The horn sounding meant Demacia had already begun its attack. Harvey did not know how long the soldiers defending the city could hold out.
But they had to hold.
At this moment, Harvey's heart was pounding like a drum. Cold sweat covered his forehead, and he did not dare delay for even a second.
Whether on the streets, inside houses, or among men and women in the middle of their business, everyone stopped moving when they heard the droning sound of the horns.
They could all hear the urgency in those hurried horn calls.
A thick sense that something terrible was about to happen began rising in their hearts.
Trevale had never sounded such loud horns before. Something must have happened.
Boom, boom, boom!
Immediately after, thunderous explosions rang in their ears.
Harvey rode quickly down the streets, which had already fallen into chaos. His eyes could see thick smoke rising from the direction of the city wall.
Even though he had prepared himself, seeing this scene still made him swallow hard. "They really did attack..."
Ever since he had received the news, his heartbeat had not slowed for even a moment. It had only continued to accelerate, and a strong unease lingered in his heart.
Trevale had ten thousand permanent troops stationed here, mainly for defense.
If they had received news in advance and arranged a defensive line, the city might not have been easily breached.
But now, the situation was completely different.
They had not known at all that Demacia was coming to attack. Now they did know, but damn it, the enemy was already right in their faces.
Damn it.
I've only been in office for a few months. Why does this have to happen to me?
Showing fear before battle was also death, especially for a high-ranking officer like him.
Harvey no longer had the relaxed mood from earlier. His heart was full of panic and frustration, and he cursed anyone and everyone in his mind.
He could not understand why he had to be this unlucky. He had barely enjoyed a few good days, and now Demacia had suddenly gone mad, with him being the first to run into it.
In all these years, when had Demacia ever taken the initiative to attack another place?
Damn it. Of all people, it just had to be him.
But no matter how much he cursed now, it was useless. The explosive roar kept ringing beside his ears, the huge sound of the siege rumbling like rolling thunder.
He could hardly imagine why Demacia's firepower was this fierce.
Right now, Harvey only hoped that the city gate would absolutely not be breached, while panic grew in his heart.
What had Demacia done?
How could they make such a huge sound?
Civilians fled wildly. The flames rising from the city walls lit up the night sky, and Harvey's heart kept jumping. He grabbed a messenger beside him and stared into his eyes. "Go at once and deliver the intelligence back to the Immortal Bastion. Also, inform every city along the way and ask them to send reinforcements as quickly as possible!"
"Yes!"
The messenger accepted the order. Looking toward the city wall with eyes full of terror, he quickly turned and left, not daring to stay for even a moment.
Noxus also had bird-like magical beasts specially used to carry messages. After being trained, they would travel back and forth between two places.
But from Trevale, sending a letter back to the Immortal Bastion would take at least several days. Even the nearest city could not possibly dispatch troops to help them instantly.
Yet the enemy was already at the gates.
What should he do? What should he do? What should he do?
"Damn it. If only Kled were here..."
Harvey really wanted to curse his mother. It felt like every unlucky thing possible had fallen on him.
Kled was the one who could truly make decisions in Trevale, but that guy did not want to deal with this rotten mess, so the higher-ups had sent Harvey here instead.
That bastard had ridden off on his cowardly lizard, and who knew where he had died.
Although Harvey found this short Yordle deeply unpleasant, he had to admit that right now, he truly needed him.
Suddenly, he saw several figures appear in the sky. Those silver-winged dragonbirds spread their wings and soared, clearly Demacia's Dragonbird Riders already breaking into the airspace above Trevale.
There were roughly twenty or thirty of them.
"They're here to intercept us?"
Harvey had a feeling that these dragonbirds had clearly been sent to intercept the troops reinforcing the city gate.
"With only this few? Shoot them down! Everyone, move faster! The city gate is the one thing that cannot be breached!"
Harvey shouted and was about to speed up again.
As long as the gate did not fall, everything could still be salvaged once reinforcements arrived.
Those Dragonbird Riders were already flying toward them at high speed. They were incredibly fast, arriving above them almost in the blink of an eye.
The troops behind Harvey loosed a rain of arrows, but the Dragonbird Riders nimbly dodged them.
Suddenly, Harvey saw black iron balls being thrown down from high above, dropping in their direction.
