Being a Viking Isn’t Fun – Chapter 25

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Shio
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The warriors of Northumbria continued to burn with fighting spirit.

Even Odin must have praised their determination.

But when had this world ever operated on willpower alone?

It was the law of nature that when met with greater weight and stronger force, things broke and shattered. As I removed the fifth ladder, I called out to Aella’s minions who kept pushing forward relentlessly:

“Leave this ladder be! If they wish to die! I’ll gladly provide a place for them to do so!”

Already, the dead and wounded Angles lay scattered across the top of the wall.

The grayish-white walls were now stained with red, bewitching the minds of those who saw it, making them more violent, more cruel. To save their own lives, to greatly amplify the madness of the battlefield.

Among the people slowly losing their reason, my shouts became their beacon, the path they must follow.

“Leave this ladder! Let’s kill every one that climbs up!”

“Spears! Bring longer spears!”

“Archers, keep shooting! Keep shooting until they fall silent!”

However, if there were those completely immersed in the uncontrollable atmosphere, there were also those who acted rationally, to the point of feeling cold.

My long-time vassal, Hrolf, did not waver even in the midst of this bloodbath.

“Jarl Helgi! The enemy’s attack is concentrating near the gate!”

Hrolf, who had somehow managed to grab my shoulder as I moved about like a wild boar with its tail on fire, pointed with his long, firm finger towards the center of the wall where Bjorn was stationed, near the gate.

‘Aella, you’ve really made up your mind. You’re coming at us determined to cross the wall today.’

At first, I thought he was a clever fox, but it turned out he was an angry rhinoceros. The warriors of Northumbria were frantically climbing the walls and pushing forward their battering rams as if there was no tomorrow.

To my left, Ubba, who was in charge of the far left end of the wall, was handling the enemy relatively easily as it was an area of less enemy interest.

My area, however, had reached a stalemate. After taking down countless ladders that kept coming up and leaving only one, there wasn’t much the enemy commander could do, no matter how capable.

However, as my section of the wall became less busy, the enemy forces that should have been concentrating on this originally vulnerable point ended up massing towards the center.

‘Oh no…’

Glancing down below the wall, I confirmed that, as Hrolf had said, the Northumbrian warriors were densely packed in front of the gate at the center of the wall, either climbing the still intact ladders or building a shield wall while waiting for the battering ram that seemed about to reach the gate.

“Hrolf! I leave this to you! I need to go to the center!”

“Understood! Jarl Helgi!”

With only one ladder left, they should have been able to hold off the enemy without much problem.

With Hrolf’s experienced abilities, he should have been able to smoothly support Ubba next door if he got into trouble. Now I needed to sweep from the center all the way to the right wall where Ivarr, Halfdan, and Sigurd were holding.

“Storolf! Follow me!”

“Yes! My Jarl!”

Storolf, who had volunteered to be the flag bearer, clearly taken by the goddess Hel’s banner brought by the warriors of Aros, ran behind me, holding the flag in one hand and a sword in the other.

“Make way! Move aside!”

Just like the Northumbrians below the wall, the Norsemen and citizens of Eoforwic on top of the wall were also experiencing a bottleneck as they fought frantically. As I rushed forward, shouting at people blocking the way due to my urgent situation, I saw a cluster of Northumbrians densely packed in a circle, occupying a corner of the wall.

“Hel-a!”

There was no need for words.

Using the momentum of my run, my body plunged between the spears thrust by the enemy and collided with the solid shield wall.

[Crash-! Crack!]

“Argh!”

Some were flung down the wall, some had their necks broken from hitting the wall at a wrong angle, and various other minor arm and leg fractures occurred.

Having created this terrible scene with just one body slam, I swiftly cut down the Northumbrian warriors who couldn’t regain their senses from the sudden intense impact.

[Whoosh- Slash!]

“Ahh!”

“Guh!”

Those who died under my axe blade probably didn’t feel much pain, as their lives were snuffed out in an instant.

“By Odin, good heavens…”

“Lord…”

There was no time to respond to each of the soft exclamations and gasps from the surrounding warriors. I quickly pushed down the ladder the Northumbrians had been guarding with their lives, and moved on to the next target.

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At the same time.

Halfdan “Hvitserk” Ragnarsson couldn’t get his bearings.

“We must drive them back! Keep pushing!”

“Yaaah!”

“Tyr!”

From the moment he first grasped a sword until now, battle had never been easy, but truly, he had never experienced a battle like this before.

This space on the wall was too narrow, and the enemies too numerous. No matter how experienced and skilled a warrior might be, when it came down to a primitive fight of matching masses and competing strength, everyone eventually tired.

In other words, it became more about physical prowess than technique.

‘At this rate, I might be dining in Valhalla this evening.’

Living a life as a Jarl of the Danes, how could he fear death? He only regretted that he might not be able to see his father’s enemy die in agony.

‘Still, I have no regrets. My brothers will surely avenge me and Father.’

Iron-like Bjorn? Ivarr, who could dodge a falling blade with just a tilt of his head? Or was it the two still awkward younger brothers, Sigurd and Ubba?

No, Helgi would do it.

Anyone with two eyes could see that his half-brother was no ordinary person.

The battle had continued until nearly sunset.

Although he was known for his strength and tenacity, having finished his first battle without a scratch, earning him the nickname ‘White-shirt’… Halfdan was beginning to feel the strength leaving his arms.

But he couldn’t show weakness.

“Come at me, Angle! I am Halfdan!”

“Die!”

He deflected the axe of a warrior clinging to him like a demon with his shield, and thrust his sword into the abdomen.

[Clang!]

