Suddenly, the Orks and Goblins started to chant a war cry.

“Odrin to, Odrin ta, Odrin ka munas!” The Orks and Goblins shouted all together, combining the deep growling voice of the Orks and the high-pitched raspy voice of the goblins, creating a terrifying sound. They repeated it over and over again, not stopping once.

“RAAAHH” One of the large creatures screamed out. It was deep and gruff. The creature had pale skin, and fur clothing that only covered the lower part of the chest. The creature’s body was toned with muscles. It was tall and reached a height of 9 meters. Its head was covered by a large steel helmet.

It was an ogre, and it was just one of the hundreds in the horde.

Just above the goblin shamans, a dark shroud of smoke appeared, increasing in amount and becoming larger and larger until it stopped increasing, instead, it then slowly turned bright green.

Then, a huge ball of green flame burst out of the shroud of darkness. It was aimed at a part of the wall. The bright green color illuminated the fortress walls as it neared. Many mages went and set up a barrier trying to defend against it. Once the barrier collided with the ball of flame, a huge explosion occurred, shattering the barrier and green flames flying in all directions even landing on a part of the wall and the outskirts of the walls. The shockwave was strong enough to knock the ones who were near it to the ground. Some soldiers were unfortunate enough to fall off the walls while some Orks and Goblins were unfortunate enough to be engulfed in flames.

Barry was lucky to only be pushed to the ground by the shockwave.

He went and got back up to see another huge ball of green flame being hurled at the wall.

The thing about mages was that like others, using too much energy made them exhausted. The soldiers that were near the incoming ball of flame ran away, trying to avoid it.

'BOOM'

This time, it hit the wall, what occurred next was a huge explosion that destroyed a part of the wall. Debris flew all over, green flames engulfed the breached wall before dying down, and soldiers that were there were either killed by the explosion, burnt by the flames, or fell from great heights due to the shockwave.

The goblin shamans stopped chanting as soon as the green ball of flame hit the walls and made a breach. The dark mist started to dissipate as they stopped.

Barry was thrown to the ground again. Again, he stood up, then, he turned to the enemy army.

They were beginning to march. He then looked to his sides, seeing others now firing at the enemy. The cannons roared again. Barry first looked at the soldiers that were on the ground who were panicking and hurrying to make a defensive barrier on the now open part of the wall. From spearmen to swordsmen, they all hurried to patch up the wall and expect heavy fighting there. Even musketeers were readying up near the breach.

He then turned around and aimed at the clumped enemy ranks. He aimed higher and pressed the trigger. He couldn’t see if the shot was effective since there were too many of them clumped together but he continued, reloading again and preparing to fire again.

As he was aiming at the horde, a roar echoed.

Many of the soldiers on the walls along with Barry stopped what they were doing and looked up to the sky. There were shadows on top of the clouds and they were moving fast.

The shadows descended from the clouds, revealing their appearance.

Brown scaly skin, two huge muscly legs, a large pair of wings, a long meaty neck, and a terrifying face. It was a petrifying sight.

They were wyverns. Huge creatures could disrupt army formations and cause huge amounts of casualties. Creatures that could breathe out fire and kill hundreds with one movement. Creatures that have scales as tough as steel. They were a menace to the Imperial Kingdom.

“WYVERN!” A soldier shouted, alerting the others of the impending danger. The wyverns descended and were headed towards the walls.

The ballistae on the second layer aimed at the huge beasts.

‘WHOOSH’

The ballistae were now firing at the wyverns, firing out huge steel spears at them. The ballista was another siege equipment that was useful at taking down large enemies, especially huge and flying ones. It was the anti-air, meant to kill or injure huge flying creatures.

The ballistae then opened fire at the wyverns. Some of the wyverns that were closer to the ballistae were either able to dodge the incoming bolts or get hit by them, resulting in their deaths. The wyverns that survived then landed on the walls and proceeded to breathe out fire upon the soldiers.

“AHHH!”

Many fled the place but some were unlucky enough to be burnt by the flames of the wyvern.

One wyvern was nearing landing near Barry. But as it neared, it was shot by a spear from a ballista. The spear hit the chest of the wyvern but it did not stop as it then exited through the chest of it. Blood dripped down like a waterfall as the wyvern proceeded to fall on the walls. Barry, seeing this, went and ran away. The others ran away as well.

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The wyvern fell hard on the stone floor, blood splattered all over the place, even landing on Barry’s face.

Barry was shocked that he couldn’t move nor look away at the corpse. A minute later, someone called him.

“Barry! We need to go!” A soldier with a musketeer went in front of him, putting his hands on his shoulders. The person had curly blonde hair. He had the same body size and height as Barry.

It was someone who was in Barry’s company. His name was William and he was 21 years old, four years older than Barry.

“Barry? Barry, do you hear me?!” William began shaking him back and forth violently. That got Barry out of his stupor.

“W-what is it Will?” Barry asked him shakily.

“Cap’n ordered us to fall back and withdraw. He told me to tell others to rendezvous at the headquarters on the first layer.” William answered his question to which he nodded. “Great, now grab your musket, we need to go, now!”

William then bolted away, heading somewhere, leaving Barry to his own devices.

Barry looked at his hands and saw that his musket wasn’t in his hands. He looked everywhere and saw his gun lying on the ground near the body of the dead wyvern. He quickly picked it up and went down the stairs, heading to the headquarters.

