novelODS Chapter 1119 The Art of War in Fortress Cities
Chapter 1119 The Art of War in Fortress Cities
Overlooking the fortified city of Tesira at the eastern end of the Leviathan continent.
The King of Resistance and the Ape of Destruction hovered high in the sky, their icy gazes piercing through the thin purple dust, landing on that forbidden zone of death constructed of steel and will.
They have been observing for a long time.
The impact they had on them from the very first act continues to this day.
The scene below is a strange symphony of purgatory and order.
The fortress city consists of twelve towering steel behemoths, like rocky islands rooted in a purple tide.
A relentless storm of destruction is erupting from these fortresses!
The alchemical ballistae emitted a piercing shriek that tore through the air, each volley like a giant's javelin, pinning swathes of Void Vanguard to the scorched earth.
The magic turrets weave deadly elemental torrents, freezing paths with frost, incinerating remains with flames, tearing clusters apart with lightning, and annihilating the target area into nothingness with arcane energy.
The elemental torrent, like a burst dam, swept away the purple waves that tried to approach.
Further away, the mage's strategic spells lit up intermittently, each one a cleansing at the level of rules. Wherever the energy tide of the Great Disintegration passed, low-level void creatures were instantly dissolved as if erased by an eraser.
Artillery fire! Endless artillery fire!
They are not just scattered embellishments, but constitute an ever-burning curtain of destruction.
The earth groaned, shattered, and churned under the relentless bombardment, the rising dust and turbulent energy mixing with the limbs and torsos of void creatures, forming a murky purple cloud of death.
Any void creature attempting to cross this barrage of fire, whether a lumbering behemoth or a swift aberration, was crushed into dust and became part of the purple dust in the seemingly indiscriminate baptism of destruction.
Hundreds of meters outside the city walls, the land had become a scorched wasteland devoid of life.
The numerical advantage of the void creatures seemed so pale and powerless at this moment; like moths drawn to a flame, they crashed one after another into this wall of death constructed of steel, magic, and determination.
Time slipped away silently amidst the deafening roar of artillery fire and the ineptitude of the void creatures.
The purple, swallowing line on the horizon, dividing reality from the void, began to approach the fortress city like a slow but unstoppable tide.
At first, it was just a blurry purple streak on the horizon, but then its outline gradually became clearer, and its speed of movement seemed to accelerate imperceptibly.
In just one week, that chilling purple line had swept across the distant coastline, carrying a suffocating sense of oppression, and relentlessly swept toward the city of Tesila.
The long-range firepower of the fortress city continued to pour down relentlessly, the sound of alchemical crossbow bolts piercing the air, the hum of magic cannons charging, and the roar of elemental explosions intertwining into a never-ending symphony of destruction.
Vast numbers of void creatures were repeatedly plowed through by this ferocious barrage of fire outside the city walls, turning into ashes.
However, everyone's gaze was involuntarily drawn to the ever-approaching and ever-growing purple curtain in the sky.
Commander Carlos stood before the "Eye of the Watcher" crystal in the central main castle, his resolute face reflecting a purple glow.
He stared at the swallowing line that almost touched the highest watchtower of the fortress, his expression unusually calm.
He had already mentally rehearsed the battle reports from the front lines, the advance pattern of the Void Devouring Line, and the contingency plans for this situation a thousand times over.
This was not an accident, but rather the anticipated prelude to war.
His calm voice echoed through the command chain to all the fortresses: "The swallowing line is about to cross the border. All units shall execute the 'barrier' contingency plan and hold their ground!"
Finally, the purple curtain of sky, symbolizing the arrival of the Void Realm, swept silently over the towering walls of the Tesira Fortress City like the heaviest veil.
In an instant, an indescribable sense of spatial distortion enveloped the entire area.
However, the terrifying scene of the fortress's interior collapsing instantly and cracking open, as envisioned, did not occur.
The ironwork structures suspended high above the fortresses suddenly emitted a brighter and more stable silver glow.
Complex geometric patterns flowed in the void, and a powerful spatial stabilizing force field was activated to its extreme.
These technological marvels of the Night's Watch acted like anchors, firmly securing the spatial structure of the fortress's interior and core areas.
This ironwork structure is an early experimental product of the Divine Kingdom Project.
However, its achievements in the abyss were exceptionally remarkable.
