Combat Slave Harem-Chapter 53: Siege On The Dolan City
The descent from the Holy Mountain was no longer a journey, it was a three-day marathon through a slaughterhouse. Egon and Hilga found no rest, for the forest had become a labyrinth of shifting rifts and hungry shadows.
They walked on foot as their carriage had been reduced to splinters during the initial attack.
So they carved a path through the burgeoning demonic tide.
Hilga led the way like a unstoppable vanguard of gold. Her every step left a trail of crystallized grass, and her blade, Excalibur, never stopped cutting.
She was efficient, her movements dictated by the Holy Physique of Light, yet Egon could see the toll it took on her mind. Every life she snuffed out, even those of monsters, weighed on her lavender eyes.
Egon followed in her wake, though he was far from a mere spectator. He stayed in the shadows she cast, his presence a cold, devouring vacuum.
Whenever an Orc or a mutated beast tried to flank them, he didn’t even draw his steel. He simply looked at them. The Authority of the Taboo One was a silent, invisible weight that buckled the knees of anything born of darkness.
Most simply collapsed and let Hilga finish them; others fled in a blind, primal panic that led them straight into her golden arc.
By the time the spires of Dolan City appeared on the horizon at the end of the third day, both were caked in dust and the drying blood of a thousand kills. But the sight that greeted them was not one of sanctuary.
"The invasions has already begun," Egon muttered, his eyes narrowing as he took in the panoramic horror.
Dolan City was almost invisible beneath a sea of crimson flesh. Tens of thousands of Orcs encircled the massive stone walls, their campfires lighting the twilight like the embers of a dying world.
Great siege engines made of bone and dark timber were being pushed toward the gates, while swarms of smaller goblin-kin scavenged the outskirts.
High on the battlements, the Soul Evolvers of the city guard fought desperately.
Bang, Booom, Clang
Bursts of fire, arcs of lightning, and the shimmer of defensive barriers flickered along the walls, but for every Orc they struck down, three more seemed to leap from the cracks in the earth.
"We have to get inside, Master" Hilga said. "Mistress Vienna... she might be trapped there. Or worse."
"Follow my lead," Egon commanded. "Don’t hold back. If we don’t breach the gate in one go, we’ll be swamped by the sheer numbers."
They moved like a twin-colored comet. Hilga exploded into a sprint, her Golden Armor of Aegis trailing streaks of light. She didn’t weave through the Orc army; she shattered it.
Booom!
Every swing of Excalibur sent a shockwave of holy energy that vaporized anything within ten paces.
Egon ran beside her, his Chaos Devourer finally manifesting in his hand as a jagged, obsidian gladius that seemed to drink the very light Hilga produced.
He was the reaper in her sun, finishing off the stragglers with clinical, silent strikes.
The Orcs at the rear of the siege didn’t even know what hit them. By the time the central command realized two individuals were carving a canyon through their ranks, Egon and Hilga were already at the foot of the Great Southern Gate.
"Open the gates!" Hilga’s voice rang out, amplified by her celestial power, shaking the very stones of the wall.
High above, the archers and mages paused in their frantic defense, looking down in bewilderment. They saw a woman clad in divine gold and a man wrapped in a terrifying, suffocating darkness.
"Halt!" a captain screamed from the battlements, his face pale with exhaustion and terror.
"Stay back, you demons! We won’t be fooled by your sorcery!"
"Hey, We are Citizens who just survived from the Southern Wilds!" Egon shouted back, his voice carrying an edge of irritation. "Open the gate before the vanguard reaches our backs!"
"Liars!" a priest in silver robes yelled, leaning over the crenellations. "The Rifts have unleashed shapeshifters! We’ve seen them take the forms of our fallen brothers! You look like monsters in human skin! Look at that man... he reeks of the Abyss! Archery units, aim!"
The sound of a hundred bowstrings drawing taut echoed through the air. The soldiers were broken by fear.
They no longer trusted their eyes, only their terror.
"They think we’re part of the invasion," Hilga whispered, her eyes wide. She looked back at the sea of Orcs closing in behind them, then up at the fearful men on the wall.
"Then show them something they can’t deny," Egon said, stepping back into her shadow.
"Give them a reason to believe in a tomorrow."
Hilga took a deep breath.
Next, She planted her feet and raised Excalibur high above her head with both hands.
She stopped suppressing the Holy Physique, letting the floodgates of her power swing wide.
HUMM, HUMM, HUMMM!
The effect was instantaneous. A pillar of pure, white-gold light erupted from the blade, piercing the dark clouds of the Rift-torn sky.
The holy radiance was so potent that the Orcs within fifty yards shrieked and shielded their eyes, their flesh sizzling. The soldiers on the wall dropped their bows, blinded by the sudden dawn. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
"I am Hilga of the House Castros!" she declared, her voice sounding like a choir of trumpets. "The Flower has bloomed, and the Light has returned! I am the Hero of this age, and I command you to open these gates!"
"...."
The silence that followed was absolute, broken only by the distant roar of the Orc horde.
The captain on the wall stared down, his jaw slack.
He had read the prophecies. Every Soul Evolver knew the legends of the Hero of Light, but to see it standing in the mud, covered in gore yet radiating divinity, was a shock that paralyzed his senses.
"That... that sword," the priest stammered, falling to his knees and crossing his arms over his chest.
"It’s not an illusion. The darkness cannot mimic that purity. It’s her. The Hero has truly come."
A high-ranking commander, adorned in heavy plate and a crimson cape, pushed through the soldiers. He looked at the golden woman and the dark man beside her. He felt the suffocating pressure coming from Egon and the life-giving warmth from Hilga. It was a duality he didn’t understand, but he recognized the power.
"Lower the drawbridge!" the commander roared, regaining a sudden, desperate hope. "Open the gates! Now! Double-time, you idiots! The Hero is at our doorstep!"
The heavy iron chains groaned as the massive wooden gates began to creak open.
Egon and Hilga didn’t wait. They slipped inside the narrow opening just as the first wave of Orc berserkers slammed into the closing doors.
Inside, the courtyard was a scene of frantic activity. Wounded soldiers lined the walls, and civilians huddled in corners, clutching their meager belongings.
As Hilga stepped through, her armor still glowing, a hush fell over the crowd. Men and women stood up, their eyes wide with a mixture of awe and disbelief.
"Is it really her?" a child whispered.
"The Hero... we’re saved," an old woman cried, reaching out to touch the hem of Hilga’s cloak as she passed.
Hilga looked overwhelmed, her silver eyes darting around at the suffering people. She was still the maid who scrubbed floors in her heart, yet these people were looking at her as if she were a god.
The commander descended the stone stairs, his boots clanking. He stopped before them and gave a sharp, respectful salute.
"I am General Varos, commander of the Dolan Defense," he said, his eyes lingering on Hilga’s armor before shifting warily to Egon. "We had heard prophecies that the Flower might bloom, but we never expected it to walk through the front gate during a siege. Who is your companion, My Lady?"
"He is Egon," Hilga said firmly, stepping closer to him. "My Master. He is the one who guided me to the light."
Egon felt the suspicious gazes of the surrounding mages. They could subtly sense the "Architect of Ruin" within him, a darkness that sat in their stomachs like cold lead.
But with the Hero herself claiming him, they stayed their tongues.
"We have much to discuss, General," Hilga said, her voice cold and efficient. "The siege outside is just the beginning. The Rifts are opening faster than the records predicted. We need to organize a counter-offensive before the high-tier demons arrive."
Varos nodded solemnly. "The City Lord’s estate has been turned into a war room. We were preparing for a final stand, but with the Hero... perhaps we can actually push them back. Follow me."
