The Defense of Sarsen Port (2): The Devils of the Sky Meet the Shield of the South
Eisen, Commander of the 12th Wyvern Knights Division, recalled the orders he had received from the Grand Duke before deploying.
"Wipe Sarsen Port off the map. Leave nothing behind. Plunder their wealth, take their women, and burn the city to ash. Those who dared surrender to those southern insects are no longer proud citizens of the West."
An order to burn and pillage everything. It was one of the favorite commands of Commander Eisen and his knights.
Whenever they subjugated the indigenous villages beyond the western border, Eisen and the 12th Division were always the first to charge.
Because of this, the indigenous tribes had dubbed the 12th Division the "Devils of the Sky." It was a moniker earned by their uncanny ability to squeeze plunder even out of the poorest, most destitute settlements.
To men like them, permission to sack a proper, wealthy city sounded less like a military order and more like an invitation to a festival.
"Haha! Commander! I hear those southern bastards are absolutely loaded!"
"Loaded? That's not all. When you think of the South, you think of their women!"
"Heh, when else are we ever going to get the chance to burn a city like this to the ground?"
The morale of the wyvern riders was sky-high. The enemy forces defending Sarsen Port numbered a mere three hundred. With no proper fortress, no defensive lines, and not a single mage in sight, Sarsen Port was the perfect target for a slaughter.
Sixty wyvern knights in total, spanning the 12th, 13th, and 14th Divisions. Against such aerial might, three hundred infantrymen were nothing more than target practice.
"Commander! Do we really have to match our pace with those dirt-walkers?"
"It's not like those grunts are going to have anything to do anyway! Why don't we just fly ahead and take the prize?"
"Exactly! You always say those useless foot soldiers do nothing but steal our credit and rewards!"
Eisen, who commanded the entire sixty-strong wyvern force, didn't take this battle seriously either. An ambush? He hadn't even considered the possibility. Trying to ambush sixty wyvern knights and five thousand infantry with a measly three hundred men? It was a logical absurdity.
He swept his gaze across the terrain below, noting the infantry division that was only now beginning to enter Sarsen Port, and gave his command.
"Fine! We'll sweep them aside ourselves. Who knows when we'll get another chance to plunder a city like this!"
Eisen raised his lance high into the air.
"Move out, boys!"
With the sun glinting off his five-meter-long steel lance as the signal, the wyvern knights, who had been cruising at low speed, accelerated in unison. The sheer majesty of the wyvern squadron filling the sky was breathtaking.
In stark contrast, the enemy positions on the ground were pitifully sparse. They consisted of just two octagonal encampments, each with eight large cannons positioned at the vertices. There were no defensive walls, nor even a basic watchtower from which to shoot arrows.
"Ha. These fools must think war is a game."
To Eisen, the setup was laughably amateurish. In this era, a proper anti-air position was a heavily fortified bastion built around a tower housing resident mages. He seriously questioned whether these pathetic structures, which lacked even the most basic tactical fundamentals, could even be called encampments.
Of course, he had heard rumors of cannons designed to shoot into the sky, but he had never once believed they could actually hit anything. In Eisen's mind, cannons were slow, cumbersome weapons that took ages to reload.
Well, it didn't matter. The Grand Duke's orders were to ravage the city as brutally and ruthlessly as possible.
"They don't call the South a goldmine for nothing," he muttered to himself before barking out his next order. "All units, tight formation! Initiate the airstrike!"
Sixty wyverns spread their wings in unison and began their steep descent.
"Enemy wyvern squadron spotted ahead! Bearing 3-1-0, range approximately 9,000! Count is roughly sixty!"
"Bearing 3-1-0! Adjust your firing angles!"
"Just do exactly as we practiced! Don't try to aim for precise hits! Just think of it as laying down a wall of fire! Any wyverns that manage to break through the barrage will be handled by the small-caliber anti-aircraft guns!"
"Loaders, watch your hands! The Grand Duke ordered us to return without a single casualty!"
Screeech! Sixteen anti-aircraft guns rotated in unison, letting out a sharp, metallic whine. The air defense unit guarding the outskirts of Sarsen was a hive of frantic, noisy preparation.
It was at that moment.
"Enemy aircraft descending!"
The wyverns filling the sky spread their wings wide. The sight of sixty wyverns diving in unison made everyone catch their breath. Wyverns—the absolute rulers of the skies for over a thousand years, since the age of myth. It was only natural for humans to feel primal terror in the face of such creatures.
However, the anti-aircraft gunners gathered here were different. Handpicked by Kyle Leopold himself, they carried an immense sense of pride. The pride of being chosen by their revered Grand Duke, and the pride of knowing they were the shield of the South.
One of the gunners shouted with a grin.