Therefore, it was directly transformed from an early prototype into a finished product and promoted together with the Earth God Kingdom project, becoming part of the plan.
Finally, it was also fully utilized in the defense against the void.
The results are remarkable.
Just as the contingency plan predicted.
Because of the iron flower structure.
Its power anchors the surrounding space, and the rules of Kana also come into play.
The Void cannot open spatial rifts inside the fortress or in the core area of the stable force field.
Like bursting bubbles, they suddenly tore open on the outer perimeter of the city wall, right next to the edge of the defensive fortifications.
Countless purplish-black cracks emerged, accompanied by a tooth-grinding hiss and a spatial shriek. Vast numbers of void creatures, like a dam bursting, gushed out directly from these nearby fissures.
As soon as they appeared, their ferocious mandibles began to gnaw at the cold metal city wall, and their sharp appendages frantically climbed upwards, instantly turning the tall city wall into a surging purple anthill.
"Warriors!!"
A thunderous roar echoed across the city walls as a heavily armored, battle-scarred frontline combat master raised his warhammer, his voice drowning out the howls of the void creatures and the clash of weapons.
"Brave soldiers! The time has come to show your iron will!!"
His gaze swept over the faces behind the battlements, some young, some weathered, but all equally resolute.
"Let these purple scum from the void see clearly! Their numbers can no longer drown out our courage!"
"A tidal wave of monsters? That was nothing but a trick used to scare cowards yesterday! Today, we will show them with shields and spears—this road is blocked! The walls of Aegira will never fall!!"
They are warriors who fought a tough battle against rats.
They had already seen creatures that surged like waves.
"For our homeland! For the Night's Watch! Kill!!!"
A deafening roar erupted from the soldiers' chests like a tsunami, instantly igniting every inch of the city wall.
The soldiers, who had been waiting in ambush behind the parapet, instantly took their battle positions.
The first thing to greet those who try to climb is a shield wall that closes in an instant, like an iron dam.
The heavy tower shields were tightly joined together, their edges gleaming with the light of reinforcing runes. The shield bearers roared in unison, their movements perfectly synchronized; the shields were not still, but rather rose and slammed forward rhythmically like waves.
Each synchronized "wave push" unleashed a powerful shockwave, like an invisible giant hammer slamming down on the clinging void creatures.
Its fragile appendages were shattered, its climbing momentum was forcibly interrupted, and the monster that had just emerged was directly overturned and smashed down by this force.
Following the shockwave of the shield wall came a deadly and precise spear thrust, as deadly as a viper's tongue.
From the gaps in the shields, countless spears gleaming with a cold light shot out like a torrential rain.
The spearheads are either wrapped with anti-magic runes or tempered with elemental power, making them precise, powerful, and swift.
They are not randomly thrusting, but rather meticulously crafted, targeting the core or fatal weaknesses of the void's biological energy.
Each thrust was accompanied by the muffled sound of flesh being pierced and the crisp sound of the energy core shattering, instantly killing the monsters that were stunned by the shockwave or who had managed to escape the shock and climb onto the battlements.
Wave after wave of purple tides crashed against the city walls, attempting to climb them, only to be shattered before the wall of death constructed of shields and spears, leaving behind more mangled corpses in vain.
Combat is a brutal drain.
When the arms of the first shield-spearmen became numb and sore from the constant blocking and powerful thrusts, their heavy armor was soaked with sweat, and their breathing became heavy.
The second echelon of soldiers, who had been prepared in advance, immediately moved forward with precise gears, seamlessly switching positions.
Exhausted soldiers were quickly replaced, panting, having their wounds treated, and replenishing their strength—the whole process was as smooth as a precise machine.
The defensive line on the city wall remained steadfast, leaving no opportunity for the clinging void creatures to take advantage.
Meanwhile, the long-range firepower inside the fortress did not stop; instead, it underwent a bold adjustment.
Some artillery fire no longer aimed for ultra-long-range coverage, but instead began to approach the outer perimeter of the city walls, conducting precise point fire and short, rapid bursts of fire.
The alchemical crossbow accurately sniped targets that were trying to gather together or were large in size.
The magic turret reduced its power and fired at a faster rate to clear the mountains of corpses piled up at the foot of the city wall and any stragglers trying to climb back up from the pile.
