Following the queue of the City Watch, we gradually approached the top of the city wall along the stairs connecting several steel platforms, the sound of boots of various materials stepping on the steel steps was very harsh, especially at this frightening height, the area of the city in view was reduced a lot, Nabal and I leaned against the fence of a raised platform overlooking the temporary armory at the top of the tunnel, and waved to the two more conspicuous figures in the crowd, and Xiao and Porcha, who were still sorting out their weapons and ammunition, finally left.

There was still one last drop from the top of the wall, and Nabal ran up quickly in three steps and two steps, and I was already a little weak in the height of my position, and slowly moved my trembling legs from staircase to staircase, and finally reached the top of the wall, which was not wide compared to its height, and then squeezed into a line of sentinels and stretched out my neck to look out over the waters outside the city, and the enemy troops scattered all over the banks of the canal instantly frightened me back two steps.

I didn't bother to look for Nabal's figure in the line on the city wall, and quickly scanned the enemy formations under the city one by one, although it was overlooking from a high place, but the enemy deliberately set up a formation along the coast far from the city wall in order to avoid the range of our defending weapons, and the baggage and ordnance were stored in the forests on both sides, and the nearest enemy formation was also separated by more than four hundred yards, and the height difference was so great that it was impossible to distinguish the number and personnel of the enemy formation. However, it is not difficult to see from the difference in soldiers that the south bank is occupied by the Druya, and there are nearly twenty infantry phalanxes in pitch black from clothing to armor, and there are a large number of cavalry in the rear, protecting more than a dozen catapults and other siege weapons. On the north shore were the Poz rebels from the west, with a large number of chainmail horsemen armed with spears in front of the line to protect the fixed catapults and siege ballests. The rest of the heavy infantry lined up in multiple formations along the canal, pulling two unseen machines on the canal with the help of ropes and the buoyancy of the water, ready to follow the current and approach the city walls. From my first impression, it was like a moving bridge made of heavy iron chains and a sturdy metal frame and wood.

"This is the true face of the Spear of the Underworld Expeditionary Force and the Western Rebellion Army...... Of all the military formations I've seen in my life, this is second only to the Siege of Zenda......"

Polcha passed me with a knife in his hand, and although the enemy formation under the city had caused some oppression to him, it was not enough to surpass the strongest Dark Knights he had encountered in Zenda, and Xiao Yi, who arrived later, did not take these enemies seriously, and only cared about finding the most suitable position among the many military columns. Watching the minutes tick by, I've been standing still and looking at the enemy for a long time.

At this time, Nabal came from nowhere. He patted me on the shoulder from behind, urging with a reproachful expression: "Lemuel, don't be stunned, I'm worried that I can't find you near the ballista." I thought you withdrew first because you were afraid of heights. Hurry up and keep up. They all need you, a master of the giant crossbow, to command. ”

When I was frustrated, it was true that only my most important companion could regain my energy, and I smiled and responded: "It's a fact that this place is high, but Uncle Lemuel I can't do anything to leave my partner and run away, let's go!"

"Get down!!"

In a rain of arrows flying from below the city, a huge metal ball approached at high speed, instantly destroying the trebuchet I commanded and exploding, spraying a large amount of fuel and turning the place into a sea of fire......

After being blown away by the impact of the explosion, a burning sensation that penetrated into my bones rushed into my nerves. I opened my eyes to the smell of fuel and burnt meat, and the scene was spinning. I could only tell that I was lying in a sea of fire that was not too strong, and the crossbow in my hand was stained with fuel and scrapped, and the leather boots on my feet were also burning, and the current situation was really terrible.

"I'm cāo!"

With a yell, I took off my charred shoes, tossed aside along with the discarded crossbow in my hand, and crawled away from the ignited area. At this time, the vision was almost restored, and I quickly stood up, except for the countless pieces of wood that were still burning from the smashed catapult, most of the soldiers were shaken off the city wall by this wave of attacks, a few unlucky ones were burned alive by the flames, and the lucky ones were blown away like me.

