Lord of Rot

The moment his foot touched the battlements of Iron Wall Castle.

A dozen swords swarmed toward Leech’s face.

The first man to scale the wall is always in the most danger. He has no firm footing and is immediately surrounded. If he’s pushed off, a deadly abyss awaits below.

He quickly raised his sword to block, and a series of clangs resounded.

Although he successfully blocked a round of slashes, he hadn’t expected someone to wrap a chain around his blade. A dozen swords twisted together, forcing him to let go of his weapon.

THUD! An axe took advantage of the opening while Leech was using his shield to block an attack from the left, striking his right shoulder.

However, the plate armor blocked the blow. The dull impact brought only a slight pang of pain.

Leech turned to the Soldier, reached out, and grabbed the axe as the man tried to pull it back. Then he gave it a vicious tug.

Before the shocked eyes of the defending Soldiers, that Soldier flew into the air, still holding his axe.

”AHHH—!” With a bloodcurdling scream, the Soldier soared over the wall, landing in an arc on the ground below and falling silent.

Below, the Porcupine Soldiers, who were holding up their shields and waiting to climb the ladder, froze in astonishment.

On the battlements, the siege gave Leech no chance to relax or catch his breath.

The motion of throwing the man had been too wide, leaving his chest exposed. Several swords immediately found the opening and struck at him with cunning precision.

Another two-handed sword thrust cunningly at his face, aiming for the visor slit of his helmet, but Leech caught the blade with his bare hand. The opponent reacted quickly, instantly letting go to avoid being thrown off like the axe-wielding Soldier before him.

Since this was the only ladder providing a breach point, most of the defenders crowded over, trying to form a human wall to push Leech off. Only a few militiamen continued to fire down below.

Soldiers shoved with their shields, giving Leech absolutely no room to move.

It was like facing a wall of tortoises. There was no opening.

Pinned by the crowd, Leech could only twist his body to block the occasional mace or spear thrust at him from over the throng. His own arms and legs were trapped, restricting his movement.

Every muscle in Leech’s body strained, bulging with power as he single-handedly resisted the shoves of dozens of men.

The two sides were locked in a stalemate!

SCRAPE. His feet slipped slightly.

A jolt of alarm went through Leech. ’The blood from the corpses has soaked my boots, and now they’re slippery!’

He was shoved back another half-step.

His heel touched the edge of the battlement. He quickly changed his stance, stomping down hard with his right foot and lowering his center of gravity to avoid being pushed off the wall.

He crouched low, then released the power he had been accumulating within his body.

He ignored the stabbing pain that erupted through him as his body struggled to contain the burst of power.

BOOM!

As Leech stomped, stone fragments flew. Lacy Sith, who was climbing the wall, noticed stone chips and dust falling from above. When he looked up, he saw an unbelievable sight: several Soldiers were tossed into the air like tattered linen sacks full of lime, screaming as they plummeted to the ground.

But they weren’t scattering lime—it was blood!

Leech was now fully on his feet and had carved out a sizable space for himself.

Snatching a two-handed sword from who-knows-who, he channeled his Extraordinary power!

The sword sliced through the necks of the three Soldiers in front of him, and their heads flew off in unison.

Another kick sent one more man tumbling down.

He had finally fought his way forward enough to leap down from the battlements and land on the wall-walk.

Now the battlements were at his back; he couldn’t be pushed off anymore.

Lacy finally made it up. He had been right behind Leech on the ladder, only seven or eight seconds slower. But when he got to the top, he saw Leech standing alone like a blood-soaked War God, wildly hacking and slashing with a two-handed sword.

The ground was littered with several corpses, pools of blood, severed limbs, and heads.

In the distance, more wounded men had lost the will to fight.

Watching Leech completely dominate the entire wall by himself, Lacy suspected that Leech could have easily won this siege all on his own.

”My Lord!” Despite this thought, Lacy immediately raised his shield and sword and charged forward, determined to secure a foothold for the Porcupine Soldiers climbing up behind him.

Without looking back, Leech ordered, ”Lacy, hold this position! I’m going to take care of the ballistae!”

”Yes, sir!”

CRACK!

As Leech lopped off another Soldier’s head with the two-handed sword, the blade snapped.

The weapons of the defending Soldiers weren’t exactly high quality.

He tossed the broken sword aside, unstrapped his shield, and swung it forward. The pointed edge of the shield smashed into the Soldier’s chin, sending several teeth coated in blood and flesh flying.

As the man stumbled backward, Leech pounced, grabbing the shield with both hands and repeatedly smashing it into the Soldier’s face.

CRUNCH, SQUELCH. The sounds of bone breaking and blood splattering filled the air.

After a few blows, the man stopped moving.

THUD!

Someone attacked him from behind. Leech’s body shuddered slightly. He quickly got up, spun around, and slammed a fist into his attacker’s face. The thin nasal guard of the helmet broke, sinking into the man’s skull along with Leech’s fist!

Body after body fell. Leech had no idea how many times he’d been struck or how many men he’d killed. On the narrow wall, every moment was filled with death, swinging swords, roars, and pleas for mercy.

He fought until the Soldiers surrounding him only watched, no longer daring to attack.

It was as if the world had fallen silent.

He took a step forward, and the Soldiers instinctively took a step back.

They had seen powerful men before, but never someone as terrifyingly strong as Leech—his body seemed forged from steel, impervious to blades and spears, his strength was immense, and he was utterly fearless.

Leech walked to the ballista. The Soldiers operating it had already stopped, and they now stood trembling, swords in hand, staring at Leech without the courage to swing.

It could now be declared that the ballista belonged to Leech.

Captured intact!

He looked back and saw that the Porcupine Soldiers had successfully taken the wall.

In the battles of ordinary men in this era, an armored man fighting an unarmored one was a complete and utter rout. No questions asked.

This was especially true for a Knight’s plate armor, which wasn’t designed for damage reduction but for complete damage immunity.

Don’t be fooled by the sight of Leech being pinned by a crowd and hacked at from all sides. He may have looked to be in a sorry state, but in reality, his defenses were never breached. His plate armor even absorbed some of the impact, leaving him with little more than some swelling where he’d been struck by blunt weapons.

”Lay down your weapons! Surrender, and you will not be killed!” Leech shouted.

The first Soldier dropped his weapon.

One by one, the rest followed suit, obediently lining up and quickly accepting their new status as prisoners.

”Open the gates of Iron Wall Castle!”

The heavy gates of Iron Wall Castle were pushed open.

The nobles of Baron Ross’s legion, who had been quietly awaiting the outcome of the battle, watched the castle gates open, their hearts filled with a storm of shock.

’He actually fought his way in!’

And they had seen it clearly: Baron Porcupine had fought his way up all by himself!

Baron Ross remarked with a sigh, ”I have seen Baron Porcupine on the battlefield before. He, too, would be shot until he bristled with arrows.”

Lieder was a strong warrior, but even he couldn’t storm a castle single-handedly.

”But Lord Leech is even stronger and more fearless than his father!”