Chapter 847
Chapter 847
*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.*
Thousands of fire arrows flew far, far into the distance. The arrows, traveling a thousand meters, sailed straight over the top of the castle walls. Zhang Chunhua and the warriors defending the ramparts looked up, staring blankly as the fire arrows soared over their heads. They didn't fall until they were hundreds of meters behind the fortress. Who were they trying to attack? Shouldn't they be attacking *here*? The Fire God Sect’s second volley of fire arrows was visually even more beautiful, but its result was zero. They had adjusted the angle too high, causing all the arrows to fly over the wall. Both sides faced each other, speechless. Austin turned his head silently to look at the priestess of the Fire God Sect. Zhang Chunhua’s beautiful eyes also turned toward the priestess, as if to say:
‘That last attack of yours was quite a sight. Don’t you have any more?’
The priestess of the Fire God Sect spoke, her voice choked.
“Count Austin, there’s nothing wrong with our weapons. It’s just that their accuracy was insufficient. We need to make adjustments, so if you would give us some time…”
Before she could finish, Count Austin raised a hand to stop her.
“Priestess, I recognize that your ‘Wrath of the Fire God’ is formidable enough to change the course of a war. But that will be in the future, not now. So for this battle, I think it best you leave it to us.”
The priestess, her face etched with bitterness, said loudly.
“Your Excellency, just one more chance…”
“Priestess, I know you want to show results. You wish to prove yourself to the High Priestess and Duke Dipas, not wanting to betray their trust. But I hope you will trust me as well. I may act with great arrogance, but in my heart, I hold little prejudice. I have truly seen the power of these weapons, and I believe the Fire God Sect is indeed a powerful and awe-inspiring force. However, the weapons in your hands still need further development. This is but a minor battle, so won’t you leave the rest to me?
My reverence for the Fire God Sect has not changed. You are merely a junior priestess, but I am certain your sect possesses even stronger weapons. Will you be satisfied if I say this? Priestess, may I now lead my army to attack the enemy’s walls?”
The young priestess of the Fire God Sect stepped back and said.
“As you wish.”
* * *
Count Austin was not lying just to be polite. He had wandered the world for over a decade and had certainly seen and heard much, broadening his perspective. The Fire God Sect’s two gunpowder attacks moments ago had yielded pathetic results, but he recognized that the weapons themselves were truly astonishing. If they were developed further, they could overturn the very nature of warfare.
‘I, Austin, am no ignorant fool. But this war, at least for now, depends on our warriors.’
Count Austin gazed at the three-thousand-meter-long wall from a distance. Patches of the wall were marked with black scorches from the explosions and thick smoke. But it was sturdier than he had imagined. However, no matter how sturdy the wall was, it was small and low, and defended by a mere five hundred soldiers. Count Austin shouted.
“Army, form ranks!”
In an instant, the ten-thousand-strong army assembled into formation, fully armed. Duke Dipas was immensely wealthy, and he had equipped every soldier with iron armor, arming them to the teeth. The ten thousand men of this siege army were all burly warriors, capable of shouldering siege ladders over six meters long. Count Austin leaped onto a nearby mountainside to command the entire battle from a high vantage point. He was exceedingly arrogant, but when it came to battle, he was an incredibly composed general who showed no openings, no matter how weak the enemy appeared.
The spot where he now stood was higher than Zhang Chunhua’s wall, giving him a clear view of the defenses on top. He knew that Easterners prepared large quantities of bows, logs, rocks, and boiling oil for siege defense. But the Easterners defending this place seemed to have prepared none of those things. Furthermore, they had too few supplies to begin with and must have prepared for battle in a hurry. Even this wall had only just been completed.
With only five hundred men on a three-thousand-meter wall, each person would have to defend an average of six meters. How could that be possible? If ten thousand men charged the castle, they could take the wall in half an hour at most.
After the army had assembled into formation, Count Austin drew his greatsword and roared.
“Army, attack the castle!”
*Bwoooooo.*
As the long blast of a horn sounded, Austin’s ten-thousand-strong army began its charge toward the castle. They were a highly professional army; even as they charged, they did not break formation in the slightest, advancing to a specific rhythm. Instead of sprinting madly from the start, they gradually accelerated, getting faster and faster. Even while charging, the ten thousand men maintained an orderly formation, a visually stunning sight, like a steel flood surging toward the enemy.
*Thump, thump, thump, thump.*
As the ten-thousand-strong army charged, the entire ground began to tremble. Count Austin's estimation was correct. This army of ten thousand could breach Zhang Chunhua’s wall in half an hour at most. Shen Lang’s defenders were formidable, but their numbers were too few; one person could not possibly defend a six-meter section of the wall. Austin’s ten thousand men wouldn't even need half an hour; they could take the fortress in a quarter of an hour at most. As the army charged faster and faster, their battle cries grew more and more fervent.
“Forward, forward! Charge! For the Empire, for Duke Dipas, let’s kill every last one of these Easterners!”