It was blocked by a shield, but this was a short thrust intended to draw out the enemy’s shield. As expected, the enemy raised his axe to strike again, and in that moment, Halfdan’s swiftly retrieved sword came down diagonally, cutting off the wrist holding the axe.

[Slice-!]

“Argh!”

[Thud!]

“Gurk-!”

Halfdan pierced the throat of the howling warrior, killing him instantly, and pulled out his sword again.

However, in that brief moment, in an instant too quick to even call it carelessness, a sharp blade thrust in from an angle Halfdan couldn’t perceive.

‘Oh no.’

The entire world around him slowed down.

As only the blade piercing towards his side moved slowly, Halfdan instinctively thought of his last moments. Right before his eyes, a hand axe with [Hel] engraved on it flew in powerfully, tearing through the frozen world.

[Whirl- Whirl- Whirl- Thud!]

“Guh!”

‘Surely, it was a sword thrusting in.’

The force in the hand axe was so strong that the warrior who had been thrusting forward fell backward, and the world regained its original time.

[Thud!]

“Halfdan.”

Under the reddening sun, the man casting a dark shadow that seemed about to swallow the entire wall was Helgi Ragnarsson, his half-brother.

“… That one was mine, Helgi.”

“As if.”

Behind him stood a warrior, not quite as large as Helgi but still bear-like, waving the sacred banner of Hel that Mother Asta had made herself. In front of him, Helgi took up position, and just by setting foot in this space, he seemed to draw everything around him to himself.

Soon, Helgi walked into the midst of the fiercely fighting warriors as if their struggle was mere child’s play. He slaughtered the enemies blocking him with his solid shield.

Then, without any difficulty, he pushed down a ladder that was heavier than two aurochs with several people clinging to it.

[Creeeeak- Crash!]

“Argh-!”

“I’ll leave one ladder, Halfdan.”

Helgi spoke to him, who was blankly staring at the scene, in a voice as calm as if he were out on a picnic.

“I need to thin out their numbers a bit. Where’s Bjorn? I didn’t see him on the way.”

“Ah- Bjorn headed for the main gate. Their battering ram looked sturdier than we thought.”

“I see. I need to sweep the wall clean first. I’ll see you later, brother.”

“Alright, see you, Helgi.”

“Let’s go, Storolf!”

“Yes! Jarl Helgi!”

Then Helgi casually left his position to go thrash the Northumbrians. Watching his retreating figure, a feeling Halfdan had never experienced before grew in his chest.

It was awe.

‘Odin, Father. It seems today is not my day to join you.’

Feeling the distant drumbeats of Valhalla fading, Halfdan grasped his sword and shield once more. Victory was not far off. It was right at Helgi’s feet.

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Fortunately, the gate did not break.

They had taken precautions by placing several wooden beams diagonally across it, and the gate itself was quite thick. They probably didn’t think they could open this gate in just one day anyway.

However, the battle had been so fierce that the number of dead and wounded was much higher than expected.

As a result, the infirmary set up in the center of the city had to be expanded, and in the rear across the river, people had to work late into the night to gather arrows and stones for throwing.

“The Northumbrian bastards can’t keep up this kind of attack either.”

Ivarr, who had a long cut on his left cheek probably from an arrow grazing him, said while scratching his chin. His usual fighting style was quite risky. No matter how many times he was told, he wouldn’t change, so he was a cause for concern.

“For every one of our warriors that falls, at least five of theirs must have fallen.”

Sigurd, his usual light-hearted demeanor gone and his sinister eyes even more ominous, spoke in a cold voice.

“Two days at most, or three. After that, they’ll be so depleted that Aella and Osberht will have to climb the walls themselves.”

Ubba, who like Sigurd had lost his usual bookish air, agreed with Sigurd’s words, his face full of venom.

I heard that he had easily overcome the enemy with Hrolf’s timely help, but judging by the dried blood spattered all over him, it seemed he had been through a fierce battle.

“I agree with Ubba. It’s an attack we can withstand.”

Amidst the brothers whose blood was boiling from the remnants of the fierce battle mixed with alcohol, Bjorn’s voice, still maintaining composure, resonated softly.

“But they have numbers on their side. They can attack us day and night.”

“Damn. I hate this kind of fighting.”

The more troops you can deploy, the better. It gives you the initiative on the battlefield.

Therefore, the current situation could be summarized as Northumbria holding the initiative to choose when to attack, versus the Norse-Eoforwic alliance with the advantage of terrain.

Ivarr and the other brothers, having tasted blood, were already getting frustrated with the siege warfare that felt like sinking into a swamp, trying to forcibly calm their rough breathing. But there was no other way. We had to endure.

“So we’ll divide into two groups. During the day, I’ll lead with Ivarr and Ubba, and in the evening, Helgi, Halfdan, and Sigurd will lead.”

‘So the old guys work during the day, and us young ones work all night?’

How could I overcome the sin of not being born earlier? Someone had to do it anyway, so I could only agree…

I thought that was the end of it, but Bjorn’s plan didn’t stop there.

“If I were Aella, I’d want to keep pressing. But the earls under him will start having complicated thoughts. When their momentum breaks and their guard is down, I want to strike at them-”

Bjorn’s low voice gradually became more heated, and his gaze, which had been lowered, slowly rose to meet my face. As all the brothers’ eyes turned to me, Bjorn asked, and I answered.

“Can you do it, Helgi?”

“Of course.”

There was no hesitation.

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When there’s trouble, you know who to call (Helgi!)
His towering figure can see it all (Helgi!)
When there’s evil on the attack
You can rest knowing he’s got your back
Cause when the Norsemen call
Helgi slaughters them all!

Ahem, don’t know what came over me there. Thanks for reading! If you find any errors ping Oihs in the Arcane Translations discord.