(During the initial impact of this battle, I will guide our Artillery on where to fire and then relieve the duty to the generals as I am the highest-ranking individual on site.)
Although I had claimed to be the lead shot caller for the skirmish, that wasn’t entirely true; sure, given my rank as a Major and unique status as a member of the Hero-Squads, I had a certain amount of pull, but I had no intention of controlling our forces when I could be boots on the ground in the middle of the fight.
After all, what were these undead to me except XP Packets waiting to be squashed?
(On my Order, all Artillery Regiments will launch a full-scale assault, targeting the vicinity of the gates but taking care not to hit the Wall behind them, general location, 200 feet from the point of entrance.!)
(3rd Field Artillery Regiment, fire one shot half a mile from the gate to draw their attention.) stomping the ground with all my might, I activated my Geomancy and shot toward the sky over a hundred feet aboard a stone pillar to get a better vantage point of the battlefield.
Behind me were five fixed-position Artillery regiments, numbers one through 5, each stationed in line with a gate, apart from the 3rd, that was dead center between gates 2 and 3, with a sixth regiment two miles away; this was the main line.
Although general weapons such as guns would do alright against the Undead, we needed something more to cause mass destruction to the Undead Ranks. Thus, the Generals in charge of the Marine Corps and Army had stationed all the large-scale cannons we could get our hands on.
Speaking my orders into the Comms was like dropping a stone into a pond, with the Order being passed down through the ranks until it reached each regiment.
By positioning myself at a higher vantage point, I knew the spotters in each regiment would be able to see me and were now waiting for my signal.
Raising my left arm up to the sky above my head, I could faintly pick up the sounds of machinery whirling in the distance as the biggest cannon in the 3rd FAE used me as a sighting mark so they would be able to hit the location I determined.
Holding up my middle index finger and thump, I watched the Undead scrambling out of the Gates and into the open but didn’t immediately give the Order to the 3rd FAE; no, I waited instead.
If I wanted to use the Artillery to its utmost capability, I’d need more of the horde to cluster together, and for that, they’d first need to be clear of the gates.
Right now, the Undead had no target because of their poor eyesight in broad daylight, so they could be seen pushing forward and stumbling around aimlessly while the ones in the back moved and continued the flow of walking corpses.
’Are you watching Draven? This is where it all begins,’
For a solid minute, I stood motionlessly atop my perch, watching, waiting until finally, I closed my thumb into my hand and began the countdown,
Next was my middle finger, leaving only my index pointing toward the sky… then, when thousands of Undead had emerged into the open world, I closed my hand into a fist and dropped my arm forward…which was followed by.
BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM
Four Simultaneous shots from the massive Howitzer Guns shelled the location I had picked, and just like I planned, the loud sound, along with the explosions of the shells, was enough to cause every Undead in sight to snap its head in the direction of the explosions and charge.
Deet Deet, Deet Deet, Deet Deet
(Hero Squads, Sit Rep)
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(Fire/Ice Squad: All Undead are heading east.
(Hydro/Air Squad: Enemy Forces moving east here as well.)
(Vector/Quake Squad: They’re heading your direction Nexus.)
(Zap/Phys Squad: The explosions were loud enough here, too, all heading west.)
Now I know what you’re thinking, "Taylor…tell us you didn’t,"…and WELL…I may or may not have just clustered everyone with similar Talents into squads…with mine being the only unorganized one, SO SUE ME!
((Nexus, I’ve got eyes on Partaevian.)) while all the different squads were chirping, in my left ear, the special line meant only for my group went live, as Brenden, whose job in the early part of the battle was to keep tabs on the Cult, spoke up.
((Keep tabs on them for now, are they showing up in force or scattered,)) Looking to my left, where I had stationed Brenden, I scanned the horizon near the mountain and found several specs standing at the top of the Wall I’d erected on the mountain to keep the Undead from going in the wrong direction.
((LadyFell, move into position and await further orders)) As the only person in our group with full stealth capabilities, it was a given that I’d use Xilia like an assassin. As such, upon hearing my command, I knew she would already be on the move under the cover of her shadow skill.
The last thing I needed was for my Wall to come down and allow the Undead to change their momentum, but with Xilia on the move, I knew she would be able to stop anything like that from happening…then again, even if she couldn’t, I wasn’t too worried.
Draven’s eyes would be on the battle; although he was hidden in the clouds right now, I could feel his gaze on me. The question was, what was he planning?
It was clear to me that this Instance Break had something to do with him, but I wasn’t sure if it was one-sided or if the Players were fighting on the other side to try and get out.
If it was the latter, then it would mean he was thinning the herd and trying to allow only those he deemed "Worthy" or some shit an opportunity to leave the Tower.
The way I see it, there was only a 15-20% chance that those who left the Tower would ever consider returning to its depths, and givin that assumption, making them fight their way out could be seen as a means of culling the weaker people out.
Taking note of how many Undead were surging out of the gate and how far they had made it, I raised my hand and gave the order to all Regiments to fire at will.