Book 10, Baruch – Chapter 38: Explosive Fury
The forces of the Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows were outside the south gate of the prefectural city of Cod, a seemingly endless sea of forces. The soldiers of the prefectural city of Cod were all on high alert. They knew that this ‘endless sea of soldiers’ in front of them could suddenly transform into tidal waves that would wash over them.
A small part of the below army had separated from the main forces.
This small part took a side route, heading towards the east gate of Cod. Factoring in the local geography, the Radiant Church was only able to attack the south gate and the east gate. As for the north gate and the west gate, there was no way for the armies to make it there. The army that came to the east gate was comprised of two legions.
These two legions were of the Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows. The elite legions of both sides.
The commander of the legion belonging to the Cult of Shadows was a man with short blue hair and a severe face who was staring at the city walls. Next to him was a gold-haired man, the commander of the elite legion of the Radiant Church.
If they were able to take down the east gate, they would both have rendered huge military merits in this battle.
“Just five magicite cannons.” The blue-haired man said calmly. “Rogers [Luo’jie’si], how about this. Our soldiers will first charge forward, and when we get close to the walls, the vanguard will suddenly form tight ranks and use the escalades to create an opening in the city walls. The other soldiers will follow from behind. As long as we can get onto the city walls, the prefectural city of Cod will be finished.”
Rogers glanced at him. “Brian [Pu’lai’en], then let’s see who will be the first to break through.”
“Fine.” Brian’s eyes were filled with arrogance.
Time passed. The two elite legions were in a state of quiet readiness, waiting...and then suddenly, they heard the terrifying sound of slaughter. Magicite cannons began to boom, warriors shouted with rage, arrows howled through the air, and an ocean-like series of roars split the world apart.
“They’ve started on the other side.” A hint of a smile was on Brian’s lips.
Rogers nodded slightly as well. “When we break through the east gate, our victory will be assured.”
Per their original plans, they would wait for the battle at the south gate to reach a crescendo of madness...after five minutes, Brian suddenly let out a furious roar, “Kill!” Their generals, who knew the plan all along, immediately led their soldiers to charge out and attack.
Those forty-meter long escalades began to move at frighteningly fast speed towards the east gate.
A large number of soldiers advanced at high speed, shields held above their heads.
The five magicite cannons at the east walls began to light up. “Boom!” “Boom!” The magicite cannons howled ferociously, and five balls of light began to shoot out at high speed, exploding into balls of terrifying light once they hit the floor. Instantly, soldiers began to die in those areas, but the remaining soldiers didn’t hesitate at all.
Hesitating meant death.
“So fast!” The commander at the east gate had already discovered how fast the enemies were running towards them. The magicite cannons had only rang out three times, but the enemies were already within a hundred meters. “Wait a second!” He suddenly discovered that the fastest running soldiers of the enemies suddenly formed a unit with perfect coordination.
Clearly, these were elite warriors. They had most likely come to join forces and force a breach.
“Hrmph. It looks like they really did...” The commander’s face revealed a cold smile.
“All magicite cannons, prepare!” The commander howled loudly, and instantly...fifteen more magicite cannon emplacements appeared on the city walls. Combined with the previous five, there was an awe-inspiring grand total of twenty magicite cannons. The twenty magicite cannons all lit up at the same time.
Seeing another fifteen magicite cannons appear, the faces of Brian and Rogers, the two legion commanders, instantly changed.
“No!” Brian’s face was savage, and he roared in uncomprehending fury.
“Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!”
Twenty magicite cannons simultaneously unleashed their terrifying fury, and their targets were clearly those special, elite soldiers who were leading at the front of the attacking line. An earth-shaking series of explosions could be heard.
“No!” Many warriors, seeing the light of the magicite cannon blasts fly towards them at high speed, screamed in fury and terror.
But the cannon blasts were simply too fast. With a flash of light, the blasts hit the ground, giving the warriors no chance to dodge at all. The warriors in the area were blasted to smithereens, with some being frozen solid, others burned alive to charcoal, and still others clutching their severed limbs and screaming miserably...
In the blink of an eye, over three thousand people had died, and several thousand were badly injured as well.
It was too terrifying.
Many warriors were stunned and awe-stricken. In addition, many of the dead were the elite of the elite. The remaining soldiers began to feel dread in their heart.
“Charge! Kill the bastards and avenge our comrades!” Some warriors howled with fury as they continued the charge.
“If we make our way up there, we win!”
But before their escalades even had a chance to be boarded, on the walls of the east wall, a large number of warriors began throwing casks of oil downwards, pouring those boiling casks of oil directly onto the bodies of the attacking warriors.
“Ah!!!” Many warriors clutched their faces as their bodies spasmed, and they fell off the escalades.
“Fire!”
A cold sound rang out, and not only did those twenty magicite cannons once more unleash the god of death...other warriors also began to shoot fire arrows at the enemies as well. Many people below had been covered with hot oil, and now, with fire arrows shooting down...
Some of those people who had ‘only’ been scalded by oil but not killed were suddenly turned into human torches.
The ground below the walls had turned into a sea of flame.
Many warriors had become human fireballs, all of them emitting tortured screams before collapsing. The soldiers behind them no longer dared to advance, because in front of them was a sea of flame. However, at this moment, those twenty magicite cannons once more attacked, killing thousands more.
Explosions rocked the enemy camp.
Rogers and Brian were about to go insane. They howled with fierce rage, “Retreat, retreat, quickly, retreat!” In the blink of an eye, over ten thousand of their warriors had died, and several thousand more were injured.
The worst thing was, those twenty magicite cannons were continuing to attack.
The twenty magicite cannons had stripped the attackers of all their courage and morale.