"Haha! Look at those idiots flying in a tight bunch! Are they begging us to shoot them down?"
"Hell yeah! Let's wipe them out in one go!"
The spotter cut through the gunners' banter.
"Quiet down, everyone! Enemy wyvern squadron range, approximately 6,000!"
"Fire in unison the moment they enter effective range!"
The wyverns, which had looked like tiny dots, rapidly grew larger. Their menacing roars reverberated through the heavens, and the faint, heavy thrum of their beating wings began to reach the ground.
"Range 5,000!"
Beyond the horizon, the enemy infantry marched. Five thousand foot soldiers advanced slowly in a dense formation, preparing to sweep up whatever remained after the wyvern squadron finished their devastating run.
"Range 4,000!"
The knights began to manifest their aura. Channeling their mental imagery, their bodies glowed in a kaleidoscope of colors, shining like a constellation of stars in the sky.
"Range 3,000!"
And finally, the moment they crossed into the gunners' effective range—
"FIRE!"
Thud-thud-thud!
A heavy, deafening roar of artillery echoed across the port, completely swallowing the wyverns' cries. A split second later, dark, violent explosions erupted right in the middle of the wyvern formation.
The results were devastating.
"First volley, direct hits!"
At the spotter's shout, four wyverns, their bodies torn to shreds, plummeted helplessly from the sky. The mournful screams of the falling knights signaled the true beginning of the battle.
"Keep firing!"
Having witnessed the wyverns fall before their eyes, the gunners hesitated no longer. The A-01 anti-aircraft guns, boasting a terrifying rate of fire of twelve rounds per minute, spat fire in rapid succession.
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
Plumes of thick, black smoke blossomed in the midst of the panicked wyvern squadron. It was only after three more wyvern knights plummeted to the earth that their formation finally shattered. Like a flock of migratory birds startled by a gunshot, the wyvern riders scattered in all directions.
Yet, scattering did nothing to save them from the proximity fuzes detonating in midair. Once again, the anti-aircraft guns painted the sky with black soot. A wyvern knight performing a dazzling aerial maneuver was instantly swallowed by a cloud of smoke and vanished, while two more spiraled downward.
"Range 2,000! The enemy is still charging!"
Like ink splattered across a blue canvas, the black scars of the flak bursts spread across the sky. Several wyverns caught in the blasts caught fire. Breaking away from the flock, they plunged toward the earth like miniature meteors.
Before they knew it, the once-proud knights had lost half their numbers. Having come too far to retreat, they chose the only option they felt they had left: to charge.
"The worst possible choice."
It was indeed the worst decision they could have made. On the ground, the barrels of the 20mm autocannons pointed toward the heavens, glinting coldly in the sunlight.
*Boom!*
Whenever a black explosion bloomed in the air, the knights caught in its radius were brutally torn apart and sent falling. They weren't even taking direct hits. The shells merely grazed past them before detonating instantly. The timing was so impossibly precise that Eisen couldn't even begin to fathom what kind of magic was at play.
No, could this even be called magic? The magic Eisen had known his entire life was nothing like this. Magic possessed clean power, beautiful effects, and romantic presentation. Even when used for war, all magic carried a sense of chivalry and philosophy.
"But this..."
*Boom!*
A shell that a knight had barely managed to dodge detonated right beside him. Shrapnel tore through his aura, brutally shredding both rider and beast. With skin flayed, entrails spilling, and his entire body reduced to a tattered lump of flesh, the knight plummeted in the most wretched state imaginable.
"This is..."
There was absolutely no respect for the opponent's honor. This was a weapon designed solely to slaughter human beings as efficiently as possible. In its presence, even a knight of the sky was no different from an ordinary mortal.
Eisen could not bear it. He could not stand to watch his lifelong comrades meet such miserable, ignominious ends.
"Aaaaaaargh!"
Channeling every ounce of his remaining strength, he forced his aura to flare. A brilliant starlight enveloped his body, and his wyvern surged forward with a sudden burst of speed.
*Boom! Crash!* Shells detonated around him, peppering his back with shrapnel, but Eisen, completely blinded by rage, felt no pain. He simply glared down at the enemy, whose faces were now close enough to make out, and steered his wyvern into a steep dive, spitting pure hatred.
"I'll kill you! I'll slaughter every single one of you bastards!"
Suddenly, the artillery fire directed at him began to thin out. As I thought! Those cannons couldn't fire at targets that got too close. Swearing to tear them limb from limb, Eisen leveled his lance.
It was at that exact moment that the dozens of 20mm autocannons stationed at the air defense base opened fire.
*Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!*
An impenetrable wall of lead, pouring down like a torrential rainstorm, completely filled Eisen's vision.