Chapter 475: Siege Part 1
…Hollow Shade… The Western Wall…
In the darkness of the new moon, an entire segment of the shade wall glowed bright hot. The molten magestone sunk into itself and flowed down. The lava flowed into the city and outwards into the grasslands of the valley. The spells of the shade wall had fallen apart and the once ebon-black magestone was now a frosty-translucent white. Where once stood an imposing section of the shade wall, now only a magma gate remained, beckoning the enemy to invade.
The screams of terrified soldiers were drowned out by the deafening roars of the dragonbane flying above. The void beasts swooped down and snatched up half-a-dozen soldiers in each clawed hand. Their spiked tails swiped across the battlements, impaling dozens of soldiers and sending even more careening off the wall to their deaths.
Mages hurled spells and archers shot their arrows at the dragonbanes, only for the projectiles to glance harmlessly off their thick hide. Captains and Bulwark Commanders all across the Western, Northern, and Southern walls ordered their trebuchets to fire, but the dragonbanes were too fast for any boulder to hit.
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…Hollow Shade outskirts… the grasslands…
Caligo watched with silent satisfaction as the black mana faded from the shade wall and left it pale, defenseless. The roaming shades screamed out with a shrill cry one last time and crumbled away. His dragonbanes hungrily flew around the new ‘molten gate,’ picking off the soldiers.
“Finally,” Lin Lu whispered from his shoulder. “Our dream is coming true.”
“This is just the beginning,” Caligo replied. He turned to Sylaril, chieftain of the Adder tribe. “Prepare to fire the trebuchets and load the jade orbs.”