Seeing that the flames were spreading on both sides with the fuel, the sky suddenly became extremely dark, and the rain clouds that had been floating in this sky for nearly a week finally reacted, and the torrential rain fell in the lightning and thunder, dousing the flames that were gradually spreading, and the flames on the platform where we were and several other places that were hit by fuel bombs had been extinguished, and in the rain, another Bogronian soldier arrived at the southwest corner of the city wall, and continued to shoot at the enemy positions below the city with longbows and crossbows, and the enemy's siege fire did not stop the attack because of the rain, and another round of thunderbolts was thrown, destroying many defensive points of the city wall in an instant......

"Oh my God...... What's next......

According to the vague impression of the wounded, I only remember that the battle began about two hours ago, the deafening sound of war drums mixed with the sound of high horns, the Druas drove a dozen catapults behind the formation to the front, and broke the stalemate without prior warning and negotiation, about two hundred yards from the city wall, their old man-powered catapults could not have thrown stone projectiles to a height of about twenty meters, but this did not stop the Druas from launching a frantic offensive, round after round of catapult attacks hit the city wall one after another, but unfortunately this kind of catapult that is common in Calradia has no way to overcome its shortcomingsAt most, it caused minor abrasions to the rock-like outer wall, and it did not pose a threat to the defenders on the city wall at all, and dozens of Drua soldiers who operated their weapons entered the range of the defenders instead, and the Gronya defenders returned the enemy with a rain of arrows, and the Druas who were at the farthest range were as if they were hit by the tide, all of them were killed by arrows, and a row of siege engines was also abandoned in place.

Compared to the non-threatening Drua siege team, the Gronians had very advanced fortifications, and the points on the walls were equipped with counterweight trebuchets and powerful ballistaets with rotatable chassis, and the catapult at the south gate where I was located was extremely important in this battle, and also stockpiled a large number of arrows and stones for archers and trebuchets. It was only because the location was directly opposite the Drua position on the south bank of the canal, and the effective range of the catapults was just enough to cover the queue of catapults left by the enemy, and the commander's herald arrived at the scene soon after to give the order to attack. After several confirmations, the lookout finally gave the coordinates, and I adjusted the direction of the trebuchet as much as I could, and the team's deputy swung the hammer towards the live hook, and the huge heavy stone block hanging on the outside of the city wall fell downward, pulling the boom to throw a huge rock pillar out, and the stone pillar flew in the air for some distance and smashed a catapult impartially, and the nearby fire point also launched an offensive at the same time. Easily destroying the enemy's siege weapons with a stone-throwing counterattack, the Gronian soldiers on the city walls immediately burst into cheers.

"Well done! They must know how strong our walls are, and the catapults are probably just to test the waters for the next attack! ”

Nabal gave a simple compliment. The actions of the Druas also confirmed his fears, and in the field of view of the telescope, a column of elite crossbowmen arrived in front of the formation, quickly dispersed in line. A barrage of arrows rained down on the city. Since most of the people did not have shields, the battlements to hide from the rain of arrows were also relatively separated, and most of the defenders retreated to the inner side of the city walls to avoid the arrows, and the enemy also took advantage of the suppression of the defenders at the head of the city to push several large newly built ballistae out and attack the walls again with siege weapons.

"Now is not the time to observe!

Nabal, who had retreated to the back row, suddenly ran up and pulled me aside, and the destructive stone crossbow shattered the battlements and hit where I was standing. The splash of rubble wounded several soldiers in the back row, unlike the previous weak catapult attack. The giant crossbow could easily reach the top of the wall more than twenty meters high, putting considerable pressure on the defenders in the surrounding area.

