Fortunately, Mamelon and her Knights countered Macher's charge with their own. Sierra knew that if they left, their new allies would all die.
Sierra decided to gamble on Konig Mitleid's strength. She ordered most of the battalions to help the maneator king.
She sent the battalions of Adder, Sharur, Jinggu, Laernea, Gandiva, Thyrsus, and Vijaya. All seven battalions consisted of 1,050 militia.
Sierra was left with 450 militia, and 500 Avendre Mercenaries. When she saw them leave, she ordered the command to attack Macher and his Knights.
* * * * * *
Konig Mitleid stared at the vast army of Brandals gathered in the southern plains. He was watching them march from on top of Verbrannt Castle's tower.
The maneator king waited for Sierra to come back, but the Brandal's catapults were almost in range of their castle.
Mitleid leapt from on top of the tower, and made a loud crashing sound when he landed on the ground. He stepped out of the large crater that he made from his jump.
He knew Sierra would be mad, but this was an emergency. He ran straight past the gates, and ordered the remaining militia left to defend the castle with their lives.
Mitleid thought that the Duke must have been furious to have sent this many men. Mitleid wanted to rip all of them out, but he kept repeating to himself that he should focus on the catapults.
The maneator was troubled because whenever he was in his 'Blood Rage' state he had no control over his actions.
He was afraid that the catapults would be in range, and he would focus only on his attackers. Mitleid spent many days around the forest of Verbrannt Castle when he helped gather the lumber.
Mitleid knew the fastest way to where the Brandals' catapults were. He decided to stay far away from any bandit until he was directly facing the line of catapults.
A few minutes passed, and he was where he wanted to be. He leapt out from the forest and roared with all his might!
"RRROOOOAAAAARRRRAAAAHHHHHHGGGHHH!"
Mitleid used this opportunity to slaughter the stunned Brandals. No one was going to attack him in their dazed states. It took only two swings from his dual zweihänders to demolish the catapults.
He quickly destroyed two of his targets, he still had eighteen left to go. Arrows struck his body, when he finished destroying his fourth catapult.
The Brandals had recovered from being stunned, and went after the maneator king. Any black ctenosaur rider who struck him had their heads lopped off.
The maneator king lost count of all the Brandals that he killed. He estimated he had at least eliminated 700 of them.
When he reached his twelfth catapult, both his hands had bullwhips attached to it. The Brandal leaders had come to stop him.
He pulled them to him as he did with the previous Brandal leaders and slaughtered them. After he was done chopping their bodies into pieces, he proceeded to his thirteenth catapult.
Mitleid raised both his hands and was about to swing down his dual zweihänders when five bullwhips were attached to his right hand.
He tried to pull the five Brandal leaders, but they were pulling him back. Two more bullwhips were added to his right hand.
Mitleid tried pulling harder, but then ten bullwhips were suddenly attached to his left hand. Konig Mitleid looked up to the sky.
The Brandal leaders knocked both of his zweihänders out of his hands.
The maneator was about to let out his roar when two Brandal leaders came from the front and wrapped their bullwhips on his muzzle and his jaw.
The Brandal leaders had silenced his roar! He tried shaking the two bandits off of him, but they held on to him firmly.
Next, six bullwhips were attached to each of his legs. The Brandals pushed him down, and made him face the sky. When he was pinned down, additional ropes were nailed down on the ground to hold him.
A Brandal leader stepped over the Mitleid's chest, as the rest of them held him down.
"We heard you like to torture people. Why don't you have a taste of your own medicine!"
Four Brandal leaders carried jagged swords, and stood on both sides of Mitleid. They started to saw off his hands, while other Brandal leaders were on top of him. They were stabbing him with their swords.
After his hands were sawed off, the jagged sword wielding Brandals went for both his hooves. The Brandals encircled around the captured maneator. They laughed and jeered at him.
Konig Mitleid was held down and was surrounded by 32 Brandal Leaders. The maneator's lifebar was quickly dwindling down. Mitleid's lifebar displayed (195,227/300,000 HP).
The blood gushed out from Mitleid's severed hands and hooves, which gave him a ‘Bleeding Status'.
Chapter Ten: A Village against a City
Before he was captured, Konig Mitleid was the devil incarnate. He slaughtered many of the Brandals before the bandits were able to capture him.
If only Mitleid didn't focus all his attention on the catapults, he wouldn't have been caught by the bandits.
The Maneator was painfully sprawled and pinned down on the ground. The Brandals circled around, as they kept on taunting him.
After they severed his hands and hooves, the Brandal leaders with the jagged swords went higher up on Mitleid's limbs. They started to chop off his arms and legs.
Due to his 'Bleeding Status' and the continuous attacks by the Brandal leaders, Konig Mitleid was now dying. His life bar displayed (62,197/300,000 HP).
Mitleid's heroic act destroyed more than half of the Brandals' catapults and eliminated almost a fourth of the bandits' five thousand strong army.
The Maneator King stared blankly at the sky. He felt the Brandal leaders' jagged swords and throwing knives being plunged into various parts of his body.
However, his mind blocked the pain brought by the Brandals' tortures. Instead, he was reminded of all his wrongdoings.
How he slaughtered the men sent down to be executed in the labyrinth. How he accidentally killed his Maneator brothers when his 'Blood Rage' state was activated. Finally, how he mercilessly tortured Smoke for hours.
Even if he wasn't in complete control of himself in all of those heinous acts, it was still his hands that did all the evil work.
