Book 10, Baruch – Chapter 37: The Power of Magicite Cannons
“Oh? You vetoed it?” Linley looked questioningly at Watts.
He felt that the suggestion was a rather reasonable one. When the enemy forces were in disarray, a sudden attack could definitely give the forces of the Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows a bloody nose.
Watts said respectfully, “Lord Linley, the reason I vetoed this subjection has three parts to it.”
Three parts?
Linley had to admit that he didn’t know much about warfare, and so he carefully listened to Watts’ explanation.
“First of all, the chances of success are not high, because there is a distance of several dozen kilometers from the prefectural city of Cod to the river. If we were to send our troops over, by the time they arrived, the enemy forces would number over a million, and the disposition of the troops would have been reformed again.”
Barker shook his head. “For a million soldiers to set up their formations and be battle-ready is not something done so easily.”
Watts nodded. “That is indeed true. I’m just saying that the enemy forces would be prepared for battle. We only have half a million soldiers. How many can we send out on a sneak attack? And this is just the first consideration. The second is...I believe that the commanders of the Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows would not have made such an elementary mistake.”
“If I was the commander of the enemy forces...”
Watts smiled. “I would first have my most elite soldiers cross the river, then put on a façade of being in a state of disorder on the other side to lure the enemy to attack. When the enemy truly came to attack, the elite troops would immediately deliver a headache-causing blow to them.”
“It must be understood that our biggest support is the city walls!” Watts said seriously. “With the city walls, we can kill three of them for every one of us they kill. Thus, they want to seduce us into fighting with them on a level playing field.”
Linley nodded in approval.
Watts continued, “As for the third reason, it is because in warfare, tactics are of less importance than strategy. Our goal is to keep the enemy outside and not let them break into the city. This is the most important thing. As long as we succeed, then this battle will be our victory.”
“Therefore, there is no need for us to pay any attention to the ‘flaws’ of the enemy. Who knows if those flaws are even real or not?”
Watts laughed calmly. “All we need to do is stay inside the prefectural city of Cod and rely on the advantage of the walls to stand guard. Unless something happens beyond our expectations, victory will be ours.”
The night passed. The day slowly brightened.
The Dark Cardinal, Weiss Porter, was riding a darkness-element demonic tiger as he stared in the direction of the prefectural city of Cod.
“Guillermo, I have the feeling that this is going to be a very labor-some battle.” Weiss Porter said with a frown. “We already slowed down the speed of our troops crossing the river, and also had our troops be in a state of ‘disorder.’ But the prefectural city of Cod acted as though they didn’t notice. They didn’t send anyone over to attack.”
Guillermo nodded.
They had prepared a ‘welcoming feast’ for the enemies, but unfortunately, the plan had failed.
Right now, the entire army had crossed the river and rested an entire night. They were now steadily advancing in the direction of the prefectural city of Cod. Their total forces numbered 1.6 million soldiers. Such a terrifyingly large army covered the entire area like an endless tide.
“I’m not afraid that Linley’s commanding general is intelligent or sly. What I’m afraid of is that he’ll just hide in the city like a turtle in its shell.” Weiss Porter said.
Guillermo nodded as well.
If the opponent relied on the advantage of the city walls, breaking through the prefectural city of Cod would most likely cause heavy losses to their side. Although they had 1.6 million soldiers, they weren’t willing to waste too many lives.
“Weiss Porter.” Guillermo said. “Then what should we do?”
The commanding generals of this battle was naturally Guillermo and Weiss Porter. In terms of stratagems, Guillermo was inferior to Weiss Porter. Weiss laughed calmly. “There’s nothing for us. Right now, let’s go test the enemy’s strength.”
Only when one knew the opponent and knew one’s self was one capable of being ever victorious.
The entire prefectural city of Cod had been transformed into an enormous military fort. The civilians had been moved out long ago, and most of the houses had been renovated and demolished. Tunnels and pits had been dug. Large numbers of soldiers were clustered on the walls of the east city and the south city. On the west and north sides, however, there were fewer soldiers.
All sorts of weapons had been dragged onto the city walls.
Linley and Barker were dressed in armor, pretending to be military officers doing an inspection on the southern walls. The city walls were a hotbed of activity, and the multi-kilometer long walls were packed with people. There were over a hundred thousand people on the walls of the south side of the city alone.
“So many people.” Linley and Barker stared from afar.
They looked like densely clustered locusts. The 1.6 million man army of the Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows covered the land, streaming towards the prefectural city of Cod. 1.6 million people! A number that was easy to say, but when so many soldiers came charging over...
It was terrifying!
Even Linley felt a tremendous sense of pressure.
“Who knows how many people will die as a result of this battle.” Barker sighed.
Staring at the dense mass of soldiers, Linley also felt that this battle would definitely be a vicious, cruel one. But ever since human society began, wars had existed as well.
Although Linley and his men could see the forces of the Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows, in reality, those soldiers were still quite a distance off.
Only, because the enemy forces were simply too massive in number, the soldiers on the wall could see them from far, far away.
“Let’s go to Watts. He is our commanding general. We can’t let anything happen to him.” Linley led Barker to the city walls of the south city. Watts was currently in an unremarkable little building in the south city.
Seeing Linley and Barker, Watts immediately bowed.
“Watts, Lord Linley and I have come to protect you.” Barker laughed.
No matter how steady Watts was normally, he grew excited now. Linley laughed. “Enough. Focus on preparing to deal with the enemy. What is your strategy for dealing with a million man army?” Linley personally felt lost.
Watts laughed. “No rush. Whatever methods they use, I’ll use the appropriate countermeasures.”
