Chapter 323: Shattering Walls
With the two army spanning defensive barriers having been broken, it was now possible for the two armies to actually be able to kill those opposite to them.
A situation made more challenging for those human soldiers down on the ground due to the massive and imposing walls that still circled the city.
The Syan soldiers atop the wall however held a distinct advantage, they were able to use the wall itself to provide ample protection as they popped out to fire of magic and arrow before ducking back behind cover.
Still, with the aid of magic and stats it was not an impossibility for the human forces to be able to land successful attacks against the men and women standing atop the walls.
It was the opening salvo after the barrier broke that saw the greatest loss of life on both sides.
Hundreds of soldiers fell in the first few moments. Explosions landing atop the wall sending people flying in all directions, the luck were killed instantly, the unlucky had several long moments to realise their fate as they plummeted towards the ground far below.
Yet the commanders and generals were quick to reorganise the two forces.
The Eldor army rapidly shifted to take a more defensive position. Earth mages and defensive specialists took the forefront, earthen ramparts of their own burst up from the ground whilst personal defensive skills were utilised to block the incoming attacks raining down on them.
Up on the walls a similar but unique approach was taken to defend. Shield bearers and other defensive specialists took a step forward, their barriers and shields raised to tank the arrows and spells that continually rained down.
Meanwhile wind mages created powerful winds that both redirected arrows and magical projectiles away from the wall, whilst at the same time speeding up the Syan forces attacks that rained down.
Olivia was one such shield bearer, she had stepped forwards, her wooden shield expanding in size as writhing vines grew along it. Any arrows that smaller into the shield were ripped out by the vines, whilst a steady stream of nature mana healed over any lingering wounds caused by magic or the arrows.
The wooden shield would rapidly shift about as defenders moved up to launch their own attacks down on the humans below.
Behind her on the wide wall various support casters bolstered the durability of the defenders whilst also enhancing the various attacks that were launched.
Yet these impromptue defensive means could not protect everyone.
An archer besides Olivia popped his head over the wall as he fired a powerful shot down, only for his head to be carbonised when a powerful bolt of lightning lanced directly into him.
The man’s body then tumbled over the wall to slam into the ground far below. Similar scenes could be seen on both sides.
Men and women fell in the dozen every passing second. The shear number and power of spells being launched overwhelmed any individual shield, when concentrated blasts hit a singular point, bodies fell to the floor.
Susan watched on as the battle progressed, a feeling of horror welling up within as she bore witness to slaughter on a level that she had never experienced before.
She was a healer at heart, always focused on mending the wounded with offensive magics usually only used as a last resort. So for her to watch as so many of her allies fell, one after the other around her it was a bitter pill to swallow, knowing that despite her best efforts, people were dying all around her.
Yet whilst the individual loss of life was dramatic, this next part of the battle would not be decided by the individual. No, this stage of the battle was all about the siege weapons.
On the ground the towering siege towers trundled forwards, powerful barrier encompassed their grand height as Earth mages worked tirelessly to ensure that no Earth mages from the city could foul their path with pitfall or anything else.
Stop the towers archers and mages both exchanged attacks, each at equal height to one another.
Flames, lightning and others struck repeatedly at the half dozen moving towers, only for their magics to be unable to pierce the sturdy defenses, whilst fire simply ran off the flame proof wooden construction.
At the back of the army the ballistas and trebuchets continued their ceaseless assult.
Massive boulders and bolts struck into the wall at Verizon’s points. Their impact causing localised explosions, chunks of stone from the wall being ejected in all directions.
The skilled operators targeting precise points to weaken the wall. A particular focus being on the eastern gate, boulders repeatedly smashing into it as the reinforced gate slowly began to buckle under the incessant assult.
Yet that was not the only move that the human kingdom unleashed at this time.
Roars rang out across the battlefield, their volume briefly overwhelming the constant humm of the battle.
Then, from the tree line, beasts emerged.
Their shapes were large, a multitude of colours adorned the great beasts as their large wings carried them high into the air whilst armoured knights sat atop finely crafted saddles.
The Kingdom of Eldors Dragon Knights had finally made their appearance on the battle.
Rhyana narrowed her eyes as she observed the emerging dragons. Yet the more she observed them the greater her confusion grew.
She had been expecting to see dragons during this battle, dragons from the kingdom so she had expected a certain lack of intelligence from the beasts.
Yet what she saw here was a disturbing sight to behold.
Of the 50 dragons that emerged from the forest only a couple of them held even the slightest sparkle of intelligence in their eyes. Those being the two dragons flogging at the front of the formation.
Interestingly enough those two were also the two largest dragons of the entire group, yet, Rhyana noted with a sparkle in her eyes, even those two dragons did not quite match herself in pure size.
Then she glanced to her side and locked eyes with a particular red dragon currently the size of a medium dog.
"Looks like it’s our time to show these whelps what a real dragon can do." Rumbled Vithrax, his deep voice at odds with his current tiny size.
Rhyana only smiled at those words. "Then shall we make a grand entrance?" She asked with a wide, predatory smile.
A low snarl was Vithrax’s answer.
So both dragons walked to the edge of the tower they stood atop. One the size of a dog and the other in her humanoid form.
Then they both unleashed their presences and flaired their draconic aura to the maximum. And, without a worry Rhyana leapt off the tower as her form was engulfed in a blinding blue white flash of light.
From that light Rhyana in her true draconic form emerged. Her massive body stretched to just shy of 20 meters from tip to tail, her wings cast vast shadows on the human soldiers down below causing them to look up in sudden shock.
Yet their eyes opened even wider when a second dragon appeared just behind the electric blue one that had emerged, this one being considerably larger than the first.
Vithrax was a master of his shapeshift ability, yet he took that ability in a different direction that what Rhyana and Violet had taken it. Instead of using the skill to gain a humanoid form, Vithrax instead specialised it in manipulating his size.
With that he was able to shrink down to the size of a dog. Conversely, he could also grow his size to truly titanic proportions for a dragon in tier 4.
Above Rhyana a shape large enough to blot out the sun emerged. Its flame red scales sparkled in the sunlight, yet it was its size that truly scared those down below.
In his largest form Vithrax was able to double his base size, causing his already impressive 20 meter length grew to a terrifying 40 meters, a size so grand that even Rhyana felt quite small when flying besides him.
Still Rhyana could only grin viciously as she gazed down at the looks of incomprehension and terror that etched itself onto the visage of those human soldiers down below.
Conversely the soldiers of Syan cheered in pride and delight as their own two dragon utterly outclassed the large contingent when it came to quality. Granted, quantity was a quality all of its own.
Thankfully, whilst Syan had no more dragons on its side, they did have a full contingent of flying warriors and mages bringing the number of flying combatants on the Syan side to an even 40. They did have more, yet only these 40 were of the Lord level, those below tier 4 would stand no chance against the dragon riders.
Still, Rhyana, Vithrax and the flying beastkin were heavily outnumbered if you counted the riders and the dragons separately. But both Rhyana and Vithrax would not go into this battle alone.
They both swooped down along the wall each one aiming for a separate spot and dipping their wings.
Two figures rushed up, leaping off of the wall to land atop their respective dragons, Susan atop Rhyana and Olivia atop Vithrax.
Like this the stage was now set for the aerial battle to come.