A Hospital in Another World?-Chapter 887: The Siege of Ostend…Is This a Hedgehog?

"Run! Run! Don't just stand there in a daze!"

"Are you a tree stump? Even a tree stump would shake its branches and leaves when it sees an enemy charging at it!"

"Don't always use your shield to block! Just move your feet a bit and you can dodge it, saving your magic power!"

"Don't use the teleportation spell here—see, in unfamiliar terrain, hastily casting spells leads to this! You twisted your ankle, didn't you!"

Garrett sat down on the ground, grimacing in pain, rubbing his ankle. A soft white light enveloped his hand, penetrating bone, ligament, and muscle one by one:

Is this forcing me to review my knowledge of surgical anatomy... Just now, I fell from a height of more than a meter, didn't have time to cast the Feather-Fall Spell, and it hurts so much...

The Plague Lord, who didn't know any plague-related spells, was struggling to practice survival and combat skills in the wild. Meanwhile, the battle at the front lines continued fiercely.

After evaluating the enemy's strength, Archbishop Joudri ultimately chose not to act recklessly. Instead, he decided to have the archbishops meet with the various city lords to request their cooperation in sending troops.

Predictably, the bishops, having lost half of their Holy Knights, received all sorts of excuses:

"Half of our soldiers are sick... We can send a few knights, but mobilizing the entire army is too difficult!"

"The northerners have been causing too much trouble lately. Just a few days ago, another village by the sea was raided... Respected Archbishop, could you send the Holy Knights to defend us?"

"There is a plague spreading in the city, and my head is splitting... Respected Archbishop, could you show mercy to the suffering populace and help treat them?"

"My poor little Harry... Died on the battlefield, killed by heretics and blasphemers, and his body was never recovered... His old father can't even give him a proper burial..."

The captains of the high-ranking Holy Knights, bishops, some of whom were transferred from other regions, but the knights, apprentice knights, warriors, and priests below them...

Most of them were locals!

They were the sons of local noble families, some even second or younger sons, or sons-in-law of the local lords, various relatives!

They couldn't inherit the family business and sought a career in the Holy Knights or the church, supporting their family branch. Now, suddenly losing a large number of them, how could any family not hold a grudge?

Who could continue happily working with you if their family members died?

If Ostend had attacked first, that would be one thing. But now, going on the offensive and losing a large number of people, even if revenge was sought, it would require enough assurance—like strong reinforcements from the City of Radiance—not now!

Archbishop Joudri calmly put down all the letters. He bowed his head, showing no joy or anger, and made a holy symbol on his chest:

"In that case, let's wait. Report to the Holy City and then gather the troops for defense!"

Defense was feasible. After all, a group of mages had arrived at Ostend, and who knows what they might do—turning people into sheep or frogs?

Moreover, when the people from the Holy City of Radiance arrive, they shouldn't find that nothing has been done!

So, Six-Link City hastily gathered supplies and checked their troops, setting off again. By the time they saw Ostend, five days had passed...

And in those five days, Ostend had undergone a complete transformation.

"Are you leaving now?"

The Earl looked shocked. The young black-haired man, who had been communicating with him since the start of the war, smiled and clapped his hands:

"Yes, we're leaving! Our group was only responsible for this round. After holding out, we're leaving. The next batch will take over for repairing the walls, setting up magical defenses, and other tasks."

He stretched his neck, looking around. Then he cast an amplification spell on himself, and his voice echoed out:

"Hurry up, hurry up! Don't dawdle. You there, haven't you finished digging yet? Leave anything unimportant here, or you'll miss the ship!"

"What's the rush? What's the rush?!" On the edge of the battlefield, several necromancers commanded skeletons to dig:

"The ship just docked and hasn't finished unloading yet! We can leave with the last batch!—You guys from the Sculpture and Modeling Department work too roughly, crystallizing the entire battlefield's ground, wiping out all life. We can only let the skeletons dig slowly!"

Dead people!

A lot of dead people!

A lot of high-quality, level 5 or even level 10 and above professionals!

Apart from the corpses left by the previous invasion by the Holy Church, it's been years since we've had such a haul. This is a golden opportunity, so let's dig with all our might~~~

Although many corpses had their life force extinguished by enhanced fireball spells and couldn't be raised as skeletons, they still had other uses... At the very least, they could be given to the Plague Lord as gifts!

