The Count’s Youngest Son is a Player

Rrumble, rrumble.

The siege engines creaked and groaned as they lumbered forward.

“Waaaah!”

“Fire! Don’t let them return!”

Fwoosh.

The orderly ranks of soldiers began to advance with a resounding cheer, while some archers and mages unleashed arrows and spells.

“Hmm.”

Bae Dohyun, watching from atop his horse, lightly swung his spear to deflect a few arrows that had come near.

‘Impatient, aren’t they? I thought they’d fight at least once or twice more.’

Had they done so, he could have crushed their spirit even more thoroughly. While he considered this with slight regret, spells began to arrive near him.

Bang! Boom!

Of course, none of them reached Bae Dohyun. Over ten mana-infused daggers accurately intercepted the spell cores heading towards him, dismantling the attacks.

Thud, thud, thud!

Bae Dohyun theatrically twirled his spear to deflect the arrows, then swung it wide and shouted.

“I warn you! Anyone who sets foot on the walls of Rayson City will not return alive!”

Bae Dohyun’s voice, amplified by Rabel’s magic, swept through the enemy lines. Perhaps it was the forcefulness of his tone, but their footsteps seemed to hesitate slightly.

Bae Dohyun then turned his horse around without reluctance.

‘No need to go on a rampage here. This is Bae Dohyun, not Raul.’

He had achieved his goal. He had shown the presumptuous players that not all rankers are equal, and boosted the morale of his outnumbered allies.

There was no reason to fight them on the plains when he had the advantage of the walls. Some of the enemy knights gave chase, but as he neared the fortress, they gave up and retreated.

Screeeech, boom.

“Waaaah!”

As he returned through the slightly opened gate, countless soldiers and citizens greeted Bae Dohyun with cheers and applause.

“Amazing, sir Bae Dohyun! Truly impressive!”

“They were not difficult opponents. The real battle starts now, so I shall head to the walls at once.”

“Oh, as expected. Please take care of it!”

Head of the household, Foreado, handed a wine-filled canteen to Bae Dohyun with an expression of admiration. Bae Dohyun slightly bowed his head, accepted it, and ascended the walls.

Illwoo and the guild members standing at the gate gave him thumbs up.

“The plan remains the same. Even if armor users appear, there’s no need to worry. They’re much inferior to the First Knight Order.”

“Leave it to us. We’ll show them that Bae Dohyun isn’t the only impressive one in the Purple Guild!”

The guild members looked confident, and Bae Dohyun trusted them.

“Good. Let’s make them painfully realize who they’ve made enemies with.”

“Okay!”

They dispersed to different parts of the walls. The siege had begun.

***

Piiiiiing.

“Screech…!”

The arrow Linda lightly fired pierced the chest of an approaching enemy soldier about 150 meters away. It flew straight, almost like a crossbow bolt rather than a conventional arrow.

“Impressive. The level is certainly high.”

Linda licked her lips and muttered to herself. Of course, she wasn’t referring to the soldiers’ skills. She was talking about the quality of the soldiers’ equipment.

They looked like ordinary soldiers, but the arrow lost its force after penetrating just one body. Her arrows, which could pierce through two or three monsters with one shot, indicated that they were wearing quite high-quality armor.

“Now that I’ve tested the waters, shall we start in earnest?”

It was her time before they could approach the fortress walls.

Clank.

Three unusually large arrows, more than three times the size of regular arrowheads, were loaded onto the bowstring at once.

“Go!”

Thwack.

With a heavy sound that couldn’t be mistaken for the release of arrows, three arrows flew towards the enemy formation, leaving red trails in their wake.

Boom!

“Arrgh!”

“My arm!”

The scene was too destructive to believe it was caused by only three arrows. The arrowheads exploded just before impact, borrowing the power of mana to tear fragile human bodies apart.

The three arrows, which burst out in a fan shape, claimed the lives of over thirty soldiers in an instant. Dozens of nearby soldiers caught in the explosion bled from the shrapnel, and, above all, fear was evident in their eyes.

The problem was that those three arrows were not the only ones.

Boom! Boom!

Explosions continued wherever her arrows flew.