He saw sparks still burning on those iron balls, and instinctively felt that something was wrong.
"Air raid! Everyone, dodge!"
He shouted, but in the next second, the bombs had already landed.
One landed nearby, and its fuse happened to burn out. With a thunderous boom, violent firelight erupted in an instant, like a dense cloud of flame. A wave of fire surged outward with searing heat, bringing with it a powerful shockwave.
Harvey was blasted off his horse. He was not at the center of the explosion, only near the edge, yet just the aftershock sent him crashing heavily to the ground.
He struggled to climb up from the ground. All he could hear was a long ringing in his ears. He instinctively looked around, and his pupils instantly shrank.
Explosions like the one just now were still continuing. His army had been blasted into chaos, men and horses thrown everywhere as soldiers fled in all directions. The streets were an even greater mess, with houses burning in raging flames.
"The gate... the gate! Shoot down those Dragonbird Riders!"
Harvey felt the sound in his ears return, and those explosions came flooding back.
He shouted at the top of his lungs, then still rushed toward the city gate at full speed.
The gate could not fall. As long as the gate had not been breached, they could still defend stubbornly.
But once the gate was breached, Harvey could already foresee his own fate.
From that round of bombing just now, he could already see Demacia's determination this time.
They were clearly serious.
At this moment, only the last trace of hope remained in Harvey's heart. He could already see the soldiers stubbornly defending the city wall, and he could hear the heavy bangs.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The thick city gate trembled continuously. Behind it, Noxian defensive chariots braced against it to prevent it from being smashed open.
Then he saw those Dragonbird Riders again. He saw them throw bombs toward the chariots.
The chariots were swallowed by erupting firelight. Severed limbs sprayed out from within the flames, and what shattered along with them seemed to be Harvey's heart.
Crash!
With a tremendous noise, the city gate was smashed heavily open. A Demacian chariot revealed itself, pressing against the gate where a gap had been forced open.
"Kill!"
Immediately after, countless Demacian soldiers surged through that gap.
The gate opened wider and wider, and more and more soldiers poured in. They showed not the slightest mercy toward the enemy, and the soldiers of both sides instantly clashed together.
What sounded next, without end, was the collision of blades and weapons.
But Harvey knew that there was a great difference between Noxian soldiers and Demacian soldiers.
The battle quickly became one-sided.
Those white-armored soldiers were well-equipped, and their individual strength was powerful. More importantly, whether defending or attacking, their coordination was extremely smooth.
Very soon, among these Demacian soldiers, Harvey saw a commander dressed differently from the rest.
He wore a silver crown and gold-and-silver armor, making him extremely conspicuous. In his hand was a snow-white long blade. His gaze was calm, and his entire body radiated a powerful aura.
Harvey was certain that he was the main commander.
And at this moment, the other side also saw him.
When those eyes looked over, Harvey instantly felt the pressure on him multiply. He had a sharp intuition for powerful people and could already sense that this young commander was extremely strong.
But he wanted to say that he was not someone to be trifled with either.
Everything he had relied on to reach his current position was his own strength.
He had once won eight consecutive matches in Noxus's dangerous arena, and only then had he gained the favor of an important figure.
He had finally climbed with great difficulty to his current position, commanding a city. How could Harvey be willing to let everything end here?
He raised his weapon. It was a long halberd forged by an outstanding war mason, and the dead stained upon its blade numbered eight hundred if not a thousand.
"Come on! Let's settle this!"
Harvey's eyes turned vicious. He shook his whole body to give himself courage. His heartbeat kept accelerating, pushing him into a kind of heightened state.
He only felt that everything he saw in the world had become incomparably clear. Everything had slowed down, and an incomparable feeling of power surged into his heart.
It made Harvey feel that, in this moment, he was invincible.
How lucky. Harvey grew excited. He felt that he could turn this around.
That was right!
He would not fall here!
The young commander had already stepped into his attack range, his whole body full of openings. Harvey raised the halberd and chopped heavily toward his head. The axe blade tore through the air with a humming sound.
In his eyes, a sharp flash of white light streaked past. Harvey suddenly felt the world spin, and a trace of confusion could not help but surface in his eyes.
Huh?
What happened?