He never rejects corpses with intact or partially intact structures for dissection! These fresh corpses imbued with Holy Radiance are rare in the Black Crow Swamp, and the Plague Lord will be delighted!

"Put in more effort! Dig everything before we evacuate! And remember, take the soil too~~~"

Those from the Sculpture and Modeling Department were wasteful, taking only a small portion of the soil from the explosion centers! We need to dig it all up! When they analyze the explosion data and find the soil insufficient, they'll have to buy it from us!

Heh heh~~~ We must sell it at a high price. Or, have the Plague Lord come over and collaborate with us on a few projects?

On the other side of Ostend, transformation mages drove alchemical puppets, alchemical carts, and alchemical beasts, shouting as they disembarked. As soon as they got off the ship, they loudly instructed the dock workers:

"Hurry! Unload everything and send it to the fortress! Whether we can repair the fortress in two days depends on this batch of supplies!"

"The sand! Is the sand you prepared ready? We need river sand, not sea sand or sun-dried, salty beach sand! Randall, go measure it and make sure they're not cheating us!"

"What about the stones? Are the stones ready?—If the city walls shattered by the church are acceptable, then use them! We need stones, not soil!"

The transformation mages were ecstatic!

Although cement had been popular for several years, it was mainly used for building houses, dams, roads, and non-extraordinary structures. Repairing city walls?

Repairing walls that might be attacked by extraordinary forces?

Building walls that required flowing magical power to withstand extraordinary attacks?

Unfortunately, their construction team had never received such an order...

Finally, an opportunity to use cement to build and repair walls and fortresses on the battlefield, immediately tested by war. If this project succeeds, future orders will be plentiful!

Moreover, this time, the Dutch are paying! Heh heh, heh heh, heh heh heh!

Go, go, go!

Test the water quality, inspect the sand and stones, direct the workers to mix cement, weigh the sand, and mix the cement mortar! Mark lines, level the ground, and instruct them on wall construction!

After all, while Ostend had enough manpower, the workers were illiterate and had no experience with cement construction. How to mix, how to stack walls...

How to blend a part of professionally mixed cement with special ingredients to facilitate magical conduction, laying down magic circuits on the walls; how to set up pipelines within the walls, arranging special magic lines in them...

In terms of construction, the transformation department and the alchemy branch are the professionals!

The grand construction in Ostend progressed rapidly. First, they repaired the Star Fortress;

Next, they built a solid fortress outside the Star Fortress, connected by tunnels and trenches for easy soldier support;

Then, they dug a deep, long trench surrounding this line of fortresses;

Finally, outside the trench, they scattered various traps, magical swamps, and quicksand pits made by idle alchemy mages...

Just throw them down with eyes closed. Opportunities to test them in real combat, with someone footing the bill, are rare!

The alchemy mages came and went. As they boarded the ship to leave, another batch of large ships docked at Ostend. Vibrant warriors, armed with longswords, disembarked in an orderly fashion:

"We're here!"

"We're here to help defend!"

"Heh, the kingdom's troops are slower than our ships! They're still crawling their way here!"

"Don't worry, with us here, we can hold the line! We won't let you stand alone! Anyway, the kingdom's army has returned, so we sent some of our men to assist you!"

The Earl of Ostend was both surprised and delighted. The ships unloaded three thousand elite rebels, led by a level 15 knight and a few precious spellcasters. He stepped forward and shook hands with them:

"It's great that you've come! Don't worry, the city has enough supplies; we just seized a batch that will last us three months!"

So, when the troops from Six-Link City, struggling with the mindset of "we're not attacking, we're defending against their attack," came to build defenses, their morale was instantly halved.

"Where's the supposed few meters wide gap in the Star Fortress?"

"Where's the shattered city wall?"

"Why is there an extra section outside?"

The troops from Six-Link City, backed

by their own city, remained relatively calm. However, the kingdom's army, who had nearly reached the Dutch city and learned that their retreat was cut off, experienced a total collapse:

"What happened? We haven't seen them for a few months, and there's a hedgehog growing behind us!!"

And this hedgehog was surrounded by a network of rivers, swamps, and lakes!

The cavalry couldn't charge at all!