Section 140: Assault

The battle really broke out after three days of preparation by the besieging side.

As mentioned earlier, Chaos Cultists actually have quite good abilities when it comes to building fortifications and tools of war. This time, they no longer marched with almost useless shields. Using the tools and materials available in the Blood Fortress (as well as materials collected from outside the city), they were able to craft a variety of siege equipment.

The soldiers slowly advanced with small shielding wagons. As before, the catapults at the head of the city threw flying stones from the sky. It's just that although each of these stones has the power to shatter human bodies, they can't deal with shields. The shape of this small shield cart resembles an umbrella, except that the lower end is a thick pillar that rests on a simple cart. When the stone falls, it only shakes the shield in its entirety, but it does nothing to it or the people hiding underneath it.

Unfortunately, a catapult can fit a large basket of smaller stones. Therefore, only more than ten catapults are needed to produce the effect of "flying stones in the sky", which can cause great damage to the enemy's dense team. After all, even if the stone is not big, it is not something that a human shield can resist. But in order to deal with the shield, now it can only be loaded with a large stone. Only about 20 boulders were thrown at a time.

And even these twenty or so boulders may not be able to hit, and even if they hit, they may not be able to destroy the shield.

In this way, the damage they cause becomes an acceptable thing.

The wizard with the magic disk on his feet became the raider. Without a sky full of stones, it becomes very difficult for a catapult to hit a flying wizard. It was only a small gap, and four or five wizards took the opportunity to break into the catapult position. Before the defenders could react, they quickly set fire with magic.

At this moment, the firepower of the catapult was reduced by more than half.

What followed was a classic siege -- just like the textbook depicts. Due to the limitations of the surrounding terrain, the besieging side can only use long ladders, hooks, long ropes and other equipment to attack the city, and let the magicians provide fire support. The battle was tense and fierce, and there was a shout of killing under the city.

Ashrufat stood in the rear, watching the battle ahead. Xingke may be good at martial arts, but he is clearly a novice to commanding. Lacking experience and scheduling skills, he was caught off guard by Ashrufat at the beginning, destroying more than half of the catapults. The remaining half is also greatly reduced due to the shield car. The ballistas that had been placed at the head of the city were now few in good condition—these were the first targets of the wizard apprentices.

However, the oil spouts on the walls were quite troublesome - the defenders poured hot oil from time to time to cook the attackers below. Although Ashrufat did not push the ram, the fortifications still had a great lethal effect. Because hot oil defies all armor.

But overall, the main part of the battle was a bloody fight at the top of the ladder. One by one, the attackers climbed up to the top of the city, and one by one they were cut down. Everyone knows that this kind of melee combat is very bad for the besieging side, as it means that one of them will be besieged by many enemies when they reach the top of the city. In fact, only a very small number of warriors were able to hold out at the head of the city for a relatively long period of time - and the end result was no different.

The casualties of the defenders are unknown, but the casualties of the besieging side are real. The catapults over there have never passed, and although the lethality is not strong, it has steadily increased casualties. The battle at the head of the city was even more tragic, and it was not long before Ashrufat saw that the corpses had been piled up into a hill under a long ladder. And the ladder itself was cut off by a giant axe in the fierce battle. The only consolation was that the defender who had severed his axe was hit by a fireball, and fell from the city with a scream, joining the two-man "hill".

"Our soldiers are being slaughtered!" said Gander as he approached Ashrufat from the side, his voice filled with anger. "For every one of them we kill, we're going to have to die five!"

"But there are ten times more of us!" replied Ashrufat coldly. Compared to the past, the eyes of the Chaos Lord were even more cold and merciless. He looked around and saw that Flint was coming this way.

"Flint, where's the tunnel you're responsible for?"

"No, no progress. Flint's voice was soft and weak, and it was clear that he wasn't doing well on his side. "I don't know what's going on...... But this underground ...... After a shallow layer, there is a rock. There's no way to dig it!"

"Rock, and this castle is built on rock?" Ashrufat was slightly surprised, and couldn't help but point to the towering towers in the central castle. These towers have been put to good use, and the defenders have thrown stones from them from time to time. Due to the height problem, the stone is small, but the lethality is very strong - if there is no shield to cover, the person will be smashed at that time, and he will not die but be seriously injured. "And what's going on with those towers?"

