Chapter 474 - 474: Battle of Feiguang City, Revered Envoy (2)
So, the fierce assault on Feiguang City far exceeded everyone’s expectations.
Facing the ocean, more than thirty warships of the Bass Kingdom were arranged in a line on the sea, firing cannons from their decks, raining down on the city walls like drops of rain.
Behind these warships, there were over a hundred transport ships. Landing crafts continuously rushed out from the openings at the bow of the ships, delivering fully armed soldiers to the beach under the counterfire from Feiguang City.
Strange beasts bred through special methods, clad in heavy iron armor, descended from large landing vessels. The arrow rain shot from the city walls couldn’t harm them, as it clinked and clanked against their armor. Only a few heavy crossbows equipped with armor-piercing arrowheads and alchemical cannons could effectively damage them.
Small alchemical cannons mounted on the backs of these beasts kept firing, causing the defensive runes inscribed on the city walls to flicker erratically.
Teams of soldiers followed closely behind the beasts, attacking in accordance with the infantry assault tactics.
In the sky, Pegasus knights clad in runic light armor and giant eagle archers relied on their agility and mobility to evade the limited anti-aircraft fire angles. They skillfully found gaps between the barrages and dropped enchanted arrows at valuable targets, throwing alchemical bombs. With their formidable killing power, they dove repeatedly to eliminate the defending forces on the city walls and destroy defensive equipment, arrow towers, and spell towers, reducing resistance for the landing forces.
Soldiers kept losing their lives in the artillery fire and attacks, both from the Bass Kingdom and Lienhardt Grand Duchy.
This grand battle unfolded before him without any concealment.
At this moment, Ji Chen felt like he was transported to the D-Day landing scene on Earth. The strange beasts were tanks and armored vehicles, the Pegasus knights were dive bombers, and the giant eagle archers were combat aircraft.
The arrow towers and spell towers on the city walls were machine guns and anti-aircraft artillery.
As the largest coastal military city on the southwestern border of the Lienhardt Grand Duchy, Feiguang City was naturally armed to the teeth, with ample ammunition reserves and troops, indestructible city walls, and a well-organized fortification system.
The Lienhardt Grand Duchy was well aware that after the outbreak of war outside Feiguang City, they would undoubtedly face a heavy attack. Therefore, after the conflict with the Bass Kingdom, they further strengthened and consolidated the city walls’ runes, enabling them to withstand seven days of sustained attacks under the expected firepower. This time was enough for them to dispatch reinforcements from various places in a timely manner.
However, they never expected that the Bass Kingdom would brazenly launch a blitzkrieg, catching the northern defense zone off guard. They were unable to organize reinforcements in time and were in a state of chaos. In addition, they used the advantage of the naval forces to tie down the Royal Fleet, and subsequently, the fleet deployed a large number of troops on the eastern coast of Feiguang City, delaying or annihilating the Lienhardt Grand Duchy’s forces that were preparing to depart for reinforcement. At the same time, they scattered numerous annihilation squads to block communications between Feiguang City and other areas, turning it into a shadow on the intelligence communication map. They also carried out many deceptive actions and targets.
Leaving Tressburg hesitant due to the lack of intelligence – would the Bass Kingdom intentionally let them send out a large army for support and then attack the capital directly from elsewhere?
And this moment of hesitation would become the key to the Bass Kingdom’s victory in this war.
All this planning left Feiguang City isolated and alone, relying only on the thirty thousand soldiers stationed in the city and the defensive efforts to withstand the Bass Kingdom’s forces, which outnumbered them several times. If that were all, there would still be a glimmer of hope for salvation.
As long as Tressburg City could react promptly and send elite troops from the capital to reinforce them, this city with strong defensive forces might endure until the arrival of reinforcements.
However, the Bass Kingdom’s army at the city’s gates had a surprise in store for them.
The fleet, orderly arranged on the sea like a battlefield, abruptly ceased the bombardment that was going on for several hours. The sudden silence made the entire sea seem quite still.
