Chapter 1002: Zhuge Repeating Ballista
Translator: alyschu
I gazed to the west as the sound of drum beats trembled across the ground. Less than ten kilometers away, Candle Dragon and a dozen or so China guilds were engaging Red Maple’s troops in an all-out war. The effects of that battle could be heard and felt even from here. The battle could very well decide the outcome of this war, so it was a shame that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was stuck here having to defend the fortress. It would’ve been the perfect "training" for our Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers as well.
I wasn’t complaining of course. Now that God’s Domain was no longer attacking our west wall, we could focus all our energy on the east. This made things a lot easier.
Pa pa...
While running across the edges of the wall, I stared at a black projectile flying my way and made a snap decision. I was going to block it with my body. The damn thing was just too deadly against fortifications, and if I succeeded, that would be one way to reduce the damage the fortress would take.
Buzz!
I activated Great Earth Transformation and surrounded myself with three cyan draconic blades. Then, I activated Ghost Deity Shield and pointed the Dragon God Shield toward the flying rock. Finally, I planted my sword between the bricks, hung myself beyond the wall—effectively suspending myself in midair—and used Guard.
BANG!
I felt like someone had shot me in the heart the second the rock hit my Dragon God Shield. It felt like my left arm should be detached from my body and lying somewhere on the ground. Despite having reduced the knockback effect of the impact by 90% or more, I still rolled across the rampart like a tumbleweed.
Pa pa pa...
The rock was still pushing against my shield, by the way. I rolled for a very long time—knocking over a couple Dragonlight Archers in the process—before I finally came to a full stop. In the end, a terrifying damage number rose above my head, and it stated—219288!
"Holy fuck!"
Xu Yang stared at me with eyes as wide as saucers. "Have you gone insane, Lu Chen!? What kind of madman could be crazy enough to block a catapult payload with their own body??? You’re lucky it didn’t crit, you crazy fuck!"
I shot him a grin while wiping the blood stains around my lips and drinking Saint Spirit Potion. "It’s fine, siege weapons can’t crit."
Eyes Like Water was just as stunned. "Priests, heal Lu Chen now! You beautiful sonuvabitch, I can’t believe you actually blocked that with your flesh and blood. You’re probably the only one in the entire world who can pull off this madness..."
Purple Wind Chime nodded. "Yes, not only does he have Great Earth Transformation, his equipment is... overpowered, to say the least..."
I smiled wider. Besides the Dragon God Shield, I also had the Cambrian Divine Armament, Nine Souls Li Fire Bracelet. Naturally, my Defense was off the charts and definitely enough to survive a hit from a Black Marsh Catapult.
......
"Look, their siege towers are coming toward us! There’s so many..." Chaos Moon pointed with her sword.
Just as she said, the enemy was pushing black siege towers toward us. They were at least three to five times bigger than Black Marsh Catapults, and as tall as the walls themselves. If we allowed these humongous structures to approach the fortress near enough to plant their steel planks against the walls, the riders and foot soldiers would be able to engage us en masse. It would be a far more equal fight than if they used cloud ladders.
"What should we do?" Eyes Like Water asked worriedly. "If only Momo was here. Ice Blast is perfect against siege towers!"
I ordered grimly, "All Black Tortoise Catapults, continue targeting the Black Marsh Catapults! The rest of you, move all the White Marsh Catapults to the walls and fire at the siege towers! We will crush their assault via brute force!"
The Dragonlight Cavalry and many other players nodded and rushed down to the ground to push the White Marsh Catapults up the walls. At this point, the battle had turned into a battle of siege weapons—or to expound on the idea a bit more, it was a battle of wealth.. Lucky for White Rose Fortress, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was probably one of the very few guilds who could afford a war like this. Dark Moon City, our money tree in virtual reality, and Raincube Corporation, an important partner of Eternal Moon Corporation, was our money tree in real life. Therefore, money wasn’t a problem!
A dozen or so White Marsh Catapults payloads were launched at the enemy. The siege weapon’s hit rate was less than 30%, but it was still enough to make a difference because the payload caused a 40x40 yard wide explosion that one-shot everything upon impact. Moreover, the best experts of Japan were currently fighting at Floating Ice City, not here.
Boom boom boom!
As expected, the White Marsh Catapults were able to crush the siege towers in one hit. In fact, judging from the way the fortified towers’ bodies shattered, and wood splintered into countless pieces, it could probably one-shot two siege towers at once if they close enough to each other. All the magic knights packed inside the siege towers were killed by the resulting explosion before they even fell to the ground. Practically all of them suffered over 200k damage, an amount no ordinary player could withstand.
Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh...
However, the enemy’s Black Marsh Catapults and basic Catapults landed hit after hit despite our best efforts. Soon, the entire eastern wall of White Rose Fortress was shaking unsteadily. There was no way we were going to hold out for much longer.
Bang!
My heart squeezed when one of our White Marsh Catapults was blown into smithereens by a Black Marsh Catapult projectile. Sure, it felt satisfying to blow the other guy’s gold into dust, but the opposite hurt just as much!
Giant rocks continued to slam into the walls. The pressure on our shoulders kept mounting without end.