On the way, he saw more and more musketeers rushing to the headquarters. Some injured soldiers were being taken to the hospital and others making make-shift defenses surrounding the breach.

Once he entered the building, he was met with a familiar mop of messy black hair.

“K-Kyle!” Barry shouted, going in for a hug. Kyle did the same thing. They stood there, hugging each other. “Thank Lomnas you’re okay.”

“Likewise.” Kyle said, chuckling as the two embraced. The two embraced for a while before the captain shouted at the company, making the two break their hug.

“Boys, this is the moment you’ve been training for! As you know, there is a breach in the walls. To them, it’s an opening. To us, it’s a chokepoint that we need to hold. Musketeers, we are tasked with holding them down. You, along with other musketeer companies would be the first ones they will meet.” The captain announced to everyone present there. “Follow formation 2! Three lines this time! Now, ready up! Prepare your ammunitions!”

With that, many of the soldiers went to the ammunition storage where packets of gunpowder and bullets were at. Barry was one of the soldiers that needed it since he lost his to the wyvern.

Barry took one pouch filled with gunpowder and another with musket balls, he put on the belt and put the pouches there. Now ready, he, along with others went outside to go in formation.

He was part of the first line while Kyle and Williams were in the third line.

One by one, the company was going into formation, guns shouldered. Once the last one arrived, the captain finally shouted the orders.

“Company!” He shouted, raising his sword. “Follow me!”

With that order in place, they followed the captain in synch, their marching echoed. Three other musketeer companies were headed to the breach.

“Stop! Hold Position!” The captain said as he finally stopped. He was a few meters away from the opening. The whole company then positioned themselves just near him, facing the opening. One other company was with them, far more to the right whilst the other two were by the side, facing the opening.

“Men, I will tell you who will fire and when you will fire. Follow my command, do not fire at will!” With his orders, the whole company chanted.

“Yes sir.”

“In fire!?” The captain shouted.

“We shall strive!” The company continued.

“In battle!?” Other captains started shouting simultaneously.

“We will overcome!” Other companies started shouting as well.

“When shall we meet death!?”

“When our duty is done!!”

“We will fight!”

“For the King!!”

“We shall die!”

“FOR THE EMPIRE!!” The soldiers shouted.

At the breach, there was a pile of rubble that was filling it, making it feel like a small hill that needed to be climbed. As the defenders prepared, the Orks and Goblins proceeded to climb the pile of rubble, making their way inside the fortress.

As the attackers’ heads became clear, the captains readied up. The captain of Barry’s company went to the right side of the company, his shoulder touching his subordinate’s shoulder.

“Ready!” The captains all shouted. The companies then unshouldered their guns, now holding them with two hands, one on the handle and the other under the barrel of the musket.

“Aim!” They shouted again. This time, the companies put their muskets near their eyes, using the iron sight to aim at the incoming attackers.

Suddenly, arrows flew from outside the wall and into the breach, hitting and killing some soldiers.

“Men! Do not falter!” The captain shouted. Despite the hail of arrows falling onto them, the men resisted the urge to run. Facing death, they did not falter. Facing imminent slaughter, they stood still.

When some of the attackers finally reached the summit of the pile, they began to descend, heading inside the fortress. But the guns still did not fire, instead, they waited for the right time.

Once a ton of attackers almost reached the bottom of the pile of rubble, the fight started.

“First Row! Fire!” The captains shouted in unison. The men pressed the triggers. A hail of bullets then whizzed through the air, hitting tons and tons of Orks and Goblins, killing many of them in one volley. But despite the casualties, the attackers continued. “First Row! Crouch and reload!”

With the orders, the first rows went into a crouching position and proceeded to reload their guns.

“Second Row! Fire!” The command was loudly heard. Yet again, a hail of bullets hit their targets, making their bodies fall to the ground. And again, the horde continued to enter. “Second Row! Crouch and reload!”

The second row did the same as their predecessors.

“Third row! Fire!” The final volley of bullets was fired unto the horde killing many. “Third Row! Crouch and reload!”

With that, the musketeers’ guns were silent, but the captains did not order the retreat.

At the breach, tons of blood stained the floor and the rubbles, the blood of both men and other creatures stained it. Some of the attackers were only injured, many screamed in pain because of their wounds. Then, the captains shouted a new order.

“First Row!” With their order, the first row stood up, guns ready and aimed at the invaders. “Fire!”

Again, the volley of bullets flew toward their enemy. The captains repeated their other order which was to kneel and reload. Then, the captains ordered the next line to stand up and fire, then after that, it was the third row’s turn. Again and again, the musketeers did the orders, causing many casualties for the enemy. It was a death trap for the enemy. Thousands were dead and the corpses were piling up. Some of the invaders could barely get through an inch down because of the bodies.

After a while, the horde stopped attacking the breach. The corpses were now piled up near it, acting as a secondary obstacle for the attackers. This made the musketeers who were nearly out of ammo and gunpowder sigh in relief. Though, even they had casualties and injuries due to the enemy archers. A few of them were lying on the ground face first, dead. Some were injured by arrows that hit their torso or other limbs.

Barry sighed a breath of relief as he lowered his gun. His arms were tired, fingers were shaking. But even with all of those, he was glad.

The storm was over.

For now.