The ten thousand soldiers drew closer and closer to the wall. Zhang Chunhua narrowed her eyes, watching the ten thousand enemies from the ramparts.
‘They’re almost here. They’ve all entered the kill zone. It truly breaks my heart. We spent the last month painstakingly creating these explosives. To have to use so much at once.’
Zhang Chunhua gestured, and two officers behind her waved their flags. Instantly, all the defenders on the left and right sides of the wall dropped to the ground, hiding behind the crenellations, and pulled Zhang Chunhua away from the edge. They looked like small animals hiding to escape an earthquake. The moment Count Austin saw this, his expression changed drastically.
‘This is not normal. My army is about to reach the base of the wall, so why are the Eastern defenders on top suddenly dropping to the ground?’
Over the past decade, he had constantly ventured into dangerous lands, honing his instincts to be as sharp as a wild beast’s. He instantly sensed mortal danger, and the hair on his body stood on end.
“Army, halt! Halt the charge!”
As Count Austin roared, the messenger on the mountain was startled, then waved his flag to relay the command. The ten thousand soldiers were stunned to see this, but they had no choice but to obey the order and stop. Austin, his hair standing on end, hesitated for several long seconds before issuing another command.
“Army, disperse! Retreat! Retreat!”
He was a truly outstanding general, to make such a decisive call. Though they could not understand the decision, his ten thousand men charging the fortress immediately turned to retreat, preparing to disperse. The mountain valley here was too narrow; they could not disperse without falling back first.
But in truth, it was already too late. A strange silence fell over the world. Beneath the feet of the ten thousand soldiers lay an astonishing amount of explosives. This was not black powder, but a high explosive of incredible power. Underground, long fuses were burning steadily, the sparks swimming relentlessly toward the massive quantities of explosives. To ensure detonation, dozens of separate fuses and dozens of detonators had been buried together. Count Austin looked again at the defenders on the wall. They were still lying flat on the ground, their hands pressed tightly over their ears. He realized it was too late. He quickly covered his own ears.
*Tick, tock, tick, tock.*
Below, the ten thousand soldiers had just turned around and were about to retreat. The tens of thousands of troops further back were enveloped in an even deeper silence, watching the entire situation with bewilderment.
*Tock!*
Time was up. The fuses burned to their ends, setting off the detonators, which in turn ignited the powerful explosives in an instant.
*BOOOOOOM!*
This was a truly earth-shattering explosion. The thunderous roar was deafening. This was a force that most closely resembled the might of heaven and earth. Compared to the explosion of the Fire God Sect’s powder packs from before, this was more than ten times as powerful. In that instant, it was as if an Earth Dragon had thrashed about within the hundreds-of-meters-long valley, the entire ground heaving violently upward before being torn asunder.
The ground was packed with ten thousand soldiers. They were fully armed, not only wearing armor but also carrying shields. But it was all for naught. Before the astonishing amount of explosives, their bodies were far too fragile and were instantly pulverized. Countless corpses and severed limbs were blasted high into the sky.
*BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.*
A chain of explosions continued without pause, and the entire ground and the three-thousand-meter wall trembled violently. A powerful shockwave swept through both sides of the valley. Like grass bending in the wind, the tens of thousands of Count Austin’s soldiers hundreds of meters away were all knocked to the ground. Those closest to the blast were sent flying as if swept away by a gale. Then, it was as if the world had lost its sound. Everyone’s ears rang deafeningly, their heads feeling as if they would explode. Count Austin was not far from the blast zone, and when the explosion occurred, he felt his own body being thrown several meters through the air.
*Thud!*
His massive body was violently thrown near a cliff and tumbled down. But he was incredibly strong; he leaped up forcefully and stood tall once more.
“*Pfft!*”
He spat out a mouthful of blood, then desperately shook his head, trying to get a clear grasp of the situation. The shockwave from the explosion was so powerful that anyone else would have been killed instantly, but Count Austin only suffered a mild concussion. It was a good thing he had covered his ears in time; otherwise, his eardrums would have ruptured. He desperately struck his head, trying to clear his mind immediately.
“Messenger! Where are you, messenger! Attendant! Attendant!”
Count Austin shouted, but it was as if the world had already gone silent. For a moment, he couldn't even hear his own voice. After his vision cleared a little, he saw that not only his messenger but also his attendant had vanished in the blast, and the dozens of warriors who had been by his side moments before were all dead. They had died gruesome deaths, bleeding from all seven orifices, their breastbones shattered. Not everyone was as strong as him, able to survive an explosion at such close range.
The entire valley was shrouded in dust and dirt, obscuring everything from view. Shen Lang’s explosives, despite their incredible power, produced little smoke and few flames; there was only a massive cloud of dust kicked up by the blast itself. Soon, countless shattered stone fragments, blood, and severed limbs began to rain down from the sky. After several long minutes, the chaos finally began to subside.