Even the landing troops, who were charging like madmen, now halted their advance, stopping three hundred meters away from the city walls. Heavy infantry, sharpshooters, elite mage units, and even airborne units all ascended to higher positions. In the sky hundreds of meters away, they watched attentively. All the soldiers who could still move received orders to stop. Even the most fervent warmongers suppressed their restless hearts and obediently took cover behind the strange beasts that had crouched down.
The Lienhardt Grand Duchy’s defenders, protected by rune-inscribed city walls amidst the deafening artillery fire, were puzzled by this scene. Even the slowest among them realized that something significant seemed to be about to happen.
From within the fleet, the colossal flagship slowly aimed its bow at Feiguang City. With a roar of gears and machinery, a black obsidian-like alchemical cannon ascended from the ship’s bow.
Its black color seemed to swallow even the sunlight, and the massive barrel, capable of accommodating a person, drew the reverence of all the soldiers on board.
Inside the command room, the commander of the Bass Kingdom’s Eighth Fleet, Admiral Shalifa, looked at this enormous cannon that almost occupied the entire ship’s bow deck, a hint of suspicion in his eyes.
“Are you sure this cannon can blast open the walls of Feiguang City?”
“Of course, Your Highness Harifa.”
The one speaking was a deceiver wearing a golden mask. The narrow eyes on the mask’s forehead sparkled, and the loose gray robe struggled to conceal her fiery physique. Beneath that mask, a pair of equally golden eyes resembled the noblest of bloodlines, radiating majesty at all times.
Even though Harifa was a senior noble of the Kingdom of Bass, the supreme commander of the Eighth Fleet, he still felt a sense of unease when dealing with this mysterious and enigmatic woman. If it weren’t for the direct order from the king, he would never have agreed to travel alongside such a person.
He remembered that the king once said that this woman seemed to be the Revered Envoy of an organization called the Deceivers?
“The Annihilator Cannon is only produced and exists in solitary numbers. It has consumed resources equivalent to emptying ten cities, and just as its name suggests, it brings destruction and annihilation. No city wall can withstand its bombardment.
With its assistance, the walls of Feiguang City will crumble in the blink of an eye. It’s just that, Your Highness Harifa, you seemed to have some doubt about it. Your hesitation had caused so many soldiers to be sacrificed needlessly at the city’s gates.”
The envoy shook her head as if lamenting for the fallen soldiers.
Harifa’s expression darkened, and he snorted, “This commander doesn’t need your lessons.”
With that, he became even more wary of this so-called Revered Envoy and the Deceivers organization.
He wondered what they had done to make the king trust them so blindly.
Not only were they allowed to participate in this honorable war, but they also resided within the palace, holding esteemed positions as advisors, and taking part in every aspect of the court’s affairs.
It was shortly after the appearance of these individuals in the kingdom that the king suddenly proposed war with the Lienhardt Grand Duchy, fulfilling the ancestral wishes and the kingdom’s centuries-old ambition.
Although this delighted the hawkish faction, including himself, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss—it all seemed too sudden.
After all, at that time, although the kingdom’s military strength surpassed Lienhardt by a considerable margin, the cost of defeating a power of the same tier would undoubtedly be heavy and costly. However, the emergence of the Deceivers expedited this process dramatically.
This organization, seemingly springing out of nowhere, not only brought in vast quantities of high-quality weapons, equipment, arms, and alchemical apparatus that could equip half of the kingdom’s forces, but they also showcased remarkable alchemical expertise, catapulting the Kingdom of Bass to the forefront of alchemical technology among the four northwestern coastal nations.
Even more astonishing was their intelligence capabilities. Information on enemy military camps, military forces, fortifications, and more flowed in like water, giving them complete control over the information necessary for the war.
At this point, the kingdom resembled a rapidly fattening individual—though there might be some excess weight, it undeniably possessed the power to overthrow a nation.
As a result, launching a war against the Lienhardt Grand Duchy seemed to be perfectly timed. Under this influence, the doves turned into hawks, and the hawks became even more hawkish.
Then, through a series of overt and covert pushes, the war finally arrived as scheduled..