Mitleid wanted to repent for all the immorality and wickedness he committed, but it was clear that he would go to the afterlife without the chance to redeem himself.
The Maneator thought he deserved such a horrific death. He only hoped that before he perished, he would be able to see his liberated brothers from the labyrinth.
Sadly, it was clear that he wouldn't get to do any of that. As such thoughts ran through Konig Mitleid's head, a bolt enhanced with fire came and blew away the Brandal leader who stood on top of his chest.
A few seconds later, a torrent of poison bolts attacked the bandits. The surprise ranged attack knocked all of the Brandal leaders away from the Maneator King.
Laernea and Gandiva's war carriages ran side by side as they led the way for their 1,050 militia's spear like formation.
They had their stag moose, Tulin and Bilis, run at an adequate pace. This let the men on foot to keep up with their stride.
The Lioumerean's war carriages had twenty of their best Fishermen on board. They were given the task to target the black ctenosaur riders in front of their path.
Each war carriage also had a turret on top of it. There, Sharur and Jinggu's 'Repeating Ballistae' were installed.
It was a collaborative work from Darius and Sharanga as they were looking for a way to improve the OrkElves' heavy ballistae. The new ranged weapons were so heavy that they had to be attached to the turrets.
Despite the weapons' increased weight, Sharanga increased its attack speed and power damage. With the Repeating Ballistae, the OrkElves' attack increased by threefolds.
In order to enhance their scouting abilities, Thyrsus and Vijaya had war chariots attached to their dirus wolves. They had one of their Lieutenants drive the chariot while they scanned the whole battlefield.
Vijaya took the right side while Thyrsus took the left. Vijaya relied on her six falcons to detect which of the men on her side where dying.
She had the falcons spread out in pairs of two. Before one of her volunteers' shield were broken, the falcons would dive in and attack the enemy.
This gave the injured militia the opportunity to switch out with a fresh volunteer. Vijaya also helped by continuously attacking the enemies with her Hunter's bow and poison arrows.
Gone were the days when she solely relied on her falcon's damage. She knew that each arrow meant an increased chance at their survival.
Thyrsus Fischer observed Vijaya's regained confidence as she executed an outstanding defense with her falcons. He used to pity her when her twin sister, Sharanga, started to get more attention than her.
Nevertheless, he knew that it was only a matter of time before she would earn an impressive ability like her 'Falcon Tongue'.
Ever since they were young, Thyrsus witnessed his friends' prominent lives while he lived a mediocre one.
Vijaya had her looks and personality, and even if Sharanga was shy, she still shared her twin sister's face.
Raised by their raped mother, the OrkElves, Sharur and Jinggu, had their innate Strength and Dexterity, and the Nanahuatlanos' sympathy.
Ichaival was famous for being the village clown, while Laernea and Gandiva were the problematic trouble makers.
Thyrsus thought that he would have everybody's respect and admiration, if he focused his attention on his studies and behaved himself.
However, the years went on and he was still the forgettable kid in the village. He even had to say his last name before the residents remembered that he was Peitro Fischer's son.
Thyrsus talked to Darius about his dilemma, and the wise Beggar Legati asked him if any of his friends ever forgot him.
From there he got the idea to forcibly insert himself, into the lives of the people who he wants to remember him.
If his talents were not visible to the masses, then he personally got to know each individual and showed them his abilities.
For Smoke, Sierra, and Darius; Thyrsus made sure that they knew of his reconnaissance ability and tactical prowess.
He privately got to know all of the 1,500 men and women volunteers in their militia. He knew their full names, their former villages, and their professions.
Thyrsus relied on his great memory to build a strong rapport with all of them. His hard work in getting to know all of them, made him the most trusted commander in the entire militia.
Multiple volunteers on Thyrsus' side got switched out even when their life bars were still in the safe zones.
Thyrsus emphasized on everyone's safety which gave them an impenetrable defense in their spear like formation.
With both the head and the sides of their spear formation secured, Adder positioned himself to guard the rear on foot.
Adder received an improved weapon as well. Darius enhanced his BlitzTod into the double bladed BlitzSturm. His new weapon almost had the same damage potential as one of Mitleid's zweihänders.
Adder gathered the Blacksmiths in their militia who had the ability to use 'Shield Smite'. The Blacksmiths made sure to repel all of the bandits who tried to go after them.
The one-armed man commanded and defended the militia, as he watched their forces pierce through the thousands of surprised Brandals.
As they got closer to the pinned down Maneator King, sprawled on the ground, Laernea and Gandiva went in opposite directions.
Laernea took her war carriage to the left, while Gandiva took hers to the right. The meter long spikes attached to the sides of their wheels, ripped through the legs of the black ctenosaurs that stayed within its range.
From on top of the turrets attached to the war carriages, Sharur and Jinggu kept on attacking with their flood of poison bolts.
However, the blown away Brandal leaders regrouped themselves and immediately ordered their bandits to block the war carriages exits.
Each of the Lioumereans were forced to make a half-circle run with Konig Mitleid as their central point.
The Brandals had seen through their plan and blocked any chance of escape. Adder told Vijaya and Thyrsus to form a barricade.
The two Hunters ordered their special defensive militia members to be ready to deploy their long barbed poles.
After the Lioumereans ran in a semi-circle direction, Vijaya and Thyrsus ordered these men to start deploying the barbed poles in a fixed distance from one another.