When the enemy's offensive was slightly reduced, I once again rose in the rain of arrows, holding a telescope to observe the enemy position, according to the estimated distance, these giant crossbows are outside the range of the trebuchet, about three hundred yards away from the city wall, the ultimate range of the Gronian trebuchet is two hundred yards, even if you count the extra flight distance brought by the altitude difference, it can not hurt them a single hair, fortunately, several nearby fire points are equipped with more than two repeating ballistas, although the accuracy is not good at long distances, but after several rounds of counterattacks, a number of giant crossbow arrows shot into the enemy formation are still quite successful, usually a blow through the entire phalanx, bringing more than a dozen casualties。

In this way, the two sides relied on longbowmen and crossbowmen to fire each other for nearly an hour, plus the random attacks of giant crossbows and other equipment, the Druas had already paid hundreds of dead and wounded, and the defenders of Gronya, with the advantage of the high wall, only had about a hundred casualties. Since the Druas had been in the stage of testing the defenses of the walls, Julius realized that the enemy did not have the means to breach the walls, and that Gronya's longbowmen could cover any area within four hundred yards, and that the crossbowmen could directly threaten the Underworld spear position five hundred yards away, so he ordered the whole army to fire a salvo without giving the enemy a chance to breathe.

Soon, the herald once again arrived at the position, the soldiers near the catapult also began to fire a salvo at the enemy formation, the Druas also reorganized the infantry phalanx, relying on a large number of long kite shields to form a tortoiseshell formation to resist the rain of arrows, the offensive of the ballista continued, although the hit rate of the huge crossbow bolts was low, once they hit the enemy, they would easily destroy the enemy's formation, and it didn't take long for the Druas to drop hundreds of corpses and begin to slowly retreat to the rear, not forgetting to push the heavy ballista carts back.

"Mr. Sigris, the commander has asked your team to rush to the southwest corner, the Barrions are ready to attack. ”

The herald signaled me to take some of the team to the southwest corner of the defensive position, the crew of the catapult had been on the Goshawk for a long time, and had already been proficient in the handling of heavy equipment, and I wanted to send a few brothers directly to the southwest position for reinforcements, but I felt that it was inappropriate to veto it directly, so I asked Nabal's opinion.

"Since they need you, go ahead, I'll stay here and continue to fight the Dark Army, but you have to bring the Goshawk brethren back alive, understand?"

"No problem! Todd, Jarek, Dave, Roza, pack up your gear and keep up, it's time for us to shift positions!"

As we prepared to leave, the lookout Jarek leaned against the battlement to look down at the city, when a spear was shot through the head from below, and the body fell straight down the wall with a huge impact. Nabal, who was checking his equipment on the side, sensed the attack, so he led people close to the city wall to check, and suddenly five or six more throwing guns were thrown from below, and Nabal narrowly escaped, but several guards beside him had already been shot.

After the attack, six hooked claws with thick ropes grabbed the battlements, and before Nabal could react, six extremely fast figures climbed the wall from the ropes, and all the nearby guards were stunned. I was shocked to observe the details of these attackers, their muscular limbs set off by the wild black leather iron armor, the black armor like a sheep's skull and the blood-colored cloak on the shoulders exuded an evil aura, the pitch-black iron chains connected to their handguards at one end, and the long-handled chain spears that only a few people could wield at the other, these uninvited guests were the strongest combat force of the Spear Legion of the Underworld, the Dread Knights.

Nabal suddenly came to his senses, kicked a man who had just stepped on the city wall from a height of more than twenty meters, and immediately scuffled with the other enemies, and a dozen nearby guards also swarmed up, hoping to end the battle in an instant. But the Dreadknights' force was beyond everyone's expectations, first of all, Nabal was taught a solid lesson by his swift physical skills, and then it was the turn of the other guards to suffer, and the five Dreadknights, wielding the long-handled chain guns in their hands, killed an entire squad of City Watch in all kinds of bloody and cruel means, and then crossed the corpses and struck at my squad.

"Come here, you bastards!" (to be continued......)