“Darn… they’re responding faster than I thought.”

Her 『Scatter Shot』 took down over a hundred soldiers but was quickly blocked. The enemy had deployed shield-bearers of squad leader level, who used mana to defend.

She switched arrows.

Unusually, the entire arrow from the tip to the shaft was black.

Clank, thud!

Thunk!

Her arrow pierced through the shield and embedded itself in the neck of an enemy squad leader. And in the next moment.

Boom!

Another scatter shot dug into the gap and swept through the enemy formation.

“Let’s see you block this.”

Her hands moved busily as she continued shooting arrows.

*

“Spread out! Shield-bearers, block those projectiles for sure!”

Commanders hurriedly spread out the formation to minimize damage. They knew that arrows infused with mana could easily pierce through shields, but they had never encountered arrows that exploded so broadly.

It was only when the squires, who had been on standby to counter magic, were deployed that the damage slightly lessened.

“The soldiers are taking too many casualties. What should we do?”

Casualties in a siege were expected. Frankly, the soldiers’ role was merely to place ladders against the walls and create pressure. The real task of seizing the fortress walls belonged to knights of at least apprentice level who could wield mana.

But at this rate, the soldiers might all be exhausted before they could even place the ladders or siege engines against the walls.

“Deploy the mercenaries.”

The field commander made a decision, frowning. Originally, the mercenaries were supposed to be deployed after the ladders were set to secure space on the walls, but the situation was dire.

Flap.

As a rider waved a flag, the formation of soldiers spread wide, creating a path. And through that path appeared the players.

The players from the Real Player Association began moving toward the fortress walls, each holding their respective weapons.

***

Whizz!

Bae Dohyun’s arrow pierced through the forehead of a player. The surrounding players, startled, hid behind their shields, fidgeting.

“As expected.”

Bae Dohyun looked down at the battlefield with a bitter smile. The attacking formation, which had approached with such momentum, was now in utter disarray.

The initial orderly advance was gone, and they were scattered haphazardly, advancing in fits and starts, hiding behind their shields. There was still a distance of about 70 to 80 meters between them and the fortress walls.

At this rate, one might wonder if they would ever reach the walls. The enemy’s strategy of pushing players to the forefront to mitigate long-range attacks wasn’t bad.

Unlike the soldiers, the players had effectively defended against Linda’s Scatter Shots and the magic attacks from the Tenba family mages. Their shields and armor were crafted from monster materials.

Shield spells and protective magic from mage players. Blessings and buffs from cleric players.

When combined, they efficiently blocked mana-infused arrows and magic spells. Their coordinated response in guild-formed parties was admirable, but…

“If the balance breaks, it’s all for naught.”

Whizz!

Bae Dohyun’s arrow pierced through a tank player’s shield and impaled two more players. Even without imbuing his arrows with aura, penetrating such defenses wasn’t difficult for Bae Dohyun.

“It doesn’t even stand out, so it’s easy to show my true skills.”

For players around level 50, Bae Dohyun’s prowess was overwhelming. Having surpassed level 100, known as the demonic wall, and reached the level of a master, even his ordinary arrows were extremely threatening.

When Bae Dohyun took down a tank, the mage and cleric players were exposed to attacks.

Boom! Swoosh!

As expected, a volley of fire magic and arrows rained down on them, turning them into sieves.

“Next is over there.”

Whizz~ Thunk!

Bae Dohyun’s arrow sniped the tank of the foremost party. The subsequent concentrated attacks wiped out that party completely. As this happened, the attacking formation fell apart entirely.

The players realized that stepping forward would make them targets.

“Screw this, why should I take the hit?”

“Let’s just pretend to walk.”

If they died first, the death penalty would outweigh the quest rewards even if the siege succeeded. It seemed like more trouble than it was worth. Who would want to volunteer as a target, even in a game?

“Run now! Don’t you know the faster you get to the walls, the less damage you’ll take?”

“Guild leader’s orders! Get out there, now!”

“Do you want to be kicked out of the guild? Follow the orders!”

Despite the shouts and threats from Real Player Association officers, the players remained unyielding. They reluctantly moved forward with their shields, but as soon as a few arrows flew their way, they recoiled and stopped moving again.