Towers must have solid foundations - this is a simple truth that anyone knows. The stony ground means you can't dig any deep foundations at all.

"I don't know, sir. Flint looked dejected. "It's just a miracle. ”

"I know, forget it, anyway, I don't plan to rely on tunnels to break the city. Ashrufat replied. He continued to watch the battle on the city walls. Due to the constant slashing of people, a considerable number of corpses have now been piled up around the base of the wall.

"My lord, although we have an advantage in strength," on the other side, Gander was still unwilling. "But such a battle is very demoralizing to our side. No one can afford such casualties. He added. "Although the morale of the soldiers is still very high, I can guarantee that if such a battle lasts for three days, I am afraid that our army will not even have the courage to approach the city walls. ”

"I know. Ashrufat said. "So I'll let the soldiers know that it takes more courage for them to retreat than to move forward. ”

"As long as you want to lead this army in the future, as long as you don't want it to fall apart like this, you can't do such a short-sighted thing. ”

"You still don't understand," Ashrufat sighed. Speaking of which, although Gander has a lot of battlefield experience, there is indeed a reason why he is still a marauder until now. He really didn't fit up for a Chaos cultist - if he went south, at least a border commander would be more than enough.

If you change to a Chaos Lord, you will definitely not put a person like Gander at the top of the Chaos Legion. Even if they did, they would never listen to such a ridiculous suggestion for Chaos.

"This battle didn't last long. Ashrufat said. "Gander, you should understand...... It's not really a fight. ”

"The real battle is ......," Gander looked at the other man with some confusion.

"Have you noticed the defenses on the city walls?". Ashrufat asked. On the surface, the battle is fierce, and it is very much in line with the taste of sadistic believers. Especially due to the battle on the walls, many magic attacks had to be stopped so as not to accidentally damage friendly soldiers. As mentioned earlier, the Blood Fortress has some mysterious force interfering with it, making the magic much less powerful. This interference affects not only the destructive killing spells, but also those blessing spells. As a result, there are almost no effective buffs on the besieging side, and even if they do, the duration is greatly reduced.

From an objective point of view, it is easy to observe the fact that although the besieging side greatly outnumbered the opponent, it was affected by various conditions (the most important of which was the city walls), which made the actual battle outnumbered. Many great warriors have fallen under the siege of the enemy. The superior side of the battle is the defenders rather than the besieging side.

"I noticed it last time. Ashrufat said. "The enemy looks imposing, but in fact...... They did not divide their forces into several units, which were replaced in turn to reduce fatigue. ”

"My lord, I assure you, although there are not many enemies, there is not a whole army of the enemy on the walls. They still have plenty of reserves!"

"I know. Ashrufat said. "I think the enemy's intention is for the army to enjoy killing and fighting. They will not be replaced until they lose their combat effectiveness due to exhaustion. ”

Gander nodded. It seems that this is the case, because the battle has been going on for quite some time, but there is no sign of a large-scale army deployment in the city. In addition, this practice is also in line with the spleen and stomach of sadistic believers.

"If you do that, you create a gap. Ashrufat said. "The accumulation of fatigue is inevitable. There will come a time...... The soldiers' combat effectiveness is reduced by the accumulation of fatigue, but they themselves still fall into a bloodthirsty frenzy and refuse to be replaced......"

It is clearly recorded in the military books that the defense of the city is that the correct strategy for defending the city is to replace the soldiers before they are exhausted in order to maintain combat effectiveness. But obviously, Xingke didn't realize this. There are some things she takes for granted, and perhaps she doesn't realize one thing, that is, no amount of fanatical fighting spirit can replace abundant physical strength.

It is feasible for a person to suddenly have great power, at least the vast majority of Chaos cultists' ascension is completed in a short period of time. But if one man were to suddenly have military talent, and if such a thing had happened, wouldn't Chaos have long since conquered the whole world, at least all of humanity?

"I get it, now everything is a war of attrition, the point is...... Isn't the time coming?".

"It's early. Ashruphat watched the battle at the top of the city. His eyesight was far beyond that of mortals, so he could see that the enemy troops above the city were full of energy and high fighting spirit. This is very common for sadistic believers.

"I don't want to delay too long. Ashrufat said. "There is only one chance, before the enemy realizes this and corrects it...... Launch a decisive offensive!"

He smiled and looked at Gander. "I'll go to the city myself!"