Chapter 395
Stone Four through Twenty struck with varying effectiveness—some hit walls and created structural damage, others hit towers and archer positions, several missed and impacted harmlessly.
First Artillery Volley Results:
17 of 20 stones hit Third Line fortifications3 direct casualties (3 killed)4 wounded from falling debris and collapsed structuresSignificant structural damage to eastern wall and central archer platforms
Lyra watched from the command tower—a position with reinforced overhead protection specifically designed to withstand artillery.
"Damage report! All sectors!"
"Eastern wall section three heavily damaged! Crater in fortification, structural integrity compromised!"
"Central wall archer platform collapsed! Lost three serpentfolk defenders!"
"Western wall took minor damage, mostly intact!"
Thrak’s engineer voice cut through: "Eastern wall section three is now a weak point. Two or three more direct hits will create a breach large enough for infantry assault."
Lyra’s strategic mind processed the information rapidly.
"They’re focusing fire on eastern wall because Mikazelle identified it as our weakest section during her spatial reconnaissance. They’ll systematically target that section until they create a viable breach."
"Can we reinforce it?"
Commander Vex’ahlia asked. "Not during bombardment. Anyone trying to repair under artillery fire will be killed. We have to accept the damage and deal with the breach after bombardment ends."
"How long will they bombard?"
"Elric’s standard doctrine is thirty minutes for wall-breaking bombardment. Long enough to create multiple breaches, short enough that they don’t waste time and ammunition. We need to endure twenty-nine more minutes of this."
The second volley launched.
Twenty more stones arced through the sky.
This time, the artillery crews had refined their aim based on the first volley’s results. Stones clustered more tightly on target areas.
Five stones hit eastern wall section three—the exact same spot they’d struck before. The repeated impacts widened the crater, broke through internal support beams, and created a ten-foot-wide breach in the fortification.
Three stones hit the central gates, testing their reinforced structure. The gates groaned under impact but held.
Four stones targeted western wall towers, attempting to collapse them and eliminate defensive positions.
The remaining eight stones scattered across other targets.
Second Artillery Volley Results:
Eastern wall section three: BREACH CREATED (ten feet wide)Central gates: Damaged but holdingWestern towers: One tower partially collapsed, two defenders killedTotal casualties: 2 killed, 6 wounded from falling structure
Thrak’s voice was urgent: "Eastern wall breached! Infantry can assault through that gap now!"
"Can we block it?"
"Not effectively under continued bombardment. We’d need to construct barricades, which requires workers exposed to artillery fire. We’re losing soldiers faster than we can repair."
Lyra made a command decision.
"Pull back all defenders from eastern wall section three. Abandon that position entirely. Let them bombard empty fortifications. We’ll establish secondary defensive line behind the breach and defend there once infantry assault begins."
"Acknowledged."
Commander Vex’ahlia pulled her fighters back from the doomed eastern section, repositioning them behind prepared secondary positions.
The bombardment continued with methodical brutality.
Volley Three. Volley Four. Volley Five.
Each volley refined targeting based on previous results. The artillery crews were professional, experienced, deadly efficient.
By Volley Ten, the eastern wall had three separate breaches—ten feet wide, fifteen feet wide, and eight feet wide. The fortification that had taken weeks to build was being systematically destroyed in minutes.
The central gates were battered but still standing, reinforced construction doing its job.
Western wall remained mostly intact—the artillery had focused primary effort on the eastern section.
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Private Marcus was exhausted. Loading two-hundred-pound stones every ninety seconds for twenty volleys was brutal physical labor.
"Heave!" the crew chief ordered for the twenty-first time.
Marcus and his fellow crew members lifted another massive stone, muscles burning, backs aching. They settled it into the catapult basket.
"Same target! Eastern wall section three! Let’s widen that breach!"
They adjusted aim minutely. Fired.
The stone launched, arced, struck. From four hundred yards away, Marcus couldn’t see the exact impact, but he saw stone dust exploding from the eastern fortifications.
"Direct hit! Good shooting!"
Twenty-one volleys. Twenty-two. Twenty-three.
Marcus’s hands were bleeding from rope burns. His shoulders screamed with fatigue. But he kept loading, kept firing.
This was his third campaign. He’d worked artillery at the Siege of Darkwood Keep, where they’d bombarded demon-held fortifications for three days straight. He’d learned that artillery warfare was less about heroic combat and more about brutal, repetitive labor.
Load stone. Aim. Fire. Load stone. Aim. Fire.
Over and over until walls broke and men died.
"How many more volleys?" he gasped to the crew chief between loads.
"Sergeant Borun ordered thirty volleys total. We’re at twenty-three. Seven more. Keep working."
Marcus wiped blood from his hands and grabbed another stone.
In a protected alcove behind Third Line’s central tower, a group of goblin warriors huddled as artillery stones rained destruction around them.
One goblin—a young fighter named Tik was experiencing artillery bombardment for the first time.
Every impact made him flinch. Every crash of stone against fortification made him want to run. The ground shook with each hit. Dust and debris filled the air.
"How long does this last?" he asked an older goblin named Krix who’d fought through Day Three.
"However long they want it to last," Krix replied, her voice steady despite the chaos. "Could be ten minutes, could be an hour. We just endure until they stop."
"But the walls—they’re destroying the walls!"
"Walls can be rebuilt. You can’t. Focus on staying alive, not on saving fortifications."
Another impact shook their position. Stone fragments rained down from above.
Tik looked terrified. "What if they hit us directly?"
"Then we die quickly instead of slowly in the assault." Krix’s gallows humor was typical of veteran soldiers. "But these alcoves are reinforced. Engineer Thrak built them specifically to withstand artillery. We’re as safe here as anywhere."
—-----------
From his elevated position, Elric watched the artillery systematically destroy Third Line’s eastern fortifications.
"Bombardment effectiveness?" he asked Lieutenant Thorne.
Thorne consulted reports from artillery spotters. "Eastern wall: three major breaches created, two minor breaches, overall structural integrity compromised. Infantry can assault through multiple entry points. Central gates: damaged but intact, would require dedicated ram assault to breach. Western wall: minor damage only, still defensible."