was a bit dangerous; there were goblin archers who had begun returning fire, with arrows occasionally landing on the watchtower.
“Fall back, in groups, via the rooftops, quick—”
Anse had no desire to die young; after speaking, he turned, ran a few steps, jumped from the watchtower to the rear rooftop, then climbed to another.
The buildings on Dragon Bridge were densely packed, rooftops connected, making withdrawal convenient.
The others were stunned for a moment, then followed suit: the priests retreated first, followed by Finn and Brat.
But support couldn’t stop; after steadying himself, Anse turned and fired two Sorcerous Bursts-Thunder, using the thunder to deter a wave of enemies.
From above, the area dozens of meters before the bridgehead was packed black with monsters and humans converging on that point, Land and the others caught in the midst.
Suddenly, Land broke from the group, raised his shield, lowered his head, and charged, knocking dozens of monsters flying along the way, then secured the bridgehead and turned to defend.
Knight Zahir acted as the arrowhead, helping teammates clear a path.
The four priests, seeing this, immediately slid down from the rooftops to assist Land in defending the bridgehead.
Brat watched Land and Zahir in bitter struggle, hesitated a moment, and did not jump down to help.
He held the shield in his left hand and stood in front of Anse, successively blocking several arrows: “You cast; I’ll protect you!”
Anse understood and stopped retreating, standing in place to focus on spellcasting.
“
（Sorcerous Burst-Thunder）
One after another.
“Boom boom boom—”
Dragon Bridge seemed to have a thunderstorm, with thunderous explosions nearly every half second, drawing everyone’s attention.
Occasional chain explosions could flip tall orcs flying; the leading monsters felt fear, their steps hesitating, causing much trampling and chaos.
He forcibly cleared a vacuum passage for the humans using zero-level spells!
Direct kills were few, only scattered experience prompts, but the deterrence effect was maxed.
The cost was mental overload, head throbbing, two streams of nosebleed flowing from his nostrils.
“Watch out—”
A shrill whistle and several warnings reached Anse’s ears simultaneously; he forcibly swallowed the half-finished incantation, endured the mana turbulence, and crouched to dodge.
“Bang—”
From the corner of his eye, he glimpsed Brat’s shield shattering like glass, his body flung several meters as if hit by a siege ram, then crashing straight through the rooftop and vanishing.
“Brat!”
Anse gritted his teeth, blood surging, unable to describe his feelings.
He lay on the back side of the roof ridge, peeked out, and saw Zahir and the others had successively reached the bridge; the priests dragged miscellaneous items or furniture from nearby houses to smash at monsters and build barricades.
‘Good.’
Relieved, he bent down and jumped to another rooftop, lying at the hole to look below:
Brat was struggling to rise, the javelin—now just the head—embedded in the half plate armor on his chest; no external bleeding visible, but blood kept overflowing from his features.
Anse was overjoyed and hurriedly flipped down.
Blood flowed from Brat’s mouth and nose, his face flushed red; he could no longer speak, but his eyes on Anse showed some surprise.
“Don’t move.”
Anse propped up his head with his leg, pulled out the healing potion from his bosom, and poured it all into his mouth.
No time to check the effect, he examined the injury and found the javelin barely stopped by the half plate armor; external wounds minor, all internal.
“Take it off first.” He drew a dagger from his backpack, cut the straps, unfastened the buckles, and roughly removed the half plate armor.
This armor was heavy, easily pressing on fractured bones and causing secondary injury; plus, it was too heavy for him to carry him otherwise.
“Let’s go; can’t delay.”
He had just helped Brat up when, with a clang, the door was kicked open from outside.
Supplement:
Casting attributes like （Intelligence, Charisma, etc.） affect casting speed, spell range, accuracy, etc.
After the primary attribute exceeds 10 points, each additional point boosts control, casting speed, and spell range by 5%; for example, the protagonist’s 17 Charisma provides a 35% boost.
