“Aren’t you disappointed?”

“It would have been good if he had died. But this is good enough for now. Look around you.”

“Around?”

The Princess turned her head this way and that. The Soldiers were still cheering. It was so loud that even close conversation was drowned out.

“During that time, the Soldiers’ morale had been dropping against the endlessly swarming Skeletons. But this Duel will restore some of their vigor.”

“Ah…!”

The Princess’s expression brightened.

A Duel between skilled individuals greatly boosted the morale of the winner.

Even if the opponent wasn’t killed, the fact that they won was important.

Morale was what made one win even a losing battle. Conversely, the enemies would question whether they could truly win this fight.

Even so, it was a Duel where both sides put forward their best Mages, and one side fled without even properly blocking a single spell. Their hearts couldn’t help but waver.

“Is something wrong?”

Unlike the Protagonist, who thought he had almost won, the Count and Mordon’s expressions were not good. Mordon whispered softly.

“It’s not over yet.”

“Why? They’re finished after this.”

It was a battle the Captain had lost.

Even if Skeletons came rushing in on their own, those who controlled them were fellow Mages. They couldn’t help but be agitated.

“As the Baron thought, their morale will drop. But consider their situation. They have committed treason. Historically, treason has always been met with the greatest punishment and a brutal death. They have no way to retreat.”

His words were buried in the sound of cheers, but the Protagonist, who was close by, heard them clearly.

Perhaps it was because he said this wasn’t the end.

That was right.

There was no turning back now.

But it wasn’t as frightening as before.

The Protagonist had broken through the Wall and even defeated the formidable Elder Magician. There was nothing to fear.

Nevertheless, Mordon’s expression remained grim. Why he looked that way became clear within a few days.

The Soldiers stirred.

Below the City Wall they were looking at, there was a large Skeleton.

It was a Skeleton made like a Golem, with many bones clumped together.

It was slowly burning, to the point where its bones were melting. Because of this, even ice Arrows couldn’t easily stop its advance. The enemies were using their brains.

Even if a regular Skeleton caught fire, it was relatively easy to deal with.

But they sent flaming Skeletons, despite the trouble. It was clearly a ploy to drain the Protagonist’s strength. On top of that, they were no longer visible. They were poisonous bastards.

For the larger Skeletons, Golems went outside the City Gate to deal with them.

Even then, with five or six of them clinging on, the battle dragged on. The Skeletons extended their Front Line as much as possible, harassing the Protagonist.

The opponents were not idiots like Orcs. Furthermore, they knew how to utilize the immense number of Corpses the Protagonists possessed. No matter how powerful the Protagonist was, they felt themselves becoming increasingly exhausted as the enemy initiated these battles.

Skeletons, pushing in with sheer numbers, attacked day and night. If the Protagonist seemed quite tired and went to rest, they would intensify their offensive, forcing him back out.

The other City Wall was horrific.

Even with twice the number of troops rotating to defend, Soldiers were slowly becoming exhausted.

Around ten days later, using Magic became difficult.

I felt a gaze watching the Protagonist standing on the City Wall in the distance. I could sense a very old Mage biding his time. He was a terrifying individual.

The wicked Mages would also suggest surrender whenever they had the chance.

The Elder Magician had been defeated when they first swarmed the City Wall.

He acted shamelessly, as if such a thing had never happened. It was because he was desperate. Regardless of who won between the two sides, the losing side would face a tragic end.

The Nobles shook their heads.

Just as they had to succeed in their Rebellion to survive, this side also had to stop the enemies to preserve their lives.

They wanted to create a Noble society composed of Mages, and to do so, they had to eliminate all existing families.

The opponent seemed to know that surrender was not what they wanted, so they just shouted for a while and then retreated. What they wanted was to demoralize the Soldiers.

The Dark Mages never appeared on the City Wall where the Protagonist was.

It seemed they knew that if they did, like on other City Walls, an ice chunk would fly and burst their heads.

They were afraid of the Protagonist.

I couldn’t just be happy about that fact.

Occasionally, when the offensive on the City Wall where the Protagonist was staying weakened, he would go to other City Walls.

Even if they were hostile Factions, if a City Wall was breached, everyone would perish. The Protagonist had to help.

However, when the Dark Mages saw the Protagonist’s staff, they would scream and rush to escape. Then they would go to other City Walls and wreak havoc. It meant they wouldn’t even engage him.

“Your Royal Highness, Princess.”

“Call me Lily when we’re alone.”

“Lily.”

Around the time the battle ended and he returned, he spent the night with Lilibet.

His mind was gradually becoming exhausted. He was being pushed back so much that it was laughable he had thought the battle was already won.

He thought the Orcs were amazing.