Five magicite cannons might only be able to kill a thousand soldiers in one blast, but as long as they made it through three blasts, they will be able to close in. But twenty magicite cannons were different....the combined attacks of these cannons were totally capable of killing all the elite vanguard soldiers of the attackers.
The power of twenty magicite cannons was simply too great.
Even though they were retreating like mad, the twenty magicite cannons still were able to attack two more times, and thousands more collapsed. Those beautiful, firework-like balls of light were actually heart-shaking, powerful attacks.
It must be said that the magic attacks were indeed very powerful. For example, the ‘Blazing Rings of Fire’ were like a fiery red ripple.
Unfortunately, although they were as beautiful as a dream, they were as terrifying as a butcher’s blade.
“A hundred thousand soldiers...twenty thousand dead. Another ten thousand wounded.” Rogers’ voice was very low. “In a short period of time, our morale has been completely destroyed. The warriors don’t have the courage to charge those twenty magicite cannons again.”
By relying on their shields, they could block enemy arrows.
But those shields weren’t able to block magicite cannon blasts, especially large-caliber ones.
“Twenty. Why are there twenty magicite cannons?” Brian said furiously. “When the Lord Cardinal sent us here, didn’t they say there were only five magicite cannons? If we knew there were twenty, we wouldn’t have sent them to their deaths like that!”
Magicite cannons were simply too terrifying.
As long as the enemy were in firing range, their lives would be lost. In addition, the reloading time between each blast was very short. As long as they were charged with sufficient magicite gems, they would be able to constantly attack. They were far more terrifying than even twenty magi of the eighth rank.
“Go back.” Rogers looked at his surrounding soldiers and immediately issued the order.
Brian clenched his fists, unwilling to admit what just happened. “Motherf*cker. We were tricked. The people of the prefectural city of Cod really are motherf*cking bastards. Let’s go back.” They had lost thirty percent of their attack power. If they were to attack again, they probably wouldn’t be able to muster even half of their earlier attack power.”
But the enemy hadn’t lost a single warrior.
Of course, the enemy had spent a huge amount of money. Each time the magicite cannons fired, an enormous amount of gold coins was being spent. How many kingdoms would be willing to afford the cost of twenty magicite cannons constantly blasting nonstop like this?
What was real was false. What was false was real.
The Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows had played some tricks, but unfortunately, the prefectural city of Cod had been hiding the true number of magicite cannons. They had a total of thirty-six magicite cannons, but had only taken out fifteen at first.
According to their plans, the east gate would have twenty magicite cannons, while the south gate would have sixteen.
The battle at the east gate concluded quickly, but the battle at the south gate was extremely brutal.
“Prepare.” A large number of soldiers on the walls of the south side fell to the ground, greatbows at the ready, their arms tensed. Those enormous bows were terrifying to behold. Any of the soldiers here could easily lift several hundred pounds.
And now, for them to need to use both hands and both feet to draw and fire these bows, one could imagine how powerful they were.
“Fire!”
When the order came, countless massive arrows fell down like rain from the city walls, creating a terrifying howl as they descended downwards. Ordinary shields were of no use. These massive arrows punched straight through them, piercing through the shield-bearing soldiers.
Instantly, a large number of people fell down.
But although a large number had died, others immediately charged forward to take their place.
A large number of escalades had already latched onto the city walls, and many soldiers were even preparing to charge onto them. The six previously hidden magicite cannons were pulled out as well, and sixteen magicite cannons roared wildly, spitting brilliant balls of fire onto the ground below, killing men in large swathes.
However, the forces of the Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows were simply too numerous.
They were like an endless wave!
“Let’s retreat for now. If we continue to fight like this, all we are doing is fighting a battle of attrition. Too many will die.” Guillermo was frowning. In such a short period of time, they had already lost over a hundred thousand people. But of course, the prefectural city of Cod had lost people as well, at least over ten thousand.”
The main problem was that those sixteen magicite cannons killed too many people. And also, there were those giant arrows and the falling boulders.
Those atop the walls always had a great advantage.
“I have a bad feeling.” Weiss Porter was frowning as he watched those sixteen magicite cannons roar. “There should only have been ten magicite cannons, but when the battle began, six more appeared. I’m worried...about the east gate.”
Guillermo’s heart trembled.
“Are you saying that more magicite cannons appeared on that side as well?” Guillermo shook his head. “Not necessarily. Perhaps they simply moved the magicite cannons of the east gate to the south gate.”
“I hope that’s the case.” Weiss Porter didn’t care about the dead soldiers.
What he wanted was victory.
“Lord Cardinal.” A disheveled Brian and Rogers came running at high speed towards Guillermo and Weiss Porter.
“What is it?” As soon as the Cardinals saw these two, they knew things had not gone well.
Brian cursed with fury, “Lord Cardinal, who provided the intelligence estimates? They are nothing more than motherf*cking bastards. It wasn’t five magicite cannons, it was twenty! Twenty damn magicite cannons! My comrades...with just a few blasts, twenty thousand of them died, and many were injured as well. Our legions only had a total of a hundred thousand men. We’ve instantly lost thirty percent of our fighting capability. What’s more...the elites of our legion, those who had the courage to charge at the front, died even faster. Our soldiers don’t have any fighting spirit left at all. They are all terrified.”
Weiss Porter’s face changed.
He totally understood now.
Staring at the distant prefectural city of Cod, Weiss Porter ground his teeth. “So you played us. You enticed us to attack the east city, then changed five magicite cannons into twenty?” Weiss Porter’s eyes were red from rage. “Guillermo, forget the plans and schemes. Have all the experts of the ninth rank charge, now!”