“What do you think they will do for their attack?” Barker asked.
“After they crossed the river, they weren’t in a rush to attack. Instead, they let their soldiers rest and waited for dawn. I expect...in about an hour, they will reach the city. At noon, they will begin their first wave of attacks.” Watts laughed calmly.
“The first wave shouldn’t be too strong. They will only be testing our strength. How do you plan to respond?” Barker asked.
“Magicite cannons.”
Watts replied.
“You’ll use magicite cannons immediately?” Barker frowned. The magicite cannons were their secret weapons. It should be better to use them at a critical moment. Watts said with certainty, “Lord Grand Marshall, don’t worry. Just watch and enjoy. When the time comes, you will understand.”
“You put on mysterious airs in front of me?” Barker shook his head and laughed.
Linley just sat there to one side quietly. All he had to do was hand the affairs of running this battle to these men. A long time later...Linley suddenly opened his eyes and said to Watts, “Begin to prepare. The Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows have sent their vanguard to prepare their attack.”
Watts looked at Linley in surprise.
Linley didn’t explain too much. Although he hadn’t used his spiritual energy, given Linley’s insights into the Elemental Laws of the Wind, even from kilometers away, Linley could clearly sense everything going on if he so chose.
“Milord, two legions of the enemy have begun to attack towards our gates.” A military officer suddenly ran inside.
Although the city walls were tens of kilometers long, the attacks would generally be centered around the city gates.
Watts glanced at Linley, then immediately began to issue orders. “Carry out our original plans. Prepare ten magicite cannons. Give our guests a ‘welcoming present’.” Watts chuckled, and the military officer’s eyes had a hint of excitement in them as well. “Yes, milord.”
“Come, let’s go watch.” Linley stood up.
On the city wall, Linley and Barker were staring down. They saw two legions with a large number of people charge forward. Compared to an army of 1.6 million, 40,000 soldiers wasn’t much, but when they charged over, they still felt like a human wave of attackers.
“Kill!”
The tens of thousands of soldiers below raised their shields, charging the city gates with their weapons in hand. Their angry roars sounded like the thunder. A number of soldiers were charging forward while carrying massive escalades, while in their hearts, they were nervous about being shot by the arrows of the soldiers on the wall.
But what shocked them was, no arrows were fired.
“Fire!” An angry roar.
The runes on those ten magicite cannons instantly lit up, and a terrifying amount of elemental essence began to surround them. Suddenly, those magicite cannons emitted a terrifying, ferocious roar as ten explosions of light suddenly struck against the enemy legions.
“Magicite cannons!” Terrified sounds could be heard.
One of the balls of fire landed right in the middle of a legion, and the people nearby the ball of fire were instantly turned to charcoal. When the ball of fire hit the ground, it instantly turned into a blazing ring of fire which began to expand like a ripple of water in every direction. All soldiers touched by the ring of fire began to scream in agony as they were burned alive.
Fire-style magic: Blazing Rings of Fire!
With that one blast, a hundred people died.
One of the other balls of light, a bluish-white one, fell down into the legion as well, and the soldiers in the area around it instantly were frozen solid, then shattered into tiny pieces. This bluish-white ball of light shattered explosively, transforming into millions of terrifying projectile attacks that shot in every direction. “Swish!” Many soldiers were struck by these flying shards, and countless people began to scream in misery as a result of the blast.
Water-style magic: Angry Sea of Arrow Rain!
Different types of magicite cannons would use different types of magicite gems and produce different types of attacks. But without question, this single barrage from the ten magicite cannons caused over a thousand deaths and even more injuries.
But then, the magicite cannons lit up again.
“Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!”
Almost at the same time, the magicite cannons struck again. The enemies were either burned to death, shot to death by freezing shards, devoured by locusts, or electrocuted to death by lightning...the ten magicite cannons fired at the two legions, and to those two legions, they represented the apocalypse.
Weiss Porter and Guillermo were together.
“Milords.” A military officer saluted as he made the report. “The two legions who launched the first wave of attacks against the south gate have retreated, and the legion at the east gate has retreated as well. We discovered that at the south gate, ten magicite cannons have been emplaced, while five have been emplaced at the east gate. These magicite cannons are all large-caliber cannons at the level of magi of the eighth rank.”
Guillermo let out a cold snort. “This is what I was afraid of, that they would have magicite cannons. So they really do have them, and large-caliber ones. Who sold it to them?”
Weiss Porter laughed calmly. “That’s not the issue right now. Their possession of magicite cannons is within our predictions. However, since they only have five at the east gate, then...tomorrow, let’s do a real full-on attack.”
“A full-on attack?” Guillermo looked at Weiss Porter.
Weiss Porter nodded. “Right. We’ll pretend to be focusing on the south gate while sending a small part of our forces to attack the east gate, but the small portion attacking the east gate will be composed of our elite squads.” Weiss Porter said firmly.
“Weiss Porter, what do you intend?” Guillermo looked at him. “To focus our attacks on the east gate?”
The ratio of forces didn’t determine how powerful each force would be. If the soldiers were elite, a hundred thousand of them might be able to defeat a force of four hundred thousand ordinary soldiers.
“True is false, false is true. We’re just tricking our enemies. If a hundred thousand elite soldiers suddenly attack at once, if the east gate isn’t fully prepared, we might be able to break through at one stroke.” Weiss Porter said confidently.
Guillermo laughed. “If I was the enemy commander, when I saw your million soldiers outside the south gate while only a hundred thousand were at the east gate, I would probably focus my attention on the south gate as well.”