Everything in his eyes had clearly slowed down... so why was it still that fast...
A head fell to the ground. Then the Noxian commander's legs bent, and he knelt before finally collapsing to the ground.
Luke calmly withdrew his gaze from the corpse. Not a single trace of blood could be seen on the snow-white long blade.
When the surrounding Noxian soldiers saw their commander killed instantly by a single strike, all they felt was terror. Their bodies were soaked in cold.
"Lord Harvey is dead!"
"Run! The gate has fallen! We can't hold it!"
"We can't escape! Don't run! We can only fight to the death!"
"Only an idiot would stay! You fight to the death yourself!"
The morale and resolve that had already been on the verge of collapse completely crumbled at this moment.
Some soldiers threw down their weapons and turned to flee, while others knew they could not escape and intended to resist to the end.
Seeing their comrades give up filled their eyes with despair.
Why?
Why had Demacia suddenly attacked?
Luke seemed to see that question in one soldier's eyes.
He said, "When you invaded others, did you ever think they would wonder the same thing? Now it is time to repay your debts."
"Ahhh!"
That soldier seemed not to have heard Luke at all. He roared as if to strengthen his own courage, raised his weapon, and charged toward Luke.
In the next second, Luke swung his sword. A flash of sword light streaked through the air, and that soldier also collapsed to the ground.
Luke looked around and coldly gave the order. "Kill them! Quinn, take people and pursue those deserters. Leave none alive."
"Yes!"
Behind Luke, Quinn accepted the order. She blew a clear whistle, mounted her horse, and went straight after the fleeing soldiers.
Behind her, one thousand well-trained Rangers sped up and followed.
"Kill!"
Around Luke, the eyes of the Demacian warriors burned with hatred toward Noxus, and they charged desperately.
They released the anger that had built up along the way.
The routed troops had already been unable to hold on, and now they completely lost their ability to resist. They could only be slaughtered, and the situation fully became one-sided.
Near the city gate alone, blood flowed everywhere and corpses covered the ground.
Firelight continued to flicker and burn, while the air was filled with the stench of blood.
Twenty minutes later, as the final Noxian soldier was cut down, this siege battle was declared over.
Demacia successfully captured Trevale with negligible losses, ending in a major victory.
This place would serve as Demacia's first stronghold in the campaign against Noxus, and it could be said to occupy an important position.
It could smoothly link up with the garrison at the Gates of Mourning, while the Gates of Mourning connected to Demacia's border defense at Wrenwall. With the three lines joined together, supplies and reinforcements could be transported continuously.
Naturally, Luke's purpose in leading troops this time was not merely to capture Trevale. He would continue the eastern expedition all the way forward.
At this time, the soldiers cleaned up the battlefield. Corpse after corpse was piled up, forming a small hill.
"Your Highness, how should we deal with these bodies?"
A soldier walked forward and asked Luke for his decision.
Luke swept his gaze over them and waved his hand. "Move them outside the city later and burn them all."
"Yes."
The soldier accepted the order.
Luke withdrew his gaze.
He would not be kind enough to specially dig a pit and bury these Noxian soldiers. That would waste both time and effort.
Burning them directly would leave not even bones behind. Simple and clean.
Lux, Sona, and the others entered the city only now, serving as support.
Lux looked at the tragic scene in the city. She remembered that she had once seen something like this before, except back then, the ones who had suffered this fate were Demacia's allies and compatriots.
So at this moment, she did not feel even a trace of pity. Although she was kindhearted, she also knew that this was war.
Only the final victor had the right to pity the opponent.
Sona felt this even more strongly. Her first homeland, Ionia, had suffered countless times worse than this place.
When she was still a child, she had personally seen Noxus's brutality. On the ship leaving Ionia, she had watched her beautiful homeland be devastated by Noxus until it was left in ruins.
So what they were suffering now was merely what they ought to repay.
The two of them, along with the support personnel from the Illuminators, began helping Demacia's wounded.
Just now, they had already been using magic to help the soldiers during the siege. Moreover, this siege had gone extremely smoothly, so there were not many wounded.
At this time, Quinn also returned with her troops.
How could those routed soldiers possibly run faster than them? Naturally, not a single one escaped.
At this point, Demacia had truly sounded the horn of attack.
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