Chapter 314 - 309: Easy Breakthrough

Chapter 314: Chapter 309: Easy Breakthrough

Rudolph crouched low, the Dragon Eagle’s wings cutting through the sea wind.

He looked down. Though the enemy was partially submerged on the seabed, their formation was laid bare before him.

At the vanguard, a colossal sea crab trudged along the seafloor, its brownish-green carapace resembling a mobile fortress.

Its two giant pincers parted the water’s surface, sending waves receding to the sides.

"This is Eagle Eye One."

Rudolph’s voice came through the terminal, reaching Fortress One.

"Enemy vanguard confirmed: a Deepwater Siege Crab, at least Level 4. Three to four hundred Warriors of the Multi-Armed Race are following behind, escorting giant siege turtles."

The giant crab raised its pincers.

The sea swelled upward as a ten-meter-high wall of water began to form, rolling toward the sea fortress.

"The Siege Crab is creating a water wall. Target is Fortress One. The attack has begun."

He finished his report, pulling the reins tight and ascending high into the sky.

"Report from the Dragon Eagle Knight! The enemy’s main force is approaching! The water wall is about to strike!"

The herald’s cry echoed within the fortress.

Baron Kroo’s hand rested on his sword hilt. He stood inside an arrow tower, the Red Leaf Tree planks beneath his feet rising and falling gently with the ocean’s swell. The sensation left him feeling unsettled.

"Draw the strings! Target the big one at the front!" The ballista commander was a scarred old veteran. He spat over the side. "Forget about the rabble swimming in the water!"

Four-man crews worked together to turn the windlasses, drawing the thick bowstrings back inch by inch. Soldiers loaded man-high bolts with sharp, cast-iron heads into the firing troughs.

The bolts tore through the air with a shriek, flying straight for their target. They slammed into the giant crab’s carapace, erupting in a shower of sparks. The clang of iron on shell drowned out the sound of the waves, but most of the bolts either shattered or ricocheted off, leaving only a few askew in the crab’s shell.

The giant crab’s advance didn’t slow.

A young soldier from the Dawn Territory stared at the approaching monster, his breath coming in short, quick gasps.

The hand gripping his spear trembled, but his feet remained rooted to the spot.

The wall of water crashed down.

The entire fortress let out a pained groan.

Timbers twisted and buckled under the immense force, groaning and splintering.

Icy seawater surged over the wall, washing away the few supplies piled at its base.

Baron Kroo staggered as the wave hit, grabbing the arrow tower’s railing to keep from falling.

The seawater washed against the walls, and before it could fully recede, an even more massive shadow fell over them.

It was the Deepwater Siege Crab! Bristling with bolts, it had reached the base of the wall.

The wooden wall boomed as if a mobile fortress had just slammed into it.

Then, a giant pincer rose high, whistling as it descended, and smashed down!

BOOM!

A huge section of the wall was smashed to smithereens. Parasitic growths on the massive pincer flew in all directions along with splintered wood.

The ballista crews tried to reload, but the crab’s other pincer swept across, knocking a ballista and its crew from the ramparts.

Just as the crab’s assault threw the defensive line into chaos, the moving hills on the water’s surface finally arrived.

The first giant siege turtle reached the weak point created by the crab, its carriage-sized head slamming into the wall.

That section of the wooden wall shook violently.

A torrent of seawater poured into the fortress through the breach.

The second and third giant turtles arrived one after the other.

They took turns ramming and tearing at the same spot.

The breach widened and spread, and the arrow tower where Baron Kroo stood began to teeter.

With a final, tremendous CRACK, the arrow tower gave way and tilted sharply.

Just as Baron Kroo and his men began to plummet toward the churning waves, a shrill eagle’s cry split the sky.

A shadow swept past. An armored Dragon Eagle dove down, and the Knight on its back reached out, grabbing the Baron’s arm at the last possible moment and yanking him from the falling wreckage.

The other four Dragon Eagle Knights did likewise, saving four of their comrades-in-arms.

A twenty-meter-wide breach had been torn open.

Timber, spare war machines, and the remains of the arrow tower were swept away by the surging seawater, carried deeper into the fortress.

The breach was torn open.

On the Skeleton Throne, Unas let out a low laugh. The sound vibrated through the air, carrying across the entire battlefield.

"The land-dwellers’ wooden fence is broken!" he roared at his Warriors. "Their fortress will become their tomb!"

He pointed one of his arms at the breach.

"Charge! Drown them in their own pond! Leave no bones behind!"

The Warriors of the Multi-Armed Race responded with a battle cry.

Following the giant siege turtles, they poured through the breach like a tide.

A decurion was the first to charge through the breach.

Over a dozen victory marks were carved into his symbiotic carapace.

He was already considering where to carve the next one, ready to lead his kin in a slaughter.

Then, he stopped.

He looked up.

About two hundred meters ahead, another wall stood.

The wall was identical to the one they had just destroyed, lined with dense ranks of defenders. Rows of black ballistae were already aimed at them.

The ballistae began to swivel, their muzzles slowly lowering.

Aiming right at him.

The decurion stiffly turned his neck, looking from side to side.

The wreckage of the first wall stretched out to either side, parallel to the second.

They were in a "ring."

The Warriors who had poured through the breach also came to a halt, their victory cries dying in their throats.

They were exposed in open water with nowhere to hide.

The defenders did not give their enemy much time to think.

With the harsh grating of machinery, dozens of enormous crossbow bolts came whistling toward them.

The Warriors of the Multi-Armed Race reacted instantly, ducking behind the massive Sea Beasts.

The bolts rained down, most of them striking the Sea Beasts. Their tough shells and thick hides spurted blood, but the wounds were not fatal.

Aside from a few unlucky souls, most of the Warriors hiding behind them were unharmed.

Grash raised an arm, signaling for the forces behind him to halt.

Attacking the second wall would mean completely exposing their backs to the enemy in the surviving arrow towers of the first wall.

Standing atop the Skeleton Throne, Unas’s slit-like pupils contracted.

A double wall.

’It’s a cage.’

He assessed the situation.

The land-dwellers’ plan was ingenious: trap his army in this narrow stretch of water and crush them between the two walls.

Unas sneered. ’But every cage has its weak point.’

The first wall was destroyed. The remaining arrow towers were little more than isolated wooden frames, just as vulnerable now that the main wall was gone.

The predicament of being caught between two fronts could be solved by simply eliminating the threat on one side.

His gaze swept forward, falling upon Grash and the enormous Sea Beasts.

’The bait needs to keep playing its part,’ he thought, ’while the Hunter must go and remove the trap’s fangs.’

With that thought, Unas no longer hesitated, his commands booming in every Warrior’s ears.

"Ullarash! Lead the siege beasts forward and bear the brunt of the second wall’s ballistae! All other units, turn! Target the remaining arrow towers of the first wall! Rip those wooden frames out by the roots and tear them to shreds!"

The order given, the tide of troops quickly split. The battle to break the cage itself had begun.

"Let them watch as we dismantle their defenses, piece by piece!"