Devourer

Chapter 151: Battle on the Walls

Ordias Derenge stood atop his observation platform as he analysed the battle. So far what he was seeing was rather disappointing. In his mind there were two possibilities for the disappointing performance of the defenders. In his mind the defenders were far more capable, he honestly did not expect the defenders to be so weak. This was extremely concerning since if he wanted to put forth the proposition that he was a worthy servant of the Great Beast he needed a worthy foe to defeat.

The past crusades were not this easy, how was it even possible that the largest fortress in Zarima does not have enough power to maintain a Magic Barrier? Ordias has seen the reports from the previous crusades but he could not trust them implicitly. Records are never as accurate as being on the ground. Right now he was concerned if the Zarimans have deteriorated to the point of being easy prey it was either that or his Paralictors that made the reports were far more incompetent than he originally assumed. A weak foe provides no opportunity for one to prove themselves.

The very fact that he managed to snipe out some of their most effective missile troops with a single strike was extremely concerning. It told him that these pathetic souls didn’t have enough resources to put up a proper defence.

Ordias sighed as he watched the hordes of runners start to pile against the walls. While this was happening his siege towers were slowly approaching the walls. He watched as the Zariman ballista’s turned to face his siege towers but he wasn’t worried. If what he had just seen was the true measure of the defenders then they must have barely enough power to shield those defensive ballistas.

He will admit those ballista’s were dangerous. He had the intelligence reports and there were numerous reports that corroborate the information. Those ballista were old, very old. They were made more than ten thousand years ago by the ancient dwarves in an age where the old empires still stood.

Ordias would be extremely worried if these ballista’s were manned by the old empires but when manned by Zarimans the threat was significantly reduced. Afterall a ballista was only as good as the bolts it fired. Yes the ballista enhances the power of the bolts but half of its firepower still comes from the enchantments of the bolts.

Sure enough when the ballitas fired the bolts slammed into the magic barrier of the siege towers doing little to no damage. In the time that it took for the ballistas to reload the top of his siege towers opened up. His Black Iron siege towers were of an ancient design. This design was made to combat far superior fortifications in a time where a siege tower just toothlessly approaching a wall would be tactically unacceptable.

The spell cannons mounted on top of the siege towers glowed and then they fired bolts of concentrated ether right at the ballistas. The blue bolts flew towards the ballistas and they exploded on the magic barriers around the ballistas.

Ordias grimaced as he watched the concussive force of the blast crack the barrier and it also blew some of the defenders off the wall. The opening battles always use these concussive shots to help weaken barriers. It was almost funny how inexperienced these soldiers were at defending themselves from a real threat.

This was what heaven’s precious order has wrought. Right now Zarima reeked of the one thing Ordias hated the most, weakness. A lack of discipline was a weakness of the spirit, a weakness of the spirit was from a weakness of the body. Weak of body, weak of mind, that was what the Zarimans looked to be. Their sheer ineptitude was astounding, not enough power for the barriers, understrength defenders, and undersupplied defence fortifications. All of this was for the so-called linchpin of the Zariman defence. If this had happened among his Blood Knights he would have the offenders flogged within an inch of their lives. This was the outset of the war, how could one even dream of extended conflict if you couldn’t even properly supply your troops for the opening clash?

This reeked of corruption, embezzlement and misuse of vital resources. This of course was of no surprise to Ordias. He has heard many foul things about the late Zariman emperor. For instance, he sleeps every night surrounded by the pink-scaled bodies of his concubines. From what he has read in his reports, the amount of money the Emperor had spent on women alone could build a small fortress.

No matter how prosperous or extravagant a nation was, it was useless unless it could be defended. From what Ordias was seeing it was clear that this nation does not have the ability to defend itself.

At the very least Ordias could take comfort in the fact that the Hive and the Empire could probably put up a much better fight. One of the reasons Ordias was open to serving under the Averlonian Empire was that the Empire put a lot of emphasis on military strength. Ordias personally would not attempt a Black Crusade against the Averlonian Empire. He could probably win against the Empire alone but the cost would make the entire exercise pointless. Throw in the hive and the Black Crusade was doomed from the outset.

Ordias saw this blue barrier flicker to life around the fortress. It seems they finally decided to activate their barrier. Well hopefully they will actually put up a fight. Then he saw the launchers on the walls start to dispense barrels of Alchemical Fire right on top of the piles of zombies that were starting to pile up at the base of the wall.

Soon it looked like the entire base of the wall was on fire and the black noxious smoke was obscuring the wall. Well the siege towers would soon reach the walls and then the dead would swarm in. They think the siege towers were some all in assault weapons but in truth that was far from the truth…

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Skavi gazed nervously at the approaching the siege towers, he could barely see the shapes approaching through the smoke. Skavi was Count Uxtual’s bastard son. He was product a drunken night at a party. His mother who was a servant had seduced the count in the hopes being taken as a mistress.

Although he knew his existence was a stain on Count Uxtual’s honourable reputation, his father still took him under his wing. The Count couldn’t treat him as a true son but he still did more for him than most would expect. Skavi was currently a squire training with the Knight Core. He would take the trials soon, he felt confident he would pass. That was provided he survived this war of course.

He held his sword nervously as he listened to the sounds of battle around him. The archers were firing at any enemy they could get a clear shot on. The mages were firing spells at the siege towers sporadically but their spells were just bouncing off the magic barriers.

