Chapter 397
"The path is clean, sir!" the lead engineer reported to Major Aldrich. "Three minor traps detected and neutralized. No major threats identified. The way to eastern breaches is secure."
Major Aldrich received the report and relayed it to Elric.
"Engineers report path is clear. No major traps detected."
Elric nodded. "Advance the heavy infantry. Push through the breaches. Establish foothold inside Third Line."
The order was given.
Eight hundred heavy infantry resumed advance, moving through the cleared path toward the three eastern breaches.
Phalanx One reached the largest breach first. Two hundred soldiers in tight formation, shields raised, weapons ready.
"ADVANCE THROUGH THE BREACH!"
The first rank stepped through the fifteen-foot gap in the wall, shields up, expecting arrow fire or defenders on the other side.
They found neither. The space immediately inside the breach was empty—defenders had pulled back to secondary positions as Lyra had ordered.
"Breach is clear! No immediate resistance!" the phalanx commander reported.
"Push through! Establish perimeter inside the wall!"
The first rank advanced five feet past the breach. Then ten feet. Then fifteen feet.
The second rank followed. Then the third.
One hundred soldiers had pushed through the breach, establishing a strong foothold inside Third Line.
Phalanx Two reached its breach—ten feet wide. Began pushing through similarly.
Phalanx Three at the smallest breach also advanced.
Within three minutes, nearly three hundred heavy infantry had pushed through all three eastern breaches and were establishing positions inside Third Line’s perimeter.
It was going too easily.
Major Aldrich felt it in his gut, that something was wrong.
"This is too easy," he muttered. "They’re not defending. They’re letting us in."
Then the ground collapsed.
—-------------------
The Pitfall Trap
Thrak had designed the trap specifically to defeat engineer detection.
The pitfall wasn’t located at the breaches—that’s where engineers would probe most carefully. Instead, it was positioned twenty feet inside the breaches, where infantry would advance after confirming the entry point was safe.
The pit was thirty feet wide, forty feet long, twenty feet deep. Big enough to swallow an entire phalanx formation.
The covering was designed in layers:
Layer One: Light wooden framework concealed by dirt and grass, designed to fool visual inspection. Layer Two: A thin layer of compressed earth that would hold under human weight... temporarily. Long enough for soldiers to think it was solid ground. Layer Three: The actual cavity—twenty feet deep, filled with corruption magic that had been prepared before yesterday’s purification ritual.
The purification ritual had cleansed surface contamination. But Thrak had buried the corruption magic twenty feet deep, below ground level, where holy magic didn’t reach effectively.
When the wooden framework broke under the weight of multiple soldiers, the compressed earth layer failed simultaneously. And two hundred heavy infantry standing on that "solid ground" suddenly found themselves falling into a corruption-filled pit.
The screaming started immediately.
Soldiers fell twenty feet, landing on each other in a pile of broken bones and crushed armor. The fall alone killed approximately forty soldiers—those on the bottom crushed by those falling on top of them.
But the corruption magic killed far more.
The pit had been prepared with concentrated demonic energy specifically designed to decay organic matter. It was like falling into a vat of acid, except the acid was magical and targeted living flesh specifically.
Skin began rotting the moment soldiers touched the corrupted ground. Flesh decayed. Organs failed. Soldiers screamed as they felt their bodies literally dissolving from contact with demonic corruption.
Those who’d survived the fall were dying in agony from corruption exposure.
"FALL BACK!" Major Aldrich shouted immediately. "IT’S A TRAP! CORRUPTION PIT!"
The soldiers who hadn’t yet reached the pit scrambled backward, but many were too late. The collapsing ground extended beyond the initial pit as weight shifted—soldiers on the edge fell as the perimeter gave way.
One hundred fifty soldiers fell into the corruption pit in total. Eighty died from the fall or from being crushed. Seventy more died from corruption exposure over the next sixty seconds.
Pitfall Trap Results:
150 soldiers killed instantly or died within minutes0 survivors (corruption was too concentrated, lethal even with holy protection)Human advance halted immediately as forces pulled back from the pit
From his elevated position, Elric watched one hundred fifty soldiers disappear into the ground and die.
His face was stone, but his eyes showed cold fury.
"They buried corruption magic below purification depth. Our holy mages cleansed surface contamination but couldn’t reach deep-buried corruption." His tactical mind analyzed even in rage. "Smart. Cruel. Effective."
"Do we advance, sir?" Lieutenant Thorne asked.
"Not yet. Call up the holy mages. They need to purify that pit before we can continue advance. And expand purification to include deep-ground scanning—if they used this tactic once, they might have prepared multiple deep-buried traps."
"That will take time—"
"Then it takes time. I won’t waste more soldiers walking into corruption pits." Elric’s command voice was steel. "Call up the mages. Purify the pit. Scan for additional traps. We do this right."
Father Aldric and his holy mages advanced to the pit’s edge, careful not to get too close. They could see the corruption energy still active at the pit’s bottom—purple-black energy that dissolved the bodies of dead soldiers.
"Purification prayer, concentrated form!" Father Aldric commanded. "Focus all holy energy on the pit! Cleanse the corruption!"
Fifty holy mages channeled their combined power into focused purification magic. Golden light poured into the pit, battling the demonic corruption directly.
The two magics fought—holy versus demonic, purification versus corruption. The air itself seemed to scream with the conflict of opposed forces.
After five minutes of sustained casting, the corruption energy dissipated. The pit was cleansed.
But one hundred fifty soldiers were still dead at the bottom, their bodies partially dissolved by the corruption before purification arrived.
"The pit is clear," Father Aldric reported grimly. "But we should scan the entire area for similar deep-buried traps. This could take another twenty minutes."
Elric accepted the necessity. "Do it. I won’t lose more soldiers to traps we could have detected."