Chapter 117
Left Hand of God 9
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The earth shook as massive forces slowly marched towards the center of Atlantis. From the north, approximately 9000 warriors formed a loose U shaped battleline where it made sure that no one could escape.
From the south, a few groups of warriors calmly moved towards the objective.
Troops of ship #4 led by One-Eye where split into 2 groups.
The first group of 500 individuals remained with the 3 Doom Cannons in order to ensure its safety while it bombarded their target. At the same time, the idle troops would be preparing for the Grand Ritual.
The rest of One-Eye’s troops were heading for the city via the forests in an attempt to thrown in some stealth play.
Since they were lucky enough to land without any opponents, they were able to get a headstart and was able to get to the juicy spot where they could observe the Atlantian defenses from the shadows.
And then, there was Juno’s group.
They openly marched through the streets in a very loose line formation. There was no rush in their stride, but this did not mean that they were not careful.
They wanted to conserve as much of their stamina as possible for the big battle up ahead.
About 5 minutes of light hearted marching with the thematically fitting marching song, the first signs of counter attack began.
Juno, who was riding on Shale’s Chariot of the Damned, spotted a flash of light from one of the tall buildings in the middle of the city.
“ARTILLERY FIRE! SCATTER NOW!” roared Juno through the coms.
A powerful beam of magic streaked through the skies and obliterated at least 50 people and 3 trolls that reacted a second too late.
The coms flooded with reports from all the different groups of casualty reports and status updates.
All of Juno’s armies dove for any cover available as the rapid firing beams of light fired on multiple directions at once, brutally murdered those who were foolish enough to get caught in the open.
“TEKELI! TEKEKELI-LIIIII!” commanded Lord Ferdinand via the coms.
“Coordinates received. Doom Cannon firing.” said one of the daemonsmiths manning the cannon
Doom Cannons had extremely long range and disgustingly powerful. However, they were painfully inaccurate and had relatively low reload speed.
Out of the 3 shots, 2 completely missed the mark and 1 lightly grazed the magic beam cannon tower.
However, this was not a complete failure due to the sheer power of the Doom Cannons.
The first shell that missed landed on top of a group of troops that were guarding the northern part of the wall.
Nearly 200 soldiers perished instantly while at least 500 more were either injured so severely that there was no hope for them to live beyond this day, or were crippled for the rest of their lives.
The second shell went into a building that seemed to be used as a stockpile of weapons. The massive explosion kicked of a chain of explosions that turned a city block into a sea of fire.
Approximately 1000 people died in a span of a few seconds with most of them being non-military personnel that volunteered to fight the invaders.
Poor souls
The last shell indeed hit the magic beam cannon tower, but not the cannon itself. A massive explosion erupted about 5 floors below the beam cannon. While it did not directly hit the cannon, the fire that was started slowly began to ruin the structural integrity of the tower.
About 5 minutes later, the tower eventually collapsed from the fire and the additional hits from the Doom Cannons.
Doom Cannons don't fire your typical artillery shells. They fire a large ball of steel the size of a car with an unstable fire demon sealed within it. This gave the Doom Cannons the extra UMPH to their shots.
While could only be produced in very small numbers, very limited ammo, can only fire once every minute and was generally inaccurate, the Doom Cannon was one of the most feared creations of the Duergar Daemonsmiths.
The bombardment continued for 10 minutes until the Doom Cannons were forced to stop.
Due to the sheer heat generated every time these monstrosities fire, the cannon’s structural integrity was at risk of simply blowing up if recklessly fired for extended periods of time.
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As such, it was a common practice to fire only 10 shots before stopping for 30 minutes to cool down the barrel and to perform maintenance.
It might seemed very limiting, but the sheer explosive power was enough to soften the targets for a frontal assault.
“FIRST BLOOD IS MINE! Charge you mangy dogs! CHARGE” Roared One-Eye through the coms
The 2500 soldiers of One-Eye was positioned near the factory that got hit in the first volley of the Doom Cannons.
With the enemies in disarray, One-Eye’s unit easily punched through what little defenders that were alive in that area and violently massacring those who stood against them.
At the tip of the spear was One-Eye on his mount, the heavily armored 3 meter tall troll.
Though it was much slower the Shale’s flaming bull chariot, the armored troll was a powerful melee unit and an extremely durable shield.
With One-Eye and his armored troll at the front, followed by 20 flaming bull riders, an avalanche of melee warriors and a hail of bullets, the army #4 was able to butcher what little defenders were in that area.
By the time the defenders of Atlantis realized what was happening, One-Eye’s forces were able to set up a solid foothold within their perimeter.
The defenders sent troops to take back One-Eye’s position, but 8500 troops that Sheriff led slammed into the defender’s tattered frontline.
Originally, there were about 9000 in Sheriff’s army, but the Atlantian defensive tower turned 500 unfortunate soldiers into fish paste.
The only reason why they didn't have a larger number of casualties was because their formation was spread out very loosely.
