Chapter 21: The Empire's Desperate Situation?
Chilling green phosphorescent flames burned on the stone slope beneath the fortress, greatly hindering the Empire's efforts to pile up the slope.
The stone slope had already been piled nearly thirty meters high. The towering fortress was conservatively estimated at thirty-five meters tall, leaving a gap of no more than five meters between the slope and the fortress.
Yet this mere five meters had become an insurmountable wall. The green phosphorous flames produced by the shattered incendiary bottles were extremely hot; not even human bodies, but even steel would be melted into molten iron.
Although the green phosphorous flames burned for a short time, dissipating after about ten seconds, the goblins on the fortress continuously dropped green phosphorous incendiary bottles, preventing the Empire from advancing further.
With the green phosphorous flames covering them, the dwarves on the fortress operated the 'City-Defense Heavy Repeating Crossbows' in volley after volley. The Empire soldiers below suffered heavy casualties, being slaughtered without any effective action. Flesh and blood could not break through the green phosphorous flames.
Worse still, under the scorching heat of the green phosphorous flames, the stones on the slope began to melt, turning into a dark red liquid—this was magma-like.
The Empire's situation was dire. They could neither advance nor retreat. With over eighty thousand casualties, retreating now would deal a permanent blow to morale, making the rest of the war unwinnable unless they replaced the soldiers entirely.
Legion Commander Carlos stood before the green phosphorous flames, watching the stones gradually melt.
Whoosh~
A bullet shot toward Carlos. He casually swung his sword, splitting the bullet in two. He had long since lost count of how many of these things he had shattered.
As the Empire's Legion Commander, the contractors of Apocalypse Paradise naturally had their eyes on him. Killing Carlos would yield extremely generous rewards.
Carlos didn't even glance at those Apocalypse Paradise contractors. He just stared at the melting stones.
"It should... be about time. Spent ninety thousand gold pounds. If those alchemists want to maintain their status in the Empire, they won't provide inferior goods."
The 'gold pounds' Carlos mentioned were the largest denomination currency in the Empire. One gold pound could cover all expenses for a family of five for a month.
A few days before the battle began, Carlos had requested a batch of special supplies from the Empire. The Empire's official production couldn't create these; they had to be purchased from the Alchemy Association.
The Alchemy Association was established within the Empire's territory, but to obtain war supplies from them, the Empire had to pay in gold coins. Even during wartime, they couldn't forcibly demand them.
If they angered those alchemists, not to mention the various alchemical items and familiars they invented, once relations broke down, those alchemists wouldn't hesitate to move their headquarters to the tribal territories. The tribes would certainly welcome them warmly.
Since force wouldn't work, they had to buy. Fortunately, the Alchemy Association was sensible enough to give the Empire's military a 40% discount and sell to the royal family at cost, showing due respect to the throne.
Before the battle began, Carlos had anticipated this situation. He had been at war with the tribal alliance for too long; how could he not know the temperature of their 'green phosphorous flames'?
Since Carlos had adopted this strategy, it meant he had a countermeasure. He could let soldiers die, but he wouldn't let them die in vain.
The height of the stone slope beneath the fortress rapidly decreased, from the original thirty meters to about ten meters. The blazing red magma slowly flowed down, making the slope even lower.
A kilometer-long magma slope formed beneath the fortress, creating an almost impenetrable defense line. The Empire seemed to have trapped itself.
On the fortress, the minotaur Armstrong frowned deeply. He couldn't understand why the notoriously troublesome Carlos would use such a stupid strategy. Given the current situation, the Empire couldn't possibly capture the fortress. If this one-sided slaughter continued, within an hour, the Empire's army would experience a large-scale rout.
Armstrong's guess was inaccurate. It wouldn't even take an hour. The Empire's army was already losing morale. If not for Carlos holding the front line, they would have already fled.
The Empire soldiers began to slowly retreat. Although they knew that life was uncertain on the battlefield, this kind of one-sided massacre was unacceptable.
In the middle section of the Empire's army, Su Xiao ejected a magazine. He had already sniped over fifty dwarf crossbowmen. Killing these special units earned battle merits quickly. Unfortunately, after suffering heavy losses, the dwarf crossbowmen had learned their lesson. Except for the necessary aiming when firing bolts, they stayed behind the 'City-Defense Heavy Repeating Crossbows' and rarely exposed themselves.
Su Xiao pulled the trigger. A dwarf crossbowman who had just popped his head out was shot in the head. As the dwarf fell, five bullets, one arcane bolt, and three arrows flew past the headless corpse. Since the dwarf crossbowmen rarely showed themselves, the Empire's ranged units were now competing to kill enemies.
Su Xiao's firing speed wasn't slow, but he wasn't without competition. One mage on his side was also fast, having killed at least thirty dwarf crossbowmen.
Through his scope, Su Xiao saw the large magma slope beneath the fortress. He really wanted to charge up there. The fortress had many special units. If he could get close to them, by the end of this war, the 'Sacred Oak Branch' would basically be in his hands.
Given the current situation, charging up the fortress was clearly impossible. Even with his high endurance attribute, Su Xiao didn't dare to withstand magma. Ordinary magma temperatures range from 700°C to 1200°C. The magma beneath the fortress, produced by green phosphorous flames, was orange-red with a hint of green, making it even hotter than ordinary magma.
Su Xiao was very puzzled. In the previous battle, he had experienced the power of the 'green phosphorous incendiary bomb.' A counter shield with 500 points of strength was burned through in less than four seconds. If he hadn't been fast enough to escape the burning area, he would have been incinerated.
This was the battlefield. If Su Xiao wasn't cautious enough, he would die too.
Carlos should know the power of the green phosphorous incendiary bombs. Why did he choose this strategy?
As Su Xiao observed the magma through his scope, he suddenly noticed a fist-sized red pentagram array forming on the magma's surface.
The pentagram array vanished in an instant. If Su Xiao's eyesight weren't so good, he wouldn't have noticed the array, which was similar in color to the magma.
"Pentagram? Magic?"
Su Xiao frowned in thought, trying to recall the array's appearance. He drew it on the ground beside him with his finger.
Soon, Su Xiao reproduced the array's form.
"Not a magic array. Too many breaks; mana can't circulate. More like... alchemy?"
Yes, Su Xiao felt this thing resembled an alchemical array diagram. Although alchemical arrays look similar to magic arrays, alchemical arrays operate through multiple points independently, not as a whole like magic arrays.
Why would an alchemical array diagram appear in the magma? Was it the goblins' work?
Su Xiao stood up, suspecting that a lava giant or something similar might jump out of the magma at any moment.
Gurgle, gurgle. The magma boiled. The goblins on the fortress first noticed the anomaly. Their leader, the goblin inventor, rushed forward to closely observe the changes in the magma below.
"Stop! Stop throwing the green phosphorous bottles!"
The goblin inventor seemed to see something unbelievable.
"Carlos, that bastard. A heat-cold exchange alchemical array diagram? And on this scale? How many alchemists did it take to create such a large-scale linked alchemical array? The problem must be with those stones. We've been tricked."
The goblin inventor stomped his feet in anger. He had actually lost to alchemy.
"Everyone, prepare for close combat."
The goblin inventor's shrill voice spread. The dwarves and orcs nearby were confused.
"Armstrong, gather your troops. Carlos is going to lead his men up here."