Panic growing, Chaos Moon abruptly pointed at the players inside the fortress and shouted, "What are you all waiting for? I want two thousand ballistae on the wall now! If we don’t have enough Dragonlight Cavalry, then we’ll make it up with ballistae!"
The players nodded and began assembling the ballistae. The missile weapons were pulled up to the arrow loops so they could fire at the enemy safely. It was also a super weapon of sorts that only a master-Level engineer player could assemble. Once the bolts were loaded, it could fire a dozen or so bolts in a row. Its strength lay in its concentrated fire, killing the enemy before they could heal the damage.
"Loose!"
Chaos Moon gave the order, and tens of thousands of arm-sized bolts rained on top of the enemy from an elevated position. It didn’t take much imagination to know how deadly it was!
For a second, the Purple Grape City players on the ground stared at the swarm of black things flying toward them in a daze. Finally, a magic knight recognized it for what it was and shouted, "Ballistae! All units, Guard!"
Bang bang bang...
The thick steel bolts hit the magic knight’s shields, mounts, and bodies indiscriminately. The amount of damage they dealt could only be described as insane. No wonder it was considered to be one of the best city defense weapons in the game!
Ballista was a weapon that was unique to Sky City, Wind City and Vanished God City only. According to the lore, it was an improved version of the ancient Zhuge Repeating Ballista with greater capacity, greater power and of course, greater weight. It was unwieldy for long marches and offensives, but perfect for stationary defense.
The two thousand ballistae worked like magic. Their explosive power tore the enemy like paper and killed everyone within a hundred yards of the walls in just a moment. When the screams ended, all that was left were thick stacks of corpses, potions and equipment. If the river of blood wasn’t running before, it was now.
......
Chiang!
Suddenly, I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword and declared with a smile, "It’s time!"
"Time for what?" Both Chaos Moon and Xu Yang looked at me in confusion.
I explained, "Purple Grape City dispatched nearly 200 Black Marsh Catapults and countless basic siege weapons to attack us, but they still weren’t able to bring down our walls. I believe that enough time has passed for their morale to be low, so now is the time to wipe them out! We will ride out with every mounted player we can muster and kill every last Purple Grape City player within five kilometers of White Rose Fortress! I promise you that they’ll be too scared to act for 10 hours at least once we’ve shattered their courage!"
Eyes Like Water smiled. "I see!"
I nodded once and ordered, "Send out the word to open the three gates of the eastern wall in ten minutes! Then, we will set out and annihilate the enemy!"
"Yessir!"
......
I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse to a gate and summoned the Phantom Wolf King again. Outnumbered and outgunned, the poor thing had died twice and lost two levels despite its best efforts. I still needed its service though.
Right now, the interior of the fortress was full of riders. Even the blacksmith, the food shop, and even the stables were full of riders waiting for the order to set out. Right now, Xu Yang and Chaos Moon’s army combined formed a cavalry troop of almost a hundred thousand, not to mention that Blazing Hot Lips and The Monarch Descends together had around fifty thousand cavalry. In total, we numbered just a bit over 150k cavalry troops. With the support of the archers and mages above our heads, we should be able to deal a fatal blow to the enemy.
I raised my sword and shouted at the walls, "Open the gates, Xu Yang!"
"Mn!"
Xu Yang talked to the NPC, and all three gates began to open slowly. We could see a sea of corpses and a couple of new siege towers approaching us from behind the cover of their cavalry troops.
"Kill them all! Leave no one within five kilometers of the fortress alive!"
I spurred the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and became the first player to rush out of the gates. Behind me, Chaos Moon, Gui Guzi, Heaven’s Rain, Diamond Dust, Eyes Like Water, Purple Wind Chime and more did the same. For a second, I wondered if the quake we caused might be the final straw to break the camel’s back, or in this case, break the demolished walls down crashing on top of us. Thankfully, it didn’t happen.
Swhoosh!
I was the first to come close to a siege tower using Thunderous Charge. Surprised by my appearance, the Purple Grape City magic knights shouted, "Stop him! Kill him now! Don’t let him approach the siege tower!"
Too bad they were only Level 175 to 180. There was no way in hell they could threaten me when they weren’t even high-level enough to have Trapping Nets!
Boom boom boom!
After Burning Blade Slash tore their bodies into pieces, I ran along an S-shaped path and approached the siege tower from another direction. Then, I hit it with Ancient Seal!
Xu Yang had jumped off the wall—losing half his health before chugging down a health potion—and rode toward us at top speed. A Charge later, the image of a mountain appeared above his sword as he shouted, "Mountain Stagger Slash!"
Boom!
It was a ruthless strike that crushed two of the axles beneath the siege tower. The structure immediately crumbled under its own weight!
"Ahhhhh..."
Countless mounted players fell from the sky. I reckoned that there were at least 500 elites inside the siege tower.
Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, Heaven’s Rain and Eyes Like Water fired their AoE skills without needing any prompt from anyone. I myself fired Thousand Ice Slash, and the Phantom Wolf King’s Purgatory Storm at the enemy.
All five hundred or so players were wiped out just like that! They never even got the chance to resist!
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