In the back of his mind he felt that if they used ritual spells it would be more effective. But his father Count Uxtual mentioned that he didn’t have time to train enough competent war mages. Zarima was so withered they could barely field enough mages and what little they had were rather weak. They couldn’t hold a candle against the Elysian mages and now with the Great Beast he had no doubt the powerful Elysian Mages were probably far more capable now.

Many of the Mages Skavi knew always dreamed of studying in the Istland Academy of Magic but that academy didn’t accept students out of Elysia. Zarima was once filled with powerful fire magic users but now they were but a pale shadow of what they once were.

Skavi trembled as the siege towers approached and then he saw a flash of blue atop the black siege towers. Then blue bolts hit the magic barrier around the fortress, blasting all the smoke into the fort.

The shock of it caused Skavi to gasp and he ended up taking in a mouthful of the acrid smoke. Skavi gagged as he fell into a coughing fit. His eyes were tearing as he struggled to stop the coughing. He opened one teary eye to see the siege towers were getting really close.

“Get ready! Stand your ground!” one of the officers shouted.

Skavi turned to look at the officer and saw his eyes were wide with fear as well. When was the Empire coming? Could they hold out until the humans arrived? The hive was already here. Why aren’t they coming to help them? Were they not allies? They already pledged to be vassals, how could the Empire leave Zarima to face this threat alone?

Skavi flinched as he heard the sounds of blades being drawn and he instinctively did the same. He looked to his left and right to see terrified soldiers gripping their swords and shields. He could see many sword points shaking from the trembling. He looked at his own sword and he saw the same shaking.

The siege towers were getting closer, the black towers loomed over the battlefield. Their tops flashing with spell fire and the bolts slammed against the barrier, the force of each blast was enough to knock Skavi slightly off balance.

What was the plan here? Was it just to watch them kill themselves?

An eternity later or perhaps it was just a few moments later, Skavi wasn’t sure. But all he saw was the siege towers finally reaching the walls. The front of the siege tower opened up and a ramp fell heavily on the wall. Skavi couldn’t see what was inside it at first but he got his answer soon. From the bowels of the siege tower emerged ghouls, which were stronger undead minions. These ones were swinging bone clubs and they started barrelling out of the siege tower. The first clash was a ghoul simply tackling an archer off the wall. Skavi stood frozen at his position as he watched the carnage unfold.

He didn’t stay frozen for long when he felt the back of his armour being grabbed by a firm hand. Skavi turned to see a warrior priest glaring at him.

“Fight for your home, coward!” the warrior priest barked before shoving him forward. Skavi moved forward and he glanced behind him to see the warrior priests were following behind a small crowd of terrified soldiers.

Skavi looked wide eyed as he approached the chaotic melee. Then a screaming ghoul barreled through the soldiers and Skavi blanched pale when he saw its face. Sickly green rotting skin pulled over bone. Yellow fangs fill its mouth and a long wet grey tongue extends from the darkness within. Its eyes were bright yellow with slit-like irises and they were filled with malice. Its body was emancipated but Skavi knew it was filled with necromantic energies.

Skavi’s body reacted on its own, he raised his shield and counter charged the ghoul. He slammed his shield into the ghoul with his entire body weight behind it. The ghoul was knocked back and onto the stones. Then with one swift downward stab he drove his blade into the ghoul’s chest, then as quickly as he could he twisted his blade and tore it free before the ghoul could grab the blade. It was then that Skavi realised his mistake. But before he could correct it he saw a burning halberd hall right onto the ghouls head, splattering its black brains everywhere.

“The brain, or the limbs.” the warrior priest said evenly and Skavi nodded shakily.

Skavi gripped his sword and began approaching the melee. The next few moments were a blur, he knocked one ghoul away, then he buried his sword into the head of another. Then he turned to see the warrior priest decapitate a ghoul with a swing of his flaming halberd.

Then he spotted the more experienced soldiers charge forward with glass bottles filled with Alchemical Fire. These bottles were made of spark glass, this type of glass will create small sparks when it shattered which ignited the Alchemical Fire within.

The soldiers threw the bottles into the opening of the siege tower and soon the inside of the tower was burning. The flow of ghouls started to slow but the flaming ghouls still presented a threat. They continued to roar and wail as they charged out, their bodies aflame. Skavi slashed at one of the flaming ghouls and his blade cut into the front of its face. The cut wasn’t deep enough to kill it but it still hampered it to the point that it fell to its knees and then Skavi drove his sword into its head.

Skavi looked around and saw things were going well, the ghouls were slowly being pushed back and more Alchemical Fire was being thrown into the siege tower. Some of the mages had also joined in and were pouring fire in streams into the opening. Skavi could feel moral improving as some soldiers let out cheers.

“Forward! To victory!” the warrior priest cried out and Skavi turned to look at him. He was about to raise his sword in a cheer when the warrior priest was suddenly struck by a black spear. The black spear slammed into the warrior priest's chest right where his heart was. He collapsed to the ground dead and Skavi just looked on in mute shock. He slowly turned to look at the opening of the siege tower and he saw Blood Knight emerge from the siege tower.

The Blood Knight’s armour was ablaze but he didn’t care. Within his helm, Skavi could see the red glowing eyes of the Blood Knight. Those red eyes looked like they were burning with the fires of hell. Then the Blood Knight spoke, his voice turning the blood of all the soldiers to ice.

Only fools celebrate before the battle is won…