This was exactly the same reason why the Atlantian defenders were so weakened right now. They were too bunched up in a small area (the center of the city) and was easy pickings for the Doom Cannons.
As such, the defenders of Atlantis were hard pressed the moment Sheriff’s forces clashed with their own.
Trolls at the front as battering rams, followed by the standard melee infantry comprised of duergars and humans, and a backline support from long range.
From the flanks were the flaming bull riders which punched through the weakest parts of the front line and went straight for the magic tanks that were still functioning
Using long, red hot lances etched with duergar runes, the riders split up into groups of 5 and skewered the magic tanks with ease.
Unfortunately, the anti-armor runes made the lances unusable after only 1 hit, and the riders could only carry one of those due to their weight.
As such, after destroying their marks, the flaming bull riders charge into the flanks of the frontline to free up as many trolls as possible.
Only the trolls were strong enough to bash the magic tanks with brute force.
As for Sheriff, he was near the frontlines along with a mechanical silver steed and a Henry 1860 15 shooter rifle.
Naturally, the western rifle was just as not as it seemed.
The Henry 1860 rifle was heavily modified to fire ‘Drill Rounds.
Drill Rounds were bullets shaped like drills (duh) that went through multiple bodies until their inertia runs out.
Thanks to his cybernetic enhancement, Sheriff killed at least 3 people per shot.
Outnumbered as they were, Sheriff’s legion was much healthier and much more inclined to senseless violence than the peace loving defenders of Atlantis.
“Hi Yo Silver! AWAY!” roared Sheriff.
Though it absolutely had nothing to do with the battle, Sheriff’s words were met with the enthusiastic roar of his troops as their ferocity grew with every foe slain.
As Sheriff’s forces hammered the northern defenders, Juno’s unit of 2800 strong slammed into the defenders of the southern area.
With Bob the troll at the front leading his kin, the southern defenders instantly buckled from the sheer weight of the initial charge.
Those who weren't turned into fish paste were crushed under Shale’s chariot and the flaming bull riders.
And those who were still somehow alive after all that was butchered by the infantry that immediately followed after.
“HOLD NOTHING BACK! SLAUGHTER THEM ALL!” Roared Juno, which spikes the ferocity of her forces to new heights.
Juno, jumped from Shale’s chariot to Bob’s back and made a quick survey of the battlefield.
They were outnumber about 5 to 1 as expected, but the enemy had taken too much punishment from the Doom Cannons.
Their numerical superiority was pretty much non existent in the current situation.
“Alright…. Time to have some fun!”
Juno buffed herself up with the usual magic and chi based enhancement before leaping off Bob’s back and swung her 2 handed mace down in full force, taking out 5 spear wielding fish-soldiers and shattering the ground beneath her.
She rushed forward and swung her mace with reckless glee.
Each swing was backed with so much force that it would kill at least 3 people in one go.
Blood, guts and severed limbs flew in the air as black valkyrie took to her dance floor.
Seeing the ferocity of their princess, the forces of Juno became a whirlwind of violence.
While Juno and her merry band of lunatics were enjoying their bloodletting, a chorus of high decibel roars shook the air.
Charging from behind the defenders of Atlantis were 20 Land Dragon riders, and the very sight of them gave the hardpressed defender a much needed morale boost.
Even the ever confident trolls could not help but shrink back from the sheer intimidation of such powerful beasts.
The defenders retreated as they gave way for the Land Dragons
While Juno’s forces were momentarily frightened, only Juno herself moved forward to meet the newcomers.
She went straight for the largest Land Dragon.
The Land Dragon opened its mouth with every intention of turning Juno into a snack.
As they were about to collide, Juno lowered her stance and swung her mace upward with all of her might.
It connected with the dragon’s lower jaw and caused the beast to stagger a little bit.
Juno took advantage of this and jumped onto the land dragon’s back to take out the rider.
Juno wasted no time and struck the rider with her 2 handed mace.
The rider tried to deflect her attack with his sword, but the sheer weight and power of the mace was simply too much.
While the sword was still fine, the hands holding it was shattered which left the rider unable to defend the second blow that flattened his skull.
Juno grabbed the reins of the land dragon and pointed him towards the defenders.
Land dragons were loyal beasts and wont attack those whom they deemed as allies, but they were also prone to going on rampages when they panic.
And there was a way to abuse this.
Juno took the sword of the dead rider and, while dual wielding with her mace, stabbed both of the land dragon’s eyes.
The Land Dragon was one of the toughest of its species with extremely thick hide all over its body. It has very little weaknesses, and the eyes were one of these.
Juno allowed herself to be thrown off while the now blind land dragon began to run around in a state of panic, taking out some of the defenders in the process.
When it ran into another living thing, the rage consumed land dragon would attack it.
This would set off a domino effect where the land dragons would start fighting among themselves.
Juno’s forces retreated a bit and allowed the the blind land dragon to do damage.
After a few seconds, Juno and her forces smashed through the tattered defender lines with brutal ferocity.
And just like that, the southern defenders were no more.