Sighing in relief when it was apparent the one hit was actually a goliath missing the outer wall, Jeremy noticed all the real hits were on the lowest portion of the wall indicating this was the extreme range for their shots.
Figuring it out the monsters started to move closer in an orderly fashion, one moving up to a new range and flinging rocks, joined by small groups and another brave goliath moving forward, hitting the higher portion of the outer wall at about two hundred and fifty meters and the inner wall started to take a lot more direct hits and soon its upper battlements were turned to rubble, creating even more work for the repair crew if they ever came about to do it.
A low rumble started reverbatind through the walls as something was building up, suddenly the earth shook around the closest groups of goliaths, falling and scrambling away, one of them marked a line on the ground and Jeremy knew this showed the defenders' extreme range, if they had any siege engines or cannons they could probably fight rocks with fire but the nearest cannons were... In Allens inventory.
"Allen" screaming at the top of his lungs as soon as he saw him the dragon turned its head, "use the cannons", the dragon nodded and pulled out three cannons, placing them on the battlements where its group of elementals stood.
Taking positions near each cannon the hulking rocks looked like chubby children with a toy as they fiddled with them, then Allen looked at something in his display and the cannons boomed, hitting groups of goliaths with hot shrapnel and blowing them apart, shocking the creatures long enough for a second volley before they ran as fast as they could and another blast hit their stragglers, Jeremy could see some of the wounded monsters trying to crawl away but a short sweep of cannon fire turned them all to paste.
After the retreating creatures weren't shot at any more they found themselves way past their extreme hoopak range and set up a camp on the north pass, the outer wall was finished before another group of the small giants appeared from the east.
A delegation from the camped goliaths went out to meet with them, Jeremy wished he could understand them and listen in on their council with the cheat monitor, deciding to ask Allen about it later he messaged the dragons about the newcomers and another couple of elementals were set to guard the east wall with cannons from Allen's pirate hoard.
The work on the inner wall was even more inventive than the external one, with nooks and crannies letting defenders ambush the attackers and dead end passages creating a converging line of fire for hidden cannons.
Placing more cannons on the other walls lowered the workforce and the elaborate stoneworks took a lot longer to complete, leading to the second attack coming from three sides at once to be a slight challenge and take away more elementals.
The sixth group of goliaths brought giant armored steeds from the east pass, knowing it took much of Allen's concentration to fire the cannons at moving targets this posed a new problem to the defenders until they all charged directly into a gate painted on the wall, endeing with a pile of scrambling giants and nightmares and less than a third surviving the retreat from point blank range of two tower mounted cannons hitting them from both sides and the wall cannons joining as soon as they got out of their blind zone.
The charge also lead to the defenders first losses when hoopak shot rocks blew up a cannon and its elemental operator leading to more losses when the monsters started sacrificing more of their people to fell elementals that were irreplaceable without Kyatha to summon more of them.
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Night fell and with it the defenders lost the dazzle effect on ranged incoming attacks and cannon range halved so the attackers came much closer before Allen could shoot them.
"We only have nineteen more elementals" rocks falling down a well splashed Jeremy's mind, "we need to fall back to the inner wall"
"I know" frustration rumbled from the dragon, "it will be hard to push the giants away from the wall"
"When the woman wakes up we will have more elementals" each word a rock hitting the other in an avalanche, "then we can push them back with our superior firepower"
"Shouldn't she be back by now?", the dragon sounded worried.
"Survival binge is gruesome", Jeremy joined in, "I wouldn't expect her for at least four more hours and won't be surprised if it were six"
Catching movement in the monitor sweep and turning it back, Jeremy switched between his previously saved settings and found the horrors sneaking into the castle were already beyond the blind area for the outer cannons, "something sneaked past our defenses".
"Direwolves", Allen hissed, "then he must be here as well".
"Who?" Jeremy didn't know any personalized monster around here.
"The direwolves were all with the frost giant Player", jerking Jeremy's memory, "we crashed into him and wounded him grievously but the wolves chased us away before we could kill him", entering story telling mode, "they herded us to a trap before we ran back here where we knew it was relatively safe for a short time", looking grim, "seems like our time just ran out".
Scrambling up the outer wall with ease the monsters started prowling the maze created from the inner walls, a small group patrolled the outer wall but only found the canons with the elementals already moved to more defensible positions, they still trashed the tubes so they were useless even if the outer wall was retaken.
Following the monsters' progress in the monitor Allen concentrated and the display was momentarily lit up as hidden cannons blew the group to pieces, hearing the blast and then howls of pain and rage all the way to the inner keep the monitor became a blur of intense movement when the wolves attacked the two elementals before they recharged the cannons, messing with the war tubes was their doom as the oversized golems were shredded to pieces in a fit of rage that was unusual for creatures attacking such magical constructs.
The butcher's bill of two elementals and cannons against seven giant wolves was probably a fair exchange in any other battle, but with the very short supply they had of the things it ended up against the defenders.
Following the wolves silent assault came the goliaths, closing the distance and helping each other hop over the wall, it was then that Allen moved out into the dark labyrinth.
Slithering low through the twisting walls Allen took shortcuts hidden in the paintings to reach the remaining five wolves that crashed his elementals, finding them still in the same dead end position where the carnage took place and sneaking through the distance to attack as soon as his opening strike hit them.
"Eldritch barrage" was his experimental combination of the extremely versatile magic missile and overwhelmingly powerful eldritch blast that could be enhanced by passive advances in his classes, the six bolts of magical devastation shot out and struck the wolves in an instant.
Moving right behind the bolts was a monster of blinding flashes and slashing claws that sliced through hardened mkuntain fur like paper, none of the monsters remained unscathed from that attack but only one was hurt enough to stay down.
Dagger like teeth closed on crystaline scales slipping until they found the inevitable seams and cut into the hard hide of the monster making it roar in pain and snap its jaws on a howling wolf, fair exchage for the giant mammald as it prevented the raptilian from using its powerful magic, climbing on its back caused cut paws but also forced it to shake violently and the smart canines used the time to regroup and attack in a new angle.
Nipping its hind legs pushed the serpent to overextend in its forward momentum though it dropped the dead wolf it still let one of the others to take a free bite at its tail causing it to roar in pain.
The only thing that saved the creature were elementals pouring out of hiding, smashing paws and legs and forcing the remaining trio to retreat to safety while their prey was snatched from under their snouts.