The elemental mages manipulate fire, frost, or arcane missiles, which seem to have eyes as they explode amidst the dense horde of monsters, yet strangely avoid the solid city walls themselves.
This "close-range" bombardment not only avoided friendly fire, but also greatly reduced the pressure on the melee soldiers on the city wall, and dispersed and purified the monster hordes that had piled up at the base of the city wall and were trying to form new climbing points.
Such an efficient, orderly, and integrated offensive and defensive combat rhythm made it impossible for the surging tide of void creatures to make any progress under the city walls.
At this moment, looking down over the entire Tesira Fortress city, the once unobstructed road between the twelve giant fortresses had long been completely cut off and submerged by the void creatures that resembled a vast ocean.
From high above, the fortresses looked like isolated islands in a purple ocean.
However, this seemingly fatal isolation does not affect the operation of the fortress city as a whole war machine.
Upon closer inspection, one can see torrents of steel surging violently across the streets and squares "filled" with purple.
That was the elite cavalry force of Tesila.
They wore specially made, corrosion-resistant heavy armor, and their mounts were alchemically enhanced war beasts, whose horseshoes stomped on the ground, creating purple energy ripples.
They did not hold fast to a single fortress, but rather used it as a base to roam freely between "isolated islands," like efficient battlefield scavengers and meat grinders.
The cavalrymen formed a wedge-shaped charge formation, relying on their astonishing speed and unparalleled impact to carve bloody paths through the sea of void creatures.
Spear thrusts, sword slashes, horse hooves trampling...
Wherever it passed, low-level void creatures were crushed and sent flying like straw, turning into dust.
The sheer number of Void creatures is despairing, but they cannot spread evenly across every inch of the occupied territory like a liquid, and they lack truly unified command.
The horde of monsters, instinctively drawn to the fortress's defensive firepower, the fighting on the city walls, and the rapidly moving cavalry within the city, descended into chaos and disorder.
The elite cavalry units, like nimble daggers, constantly infiltrated, divided, and lured enemy forces.
They attract large numbers of void creatures, cut them into several smaller pieces, and then use their speed advantage to shake them off or guide them into a pre-designed "slaughterhouse" covered by the crossfire of multiple fortresses.
One part of the monster horde, divided into groups, blindly chased after the cavalry, while another part, drawn by the fortress's defensive artillery fire and the sounds of battle from the city walls, blindly surged toward the walls.
Looking around, although the area where the fortress city is located has been completely "invaded" by the purple color representing the void, what surges across the land is not a unified and coordinated wave of destruction, but countless chaotic, blind purple streams that dart around like headless flies.
They interfere with each other, cannot form a united force, and cannot pose a real, sustained, and deadly threat to any fortress or key node.
High above, the King of Resistance and the Ape of Destruction had a clear view of everything that was happening below.
They chose to stay here to witness firsthand how the Lebians would respond when the Void Devouring Line completely covered the area, dragging the battlefield into the initial chaos of the "full-scale phase."
They anticipated fierce resistance, an orderly retreat, and even localized chaos.
However, what they saw before them was a level of resilience, efficiency, and intelligence that far exceeded their expectations.
The King of Resistance's face, covered by a metal mask, fell silent like never before.
This silence contained a tremendous shock.
He experienced the destruction of his own world and witnessed the struggles of countless civilizations as they were swallowed by the void.
He envisioned encountering resistance in Lebia similar to that on the continent of Tahrir—relying on a network of nodal fortresses to divert and delay the flow, retreating step by step through attrition.
But Tesila presents a completely different picture.
It's not a delay, but a steadfast defense of every inch of ground.
It is not a passive diversion, but an active cutting off, annihilation, and battlefield control.
This level of defensive strength, which allowed him to withstand direct confrontations yet remain adept at maneuvering, exceeded his previous expectations.
The Ape of Destruction's crimson eyes flashed wildly, and his tone was filled with undisguised astonishment.
"It's unbelievable... I was just thinking that even with a network of node defenses, it could effectively slow down the spread of the Void Devouring Lines and buy time..."
"But once the devouring lines finally cover the world and drag it into the void, space will be completely disordered, and rifts will be everywhere. The defenders will eventually face a desperate situation with nowhere to retreat and enemies on all sides."
What can they do?
His voice carried a hint of confusion, yet also a sense of sudden realization that the mystery had been solved. (End of Chapter)