Humans fought dirty, even digging Traps, but the Orcs charged head-on. Thinking about it now, he realized how absurd that was.

Lily was lying next to the bed. He stroked her shoulder. He felt a little better.

“Can I do it?”

“You’re an excellent Mage. Have confidence.”

“What good is skill if they won’t even fight me?”

“That’s…”

Lily’s face darkened.

She seemed to be thinking something similar. Normally, seeing her discouraged, he would have pretended to be strong.

But now, with the situation so grim, he couldn’t help but complain.

If they couldn’t find another way, they would lose. It was so unfair to lose when the Protagonist could sweep them all away if they fought properly.

“I’ve fought many battles. I was incredibly weak compared to now. But I’ve never felt this helpless before.”

“Rael.”

The Princess called the Protagonist’s name. Her eyes were moist.

He sighed.

The thought that his power might not be enough to protect her quickly made him feel depressed.

They were being absorbed, so there was no time to rest and recover mana. The Ring couldn’t be used infinitely either.

“I said something unnecessary.”

“I don’t mind. We’re married, and we even spent our honeymoon together, didn’t we?”

Lily buried her face in his chest.

It strongly felt like she was deliberately acting cute.

As she pretended to be strong, his heart felt like it was breaking.

She had to constantly be on edge fighting the war and appease the Nobles. There was no leisure to relax with the Protagonist. Since the Black Mages started their absorption, they couldn’t even properly be together at night.

He wondered if there was any way.

He couldn’t just stay like this. There was nothing to learn in his dreams for now. The Protagonist had already broken through the Wall and knew how to use Blizzard.

There was nothing more to learn. Even if there was, it wouldn’t work. He didn’t know how long it would take to learn such magic.

After a moment of thought, a Golem came to mind. He didn’t know what would happen if he made a high-grade Golem. He hugged Lily and whispered,

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything.”

“After just complaining so much?”

“I had a good idea. If I can make a high-grade Golem, I might be able to solve this.”

“Really?”

The Princess’s expression brightened.

People lived on hope. No matter how aphrodisiac it was, if they had it, they could regain their vitality.

He repeated his words to her, reassuring her.

He didn’t like seeing her so downcast.

Having spent time together, he had quickly grown fond of her. He smelled her scent. Amelin smelled faintly of breast milk. It was a comforting smell, like being held in a mother’s arms.

Charlotte was stiff.

Being in her arms reminded him of the time he slept on the streets when he went to the City with Dorian.

But Lilibet’s scent was different.

A mix of various perfumes, drenched in sweat, made his head swim. He thought this wasn’t bad either.

As soon as dawn broke, they went into battle.

Soldiers with dark circles under their eyes were returning to the streets. In their place, others stood on the City Wall. It was a change of guard.

The Count had guarded the City Wall during the night. He blinked his eyes like an old man who had lived a long time.

“Who died today?”

“Baron Pite died. Almost all of his Private Soldiers died.”

The Count said in a weak voice.

Baron Pite was originally a Noble who followed the Second Prince.

He was also a Noble who joined this side by following the Count. He had a considerable number of Private Soldiers, and the news that they all died made his head spin.

“How long will this battle continue?”

“I don’t know.”

The Count shook his head.

It seemed he didn’t know either.

He was a long-lived Noble and owned a large domain.

If he had been an ordinary Human, he wouldn’t even have been able to keep what he had. The Count was a better man than most adults. But even the Count said he didn’t know, which gave him a headache.

“For now, if we just hold on like this, a breakthrough might appear.”

“A breakthrough? What is that?”

“I can’t tell you yet. I’m not sure myself, and I don’t want to give you false hope in Capital City, you see.”

I was curious about the breakthrough he mentioned.

People needed hope.

With it, they could endure any hardship. But the Count didn’t seem to want to tell me. That was fine, though. Even with his words, I felt a slight surge of strength.

“Anyway, I guess we have to endure another boring offensive today.”

I sighed. Regardless, the hardship was still hardship.

I saw large Skeletons walking in the distance.

There was no end to them, I wondered where they were getting the corpses.

The Protagonist had already destroyed over ten thousand Skeletons. I wanted to scream that there was still no end in sight.

Despite those thoughts, my body was moving.

I sent a Golem, shouting to the Commander behind the City Gate to open it.

Whenever the Protagonist appeared, the enemies sent large Skeletons. Now they were even setting them on fire, showing they were getting used to fighting.

Normally, I would have been fed up and screamed. But this time was different. As I endured this tedious War of Attrition, hope grew that we could win.

The ice Golem and the large Skeletons clashed directly.

Unlike the previous battle, the Golem couldn’t move around all the City Walls to clear the Ladders. There were five large Skeletons, and their purpose was to hold the Golem down.