Some archers and mages tried to counterattack from behind the shields, but it was largely ineffective.

The defenders also had sturdy shields, and while the large barrier that blocked magical artillery had stopped, the basic magical defenses surrounding the fortress walls were still in place.

“The commanders must be losing their minds. Hehe.”

Indeed, the soldiers of the Jereedu family were belatedly rushing towards the wall. But with the players’ formation already in disarray and blocking the path like obstacles, it was no different from being stuck.

In short, it was a total mess. The only regret was not being able to significantly reduce the number of those foolish players.

Aside from Bae Dohyun and the members of the Purple Guild, there wasn’t enough firepower to deal with the players hiding tightly behind their shields.

“Well, does it matter?”

The outcome wouldn’t change anyway.

“Charge!”

“Get up there quickly!”

“Push forward!”

The attacking side, which had been hesitating for so long, finally reached the fortress walls.

Ironically, the ladders were set after the battering rams and siege towers arrived, meaning the soldiers had barely fulfilled their roles.

Siege ladders, large enough for three or four people to climb simultaneously, were set. Siege towers that allowed them to walk up to wall height and cross over via bridges.

These siege weapons clung to various parts of the wall, and as soldiers belatedly set their ladders, the real melee began.

The soldiers on the walls were desperately trying to push away the ladders, stab with spears, and fire crossbows to knock enemies off the walls.

“Do not allow them any space!”

“You don’t need to kill them! Just push them off!”

The walls were about 15 meters high. Falling from such height while armored would surely be fatal.

For a while, the soldiers attempted to assault the walls but were repelled, and finally, players began to set foot on the walls via the siege ladders and towers.

“Damn, now we’re all dead!”

“Don’t go for the soldiers, target the commanders first! We need to rack up the guild points!”

At least level 30, players, capable of wielding mana and armed with knight-grade skills, were a significant threat to the defenders. At least, they should have been.

“Good grief. I’m tired of waiting. Let’s finish this quickly.”

Pop, pop, pop.

“What the…?”

“…Damn you, Kim Ilwoo.”

Kim Ilwoo’s clones emerged from the shadows of the players inside the siege tower.

Swoosh, slash!

A bloody storm erupted within the siege tower. When the gray sword qi dissipated, the twenty-odd players on the upper levels were reduced to bloody heaps.

“Let’s see, where next?”

Kim Ilwoo’s figure seeped into the ground like a shadow.

Boom! Crash!

“Is that a tank?!”

“Someone do something!”

Whoosh! Crash!

“Argh!”

In front of another siege tower. A giant, nearly 2 meters tall, stood blocking the players with a shield as large as his stature and a morningstar bristling with menacing spikes.

He was Meininger, the main tank of the Purple Guild.

When he charged forward with his shield, players standing atop the siege tower toppled over like bowling pins, and when he swung his morningstar, three players caught in its trajectory were flung out, breaking through the siege tower’s wall.

Thud. Crash.

“Ugh.”

Meininger stomped a downed player’s head with his spiked iron boots, causing blood to splatter.

“…Come at me.”

The players unconsciously took a step back.

“Kreee!”

“Woof, woof!”

Among the players and soldiers climbing the siege ladders, dagger-wielding monkeys rampaged.

“The sword won’t pierce!”

“Agh! Their fur is prickly!”

Those who barely managed to climb the walls had their throats bitten off by fox and wolf summons.

“Flame Shot!”

Fwoosh~ Boom!

Han Seohyun, with a phoenix perched on her shoulder, fired a flaming arrow, setting an entire ladder ablaze.

“This is cheating! How can her summons be higher level than a master?”

One player shouted with eyes wide open after checking the information. Han Seohyun was level 67, but all her summons were over level 70.

Crunch!

But his head was soon crushed by the giant paw of a white bear.

“Aaah~ Nooo!”

Two more players, grabbed by the talons of a giant eagle with a wingspan of about 5 meters, were dragged screaming into the sky.

As Bae Dohyun had warned, none who set foot on the walls that day lived to tell the tale.

(To be continued)